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On our way back from San José, Marty
swerved across the road when he was blinded
by the bright blue paint of a Defender 110...
it was none other than Barry and Tom from
the infamous Ihana.com.
We all caught the 7:30 ferry from Puntarenas
to Paquera and stayed a few days at our
home sweet home, Roca Mar, Santa Teresa
(N 09°38.983 W 085°10.586).
About a week later, we took the ferry from
Playa Naranjo back to Paquera and drove
straight to Rio Piedras, on Lake Arenal.
Unfortunately we ended up camping in a swamp
near the Ticowind, wind-surfer launch. While
waiting for our friends, Shena and Shawn,
we fixed Ihana's front bumper with our Warn
winch and rotated Rover's tires. I got a
lesson in tire changing, when I tried for
about ten minutes to put on the left rear
wheel backwards. Marty and Barry finally
gave me a heads up and after I called them
a few names, I tightened the nuts and helped
change the next one in 3 minutes flat. Most
importantly, I learned to keep my head away
from the High Lift jack handle, as Barry
mentioned he read about a guy ending up
in a coma from getting hit in the head.
Near Arenal, which we could never see through
it's cloudy cover, we visited the steamy
Tabacón hot springs, which are naturally
heated by the volcano. Swimming in the warm
water made me feel the cleanest that I've
felt for months. We stayed the night in
Fortuna (N 10°28.086 W084°39.610)
for only 500 colones ($1.75) per truck.
The next morning we decided to drive back
to the Northern Pacific Coast to check out
the waves at Witch's Rock (a rock that was
thrown some 30km from a volcanic eruption).
Unfortunatly when we got there, we learned
that the Parque Nacional Santa Rosa, with
the only road to the beach break, was charging
2,500 colones ($7) per person and 600 to
camp per night. Too expensive, and no guarantee
that we'd find waves, we drove to Tamarindo
to party with with Tom's girl friend, Magaly,
before she flew back to Switzerland the
next morning. Although we found Tito's,
an abandoned camp site, to spend the night
for free, Tamarindo was the most expensive
place we've been since we left the U.S.
Food, souvenirs, and clothing prices were
as high those in New York or Los Angeles.
Tamarindo had a beautiful beach with refreshingly
cool water, but I prefer the Caribbean or
Mal Pais and Santa Teresa over the very
touristic Tamarindo, any day.
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