South Pacific, eastern shore.

Wednesday Dec 12/Thursday Dec 13

Still need to straighten out my Photobucket mess. Here's some unorganized images.

I considered heading back up through the mountains on my way back but the beaches and surf compelled otherwise.

Actually when I was down in Carate I was talking to the guide about the area and mentioned my thoughts that Domincal sure seemed like it would be a good stopping point. He laughed and agreed, saying yeah, "Dominical is exactly what it seems to be." What Dominical seems to be (and is) is an extremely low key surf destination.  I planned on taking my time heading back to Saint Joe and this was my first stop. Not a whole lot else to add about this place other than Dominical has feel of an old school surf camp. Lots of Americans but a lot of local surfers too. The best internet connection I found is at the San Clemente bar.

Next stop along the way was Jaco (pronounced "Hock-oh") Jaco is more of an actual town with a paved center street, businesses, etc. San Hermosa beach (south of there)  was the beach/surf area that I spent time at. No facilities to speak of or anything. Just a long dirt road, some condos and the beach. Surfers too, of course. It still had that completely low key vibe that I had been expecting to find have leaving San Isidro and finding in abundance.



Next stop, San Jose.

End of the Road, End of the World

Well, not really.

Tuesday, Dec 11: Osa Peninsula

Too lazy to fight with Photobucket today. Here's a link to all kinds pictures.

A million years ago when I first moved to Florida, one of the first road trips I went on was to Key West. As destinations go it was pretty much a bust for me. I think I expected something different at the and "end of the road" experience. Many years later I got more of what I expected in northwestern Florida in places like Inglis/Yankeetown and Ozello. In spite of (or maybe because of) there not being much more than a boat launch at the end of these places they felt more or less authentic. Official even.

Carate at the end of the Osa Peninsula has the same kind of groove, although instead of a boat launch there's a paved (but unattended) airstrip. A very official end of the road experience.

I woke up early this morning and had the entire lodge to myself, which was pretty cool. I had scheduled a guided hike and was definitely glad I went that route. There was no way to gauge how far we went but it was a hard push for 4 hours. The guide pointed out a lot of things I would have missed or blown right past and had some pretty interesting factoids to share about the local flora/fauna. Frogs, lizards, crazy birds with birds even crazier calls, the occaisional local mammal... the hike did not disappoint.

The hike ended up at the Pacific ocean where we ran into one of the guide's co-workers who was getting ready to pillage a coconut tree for what it produced. I have to admit, the guy could climb a tree like no one I ever saw. Anyhow the timing was good for us to knock the top off some coconuts and drink the contents (pipa).

<insert shower/lunch/nap>

Later in the day I headed down into the valley to check out some waterfalls. This I did solo and damn near got turned around and well and truly lost. If it weren't for a man made object that I just happened to notice when I hit the stream bed I might still be out there!

One thing that really struck me, at least this time of the year was the total lack of biting insects. That's right. I encountered one single mosquito and that was it. At some point in life I'll definitely return.

Rollin', rollin', rollin'... Though the streams are swollen...

Monday, Dec 10

I got a late start out of San Isidro de El General but hey, I got a few important things laundered and dried and piled on some more of that delicious Gallopinto. Especially with that yummy sauce which they tell me I can get back stateside. The road down from El Sid was a great drive and really easy. More Sodas along the way so that I could nurish my new Fanta grape soda addiction, although I am disappointed that there is no Mountain Dew and there are no Chicharrones. I'm still keeping my eye out for the later.

I've stopped to move my share of turtles out of the road but this was the first time I'm pulled over for a tarantula. This guy was mellow.

I also stopped to give some two legged mammals a ride. The first was a British ex-pat who was walking down the road with some new stove parts. Evidently her current stove crapped out during Tea Time and she was then compelled to do something about it, e.g.; walk several miles to pick up some Victorian era parts to work it out. Some people just have different problems. The others were a couple of local kids who needed a ride further down past Dominical. More smiling and nodding and shoe-horning the combined 25 words of English and Spanish we shared into some kind of conversational aggregate. We all had a good time. This stretch of road between Dominical and Puerto Jiminez was a real snoozer so I'm going to edit that right out and no one but me will have to suffer. What I will mention is that the turn off to go towards Carate was very strange and without the GPS maps from  NavsatCR I never would have made it. I had to twist and turn through some seriously stony roads through a poorer district and eventually wound up bouncing down this crazy, straight, tree lined rocky road with pastures on both sides, though to the east were some bucolic hill scenery and to the west was the Pacific ocean. It felt like driving through a quarry and let me tell you, if something in that kind of a road is a pothole it's not your normal pothole. You negotiated with it.I know I did

The road... Holy crap. The Road. I attempted to collect the slightly scary messages the Garmin was displaying for me for later review;

ALERT: Dangerous bridge ahead
ALERT: River Crossing 4x4 Only
ALERT: X Crossing Ahead, You take all responsibility
These are real. I kept waiting for;
ALERT: Beware, here Be Dragons

In all honesty I hadn't seen roads like this since our place in Lasqueti, BC. At times this was pretty much a logging trail, at other times calling the road a logging trail was a kindness. Really. It turns out that most people take a 4x4 taxi or boat/fly in. I crawled in on four wheels and a prayer.

This video was from a spot where there was some gravel to stop on and watch other crossers.

The one below wasn't the last one either.There was at least one more that twisted down into funky little rapids and a good opportunity to practice avoiding boulders. When I started getting close, the crossings started to get closer together and more steep.

 I finally made it up to the hotel and a bunch of folks came out to greet me. I had been advised before I came out that if I was driving myself up I should make sure I came during the day and I can certainly see why. They were stunned that I made it. I was stunned that I didn't bruise Gordito el Terios. The little 4x4 wasn't really a strong puller but when you're driving a 5 speed at least one of the gears is "first". I spent most of the 32km in 1st & 2nd. There were no less than 6 "river" crossings and more like 8 (I lost count), some were actually pretty impressive although none required a snorkel. Some of the uphill and downhill sections I actually could have used a spotter. Not one big rock bruised the bottom of the Terios and no plastic was injured in the filming of this feature.

At any rate, I made it. I was just in time to shower and sit down for their dinner. A nice wrap up to an awesome drive that was (so far) the high point of the trip.

Cerro de la Muerte? Meh.

Sunday, Dec 9: My posts will probably be less than "real time" due to the general lack of internet. It's not a huge priority to keep this thing *that* current :)

Saturday definitely ended on an "up" note and the morning started out pretty good too. The folks at the hotel put out a simple breakfast of gallopinto, fruit, toast and tea. Yep, I drank tea and I *never* do that. I was just so thirsty and it was so sugared that it worked out. After walking around and checking out all the funky plants in the courtyard my ride showed up and dropped me off at Budget to pick up my bizarre little Daihatsu Terios (henceforth to be known as Gordito).

 The huge inroads that I recall German cars seem to have in Mexico definitely haven't been made here. It's mostly Toyatas and Suzukis. Oh sure, there's a wide variety of other things including some little El Camino style Chevys and Nissans that I haven't seen before.

 Today's drive definitely had some dramatic scenery, but the road did not meet my expectations of doom. I've driven crazier roads on the west coast of the US and more dangerous roads in West Virginia. This was actually pretty easy driving with the last 15 miles leading down into San Isidro de El General being the prettiest. There were quite a few wind power stations working up in the mountains and the clouds were really whipping across the road but some reason I never felt it in the little gordito I was driving.

There were plenty of of roadside cafes (called Sodas) along the way. They don't sell gas or anything like that but they do sell snacks (hot and cold), drinks, have restrooms and sometimes like one of the ones I stopped at have game rooms for the kids.

Here's one of about a million older Land Cruisers I saw, and an interesting fact about the number of early 80s series Toyota Land Cruisers I've been seeing down here. It turns out that the price of coffee had an unprecedented spike back then that hasn't been seen since. I think it was like $3.40/lb compared to less than $2. When the money was rolling in a lot of the farmers took the opportunity to get a new truck and that model was really popular at the time. What I'm even more jealous about is that many of these are diesel. Way cool.

San Isidro de El General is *not* a big city, but it is a big town. It's busy, dirty and confusing with lots of one way streets and it's not always apparent which ones go in which direction, especially the way people park. On the upside I had no problem leaving the little truck thing parked like a local while I walked into the hotel to confirm I was trying to get into the right parking compound. Holy moly, what a mess.
.








So today I pretty much walked around watching the townies do their thing. My room felt something out of Casablanca. Even the bar/restaurant down/in front was full of old, white ex-pats who gave me the impression they had gotten divorced and just bailed out. A couple of them had what would seem to be local brides but overall just looked like perros sin dueño and there was no shortage of them rolling in and out of there all day. It was totally strange. I don't think I'd spend a day in this town again but over all I was able to get around easily and it was worth it just to soak up the local vibe.

Next Stop, Osa Peninsula.

Sabado Gigante

Friday, Dec 7
My delightful bride sent me out of Minneapolis as the first of the snow came in. Sure, there was a little snow earlier in the year and while it was about as materially useful as my Spanish language skills this looked like it would stick. Apparently Jack will be inaugurating the snow blower season. Good man. I flew Spirit airlines into ORD and the seat had curled me into a semi shrimp shape that had my upper back aching before we were halfway there but at least it was a quick flight.

Staying at the O'hare Hilton on my long layover was a snap and eating at the Gaslight Club at the hotel was a gas. It was loaded with old people, and by old I mean in their 60s and 70s. They were all dressed in this kinda speak-easy bustierre (sp?) and garters thing and sang old vaudeville stuff and the whole thing was uber creepy. I ate and bailed. Funny line though, the piano player was making "I'm Old!" jokes and mentioned that he hid his own Easter eggs. I barked a laugh into the quiet room..
The hotel was definitely the high point though. The staff treated me like I was *somebody* and I slept like I was innocent.

Saturday 12-8
My flight out was at 5:30 so all the eateries were closed. I figured I'd eat something substantial later and just got McSomething at a McFast McFood place. Seat two into FTL had an immovable headrest that hit me directly between the shoulder blades that wasn't much better than the first ride but I spent most of the time in my book and just dealt with it. The layover at FTL was pretty short so I just grabbed some more light reading and rolled onto the next bird. If the seats were crummy the actual location of the seats were great. I was up front and didn't have to stand all stooped over staring at traveller ass while the flight attendants bumbled with the doors. The last seat actually wasn't that bad. It had that kinda retro-bus faux gray dolphinskin leather that was all crackly and weird but it was mighty roomy.

The flight into San Jose was pretty "facile", as I think they say down here. Actually the entry was too. The border guy asked in poor English if I spoke Spanish, to which I answered in perfect Castillian Spanish, "No" and that really seemed to grease the rails. After hanging out talking Florida fishing with a guy at the baggage barfer it was a quick run through the taxi gauntlet to my ride to the B+B Vista De Los Volcanes hotel. This is where the roller coaster started; literally and figuratively.

Up: Costa Rica is the first place I've been where the tropics were hilly. Florida/Louisiana are all flat, right? But this is way hilly country and I was really digging ride. Windows down, barking at traffic, the whole thing. Living it up.
Down: I'll preface this part by stating up front that I know I don't speak Spanish, I'm in a Spanish speaking country and that the point of this trip is just to see what happens when I throw myself into that situation. Well, here's what happens.
I learn that my hotel can give me a network password, but oh, the network doesn't work.
The complimentary ride to and from the airport is actually only *from* the airport.
I'm in a neighborhood where I've been encouraged *not* to leave the compound (turns out that was wrong advice after all), it's 4 o'clock and the last McThing I ate was at Mc4 McEffing:30 this morning. I'd burn an acre of rainforest right now for another one. Ironically, that's probably how the meat on my last McMeal was McMade.
These seem to be communications issues not strictly related to language.
I will say that in the future I will have a keen insight into people that don't speak English but bob their heads and smile when they talk to me. Buddy, I've been there now. Let's have a beer.
There's a few other people at this place. One is lone woman with a guitar who stays in her room. Alone. I hear no music. Or musica. Anyone seen that movie with Antonio Banderas? El Mariachi or something (Desperado!)? A gunfight would liven this place *right* up.
The other character I had some hope for because I heard her presenting broken Spanish to the crazy lady working here with her little daughter. Broken is about right.I think she's attending some spanish speaking school the people here run. I saw her with some kind of diploma but I'm not sure what it was for. Maybe for remembering 4 Spanish phrases? Anyhow she was useless to me. I get mean when I'm hungry

Oops, now here come a bunch more doughy white folks... let's see what happens.

UPDATE:
The white folks are also part of this Spanish school. They have found beer somewhere. Time to investigate!

UPDATE:
In short, they were all either French or midwesterners that took the class... but!
I found the English *speaker"!
He arranged beverages!
He helped get some killer Espaguetti Frutti di Mare from Banco de los Mariscos!
He booted the router.
I may have to cab it to el Airopuerto to pick up my wheels but as far as I am concerned I am SAVED.
(Thanks Carlos)

Oh, and here are some impulsive pictures from the flight and a couple of videos to make you motion sick.

Geek Interlude

I've had two developments on the maps/GPS front.

First, I actually read some docs for Garmin's GPS Mapsource program and was able to not only load the CenRut 2.8 maps on my Garmin Nuvi 205w (gasp!) but I was also able to include the 50m topographic contour data. This is perfect because now I will not only be able to see where I am when I drive over the edge of the road on the Cerro de La Muerte, but I'll also be able to discern the nature of the cliff.

I don't know if the voiceover from my Garmin will pick up any of the map's idiosyncrasies or not. Maybe a Latin accent?

"Ay! De cleeff! De CLEEF!!!

...or maybe full blown Spanish?

"¡Oye! ¡Perdedor! Ten cuidado con el acantilado montañoso..."

Anyhow, the second thing was that I was also able to load Cenrut's maps onto my Droid thanks to Navitel. This software was written by a Russian company, so again, I'm wondering... maybe a Russian accent? 
"Da, is cliff. Mebbe you should have rented airplane?

...or maybe full blown Russian? "Эй, неудачник. Вы действительно хотите ехать со скалы?"

I'm still planning on renting the NavsatCR maps, but I couldn't leave this alone.

Itinerarium

Well, the GPS project turned out to be more trouble than it was worth. I'll still probably load up the open source maps and bring the Nuvi but I'm definitely going to rent a unit with the car. Cenrut.org seems like a good idea that I can get behind but on this trip I want a little more confidence. The other option was to lease a map from navsatcr.com but it's the same price to get it from the rental shop so I'll just do that.

Since I'll be travelling without a laptop and relying on my Droid for any communication (wireless only, no cell on this trip) I've been printing out the confirmations for my currently planned stops, which so far are;
-Chicago
-Alajuela
-San Isidro de El General (hmm... Maybe Dominical? This one could change)
-Carate (Osa Peninsula)
...then what?

I'm not sure. I'll figure it out when I get there but I'm going to wing it for the last 2 or 3 days.
So far I've been using Lonely planet and TripAdvisor for research, but I've been pretty happy with booking.com. Once I hit the ground I'll end up talking with others to see what looks interesting.

Flights are set with a 9 hour layover in Chicago on the way out and 4 hour layover at my old stomping grounds in Fort Lauderdale at 9:30 on the way back.  It could be worse.

Friday's the day...

I recently started working at a new job in September. My co-workers are really laid back and while I didn't expect to have any time off to speak of it turned out I had 4 days plus 1 floater that needed to be used before the end of the year or I'd lose them. How cool is that? Anyhow my wife and son aren't able to take a break but I've been given leave to go and have a good time and come back with lots of pictures. I do solo trips from time to time and I'm going to make this a good one. I've got a pile of points on my credit card that I can use to fly for free and even rent a car...

So I'm thinking... how about a road trip in Costa Rica?

View Driving directions to Dominical, Puntarenas, Costa Rica in a larger map

Next time you hear from me I'll (hopefully) be done hacking my tired old Garmin into using a routable, open source map of central America.