Good morning. 6:45am here in Dominical. Clocks didn’t fall back here but you should all be well rested and able to see all the photos from Saturday. It rained almost all night but stopped at dawn and overcast but bright out. 80 degrees and 75% humidity which feels fine with fan. No A/C here to be eco-friendly but screened doors and window at top of roof makes nice air flow, I actually used comforter overnight and turned off fan this morning. Alex just texted me to say they had missed the first half of Chelsea-Arsenal. I totally forgot about game (partly i blocked it out as anticipating a huge defeat as Arsenal way at top of league and Chelsea has been weak lately). Decent Wi-Fi here but rather than trying to get on Peacock on iPad i am just listening to the local radio feed which is very lively and fun and lets me use iPad to blog.
I slept well Friday night after all the traveling and the city tour. For me, going from 5am to 11pm without a nap is taxing. I set my alarm for 6 to be generous to myself but I still was up at 5 and read Kindle for a while before heading to gym to do an hour on the exercise bike. I listened to a DuoLingual Spanish podcast which is mostly in Spanish with occasional English comments to keep you up with story in case you start to get lost. I then did a 10 minute swim to cool off, used the Jacuzzi and stretched.
While i was reading and later packing I found some Spanish music to listen to.I was the only person in the huge pool or the Jacuzzi but a lot of people were already eating at the indoor/outdoor breakfast buffet. Because of it always getting light at 5am , Ticos (Costa Rican’s are called Ticos) tend to have early breakfasts compared to USA or Europe. The Jacuzzi was delightful, the waterfall was HOT and felt great on my neck and shoulders.Cacao tree by poolI decided this would be my BIG breakfast day. The variety of pastries was endless, i picked the ones i didn’t recognize. The Tamale was great and the fruit so fresh and flavorful. Coffee comes as dark roast, no decaf option…While i was eating it got brilliantly sunny and i took a photo since as this is still end of rainy season not sure if i will see it again.
The distance as bird flies from San Jose to Dominical is probably only 75 miles but the fastest way to drive is via Jaco and is 120 miles. That is the route on “highway” which once got 30” out of San Jose was only one lane each way but very well paved. But with curves and hills and going through many small farming towns it took almost 4 hours (including our 20 minute break at Crocodile bridge for photos, bathroom, snacks.
I was all packed up and waiting at lobby at 10:45. The driver, Ru, came in at 11:05 and we headed to a nearby hotel to get one other person who like me had come in night before. Ru spoke less English than i did Spanish but it was a good enough combo (especially as i could look up some words on phone while he drove, “bridge”, “Palm Oil”). My co-camper was Bill. A retired tech guy from Santa Cruz. I guess he is about 5 years older than me. He has surfed a little but not regularly, the water up there is too cold for him, another camper said if he goes up from a 3mm wetsuit (like we use in Triathlons) to a 6 mm one with a full hood and boots he will be warm enough to enjoy. Bill seemed very laid back and liberal, we discussed how we won’t be talking politics at camp. He spoke zero English so i tried my best to translate between him and Ru.
My morning portrait, 2 days since hair trim.My shirt choice. After the owner donated entire company to an environmental charity foundation I bought some shirts and surf shorts to support them. Costa Rica is VERY environmentally conscious.They have these separate containers near recycling bins just for bottle caps!Not sure why I have a frown here. I was totally content to have the premium front seat and be in the care of the KalonSurf team for the next 7 days.
DAMN ! Arsenal just scored, broadcasters and Alex upset at Refs.
About 30 minutes west of San Jose, highway down to just one lane. Gorgeous, it started raining, got hard for while but then barely a drizzle when we got to Crocodile Bridge.The area adjacent to bridge had many places selling food and souvenirs, there was a nice pedestrian path on both sides of bridge The Tarcoles River has a lot of Crocodiles up to 12 feet long. In dry season the river is small and their can be dozens of crocs on the sandy banks but the river was very swollen after 18 hours of rain the day before according to Ru (he asked how to say 18 in English 🙂These 2 were on a sandbar right at bridge center. I joked that they were plastic and just there to not disappoint tourists. Luckily for us it was barely drizzling as the walk out to middle of wide bridge would have been less fun in pouring rain. On way back to car Ru noticed my Krav Maga tattoo and said he does it also, I had seen a Krav Maga gym sign on the bus tour. We went into what looked like a small bodega to use the bathrooms but out back was this huge pavilion that must fill up in peak season. I bought some postcards and an awesome pineapple and mango smoothie since they let us use restrooms. Smoothy guy was chatty in English but the checkout clerk spoke only Spanish, which I enjoyed.As we headed south from Jaco it became flat and there was lot of pasture land. I kept seeing white animals that I wasn’t sure if were cattle or sheep or goats as all stayed quite far from road.Here i could see they were cattle and googled it.Interesting that the Spanish brought over African cattle as climate similar, just like the brought coffee to Central America and Chocolate/Cacao is now grown in Africa.And then it really started to rain. Glad I was not driving and that we were in an AWD Toyota Land Cruiser.
We then drove through a lot Palm Oil plantations.
When I saw them I remembered reading in the Lonely Planet guide that they were common in this area. The palm oil plantations here are mostly on former pasture land so not as bad as in Indonesia where they are cutting down the rain forests where the orangutans live but it is still unhealthy.A few KM before reaching Dominical we turned in from the coast and would climb 1300 feet in elevation over a winding road, lodge only 1km from Pacific as bird flies but windy road. Would be great mountain bike ascent.I didn’t get any good photos but as we went from sea level up the mountain the houses switched from little shacks without windows to bigger and bigger places with gates and satellite dishes and pools. Only the rich can afford views of Pacific.Electric Gate
Good spot to take a break from writing here, Chelsea game is almost over and I need to get down to eat breakfast, we got to order last night. I was going to eat at 7 (it is 7-9, they cook it whenever you arrive) but Chelsea..
Now 3:40 pm. I just have a few minutes to write before my 4PM massage. We got back from beach at 3 and i had a long hot shower and a cup of coffee. Rest of campers planned quick beer and long nap before our 6pm dinner.
Jackie, the resort head, spoke perfect English with minimal accent. She welcomed us and gave us orientation to where to find snacks, coffee, alcohol (not allowed before or during surf sessions) and gave us a rundown of the schedule. And…..there was a dog, actually 3 I would discover.A golden mix, German Shepard and a Weimeramer. I love them all.Busy schedule. No surfing on Wednesday to let bodies recover and give instructors a day off. Bill and I were the only ones there so far. After unpacking a little I wandered around compound for a while since I Knew it would be dark by 5. View of Pacific Ocean, 1300 feet below and a KM away, from my bed!I locked my passport and wallet in safe, shouldn’t need for a week, all inclusive here, leave one tip for whole staff last day.Some of the boardsThe Yoga pavilion 30 minute trail loop through jungle
5:10pm now. Deep tissue massage was intense. I will lie flat in bed for an hour until dinner. Back to yesterday….
These were just 3 of the gorgeous plants i saw on the 30 foot walk to the Yoga Pavilion While i was wandering and stopped to meet the other dogs a staffer pointed out this 3 toed sloth. The dark thing below it is just a dead leaf. I read that they only come down trees every 2-3 days to poop and move to new tree with fresh leaves to eat. They are very vulnerable to carnivores on the ground. The Spanish word for them is perezoso. Oso i knew means bear and perezoso also means LAZY. I got better photos with my Panasonic LUMIX zoom camera. This is the little snack, coffee, tea area. Always fruit and trail mix and BROWNIES, seems like a test of self restraint.
Only 4 of us had arrived by dinner time.
The table seats 16 but not sure what max capacity of resort is. We are 8 for this non-peak season week.Appetizer was a Poke bowl, amazingMain course a delicious fish. They know I don’t eat red meat so on Carne Roja days they will give me alternative like pollo o pescado.Fresh meringue with caramelized sugar and an exotic fruit sauce, some one else said and i agree that it was nice the portions weren’t huge.I read the pertinent sections of Lonely Planet guide last week (VERY late for me, i would usually have read whole thing a month ago). The other book I will start once done with current Kindle one. I had told Bill on car a little of history of CR and told him he could borrow book , there is a nice 10 page section that covers pre-history to current time.
The other 2 people at dinner were Csy and Anand. Here are what i wrote down to remember them.
Csy: Half Chinese, Half Persian. He lives in SF and works in security division of google. He has been surfing the cold big waves of Ocean Beach there for 2 years but wants to get more skills and real lessons. His wife is home with their 6month old. She just got home from a vacation in Patagonia while he watched the kid. They both love to travel and felt it not worth them doing so with such a young child.
Anand. Half Indian and half Scottish.He works tech for Ally bank. Lives in Charlotte NC but just bought a place near Charleston, SC and wants to surf there like all the locals he sees from his apartment when there. Didn’t hear any mention of spouse.
Both of them were super smart, friendly, engaging.
As we were finishing dessert Pierre and Jenny arrived. I asked if their accents were French or Swiss but answer was Quebec. I said “bon soir, je parle au paus francais” which is really about all that is left as it has been 8 years since i was in France. They both speak perfect English but they have thick accents. They have been to KalonSurf before ,pre-covid and done some other surf learning trips , obviously no surfing in Montreal but they are avid snowboarders. I said goodnight and left group as it was almost 9pm and i was exhausted.
Done before dinner! Muy excelente. I can hang out a little longer tonight and maybe have more than one glass of wine. We head to beach tomorrow at 12 instead of eleven, one hour later every day to catch best tide for surfing. I have another massage in morning but this one a relax one rather than deep tissue one today. Buenas Noches. Hasta luesta.
