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Our good run of upgrades and easy flying had come to an abrupt end. After waking early to get to Bocca’s del Torro, we weren’t too happy to find out that luggage didn’t make it on the same flight. More than two hours later our bags arrived and we were greeted at the airport by Alfondo, the driver at our remote eco hotel, Tesoro Escondido.
It was a mad rush, but within 15 minutes we’d done our grocery shopping for the next few days, found our swimmers, towels and goggles and we were on a boat to explore the islands that form the archipelago around Boccas del Torro. We visited Dolphin Bay and spotted many of these beautiful creatures swimming. We also visited a deserted white sand island and did some snorkelling after a seafood lunch and a siesta.
After a busy day, we headed back to our hotel which can only be travelled to by several kilometres of extremely muddy road... but a journey worth taking as our cabina was built on a cliff edge and had its own private beach. The only sound we could hear was the waves crashing over the coral reef into the rocks below us. Our cabina was decked out in recycled bottles and shells which reminded us of Byron Bay
That evening, we experienced the delights of Dorothy’s cooking. The little old French chef whipped up a seafood risotto, which was followed up with a chocolate dessert which is made from cocoa beans collected from the nearby farm. WOW.
The next day, I (Sav) went out for horse-ride through the local forest and along the beach.. it was a beautiful experience despite the fact that I had the most stubborn horse! Along the way I saw an abundance of brightly coloured butterflies, yellow tipped birds and a sloth sleeping in a tree!
In the afternoon, accompanied by three of the dogs from our hotel, we walked along the muddy roads to Playa Paunch, a local beach frequented by surfers. We enjoyed a margarita whilst watching the surfers try to avoid hard landings on the coral reefs before heading back to the hotel for another delightful meal where we were joined by a sloth and her new baby!
The following day it rained... which was perfect for a lazy day in. At 12, the red wine came out with the scrabble board and we spent much of the day lazing about before devouring a chicken curry made from freshly ground coconut milk and a flourless chocolate cake. Hmmmmm...
On our fourth day at Boccas, we went for a swim in the rain and in the evening had a night out with Aaron, Linda, Catherine and Amy from our hotel. After a few drinks and dinner we visited a nearby party island, consumed a thousand drinks, danced and even tried the “street meat” (local vendors selling dodgy kebabs). Three hours after finally getting home at 3.30am we were faced with the very unwelcoming prospect of getting up to catch our flight to Panama city. Let’s just say that it wasn’t a pretty morning and our only saving grace was that Catherine who was travelling with us, kindly offered to let us crash her room at the Marriott hotel until our flight at 3 in the afternoon.
Back to San Jose and the previously uninspiring and dreary cityscape of the capital remained unchanged. We picked up or passports and our Brazilian visas and set ourselves up in a good restaurant with WIFI to catch up on emails and news of the world while we waited for our afternoon flight to Panama City. Another business class upgrade later and we arrived late enough to only be able to get a taxi straight to the hotel and catch few hours sleep before our 6.45am flight the next morning.
After a morning of checking out San Jose (one of the most uninspiring cities we have visited in the whole trip) and dropping off our passports to get visas at the Brazilian Consulate, we boarded the bus for a 5 hour ride to Playa Grande on the Pacific Coast. 5 hours turned into 7 hours after the police arrested someone on our bus and we traffic was gridlocked coming out of the city. But the rural scenery though the mountains, very reminiscent of Byron Bay hinterland, was spectacular and the chicken and rice at the lunch stop more than made up for the delays.
We arrived well after dark at Playa Grande and checked into the pretty unfriendly “Las Tortugas” hotel. A short walk down the street (with torches as this place is seriously quiet and not developed) we came across “Rip Jack Inn” which, after having met the friendly staff and sampled the drinks and food at the bar, the next morning was to became our home for the week.
Of all the places we could have gone in Costa Rica why did we choose Playa Grande? The combination of beautiful beaches which have an awesome and reliable surf break during the day and turn into homes for nesting Leatherback Turtles at night seemed like a pretty good combination. The Rip Jack Inn also provided yoga classes most mornings which meant I could provide entertainment for anyone watching with what can be accurately described as “extreme inflexibility”.
The rest of our days were usually spent between surfing, walking along the beach and exploring the nearby bays and checking out the two other bar / restaurants that were within 50m of where we staying. We had a couple of adventurous days .... one morning we took a canopy tour which involves driving up into the jungle hills and then riding a series of 12 flying foxes down through the valleys over or between the treetops with views out to the ocean. Another day we thought we’d take an easy bike ride into the neighbouring town of Tamarindo (known as TamaGringo because of the number of tourists and overdevelopment which is starting to tarnish the local atmosphere) to mail home some souvenirs we’d collected. Very basic bikes, even more basic roads, a crocodile infested river crossing and very hot and humid day made for quite a work-out. The extra 10km hilly round trip on a one gear bike to the post office was just a bonus!
We also met two great couples from the U.S., Phil and Denise and Steve and Collette, whom we shared yoga sessions, surfing, drinks and dinner with often later in the week. Phil let me tag along on one of his surf lessons with Chelsea which turned into the school of hard knocks, as the surf turned ugly that afternoon. By the end of the week it was tough to leave as we’d got to know Gregory, Andy, Anny and Maggie from the Rip Jack Inn and Ian and Corrine (Aussie expat) from the local surf shop and the place was starting to feel like a home away from home.
On our last night we checked into a small hotel in Tamarindo as we had a 7.30am flight the next morning to San Jose. We found a small Colombian restaurant where we shared a couple of shots with the locals. The tasty but tiny portions we’d had for dinner meant we felt compelled to kick on to Walter’s Mexican Restaurant for a top up before calling it a night.
We left Placencia just after a morning of swimming on the beach and catching up on news from home. We flew to Belize City on a small plane, that was so full one of the passengers had to sit in the copilot’s seat, that took us over some of the beautiful inner reefs and coastal rural areas. From there we flew down to San Salvador and onto San Jose in Costa Rica. Our last 2 flights we achieved something that has alluded us for 10 months and almost 30 flights ..... an upgrade to business class!
We started the our tour with a beautiful 4 hour drive south from Belize City through mountains and dense forest along the “Hummingbird Highway” to the coastal settlement of Placencia. This sleepy town is at the very end of a peninsula, mangrove lagoons on one side and palm fringed, white Caribbean beaches on the other... a very relaxing afternoon was spent hanging out at our beachside hotel.
The next day our sea kayaking trip was to start in earnest. Unfortunately we were a bit unlucky with weather, strong winds and a few storms, so rather than moving between small coral atolls on the outer reefs we were confined to a small island 10km offshore which was to act as our base for the next 5 days.
Let me put “unlucky” into perspective. The island was about 80m long and 30m wide. At the southern and eastern sides were fringed with mangroves that provided excellent fishing for the family of pelicans living there every morning and evening. The northern and western sides of the island were interspersed with palm trees and more open and sandy, providing great views to other nearby islands and the distant mountains lining the border between Belize and Guatemala. There was a small timber hut with two rooms and a kitchen near the mangroves that served as storage and home for Tilo, the islands’ caretaker (from Honduras). In the middle of the island was built a large, hexagonal, wooden pergola, at the centre of which was the simple, but essential bar which served as the epicentre for hours of playing card, dominoes, reading and swinging on hammocks. Of course we could simply wade out a few metres to spectacular coral reefs that surrounded the island, some of the best we have ever seen.
Our tents were set up in between a thatch of small palm trees and the cold bucket showers were usually a welcome relief from the afternoon heat if the wind wasn’t blowing too hard. Most days involved riding out on the boat to another island and then snorkelling around coral reefs or mangrove estuaries before kayaking back to our base camp on the island.
But the real blessing on the trip was Dwayne. A local from Placencia who operated the sea kayaking tour and had a great sense of humour and even better sense of where the abundant marine life was hiding. Every night our plates were laden with freshly caught lobster, conch and fish. He also, along with Tilo and Rudi (our lazy mainland guide), educated us in the Belizean passion for dominoes. Dwayne also showed us how he caught lobster and took me fishing a couple of times were I was lucky enough to land a big Bar Jack (a local red blooded fish like a tuna).
Along with Frisky, the crazy island dog (who soon got into the habit of launching herself onto us when we were sleeping on the hammocks), all 6 of us easily fell into the daily rhythm of the sun and the only time we made it past 8.30pm was when we gorged ourselves on chocolate and marshmallows around the campfire on the beach. The afternoon rums may have also had an impact on our need for early nights!
