Dima’s Corner

My flight back was leaving San Jose at 8am so I had to leave very early. Trevor’s dad arranged for a guy to come over and spend the night at the villa and take me to the airport the next morning. It was a nice drive without any traffic early in the day and Ronald kept on talking about many different subjects so it kept me awake. The airport was nothing special, check in was quick, so were the customs (even though the line looked huge at first), and the security screening was a joke - I did not have to take my laptop or liquids our, nor did I have to take my shoes off. I just had enough time to grab some crappy Burger King before boarding the flight to Atlanta.

I had a six hour layover in Atlanta, so I called up two of my friends and we agreed to meet up for a quick dinner near the airport. Andy picked me up and we went to a Ruby Tuesday’s. Unfortunately Erik got stuck in rush hour traffic and could not make it. Andy just moved down from New York so we talked about his first week of MBA program experience, my trip to Europe which he could not join me for, and plenty of aviation geek talk :-). We got out of the restaurant and saw that Andy’s Jeep was booted. Thankfully they came out pretty quick and tried telling us that they saw someone walk out of the car and walk somewhere else which was bs and I had the restaurant receipt to prove it. So they took the boot off, Andy dropped me off at the airport, and I flew back home without any further delays.

Lessons Learned:

• Do not leave anything valuable in the cars, assume it will be stolen
• Lock valuables and documents if possible at all times
• Bring copies of your passport and driver license and carry those with you instead of originals
• Must pay cash “airport exit” fee when departing, prior to check-in

Stuff To Do Next Time:

• Visit Arenal volcano and hot springs (day-long bus tours, must sign up at least two days in advance)
• Visit Manuel Antonio park and beaches

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Since after I pretty burned up after our day three adventures, we stayed at the villa for the better part of the morning. It was still pretty cloudy so we decided to go ahead and drive down to Manuel Antonio to check out the white sand beach there and the park supposedly filled with monkeys and other creatures. We made it most of the way down there when we got waved over at a traffic check point. We were told that the only thing we needed was for Trevor to carry his passport with him while driving in Costa Rica, however the cops also wanted his driver license and my passport which we did not have. After 20 minutes of them pretending to calling someone to impound us and telling us that they will have to arrange some “alternate transportation” for us (ie arrest us), they finally took 20,000 colones ($40) and let us go. It was kind of funny how Trevor kept telling them that we would like to pay the “ticket” now and they kept dragging their asses until they took the money making a face like that was their first time.

Since we did not have enough cash on us for another bribe if we would get pulled over later, we turned around and went back to the villa. His dad said that he has seen monkeys up the river from his house so we decided to track up the river and try to find them. I admit, it was kind of scarry being in the middle of the jungle, tracking up the river with a storm coming, jumping from rocks to rocks trying to make sure we do not step on a snake or grab a scorpion. After a while we still have not seen any monkeys so we bailed on that idea as well and went back to the villa.

By that time it started raining so the beach was out of question. Joel said that he usually sees monkeys when he goes mountain biking and offered to drive us along his route to see if we can spot any. As we were leaving, the storm was starting to pick up and the power went out. We went up and down the hils around the mountain in the lowest all-wheel drive gear, in some cases with or against the streams of mud instead of the road, and there were a few times we did not think we were going to make it but it all worked out in the end. Needless to say, we did not see any monkeys because of the downpour nor could we see anything from the mountain. The would have been some great picture spots on a clear day… After our little adventure, we went to Jaco to grab some sushi and called it a night.

Today we decided to go surfing. The surf at Playa Hermosa was still pretty while Jaco beach had barely any waves. So, of we went down south to a beach at Bejuco. Trevor and I hit the water for some good times. Even though I had a long board, it was still kind of short for me. Although, I bet that would not make much difference since it was my second time surfing ever. After a while I was able to catch and ride some good waves and it a lot of fun actually feeling the power of a wave carrying you forward. We stayed out there for a couple of hours until we could no longer take the sun burn and the wave battering.

Once we got back, we got some Tiki food and Trevor’s dad arranged a canoe and snorkeling trip for us. It was just me and Trevor plus the guide and went into the ocean canoeing around the pretty rocky coast for what seemed like forever until we got to a small beach. We dumped the canoes on the beach and went snorkleing. The watter was not clear at all, I could not see past my hands so we had to really dive down to get up close to the rocks and fishes to be able to see them. It was still a good time, just does not compare to the Caribbean. Afterwards we had some pineapple and water melon on the beach while harrasing a bunch of red crabs climbing up the trees. Canoeing back was somewhat more exciting since we were trying to beat the comming storm, but it actually did not rain that night.

In the evening we had another dinner at Trevor’s dad’s and went back to the villa. I was really burned up and was starting to feel that. I went in to put some lotion and the second time I did that, I realized it was not a lotion, but some sort of a hair conditioner. Oopsie, no wonder it was still burning… Needless to say, I used up plenty of aloe in the next few days.

After relaxing at the villa for a little bit we went over to Trevor’s dad’s house to check out the river waterfalls. Since it is just the beginning of the rain season, the river was pretty dry and there was not much in terms of water or falls.

After lunch we stopped at Playa Hermosa beach, but the surf was too high for us to go swimming so we just walked around on the beach. Next we decided to check out Jaco beach since it is a bit shielded and does not have nearly as big waves as Play Hermosa. We went for a few swims and then just chilled at the beach for a while.

One interesting thing about most of the Pacific coast beaches in Costa Rica is that the majority of them are black sand beaches due to all the volcanic activity in the area. It makes the water look very murky and dirty so if you are looking for a crystal clear blue-green waters, stick to the Caribbean.

In the evening we grabbed a dinner on at a restaurant on top of a Playa Hermosa beach hotel. It was raining with lighting everywhere so we stayed under the roof and enjoyed the sights.

A trip to Mt. Rushmore did not work out last Memorial Day weekend so we decided to give it another shoot this year. Everything looked like it was a go until Trevor instant messaged me at work a couple of days prior saying that he found dirt cheap tickets to fly down to Costa Rica. His dad and two brothers still live down there so we would have a place to stay and a car to use so it was a no brainer.

So early (too early!) Sunday morning off we went, first to Atlanta and then off to San Jose. The approach was pretty cool taking us through some awesome cloud formations in-between the mountains. We got in around noon and it took us another hour or so to clear the customs. At first they could not scan my passport and then the guy was not sure if I had to have a visa or not but it all worked out in the end.

Trevor’s dad met us at the airport and since it was lunch time, we stopped by at one place along the way. The food was actually pretty good, but I got the first taste of Costa Rica experience when they told me that I should probably bring my laptop with me, even though the car was parked just twenty yards away.

After lunch we got on our way to the west coast. It took a while since the most of the way was a roach with one lane each way and in some cases, one lane period. We got to Playa Hermosa where they used to run a surf camp (Trevor’s borther Kyle is a competitive surfer) and “moved into” Kyle’s villa about a mile away from the coast on a mountain hillside.

It was almost dinner time, so we drove back to the beach with Trevor’s other brother Joel and popped a few beer watching the surf. Afterwards we went to his dad’s for dinner made fresh from veggies he brough back from his farm up in the mountains. We came back to the villa and just crashed even though it was only about 9pm.