So after several days of just relaxing, I broke the spell and moved on towards Santa Fe, a tiny little mountain town at the end of 50 km of paved road up into the mountains. I have to say I liked it there, although I didn’t get to do much but walk around in the mud.

The book I am traveling with is a little old and doesn’t have more than 50 words about it, other than to say is it a great place for hiking and birdwatching.

When I got there, I didn’t even know if there was a single hotel in town. Some of these little out of the way towns are like that. No-one goes there, but for the people that live there, so there is no need, and on my first drive through I didn’t spot a single one. Santa Fe is teeny tiny, consisting of three paved roads, a basic fork in the end of the pavement.

After that, there were a series of dirt roads, as legs of a spider, that would get you lost in just about any direction you chose. The problem was that it was raining, and I couldn’t get any farther in my car without surely getting stuck. Once again, my car was the wrong tool for the job. :-/

So, in half-hearted disgust, I was on the road back out of town, where I stopped at a place I could pull out and think for a bit about just what I was going to do next. That is when I looked out my window and saw what looked like a hotel, and upon turning my head the other direction, saw the tiny sign.

The number of times this sort of thing has happened is beyond belief.  I always seems to stop right in front of what I am looking for without knowing I am right there!! Weird.

This is just one of many views from up
there. Many Many Many….

It didn’t take me long to meet two travelers from Sweden who were staying at the same place. They had been out riding horses to the waterfalls “nearby”, but didn’t make it because of the rain. I joined them as we set out on a different quest to find a coffee finca you were supposed to be able to tour. “yeah, just up the road and ask people for directions…” Riiiight…

I, at least, had a proper pair of shoes. The girls, however, were wearing sandals, and it wasn’t long before they decided to walk barefoot. I am still chuckling about it.  Santa Fe Mud.  No end to it.  What we ended up finding, was our way down to one of the rivers in the area.

With all the new rain, it was running high and fast, and reminded me of my rafting trip of the year before.  The little place just down by the river would rent you a tube to go down the river on…  Not a chance in hell, was my thought.

The rest of the evening was spent talking to others at the hotel, a German couple, the Swedes, a Canadian, and the locals.  Plans were made for me to go up to the waterfalls on horseback in the morning, but the morning was RAIN. Hard sheets of it. The girls from Sweden went on their way to the beach,

and by the time the weather broke, the guy with the horses had already gone to his other job. So, there I was, SOL.

It didn’t seem like the guy running the hotel wanted to put any effort into finding me another guide, so I went back down the mountain a little disappointed about the things I wasn’t able to do, but glad for the things I had seen.

The majority of my trip has been around tourist type areas, and I have not seen much of the “way it is”, or should I say, “the way it was”. This was a good, clear blast of what life is really like in much of the interior of the country.  Raw.

‘Nuff said.  Little did I know I would run into the girls from Sweden again as I was trying to find a place to stay around Playa Whatever later that day.

I was driving in on the road they were walking out on. Keep in mind, this is several hours later, and over 100 km away. They ended up jumping in with me in search of better places, and after much tooling around, we landed at this place.

El Refugio, just south of Playa San Carlos, is a great big house not 100 ft from the beach.  Everywhere around here is “through the nose” type places, except for this place, and had it not been for another weird twist of fate, we would never have known of it. 

This is another time where being able to speak Spanish, with a little Canadian charm, open doors. This place is a hostel, with a pool, wireless internet, use of the kitchen and all facilities, and a bed is 15 buks a night. AWESOME!!!! Especially when everything around here is so expensive.

I will have to get their names right before I shamelessly plug their place, but very few places have made me feel this welcome.

So, here we all are, in a house full of surfers and locals who know the area like the back of their hand, and are more than willing to help you out.

I will definitely add more about this later. Right now, I just can’t believe my luck.