Costa Rica: South Nicoya & Sarchi

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Had there been some shade to be had we might have stayed on that beach, but it is really too hot to spend the whole day in the sun - and the camper gets hot inside then too. So we drove on further north on more bad dirt roads, across narrow bridges with great potholes on both ends and washaways on each side, corrugations big enough for a roller coaster, and holes you could lose a small sedan in. We were believers of those travellers who had warned us. We finally arrived at Junquillal, the last couple of kilometres the worst we had found so far. We then had a few adventures looking for somewhere to camp; including having to back up a very narrow road, that we had been led to believe had a campground at its end. When another vehicle was coming from the opposite way and the driver assured me there was no campground there to be had, there was no choice but to reverse several hundred metres out again. But with the help of information provided by that driver, we found a 'surf camp' by the beach with a primitive cold shower, semi-clean toilet and very nice local owner. Once again, it would have been a nice place to stay but there was no shade to be had in the heat of the day.
Juergen was also a bit worried about his implant - he had the feeling that maybe it was infected, so we decided to move on after one night. We tried to contact the specialist but weren't successful. Juergen was also very tired of driving these roads so we drove in the direction of San Jose, arriving at Nicoya by late afternoon where we found a very helpful guard and then owner of a hotel and restaurant complex who allowed us to camp in the car park and use their pool and jacuzzi free of charge - we decided to return the favour and eat dinner in the restaurant. The next day with no reply from the specialist again, and the implant site still sore, we decided to drive back to Belen and have it looked at. So we found ourselves at the trailer park for the second time on the 26th November. When we arrived we were surprised to see the fifth wheelers of two American couples that we had met at Hotel Tzanjuyu in Panajachel. It was nice to catch up with Jackie, RJ, Jan and Bob again.
Juergen got in to see the specialist the next day and we were both reassured when he said that there was no problem. In fact he was very happy with the way it was healing. We decided to stay one more day as the next day would be my birthday and I didn't really want to be driving somewhere. I had the desire to go to the movies - we haven't been to the movies since January in Texas, and that was the only time in our whole trip. Unfortunately, after much research on the internet, we found that there were no movies that interested us even a little bit showing at the time. So we took ourselves to the Multiplaza - a huge American style mall - and went shopping. I got a great haircut and bought some new sunglasses - we had coffee and cake and then returned to the campground. In the evening we walked up the street to an Italian restaurant, which we had been to a few weeks earlier with Anna and Walter and had a very nice dinner. It has a sign on the wall that it is voted the best Italian restaurant in Costa Rica - voted by the Italian community of Cost Rica.
The next day we were on our way again, back to the Nicoya Peninsular but this time by ferry from Puntarenas to the southern part. We had to wait quite a while in a queue for the ferry once we arrived at Puntarenas, which meant we finally arrived on the peninsular quite late in the afternoon. We had no real idea where we were going and even though the road was tarred, we still had to watch out for potholes which are hard to see at dusk. We eventually stopped in what appeared to be a failed subdivision in Tambor. It proved to be fairly quiet, despite its proximity to the road, and except for a disco in the distance which didn't stop until after 3.00. That evening we had seen several large anteaters pass by under one of the street lamps nearby, and in the morning we heard our first howler monkeys since Tikal in Guatemala.
We drove on to Cobano on a reasonably good tarred surface and began to hope that all the bad roads on Nicoya Peninsular were in the North - until we left Cobano in the direction of Montezuma. The roads we had come to expect, but never really grew accustomed to, were back with a vengeance. And this time they were winding downhill as well, with a few hairpin bends thrown into the mix to make it more interesting!!! We were relieved to arrive in the small town of Montezuma and hoped to find a camping spot nearby. First we walked around town, ate lunch in a café - the most interesting thing about it was the crested bird that sat on the next table - and then used the internet before heading out of town towards Cabuya to look for a campground which was marked on the map. It proved to be just a small area for tents so we drove on. We found a nice beach about a kilometre from town with a relatively level area under the shade of coconut palms and a few other trees. We parked and settled in and stayed 3 nights. It was the weekend so there were quite a few people there during the day, but at night it was really quiet and completely dark which meant we both slept well. It was another little paradise just made for relaxing and reading and not doing much. I even got our hammock out, that we'd bought in Mexico and never used, and slung it between two tree trunks.
But once again we were getting short of water so we drove on to Cabuya, over a very rough road. We had thought to visit the Reserva Natural Absoluta Cabo Blanco, but discovered at the gate that it is closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Then we thought to drive across to Playa Mal Pais. We headed out of town and began going up a very steep hill - around the next bend and then the road ahead looked to me to be impassable. I guess we are not going to Mal Pais this way!!! With some difficulty we found a place almost big enough to turn around at the last bend and made it fit, only requiring an eight point turn. We started back along the awful road to Cabuya and then along the awful road to Montezuma. Two hours after we left our weekend campsite we drove back past it - we had covered less than 10 kilometres! From Montezuma we took the alternative route to Cobano, but even though the first few hundred metres were paved, the rest was just as bad as we had been driving.
In Cobano we stopped and filled our water tank, bought a few things at the Mega Super and thought about our options. In the end we decided that we didn't really want to drive on any more of these dirt roads, so we headed toward Paquera and once again camped in Tambor. This time we arrived in the daylight and found a spot by the ocean so that we didn't have to return to the failed subdivision. One thing we have been very surprised about is the number of subdivisions along the beaches of the peninsular. Many of them are gated communities and, if you believe the real estate signs and publications, the lots are available for very high prices. But very often there is nothing more than a pompous gate - no evidence of building on any of the lots. And then where you do see large dream homes built, you can't help but wonder how the people living there deal with the roads in and out of there dream location and no shopping or other facilities nearby.
On Tuesday morning we decided to head back to the mainland on the ferry. Given that we didn't want to drive anymore dirt roads for the moment, we were close to Paquera, and we were not that excited by our overnight camping place, there didn't seem to be any other option. We consulted our guidebook and decided to try to visit the area around Naranjo, Sarchi and Grecia on our way back to San Jose. We caught the 11.00 ferry - we drove in as they were closing the gate! We were back in Puntarenas by about 12.20 - the ferry over had taken 2 hours, but this one was smaller and faster, and more expensive.
The side trip to Sarchi was interesting... First we took the wrong turnoff from the highway and ended up going towards Zarcero instead of Naranjo - it meant we drove quite a few kilometres out of our way, but we were driving into the mountains and the countryside was different from what we had been experiencing lately. We also saw some real roadworks happening on this unexpected detour, and this is a rare sight indeed in this country! Eventually we arrived in Naranjo, which didn't really spark our interest. so we drove through and on to Sarchi - The Oxcart Land. In Costa Rica the locals still use oxcarts on the farms and it is not unusual to see them on the streets of large towns. The unique thing about them is the amazing way they are painted. Sarchi is the centre for the artesans responsible for this artwork, and in the main square there is a big oxcart that would require oxen the size of elephants to pull it.
It was getting late so we decided to look for somewhere to sleep. We found a map of the area and there appeared to be a campground just outside town. As is so often the case, the map was just an artist's impression and they really meant it when they printed 'this map is not to scale' on the top! 20 kilometres and we still hadn't found it. The road was narrow and winding uphill, but thank the gods it was tarred and almost totally lacking in potholes. It was getting dark so we stopped looking for a campground and started looking for a flat spot on the side of the road. There were not many to choose from as is usually the case on narrow, winding mountainous roads. We did find one before it got completely dark and utilised it. When it got dark there was an amazing view toward San Jose filled with lights; and then the fog came in and it all disappeared. In the morning the sky was clear and the view seemed to go on forever. It was a nice place to sleep despite it not being exactly what we were looking for.
The next day we drove back into Sarchi looking for artesans. We found souvenir shops that seemed to be full of junk that was probably mostly made in China and then stamped with Costa Rica to make it a souvenir. We were ready to give up when we came upon one that seemed to have quite a lot of customers, so we stopped and checked it out. The things on offer were much better quality, almost convinced us they were made in Costa Rica and a lot nicer than anything we had seen so far. It was also a lot more expensive, but I found a few gifts to take home and that was good.
After the shopping spree, we decided that there wasn't much else of interest around so we just got on the highway and drove 'home' to Belen Trailer Park, to prepare ourselves for the next round of dentist visits.

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