Costa Rica

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The only way to properly unwind from two weeks of waking up early, studying all day, freezing our butts off, and traveling around by foot, taxi, launcha, shuttle and chicken bus, is to sprawl out in the hot sun on an empty beach and get pummeled by warm Pacific waves. That’s exactly what we did at Bejuco Beach. A hot 3 hour bus ride from San Jose brought us to Jaco, once a quiet, quaint beach getaway for cityfolk on the Pacific coast, now an unappealing conglomeration of gringos seeking a daily fix of surf and illicit pleasures, and Ticos – many of whom cater to such gringos. Our buddy picked us up at Pizza Hut, also the bus stop, and we headed south to a small gated community he dubbed “little America.” The house was equipped with HOT water (except for a couple days when the water was completely shut off for reasons we could only speculate were related to the condo construction up the road) and a TV, which we hardly turned on till the last couple days to catch the Oscars, etc…


PURA VIDA
A short walk down a dirt road past a shack with several kids playing out front that may have been a Tico house, another “little America” gated community and a couple hotel/restaurants, lay Bejuco Beach. The sand was scorching hot, the water deliciously warm, the rip tide forceful, the waves unpredictable but totally surf-able and swim-able.
We ate the freshest of fruit – banano and platano, pineapple, mango, avocado, watermelon, sweet melon, papaya and pipa fria (fresh coconut with a straw stuck in it). And we used Lizano “salsa” (a yummy sweet curry sauce) liberally on pretty much every meal we made. The typical meal in Costa Rica is a delicious “casado” plate – arroz, frijoles, ensalada, platanos fritos, con pollo o carne o pescado o... (rice, beans, fresh salad, fried plantains with chicken or beef or fish or...) – which you can get at any roadside “soda” (little eatery, mini restaurant). The word 'Casado' is a spanish word for 'married' so pretty much what you get is a bunch of basic food elements married together to make a complete meal. Delicioso.

One evening after dinner we lit a bonfire on the beach and went swimming under the clear starry sky, stirring up phosphorescence in the waves. During the day, we were usually accompanied by two adorable dogs that were taken in by one of the “little America” year round residents, Playa and the Puppy. They would guard our stuff on the beach, greet us whenever we returned home, and follow us up to the tienda.

COSTA KARAOKE
For our nightlife fix, we cruised 15 minutes up the road to the small chill surf town of ESTERILLOS OESTE. At low tide you can walk out on the reef of black volcanic rock and investigate the sea creatures hanging out in the tide pools (while cursing the insects nibbling at your ankles if it’s dusk) before perching on a barstool at one of the open air tico bars. One night we stumbled upon karaoke night at the local discoteque (picture your local dive bar with a bunch of Ticos singing cheesy Spanish love songs and sloppy salsa numbers). We brushed up on our salsa dancing (did we ever mention we took a few salsa classes in Xela?), tried to figure out which one of us the off-duty cops sitting nearby were winking at, and moved on…

JUNGLE BOOGIE
Determined to see some monkeys and other creatures of the jungle, we spent a day in MANUEL ANTONIO PARQUE NACIONAL amidst loads of other camera-touting tourists. Mission accomplished: little white-faced monkeys were swinging from palm tree to palm tree, we spotted a couple of sloths hanging out up in the trees, and we heard the infamous sound of howler monkeys. We also happened upon what looked like an ant-eater, a huge hungry iguana that kept pestering us once we settled onto a secluded beach for lunch, and a couple curious raccoons. One of the beaches was only accessible at low tide and we didn’t time it quite right but a little precarious volcanic rock climbing brought us to a beautiful beach with hardly anyone on it. It was dreamy to spend the afternoon swimming, snorkeling, reading, snoozing, and keeping the iguana at bay. Dinner at Ronny’s Place, perched above a beautiful ravine, was the perfect finish to a perfect day.

RIDING HORSES AND THE WAVES

Almost every day a group of horseback riders would come charging down Bejuco Beach, and the last day we finally got to be those people. After an hour and a half riding through a beautiful jungle trail up above a huge development company, owned by a gringo who actually came on the trip with us, we let the horses loose and cantered up the beach. That afternoon we had to pack it all up and set our alarm. But it wasn’t a bus we got up early to catch, it was the 5:30am waves at Oeste. Undeniably the best surf of the entire trip.

HOMEWARD BOUND
That afternoon we found ourselves in Alajuela, just north of San Jose, a nice little city to wander around before flying back to the cold northeast. After buses and taxis and airplanes and being stoked the car actually started after being parked at the bus station for 5 weeks, we landed home late Thursday evening.

Don't forget to check out our photo slide show (
VIEW SLIDESHOW) if you have minute, and we hope you’ve enjoyed following our Central American adventures. We look forward to catching up with you all soon. SALUD!