We got our surf boards in San Juan del Sur. Ian got a 6'0 skinny pointy little number and I got a 6'4 fat fish. We also got a board bag and they both fit inside, which is perfect. We spent one night in San Juan del Sur then took a taxi to Maderas beach the next day.
Maderas is a little beach about half an hour from San Juan del Sur. There's one building there that has rooms, a restaurant and board rentals. We got the last room available. Lucky us. The place was pretty grungy and the toilet was only a little better than an outhouse (well, it was an outhouse, but it flushed, but it didn't have a handle, you had to fill up a bucket from a trough just outside the door then throw it down the toilet to flush it. I got used to it but I was happy to say goodbye.) We set up our hammocks in the trees and cooked our meals on a little table nearby. Lots of pasta and beans. All this was completely worth it. To be able to wake up with the surf breaking right in front of you is priceless. I usually surfed twice a day, morning and evening, and tried to stay out of the blaring sun of midday. Ian just surfed all the time. We did take a few walks on the beach. One day we walked around a point and had to swim through a surge channel, then climbed on some giant rocks that made a point out in the water. We met some really cool people and hope to stay in touch with them. We spent 4 nights out at Maderas and it was just wonderful, although we had one of our hammocks stolen (not the expensive one, thank god!) but then one of our new friends sold us hers for $5, so it all worked out in the end.
We spent Wednesday night (I think it was Jan. 27th?) back in San Juan del Sur and stuffed our faces with pizza. The next day we took a cab to the border and spent 4 hours in lineups trying to get across. The worst border crossing ever!!!!!!! It was so busy, the lineup to get in to Costa Rica curled around the parking lot a few times. We were meeting Ian's cousin, Sonja, and her boyfriend, Nathan, on the Costa Rican side and thank the powers that be they found us. They have been is CR for almost a month and have rented a car. So now we're mobile! It's awesome.
We were supposed to meet up with our Aussie friends on motorbikes on a beach on the northern pacific, but we missed them so we decided to head straight for the Caribbean. Sonja and Nathan hadn't been there yet and Caribbean swell won't last too much longer. We made it all the way to San Jose and spent a decadent night in the Best Western and ate at the prestigious Denny's Restaurant. I had a half hour long hot shower the next day, Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!
So now we're in the Caribbean town of Cahuita, about an hour from the Panama border. It's so great and chill here. We had an amazing seafood feast last night, complete with lobster, crab, snapper, conch, prawns, muscles and pollock. What a great reunion with the Caribbean ocean, to eat a little bit of everything in it! We got up and surfed this morning (YES, surfed the Caribbean!!) then headed to Puerto Viejo, the next town south, to check out a surf competition. We surfed a little bit at another beach there and stocked up on coconuts to mix with our rum tonight. Not sure how long we are going to stay but there are so many things we want to do. Sonja and Nathan want to go on a fishing charter and Ian and I are going to tag along too. Then there's hiking to the waterfalls and then surfing as much as we can. So much to do!
Maderas is a little beach about half an hour from San Juan del Sur. There's one building there that has rooms, a restaurant and board rentals. We got the last room available. Lucky us. The place was pretty grungy and the toilet was only a little better than an outhouse (well, it was an outhouse, but it flushed, but it didn't have a handle, you had to fill up a bucket from a trough just outside the door then throw it down the toilet to flush it. I got used to it but I was happy to say goodbye.) We set up our hammocks in the trees and cooked our meals on a little table nearby. Lots of pasta and beans. All this was completely worth it. To be able to wake up with the surf breaking right in front of you is priceless. I usually surfed twice a day, morning and evening, and tried to stay out of the blaring sun of midday. Ian just surfed all the time. We did take a few walks on the beach. One day we walked around a point and had to swim through a surge channel, then climbed on some giant rocks that made a point out in the water. We met some really cool people and hope to stay in touch with them. We spent 4 nights out at Maderas and it was just wonderful, although we had one of our hammocks stolen (not the expensive one, thank god!) but then one of our new friends sold us hers for $5, so it all worked out in the end.
We spent Wednesday night (I think it was Jan. 27th?) back in San Juan del Sur and stuffed our faces with pizza. The next day we took a cab to the border and spent 4 hours in lineups trying to get across. The worst border crossing ever!!!!!!! It was so busy, the lineup to get in to Costa Rica curled around the parking lot a few times. We were meeting Ian's cousin, Sonja, and her boyfriend, Nathan, on the Costa Rican side and thank the powers that be they found us. They have been is CR for almost a month and have rented a car. So now we're mobile! It's awesome.
We were supposed to meet up with our Aussie friends on motorbikes on a beach on the northern pacific, but we missed them so we decided to head straight for the Caribbean. Sonja and Nathan hadn't been there yet and Caribbean swell won't last too much longer. We made it all the way to San Jose and spent a decadent night in the Best Western and ate at the prestigious Denny's Restaurant. I had a half hour long hot shower the next day, Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!
So now we're in the Caribbean town of Cahuita, about an hour from the Panama border. It's so great and chill here. We had an amazing seafood feast last night, complete with lobster, crab, snapper, conch, prawns, muscles and pollock. What a great reunion with the Caribbean ocean, to eat a little bit of everything in it! We got up and surfed this morning (YES, surfed the Caribbean!!) then headed to Puerto Viejo, the next town south, to check out a surf competition. We surfed a little bit at another beach there and stocked up on coconuts to mix with our rum tonight. Not sure how long we are going to stay but there are so many things we want to do. Sonja and Nathan want to go on a fishing charter and Ian and I are going to tag along too. Then there's hiking to the waterfalls and then surfing as much as we can. So much to do!
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