The land of the Chocolate Milk Sea

Where to begin with Costa Rica? Hmmm....

The defining and perhaps most memorable feature of this chapter of the trip has been the rain. Fortunately coming from the oh-so-nontropical climes of the UK this was something we are fully prepared for. We donned our poncho's (mental image: me in a turquoise poncho and Jiro in an orange one) walked the streets of our first port of call, a town called Jaco (Ha-co) on the central Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

Upon arrival in Jaco it was dark, and raining to an extent we can only imagine in the UK - Yes that's right, there are places in the world where it rains harder! We disembark the bus nowhere near our hotel and attempt to get a taxi. Easier said than done as we have surf boards and forgot to buy straps! Several taxis went past and nothing, too small :o( Drenched we finally arrived at our hotel. All is not lost as it is dinner time, out come the ponchos and we take a stroll (dodging the giant puddles) to a restaurant. Jiro has discovered a new favourite meal. Even better perhaps than Lomo Saltado (Peruvian dish of stir fried beef with rice and chips) called Casado. This is a chicken dish with potatoes, rice and re fried beans. "Food heaven" he exclaims!!

Unfortunately Jaco is not the safest of destinations and petty theft is common so we decided not to take the camera to the beach, also it was pi**ing it down so the photos would not be worth it and we don't have a matching poncho for the camera!! The surf in Jaco was interesting! Very tidal dependant and as a result of the rain the water looked not far off Chocolate milk. With rumours of crocodiles my eyes darted the surface making sure we were not on the locals lunch menu. As a result I am sure I didn't do much surfing, mostly just bobbing!!

Jiro got a great morning of surf in at Playa hermosa, the same beach as he mentioned below with the Croc attack. Eeek! I stayed well clear....sensible me!!

On account of the tropical storm we headed north to Guancaste, to a town called Tamarindo. An up and coming tourist resort, but yet to build concrete roads. This made he journey entertaining as we fought rain, mud and pot holes the size of meteorite craters!! Our residence here were fantastic. Private pool (luxury!) and a hammock on our porch.

The area is a nature reserve for nesting leather Back turtles. Unfortunately we didn't see one, I only found the tracks where one had been the previous night. It was huge! At least a metre in diameter. The beaches were vast and spectacular.

The surf was far from world class, but it gave me the chance to catch a few waves that I felt weren't out to drown me, obviously maintained my Croc watch vigilantly!!

As the surf wasn't the greatest we hooked up with a couple from California, Mike and Laura, who are also escaping the world and travelling central America, hired a car and headed to a few beaches further south. Down the same terrible roads, a few hairy moments where we thought we might get stuck in the mud. "Shot-gun steering not pushing"!!

This is Avellanas, a beach I attempted to surf twice. No river mouth so Croc watch was called off for the day, but unfortunately a mean shore break which I simply couldn't get passed. Very frustrating. The only wave I managed to catch kindly deposited me on a pile of rocks too shallow to paddle over and rough to walk over. Damn it!! Bring back croc watch beach!!!

We headed to Playa Negra, one of the most consistent spots on the coast. At first the waves were no-where to be seen so we sought out a restaurant. And what we found was an old guy from California running a hotel which looked as though it hadn't had guests for the last 5 years.....but he cooked the biggest sandwiches I have ever seen!! After lunch and WOW! Biggest surf we had seen in weeks. Some sets were coming in double overhead. I took up beach watch. Not for a lot of money was I getting in! This time I had Laura as company whilst Jiro and Mike headed into the mouth of the monster! Their opinion differs from my description here. Whislt I gossiped idly on the beach Jiro caught some great waves, also in his words "got his butt kicked a few times" but had a great time in the water. Happy Days!!

The fun of leaving Tamarindo began at 3am, we had booked a bus ticket to take us back to San Jose (Capital of Costa Rica) at 3:30am. We tramped across town laden with bags to find the bus station deserted. So we walked to the other end of town (just in case) to find out that the bus does indeed go from a random street and not the bus station and has left already. Uh-Oh, could this be another Ceri and Jiro travel adventure/disaster? Back to our hotel we go, passed a now very confused security guard and book ourselves onto a small flight to San Jose later that morning from the local airport. More sleep. Hooray!!! The airport was interesting, perhaps the smallest I have ever been to.

This is the terminal, Jiro is in the departure lounge!

and the runway

We made a little friend at the airport:

The views from the tiny plane, which in order to get on we had to be weighed (surely I get extra luggage allowance for being small?!?!), were spectacular, far more impressive than a bus journey in the dark!!

Arriving safe and sound in San Jose we checked into our flight only to be approached an hour later to be told our flight was cancelled. Fears of missing out on our RV trip flashed before our eyes, but alas, all was OK as the airline were going to transfer us to another flight (a direct one) landing at the same time in LA, give us dinner vouchers and a $200 credit each with the airline. Did we mind? Ummm, no!!! Long wait and several card games later, we get on our flight to LA. Yippee!!!!!