It is a charming enough town with a laid back vibe and nothing especially unique about it. That is not to say it is a boring town, just nothing great happened to me here. The best part of the town was a $5 dinner of some of the best grilled chicken I have ever eaten. The nice family sold it out of their house every night, right across from my hotel. They said they marinated it in orange juice, mango, tamarind and a bunch more fruits and spices that I forget. It came with the best gallo pinto (spiced up black beans and rice) I have had on this trip, along with a great cabbage salad that was served with super thin fried plantains. Everything was fantastic and it made me realize some people can just cook! The next day I was leaving for Costa Rica, so I said goodbye to the chicken and was off first thing in the morning. Border crossings can be very difficult depending on the time of day, amount of traffic, mood of the customs officials and a bunch of other things. So when I got to the bus station at 6:30am and a fella asked me if I wanted a taxi to the border for $20 I jumped at it. It took about 30 minutes in the taxi instead of 90+ minutes on the bus... well worth it in my book. As I got out of the cab a hustler kinda fella led me through the customs lines (which were very small at the time) and got me to the Costa Rican side in no time, all for a $5 "tip". There was no line on the Costa Rican side and the customs guy had me processed in about 30 seconds. As soon as I exited the customs booth a bus was leaving for Liberia where I needed to connect with the next bus. The last time I crossed this border it took about 3 hours and I had just done it in 15 minutes.... amazing. In Liberia there was a bus to Nicoya leaving right when I got there. I got into Nicoya around 10:45am. I was hoping to get to Liberia (2 hours before Nicoya) by noon and was way ahead of schedule. I only had to go about 2 more hours to get to the beach to meet my friend Devlin who was coming in to Costa Rica for a week from Colorado. Perhaps I got a bit cocky at this point and the travels gods got a little angry at me. The next bus for the beach was at noon, so I sat around in the bus station for over 2 hours waiting for the bus that ended up being over an hour late. The beach where I wanted to go (Playa Guiones)is 5 miles away from the town of Nosara, which is inland by those 5 miles. The bus passed the beach and went on to Nosara where I got off at the last stop. Only problem was that I had no idea where I was or where I was going. I asked some questions to the locals I ran into and got no definitve answers, most likely because I had no idea where I was supposed to be going. You see Devlin and I had both never been here and there is no real good meeting place in town, so I was kinda without a plan which is not a really good plan. Right before sunset I found a nice guy who called a taxi for me and got me to my hotel. I had only read a few reviews online about the hotel and had forgotten the name, but after some back and forth the driver figured out I wanted to go to the "Gilded Iguana" not some 'crazy lizard place'. I checked in at 6pm, which was very disappointing after such a fast start to my day. I had walked about 6 miles around town (mostly in circles) with my 30lb backpack in 95 degree heat and was in desperate need of a shower. After my shower I found a place at the bar and ordered a beer, feeling very clean and refreshed. I had not really planned on getting all the way to Playa Guiones in one day, with the border crossing and all, but here I was.
I was supposed to meet up with Devlin the next day so I just settled into the bar for dinner and a few beers when some crazy, laughing girl attacked me from behind. Of course, it was Devlin, who had just gotten into town and her gang decided to have dinner at the exact hotel I was staying at. Dumb luck, but we just laughed and went with it. All her friends (whom I had never met) were all very nice and super cool. Two of them (Ryan and Cat) owned a share in a vacation home down here and they, very graciously, offered to put me up for a few days. The digs were fantastic and were definitely the nicest of any place I have stayed yet, on this trip. It was looking like a little vacation from my vaction was on the horizon. For a few days, at least.
