El Faro Playa

I celebrated the midweek Eucharist and chatted with people at the Coffe Morning afterwards for the last time this morning. An unusually large number of people came, many of them returning visitors, so the place buzzed with lively chatter. I wonder if last weekend's flower festival might also have motivated some to make a return visit. By way of contrast, the number for the Eucharist only half a dozen, having been ten for several weeks running.

I has some work to do for CBS after lunch, then late afternoon drove to El Faro Playa to meet Bill for a drink and a chat, only the beach restaurant was closed. I arrived early to walk on the beach with a camera in hand, as this promotory and neighbouring beaches is renowned as a landing point for birds on the migration path. 

 

The beach was empty of humans, with the occasional pigeon and a just a family of Turnstones browsing on the foreshore. Their colouration is close to that of the sand, so that they are not easy to spot at first, let alone take a decent photograph. They seem unconcerned by close human contact. I was no more than ten metres away when I took this picture.

General Torrijos, who attempted a coup d'etat to overthrow a cruel and unpopular king in 1831, landed with a small band of followers at this place to start a short lived campaign that ended with his death. There's a commemorative plaque close to a stream running into the sea across the beach here.

This would be a pleasant beach to hang out on, if it weren't for the close proximity of the N-340 highway just above and behind where I took this photo from. Traffic noise, both day and night is a constant feature of life along such an urbanised coastal strip. Yet, it's still amazingly rich in bird and other wildlife, though it's not often apparent when I'm out and about with a camera.

I met up with Bill at the appointed hour and we went instead to a restaurant in El Faro urbanizacion further inland, mercifully well away from traffic noise, quiet enough to relax and talk.