Part 7: Brasilito to Nosara

20140221-22

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The Trip

We spent the night in one of the most basic hotels that I have ever experienced, with the possible exception of a place that we stayed in Guerro Negro in Baja back in the 1990s.  But, the place had a/c and it generally met our needs.  We were able to see the Olympics (in espanol) on the bar TV and that was good enough.

Next morning we headed to Nosara.  The road was paved for awhile, but then degraded into a heavily traveled, bumpy, dusty road for 20 km or so.

The Photos

The photos below are what we saw.

While Costa Rica is considered the best Banana Republic, it is still somewhat "third world".  Witness the above truck coming at us on the main highway "at speed" with the fellow riding on top in flip flops.  We were not sure what he was carrying, but it was over the capacity of the vehicle.

These vehicles are robust and famous world-wide: the Toyota Land Cruiser.  But you cannot get this configuration in the U.S.

We were on the road to Nosara and spotted this termite nest in a tree.  Note the mud tube coming out of the bottom of the nest.  This allows the termites to get to the ground without suffering predators.

We got to Villa Mango and were pleasantly surprised.  Our bathroom was an open-air room; we were on the 2nd level, so there were no peepers, but they did have curtains anyway.

The common area was on an open terrace.

The place had a very nice pool with warm water.

There was a nice view of the ocean from the terrace and from our room.

There were several horses on site, but mom was not that happy about us touching junior.  Junior was ok with it but mom tried to bite me several times.  Having had horses for 15 years, you learn to "read the ears".  When the ears go back, it is time to retreat which is exactly what we did.

The bedroom was nicely appointed.

We went to the beach for sunset and dinner.  It was very beautiful.

Nosara is big with the yoga community and we saw several folks on the beach doing their poses.

The pool deck had a nice view of the ocean too.

The breakfast table was made of one big slab of native tropical hardwood.

The bougainvillea was in bloom outside our room.

Our balcony had a nice view of the Nosara Cliffs.  Note that in the dry season (now) the landscape gets rather barren.

There was some odd structure in the distance.  The next day we would go check it out.

We drove to the beach for lunch and spotted this critter along the dirt road.

There was pretty substantial surf at Nosara; it is a popular surfing spot and we were told that it is world-famous among surfers.

Lunch time was low tide so we walked on the wet sand.

There were a number of very nice places right on the beach.

There were a number of folks out in the surf, but given the rocky bottom, that seemed a bit dicey.

The wave action produced significant spray when the waves hit the rocks.

The odd structure we could see in the distance was right next to the beach.  I have no idea what this is other than odd.

Low tide exposed the rocky coastline so we went out looking for critters.

This small copter-like device overflew our position.  This looks very dicey.

There were nice homes just above the beach.

I spotted this creature in the tide pool and thought it was a turtle, but when I went to touch it with my knife, it applied suction and fixed itself to the rock.  I could not pry it off with the point of the knife, but then I did not try that hard for fear of hurting it.  I think this is a limpet.

We established contact with a local mogger in Nosara and went to their house for drinks.  Rick and Heidi were very hospitable and we had a great time.  I, in my infinite wisdom, stopped at the liquor store on the way over to their place which set in motion a world-class hangover.  I felt terrible the next day but later in the day experienced a series of gastrointestinal symptoms that were more likely associated with something sketchy that we ate at the restaurant.  A multi-hour, two-ended purge ensued which was quite unpleasant.  And, just to keep things interesting, we found 2 black scorpions in our room.  We were not bitten, but the web suggest that it would have been quite painful.  So, tomorrow, we go into "desert mode" and shake out the clothes and boots before putting them on.

Tomorrow, we head back out over the gnarly dirt road and up the Nicoya Peninsula.


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