Last I wrote I was in Dominical. I have moved north up the Pacific coast now. I rented a car so that I could get to all the places I want to go and am really glad I did. From Dominical I went to Jaco and stayed there for two nights. Jaco is the closest beach to San Jose so it is somewhat touristy. It has a nice long white beach. I had three opportunities to buy pot or cocaine on the street while there. Herradura is a horseshoe shaped bay just North of Jaco with a high class marina and residential development.
From Jaco I drove north to Puntarenas and took the ferry to Paquera then drove to Montezuma which is a very small village near the southern point of the Nicoya Peninsula. The area is sparsely populated and known as a hippy and surfer hang out. I was real glad to have 4 wheel drive since the dirt roads were muddy, narrow, rough, and sometimes steep but otherwise good.
From Montezuma I drove around the tip of the peninsula and up through the areas of Santa Theresa/Malpais also very big surfing areas where the jungle meets the beach, still sparsely populated. Had to back track a long ways since at one point the river was flowing to high across the road to pass. Made it as far as Samara.
Samara is a small town on the northern Pacific coast with a beautiful beach. Just south of Samara is Carrillo Beach which is as pretty as a beach can be. It is a large curved cove protected from large surf by a reef and the white sand beach is lined with palm trees and with no one on it.
It was at Carrillo Beach my trip took a detour. After walking on the beach and swimming for a while I thought I was having cardiac problems so I made it back to a medical clinic in Samara. The doctor felt I needed to go to a private hospital in San Jose to be checked out so I took a two hour ride in an ambulance to Siberia where I got to ride in a medivac airplane to San Jose. After a day in the ER and extensive tests they said there was nothing wrong with my heart. The cardiologist didn’t speak any English but I think that is what he said. So, back to Samara to pick up my rental car and now I’m staying four days in a cool B&B just outside of Tamarindo, just taking it easy. I’ll post some pictures.
