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Published: January 10th 2009
sunset Punta Islita
We all were awestruck. We just kept taking pictures. Posted by John
The last days in Samara diminished quickly as many of our fellow TEFL students moved away to their respective jobs, peppered all over Costa Rica. There were four of us left, each interested in traveling to Heredia near the capital of San Jose. Two of us have jobs waiting, one of us is going there to look and the other is flying home to visit family. We decided to leave early so we would be able to take a road trip, take our time and see some more of this beautiful country. We left Samara on Tuesday with plans to spend a day or two in Mal pais on the tip of the Nicoya Peninsula for some internationally famous waves. We rented a 4WD for the drive because shortly after leaving Samara the road turns to dirt and we knew we had some rivers to cross. The roads on the southern tip of the peninsula are famously impassable during the rainy season. We never would have considered a trip if it had even smelled of rain within the last week or so. It has rained maybe three times since we have arrived in CR so we
The second house on the farm.
Packing the car for the road trip. felt good about our prospects. The road to Mal pais from Samara is about 52 kilometers long or 32 miles. The trip took us 5 hours most of that in the dark. Needless to say in a country that has no addresses or street signs, we found ourselves on the wrong dirt road more than once (in the dark.) One of the turns we took led us to a decreasing track that actually just stopped with a dead-end in the jungle (in the dark.) Eventually, after traversing at least six rivers we found ourselves at our destination ready to have a stiff drink and fall into a swift sleep. Mal pais is a surfers haven, a long dirt road skirted by surf shacks with lots of hostels, cabinas and places to sip a beer near the beach. Apparently the waves are large, consistent, and with good breaks here. We happened to arrive during a lull in the waves but all had fun nonetheless.
(added by Megan) As John said, the afternoon that we were surfing in Mal Pais, the waves weren’t really good surfing waves (they have to be the right type… especially for beginners like us) and
The first river we had to cross.
You can see that this one wasn't very deep. just at sunset, they died down altogether. It was okay with me because I was tired and the sunset was
gorgeous. I got off my board for a while to just relax and float in the water and as I was floating I heard some sounds from underwater… I went underwater and waited, and sure enough, it was a whale!!! I listened to him sing his sad lonely song for the next half hour or so. It was an amazing experience… I would trade good waves for a whale song any day!!
After a couple of nights in Mal pais, we left to see Montezuma on the way to the ferry for the mainland. There is a lot of charm in towns that are so isolated. Montezuma is a hippie stronghold with lots of the locals hanging their shingle out for juice-bars, veggie cafes, and hemp jewelry. After lunch we felt the urge to head towards the Central valley and try to get in before too late (silly gringos.) The ferry ride was uneventful and we hit Puntarenas just after dark. Then a 100 km (60 miles) drive to Heredia (another 2 ½ hours), found a hotel and
One of the good roads
Outside of Punta Islita crashed again for the night. Now we find ourselves in Heredia in a nice hostel exploring and looking for an apartment before our classes start in a week. I’ll leave it at that and let the photos do the rest of the talking… Until later, M&J
p.s. We added some photos from a friend that has given us all of her photos so some of these date back to our arrival in Samara.
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Richard Kuhlman
non-member comment
Happy New Year ( belated)
Just wanted to let you both know that I DO read your blogs. Looks like you are acclimating to CR pretty well and I'm Glad to see that it's not all work and no play! Take care Megan and John and have a great new year.