| Costa Rica, Fall 2001 |
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Friday, October 5-Saturday, October 6: Scamming a Ride, Crocodiles, and the Rainy Season
We couldn't stay away! Less than a year after we first experienced Costa Rica, as our honeymoon destination, we were back in Central America, stumbling off the ghastly red-eye flight (which includes a one-hour stopover in Guatemala City during which you're trapped in the aircraft). Thanks to the extra, post-September 11 security precautions, our journey took from 4 p.m. San Francisco time on Friday until 7:30 a.m. local time in San Jose. The drudgery was somewhat lightened by a really, really bad in-flight movie ("A Knight's Tale") and a nice seatmate named Aaron. Aaron, an Arizonan who was heading to CR for the first time with his girlfriend, Jen (seated a few rows ahead of us), became our buddy and even offered to drive us to Jaco Beach when we arrived (they were heading that way anyhow). Hurray, no need to catch a bus!
We continued our ride and found Jaco easily (it helped that every 10 miles or so we saw a gigantic sign for our particular hotel--the Best Western Jaco Beach. How embarrassing. So much for going low-key.). Our hotel was right on the beach and featured the requisite pool, a couple of tennis courts, a small sundries shop, and even a game room that included foosball and pool. It was pretty similar to most mid-range beach hotels we've seen before, even in the States...with the exception of an absolutely killer beach view: tropical trees, rolling surf, wide expanses of black-sand beach. We hung out with Aaron and Jen for a bit, walking on the beach, getting fruity tropical drinks, checking in, etc., and then they continued on their way, south to Manuel Antonio national park. |
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David and I walked around town in the afternoon, and, frankly, were a tad disappointed. We expected Jaco to be more bustling than Tamarindo, but it was actually almost comparable in size; just larger in the number of touristy shops where you can buy T-shirts, sarongs, etc. There are also more surf shops. |
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We wandered around a bit and poked our heads into shops to ask about board rentals, but were surprised to find there were very few longboards about (not a good sign!). We ended up having an early-ish dinner at a seafood restaurant...yum...and then discovered what "rainy season" meant when an amazing downpour ensued. And kept going. And going. Luckily, we were across the street from a Mas X Menos supermarket, so during a break in the rain we dashed over and bought an umbrella (and cheese puffs, gotta have the cheese puffs!). We hoofed it home in this outrageous storm, getting somewhat wet and splashing through knee-high puddles (on the sidewalk!) on our way. It was pretty funny.
Sunday, October 7: Soccer and Surfing
At noon, we headed to the Beatle Bar, another American-run establishment, to watch American football and the Costa Rica-Mexico soccer game courtesy of satellite TV. It was fun! The Costa Ricans really love their soccer, and our beers were punctuated with choruses of "Ole, ole" and loud cheering anytime a goal seemed imminent. (They ended up tying 0-0.) We went back to the hotel for a nap (this vacation stuff is hard work!), then picked up the boards from Chuck and headed out into the waves in front of our hotel...where we were promptly thrashed. The surf was way too big and powerful for us -- we were struggling just to get outside. We slinked back to Chuck's, tails between our legs, and he recommended a better spot called Madrigal, at the south end of the beach. However, with dusk approaching (and my surfer pride seriously wounded), we decided to call it a day instead. We went back to Beatle Bar for a drink, ended up having tacos and chicken wings there as a makeshift dinner, and picked up some Pringles on the way home to round out the meal. In bed and asleep by 9 p.m.
Monday, October 8: Hitting the Waves and the Trail
Back in town, we stopped in to Chuck's Surf Shop and told him how amazingly happy he'd made us by sending us to Madrigal. Dave asked if he could trade in his board for a less-heavy one, and Chuck obligingly pulled a brand-new (!!!) longboard off the wall for him (said they weren't selling, so he might as well get some use out of it). Chuck gave us a deal on the boards through the rest of the week, then clued us in on some good spots to surf down in Manuel Antonio, our next destination. He also recommended the Costa Verde hotel in that area as a great place to stay, then gave us the name of a local who'd give us surf info. (Talk about full service!)
We had a fantastic time! They gave me a great, spirited horse, and Dave had a nice gentle horse named Winston who thought he was a dog. When we stopped for photo ops or to have a snack and water, Winston would walk right up to us and wait for his head to get scratched (or grab a bite of our food). Incredibly cute. The trail itself was just amazing, with incredible vistas...at one point we were 600 feet up on a hillside and saw miles of endless coastline on one side and lush, verdant, rolling hills and pastureland on the other. It was just breathtaking. Our initial impression of Jaco was rapidly getting revised. The final touch? Watching a glorious sunset over the ocean--a real Technicolor dream, with otherworldly cloud formations--and then riding home in darkness, watching the fireflies flashing and navigating by starlight. We explored a little that night, determined to have dinner at an authentic local restaurant rather than a touristy one. We found a little place tucked away right off the beach at the far north end of Jaco that offered really tasty food in gigantic portions. The whole meal, including a couple of the mandatory local beers, Imperial, set us back less than $15.
Tuesday, October 9: On to Manuel Antonio
Finally, into the Manuel Antonio area. We showed up at the Hotel Costa Verde, Chuck's recommendation, and fell in love at first sight. Beautiful rooms, hotel nestled deep in the rainforest...their motto is "Still more monkeys than people." Apparently, they're famous for the monkeys that hang out all over the place, but we've yet to see one. We worked out a deal with the front desk guy (it's nice to be here off season!) and got our room brought down from $90 to $60. Sweet! We checked in, and promptly ran into a woman surfer we'd met in Jaco (she's traveling with her father and had arrived the day before). We compared some surf notes and tide charts and talked about meeting up to surf tomorrow.
We headed back to the hotel and dinner...they have a really cool restaurant that's built to overhang the rainforest and that features rocking chairs rather than regular dinner chairs. Quite relaxing. It was the most expensive meal we'd eaten this trip (about equivalent to a decent San Francisco restaurant), but we weren't all that impressed with the food...we're already nostalgic for the little local spots in Jaco Beach. The hotel had an Internet cafe, where I spent an hour or two writing home and checking out the local news. The world situation is very disturbing in this post-September 11 zone...in a way, I'm glad we were cut off from the news for the past few days (turned out Bush had launched the attacks on the Taliban). We half-jokingly talked about staying in Costa Rica for the next few months. On our agenda tomorrow: an early surf session and a trip to famous Manuel Antonio park, reputed to be the most beautiful preserve in Central America. We'll see! As long as I get to see a few monkeys, I'll be a happy girl.
Wednesday, October 10: Monkeys and Lizards Galore
Finally, after hiking every possible trail in the preserve (I'm not kidding: Dave literally made me hike every trail on the map), we stumbled back to the hotel and spent a while by the pool. Later, while we were leaving for dinner in Quepos, a horde of squirrel monkeys descended upon our hotel, scrambling and jumping through the trees like...well...squirrels. Dave thinks he overheard them saying, 'We rule the planet...' Dinner in Quepos wasn't all that scenic; in fact, the town seemed a little sketchy after sunset. But we had a large and tasty meal for about $10 and felt very brave and daring walking back to the car on the dark streets.
Thursday, October 11: The Third-Longest Left Surf Break in the World
We drove north about an hour and reached Boca Barranca, which is a rivermouth break, right at low tide. We were awed by the long, peeling, beautiful lefts...and began to pick our way out to the beach. The only problem was, the entire beach was rock...and not just smooth rock: barnacle-encrusted, razor-sharp rock. After doing the 'gringo dance' for a while, we gave up and paddled out on our boards in 6-inch deep water. (Not an easy feat, especially with 7-inch fins, but better than slicing up our feet.) Only one problem: we paddled out in the wrong place. We found out later that we should have paddled out on the south side of the rivermouth...instead, we figured we'd paddle out on the north and swim 'downstream.' Only thing, it wasn't downstream...it was SERIOUSLY upstream. There was an intense current that'd just cruise you the wrong way the second you stopped paddling. After about 45 minutes of doing our salmon imitation (and not catching any of the lovely waves that lay just temptingly out of our reach!), we gave up, completely exhausted. How pathetic are we. The world's most amazing wave, and we couldn't even paddle out to it.
Back in Jaco Beach that night, we had dinner with Chuck at his ex-wife's restaurant, where we had ridiculously fresh sushi (muy delicioso!) and some great chicken. Chatted with Chuck for a couple of hours about the pitfalls of running a business in Costa Rica and pretty much decided if we moved here, we'd just have to be independently wealthy. Later on, we met up with Rob, Pete, and Timmy (the American surfers staying at Chuck's) for drinks at the Beatle Bar, where we discovered that Rob, like me, is a volleyball freak and we know tons of the same people. (Small world.) Then it was back to our little cabina, where we decided to sleep in the next morning. The dogs and roosters had other ideas, and woke us repeatedly at 4, 5, and 6 a.m. Finally, we realized that 7 a.m. IS sleeping in around here, and got up. Back to Madrigal to surf...not so great, but David did his 10-year-old impression and played around in the waves for an hour or so trying goofy stunts on his board. Breakfast at our usual spot, Sunrise Cafe, and then it was adios to Chuck and the gang.
Friday, October 12: The Journey Draws to a Close
On the way to San Jose, we detoured back to Puerto Caldera to see our beautiful surf spot again and take pictures of it (I hadn't brought my camera the day before). Surprise, surprise: the perfect waves were now ragged, choppy, and ugly. We learned later that the spot is notoriously fickle and we'd somehow managed to catch it on absolutely ideal conditions. The surf gods must have taken pity on us after our Boca Barranca debacle and sent a small miracle our way.
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The ride back to San Jose was worse than I'd remembered (probably because we hadn't been the ones driving). It rained most of the way there and by the time we got to the hilly, curving, one-lane roads going over the mountains and down to the city, the driving was pretty treacherous. We got nearly stalled behind lumbering farm vehicles several times, including one incident in which a truck just died on the road in front of us trying to make a steep grade. By the time we pulled into our hotel, the Hampton Inn, I was tense from head to toe.
Perhaps for that reason, the hotel seemed like heaven to me. It was nothing special, really, just a typical American-type, corporate-issue hote l-- standard beds, standard TV, standard bathroom -- but it had a full bathtub, hot running water, cable TV, and in-room pizza delivery. I was sooooo happy. The night at Chuck's proved to me that I am now officially addicted to my creature comforts. How sad. Early tomorrow, we'll be back on a plane to the States and our second Costa Rica adventure will be over. Pura vida!
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At San Jose airport, we had a few nervous moments waiting for Aaron's backpack to make it through baggage claim. Being stuck without your stuff in Costa Rica could make life a little inconvenient--not like you can just run to REI to reoutfit. But it finally turned up, Aaron and Jen's rental-car agent met them at the gate, and all went well...so, in air-conditioned comfort (it was hot, even this early!), we drove off. We stopped at a roadside restaurant with spectacular views, decent coffee, and an amazingly friendly dog named Capitan who relished the opportunity to gnaw on our hiking boots. Back on the road, we jounced around, passing three serious accidents on the way (quite the cautionary tale). The roads here are a cross between a black-diamond mogul run and an Appalachian trail.
At one point, we crossed over a bridge to see dozens of cars pulled to the side and a few dozen people peering over the edges. We stopped
too, hoping it wasn't going to be a scary car accident...but it was a scary wildlife scene: on one side of the bridge were 11 crocodiles...and on the other, 12! They were BIG, too. The big boy of them all had to have been 12-14 feet long, and that was our estimate from the bridge, 50 or so feet into the air. They were just hanging out, basking in the sun and the mud. Not something you see every day, that's for sure.
On Sunday, we awoke, inexplicably, about dawn (the sun rises here about 5 a.m.) and took a run into town. We hunted down Chuck's Surf Shop, which I'd heard about online, and spoke with Chuck, a transplanted Floridian who'd been in CR 12 years. About 40, Chuck looked like a surfer...small, wiry, incredibly hyper, with sun-drenched skin and a friendly, chatty attitude. He managed to round up a couple of longboards for us, which helped us out immensely, and gave us a little advice about where to surf. We arranged to pick them up later in the day.
Our alarm went off at 5:15. AM. Oof. We dragged ourselves out of bed, hauled our boards out and called a taxi (which, surprisingly, showed up about 2 minutes afterward! I guess everyone wakes up early here.). Headed down to Madrigal...and fell in love with the spot. Amazing surf. Fantastic. Perfect longboard waves...OK, maybe not completely perfect, but close enough for us
(especially after our horrendous experience at the north end of Jaco Beach). Smallish (2-4 foot), well formed, pretty long rides; mostly lefts, but you could pull out a right on a good set. We surfed for a couple of hours and shared the waves only with another couple. The only other live creatures we saw were the friendly surf dogs hanging out on the beach. It was great!
Afterward, we had breakfast at our new favorite place, the Sunrise Cafe, which is a huge surfer hangout that has amazing food (completely fantastic omelettes, fresh-squeezed juice, smoothies...aah). We saw the surfer couple from Madrigal there, along with a few other surfers. We could get used to this lifestyle.
Later on, I made the requisite pilgrimage to have fruity tropical drinks by poolside while reading a cheap novel, while David retreated to the room to catch the sports highlights on ESPN. Later that afternoon, we set out on a four-hour sunset horseback ride. Since it's the low season, we managed to get a group ride that was just me, David, and our two guides.
Afterward, David walked to a little store, called a cab, and managed to explain to the rental-car guys (who didn't speak English) what had happened. (I think all he had to say was, "Estupido Americans" and they figured it out). Meanwhile, I sat on the beach, watched the waves, and played with the local surf dogs (we kept running into one particularly friendly pooch who seemed to love both us and our boards). About half an hour later, Dave showed up with the Costa Rican version of AAA in tow...a guy with a screwdriver, two wooden stakes, and a coathanger. But I'll give it to him, he had the door open in five minutes.
Back to town, another Sunrise Cafe breakfast; then we checked out and began the drive south to Manuel Antonio. It wasn't a long drive, just over an hour, although the degree of difficulty increased as we headed south. We drove over some incredibly rickety bridges and held our breath as we crossed more than one rushing river. Still, it was some of the most beautiful land I've seen. On one side the beach, on the other, lush greenery. As we neared the fishing port of Quepos, which is the last major town before Manuel Antonio state park, the roadside was lined with palm tree orchards, much like the rows of apple orchards you see back East...just much, much taller. (There's a huge industry in coconut palm oil here.) Quepos itself is tiny, blink and you miss it...and it's considered one of the biggest towns down here.
We got settled and then drove down to the tiny town of Manuel Antonio, right at the entrance to the famous national park, and walked along a vast expanse of breathtaking beach (found out later it's called "Playita", or "Little Beach") for about an hour. It is just an amazing place...the beach backs right up onto the jungle. Absolutely incredible. It's picture-postcard perfect. We walked to the far end of the beach and watched some surfers get hammered by double overhead waves, then decided we wouldn't be surfing in that spot tomorrow. (Luckily, there are far more forgiving places to go.)
We woke up early to surf at a Manuel Antonio beach...it was a little rough and pretty unorganized, and I didn't catch anything much worth noting--except for a lovely giant bruise in the shape of a surfboard fin on my back, courtesy of a not-so-graceful wipeout and collision with my own board. Ouch! We threw in the towel after about an hour, although David managed to pull a couple of good waves out of an otherwise frustrating session. Had breakfast back at the hotel, and at 11 a.m., we headed into the Manuel Antonio preserve.
We spent the next five hours hiking through the preserve, including tackling some really challenging (steep and slippery!) terrain...but it was just incredible. We saw dozens of white-faced (capuchin) monkeys, a couple of howler monkeys close up (rare, because they don't like people--for the latter, we were lucky enough to stumble across a guide who was working with a couple of other hikers who was howling back and forth with them; he let us take a phenomenal photo through his telescope).
We also spotted a sloth (looked like an old flea-bitten rug draped over a tree limb, and moved about as fast, too), a capybara, and about a million lizards. (Our new Costa Rica motto: 'We've got lizards, yes we do! We've got lizards, how 'bout you?' You have to say
'lee-zard' to make it work right.)
The park is just about the most beautiful place on earth, I think. It's intense, lush, sticky, tropical jungle juxtaposed directly with long, white sand beaches and palm trees. You can go from the thick of the jungle canopy to the surf in about ten yards. It's truly amazing.
So Thursday morning, we packed up and returned to Jaco Beach. On the way, we stopped by Playa Hermosa, which is world-renowned for its surfing...the waves are, however, more suitable for hard-core surfers than for people like us (in other words, they're BIG!). We sat and watched a few sets, then drove back to Jaco just in time for a high-tide surf at mellower Madrigal. As always, lots of fun! This has turned out to be our favorite spot. Afterward, we ran into our old buddy Chuck and talked about Boca Barranca and where to surf that day...and about where to stay. He suggested we stay at his place...he has a few 'cabinas,' or little cabins, for rent to surfers for about $20 a day. Our palace was $30, which included an anemic air conditioner, but no hot water. (You would be surprised how much you miss that.) Still, we figured he'd been so very cool to us that it'd be fun to hang out at his place...plus, it made us feel like REAL surfers and not bourgeouis American faux surfer pigs.
While the accomodations were less than resort-like, the atmosphere made up for it tenfold. The entire place was populated with surfers; our neighbors were a trio of Americans from the Huntington Beach area. We chatted with them a bit and compared surf notes, then decided to take a drive up to the mythical Boca Barranca wave...which had now become, according to our
sources, the SECOND longest left in the world.
We trudged back to the car after washing up onto the beach almost half a mile north of where we'd started (I TOLD you it was a strong current!), then drove back toward Jaco. However, on a whim we stopped at another rivermouth break called Puerta Caldera. We'd passed it on the way to Boca and thought they waves looked pretty nice and figured it wouldn't hurt to check out it. Lo and behold, we stumbled across an amazing, perfectly shaped left break on a soft, silty bottom (hurray, no rocks!). We paddled out and shared the waves with four or five local
shortboarders, but everyone was amazingly cool and we had just a great afternoon. (It didn't hurt that one of them apparently fell in love with me at first sight and proceeded to give me the right of way on anything I wanted to ride.) The waves never walled out, there were plenty for everyone, and as the tide changed the waves just got better. The shortboarders rode the belly, we rode the shoulder, and it was just perfect surf karma for everyone. Totally great. It completely salvaged our day and turned it into one of our best surf sessions in Costa Rica.