Chilling on the beach in Samara - 10 to 23 October 2012

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We arrived back in Samara after our great day watching turtles on Ostional Beach. We were so exhausted we retired to bed early but during the early hours of the morning we were woken by an earthquake and felt a couple of large tremors - oh dear, they must be following us around the world! We learned later that it had a magnitude of 5.3 and was centered eight miles northeast of the town of Nicoya in Guanacaste and was about 22 miles away from Samara. The epicenter was well below the surface and there were no reports of injury or bad damage - thank goodness. Janice our host said that they had indeed been lucky during the massive September quake, with only one of the massive statues outside the lodge falling over into the fence. Her neighbours had not been so lucky and had suffered lots of damage to their homes in the hills nearby as well as several tourist hotels. Locals were saying that the island just off shore at Samara had apparently risen after the quake and the beach area had increased with the tide now receding much further out........ Hopefully we will not have any more quakes following us around on our travels as we have had our fair share.....this being the fourth country where we have experienced this horrid force of nature after; New Zealand, Australia and Sri Lanka.............now Costa Rica. You may well ask where we are heading next............



We spent pleasant days in Samara walking on the beach and through the village, chatting to locals and tourists, everyone was so friendly. One day we turned inland from the beach and passed through a little hamlet and started chatting to this guy from Californian and was staying in CR long term. He was standing on the dirt track taking a photograph of a poor little howler monkey that had electrocuted itself on the overhead cable. He had just called the authorities to get it removed as he was worried it would start to smell and it was right next to his home. He was a retired policeman and was now spending a couple of days a week teaching local children English, he said he was also benefitting by learning a lot from the children as well as improving his Spanish as well. He gave us some useful tips on travelling around CR which was and should become useful as its not easy to plan your way around this country. We wandered back to our lodge that day via the road and as we started walking down this hill we noticed a colony of Leaf Cutting Ants edging their way up hill with their triangle piece of leaf - we followed them all the way down hill until they disappeared into the bush - there must have been thousands of them.



It was great that we had self contained accommodation and we shopped and experimented with different foods (the ones that looked fresh that was). We really liked the black beans and I even started to eat a lot of rice! One day we were really delighted when we found some fresh lettuce - its weird what can excite you...... We also found a little bakery shop on one of our walks in the middle of nowhere (the one near us was still closed for holidays) and brought some lovely bread and treated ourselves to a cake - not sure what it was but it was like a sticky bread pudding cake with cherries - yummy.



Most mornings we awoke to sunny skies and it was very warm from early on, then after lunch the thunder would start and then down came the rain. It came down with such force that we could not hear each other speak in our apartment as the roof was made of tin - might be a good thing though......... It was lovely to laze in the hammocks outside but under cover and watch and listen to the rain falling on the flowers and plants and it really cleared the air. We cooled down in the small pool just outside our apartment, particularly when we had been out for a walk or shopping. On the whole we had the lodge mainly to ourselves although we were joined by a few fellow guests for an odd day or two. The only other longer term guest was a young guy called Archie from Serbia who was in Costa Rica learning to speak Spanish and also to Surf (Spanish seemed to be easy but he was having problems with surfing. He had a job during the day on the internet which was funding his trip and he was very pleasant to talk to and interested in what we had been doing each day.





We decided to stay for another week in at Tico Adventure Lodge and Janice and her husband Chris let us keep the large apartment for a fraction of the cost which was kind. We spent our days walking, swimming, shopping and reading and not doing much else but we always seemed to fill the day - golly how did we ever find time to work and run a house.........



Janice lent us a excellent field guide - ‘Wildlife of Cost Rica’ which helped us name the animals and birds we were seeing around the area. These included, White-throated Magpie Jays which is one of the largest songbirds in Guanacaste at about 18 inches, the blue body, white breast, exceptionally long tail and tall forward curving topknot feathers on its head made it unmistakable to recognise in the book. We also saw many birds on the beach and inland including; Grackles, Black Vultures, Frigate Birds, Striped-headed Sparrows, Mangrove Black Hawks, Cinnamon Hummingbirds. On the beach we saw crabs of all sizes darting into their holes as soon as we walked by as well as Whimbrels and Willets. Inland we saw many Variegated Squirrels which lived in the trees dotted around the village along with lots of large lizards - not sure what they were though. We did not spot any monkeys but they had been seen in the trees near our lodge but we always seem to miss them.



Most mornings we awoke to sunny skies and the rain usually started after lunch. You will have all heard of the saying ‘raining cats and dogs’ well here it rains ‘elephants and giraffes’. The noise on the tin roof of the apartment was deafening and you could not hear yourself speak when the rains started. High above the apartment were some massive trees which used to drop hard nuts on to the tin roof - it was like a bomb going off and we jumped every time even though we should have got used to them.......We also experienced a few more earth tremors but nothing more than the sofa moving or the chair you were sitting in starting to shake, so all was well.



We walked every day along the beach and continued to see many more birds in fact we saw at least one different bird each time we went out. On one of the walks we followed the beach along to where the river flows into the sea and then took a track inland along the river edge, having to wade into the river sometime to get around the mangroves. There was talk of a crocodile here a couple of years back but we had seen locals walking up here to fish so assumed it was OK!!! At a sharp bend in the river we had to cross over and continue along the other side of the bank to get any further up river. Our Keens (wet shoes) came in use here but we just had to be careful that we did not get washed down stream - but it was usually quite easy to cross at low tide. The many birds we saw on our walks here including the lovely Orange-fronted Parakeet, Tropical Kingbird, Great Kiskadee, Streaked-back Oriole, Social Flycatcher, Yellow-headed Caracara, Green Heron and Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, the Hoffmann's and Lineated Woodpeckers, the latter having a vivid red head like it was wearing a cycle helmet.



One day after two days of torrential non stop rain (5 inches, no wonder its so green) we walked to the beach (still in the rain) and inland along the river and spotted a Great Blue Heron which was about four feet tall together with four Roseate Spoonbills, a beautiful pink bird and when they took to the air it was an awesome sight - but alas I did not have my camera to capture the special moment. The next day we walked back to the river hoping to see them again and sure enough we were lucky to see them again as well as the Great Blue Heron. This river bank was always a hive of activity and we often saw two different kingfishers, the Green and Ringed Kingfishers the latter being the largest in this hemisphere.



Often as we wandered back along the beach horses were roaming freely on the tide line and several used to start wandering into town, it was just like being in the New Forest with a beach though! Most days there were more horses and dogs on the beach than tourists........ Locals would ride up to you and ask you if you wanted a ride - hopefully they will do more trade when the ‘tourist season’ starts at the end of next month. We of course adopted quite a few stray dogs that would walk with us for a few hours along the beach and then disappear to pick up someone else wandering by, one though followed us all the way back to our lodge. Alison and Eddie do you remember this happening to us in Corfu all though years ago?



We met our host Janice’s sister who had arrived for a holiday from Canada and had a long chat to her, she had a bad experience on her way to Costa Rica having had her purse stolen in Houston with all her money. She still does not know how anyone managed to take it out of her bag. Gave us a sad reminder of our time in Sri Lanka when our bank card was stolen. She said that her three grown up children had visited the UK to see the Olympics and had a thoroughly good time and were really impressed with the country and the way the games were run - we here this often from people that visited during this time.



On our last night in Samara we had just finished dinner and Janice and Chris's son Sean was playing ping pong upstairs above our apartment with some local friends when an earthquake hit - it was quite bad and the young girls were screaming. Paul and I stood under a doorframe as the apartment rattled and rocked then we went outside to see if the kids upstairs were OK. It was quite a big shock and one we will never forget, the swimming pool outside was spilling water over the sides and the floor outside felt as though it was tilted but luckily everyone was OK. Janice was concerned and getting a little anxious with the situation in Costa Rica, she has lived here for eight years running the lodge and has never known such experiences. The epicenter of the earthquake was again only a few miles up the road and the following was reported in the local news within minutes: NICOYA, COSTA RICA – October 23rd, 2012 – An earthquake initially reported as 6.6 magnitude on the Richter scale by USGS has just rocked Costa Rica. Local media is reporting magnitudes from 6.2 to 6.4. The epicenter is being reported as being 5km northeast of Hojancha in the province of Guanacaste, or 7km southeast of Nicoya, the location of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake which struck Cost Rica on September 5th. Reports of strong shaking are being reported throughout the entire country. Strong shaking was felt in the capital city of San Jose. Various other reports of strong shaking have been reported throughout the province of Guanacaste. The earthquake was felt extremely strong as far away as Limon. Unlike the September 5th earthquake, this one was far more shallow. Aftershocks have already occurred. Some agencies are now saying there is NO tsunami alert. The quake was felt as far away as the neighboring country of Nicaragua.



Don't worry - we are fine but we keep wondering what is happening with the world with all these earthquakes and strange weather patterns but we cannot dwell on that.........so we keep happy and the days mingle silently together - we have become so relaxed and comfortable at the lodge in Samara, particularly lazing in the hammocks on a sunny afternoon - but it’s time to move on and tomorrow our shuttle bus ‘should’ arrive in the morning to take us to La Fortuna a small town a few miles from the Arenal Volcano can’t wait - see you there.........





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