Friday 28th of August 2009 around 1900 I was wandering what happened to PP (Paulo Marques) a friend who was supposed to pick Filipe Tourita (another friend) and myself in Lourinha and from there we needed to drive to Madrid (700 km distance) where we would take the Plane to Newark (USA) and then San José (Costa Rica).
Instead of leaving at 1900 as planned we left at 2200, the drive was going alright until we entered Spain and the car’s turbo failed, the speed started to drop and I was getting the feeling the car would get to a complete halt! After stopping for petrol the turbo returned to failed a couple of kilometers away again, it would come and go, we were going faster than slow, than faster, but eventually reached Madrid where Ericka, a friend of PP was meeting as she was meant to look after PP’s car while we were gone.
Check-in was super nice; we manage to convince the lady attending us that we had 2 boards on each bag instead of the actual 3 that each bag contained and pay only US$100 to take the imaginary 2 boards instead of the US$400 required by Continental Airlines to take 3 boards, what a nonsense (lets us hope we can manage to achieve the same trick on the way back!)!
Taking off was a problem because apparently we had a flat tire and to replace the bloody thing took more than 1 hour, so we got darn late into New York metropolitan area to make the transit into the flight to San Jose (all also thanks to the bureaucracy of the friendly US government policies…).
Boards were all OK except my 6’5’’ that had her nose scratched off; in the end it was my fault really since I didn’t pad the noses and tails properly. I then took my jacket and placed it covering the noses in hopes it would protect and no more damages were caused.
PP forgot his luggage somewhere in the airport while carrying his stuff to re-check. We were already onto the inspection and scan site to the flight to San José when PP decided to have a go and look for it. We were very late and I was starting to get nervous! The search was hopeless and we had to board the plane. I was pretty sad about PP’s having to wander around Costa Rica on his jeans and shirt but I couldn’t stop but to grim at the thought of having all this policemen looking at the abandoned bag thinking it was another “terrorist” attack, in fact, in the end of my vision they were blowing it up just to be sure it wasn’t a bomb! (Not good for PP this part of my imaginary)
When we got into San José, 5 hours later, his name was being called to tell him his suitcase was left in Newark, unattended, but they would deliver it to a destination of his choice in Costa Rica, so he said Pavones (me thinking it would NEVER get there!).
After getting all our stuff together (except PP’s suitcase) and inspecting the boards, they were the same as we seen at Newark. Outside the airport we met the people from Thrifty, the Rent-a-Car service that Fatum Travel booked us. We got to the office and Edgar, the assistant, was very kind into guiding us through all the process, and by the end we got our Daihatsu BeGo (that Tourita called Pandereta) ready to roll. After a bite in Denny’s we spent 2 hours trying to get out from San Jose in direction to Cartago getting everywhere but where we really wanted to go. Eventually we figured out that the way signed Cartago into the highway is actually the opposite direction! Tourita was thinking San Jose was the worst place on earth and we COULD NOT stop at any red traffic lights and could not approach anyone to ask directions of any kind. At first I was quite piss off we were passing so many red traffic lights, but true enough many people were doing the same, but asking people about where to go when I was desperately trying to get away from San Jose… after a while I just asked, “hey can you stop here?”, got out and went to ask people how to get to Cartago. Anyway, this proved to be useless since all directions we got were wrong, virtually ALL, some even worst then road sign point Cartago in the opposite way where we should go! We then took the way into San Pedro by the ‘CA 2’ (it is like a normal road with some parts resembling a highway) and found our way in direction to Cartago, we thought of sleeping there but as our circadian rhythm were still the ones from Portugal we decided to drive, and we did, all night long. After Cartago in direction to San Isidro de El General and then direction of Paso Canoas all following the ‘CA 2’, then we took a shortcut using the 237 road into the 16, down to Ciudad Neily from there to Rio Claro where we stopped for breakfast at the local Panaderia and from there straight into Pavones.
Because we were driving mostly at night we could not perceive what was really around us, but coming down into Ciudad Neily we started to see as first lights came in… a luxuriant tropical rainforest surrounding us, winding roads from mountains into valleys and a greenness I’ve only experienced in Sao Tome and Principe so far. But this is remarkable, no wonder Costa Rica is considered to be the greenest country in the world, but more about Costa Rica as a country later.
Road into Pavones ranks 5 on the worst roads top 10 described on the lonely planet guide – Costa Rica. You need a 4×4 or you won’t get anywhere! The road passes from the lowlands where cattle wanders around to crops of palm trees until you start t get into proper tropical rainforest with all it has to offer, all this of course passing wooden bridges and taking a “ferry” to cross the Coto Colorado River.
We finally arrived to Pavones around 0830 and headed straight to where the famous second longest left-hander in the world lies at the river mouth, and it was tinny, in fact it was told to us that it was the smallest they have seen it all year!!
After that dreadful, shocking, horrific scenario (wave-wise) we asked where La Riviera was, our place to stay, and as we were going up Kelly (the owner) and the kids were going for a surf at Punta Banco where it was supposed to be the only place possible to surf today. We also met her husband, James before me and Tourita headed down with the board to see if we could even have a little surf at the main break of Pavones, but nothing. As we were coming up to the hotel still dry, a Local told us that the only place to surf was Punta Banco (same spot Kelly and the kids were surfing) so we headed that way. PP was too tired and got into bed straight away. True enough there were waves but nothing special. I took my brand new “bulldog” model that Gero shaped for me (Fatum Surfboards) just before I travel and it was not cured still, but I just got it is for a dip. Still with those dire conditions I still managed to catch some waves and was thrilled with my board. It is a very small thing, measuring 5’5’’x 19’’x2’1/4’’, very stable and versatile, now I’m hoping to try it on a bigger day, we still don’t know when!
Well, have another piece of advice and bring DOLARS here and not EURO! Me and PP manage to get some money from the cash machine at San Jose but wasn’t enough, so we reached Pavones with almost no money, even though we have some euro with us. And we only had money to get back to Golfito about 60kms away and get to a bank and re-charge. Tourita and I had a burger at La Plaza Bar and shared a beer since money was scarce. Tourita still insisted we should ask for another beer and he wanted the other course that was substantially more expensive. I had to play daddy and say no, otherwise we would be in trouble to get to golfito. For him all would be ok we just have to ask someone for cash or we could leave more money in euro with the owners of the restaurants and then pay them in colones (the currency of costa rica) when he have them and they would return the euro to us. Many schemes and ways, that the owners of the hotel should help us, etc. in the end we shared the beer, eated the cheapest thing on the menu (burgers) and headed off. I still wanted to get to Golfito and get cash out and sort out some other things, but as we were almost dead beat we decided to sleep and do that in the morning.
We haven’t seen much today and now I’m drained and exhausted. I still managed to send an e-mail to my girlfriend saying it was all alright and now I’m off to lie in the hammock outside since my head is almost detonating!
Tomorrow more on Costa Rica…
Pura Vida!