Up the coast

Today we are heading up to Dominical which, the guidebook tells us, is a surfer’s paradise just up the coast. We take the boat out of Drake’s Bay which was a great way to travel. The boat went up the coast for about 10 minutes and then it turned inland to go up the river. Picture the sea where the tide is making 6 foot waves meeting a fairly large river that is also riding high in the opposite direction. It was amazing how the boatman managed the crossing. It felt like we were going to ‘surf’ in on the waves but, in fact, he took the boat crossways between each of the waves until we were out of the tidal flow. The rest of the journey took us up a beautiful river fringed with palms, mangroves and the odd house. At one point we were taken through a ‘shortcut’ through the mangroves which was lovely. The darkness of the water alongside the constant shadow of the trees made everything look and feel very prehistoric.

We arrived in Palmar Norte at just after 9am, which was a bit of a pity because the bus didn’t leave until 12.45! We were offered taxis at a mere $40 for a 60km journey but decided to bite the bullet and wait. The buses only cost a couple of dollars each so, although they are noisy, dusty and uncomfortable, it is hard to justify the extra expense. The 12.45 bus arrives with ‘Dominical’ duly written on the front windscreen so we grab our packs, scramble in the scrum of locals trying to catch the same bus and climb on board. The bus driver took one look at us and asked us where we were going. When I replied ’Dominical’ he shook his head and said “No, la Una”. Which I think you can roughly translate as “boy, you gringos don’t know anything, this isn’t YOUR 12.45 bus to Dominical, this is OUR 12.45 bus to Dominical”. We couldn’t make any sense out of why this wasn’t our bus but decided to wait until 1pm to see if OUR bus would turn up. We were a tad worried that we were perhaps waiting for a bus that wasn’t going to come and asked a couple of people if there was a bus due. One man said he was waiting for it so we relaxed a little bit.

Brett was befriended by a young deaf girl and managed to have an extended conversation with her about the bus we were now all waiting for. It seems that his Spanish sign language is much better than his spoken Spanish.

I don’t know why we worry so, the bus does eventually come and we hoist ourselves onboard. Another 60km journey that takes 2 hours. I think I may have been a bit harsh about the roads here after all. It is only really the side roads that are dreadful. Otherwise, they are quite well paved and not too many potholes. It doesn’t feel too long before we arrive. It is hard to know what to call Dominical. It isn’t really a town or a village. Originally, it was probably just a crossroad stop, but it has evolved into a collection of shops, bars, restaurants, hotels, cabinas and B&Bs for tourists and travellers.

Ticos camping on the beach for the weekend

The beach is absolutely stunning and it has the highest surf that I have ever seen outside of the telly. Unfortunately, this does mean that we aren’t allowed to go into the water too far because there is a very bad riptide by all accounts. I try to get a picture that captures the surf and Brett suggests that the best shot will be actually from the waterline - but I decide not to risk my camera or my life.

While there are more westerners here than we have seen at once since we left home, there is still a Costa Rican feel here and it seems as good a place as any to kick back for a few days. The first evening we are here it absolutely pours with rain, which brings out all the crabs around our cabin. They gave Brett quite a scare at first, until he realised what they were. You have to be quite careful not to tread on them as you walk around because there are so many of them scuttling to and fro.

This crab can't decide whether to come out from under our cabina.

The highlight of our stay here is a trip up to the local waterfall. This entails an 8am start followed by a 1 hour trek on horseback to a lovely little posada in the hills where we are served breakfast. Then another hour on horseback up to the falls.

The trek is really fabulous. Any other time I have been on a horse it has been a fairly gentle walk along country lanes or across fields. Not this one! The horses clamber up and down loose shale, muddy, and/or rocky trails and we ford a couple of river beds and tiptoe through rocky outcrops. I am amazed that I can even keep on the horse, let alone actually enjoy it.

Up the mountain

and down the rocky glen

As is the way with any trek I think, the horses know exactly where they are going and exactly how they want to get there. When my horse decides that it is time for a little trot he picks up his hooves and off he goes. If I really insist he will pretend to slow down - but really we both know who is in charge. Brett’s horse is the leader, he puts himself out in front and just ambles along keeping enough distance between himself and the group to reinforce his pre-eminence - a position that Brett is more than happy to assume. Mine is a follower; if he can’t see a horse in front of him he gets very twitchy and doesn’t seem too sure what to do.

The waterfall is just perfect for swimming. The water is a bit chilly, but blissful as we are so hot. We spend a lovely hour at the waterfall.

The guides rig up a rope so that you can climb up the fall and jump off one of the ledges into the pool below.

Spot the boy diving from the ledge in the middle!

Although it does look like fun, jumping anywhere from any kind of a height has never been my idea of a good time, so I am happy to watch the brave few who do decide to try. One poor woman missed her landing a bit and there was a collective intake of breath, and we winced as one, at the sound that her bottom made as it hit the water too flat.

The place where we stopped for breakfast and lunch was a private eco-lodge of sorts and they showed us a couple of the animals that they had. There was a lovely Toucan and a whole family of Tetse something or others (!) that they have been rearing to re-introduce back into the wild. Although the Toucan does sleep in a cage it is free to go out and about during the day - I did mean to ask why they had it, whether it was a rescue-bird, but I didn’t get around to that.

All in all it was a lovely morning, and it only took 3 days for my own bottom to recover from being saddle-sore, so worth the effort really.

I noticed this banana tree with a massive flower on the end. I hadn't seen it before and thought it was lovely.

We are still heading up towards San Jose, but we have a couple of days before we need to be there so we go in search of a beach where we can actually swim. The surf has been too high here and the riptide too dangerous, for anything more than a paddle. One day they even closed the beach to the surfers because it was so treacherous. The local paper warns of an extra high tide just before Easter - with anything from 10 - 20 foot waves - and the surfers are practically drooling in anticipation.

After Dominical we spent a couple of days in Quepos that doesn’t really have that much to note here other than I was able to do a bit of snorkelling off the beach and saw some lovely fish and a bit of coral. It is great to be able to do it without having to book a 'snorkelling tour'. Oops, nearly forgot, we heard and saw some howler monkeys while we were on the beach. At first we didn't know what the sound was but then figured out that it could only be them making such a racket. We saw a pair in the trees as we were walking off the beach. The sound that they make is so loud that I thought they must be at least the size of a small gorilla - but I was very surprised to see that in fact they are quite small. Apparently they have developed a very large larynx in relation to their actual size.

We were going to go into the national park here but it is so expensive to stay that we decide to cut short our visit and head up to San Jose instead.