whaack

Before I begin the tale of a wonderful journey with two of my closest friends, I will first introduce the gallo pinto. El gallo pinto, or "the spotted rooster", is the typical breakfast in Costa Rica. The base is rice and beans. In a home environment these are leftovers from the previous day's casado. This base is often mixed with natilla, a sour cream that's not so sour. The other ingredients are a combination of bread, eggs, sausage, cheese, and plantains. It seems like quite a heavy dish to start the day, and it is. Those new to Costa Rica often shy away from this breakfast, but once one has eaten it a few times the meal gets added to the list of reasons to get up in the morning.

Anyways, two week ago two of my friends from Stuyvesant High School¹ travelled to Costa Rica from the US and Paris. One is about to begin residency for head and neck surgery, the other is 1-2 years away from completing a dual Ph.D. in Physics. The former went to Princeton for undergrad and is finishing med school at NYU this year. The latter escaped the hell of Chicago University to complete his degree in an exchange program in Paris at Sorbonne Universite.

The amigos stayed for the first few nights in Playa Negra Hotel. The hotel is a tad expensive owing to its location right on the beach. It contains a gated area with a bunch of isolated cabinas. The hotel also has a restauraunt (to my right in the picture) which serves a great gallo pinto albeit at about triple the usual price.

The transition from the hotel to the beach is seamless.

On the first day of my friends' visit we fixed the 1st of 2 flat tires the rav4 received during the trip. I had read and took notes on all the steps in my car's manual and watched an instructional video to prepare for this moment. But alas I had not done a practice run. As expected, I encountered an unexpected problem. The lug wrench did not fit easily around the nuts of the wheel, it was so difficult to use the tool that I figured I had the wrong wrench and called a tico surfpal for help.

He rolled up with a car full of surf groupies that were perhaps impressed as he saved the day. After examining the situation surfpal assured us we had the right sized lug wrench and used a makeshift hammer to bang it onto the nuts. After putting on the spare tire we patched the flat tire at the mechanic, ordered a new tire for the next day, and then headed to Tamarindo where I gave my friends a surf lesson.

The forecast had predicted large waves for the day, but the water in Tamarindo was flattissimo. This made the lesson difficult and, unlike Adam, my friends struggled to catch their first wave. But in the end they both got to stand up for at least one ride.

Tamarindo has a pop up night market on Thursdays. It was Thursday, so we went. The market has all sorts of goodies: essential oils, shiny rocks, mixed drinks, and tasty food - some of which is infused with thc.

A tasty delight that I must mention is the acai fruit. Acai is not grown locally,² but it is sold commonly here. The night market has a food truck that specializes in "Acai, smoothies, y mas"

As I am writing this up while admiring the picture of the most delicious acai bowl I've ever tasted, I realize the woman lying on my bed is the same one in the tank top in the background. We met the night this picture was taken. My friends had chatted with her and her Argentinian friend while I was somewhere else catching up with old Tamarindo acquaintances. My friends later introduced me to her and friend. My friends are good friends.

After the night market we went to go jam with the surfpal who had helped us fix the flat. He has a kitten named THUNDER who roams around his house. THUNDER likes to accompany people on walks and demonstrate his ability to climb various trees.

I dropped off my friends at Playa Negra Hotel and then returned the next morning to eat breakfast with them at the hotel's restaurant. When I arrived I looked at the ocean and oh-my-god the best waves I've seen since I returned to CR in October were going off one after another. My buddies told me that they were exhausted from travel and invited me to skip breakfast and go catch some of the 1-2m waves that were breaking over the coral reef. I didn't have a leash³ with me, but I went to the surf shop and bought one just so I could surf this morning. Luck was with me as someone was on the beach to catch on camera the waves I caught on water.

After my surf session we went and prepared the car for the road trip by checking its vitals, replacing the patched tire, and filling it up with gas.

We left the next morning for the Selina in Nosara. I've been to a few Selina's throughout Latin America - all of which are nice - but this one was by far the best in terms of the aesthetics of its design. The hostel wonderfully integrates the buildings with the surrounding nature to give its guests the feeling they're in the best tree house complex ever made.

Before partying at Selina we went to the beach, Playa Guiones, where my friends practiced surfing in the white water as I selfishly paddled out alone to score a second epic session. In Guiones the waves break over sand instead of reef, so there are rarely barrels or steep sections. The plus side of this is there are many peaks so you don't have to compete with as many surfers for a wave. I surfed, got lunch with the amigos, and the surfed again until sundown. When I paddled to shore I was so tired that it felt as though I was pushing through wet cement instead of water.

Had I planned the trip for myself I would have stayed in Guiones. Selina's was fantastic and the rule of the surfing lifestyle is once you find good waves you don't move. But in retrospect I am happy that my friends wanted to travel to see the scenic inland of Costa Rica. After our one day in Nosara we hit the road towards Monteverde.

As has become common occurence in my life, I was punished for not listening to Diana Coman's advice. I did not study the map from Nosara to Monteverde, and Google Maps tried to save us 1-2 minutes by taking us off the high way and sending us through a "shortcut" that required (1) driving on a road in bad condition by CR standards (2) driving through a river. Only once I came face to face with the river did I give up on the "shortcut." We had to retrace our steps to get back on the highway. This fun pot hole filled detour added about 30-40 minutes to the drive.

We arrived in Monteverde. If you have a desire to breathe some of the freshest air the universe has to offer, come here. The climate is perfect and boy does the breeze feel nice. The mountainous area is a lush green during the heart of the dry season. We spent the evening and the following day hiking through the cloud forest and viewing a butterfly garden.

Please note little birdy.

Anteater looking dude who tico surfpal informed me is not actually an anteater

This was some weird foam that was on the side of the tree. Plox for comments explaining what/why this is.

I am not quite sure what these bags are for, "Concentrados Nutricion Animal" ... so someone is providing food for animals in the rain forest?

We ate breakfast at a restaurant that has a garden where the waiting staff places fruit out to attract exotic birds for the pleasure of the patrons as they eat their gallo pinto. We met a squirrel who has recently gone into modeling. We tried to warn him that if he keeps eating all the food meant for the birds he is going to get fat and lose his job.

Sigh, he didn't listen.

This massive bird occasionally let the other birds eat some fruit as well.

The butterfly garden had an introductory presentation on various bugs in Costa Rica. Our lecturer kept laughing nervously after discussing various aspects of bug sex life. But he was comfortable picking up all sorts of critters, from scorpions to beetles with pincers.

Both sunrises at our Airbnb in Monteverde were blessed with a moon set and a multi-hued sky.

For the last day of our adventure we drove around Arenal Lake to see the Arenal Volcano and La Fortuna Waterfall. The drive was beautiful - more windy⁴ roads that offered a great view of the lake. We stopped for gallo pinto at a little restauraunt that had closed before we arrived but happily reopened to serve us breakfast.

When we arrived to a national park near Arenal, I stupid'd and locked us out of the rav4. The problem was resolved in 45 minutes with the help of 40,000 colones. On the bright side I learned what are the tools required for breaking into a car.

We did a 2-3 hour hike through a forest next to the volcano. This time we saw some interesting animals including an ostrich type bird with a yellow beak that bobbed its head back and forth as it walked.

Colorful lizard dude.

A tree with some interesting roots.

The path to a 400-year-old tree.

The 400-year-old tree tree.

The volcano.

whaack

At one point during the trip one of my friends said something along the lines of, "why don't you put away the camera and enjoy the moment?" I share the same sentiment, it bothers me quite a bit when people are cam whoring.⁵ But ztkfg has greatly increased the amount I value photos, and I find myself taking way more photos than I did before. I am doing my best to get the balance of photo / no photo right. Since bringing my camera to La Fortuna meant hindering the experience of swimming by the waterfall, I decided to leave it in the car.

But before I put away the camera, I took a shot of important La Fortuna rules.

The morning we had to drive back to Junqui we had to fix our 2nd flat tire. I realized hammering the lug onto the nuts was not necessary. I just needed to clean the area around the nuts before attempting to attach the lug. Derp.

We got back to Junqui, had a relaxing evening at my beach, and the next morning I dropped my buddies off at the airport. The day before they left Trump announced the travel ban to Europe. My friend from Paris was able to get back home just before the grace period ended.

I am grateful and proud to be friends with my two visitors. As a teenager I certainly didn't have the capacity to wisely choose who to surround myself with, but the dice roll of high school social life landed in my favor.⁶ Today there are a few political issues where we don't see eye to eye, as polite conversation during our last dinner revealed. Regardless, I expect our bond to remain forever strong.

1. Their names can be discovered by examening the pictures in this article. [↩]
2. I believe it is imported from Brazil. [↩]
3. Which I don't like to use in general, but since there was a crowd and the waves were big and surrounded by rocks a leash was ~mandatory. [↩]
4. I mean windy as pronounced with both a long and short "i" vowel. [↩]
5. Especially when the "camera" being used is a dumb phone. [↩]
6. I can't say the same for MIT. While I have a few friends there the connection that I have with my high school friends is substantially stronger. [↩]

Because of my ~0 experience buying cars, I hired my taxi driver to help me with the process. He found prospective deals, made appointments with owners, drove me to them, and then helped me evaluate the vehicles. The 2 most common models for sale that met my criteria¹ were the Toyota RAV4 and the Daihatsu Terios Bego.² Per BingoBoingo's advice I called local car rental companies to rent the models I was interested in for 1-2 days. Unfortunately they did not have them in stock. So I skipped the trial step and went straight to seeing the cars.

The first RAV4 looked promising from its advertisement. It was a 2002 model w/ 158,351 miles being sold for 4 million colones.³ It was owned by an older lady who lived in Santa Cruz.⁴ When we arrived to inspect the car I realized my first mistake, having worn a nice shirt. The next time I go used car shopping I'll be sure to wear ~rags; inspecting a car requires getting under it and getting dirty. Anyways, we found a problem that immediately rules out any car - an oil leak. As taxi amigo said, "la moto estaba llorando". We left immediately.

The next car we saw was a 2007 RAV4 with 144,310 miles. The car appeared to be in great condition. But its price was 6.8 million colones, a little on the high end of my budget, so we didn't inspect the vehicle thoroughly. Instead we told the owner we may come back after viewing a few more cars.

Then we went to a dealership. I had a sense of uneasiness there because of the unlevel playing field. The dealers are professionals at *selling* cars. Everything felt like a trap. The interiors of the cars, including the organs under their hoods, were squeaky clean and polished. And the dealership had all the lubricant ready to facilitate a quick purchase - a magic plastic acceptor and on premise lawyers. Regardless, I checked out a 2007 Honda CRV. This was the first vehicle I gave a test spin. As I was driving it, it had the tendancy to slightly veer off to the right. I had to keep a constant counter clockwise pressure on the steering wheel. I expressed my concern and I was told that the car just needs a realignment, a cheap procedure. The Honda was otherwise a nice car, but there were two key problems: its price and its mileage. With 213,000 miles at 6.5 million colones I was sure to realize a hefty loss when I tried to resell it.

I bought the fourth car I saw, a 2004 Toyota RAV4 w/ 148,636 miles for 4.5 million colones ($7,951):

Replacement front tires

Upon arrival we gave the car a visual inspection. The front tires were a bit worn but otherwise the vehicle looked good. I took it for a test drive. I had read reviews about the RAV4 that contained complaints about the engine's noise permeating through the car while driving. That seemed like the kind of thing that could annoy the hell out of me fast. But the engine sounded good / could hardly be heard from inside, and I found driving the car pleasant. After the test run I wanted to purchase the car.

I asked taxi amigo for his opinion. He said it was a good deal and if I liked the car I should negotiate and buy it. The car was being sold for 4.5 million colones. The result of my mediocore haggling was to get that price to include the lawyer fee and a set of new front tires.

I informed the owner that I wanted to have a mechanic inspect the car before I bought it.⁵ Since the car needed to get its Riteve⁶ in March I offerred to buy the car same day should the car pass the required inspection.⁷ So I drove for an hour with the owner to the Riteve office. Indeed, the inspection was thorough.⁸ The car passed so we drove to the lawyer's office.

The lawyer we chose was someone I had met a couple times already, my taxi driver's aunt. We ran into an issue because I was not able to do a same day wire into the owner's bank account. He agreed to sign over the car in exchange for a down payment of 900,000 colones cash, and my promise that I'd pay him as soon as the fiat systems acknowledged him as a wire recipient. Although the owner physically kept the car until he received all of the funds, my taxi amigo thought it was bold of him to sign over the ownership after only receiving a down payment and a promise.⁹ I think the enjoyable conversation I had with the owner on the car ride to the Riteve office built some trust. Two days later the money was in his account and the car was in my backyard.

1. A $6-12k vehicle common to CR with the ability to traverse the unkept "roads" that lead to surf spots. [↩]
2. On the day of the appointments the Terios Bego's were sold out, so we wound up seeing mostly RAV4's. [↩]
3. At the time of writing the USD/Colones exchange rate is 1:566, so the car was roughly $7,067. [↩]
4. Being owned by an older lady in the city decreases the chance that the car was used frequently for trips along the coast via Costa Rica's "roads". [↩]
5. At this point I was worried about my tendancy to throw pebbles at glass to check to see if the glass is bulletproof. [↩]
6. A Riteve is a sticker a car in CR needs to show it passed an inspection. [↩]
7. I thought the Riteve was a sort of beaucratic dance but my taxi driver informed me that they do a thorough inspection and passing that inspection was as good as any thumbs up you could get from a mechanic. [↩]
8. The inspection occurs in a building that looks like a car wash. You wait in line behind other cars to go to various stations where different parts of the vehicle are reviewed. First an agent comes and requires the driver to demonstrate the ability to turn on all of their lights: blinkers, headlights, hazard lights, etc. Then he comes in the vehicle and tests all the seatbelts, all the windows, and other functionalities such as the windshield wipers. The next station contains a device that shakes the vehicle to evaluate the suspension. After the suspension tests you drive over a narrow hole in the ground where another agent views the vehicle from below, checking for issues such as oil leaks. The last station tests the breaks. [↩]
9. Especially since we were working with a lawyer I knew and he didn't. [↩]