Costa Rica ( real picture from trip; little white speck is a person)
This past May I took a trip of a life time to the Central American country of Costa Rica, but it was anything from beautiful as one would think of when talking about a mountainous tropical coastline. This is exactly what my uncle and I thought when we started planning this trip four years ago when I was in my 9th grade year of high school. But little did we know what wait for us in this anything goes type of country.
Before I start you must know something about my uncle and I, we are essentially the same person except 20 years apart. We like a lot of the same things, and usually agree on almost everything, so I guess you can say we are pretty close. As I said, “Almost everything”, including surfing, the one soul reason for enduring on this tropical surf trip. Now to the surf trip, now that we have gotten off the plane in San Jose airport in Costa Rica, this is when it was time to kick back, relax, and get a beer, cause as we all know there are no drinking ages in 3rd world countries. We immediately get surrounded by 50 taxi guys, 2 of them instantly grab our board bags and say follow them, now this was weird cause I had arranged for a taxi driver prior to arriving, so something was wrong. Some how one or another these two guys knew exactly who we were and grabbed our bags to take them to our taxi van. As soon as I met our driver I knew we were in good hands because he was American, at least I’ll be able to communicate with him, I thought. Our driver Adrian turned out to be a really nice guy and definitely got us in the right state of mind, by stopping at the nearest Cantina, so we could pick up some beers and a spliff, for the 3 hour drive we had ahead of us. So we were now officially on vacation and on our way to our lush tropical paradise; or so we thought. 3 hours and a 6 pack later we arrived at our hotel, only able to see the bugs flying around our heads and the path way to our bungalow. Our bungalow contained two bunk beds, a small TV, toilet, and the occasional cock roach that would run across the floor, very basic and weird. The next day I finally got a good look at my so called tropical paradise, it turned out to be the most disgusting and nasty beaches in Costa Rica, especially because the waves were so big, the size was causing all of the river mouths to open up allowing raw sewage, trash, 20 foot tree trunks, and also did I mention crocodiles to go out to sea and come ashore. The most disgusting things I remember seeing on the beach were hypodermic needles, tooth brushes, medical bands, and a full trash bag. This only the beginning, it turns out that the waves were huge the whole trip, I would say at least 10 feet, 20feet a times, which basically means keeps the hell out of the water if you don’t know what you are doing. This didn’t help the fact that I was already freaked out about the debris on the beach. After surfing and getting use to place for a couple days there were a couple things I had picked up about the locals and the environment I was in. First of all don’t do anything fast at all, because if you do, you will definitely be sweating profusely by the end, this is because it is so damn hot every day, and you can actually see the humidity coming off coast line in the morning. Another thing is whenever you decide to buy something, you never under any circumstance just go and pay for it, you simple ask someone how much first, then go and calculate your money and then take it up to the counter, if not you will get robbed or at least charged more money. Costa Rica is just like anywhere with a different language if you know the language you will be a lot better off and not taken for a “gringo” or American. Costa is one of the hottest places I have ever been and the only way I found to cool yourself down was a cold cerveza (beer), because forget about trying to order anything with ice or cold, because the only thing that is cold is the beer.
Now it was time for a solid surf session, since my uncle was too busy drinking beer, being scared of the size of the waves and chilling by the pool, I had to paddle out with the locals. A 30 min paddle later I was out there in the epic 6-10 foot glassy barrel fest, which turned out to be very fun but very dangerous also. After dropping into a few nice sized set waves of about 7 feet, I was warmed up and ready for some bigger stuff. Waiting there on my short board I can see fish and things in the water everywhere which is not very comforting because where there are fish there are sharks, especially on tropical coast lines, so I was always on the lookout for sharks. The session turned out to be pretty on and off, I say that because I would catch some waves and then I would fall on others, usually I make the drop in every time. It was a pretty on and off day and I was about to catch one in, when I spotted a huge set stacking up on the outside, it was a great looking wave, and It was coming right for me. The wave turned out to be in perfect position for me, so I paddled harder than I ever paddled before got up and dropped into the most gorgeous, crystal clear blue wave that just barreled over my head with little ease, it was just one of thoughts priceless moments, that just doesn’t happen all that often. After I got barreled all the way to the beach I decided that was too good of a moment to ruin it and go back out, so I just celebrated with everyone on the beach that saw my awesome wave and partied till the next morning. What a great way to end a epic day of surfing and great day.
Almost done with the trip it was time to make our way into the town of Jaco for a little night life. Little did we know this place is the last place you want to go to at night? My uncle and I found ourselves a nice little bar on the beach after a short and annoying walk through the town of drug dealers and crack heads. This bar turns out to be in the center of town and right next to the police station, pretty safe spot you would think. This is Costa Rica and anything goes, this bar turns out to be the biggest drug and prostitute bar in Costa Rica. After one hundred attempts by drug dealers and prostitutes for some business, my uncle and I had enough of Jaco. Luckily I was in a good state of mind to be able to handle all those people I thought to myself, because if not I think I might have gone crazy. All in all after a week of surfing perfect waves and discovering a tropical waste land, completely opposite of a tropical paradise, I was ready to get back to United States soil.
Costa Rica was a lot different than my uncle and I thought it was going to be. But as strange and disgusting this 3rd world country seemed, it was a very interesting and unusual trip that most people would never want to experience. This trip should me what it is really like in 3rd world countries, and how good we actually have it here in the United States. I learned that we take a lot of things for granite here in the United States, such as toilets, and have been a lot more environmentally friendly ever since I’ve been back.
This past May I took a trip of a life time to the Central American country of Costa Rica, but it was anything from beautiful as one would think of when talking about a mountainous tropical coastline. This is exactly what my uncle and I thought when we started planning this trip four years ago when I was in my 9th grade year of high school. But little did we know what wait for us in this anything goes type of country.
Before I start you must know something about my uncle and I, we are essentially the same person except 20 years apart. We like a lot of the same things, and usually agree on almost everything, so I guess you can say we are pretty close. As I said, “Almost everything”, including surfing, the one soul reason for enduring on this tropical surf trip. Now to the surf trip, now that we have gotten off the plane in San Jose airport in Costa Rica, this is when it was time to kick back, relax, and get a beer, cause as we all know there are no drinking ages in 3rd world countries. We immediately get surrounded by 50 taxi guys, 2 of them instantly grab our board bags and say follow them, now this was weird cause I had arranged for a taxi driver prior to arriving, so something was wrong. Some how one or another these two guys knew exactly who we were and grabbed our bags to take them to our taxi van. As soon as I met our driver I knew we were in good hands because he was American, at least I’ll be able to communicate with him, I thought. Our driver Adrian turned out to be a really nice guy and definitely got us in the right state of mind, by stopping at the nearest Cantina, so we could pick up some beers and a spliff, for the 3 hour drive we had ahead of us. So we were now officially on vacation and on our way to our lush tropical paradise; or so we thought. 3 hours and a 6 pack later we arrived at our hotel, only able to see the bugs flying around our heads and the path way to our bungalow. Our bungalow contained two bunk beds, a small TV, toilet, and the occasional cock roach that would run across the floor, very basic and weird. The next day I finally got a good look at my so called tropical paradise, it turned out to be the most disgusting and nasty beaches in Costa Rica, especially because the waves were so big, the size was causing all of the river mouths to open up allowing raw sewage, trash, 20 foot tree trunks, and also did I mention crocodiles to go out to sea and come ashore. The most disgusting things I remember seeing on the beach were hypodermic needles, tooth brushes, medical bands, and a full trash bag. This only the beginning, it turns out that the waves were huge the whole trip, I would say at least 10 feet, 20feet a times, which basically means keeps the hell out of the water if you don’t know what you are doing. This didn’t help the fact that I was already freaked out about the debris on the beach. After surfing and getting use to place for a couple days there were a couple things I had picked up about the locals and the environment I was in. First of all don’t do anything fast at all, because if you do, you will definitely be sweating profusely by the end, this is because it is so damn hot every day, and you can actually see the humidity coming off coast line in the morning. Another thing is whenever you decide to buy something, you never under any circumstance just go and pay for it, you simple ask someone how much first, then go and calculate your money and then take it up to the counter, if not you will get robbed or at least charged more money. Costa Rica is just like anywhere with a different language if you know the language you will be a lot better off and not taken for a “gringo” or American. Costa is one of the hottest places I have ever been and the only way I found to cool yourself down was a cold cerveza (beer), because forget about trying to order anything with ice or cold, because the only thing that is cold is the beer.
Now it was time for a solid surf session, since my uncle was too busy drinking beer, being scared of the size of the waves and chilling by the pool, I had to paddle out with the locals. A 30 min paddle later I was out there in the epic 6-10 foot glassy barrel fest, which turned out to be very fun but very dangerous also. After dropping into a few nice sized set waves of about 7 feet, I was warmed up and ready for some bigger stuff. Waiting there on my short board I can see fish and things in the water everywhere which is not very comforting because where there are fish there are sharks, especially on tropical coast lines, so I was always on the lookout for sharks. The session turned out to be pretty on and off, I say that because I would catch some waves and then I would fall on others, usually I make the drop in every time. It was a pretty on and off day and I was about to catch one in, when I spotted a huge set stacking up on the outside, it was a great looking wave, and It was coming right for me. The wave turned out to be in perfect position for me, so I paddled harder than I ever paddled before got up and dropped into the most gorgeous, crystal clear blue wave that just barreled over my head with little ease, it was just one of thoughts priceless moments, that just doesn’t happen all that often. After I got barreled all the way to the beach I decided that was too good of a moment to ruin it and go back out, so I just celebrated with everyone on the beach that saw my awesome wave and partied till the next morning. What a great way to end a epic day of surfing and great day.
Almost done with the trip it was time to make our way into the town of Jaco for a little night life. Little did we know this place is the last place you want to go to at night? My uncle and I found ourselves a nice little bar on the beach after a short and annoying walk through the town of drug dealers and crack heads. This bar turns out to be in the center of town and right next to the police station, pretty safe spot you would think. This is Costa Rica and anything goes, this bar turns out to be the biggest drug and prostitute bar in Costa Rica. After one hundred attempts by drug dealers and prostitutes for some business, my uncle and I had enough of Jaco. Luckily I was in a good state of mind to be able to handle all those people I thought to myself, because if not I think I might have gone crazy. All in all after a week of surfing perfect waves and discovering a tropical waste land, completely opposite of a tropical paradise, I was ready to get back to United States soil.
Costa Rica was a lot different than my uncle and I thought it was going to be. But as strange and disgusting this 3rd world country seemed, it was a very interesting and unusual trip that most people would never want to experience. This trip should me what it is really like in 3rd world countries, and how good we actually have it here in the United States. I learned that we take a lot of things for granite here in the United States, such as toilets, and have been a lot more environmentally friendly ever since I’ve been back.
