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.