Semana Santa

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Today we made it to Quepos, just a few kilometers North of Manuel Antonio. One thing Deanna and I did not take into consideration too much was that it is Semana Santa. Essentially, it is like Spring Break back home, or Holy week here. All the kids have school off and a majority of adults have Thursday and Friday off, so everything is much more crowded and finding a cheap room has been difficult. Anyways, I will get everyone caught up for the last couple of days. One thing that is funny is how slow the first week went by, it felt like it would last forever, meanwhile this week is just flying.

Monday

We finally headed out of Samara, it was sad to leave, I don't expect are trip to be better than our few days staying there. We were going to take a bus from Samara to Nicoya so we could pick up the transfer bus to Mal Pais. We got lucky though and Chris, one of the owners from C & C surf Shop in Samara was heading into town and gave us a free lift. As soon as we arrived in the Nicoya bus depot it was pretty crowded, we went ahead and stood in line to buy tickets to Mal Pais. Balto, the Tico father we were staying with told us the roads from Samara to Mal Pais were really bad and that we would need to take indirect routes. Samara is roughly 80 kilometers from Mal Pias. Taking the indirect routes Balto was describing included a bus from Nicoya to Playa Naranja than another bus from there to Montezuma or Mal Pais.

At the bus depot, we were standing in line and a bus pulled into a spot right next to where we were standing. A Costa Rican working there asked where we were going (mind you we were standing in a long line) we told him Santa Teresa/Mal Pais. He told us to get on his bus and said it would be much faster. Deanna asked him in Spanish where it would take us, He said Puntrenas. Puntarenas is on the mainland and would require us to take a ferry back to the peninsula then another bus to Mal Pias. Remember, the roads are really bad and taking this route is not absurd. Deanna asked him more questions making sure we should get on the bus, and the guy told us if we did not take it that we would have to wait for another bus that came at 5 pm (it was 8:30 am). We decided to jump on the bus.

Little did we know of the huge mistake we made. This bus ended up taking us two hours North to Liberia than another two hours south to Barranca, not even Puntarenas. This driver was freeaking insane, driving down here is different granted, but I don know how many close calls we had with this guy. Let's say this, I was planning what I would grab when the bus went off the road and started to roll. INSANE!! Meanwhile, Deanna had to go to the bathroom right when we got on the bus, but the guy never stopped long enough for anyone to use the bathroom (which is normal down here for long trips).

So like I said, he dropped us off in Barranca, which required us to get another taxi to Puntarenas in order for us to catch the ferry back to the Peninsula. The ferry ride was a nice break but took another hour and a half. Then when we got to the Peninsula, we got another taxi, cause we did not want to take another 3 hour bus ride (this cost 35 bucks). This driver, Alexis, was pretty cool though and felt bad for the day we were having. He took us to a market where Deanna and I each bought a beer and drank in the car. Things were getting better, needless to say. We finally got to Santa Teresa, just north of Mal Pais, around sunset and still had to find a hostel. We checked out Franks Place first, expensive though 45 bucks a night, so we cruised down the road. Brian, who Deanna met on Travelblog, suggested Hotel Tranquilo near the end of the main street, but it was full. We went to this hostel that was a private bedroom and shared bath/shower for 10 bucks each. After seeing a spider just smaller than the size of my hand and the water shutting completely off midway through Deanna's shower we decided to spend the money and go back to Franks.

Monday, now known to Deanna and I as Black Monday, was lost to poor decisions. Fortunately, we had an awesome dinner at La Sirenita (about 200 meters North of Franks Place and has a mermaid painted on the wall). I got some shrimp and they were so good we went back the second night. Also, the family who ran the place was really nice and played surf videos the whole time. Later that night we went to the main beach bar called Tabu for Reggae night and really had a good time. Monday was a long day.

Tuesday

Tuesday was much much better. We handled our trip from Santa Teresa to Quepos, then went and rented a board to go surfing. We went to this place called the Shit Hole (not joking) although the guy had to drop the letters H-I from the sign because it was offensive. A board was 15 bucks a day. The surf at Playa Carmen was awesome. The waves at Playa Guiones were better by far, but the waves here were so consistent all day even with onshore winds there were plenty of waves. Of course, in the morning and right at sunset is when the surf is best. Through the day the smaller waves ranged from 6-8 feet and the bigger waves were 8-10. Great surf and even a god spot for beginners during low tide. Deanna has been improving quickly and is begining to take matters into her own hands and not needing my help catching waves. She rode more than five waves a good 200-300 feet. It is cool watching here get excited and want to keep catching more waves. We spent the day at the beach and even enjoyed a random rain strom in the middle of the day. This break had the most surfers I have seen in the water so far, some guys were just shredding. Yet, there were plenty of waves to go around. We watched a pretty sweet sunset also.

After taking the board back we stopped at a little shop to look at some gifts, it is right in front of the Shit Hole. The Belgian guy (i think he was belgian anyway) who owns the place, Pete, was really cool. He had a lot of marijuanna merchandise. While we were looking around he rolled a spliff and offered to the both of us. Like I said, cool guy, I definitely took away a good memeory from that place and a nice buzz.

Wednesday

We got up at sunrise. By the way, about this time outside of our room sounded like a jungle orgy was going on. it was so damn loud from all the birds chirping, squeaking, and whatever else sounds they were making. Anyways, we tooka taxi that picked us up at the Franks to Montezuma where we jumped on a taxi boat to Jaco. The boat ride was fast and kinda painfull from the chop on the water. Deanna saw a big sailfish on the way though and I know the trip saved us a bunch of time. Well, worth the 40 bucks each. Especially leaving early like we did; otherwise i think the water would have been a lot worse from the winds. When we arrived in Jaco, a cab driver tried to screw us for 50 dollars to Quepos, when buses are only like 3 dollars and a 1 1/2 hour drive. We got a cab into the city and bus stop. We got there at 8:45 and the bus was not going to be there til 12:30. Jaco was nasty, seemed like a real dump and I was glad to leave. Fortunately we met another Italian couple and the guy Mirco spoke some Spanish. The four of us managed to get a private taxi to Quepos for only 30 dollars, good deal, especially split across four people. Saved us a huge amount of time also. The italian couple ended up getting a room at Hotel Ramus where Deanna and I had reservations.

Quepos is also a little more scuzzy then other towns and cities we have come across. We will be going to Manuel Antonio for our last couple days before we go back to San Jose for our flight back home. It started to pour here today, so hopefully it will go away tonight.

If you want to take a look at Deanna's blogs her screenname is: tweedledeej

We have been writing about different things so if you are looking for more info you may find it.

Pura Vida

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