Pura Vida en Costa Rica

After leaving San Juan del Sur Nicaragua, we headed south on CA 1 and crossed into Costa Rica.

There is only one border crossing for vehicular traffic, which makes things pretty chaotic. The Nicaraguan side of the border was horrible. We had to pay a guy to help us, because we couldn't even find the people we needed. At every other border there is a line and a door or window or desk under an awning, but in this case you just walk around and look for a policeman and then walk around and look for a customs official. After you have found one helping someone else you have to get them to come with you when he is done. Then you go and stand in a line in a building with power that switches off every 5 minutes or so, for immigration. Finding the roaming officials required a seasoned pro. Additionally all the buses, trucks, and personal vehicles are in the same area, adding to the chaos.

The Costa Rica side was quiet and everyone was friendly and in a designated place.

Parque National Rinconcito Viejo
We headed up to Parque Nacional Rinconcito Viejo. We stayed at the Rinconcito lodge near the entrance, it was quiet and not dry or windy, a very nice change from Nicaragua.

The next day we drove the 10 minutes into the park. With the exception of the park ranger, no one else was there. We took a great hike through secondary growth forest to some oak forest where there were some aguas thermales. You could smell them way before you got there, up close the sulfur was so strong it made my nose itch. We decided to pass on taking those waters.

Instead we stopped at a small waterfall on the way back to the ranger station.

The water was pins and needles cold, but it felt great to drop the core temp. We enjoyed the cold water, clear air, and the sounds of a band of howler monkeys making their ways through the trees.

We liked the park so much, we decided to spend the night there and to pass the remainder of the afternoon reading and playing cards. After paying the camping fee, we were attacked by biting gnats. They were vicious little creatures. I'll take mosquitos any day, but please not these things. The bite was so forceful it created a tiny blood blister. And they itched! Boy-howdy did they itch and swell!

The good news was that they didn't bite through clothing, so we changed into loose-fitting long shirts and pants and put on socks. Then put deet based repellant on our hands, necks, ears, and edges of our faces. Of course we didn't think we needed to put repellant on our ears actually, wouldn't it be enough to put it on our necks? No. Dave and I both got bitten on the ears, then put on repellant. I also received four bites to the face, prompting the ONLY time I have ever put repellant on my face. The good news was at dusk they all disappeared, and the mosquitos were hardly noticeable.

What was noticeable was this guy, known to Ticos as a pizote, aka coatimundi.

He busted into a food bag we had set on the top of the car, eating the bread we had planned to use for sandwiches the next day! Then he stalked the campground hoping we would let down our guard again, but we knew his little tricks.

It was an uneventful night, minus the multiple ticks Dave had to pull. We each had two ticks attached and found more crawling on our clothes. I am pathetic when it comes to pulling ticks. Ticks gross me out, big time. Cockroaches are fine, snakes are fine, spiders are no worries, scorpions I don't want to be on close terms with but they don't give me the creeps. Ticks are another story. I can't hardly pull them off Louiedog, let alone pull one off of me! But that's why I travel with Dave. He takes it all in stride, sticks a hot lighter on its butt and gives it a tug. My hero.
**Just to give credit where credit is due, Mom and Liza are my heroines. Mom has helped me out more than once when I had a tick trying to make a meal of me or one of my pets, and without Liza, Louie would have had to stop going to Elk because he always picks up ticks there. Also, once Liza rushed home when I thought I had a tick between my toes. Ends up it was just a scab. But she still rushed home after I called her totally disgusted and freaking out just a little. **

In the morning we got up, my feet were attacked by more gnats when I walked to the bathroom without socks, Dave made his coffee and we were on the road fleeing from a lovely park and some horrid insects!

We spent the next afternoon and evening in Heredia. It is about 10 minutes from the airport. The San Jose airport isn't really in San Jose, but 30 minutes outside of it. We bought Acerito, hung out at the mall. I was reminded that malls are the same in Malaysia, Thailand, Costa Rica, Texas, California, Mexico... But the mall had free wifi and we had a new computer. Plus in Costa Rica where everything costs as much if not more than it does in the USA, sitting in the food court using free wifi is a very economical way to pass your time.

On the way to the mall, we saw a sign that might explain why some people like to visit Costa Rica.
I think the only worse name would be Esposas de Comprar.


Playa Guiones
The next day we picked up Robbie, Dave's friend from way back, and Ele, Robbie's girlfriend. Then drove 6 hours to Playa Guiones on the Nicoya Peninsula. You might look at a map and wonder why it took 6 hours, but if you were to look at what Ticos know to be CA1 you would understand. Most county roads in the states are better than CA1 is in Costa Rica. No shoulder, not even a gravel shoulder in most places and never a paved shoulder, no dividing line, no passing lanes, nothing. By far the worst condition for CA1 in all of Central America. Because Costa Rica is a more prosperous country than the other ones we have been through, there is a noticeable increase in the amount of cars on the road. Costa Rica is also very hilly, some might even say mountainous although I wouldn't. To top it off, even if they wanted to widen the ''highway'' to meet demand, politically it might be difficult because everything is built right up to the edge of it, meaning thousands of businesses would have to be moved to accommodate even the adding of a shoulder.

We arrived to Playa Guiones to spend a week relaxing and enjoying being in a house. We rented a great little house. New construction (everything around there is) and it even had a little pool!

Dave and I were so excited to get out of the car for more than a day or two. I was thrilled to have a kitchen. I made, and we ate, three big batches of cookies in the week we were there!

The first day we were there we got stuck. Shortly before getting stuck we saw this giant pissed-off bull.

Thankfully we were a few minutes delayed while Robbie and Ele took a picture, otherwise instead of meeting him, and the two cowboys wearily escorting him on long ropes, in a big riverbed crossing we would have had to share a small dirt road.

That evening Robbie had a little run-in with his surfboard. Not wanting to risk infection or a scar he sought medical attention. Being that it was after hours he had to go to the local redcross, they didn't quite appreciate his concerns and only did a little alcohol swab followed by a plain old bandaid. He made it out alright though, considering the medic traded services for a cocacola.


The Playa Guiones/ Nosara area is a total surf scene. Ticos, gringos, and other Central Americans flock there. It was dry, a little greener than Nicaragua, but not that windy.
We had a much needed rest, which included lots of pina coladas, reading, and cribbage. I tried surfing a little more. Ele taught us a new card game, Scopa Scientifico.

I wouldn't recommend Playa Guiones unless you a) like to surf and don't mind sharing the line up b) you are going to a yoga retreat at what appeared to be a first rate yoga center across the street from the house we rented or c) are taking a rest stop and want a nice quiet place to cook, sleep, read, and swim in a small but lovely pool. The beach was salt and pepper sand with no shade and poor swimming and the town is all new and a scene for wealthy Ticos and gringo surfers. The upside is that with the down economy and the off season coming up, you can get a good deal on rentals like the one we had.


Headed to Panama!
After a week of homecookin' and rest we were on the road again. This time we headed to the Caribbean coast. Unfortunately we had to go back through central Costa Rica, but the highway to Puerto Limon is much nicer than CA1. It was still a long drive with hours spent behind a few semitrucks that insisted on going under 20 coming down the mountains. It was a pretty drive through forested volcano peaks and dropping down to the antithisis of the Pacific coast. The Caribbean is green, lush, and humid.

We spent the night in the small town of Siquirres. Nothing remarkable, but a clean room only cost 15 usd, and that is something to smile about.

The next day we were at the Sixola/ Changuinola border ready to cross into Panama. The crossing is mainly used for bananas headed into Panama for export to Europe or the Pacific coast of North America. It is a one lane train trelis bridge high above the Sixola river.

Traffic crosses by taking turns in about half hour increments, or whoever gets there first. There was no one directing traffic when it was our turn to cross. We peered to the end of the bridge and proceeded cautiously. The main hazard was the pedestrians walking across. There is no seperate place for pedestrians for about 20 yards, so everyone is on the bridge together.

We had heard it is a quiet and easy crossing. I can see this being true on a normal day. But this was not a normal day. It was Maundy Thursday. In addition to the banana trucks and the normal trickle of tourist vans, there were lots of Ticos heading to Bocas del Toro for Semana Santa.

The paperwork on the car was the fastest and easiest yet, on both sides. The Costa Ricans issued us an extension/ re-entry pass and the Panamanians, were gracious and quick. Immigration was another issue. Neither side is equipped to handle mass amounts of people. We had the unfortunate luck of being behind TWO tourist busses on the Tico side. One group going in and the other heading out. On both sides of this border the incoming and outgoing are all lumped together. The Tico line seemed long, but it moved quickly because all they did was stamp your passport and take the form you had filled out. The Panama side was another story. We waited in line, in the sun, next to the fumugation station, which was used on every vehicle that came through it, for THREE HOURS! Well we waited for two and a half, Robbie and Ele were in the line the first half hour we were dealing with the car. Because of the waiting in the hot sun and being sprayed with a mix of chemicals the FDA and EPA most likely strictly limit human exposure to, this was the WORST border crossing.

Once across we headed 15 minutes down the road to Chinguanola to get the ferry to Islas Bocas del Toros...