FEBRUARY 2009: I joined the Mountaineering Club of the University of Costa Rica on their annual beach trip. Our destination was Refugio de Vida Silvestre Iguanita in Golfo de Papagayo, Guanacaste. Abnormally frigid water temperatures caused a mass exodus of fish and other life from the sea onto the beach. They were all suffocating and so we made a vain attempt to throw as many living fish back out into the bay. Fortunately a high tide came in a couple of hours later and accomplished in minutes what was humanely impossible for us.