Costa Rica 2017

Sat:
Everything booked, then in Dec 2016 a video is posted online of meteorite streaking past an erupting volcano in Costa Rica. What did I sign up for here? LOL

New YYC terminal took literally 30 seconds to go through security. Check in was automated and fast except for the bag tags. Can never figure out where to peel... I can repair your 100 million dollar jetliner but I can’t run a sticker....😊

Sun:
YYC international, retail stores charge 3.00 for a pop, vending machines charge 2.00 for same item just outside store…

Flight 7.5 hours long, arrived 7am local tried to sleep on flight no luck.... arrived at Bula Bula 930 am. Now been up 24hours. Had breakfast, went for walk.... found beach... it's a ways away pretty windy but super wide and soft sand. Will have to rent a tent for shade and maybe chairs too but whatever. Or maybe not as there are lots of things to do here.

Room is cozy and clean. Door and window gaps are tight, which is a bonus after Antigua.

Fell asleep at 2pm after 28 hours up.... woke up at 5pm and yup already burned myself in the sun despite the sunscreen.

Stumbled across BBQ special at local small restaurant. Eating BBQ under palm trees and 25 humid temps is just awesome. 10.00 us for an awesome BBQ beef loin with trimmings. The Margarita came in a monster sized glass too, crazy.

Stopped in store, Bimbo snacks....LOL paying our bill from the restaurant at the Wil-Mart (yes Wil-Mart) some guy started blabbing on about being from east Tennessee, his son bought a house and now it's worth 500,000.00, etc, etc....waiter at "Seven" restaurant was awesome.... Costa Rica money is kind of confusing. They use Colones and 500 Colones is one US dollar. They also accept US money. The thing is, we are Canadian so every purchase gets a bit complicated. Also, because we are used to looking at 5.00 bills when you see a 5000 Colones bill that seems like 5.00 US but actually its 10.00 US which is about 13.00 Canadian. See the problem?? 1000 Colone seems like 1.00 US but actually its 2.00 US (so 2.63 Canadian). And they have large coins, 25 Colones , 50 Colones, 100 Colones etc and those suckers are heavy….5 pounds of metal yet you only have 200 Colones which is actually only 40 cents US which is 52 cents Canadian. Their money is colorful and fun though.

Breakfast included but side orders were not. 5.80 for 4 small sausages. They could have explained that better. Oh well. Bunch of monkeys going past in trees during breakfast. Took boat to Tamarindo. Neat place restaurants tourist trinkets etc... crowded, rough roads traffic garbage street venders, etc. overall very third world. On way back got onto small boat, no life rafts, as we pushed back saw crocodile floating along........I had to go to back of the boat so we could get it off the sandbar....boat looked like fiberglass had been repaired many many times...rough…hope it floats better than it looks….
Motel told us supper was Mexican buffet. Get dressed up go over find out reservation only. So we left. That annoyed me as nobody told us reservations were needed, there are only 10 rooms here we are guests and need an invitation?
So went to Seven bar and grill again...Wilbur awesome waiter funny and kind of bumbles along “just helping out” the food is awesome. Had octopus appetizer, when Dawn asked what exactly was in the "risotto and sea food" Wilber said " you know, stuff from the ocean"....and guess who showed up, East Tennessee guy with scorpion in a cup....wandering around showing all the patrons... and halfway through our meal the local dogs trotted through...this place is under a hut and wide open…everyone wanted him to kill the scorpion but he said after living here for 5 years he was going to let it go, everything has a reason. Sure dude, whatever, hope it ends up in your underwear.

Sleep at 11, birds, sun and neighbors up at 6am, music on at 7:00am....no sleeping in here unless you are blind and deaf.

Mon:
Next morning got up, showered etc and was getting dressed when I noticed a huge bug on the floor. Like 1.5” long. Cockroach maybe?? Anyway, no idea how he got in must have come in when the door was open no way could he squeeze through the gaps in the doors and the windows have screens around them on the outside too. Tried to get him onto paper, not a chance, that sucker is fast. Bag over hand, wad of toilet paper I grabbed him and flung him into toilet so fast the water splashed out onto me and then he got flushed. Sorry buddy not sharing my pillow with you, I’m from Canada not East Tennessee I have no problems killing pests. That and one ant is all we saw in our room. I did notice the drain cover in the shower was offset a bit so I put it back and then left the shampoo bottle on it the rest of our time there in case he came up that way. Creepy.

Email to manager about our issues got us free supper, plus Grace explained in great detail about the breakfast menu next morning, but I’ve got it figured it out now. And yes as guests we should have been automatically included in reservations for supper. Grace called surf shop for us, no umbrellas for rent but we could buy one. He couldn't deliver so we walked 2.3 km one way in 35 C heat with no wind and blinding sun down rough gravel roads while cars blazed past spewing dust. Little lizards everywhere, finally got there ... umbrella is a bit small but only one avail. 30.00 Bought it, filled water bottle and off we went. Owner promised to stop and pick us up “if he saw us passed out on the side of the road.” Gee thanks!

Later that day walking back from the beach saw him twice on the same walk home...yup 2 pm...breaking all his own rules....LOL

Beach was awesome. Umbrella is small but good. Water is warm... waves are big, pretty crazy to have them come at you I'm in waist deep water and the waves are way over your head. Also relearned not to face the waves testicles first.....!!!!

Back to the Seven cafe for supper again, it's like the Seinfeld episode, the same "East Tennessee" guy bugging patrons. Wilbur was there again, talking more about family issues, he bought a motorcycle, had the BBQ beef loin again wow it was good. The Wil-Mart closed while we were eating, but that was where we paid… they had trouble closing the big door, two girls and Wilbor finally got it locked... they leave the credit card terminal outside on the ground with 6" of cable... so Wilbur says " come on lets go pray" and I thought he meant it might not work but no they have to get down on one knee to work the credit card terminal!!LOL praying.... the local dog was at our table for a bit too. Wilbur on the Wil-Mart sign " it's all about marketing.."... LOL
Air con unit mounted way up high in our room has bright led display. Middle of the night it lights the place up. Second day shut led off but power light still on and quite bright. Anyway when we bought our umbrella I used that plus standing on chair and managed to drape part of our luggage ID tag (no names!) sticker over the power light to finally make it dark in the room at night.

Tues
Estuary boat ride, saw crocodiles; monkeys, couple neat birds but that's about it. Very relaxing though just floating along...beautiful trees and water. Reminded me of crocodile hunters a bit...LOL best part was boat guide banging on boat and making funny sounds, monkeys came back with huge roar/ burp kinda noise...so whatever he said got their attention... Crazy. Got back, chatted with a few people, found out about trail near motel and took a long walk, more monkeys close up, strange bugs, lizards, birds etc but trail kind of peters out so came back. Took some pics.

Funny thing, couple English channels on tv but yet commercials are all in Spanish, no subtitles for the shows either. Weird.

Wed
Wan had no change for our ride ride up across the estuary to Tamarindo but promised return ride for free...

Tamarindo did some shopping just wandered around then headed back we get back to boat launch and of course Wan nowhere to be found (go figure), wave off a couple boats... finally gave up and got on another boat and went across the 200 foot span. Just after we got back on shore after crossing (and paying again), here comes Wan up the water to the other side.... I gave him a big arms up "WTF?" gesture and he waves and laughs... and yeah you could probably swim or wade across that distance, except for the crocodiles and snakes of course 😊

Lunch, then back to beach for the afternoon. Love the beach. Watched sunset. Supper at Seven yet again, Wilbur funny and happy to see us...all kinds of stories, we talked about business, past history, etc…super friendly and funny guy. Eating supper here come the dogs and puppies again, spider ran across the table, the usual. No sign of Tennessee guy though. Maybe the scorpion finally got him.

Thurs::
Beach day. Always so relaxing being by the ocean and just hanging out. Mid day back to BulaBula took a nap and Dawn went and hung out in the pool. Supper at the restaurant and just chilled out.

Fri:
Beach day again, waves were huge. Amazing how hot the sand is in the sun, it hurts to stand in it but the umbrella worked well. The first day was windy, but the rest it was just a nice breeze, perfect. Lots of crabs running around, man those things are quick. Can’t believe how empty this beach is, I mean beautiful sand, awesome surf, it stretches as far as you can see pretty much, and I’ll bet not more than 20 people on it at any time. Awesome.

Back to motel to change for supper. Had motel do final checkout and we arranged for the keys, etc. And yup, they charged us for the free supper on our bill, so Dawn showed them the email to get it cleared off. Nice try.

Supper at Seven again with Wilbur as our waiter. We had our usual table for four, smallest they have. Live music was excellent. BBQ ribs and beef was once again excellent. After we ate we're sitting there, table beside us loaded up, Wilbur ran out of cutlery/ napkins....he swung around and grabbed one off our table and put that down on theirs..." spare parts" he said... ran off came back with more plates for those people then stole another napkin off our table!! Dogs and puppies running around, kids chasing them and crowding our table.... Dawn said to the little girl " if you lead the doggie away you can keep him".... eyes wide off she took off with the puppy all we heard was “Mommy, Mommy she said I could keep him!!”… LOL

Wilbur invited us to a house party after supper but we have to get up early and then he remembered he brought the motorbike. Funny thing, this humble, funny and friendly guy finally admitted he owns the restaurant, the Wil-Mart, other supermarkets and many houses in Costa Rica…He gave me his number and said ‘come back you can have house to stay in and use my car too”… I’d go back there just to visit with him again.

Sat:
Up at 3:45 am (Ugh), taxi there at 4:45am for the 1 hour ride to Liberia to catch our flight. Dawn managed to find enough time to make a coffee. The driver was quiet but man he drove that thing like he stole it. Very dark out still, the roads have reflective bumps on edges and centerline, so all you could see further out was the winding reflections of these things as the headlights skipped off them on the curving and climbing road…buddy was downshifting for corners, speeding like mad, could hear tires howling on the corners…LOL All the tourist buses and haulers say “Turismo” on them, should be “Gran Turismo”

Calgary customs and immigration needs some streamlining, still seemed a bit confused but went fairly fast regardless. .

Windshield in my truck cracked right across my line of vision on the drive home from airport, its -25 C and snowing. Why do we live here again??

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