Samara Beach Trip

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So my first vacation day since march so Samara is suggested and since its only like three hours away by bus I hope on board awesome. So off we go the day comes I leave on a 6 am bus from my community to Nicoya and then a bus to Samara which has me there by 9 am. So I call the others and realize that they wont be here till like 11 or noon. So I head to the beach with all my stuff.
I soon make friends with a nice group of seniors from Spain who sort of adopt me we have several short conversations and I come to realize that I hate “wow your Spanish is really good” just about as much as I hate your English is so good... our conversation continues mostly about the waves (just right) the strength of the sun (too much) and the quality of the supplies in the local supermarket (not really that great) .they stopped short as a woman in a bright orange thong bathing suit walked by trailed by like 7 dogs.. immediate disapproving chatter ensued bringing about an important philosophical debate albeit an internal one : Why was it worse for these middle-aged Spanish women to see a fit women with her butt hanging out then it was for them to see like 5 ridiculously out of shape men in the skimpiest European style speedos that just barely covered their front parts cause that was what bothered me. ….
after that brief interlude they agree to watch my stuff while I take a walk down the beach I decide to risk it and leave my bag mixed in with theirs as they hide under palm trees from the sun . I briefly think why come to Costa Rica if you don't want a tan but then I banish the thought and start walking down the beach near the photographed “surfer's gym” I stop to look at the sign for banana boat tours for 5 dollars for two hours around the near islands per person and I think I could do that (and also not knowing what a banana boat is) staring at the sign or just standing near them or just being more interesting then exercises a group of surfers approach me they are quickly jazzed to see I speak Spanish. We start talking while I start answering as all four of them are talking at once. One of them notices then comments on my rip curl pro search hat and I tell them that I was there for almost the whole thing and that I live in jobos (well sort of) errr lived... one of them bashingly asks if he can use the hat to take a picture I give it to him not sure where this is going but he seriously climbs on top of that jungle gum looking thing with the hat on and the biggest smile ever and he takes like ten different shots before jumping down and passing the hat on while someone else jumps up. my inner revelry of how never in a million years I would ever be able to just alley oop myself onto that thing, it would be like climbing Everest for me, was interrupted by a decently hot surfer dude who asks me if I just speak Spanish I shake my head English too. He nods thinking before asking me if I got to meet Kelly Slater to which I respond nope he then asks me about Taj Burrows and Mick Fanning I tell him I saw them surf but didn't even come close to seeing them in person too many damn people... the only person I got close too was Steph Gilmore. He nods acknowledging the coolness before changing the subject we talk about school about what I am doing here (Samara then costa rica) he is a local boy he then offers me a free surf lesson for tomorrow I regrettably have to decline as the time of his beginner class is after the last bus out but its the only low tide thats not 330 am. He offers to come out at 4 am and teach me while the sunrise . Now I may be interested but I am not stupid enough to come out on a beach with a guy I've known for like 5 minutes so I give him a half yes half no and tell if I can find a friend to come with me I will come he nods and begins to say goodbye as he has to teach an advanced class . While he starts to walk away they pull out the banana boat and I just shake my head that is not a boat I say half under my breath but still all those surfers heard me and bust out laughing and tell me I should see it drive... I have an odd feeling they are making a joke at my expense so I say goodbye and start to walk back to my stuff. But my cute friend stops me and asks me for my number so we can chat later I pull mine out and we exchange numbers and I say goodbye again and rejoin the Spanish contingent just in time to see the thong lady pass again to more clicking I had never noticed before and maybe its just a Spanish thing but its like clucking in English but it comes out more like clicking.. ok moving on so I chat some more with my new friends mostly about whether or not I like ham I admit that I don't they are disappointed. I return to the water leaving them to their lunch as I jump among the waves. I then see a group of tourists head out on the aforementioned banana “not a boat” and drag it to the edge of the ocean then some guy ties it to his jetski and takes off with them in tow they hit the first wave head on and rock but don't fall over the second wave however causes a total wipe-out. They actually manage to reboard and the guy takes off again and another wave and capsize. A second guy heads out there with a second jetski and manages to get them past the breaking waves without eating shit again. He then heads back in and leaves the jetski just floating in the shallow water to head back to the gym. I then have a completely internal Jeremy Clarkson moment from the South America special “hey you didn't park it” hee hee... so of course the damn thing starts drifting so I go running after it getting soaked from head to toe in the process (which I guess is the point at the beach) I manage to grab the darned thing and drag it back just in time for him to come running out of the trees and takes the darn thing throwing me a towel as he takes off. I don't really think about the pedigree of the towel I just use it on my face and return it to much cheers I then bashfully left. Putting my skirt back on I saw the third person of the day walk past with my same board shorts on .. now I realize they are OP probably mass produced there are millions of them in the world but it still bugs me can't help it.. I saw goodbye to the Spanish contingent not even thinking to ask why they are all women (yeah didn't think of that to hours later) I take all my stuff and head to the main drag back to the bus stop to meet my friends.
Coming back to the beach to reach the hostel we pass the surfers and I get the homeboy nod (I am so proud) where the Spanish ladies where is now empty so we keep going and going.. after we are more than halfway there I get a text from Mr surfer telling me that he saw my jetski save from the water and he thinks that I am awesome he again asks me not to forget about tomorrow we could even start at 5 am..i ask the group if anyone wants to see sunrise on the beach no takers though one says she has to get on the bus back tomorrow at 6 am.. I tell her I will walk with her so she is happy but I don't mention that in my message back.. we get to the place with an assist from another guy who was staying there. I'll take this opportunity to recommend the place Hostel Casa Brian really cool liked it a lot... we settle in I take a quick outside rinse off before changing settling down to a game of solitaire. We head out to dinner passing the surfers den but I didn't see mr surfer I did however see mr. jetski who smiled and did that whole cheers with the beer in mid-air thing. We reach the place order and begin to have our meeting. We all introduce ourselves discuss projects (both current and potential) then current business then food. On our way to ice cream Mr. Surfer texts me back saying he was sorry he missed seeing me when I passed. After I stop blushing I tell him that I can come tomorrow as long as my friends get up to go with me he tells me not to worry he is going anyway.. we catch a cab back to the hostel and play sequence for a bit then we crash out. I wake up at 430 and get ready to go to the beach wondering what I will do if the girl who is catching the bus decides not to. The owner of the hostel is actually up cleaning the kitchen when I exit my room. I ask him if the beach is safe for me at this hour. He tells me that the locals are already out surfing by now and that I’ll be fine but to bring my knife (I had used my hunting knife to open a pack of cards the night before)... I go back to my room to get it and come out just in time to see the girl catching the bus come out I do a mental happy dance tell the owner i'll be back grab one of her bags and take off into the darkness with my flash light. When we pass the surfers I give them a nod Mr. Jet-ski comes over I don't see Mr. surfer I explain that I am taking my friend to the bus stop and then coming back... he nods and sends two of his boys with us... they literally walked two feet behind us the whole way talking amongst themselves I left her at the stop I had intended to wait but as the stop was packed she said she would be fine so I headed back alone except for my escort.. I return and Mr. Surfer whips out a board two times my size (at least it seemed that way to me) I then proceeded to make an ass of myself not managing to get off my knees but then again it was my first lesson I did manage to not make the rookie mistake of not wearing a shirt. Aferwards we talk a little while he walked me back to the hostel we both agree that visiting Hawaii would be awesome... he leaves me at the door while I enter to have banana pancakes (umm yummy) he texts me before I finish breakfast saying that he told his mom about the whole banana boat is not a boat thing to his mom and she thinks i'm funny.. I manage a response before packing my stuff up and stashing it to return to the beach but by now the waves are shot to hell so I walk up and down the beach collecting two pieces of interesting driftwood on my way. I head back to the hostel pack up hose off and head to the bus stop.. Once I get there I manage to attract the attention of a drunk who thought I was just chevere he kept patting me on the shoulder and moving where I moved smiling and nodding saying chevere over and over again between nips of something potent from an unmarked glass bottle.. a black guy with massive dreds was passing us by in board shorts with no shirt and stopped saying something unintelligible to the man and he then left me alone looking sheepish . The dred guy called me mamacita and lamented that I was leaving I assured him that I would return and he took off on his bike..
the bus came and headed to nicoya to wait for the next bus. While waiting I let my hair loose and shook it out releasing like a metric ton of sand oh yeah baby i'm a beach bum again...

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Comments

[Ray]

wow
Hey, I loved the pics and keep writing.