After about four days in one place i started getting antsy and decided to bail. Pavones was hands down the mellowest place we hit on the Costa trip–and leaving when it was overhead didn’t seem right but we bailed anyways.
Alex the taxi guy picked us up at 4am and we b-lined it to the airport in Golfito. The game plan was to fly back to San Jose, then hop another flight to Tambor and make our way to Mal Pais. We lucked out and found super cheap flights on Nature Air. The total for both of us on both flights was like $140. Almost half the price of Sansa. Stoked. We got to the airport about 1.5 hours later, checked in. After checking in the Nature Air dude was like ‘ok, i’ll just need $80 for the two boards.’ WTF?! Yeah, the fucking boards cost more than our fucking ticket. Insane. Basically, Nature Air charges $40 per board. Sansa charges $10. After trying to get them to either not charge us or reduce the fee, i caved in and payed. Fuck it. Once we got back to San Jose, we were checking in for the second leg of the trip to Tambor. Dude at the desk was like ‘sorry, de board cannot fit in de plane.’ Wait a minute…..Are you fucking KIDDING ME??!! I just paid $80 to get our fucking boards here and now they won’t fit in your fucking plane?! Fuck you. Give me my money back, and the fucking money i paid for the boards. No dice. I got zero refund and only a voucher to fly again on Nature Air within a year.
Even though the tix are cheaper, here is why you should never fly Nature Air if you go to Costa Rica.
- They charge $40 per board, even if 2 in one bag.
- Even though they say you’re ok, some flights you won’t be able to fit boards.
- All airports charge an airport tax on Nature Air. (Sansa has none)
- The planes are a little on the shitty side.
After the bullshit with Nature Air, we booked a flight over the phone on Sansa to Tambor. Sansa didn’t fly into that particular airport that we were in so we had to take a taxi 15 mins to the main international airport. Upon arrival, the taxi guy was a fucking crook and wouldn’t give me my change. He was all patting his pockets like ‘i don’t have change.’ Fuck that. I started yelling at him, cussing and shit. Then he pulled out a huge wad of cash and gave me half the change owed. I grabbed the rest out of his hand and told him to fuck off. Fucking dick. Alex was cool. This guy needed a pop to the face.
Couple hours later we were in Mal Pais and all was fine. The game plan was to link up with a friend of a friend who had a place down there. A few phone calls and 5 miles of walking and looking for the alleged Hammock Hotel turned up no friend of a friend–only blisters on my feet and sunburn on my shoulders. I was pretty fucking pissed at this point. The day wore me down.
We checked into a cheap shithole called Charlies. Pink walls n shit. Rad. It was conveniently located right across from a pretty rad bar called the Monkey Bar ran by some older dude from Vegas. Super nice guy, didn’t surf or anything. He told us he just wanted to try something new. Pretty dramatic change–bail on Vegas and open a bar in the middle of nowhere Costa Rica.
The next day we ended up relocating to a hotel down the road called the Beach Break Hotel. This place is rad. If you find yourself in Mal Pais or Santa Teresa, check this place out. Clean, AC, relatively cheap, close to food and surf. You can def find cheaper places to stay, but you get what you pay for. We posted up here for a good week. The surf was ok. There was a ton of rain so the waves were a bit on the wonky side from all the water/sediment being pumped out all the little creeks. But i didn’t get hit by a jellyfish once. We met a bunch of cool people from all over the place. There was a ton of Israelis in town for some reason. Otter got offered weed 7 times in one day…one of the local Tico dudes was like ‘rasta-man, you wan weed?’ Pretty funny.
We ended up going to a place on the southern part of the Nicoya peninsula near Cabuya. I’d surfed this place when i was down here last time for the McKenney wedding. Super sic left reefy, point, beach break. This place had a very consistent peak. All the little Tico kids were killing this wave with the shittiest of equipment. Holes in their boards, fins missing, no wax, no leash, but they were stoked. It was pretty cool surfing with them. Got a bunch of fun, long rides. Not super big, but really fun peeling wave.
We went fishing one day. Didn’t catch shit. But we did see turtles humping, and whales jumping out of the water. The boat captain was stoked on the whales. Kept trying to get close to em. Pretty rad seeing whales jump outta the water. Some Discovery Channel shit for sure. That same day we went snorkeling. So rad. Tons of crazy little fish. I didn’t wear a rashy and got burned badly.
Mal Pais got about a week of our time. Then we got antsy and headed north up to Tamarindo.
Stay tuned for part III.
damn that dood is white.