Off on our own

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We left the comfort and convenience of the Maccormac home in Playa Hermosa to start exploring the rest of Costa Rica. Since we had been to CR once before in Dec. 2003, we wanted to check out some different sights this time. We decided to head south, down the coast, to a town called Samara. The trip was about 100km and required 3 different buses, it took 4 hours and cost about 5 dollars for both of us.

Once there we checked into the first hotel we came across. It also happened to be the cheapest one in town at $10/pp/night. It was cheap for a reason. All the mosquito screens were broken out, the door was a few slabs of wood with enough space in between to see through, it didn't lock in any serious way, and the shower was a pipe coming out of the wall. Hey, at least it had a private bathroom, right? The bed was a 1" thick piece of foam laid over some plywood and covered with a well-stained top sheet and no blankets, not that we needed them- it was like an oven in the concrete room. Needless to say, we used our silk sleeping bag liners. We think this will turn out to be the worst place we will stay in Central America.

The town itself is sort of a hippyish-overpriced-backpacker town. Or at least it used to be. They are trying to make it into a higher end resort town now with condos and hotels going up all over the place (actually we found that in a lot of places in CR). It was Sunday so most of the places were closed except for a few bars so the Americans could watch the Superbowl.

One place we found that we liked was a little place called C & C surf shop. They rented boards for $4/hr so we thought we would give it a try. Sandra wanted a lesson but James thought it looked easy so we went without. Sandra found it difficult and had more fun laying or sitting on the board to surf rather than standing. James got up a few times for only seconds but it was still a lot of fun. The waves were only about 3 feet high so it was good for us beginners. We surfed until sunset. After that we found a nice chill-out bar called Shake Joes which played alot of Thievery Corporation (thats why James wanted to go there) and we relaxed with a few drinks on the beach.

That night we heard a rustling on the thin roof right above out heads. It sounded heavy, like a huge rat or bird or something. A few seconds later we heard claws scratching on the roof. All of a sudden a huge claw came through the broken screen above the bed, followed by another one and a tail over a foot long. We realized it was a giant iguana going after the bugs around our window. He didn't manage to get in though and didn't bother us for the rest of the night. I guess he probably helped keep the bug count down though.

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Photos

Chillin at Shake Joes
Milkshake and Cerveza Imperial

Feelin' Secure?
You might get sick if I show the pic of the bed.

Comments

[Suzie]

Ha Ha
Dude I just turned down a hotel in cuba because it was infested with mosquitos...at least you arn't paying 2 G to luxurate with them. Sounds like a nice off the path adventure for you two!