As I write this, we are hanging out in Jacó, which is our last stop in Costa Rica. We’ll catch you up, then discuss Jaco and Costa Rica in retrospect.
went to see Sloths and Monkeys, I suppose.
We left Tamarindo by public bus, headed towards Puntarenas. We spent 4 nights in Puntarenas, and should have spent only 2…not really a lot to do there. We had some nice meals, visited the aquarium, walked around a LOT. This is a sort of gritty, industrial town with a marina, a fishing port and a Cruise Ship Pier. Our AirBNB was just off the Oceanside promenade, so there were ample restaurants and walking opportunities. One day, while we were there, there was a Cruise Ship…a repositioning cruise leaving California and heading for the Caribbean. Unlike most Cruise towns, there was not an influx of overwhelming tourists…they all got on buses and went to see Sloths and Monkeys, I suppose.
But our first happening of note was an AIrBNB snafu. It seems that there was no hot water in the unit, and I could tell that it wasn’t “broken,” but actually did not exist (there was one pipe to the faucets). This is actually not uncommon in Costa Rica, which sounds kinda third-world. But remember, the “cold” water here is really lukewarm – not like the near-ice-cubes that come out of the cold faucet in Chicago. Many places just don’t bother with HOT, and the cool water actually feels pretty good after a day in the heat and humidity. However, I have been careful to book places where AT LEAST THE SHOWER has hot water, and the Puntarenas spot indeed showed this in their listing. When I contacted the host, they mumbled something about the listing being inaccurate, and suggested that AIrBNB somehow changes this…a statement I wasn’t buying. I didn’t have to call her out on this, though, because the host graciously moved us to a much nicer unit in the same building that DID have hot water.
Puntarenas is also the town where the World Famous (?) “Churchill” was invented. The only way to describe this is as a oversweet Ice-cream-ish bowl of diabetes-inducing flavors. It consists of shaved ice with the usual sweet syrup, topped by ice cream, topped by fruit and surrounded by Evaporated Milk. A parfait of sorts, but far more sickly sweet. Sometimes with actual fruit as a garnish.
And, in case all of THAT is not sweet enough, two condiment bottles were offered…one Hershey’s Chocolate syrup and the other a bottle of pure, vanilla-flavored sugar-syrup. Oh, I should have mentioned a couple solid dollops of powdered milk in the bottom. The strategy is to eat it from the top down. Inevitably at 96° In the Shade (REAL HOT, in the Shade…) , the ice and pretty much everything else melts, and as the ice melts, you stir it up with the powered milk to achieve a milkshake of sorts.
Leaving Puntarenas, we headed by ferry to the tiny and remote village of Paquera.
As mentioned in our previous post, we spent a few days there, at a very rustic AirBNB.
And, by rustic, I mean, in addition to no Hot Water (which they disclosed and we expected), no A/C, no TV, etc. There was a shared outdoor patio/living room, though, and some really interesting guests in residence. The proprietor was a delightful Dutch woman who organized some awesome tours for us, and also cooked dinners and offered lively conversation.
The first tour was a visit at dusk to a bay where Bioluminescent Plankton exist in large numbers. We did this by Kayak, and watching each stroke glow as the paddle-swirled water travelled off behind us was a combination of eerie and spectacular.
The next day, we did what was billed as a snorkeling tour with a beach lunch on a deserted island. Well, the wind was up (WAY up), so the boat ride was like a combination of a roller coaster ride and an MMA-bout complete with kidney punches and spinal bruises. They managed to find the Lee-side of an island and I did get in the water but visibility was poor, and so Liz did not bother. It was pretty rough, and afraid of being blown away from the boat (or vice versa the boat blown away from me), I decided not to take my life jacket off, even though I swim well and snorkeling is far more fun/interesting without one. And, even the lunch did not transpire as planned because the captain did not feel he could safely get to the beach.
After Puntarenas, we took another bus to the town of Manuel Antonio, which is very near the National Park of the same name. This bus ride had to transit a section of road that was under construction. The zone created a one-lane road, and approximately a 2 hour delay, during which the A/C on the bus failed. We worried about that road construction: The same zone is between us and the airport at San Jose (where we soon depart)…and we heard stories about the 1.5hr trip taking 7 hours!!!! This was the ONLY schedule we worry about, since we are otherwise not on a schedule.
As it turns out, though, the construction just finished and the road is now fully open!
Looking on the bright side of the bus ride/construction delay, Liz was fortunate enough to participate in Spanish lessons, offered by the Toddler in the seat behind us!!
Which, truth be told, the novelty wore off of fairly quickly…
In Manuel Antonio we had a SPECTACULAR AirBNB which was centrally located to many restaurants and to a public bus that, for a whopping $0.75, would take us to either Quepos (a larger town) or the park itself. Our host arranged a private hiking tour of the park with an EXCELLENT guide. The number of critters he showed us through his telescope and expertise was amazing. It fully requires both…as my Uncle once said about fancy cameras…you still have to know what to point them at. Although this park was almost overwhelmingly busy, Our guide managed to keep us out of the crowds for the most part, while revealing many wonderous critters and plants.
The wildlife in CR is amazing…even the critters that tip over the trash cans at night, are familiar, but not quite…
While in MA, we very much enjoyed the AIRBnB’s private backyard pool. Our host also advised us about a nearby beach, and Google said it was about a mile and “mostly flat,” so we decided to walk. Well, it was the very farthest thing from flat as it descended several hundred feet to sea level over the space of less than a mile…
note to self: be careful following Google recommendations.
We also enjoyed several restaurants, including a sushi place and an Indian Restaurant.
I think at this point I will provide a gallery of ALL the critters we saw throughout our CR Time. The sheer variety, due in part to the various microclimates makes you feel like you are walking in a zoo even as you walk down the street.
From Manuel Antonio, we took a couple buses to get to Jacó. Again, cheap and easy. In fact, we are starting to get the hang of bus transport…the intention was to go to the Jaco station, then Uber to the condo, but I realized we were going to go right by the access road to said condo, so I pushed the button and we exited early. That put us there B4 checkin time, but there was an excellent coffee shop at the entrance that served refreshing smoothies and allowed us to camp for a couple hours.
Escorts are NOT PERMITTED!
The condo we rented was in a gated area that is just South of the main drag of the town. That turns out to be fortuitous as the town itself is quite lively. And by lively, I mean music, bars, clubs, restaurants and prostitution (which is not a crime in CR). The Condo rules have a clause that I have never seen articulated explicitly before: “This is a family neighborhood, Escorts are NOT PERMITTED!” Jacó has long had such a reputation, apparently, and although this amenity is not “in your face” or dominant, it is accessible. By virtue of our location, we could walk to said liveliness, but also escape it.
This combination makes the town and the stay probably the “best” we have experienced during our time here. There is lots to do, as mentioned, many excellent restaurants, clubs, bars, beachfront libations, grocery options, a hardware store, bakeries…not to mention a really NICE beach with VERY patient surf instructors (stay tuned for more on that!). The condo itself is super-comfy, with 4 bedrooms (more on that in a bit, too), gourmet kitchen, laundry facilities, a great patio, a pool, excellent A/C and even Macaws that enjoy the trees immediately behind.
Say what?
We DID have a little bit of a struggle with the AirBNB Host/Condo Manager…about trash bags and toilet paper, of all things! When I asked for replacements after a couple days, the manager’s response was: we provide enough for a few days, but after that guests are to replenish on their own.
I guess I can understand this for seasonal rentals, which perhaps these condos have many of. If you rent a place for several months, you’d expect (and management would expect you) to purchase your own supplies. But, has anyone ever had a short-term (think hotel) stay where you had to provide your own TP? We’ve travelled a LOT, and that includes AirBNBs the world over…never had this experience B4! We eventually resolved our differences, perhaps because I tactfully (really! Ask Liz!) suggested that this was much ado about $0.50 of TP on a rental costing many (MANY!) times this!!! Once we passed this little speed bump, the manager has been nothing if not accommodating and helpful.
One thing we came to enjoy was a local fruit stand within an easy walk of the condo. The fruit here is nothing short of AMAZING, and relatively cheap. This particular stand had a worker that helped us select the “best” version of whichever fruit we wanted. He would turn over an entire crate of papaya to find one that was just so. Same with mango, pineapple, etc. The BEST of each I have ever eaten without a doubt. I know he must have been psychically in tune with the fruit to divine the best because one day he wasn’t there, and I picked. My choices, made by squeezing and prodding, just as I thought he had, were merely adequate, at best…certainly not epiphinal!
One of the things we LOVE to do here is drink fresh fruit smoothies, which you can ask for “sin azucar.” The condo had a blender, which we looked forward to putting to work. Unfortunately, the coupling gear was stripped. No Funciona. I was sort of missing my normal mechanical duties anyway (some would call it being homesick!), so I spent a day fixing the device. Of course, after first verifying that the fix would be less costly than replacing the blender; a skill I have perfected in 10 years of Bluebird maintenance. Anyway, I bought some special epoxy (with Google Translate helping me to read the labels) and sandwich bags; using these to fill the stripped coupling and keep the epoxy in the coupling and off the motor shaft. My guess is the blender will likely outlive me, but certainly, at least, our stay here!
The Jacó condo was a bit back from the beach, but only a very easy walk away. Once on the beach, there is a little tent with a lovely fellow named Estéban, who caters to every beach need. This included Chaise Loungers and umbrellas ($20/day), boogie boards ($10/day) and SURF LESSONS. These were $50…guaranteed…if you don’t get up and ride a wave, you don’t pay, said Estéban. I decided that was something I needed to do!? Anyway, there is video evidence of me, “surfing” just long enough to owe Esteban $50, and without necessitating a trip to the hospital. So a COMPLETE SUCCESS, and just as with Bungee Jumping, once is quite enough for me!!!
We did go to the beach almost every day for at least a couple of hours. The beach is delightful…about a mile of Sand with a gentle slope in to the water and a reasonable but gentle surf. Perfect for a dip, senior citizen body surfing or Boogie Boards. We actually bought a couple of Bag Chairs when we were in Tamarindo, and have been hauling them all around Costa Rica, so even though Esteban’s chairs were more comfy, we used our own most of the time if we were only planning to be there for an hour or so. Esteban’s we utilized for full beach days. And, there was a beachside bar offering all manner of cold beverages and a beachside restaurant offering very tasty sustenance.
And speaking of beachside restaurants, there are several that offer a really nice sunset view. We visited one in particular, Koko’s, 4 or 5 times. Each time we showed up to a fully packed and/or fully reserved place, and they managed to find a table for us, without a reservation, right on the front sand. They also made a heckofa Caipirhina. This might be what I will miss the most, upon our return.
Then there is this place…we HAD to go in, and even acquire their signature product.
Taste TBD.
So, you might wonder, why would we rent a FOUR BEDROOM CONDO? Well, prior to departure, we had had joking conversations with many friends, who CLAIMED they would come down and visit if only we had an extra bedroom.
We decided to make that happen, to see how many of our friends were actually all smoke and no fire. What we discovered is at least 3 couples willing to drop everything and head south with about 3 weeks notice!!
We are TRULY HUMBLED (and maybe a little scared?) to have so many friends as crazy as we are!
So, we DID have visitors occupying ALL the bedrooms, sort of in shifts. The Williams (Jim and Cheryl) came down for a week. A few days later the Harriffs and DeWitts arrived together,…the former for 4 days and the latter for a week. We helped organize tours to various CR Highlights…some that Liz and I joined, and some that we had already experienced so sent the kids off in the morning and awaited their return later in the day. Around these excursions, we did a lot of beaching, eating, imbibing and general debauchery.
ALL of our crazy friends exclaimed, as they were climbing into their airport return transport, “Where are you going next year…?”
And that is the big question. One that cannot be answered until next year!!!
Meanwhile, we had one final “Pura Vida” experience on our last day. We had gone out in the morning for breakfast when I got a call from the Ride service we use to get to the airport:
“Where are you…there is no one at the unit for pickup”
“At Breakfast,” I said, “Because you are supposed to pick us up tomorrow!!
