The Nicoya Peninsula

During this past three weeks (Nov 26 to Dec 19th), Laura and I have been traveling up the coast of the Nicoya Peninsula; from Mal Pais in the south to Tamarindo in the north (see map attached below). We have been staying in hostels and little beachfront bungalows at the surf beaches along the coast, spending anywhere from 2 to 10 days at each locations. The goal at the end was to get to the Papagayo Peninsula and link up with the parents at the Four Seasons for five days of luxury vacation and an early Christmas. Some highlights below but first the maps.

The main map of Costa Rica to help you find the Nicoya Peninsula

The Nicoya in detail with our route north traced in black

Stop 1 Tranquilo Backpackers Lodge in Mal Pais- 10 days

Jumped off a forty foot waterfall in a nearby town called Montezuma. Got cocky after not killing myself and tried it again with my waterproof camera’s video running. Collision with the water jars camera from hand, camera sinks, suffice it to say there are no photos of the Nicoya from this point on.

Surfed in double overhead surfed at Playa Carmen that I thought was going to kill me. It was a gut check, boards were breaking. It took about 30 minutes just to paddle out.

Tranquilo Backpackers Lodge offered an amazing cast of traveling internationals. Including dude in his 30s from Albany who had traveled to India and thought he had become a monk. Wore full monk garb, had a shaved head and a goatee, but new approximately nothing about Buddhism. Other characters were more legit, like 4 firefighters from Montana who spent winters traveling in the tropics after working through the fire season out West.

Hanging out with our traveling buddy Tim from Holland, who traveled up and stayed with us the whole month on the Peninsula. He was a constant source of entertainment to all around him with his incredulous outbursts every time anything went wrong, which was frequent. To his genuine shock he lost at pool, cards, dice, and messed up a waves on a daily basis only to hit it full force, with money on the line, the next day. Definition of insanity, constantly doing the same thing and expecting different results. Wish I had a picture of him with his giant white euro glasses.

If you are traveling here make sure to hit up all the surf beaches in the area. We used the car to the full extent, often loaded up with other surfers, and hit up Playa Carmen, Mar Azul, Ballyanath, Santa Teresa, Cabuya and Hermosa

Tim our traveling budy from Holland-photo courtesy of facebook-

Tim The waterfall I jumped and lost my camera

Stop 2 Blow Dogs Surf Camp in Nasara- 3 days

This was a four hour drive from Mal Pais through the interior of the Peninsula. In the main town, where we stopped so Tim could get money he owed me at a bank, I tried to park the car and dropped a wheel into a six foot sewage trench. It took ten laughing locals to help us lift the car out.

In Nasara we stayed at a ‘surf camp’ called Blow Dogs, which sounded cool, but unfortunately had just changed ownership the month before and become the Kaya Sol yoga retreat. We stayed anyway. Good beet burgers and good waves at nearby Playa Guiones.

Stop 3 Budda Bar in San Juanillo- 1 day

Used this as a jumping off point to surf Marbella, which is an amazing, uncrowded, surf beach reputed as one of Costa Rica’s best ‘secret spots’. Apparently it wasn’t secret enough as our car got broken into and two Ipods, two pairs of sunglasses, and my bankcard were stolen. On the positive side the waves were really good.

Stop 4 Cabinas Paullina 5 nights

This was the hotel where Albero and Grady (described in the entry above) worked. Also where we surfed Playa Negra and Avellanas where all the surf photos were taken(see the previous entry). These were some of the best waves I have had.

This was the final stop of our travels with Tim, the Hollander, who we left in Tamarindo on our way up to meet the parents at the Four Seasons