September 5, 2009: Jaco

Sean: Once again we woke up quite early this morning. In fact we got up so early that we were packed and ready to eat breakfast at 6:50 and the hotel restaurant didn’t even open until 7:00! We waited it out and had a large breakfast before hitting the road.

There was a LOT of driving today. We made our way from the northern part of the Nicoya Peninsula to Jaco, on the central side of the pacific. We snaked through many small towns and took a few wrong turns. At times we had to ask for directions and at others we had to decipher if we were on the correct highway.

En route we stopped at the Rio Tarcoles, home of the famous crocodile bridge. There were a ton of crocodiles basking under the bridge, many more than when I visited with GAP. After watching the crocodiles for a while and grabbing a quick lunch we continued on our way.

We arrived at Jaco at around 1:00 and cruised the main drag in town before settling on a nice hotel right on the beach. We dropped off our things and then jumped back in the car to head to Cararra National Park. Cararra is known as the park where the tropical dry forest from the north meets the rain forest. It is also home to a large population of Scarlett Macaws.

Just a few minutes before we reached the park it started raining as it can only in the tropics. Buckets of water poured from the sky. Undeterred, we made our way to the visitor center and attempted to wait out the rain. After waiting about half an hour we decided to just hike through the precipitation.

The trail was filled with puddles and mud. Nonetheless, it was a great hike through the forest and it was awesome to see some of the creeks swell to small rivers. I even spotted a Scarlet Macaw sheltering itself from the rain. Halfway through the hike we ran into a group of college aged students that were studying something in the park. As we passed by they showed us a snake they caught just off the trail.

Almost as soon as we began heading back the rain eased and the birds came to life. We heard several macaws squawking and saw them flying overhead (sorry I couldn’t get a picture…). We watched / listened to them for about 15 minutes before making our way back to the car, and eventually the hotel.

When we got back to the room it was about 4:00 and we decided to hit the beach just out our front door. As seems usual around these parts, it was a magnificent surfing beach. The waves were big, strong, and had a nice shape. We walked a ways down the beach and then hit the water. The waves rolled in quickly and I got tired fairly quickly.

By the time we returned to the room and got showered up it was time for dinner. Armed with free drink coupons we hit the bar attached to our hotel. After consuming and imperial and some nachos my dad and I walked toward the main part of town to check out some shops before the big Costa Rica – Mexico World Cup Qualifying Match (a soccer game).

To our surprise everything was fairly dead. Jaco has a reputation as a party town so I believe this was due to the game. Everyone must have closed up shop a bit early so they could get home to watch the match (that or the town is quiet during the slow season). When the rain began to fall we jumped in a cab and headed back to our hotel.

At 8:00 the futbol game started so we returned to the nearby bar for a few drinks and some more food. The bar was alive with excited Ticos! I enjoyed the atmosphere and cheered along with the Costa Ricans. Unfortunately, just before the end of the first half Mexico scored.

It was all downhill from there. The energy was zapped from the building. Making matters worse, Mexico scored again early in the second half. As peoples hopes began to fade, I was overwhelmed by a wave of tiredness and returned to the room.

As I sit here typing my blog the score is now 3-0 and the clock is ticking down. I expect the country to be a bit sad tomorrow…