Saturday, January 2, 2010

Costa Rica

Playa Samara
We left the beach in Nicaragua early and were ready for another border crossing. After the previous chaotic crossings we were not nervous about this one at all. The drive to the border provided great views of Lago Nicaragua, the only lake home to fresh water sharks and Isla Ometepe, a large Island made up of two volcanoes. 6kms before the border we passed hundreds of semi trucks lined up on the side of the highway, our first clue of what was to come. When we arrived at the Nicaraguan side we couldn’t believe how many people were lined up at the office. It took us over two hours to get our exit stamps and then we had to run around and track down the right officials to get our car permits cancelled. Off to the Costa Rican side to join the same crowd who we’d been waiting with in the other line. After getting our passports stamped we had to buy car insurance then visit two different offices to import our van. By the end of it all we spent over four hours at the border, our longest crossing yet. When we reached Liberia, the first major town, we were seduced into McDonalds for a big mac combo and most importantly air conditioning and Wifi. We got out the map and searched the internet for places to go in Costa Rica, we had many interesting choices, but we decided to stick on the paved roads and headed for Playa Samara on the Nicoya Peninsula. Before leaving Liberia we stopped in at the grocery store and were shocked to find that the prices were the same if not higher than in Canada, but we were heading to the beach to camp so we stocked up. By the time we reached Samara it was dark and we had to search for a campground. We thought we’d found the jackpot with a spot on the beach, but that was when the fun started. First off we were parked under some potentially windshield smashing coconuts so we decided to turn around only to find out we were stuck!! Karen and a very old man dug and pushed us out to hard ground and then we hit the next roadblock, they had no water. No problem, a girl filled up our shower bag at another campground and we started getting set up. Next roadblock, Karen had to pee and they wouldn’t let her use the washrooms and there was nowhere to go behind a tree. By this point we were exhausted and done with the “management” so we packed up and moved down the road to a campground where we could shower and use the washrooms, perfect! We decided to stay there two nights so the next day we went out to explore the town of Samara and go for a swim. What a beautiful place!! Huge beach, mellow waves and a town big enough for there to be stuff going on, but not be too crazy. On our first walk down the beach we stumbled across another campground where we heard a bonjour as we entered. We turned around to chat and found our Christmas family!! We were welcomed with open arms by three other groups of travellers who had been running into each other on the road and had met here for Christmas. Perfect!! We spent one more night at the other campground as we had already paid and then Christmas Eve morning after a surf and big breakfast we made the move. The three other groups consisted of a family from Quebec; Réjean, his wife Nathalie and two daughters Eve and Charlotte who are travelling around Central America for a year and Oliver and Karina from Germany and Val and Jeff from Alberta all doing the same trip as us. What a nice surprise!! We hadn’t run into other travellers in a long time and hadn’t met any doing our trip since Mexico. We spent Christmas Eve drinking Sangria, phoning home and then eating a great group meal cooked by Oliver and Karina. It was a great way to spent Christmas and even better having two little girls around who were spoiled rotten by everyone around them. They were able to experience Christmas traditions from various countries including “El Tio” a tree branch with a painted mouth that you feed every night and then on Christmas Eve you beat with a stick and it “poops” out a gift, hehehe. We ended the night with a roaring campfire on the beach and then went to bed to wait for Santa. Christmas morning everyone got together again and we helped Val and Jeff make pancakes for 20. It was great fun and we were able to feed almost everyone at the campground including a huge group of musical international students who in turn played some rousing tunes on their various instruments. We had a relaxing day and then that night we took over dinner preparations with some fish help from Réjean just in time for a giant rainstorm. Luckily there was a big central shelter so we set up and ate by candlelight. Ever since we entered Central America we’d heard how crazy the beaches get with locals flocking there for the holidays so Dec 26th we were semi prepared for the onslaught. It happened fast and we were glad we’d set up clearly defined camp borders as the locals take every available space around them even if it’s occupied. All in all we faired well, but some other campers had dogs sleeping against their tents and hammocks strung across their site. The Costa Rican’s like to party for Christmas, but we were able to sleep through it and met some really nice locals who fed us tamales and gave us advice on where to go. We ended up spending about a week in Samara enjoying great big dinners with everyone, playing pelonk, swimming, lounging and getting to know everyone. We were also joined by Axel and Katharina from Germany who are travelling the world on motorbikes. What a great gathering place. Slowly everyone started to leave and we knew it was time to move on, but such a great surprise and wonderful way to celebrate Christmas surrounded by amazing people! That’s what the holidays are really about.

Bejuco/Uvita
We’d read about a beach near a nature reserve that sounded really relaxing so we decided to skip the tourist trap of Fortuna and MonteVerde and remain on the coast. After spending a week not driving we’d forgotten just how hot and tiring it was so after 6 hours we were spent and pulled into a random beach on the map called Bejuco for the night. After being in Nicaragua where all the best beach front is blocked by private homes we were pleasantly surprised to find a strip of land between the road and the beach that was free for camping! We found a great little spot, chugged some water and had a heat exhaustion pass out in the hammock. Then we were joined by two local Costa Rican guys Carlos and Orlando who were staying at a friend’s place right across the street. They were super friendly and we spent the next 3 hours watching the sunset and chatting with them until one disappeared and the other got progressively drunker and our understanding of his slurred Spanish started to diminish as he tried to get us to promise to start having kids as soon as possible. It was super muggy and we were sticky from the day’s drive so thankfully they let us use their shower to clean and cool off and then went in the van to take refuge from the bugs. The next morning the bugs were still bad so off we went to Uvita. We’d been on the beach for over a week so when we were confronted with 100’s of Tico’s camping on a muddy stretch of road on the beach we weren’t too enthused and went in search of another option. Luckily we came across Hostel Toucan and cute little place with clean bathrooms, wifi, lot’s of hammocks and they let us camp. We spent almost the whole day and night catching up on the blog and staying in the cool of the shade. Just what we needed. The next day the hostel was hosting a New Year’s Eve/50th birthday party so we decided to spend another night there. We were trying to decide what to do for the day when we met a couple from Sweden, Brita and David who were going to Finca Carolina to hike to some waterfalls. It sounded great so we joined in. We were picked up by a guy from the states who had bought the farm with a couple friends, driven up a steep and muddy road and then dropped off to fend for ourselves. We followed the path all the way down to the river and were able to swim in our coolest fresh water pool yet, awh. Then we decided to follow the path further downstream and finally came to another waterfall. This one didn’t have a pool so we settled for a lay down in the river to cool off before the long hike back up. Once we got back up to the road Pete spotted a whole flock of toucans in the trees. Then a little further down the road we heard some more rustling in the trees and looked up to see a bunch of howler monkeys. We snapped some photos and then started walking again when all of a sudden one of the monkeys jumped out of the trees and started coming at us making big scary howler monkey noises, uh oh. We know what to do with bears, but what do you do with an aggressive monkey?? We decided it would be best to keep moving so he chased us down the road a bit more and then finally went back up in the trees. Spooky. We were treated to the last sunset of 2009 as we walked down the road and by the time we finally made it to the highway we were starving so we decided to eat out. We ended up at a soda that served great fish and cold beer, mmmm. Then we went back to the hostel just in time for a shower and for the party to start. It was a bit of a weird scene with old hippies from the states who moved to Costa Rica, but there were live bands, an acrobat swinging from 2 ribbons off a tree and a capoeira group who displayed their skills and got the crowd moving with their drumming. It was a great day and night. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!!! It’s going to be a great year full of excitement for all. The next day we were too tired to move on so we tried to repair a flat tire and gave Patience an oil change (her Christmas present).

Cerro Chirripo and the border
We were ready to retreat from the heat and head into the mountains again so after Uvita we headed to the highest peak in Costa Rica with plans to do the 2 day trek for the summit. Unfortunately when we got there we were told that the hike was full and that we’d have to wait at least a day to start the trek. We were anxious to get to Panama so we decided to spend the night by the river, visit the hot springs in the morning and then head for the border the next day. It was a short trip, but the air was fresh and the river was cold so we were happy we made the trip up there. The next day we drove close to the Panama border and after being told by the local police that camping by the river was a bad idea, we splurged on a hotel room with air conditioning and cable tv. The bonus came in the morning when we were surprised by squirrel monkeys in the trees. Onto PANAMA!!!

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