Samará, not quite convincing

07.02.17-11.02.17

And again I use a bus ride to write a little. We are currently on a small shuttle bus from Antigua to Cobán, and Sandra is also on board now, sitting next to me.

A small update before continuing the travel report: I have lost my iPhone, whether it was stolen or lost, I can't be sure, it's just gone. Unfortunately, it had one month's worth of photos on it. Yes, exactly, I haven't backed them up in a month. I don't know if I used iCloud and if some of the photos might still be there, I can't check at the moment. It's really sad, but I'm trying to get photos from fellow travelers of the respective sections.

Today we finally leave San José. Did I mention that the air here is really bad? I hardly dared to take a deep breath and now I'm really looking forward to the Pacific Ocean, fresh air, and maybe even surfing again. I am definitely feeling better now, both in terms of my stomach and my rib. I still can't sleep on my side or stomach, but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to do so soon.

After our usual delicious breakfast, we ask the hostel to call a Huber for us and we head to the bus terminal. We quickly leave San José and go downhill again. Contrary to my expectations, the buses in Costa Rica are not overly air-conditioned, unfortunately they are not air-conditioned at all. We travel with open windows (which was good for me on the way to San José). At the start in San José, it was still pleasant, an hour later it's just hot. The vegetation is very different from the other side of the capital. It is barren and dry, reminding me more of southern Spain in the height of summer.

After about four hours, we arrive in Sámara. The first six gringos I see in town all have white hair and are easily over 65. Uh, okay, what's going on here? Not a surfer town for young party people? Did I give it a chance? So there's another opportunity. Maren and I haven't booked accommodation in advance. We drop off our backpacks at a tour shop and start looking for a hostel. We walk to the beach, which is very beautiful and reminds me a little of Santa Catalina but bigger and much more crowded. We don't find anything on the left, but we stop at a beach shack, have a cola and connect to the WiFi. On the internet, we find two hostels on the other end of the beach and we head that way. Unfortunately, Las Mariposas is fully booked, but we get a double room next door at Las Olas for 29 dollars. That's really okay for Costa Rica.

In the evening, we have a nice dinner, by the way, there are also older people everywhere here, and we try to find somewhere to have a drink. Funny enough, the beach bar of our hostel is the only one that has a little bit of activity. Otherwise, the town seems deserted. We have a few beers there, meet a local named Nathan, and smoke with him. When we say goodbye and go to our room later, the guy from the bar comes to us and warns us about Nathan, that he is not quite trustworthy and we should be careful. Not that we wanted to become close friends with him, but still, it feels strange. He seemed really nice and for the rest of our stay, we're not sure how to interact with him and all of his friends. This definitely puts a damper on our impression of Sámara on the first evening.

The next morning, I make pancakes for breakfast. As we sit there enjoying our meal, there's a loud noise above us on the corrugated iron roof. And then an iguana falls from between the roof and a tree trunk onto the ground. Well, my friend, it looks like you still need to practice climbing. But the little one seems to be alright and scurries away.

We spend the day on the beach, watching the absolutely non-existent waves. Since I need to move around again and it would otherwise be boring, I finally go for a jog. You can run on the beach with shoes, as the sand is wet and firm during low tide. I run 2.5 km in one direction and then back towards the sunset. Absolutely beautiful... After cooling down a bit, we make a big salad. Oh man, the kitchen here is really poorly equipped. Then we go to the bar Arriba (a creative name for a bar on the first floor), where there's absolutely nothing going on, and then to the Open Mic Night at the Flying Taco, where the average age is around 50. It's also really boring, so we're back home and in bed before 10 pm.

During breakfast of pancakes the next morning, we decide that we want to change hostels. We have a nice room and we're right on the beach, but there's no hostel atmosphere at all. Since Maren has been considering volunteering at Camp Supertramp and it might also be an alternative for us to stay, we go check it out. It's located in the other part of Sámara and it takes us about 25 minutes to walk there from the town, which is a bit off-putting. The hostel is cute, but I don't necessarily want to live here. When a volunteer girl explains the details of this volunteering job to us, Maren also decides not to do it. There are no meals provided, only a mattress in a tent worth 8 dollars per night, and you have to work a five-hour shift at the reception per day and clean the bathrooms and toilets if you have the morning shift. That's when I realize how great of a volunteer job I had in Bocas.

On the way back, we ask again at the Las Mariposas Hostel and they have two beds for us. We pack our stuff and move in here. Immediately, we start talking to many of the other hostel guests and realize that the typical hostel life is definitely happening here. We hang out with a few people on the beach. Among them is Devo from Canada, who loses the key to his rental car in the sea while swimming. In the evening, Wes, the cook and former professional beach volleyball player from the Canadian national team, organizes a dinner for 13 people. I help with cooking and serving, and it's a really fun evening. After that, we go to Media Luna for the Latin Night, but unfortunately, that's also really boring. So we head back to the hostel.

We have booked an activity for today before we fall asleep completely. Walter, a Tico (Costa Rican), picks us up with two of his allegedly over 70 horses for a horseback riding tour. Maren is super nervous because she hasn't ridden in ages, but she's excited, just like me. It goes straight to the beach, where we can actually gallop. The horses are great, small but fast, and they want to run. We leave the beach and ride on unpaved roads towards the viewpoint. It's on a hill and we gallop up there like in a wild west movie. The view of two bays and the endless Pacific Ocean is breathtaking. Then we go back down and head to the next beach, Playa Buena Vista. It's wild, long, and hardly visited. We can gallop along the entire length of the beach and it's so much fun. We take a break at the only house on this beach, a sea turtle station. After that, we gallop up and down the beach a bit more and then head back towards our home beach. When we arrive at the hostel, we are both ecstatic, dismount our horses, and walk like cowboys with wide strides.

For lunch, I make spaghetti with tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, and Cajun seasoning, and we have broccoli on the side. It turned out to be delicious, I have to remember this recipe. In the afternoon, we chill at the beach for a bit. In the evening, we want to go out to eat with some people, but where everyone wants to go, there's no vegetarian option, so Maren and I set out to find something else. We end up at Lo que hay, where they have amazing tacos and really tasty Piña Coladas. After that, we go to the highly anticipated Friday Reggae Party at a beach bar, which, as I expected, is super boring. We stand around a bit and watch the strange people. We don't feel like partying or dancing, so we head back to the hostel.

For today, I definitely want to head towards Nicaragua. Maren is still not completely sure and wants to decide tomorrow. How can anyone get stuck in this place, as my guidebook warns? Definitely not me. Let's continue!!!