Our Airbnb was in a place called Rio Negra, in the mountains northeast of Santa Teresa. It was a rough drive on country roads to say the least. We had no service and thankfully the caretaker pulled in soon after we did about 9 at night. We had no way to reach our host or instructions for entering the house.
Even though this Airbnb didn't stick out in appearance, it had a few other things to offer. First, ants freely crawled in under the door. They were harmless though. Its Costa Rican countryside so we weren't really surprised. Next, when it was time for bed, I noticed we only had top sheets. I messaged the host to clarify if there was a mistake. He said, "No this is typical for accommodations to not have blanket because of the heat." Except in the case of this house, which was well equipped with air conditioning. I explained to him perhaps some guests have different needs and blankets should at least be available. After all, some people do want air conditioning and a sheet while their partner might get cold with the air running and need a blanket. He apologized and the next morning said he gone straight to Walmart to provide blankets. He offered to give us a discounted additional night but we politely declined.
The other fun detail was the noises we heard in the morning; the deep loud barking like dogs. Not dogs though...howler monkeys. These guys are loud! I say guys because it is the males. We could see them in the trees as we looked from the back deck of the house.
This tree was outside our Airbnb. The pods are giant!
Here is one laying on our kitchen table.
On our 3rd day in Nicoya Peninsula, Clark planned for us to go here. However, he misread the information about the tides and realized that Sunday morning when we were arranging to head out. He was disappointed to say the least but quickly decided we could check out another interesting nearby place: San Lucas National Park.
San Lucas is referred to as the "Alcatraz" of Costa Rica. It was an island that housed a prison until 1991. There are some beaches and also a shipwreck to explore. Clark bought the tickets and we headed back toward Paquera. As we were getting closer, I asked Clark a few questions about how we were going to get to the island. We soon realized that the tickets he thought were for "the boat", were not for transportation but for this ship-wrecked boat on the island. The only way to transport to San Lucas is from Puntarenas, the town. Oops.
By then we had reached Naranja, the north ferry dock for Nicoya. We called the national park system to see about changing our ticket dates and the service rep. told us just to come anytime and they would honor our tickets. I guess we'll see...San Lucas wasn't something originally on our list of places to explore so we'll see if we even make it there.
A day before on our way to Santa Teresa we saw this rural airport. On the way back, I got a picture of it. You can a line of people maybe waiting to board or greeting passengers?
As we were driving around the countryside, it is noticeably drier than in San Jose.
After we realized we couldn't get to San Lucas, Clark decided to go back to the cove from a couple days before. They had a pizzeria there so we could order lunch too. Our GPS led us a little astray to this beach. I didn't get a picture of it. It was pretty busy but the water wasn't calm enough for snorkeling, so we back tracked to the cove.
We decided we wanted to grab some ice cream before getting on the ferry, so we headed back to Naranjo. I asked Clark if we could grab our ferry tickets first and thankfully, we decided to do that because the line quickly became very long. We didn't end up going for our ice cream, but there was an older gentleman there with his ice cart making sno cones, Tico style. I asked him if I could get some pictures. He was happy to oblige.
You can see the chunk of ice in his cart. He uses this metal tool to shave the ice until the scoop is full. Then he transfers the ice into a cup. He adds powdered sweet milk then another scoop of ice. Next, he puts on the syrup and lastly, the condensed milk. It is fabulous!!
I wanted some coconut water for rehydration, so we got a fresh coconut for drinking too.
Only one driver was allowed in the car to board. This meant we had to walk on. This ferry was smaller and packed to the brim. There is a lower level under the deck for more cars.
Here I was thinking "Wow, am I really in Costa Rica? I can't believe this!" It was such a beautiful day and the views were spectacular.
Looking back at Paquera.
Arriving to Puntarenas.
The ferry ride was pretty fun because there was also a bit of a fiesta happening. It seems karaoke is a regular form of entertainment here. There were some live performances happening during the ride. Of course, that was accompanied by dancing and singing along; great way to wrap up our busy weekend.
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