Takin it Easy in Samara

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Guanacaste » Samara
April 7th 2008

Published: April 7th 2008

I left Tampa after a week with Candace for San Jose, Costa Rica. The plan when I left was to travel in Costa Rica until April 16th, fly back to Tampa, then to ATL, then to Malaysia with Jared....Jared is planning to go to Malaysia for business and thought he would be able to get me a free ticket by making me an "associate" of the company. I had planned to go to Thailand April 2nd, but he informed me of this opportunity to go to Malaysia just before I purchased a ticket to Bangkok. Jared didnt plan to go to Malaysia until April 21st, so I had a couple of weeks to travel somewhere closer to the States. So, here I am in Costa Rica. The free flight to Malaysia is up in the air as Jared is not sure if he is going anymore. I find out tomorrow if its still on or not. If not, I think I´ll stay here in Central America for a couple of months.

Ok..back to Pura Vida in Costa Rica....

This trip started off the way that those of you who know me well may have expected. I arrived in San Jose on the evening of April 1st. Before getting a taxi to my hotel, I went to the airport ATM for some cash. I took a Taxi to a hotel called the Adventure Inn. At check-in the girl at the front desk asked for my credit card. I proceeded to open my wallet for my debit card, but the card wasnt there....."Oh No!", I realize I left the damn card in the ATM. Back to the airport I went to try to find the card. Didnt find the card. The people at the bank in the airport told me the machine probably took the card. So, when I go back to San Jose, I will see if they have it.

In all three taxi rides that night to the hotel, to the airport, and back to the hotel, I was able to practice some Spanish skills with my drivers. From the first driver I learned that Houston Dynamo (Ricardo´s team) was playing the next night against Saprissa, a Costa Rican team, in the Concacaf tournament.

The hotel was nice...I highly recommend it if flying into San Jose and need a place to stay for the night. It was a little pricey at $75, but I wanted something decent my first night. They provided free breakfast and it was delicious. I had french toast and eggs with some fresh mango, pineapple, starfruit, etc. Adventure Inn can set you up with all kinds of tours and adventures in Costa Rica´s interior.

After breakfast I took a taxi to the bus station in downtown San Jose. Bought a ticket to Tamarindo, 175 kilometers away, for $6. The bus ride took a long, hot 6 hours. I took a seat at the very front in order to get a good view of Costa Rica on our way to the North Pacific in Guanacaste.

I went to Tamarindo in order to meet Josh Montesinos, a friend who lives nearby in a town called Veinte Siete (twenty seven). Josh works here as a scholarship coordinator and professor. He goes around Guanacaste and finds the best high school students in the region who can speak pretty good english. The foundation he works for arranges for the students to travel to a school near Josh in order for him to teach them English a few times a week. Out of his class, Josh accepts 10 students to give full scholarships to at one of four schools in Georgia...Berry, Ogelthorpe, North Georgia, and I cant remember the fourth. The foundation provides Josh a nice house and a truck at no cost. He is living the good life and enriching the lives of young ticos. Twanes mai!

I couldnt get a hold of Josh when I arrived in Tamarindo, so I found an internet cafe and sent him a facebook message explaining the area I would be waiting in. I walked down to a surf shop and as I was looking at some board shorts I look over and see a bearded man standing next to me that looks like Josh. I do a double take and realize its him. He said he called my name before I entered and followed me in...lol. We went back to his place, then back to Tamarindo so that I could rent a board and then we went surfing until the sun had fallen completely away. Sitting on our boards in the warm, equitorial waters of the Pacific, it was one of the best sunsets I´ve ever seen.

On the way home, we stopped at a really cool restaurant, Punto Tranquillo, for some dinner and cervezas. We both had casado de dorado (rice and beans with mahi-mahi). Over dinner and beer we talked and laughed about many things including some stories about the truss or as some of you know it..."The Chaw". Most of you will not understand my mentioning of the truss and the chaw...dont worry about it.

Back to Josh´s house we went for some more cervezas, music, and then sleep.

The next couple of days consisted of the same wonderful routine....

Wake up, have some coffee, listen to some music, head to the beach for surfing. We surfed at Playa Avellanas. The best waves I´ve ever been in. We had lunch at a place right on the beach and went out for another session after our full bellies digested for a bit. As we were leaving, we stopped under a mango tree where Josh threw a stick into the leaves a few times and out of the tree came some very tasty mangos. Then we checked out Playa Negra, a beach where the pros surf. The waves were double overhead as we watched some amazing surfers wip turns off the lip of the waves. For dinner we went to some bar at Playa Negra owned by a gringo form L.A. Happy Hour consisted of dollar beers and dollar slices of pizza. We ate some pie and got a lil buzz on and Josh beat my ass in fusball. If at anytime during the day you want to funnel a beer it only costs $1. So we finished our dinner outing with one funnel each. The bar has a record of 13 for most beers funneled in a day. What??? Josh and I both recall funneling 20 plus beers in a day at spring breaks in high school and college. Unfortunately, I cant take a day off from surfing in order to beat the record. Afterwards, we went back to the casa, did some yoga, listened to music, played some Mike Tyson Punchout on the XBox and went to bed.

The next day we surfed Avellanas again. Then we went to Tamarindo and surfed until the sun melted into the end of the ocean (wherever that is). We had dinner at Punto Tranquillo again and it was delicious again.

The next day Josh´s parent were flying into Liberia, so Josh dropped me off in Santa Cruz so that I could take a bus to Nicoya, a city with buses going in all directions. I was the only gringo in Nicoya. I waited until noon for a bus to Playa Samara. My plan is to make it to Mal Pais at the souther Tip of the Nicoya Peninsula in the Puntarenas region of Costa Rica. Mal Pais has some of the best surfing in Costa Rica. I have heard and read that the area is also beautiful and has a laid back hippie vibe. I couldnt get a bus there form Nicoya, so I went to Samara on a one hour bus ride. I had also heard good things about Samara and figured it was a good spot to go in order to eventually make it to Mal Pais beacause it is south of Nicoya. While on the bus, I asked a young tico if he surfed and if the surf was good in Samara. He didnt surf so he didnt know. That was the end of our conversation until the bus stopped in Samara and he told me it was time to get off. I asked him if he knew of a cheap place to stay. He said he did and he was on his way there so we walked together and I tried my best to understand him and to speak understandable spanish. His friend´s family owns La Perla, a soda that is front of the family´s home. Within the tiny compound they have a couple of rooms for rent. (A soda is a little restaurant that serves Costa Rican food such as casado and snacks and drinks). The kid on the bus is named David, he is 19 and goes to college in Nicoya with Manfred, whose family owns La Perla. I am introduced to Manfred, who is wearing board shorts that are hanging off his ass and an old school Oakland A´s hat atop his afro/dread hair. His mother shows me the room and I pay her $5000 colones for the night ($10). The room is basic and clean...I´m impressed. The room has a small dresser and desk next to the door and a pretty big bed. The bathroom is in the back of the room. I drop of my stuff and head out to see Samara with my new amigos, David and Manfred. It was a funny afternoon as I tried to speak Spanish with these guys. We walked down the beach and then through a beach bar to a street in the back. I needed money, so they took me to an ATM. Then we went back to the beach bar and each had a shot of Cuervo and a beer. As the tide went out, a bunch of ticos gathered for a game of pickup on the beach. Again, I was the only gringo and I was lovin it. These guys were good and there were alot of people playing. There were at least 10 on each side. I was able to hang with the Ticos, but I hurt my knee on a rock while surfing at Avellanas, so I couldnt show them my Cristiano Ronaldo-like skills. I went back to La Perla and took a shower. I had some casado con pollo at the soda for dinner. I was tired after I ate and decided to call it an early night.

Got up today and walked to the beach and then to the main street of Samara, used the interent and arranged for transportation to Mal Pais tomorrow. Its $40 for a bus ticket stright from here to there. Otherewise, I would have to take a bus back to Nicoya, then to Playa Naranjo, then Paquera, then Cobano, then a taxi to Mal Pais. It would only cost $10, but it would take 10 hours. The direct bus will only take 4 hours.

I talked to Candace on Skype and we both had video cameras on the computers we were using...it was pretty funny to see each other. She knows how to use the video effects, so she put elf ears on her head in the video.

I got some gelato at an heladeria (ice cream shop) and talked to the Italian owner about Roma in the Champions League. Went back to La Perla, had some more casado de pollo for lunch, and met an old gringo named Rich. He´s a hippie artist who just bought a house in Samara for $75,000. After lunch, I headed to the beach, rented a board and surfed for 3 and half hours. It was my best day of surfing yet. I was catching and riding waves all day. Finally! I am starting to really get the hang of surfing. When I brought my board back, I met the owner of the surfboard rental shop, Mark. He´s a gringo from Santa Cruz, California. He married a Costa Rican and they have young twins. The boys are probably 2 or 3 and have blonde hair and blue eyes. Its funny to see the little fellas speaking spanish. I had dinner at a pizza place and now I´m here at the internet cafe typing this first blog entry. Off to Mal Pais tomorrow. Pura Vida!

Takin it Easy in Samara

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