Costa Rica January 2007

Costa Rica January 2007

Journeys by Paul Main Index (click here)

Costa Rica Page 2 updated 3/09/07

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Scorpion in Avellanas Crossing a River to get to Avellanas

Costa Rica January 2007

After another hour and a half on the main road, there was a sign for Tamarindo. I was hoping this road would be paved all the way, but it was paved only half the way, so, once again, I bumped along. Tamarindo was stranger than I had imagined. The main road is kind of a loop, with only a small portion of it next to the ocean. I parked, and checked out the beach, and some hotels. The beach looked nice but there were no waves. There were some very expensive hotels that were quite nice (if you're into the luxury thing), and there some inexpensive ones that were fine, also, but I wasn't too impressed with the area. I now wanted to head back down the Nicoyan Peninsula to Guiones, to catch some guaranteed waves, but that road to Guiones is paved with nothing. It's an hour and a half of dirt, rocks and ditches, and I just couldn't bear to bounce around any more today so I stopped in a surf shop to ask for info. The young American at the shop told me there was no swell at the time, and that the shop was organizing boat trips to Witches Rock and Avellanas at high tides. After describing Avellanas to me, I decided to try it. It was about 35 minutes to the south on a (you guessed it) rocky road with only one river to cross over. (See picture.)

Cross that bridge when we..... hmm, no bridge.

Avellanas turned out to be a beautiful beach, with blue water, an open-air restaurant adjacent the beach, and good waves. I found a nice air-conditioned cabina with a swimming pool for $70 nearby (no charge for the scorpions), and rented a good surfboard at the one surf shop, and was surfing shoulder to head high waves two hours before sunset. It was somewhat crowded but I managed to catch a lot of waves peeling off mainly left. At sunset, everyone who wasn't still out in the water stood or sat near the restaurant and watched the sun set into the Pacific. I never did see the "green flash."

I guess I need to tell you about the remote place that Amy and her husband visited during a previous trip. Their destination was a remote cabina in the Corcovado National Park in the southern part of Costa Rica. The journey entailed a flight to Palmar, then a jeep ride down to the coast, then a boat trip in the ocean, then up a river, to be dropped off in the rain at the river's edge where a guide was to meet them. The guide never made it, so they followed a murky trail up through the jungle carrying their luggage, and finally found it. Here's a link to this strange place. http://www.drakebayholiday.com

There's no electricity except for the batteries, but it has all the trappings of luxury according to Amy. There's even a gourmet cook that comes in and cooks the meals. The owner of the RainForest Chalet is an American woman named Tracy (The Bug Lady), and she takes you out at night on a tour of nocturnal life with hopes of watching huge spiders, centipedes, and mucho other animals including a snake called the fer de lance. Are you familiar with that one?

During the night, the guests' cots are covered with mosquito nets for obvious reasons. Amy said she awoke the first night for a call of nature, and was surprised that the inside of their hut was pitch dark since the moon had been full when she had gone to sleep. Further investigation revealed that the moonlight was only inhibited at the mosquito netting because the net was now completely covered with bats. Unfortunately her call of nature was overshadowed by nature itself. She told me she made sure she stopped drinking any liquids long before she went to sleep for the rest of her stay there. Amy also said that Tracy, the chalet owner, was also proud of the momma spider that lived in her hut. And when momma had babies, Tracy slept while scores of the little rascals crawled all over her. See, anyone can find their perfect place in Costa Rica.

The evening Tracy told me about The RainForest Chalet, she asked if I had been into Tamarindo. (It's about a 30 minute dirt road, river crossing drive.) I told her yes, but that I didn't like it. She was disappointed in my answer because she and her husband were going to do a day trip the next day. So they went. The next night in the open air restaurant, I asked her how she liked Tamarindo. She looked at me for a few seconds, and said, "It sucked." She then told me about how their car, and two other nearby cars, were broken into. Two of the cars had been accessed by breaking the windows, and the other (Tracy's) had the door handle sheared off. They lost about $600 worth of stuff. The police told them that they would have to go to another (actually smaller) town to get a police report. They wanted the report so that they could claim a loss to their insurance company when they got back to the state. Oh well. It could have been worse.

Mauna Loa Cabinas ---->

I was quite pleased with my hotel. New, big, air-conditioned cabinas for $70 a night. Here's a link. www.maunaloa.it The cabinas are in a pleasant, quiet setting with a clean pool. I should also add that the entire area is not the "lush" tropics that you might imagine. You can find that down south at places like the Oso Peninsula and Manuel Antonio, or on the Caribbean coast, which also has a cooler climate. But there are plenty of monkeys. As a matter of fact, guests at the cabinas down the road where the restaurant is are awakened at 5 a.m. by these infamous, and noisy, Howler monkeys.

My Cabina

The next day, the surf was a little smaller so it became crowded during high tide. Although I hated to leave Mauna Loa, I left the next morning and drove up to Liberia then back down the main road that leads to San Raphael. The drive was a bit of a pain. At one time, there was a truck up ahead, and there had to be at least 60 cars behind him. I was about 25 in line, and the parade continued for over an hour with the truck driver never even considering pulling over and letting cars pass by. There's a lot of this in Costa Rica. As a matter of fact, I know that some people who consider retiring here, drive on the pot-holed roads, in traffic jams for a few days or a week, then say, "forget it." But if you keep your planned drives to no longer than about 6 hours, then it's not so bad. But don't extend it into the evening or (God forbid) night. And don't drink and drive!