Day 3 -or- The Fun Begins

(Wednesday - Day 3 - The Fun Begins)

As if yesterday wasn't enough fun, with Charley, Oscar G, two 4k runs, body surfing the Playa Jaco, and cooling out at Jaco Laguna Resort & Beach Club, today is when the touristy day adventures start.

Again, to start with the pic of the day:





All set? "Relax!" Let's go.

Hello Lilliana, Nice to Meet You

I was up pretty late last night. That 9pm Red Bull was effective. No alarm clock, and I woke at 8am well rested. No shower - reserved that for post-activity. Just threw on clothes and went down to the beach for a walk before breakfast.

I wandered upstairs to the restaurant, ordered a low-carb / high protein breakfast with coffee. While waiting for my food, and sipping my coffee, I struck up a conversation with a lady sitting alone at the table next to me. She seemed like a local, and we got to talking about what there is to do in Costa Rica. Once my food arrived, I didn't want to be rude and turn my back on her. I invited her to join my table and continue the conversation. [Was I flirting? Not really... I don't think so. Was I? Just being my friendly self. I don't know. Ask Oscar G and Justin (yoga dude on the plane) if I was flirting with them. I don't think so.]

So, as the conversation unfolded, she told me that she and her husband own the resort. Several years ago they moved down to the lot, slept in a tent, cleaned it up, fixed it up, then hired some craftsmen to design it the way they wanted. A true labor of love. I came to appreciate the place even more, knowing how much blood, sweat and tears went into it.

I told her my plans for the day [zip lining and surf lessons], and she recommended how to get those booked. She then told me that she hadn't been surfing in like a year [too busy]. I encouraged her to get back up on the board today. If I was willing to get out there [having no experience] she had no excuse, living here on the water of one of the best surf destinations in the world.

We wrapped up breakfast. She had the waitress comp my meal. Sweet! Thank you Lilliana!

I booked my surf lesson for 4pm, and walking back I saw Lilliana carrying her board out to catch some waves. [You go Lilliana!]

Upside Down in the Rain Forest

The front desk of the resort was able to book my zip lining experience at 11am for $70. I know it would have been cheaper to go direct, but Lilliana comped my breakfast and I was okay with giving them my custom. I had a little time to relax, so I went for a walk on the beach until it was time.

A van picked me up from the hotel and took a group of us down the road about 15 minutes away to Vista Los Suenos - a zip lining establishment. I checked in, signed a waiver for death and dismemberment and went to the quartermasters' platform to gear up. I mounted my GoPro on my helmet, set it for video mode [or so I thought] and joined a group of about 12 suckers/tourists already in gear.

We received about 5 minutes of instruction and boarded a trailer that would haul us up the steep hill to our launch point.

Once at the top, we stepped into the rainforest onto a platform with steel cables mounted to the trees. The guide gave us another 15 minutes of safety and technique instructions and about 4 other guides attached themselves taking turns zipping ahead of us into the rainforest.

We started lining up to attach and zip. There were 12 runs with a platform between each, so we got plenty of practice keeping control with our guide/brake hand and leg position for speed. On the second run, I didn't notice I was slightly pulling on my brake hand and I stopped about 20 feet short of the platform. Laughing, I turned and pulled myself hand over hand to the platform - easy.

By the time I got to platform six, I was confident, controlled and a speed demon. They told us that run seven was a good place to let it all go and be crazy - try upside down and backward! Sure, why not!

I mounted up. The guide told me to place my feet on either side of the pulley. I did. The he told me to let go of the ropes with my hands. What?! "Let go the ropes wit you hand!" Okay! And zip, he let me go. Holy SH--! Exhilarating! Head down looking at the forest below, speeding down the cable, with the wind whistling by, it was amazing.

The 11th run was pretty awesome as well. It was the longest and steepest, so the fastest. I determined to barely touch the line with my guide hand and ball up for maximum speed. They said you can reach 70mph on that run. Not sure if I hit that speed, but I'm sure I was close.

At the bottom, we ate a little snack, and waited to see pictures that their photographer took of us in the trees. The guides were getting ready for their daily BBq, cervesas and footbol. I bought photos, and set off for the hotel.

Once back at the hotel, I popped out the SD card from the GoPro loaded it to my laptop and to my dismay, discovered that I had 18 terrible photos [not videos]. Crap! I was really looking forward to the upside down GoPro footage. Oh well, I'll just have to go back and do it again. ;-)

Luckily enough, one of the other tourists took an iPhone video if me upside down and Airdropped it to me. Enjoy.

A Walk in the Hood

Back at the hotel, with 2.5 hours before my surf lesson and needing some lunch, I decided to drive into town. I did a little shopping for food and water, bought some board shorts and a cool shirt and just walked around.

In town, I ran into Oscar G [New York night club promoter I met on day 2 in a beachfront bar]. "Yo! Phil, my boooyee!" His posse had arrived, and I got to meet them. He told me to meet them at 7:30pm at the Casino Cocal and we'd hang out. Agreed, I moved on to my quest for sustenance.

I almost stopped into one if the local food stands to get local [unrecognizable] food, but it looked carb-heavy and fried. Hungry, I kept walking. Eventually I saw a Frutarica [these things are all along the highway] and stopped in.

I bought a couple of huge fresh mangos for breakfast the next two days, and ordered a protein/fruit smoothie. I sipped my smoothie, and meandered back to the truck and the hotel. Looking forward to my 4pm surf lesson.

Surfing Playa Jaco
I met Alex [the surf instructor] on the sand. He taught me positioning and how to pop up on the board right there on the sand. Totally reminded me of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, except that my instructor wasn't stoned and didn't give me a nickname.

We got out into the ocean on a 9.5' long board. He set me up on my first wave and I popped up the first time to ride the wave all the way in. Awesome!

A few times paddling out, a huge wave crashed before us and he taught me to tortuga-roll through it. Awesome! No fear.

I started to get the feel for pumping the front of the board, staying on the wave [not ahead of it], and carving. Still not ready for a barrel drop, but I had a great run for 2 hours. Caught about 15 waves, and was tuckered out. The sun was setting and touched the horizon just as I caught my last wave, riding all the way to shore. Sweet!

Oscar G Left Me Hanging

After surfing I was pretty tired, but looking forward to checking out the night scene with Oscar G and his homies. SH--, shower and shave. Throw on some decent night clothes and head out to town to find the casino. I shot Oscar G a text to meet me in the lobby. No response. I headed into the casino, which had two tiny rooms for gambling [10 slot machines and 2 blackjack tables]. The ladies of the night were hanging around, a few if them trying to make eye contact.

I moved through the "casino" and out to the club scene. OMG! It was like 100 ladies of the night swirling and about 10 guys drinking with 2-3 "girls" sitting with each of them. Awkward! I don't drink, and this brothel environment was not my scene. I decided to hang tight for a bit to wait for Oscar G and his posse, and to watch the scene unfolding before me. I took a seat at a table toward the back, and texted Oscar G again. No response.

Two ladies approached me and tried to strike up a conversation. I indicated I wasn't interested and they moved on. I hung out for about a half hour, just watching the 40-60 year old men buying the women drinks and basking in the attention of 20-25 year old professionals. Having seen enough, I took my leave.

I headed back to my hotel, hung out at the hotel lounge for a bit, checked email and started to blog. I must have had a busy day, because I kept falling asleep at the keyboard. Lights out and asleep by 9:30. [Finished the blog entry in the morning.]

Not a Yogi or a Hippie, But...

Justin texted me about the festival. He said tickets were sold out, and I was missing out on all the yoga hotties. I told him I'd have to make plans to attend the festival next year. Sounds like fun. Maybe I'll even take up yoga by then. Lol.

Here's what I'm missing...

Definitely next year. Maybe I can grow some dreadlocks or something by then. ;-)

What to do tomorrow? I'll figure it out as I go. Maybe zip line again [with GoPro in video mode], definitely some high tide surfing, and whatever else presents itself.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

[Phil Scott]

Location:Jaco, Costa Rica

Day 2 - Journey to Jaco - or - back on track

(Tuesday - day 2)

First a picture of how the day ends.  You deserve it.  You've worked so hard to get here with me.

Aaahhh.  Now isn't that better?

Starting Out

I started my day awake and refreshed before my alarm.  Showered again, packed and went downstairs to find Charley getting breakfast and coffee ready.  I relaxed in a little atrium that Charley had on the first floor, tucked in the back.  [Who knew Charley had such an awesome setup?] Oh, and my quaint little room was even more charming by morning light.

I used this opportunity to start my blog activity.  First to download a lightweight app for off-line blogging that wouldn't eat up too much of my 120MB roaming international data plan.  BlogPress looked like the trick [6MB download, and 100% off-line until I'm ready to publish via WiFi].

On my little iPhone, I authored most of the two first blog entries of the trip, catching up on the prologue and the adventures of Monday's arrival.  Later, when arriving at my hotel in Jaco, I was able to publish them on the hotel's WiFi.

Charley finished preparing breakfast, and I had large lumps of pineapple and watermelon with some butter/jam toast and of course COFFEE!  It was just normal coffee - nothing special to write home about, but it was coffee which was important.

Just as I was finishing breakfast and getting my groove on with BlogPress, the nice young man from the car rental place arrived - calling "Scott?  Scott?".  I'm used to it.  He showed me the working fob and the truck, and apologized for the inconvenience.  I just felt lucky to have a car with the music festival in town [Darn you Avis!].

Working truck at my disposal, I loaded my bags, said goodbye to Charley, and walked down the block to get a real coffee. I cased this joint the night before, and headed down there to order a Mocha to go.  "café mocha para ir"? It was delicious!  The chocolate was a bit spicy - maybe cinnamon? 

So, mocha in hand, truck idling, iPhone settings tuned [cellular>>roaming data ON ; Waze enabled for data ; all other apps disabled for data], I set off.  Well, lurched off.  I haven't driven a stick shift in like 20 years [with the exception of that one night that Garrett {Overboardhumor YouTuber} let me drive his new Porche about 95 mph down Alton].  It only took about 2 minutes for me to get the hang of the clutch again.

I mounted my GoPro on the dashboard and took lots of video of my drive from San Jose to Jaco.  Waze initially said it would take 1 hour 27 minutes.  But, as luck would have it, day-time road construction started near Jaco, and added about an hour to the journey.  That's okay [remember Zurdo's words of wisdom - "Relax"], I used the time sitting at a dead stop for 30 minutes just 10 km away from Jaco to do a little more blogging on my iPhone.  It's all good!

[Note: There is a newly built toll road that apparently shaves about an hour off of the drive from what it used to be. Highway 27.  But, be prepared to hit 3 toll booths, and have ready your Calones (about 500 - 600 each time).]

The Hotel

I arrived a Jaco, drove around, got a little lost, reset the nav route on Waze and bee-lined straight for my hotel/resort.  Check-in was easy of course, and I was happy to see that TripAdvisor users weren't wrong when they rated this place a 4.5/5.

Jaco Laguna Resort and Beach Club - Calle Madrigal, Avenida Pastor Diaz, Jaco, Costa Rica.  +502 2643 3362.  It's at the far south end of the Jaco beach, away from some of the night life, but only about a 2 mile walk to the north end.  A nice quiet get-away.

Time to Explore Jaco

Once settled into my room, I changed into swim trunks and a running shirt [for a swim and a run]. Ordered a coke, and sat to take in the scene from the edge of the resort.

I went for a walk on the rocks at the southern-most end of the beach.

Don't those hotels look far away in the background?  I thought it was about 2 miles when I decided to run to the end.  As I returned to my hotel and looked it up, I discovered it was 4K.  Wow, I almost ran a 5K on the sand!

Here's a pic of the beach club in front of the resort [south side].  This is where I plan to go tomorrow morning for surf lessons.  $60 for a 2 hour lesson... Should be fun. 

And in memory of my 4K on the beach, here's a panorama shot from the south end:

A Run and a Swim

So, I hitched my sandals and gear back to a carabiner on the back of my running shirt, and started my run.  The beach is sooooo flat and the waves were beautiful to watch.  I can see why this is some of the best surfing around.  The waves come in perfect little sets, rolling on and on for at least a half mile, forming neat little tubes.  And on I ran.  I think the left side of my face is more burnt than the right, from the run [left my sunblock on the kitchen table at home - oops].  And on I ran.  The water was calling to me to dive in and cool off.  And on I ran.  Eventually, I made it to the north end of the beach, paused for a little water break, and then jogged back about 200 yards to a happening little bar on the sand.  

I set my stuff down on the sand, ran into the water and did a little body surfing to cool off.  The waves were maybe 4-5 feet, and beautifully formed. After about 20 minutes, I swam back in [put my shirt back on - yes you can thank me], and walked up to the bar.  The water was so warm that it did almost nothing to cool me off.  I sat down in the shade, ordered an iced tea, chips and salsa, and sat to watch the random soccer [footbol] match on the tellie. 

Ended up striking up a conversation with a guy at the table next to me [and I made sure not to put out the vibe that I was hitting on him - not that there's anything wrong with that - just not my thing].  Apparently, Oscar G had just arrived from New York.  The night before, he got sick of the negative 5 degree weather, booked a flight and was sitting there talking to me 14 hours later.  Turns out, he's a "promoter" for night clubs in New York and Atlantic City, booking EDM and other music talent at clubs.  I told him about the music festival in Uvita, and he got excited.  He had a few friends joining him tomorrow, and they were going to head down to Panama at some point.  He decided to swing by Uvita and check it out on his way down.  I traded contact info with him [again, not hitting on him], and wished him well.  I paid my tab, carabined my sack & shoes to my back, and started running the 4K return trip.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the beach club, sipping on my club soda and lime and watching the sun go down.

Ouch, I think I'm sore.  Ouch, I think I ground a few layers of skin off the bottom of my feet.  Man, 5 hours later, and I'm still not cooled off from my run.  Humid.  Fanta. Club Soda.  Buffalo Wings.  Red Bull.

Arrival adventures in San Jose

A story from the start of my adventure in Costa Rica.

(Monday - start of trip)

Before jumping to My San Jose experience, I'd like to briefly step back to my connecting flight from Phoenix to San Jose, CR. Waiting in the PHX terminal for my Costa Rica flight, I noticed quite a few people with yoga mats, yoga pants and that beatnick/hippie vibe. I got to talking with some of them and learned that they were all headed to a music/yoga/sustainable-farming-living festival in Ubita (1.5 hours south of Jaco). They all encouraged me to come. I just might... Sounds terrific - a random adventure calling to me.

Once on the plane, a young guy in front of me started talking about the festival and strongly suggesting that I make the trip down. He let me sample some of the kinds of music that would be there, and told me more about the camping, surfing and seminars going on there. When we landed in Costa Rica he have me his number. I kept crossing paths with him as we made our way through customs, baggage claim and other spots throughout the airport maze. He invited me to dinner with him, and I started getting the feeling he was hitting on me. Either I am right that he was hoping for something I'm not into, or I'm just not used to very friendly people.

So, now the festival is on my list for the week - and the jury is still out on whether or not I'll call the guy on the plane to hang out.

The Car
So as I've previously mentioned, I got to the car rental area at the airport and discovered that I had no Avis reservation [and no Avis in existence at the airport]. All of the 4x4s were sold out with the exception of Hertz. So, they quoted me a rate, and it was about 10% higher than I expected. But, it was the last option. So I got in the shuttle to their off-campus location.

The lady there at Hertz was very nice, very smiley, and spoke decent broken English. She started processing my paperwork and then informed me that the rental total is $560 plus a $1,200 deposit. Not cool! I told her that wouldn't work. So, she said she'd call around and see if she could find another option for me. It's now 9pm Monday. Feeling stinky, sticky and hungry. After about 15 minutes of relaxing outside the rental office, she informs me that they've found another company with one 4x4 remaining that just got turned in, but it needs to be washed and prepped for me. She called a taxi to take me to this other company.

Natural Car Rental, a local Costa Rican outfit. Of course, I've never heard of it, and I'm only slightly nervous about that (at 9:30 PM in San Jose).

The cabbie came, picked me up and drove me through a seedy part of town called Alajuela. We stopped in a residential neighborhood at an unmarked building and went inside. Once inside, I relaxed. A young lady started processing my paperwork. She informed me that they were sold out, but had one truck coming in for return when the call came in from Hertz. They opened the office at 9pm just to rent it to me. The cabbie (Luis F. Delgado M. or "Zurdo" as he prefers) hung out with me. I wasn't sure if he was trying to run up the meter, so I asked how much I owed him. He said "Relax" with a big smile. So I did. He stayed.

About 30 minutes later a young man pulled up in a nice Isuzu D-Max king cab 4x4. The price was the same as the mini SUV that Hertz was going to rent to me, but included full insurance coverage and only $100 deposit. Awesome! Upgrade!

But there was a snag. The key fob for the truck's alarm had gotten wet when they washed it, so the car alarm kept going off and they couldn't seem to fix it. What to do?

Last car. Foreign country. 1-2 hour drive to my hotel. 10:40 pm. Stinky, sticky, hungry. Hotel check-in closes at midnight. And what does my new friend Zurdo say? "Relax!" Lol. I did. No worries. This is what I love about solo trips. The adventure and opportunities to go with the flow.

Next another young man arrives with a toolbox. The 4 of us guys hover around the truck to rip out the alarm. What customer service! Hertz, would you do that for me at 11pm on the last car out of San Jose? I think not.





After detaching the alarm speaker, they test it out (thank goodness for QA!) and discover that the car shuts down when the engine stops because the alarm is still active. They give me two options:

1) Drive to Jaco in the middle of the night, risking a vehicle issue with no way to restart the car, and getting the fob battery replaced in Jaco in the morning (risking that the hotel won't check me in after midnight, and risking that Jaco might not have that fob battery, and risking that any battery might be too far away because I'd be on foot with a shut-down truck.)

2) Sleep in a local "hotel" for the night for $55, and they'd fix the car by morning.

I almost went for option 1. Both options sounded like risk / adventure. But the mechanic kept shaking his head at me about option 1. He was not so confident I would be okay or find the right battery. So I let them pick a "hotel". It was about 5 blocks away in the residential area, and it was called Charley's Place. How quaint?

Sleeping at Charley's



Zurdo drove me over there (now about 2.5 hours after picking me up at Hertz). He knocked on the locked and barred door and Charley came out to greet us. I paid him the $55 US, and he showed me to room #1.


It was actually very nice inside.

I was pleasantly surprised. And although Charley spoke very little English, he was very nice and hospitable.

Dinner

With my belongings in my room, I asked about food. Zurdo pointed to a place at the end of the block that was still open. Charley gave me his business card and told me to call to be let back in, as it was getting late.

It looked iffy from the outside, but I was hungry.

I walked down the block and entered a small bar and grille named Monteleone. I was greeted by a gentleman named Ronald, and he spoke accented but perfectly correct English. He formally offered me the "promotions" of the evening, and I selected the Sea Bass for "only $7,000 [calones]" - approximately $12 US. Add a mango smoothie, and it's perfect.



The meal was fantastic and Ronald and I talked a bit about the US and about his restaurant. Apparently he and Charley had a falling out recently, but Ronald is sure they'll make up since they've been friends forever.

So the bill paid, goodbyes to Ronald, and off to call Charley to let me in. Finally a hot shower, teeth brushed, alarm set, earplugs in, mask on [a travel must], and off to sleep after nearly 23 hours on the go.

Thus endeth the first day.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

[Phil Scott]

Costa Rica - last minute trip

Before diving into the experiences of the trip itself, I'd like to briefly set up the context for the journey.

Today is Tuesday and I am sitting in an awesome little hole in the wall hotel in San Jose, Costa Rica waiting for a little breakfast and setting up my blog for the trip.

Time machine snapshots leading me to this moment:

(6 months ago) Home life was topsy-turvy, and a change in residence was in order. [If you don't already know, don't ask.]

(7 weeks ago) An old boss approached me about returning to his firm [Neudesic], and after some discussion I couldn't refuse.

(3 weeks ago) It worked out [unplanned] that I'd have a week gap between jobs.

(1 week ago) A friend suggested I seriously think about getting out of the country for the week. While it sounded good, I secretly had lots of objections and excuses to do nothing - perhaps some netflix and kayaking... [What a waste!]. -- My grandmother Alice passed away on a Sunday morning. My son and I got to see her the day before she passed.

(Last Thursday) At the very fine send-off that the Taco Bell IT team hosted for me [Javier's happy hour] they were encouraging me to book a trip. I mentioned Costa Rica, and the experiences and stories of their trips there started to flow. Hmm... Maybe I should really consider it. Any airline miles left? -- I visited with my family later that evening for my grandmother's Rosary service and family viewing [my first, and a most beautiful ceremony]. Afterward, in speaking with my folks about Costa Rica, they encouraged me to go.

[Notice a theme? A well worn rut of staying local these last couple of years took a fair bit of pushing, prodding and externally infused excitement to set me back on the travel path. It's so easy to find reasons not to do things - the familiar, the mundane, the routine, the comfortable all numb out the drive to expand, experience and to simply turn left in life. Now that I'm traveling, I intend to keep the fire alive with the goal of always having another trip in the planning stage on the horizon.]

So, from 11pm - 1am Thursday I was online, finding a way to make it work. I discovered that I had enough airline miles to book the flight for only the cost of taxes and fees ($127 total vs $1,000). I found a place in my parents' timeshare exchange that looked nice, right on the beach in a town called Jaco [no idea of what kind of town, but it looked like a good place to learn how to surf].

(The weekend) I made arrangements to have a friend and his daughter watch my dog [thanks Danny and Kelly!], picked up a few things for my trip, cleaned the house, went to my grandmother's funeral, gave a eulogy, [she was such an awesome grandma], visited with some friends and tried to secure lodgings, a ride to the airport [thanks Michael!] and a 4x4 rental vehicle. Here's where the adventure begins.

The timeshares were all sold out. So I found a nice place in Jaco that wasn't too expensive and booked it through TripAdvisor.

I tried to book a car through Avis Costa Rica, and it looked like I had the car reserved, but they would later email me that they would get back to me later with my reservation. I would not discover until I arrived at 8pm in Costa Rica that there was no Avis at the airport, and I had no reservation confirmed... A major music festival is going on this week here, so everything is sold out. More on this in a bit.

(Monday) My friend Michael happened to be traveling Monday morning to New York from LAX. He picked me up at 3:30 AM. I checked in, settled in, and took a nap in the terminal.






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone