Costa Rica / Nicaragua 2018: Week 1

Brrrr!  When we planned this trip last summer, we had no idea that TN, as well as so many other parts of the USA, would be having such extreme cold weather the first of the year. For those at home, sorry, but we've got to admit, it makes this trip even better knowing that we are missing those single digit temperatures.

Here's a recap of our first week.
On January 1st, we left the house at 3am and had a long travel day ahead of us. After landing in Costa Rica around 2pm, we had a 2.5 drive to Puerto Carrillo.  The drive had us going through some beautiful farming areas with the mountains in the background.  Our driver, Luis, was very friendly and provided great information along the way.  I asked about the name of the province, Guanacaste, and what that means.  It's actually their national tree and he pointed some out.

Of course, we had to stop and get a coco frio for the drive.

We had a small hiccup along the way - a flat tire.  While Luis changed the flat, and Brett directed traffic, we heard our first howler monkeys. I first thought it was dogs barking in the distance. Here's a link to a video in case you want to hear what they sound like. Howler monkey

We were tired when we got to the condo, so had a quick bite to eat at the Soda next door. A Soda is what they call the small local restaurants.  After dinner, it was time to set up my office and test the internet.  Since I'll be working down here, having good internet and a comfortable "office" area was a must. We're staying in a studio and had to do some rearranging, but in the end, the outdoor table and bench made a good office area.

Since I'm working during the week, it's been Brett's mission to venture out and learn our surroundings.  He wanders to the beach and around the neighborhood each day.  After work, we walk to the beach, which is about 1/3 mile on a steep dirt road.  On our first walk, we saw over a dozen howler monkeys (we haven't seen any since).

On that same first walk, I had the brilliant idea of suggesting we walk to the next town over, Samara. We'd heard it was an hour walk.  Well, about 2.5 hours later, and walking mostly on the beach, we finally made it just after sunset. We saw these weird squiggly lines and mounds in the sand on Playa Samara.  I had to Google them when we got back.  I couldn't find much, but I think they are from a lugworm.  Yes, the mound does look like a turd, and from what I read, it's worm castings, so that's exactly what it is.

Of course, here we are in Costa Rica, and we found ourselves at a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Then came the truly most brilliant idea of the day - we took a taxi back home.

Our condo complex is 6 units and so far we've been the only Americans staying here, with everyone else being Canadian or Costa Rican.  We had a nice man from San Jose, Costa Rica, stay here with his two boys for a few days. Brett really enjoyed chatting with him at the pool and we went with them to Samara for some beach time and dinner on Friday night.  We are staying in San Jose on our last night before we fly home, so we're hoping to be able to meet up with him again.

Brett has also made friends with a local Tico, Patricia.  Patricia speaks no English, but is very animated, so with Brett's minimal Spanish and a lot of hand waving and charades, they figure each other out.  They ran into each other by the beach the other day, so walked back together.  On the way, she stopped on the bridge and started banging on the metal rails and told Brett to do the same. Apparently, after about 10 minutes of this, the crocodile woke up and emerged. Yup. Crocodile. Yikes! Brett said it was about 5 feet long. We have seen lots of local kids playing in the shallow water just on the other side of this bridge.  So scary.

Today we decided to head to Samara again, but the plan was to take the bus.  Maria Elena, the lady who runs the condo complex, said the bus comes at 9:45 on Sunday.  However, the sign at the bus stop said 12:00, and another Tico saw us waiting and told us it would be quite awhile. So we walked back across the street to call a taxi only to have the bus drive by shortly after we left the bus stop. Next time we'll listen to Maria Elena! In the end, we decided not to call a taxi, but to walk it again. This time we came across a group of fishermen.

It was a good walk, but I now have a nice sized blister on the ball of my foot, so we'll be taking a few days off from long walks.  On the plus side, we did take the bus back and picked up a copy of the bus schedule:-)

The beach here in Puerto Carrillo is stunning.  It may well be the most beautiful beach we've seen, and while these photos don't do it justice, you can still get a glimpse of its beauty.