Travel – Page 15 – Whatsittwoya

Montezuma

Well, I spent my last night in a tent here. After two days at a hotel, my back was getting sore. Believe it or not, the beach is cooler at night than a hotel room with a fan. I could go for A/C, but that would set me back $30/day minimum. It’s not that I don’t have the money; I am not a vagrant here. I just don’t see the use in it. Privacy isn’t a concern for me, at night you can’t see a damn thing anyways, and showering in my shorts is something I have become accustomed to. I pretty much live in shorts now. There is a private shower here when you need, the ocean is 100ft away, and it is considerably quieter than my hotel room of the past few days, not to mention, I have quite a lot more real-estate to call mine. To top it off…1500 Colones a night. Nyuk nyuk…

I spent some time yesterday setting up camp. I leveled out a spot in the sand for the tent, then dug in a flattened log as a porch. This keeps the sand out, y’know. Went into town (there are only two streets here), got a nice hammock (something I have sorely been without), a length of rope at the grocery to hang it, and a book by some dead guy to pine away the hours. It took a little time to put things where they were not in the sun at the proper times of the day, but I have been learning fast. I put a stick in the sand yesterday where it wouldn’t be noticed, and marked the arc of the sun. Some say I think too much… When I am gone, I back the car against a sloping tree so access to the trunk and steering wheel, and everything of value within, is impossible. The only worry is vandals, and there are two security “guards” here.

The morning found me awake before the howler monkeys first call. Monkeys are awake before the roosters, by the way. I made a pot of coffee while scratching my chin over what to do. Camera in hand this time, new hammock, book, water, cigar or two, swimming shorts, and towel, I went back the way I was yesterday, only farther. I figured on reading my book in a hammock down the beach somewhere, and hunger would bring me back before noon.

I found it the same as I did yesterday, only far less people that early in the morning, but made my way to the beach I didn’t have the umph for yesterday. A long stretch of sand, sadly littered with plastic paraphernalia, but flat and rock-less with the tide all the way out. About 1/4 of the way up the beach I eyed this spot. The picture tells that story.

The leaves underneath me are cleared away only to keep me from stepping in the ants that roam underneath them. I didn’t want to at first, being lazy and all, but when you are getting bit… you change your tack.

I remarked to myself this afternoon after returning from brunch, while swinging in my hammock in the shade of mangroves; a light ocean breeze, young bikinis walking past in either direction, iguanas eyeing me on their meander, weird birds fit for the Queens’ hat, squirrels dropping nuts on me, a 100 years old book in hand, and my favorite cigar… “This is perfect.”

How long before I tire of it?

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A Few Notes

On the way to the ferry, I stopped for gas and found this. It is safe to say I was green with envy. The roads from Quepos to the port of Puntarenus (I’m not sure if that is how it is spelled) were all good. Just that crappy section between Dominical and Quepos.

Coming across on the ferry towards Peninsula de Nicoya.

This is the little spot of stone towers. I forget what the proper name is for them. It is also at the mouth of that little stream to bathe in.

Do remember that you can click on the pictures to enlarge.

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so I leave my camera at home…

That is something I shouldn’t have done today. I found myself out on a long walk to see wherever I could get to at the other end of the beach. It went for quite a ways, winding up and over a headland of sorts, and then onto another beach, anon anon…

First I found the waterfalls, cutting back up into the hills father back than I was willing to climb with only sandals on, but the nice thing about it was the little wading pool people had made where it met the beach. Just a few well placed rocks, and the result was a pool about 20 ft in diameter and deep enough to float in. Why was this good?

Well, when you go into the ocean, there is nothing better than being able to rinse the salt off of you, and then find a log to sit on and air dry. There was a little community of folks there and one guy had taken it upon himself to set up all these balanced rocks like what you would see in the arctic. Only the weather was better.

On from there, across another headland and onto the next beach. On this one was the entrance to a biological reserve. The sign said “Do Not Enter”, so I didn’t. I walked up another 50 ft or so and sat on a log to chill out. That was when I noticed I was surrounded by monkeys in the trees, all looking at me with their curious faces. At first I just sort of ignored them, but as they got closer (there were about 10 of them that I could see), I thought it better not to have my back to them. I found another log facing away from the beach, grabbed a beating stick just in case (these things have teeth, y’know), and sat and watched the show for…who knows how long. Acrobatic little buggers.

From there, there was more, but it was too hot, I am still trying to stay out of the sun for a bit, and I had already done quite a bit of walking. So I just went back the way I came. I will be sure to go back and try to get some pictures of all those monkeys. I didn’t try touching them, but they came quite close to me as they were looking for food.

By the way, this is a much better internet connection. I found this just after being told that the whole penninsula was dial-up. NNNNGGGGG. Rong. Won’t be back there.

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Damn Slow Connection

I left Uvita sometime around 9:30 to meander down the road towards Dominical. I had thoughts of leaving for Quepos first thing this morning, but just wasn’t up in time to make the journey. I want to do that trip in the early morning when it is still cool, as I know it will take a while because the road is terrible. Doable, but terrible.

So, here I am, in the middle of hippie-central, chillin’ with my tent on top of the roof looking over the beach. Well, it looks through some trees, but for 2 buks, who can complain?

They gave me a mattress to put under the tent. I am comfy like a bug in a rug, without the bugs.

As I was sitting watching people surf, cheating by eaves-dropping on a surfing lesson, out of the surf came some guy hopping on one foot. It turns out he had been stung by a manta-ray. The puncture wasn’t too bad. Deep, maybe, but he couldn’t drive his car to the doc, neither could any of the members of his family (because it was a standard), so I drove him in his car down to the doc. It was only a half a mile.

So, I guess they are serious when they say to shuffle your feet as you enter the water so as not to piss off any manta-rays laying peacefully nearby. The sting got hot as hell, and they gave him some anti=bacterial ointment to put on it. Nuff said.

That…….was the highlight of the day.

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To Quepos

Well, the road to Quepos was terrible, as expected. I set out in the morning, with my tires hitting the road at 7:40. One hour later I had made 20 km. That was about as good as could be expected, and I remarked to myself several times along the way how glad I was that I actually dragged my ass out of the tent that morning. The road was bad up until “Quepos 22 km”…then it got worse. There is a long section where there is nothing but palm oil trees as crops, and the traffic mostly consisted of large trucks. Windows rolled up, I had to stop twice along the way to wipe the dust of the wind-screen.

The second time I stopped was to pick up two guys hitching a ride to Quepos to look for work. I thought it would break my souring mood, and it did. Just imagine those two guys walking the rest of that distance in the baking hot sun!!! Yeeech.

Anyways, I made it to Quepos at 10:30ish. I didn’t mark the time as I had passengers. Thanks to them, the minutes passed by a little quicker.

Quepos itself is a nasty little shit-hole of a town. Tourist-trap written all over it, complete with all the beggars on the street and in the stores. I spent a little time looking for the Wide Mouth Frog, only to find they didn’t take campers. I really didn’t want to stay there anyways. There wasn’t anything to do but book yourself for this or that tour. Sport-fishing seems to be the big draw there, that, and acting like an ass from the states. It really wasn’t my bag.

So I decided to go out to Parque Manuel Antonio and look for a place there. Good thing I did, too.

On the way was this CIA plane they had shot down once upon a time. Something to do with Regan and some illegal guns… otherwise known as the Iran Contra Affair. The plane was actually shot down in Nicaragua but imported here, to capitalize on of course. It is now a restaurant.

Also from there, I played “I I also found this place, Cabinas Ramirez, where you can camp a mere 15 second walk from the beach for 1500 C a night (3 buks). It is at the end of a long winding road, littered with high-end hotels and packed with tourists. You wouldn’t know it from where I am camped. I am next-door-neighbors with this guy carving 8 foot long teak logs into sculptures, using chainsaws, grinders, hammer, and chisel.

He only does it from 9-2 every day, so noise wasn’t an issue. He has offered me a chair a number of times already. Suffice it to say, he knows most of the locals around here who stop by and visit throughout the day, so a chair in his camp is an entertaining place to be. Nice work, nice job, nice life. But I still wouldn’t trade him.

Right next to me in a tent, is a HUGE lady with what is now the smallest dog I’ve ever seen. Yes, that is my hand I am holding it in… trembling.

This morning, up early, I made my way down towards the park. It is a tiny little park, packed to the gills with tourists by 10 AM, but surprisingly clean and worth the visit. 7 buks to get in the gate, nice shaded paths through low-hanging trees and vines, with monkeys, ocelots, and all kinds of animals I can’t even name. All you had to do was stop, stand still, listen for a little while, and you would spot something you had never seen before.

The park had some amazing beaches as well, not the least of which was at the tail end of the road. It is just like me to go right to the end of the trail to see what is there. I came this far, why bail without seeing everything.

There was a mirador (look-out) that just about killed me getting to it. Hot, humid, and devastatingly steep, it pulled you onward to a spectacular view of the coast.

From there, as you looked straight down, “I Spy With My Little Eye” a beach with no one one it.

Well, the hunt was on.

To find this place beat the crap out of me. Up, down, up, down, all along this tight little trail through the jungle. Hot, humid, spider webs across the face, and at the end all that remained was a rope to hang onto and the sound of the beach, as yet, unseen. When I finally made it to the shore, it wasn’t the one I was looking for, but….theeeeeere it was over there.

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Parque Manuel Antonio

Ok, so you guys are just going to have to wait for a bit until I am nearer to an internet source.

Manuel Antonio is a place for pictures, and I have some, but I didn’t pack them with me. I am just at an internet place checking in. Got some serious sun today, so I am glad I had a good base tan. Still a little pink.

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A Day Later

Y’know, I don’t really know what to say about today. I guess I need something to read.

I spent the day as a ping-pong of sorts. In the morning I went to what I thought was the free access to the “pay every day” park, but ended up at Playa Ballena…so I guess that is not where I stayed several nights back. That will remain a nameless mystery.

The waves were good, and I started putting some serious thought into finally renting a surf board and making an ass out of myself. At this beach, the waves were 6 feet or so, came in sets about every 5 minutes, and in the really tall ones (while I was staring at them deciding), I saw what looked like a small sharks swimming back and forth in the crest of the wave.

“$^%^^” cool!! were the first words out of my mouth…until I thought about it a bit. They were about the size of my leg…not fatal or anything. I just don’t know anything about what is in the waters around here. I just saw a big crescent shaped tail fin and it looked like an e-mail that had been doing the rounds a while back. It was probably some other type of fish, but it made me stop and think for a bit. Then I decided thinking was just a bad idea.

So…I survived and decided to go the other way to Playa Hermosa (not the REAL one so I am told). The access was dicey, you had to drive along the side of the road for a while to come at the access without high-centering the car, and as soon as I made it down there a sign greeted me saying “Dangerous Rips: Beware”. Ok, I didn’t even get in.

Getting caught in a rip-tide is scary. It doesn’t matter how good of a swimmer you are, if you are caught without knowing it, you are in. What they say to do is swim parallel to the shore until you are clear of the current (you can tell by looking at a specific spot on the shore), and then swim back in. This has happened to me, and it takes huge will-power to stay calm, deal with it, and wait for your time to swim out of it. If I told you my heart wasn’t pounding when that happened, I would be a damn liar. Most times I don’t go much farther past where my foot can reach the bottom, so you can tell by dragging your toe in the sand if the ocean is pulling you one way or another.

In the afternoon, I went back to Playa Uvita, when the tide was coming in, and that was a better experience than the last time.

I have some pics of the little water fall up the road,nice cool water here,

and the smallest dog I have ever seen in my life which can bounce 2 1/2 feet in the air to get your attention,

and a gratuitous picture for my garage wall when I return.

Looks better with the tinting, eh?