Cañas-Liberia

Tue 14th 2249 FWIW when did laundry earlier I had already got four sets of clothes clean from yesterday - I washed the clothes I had been wearing today and will wear them fresh tomorrow (this way if they're slightly damp - unlikely given warmer climate here+aircon - they will dry on me, instead of mouldering in bag), so I start tomorrow with five days worth of clean clothes. It's too early to judge for the trip as a whole but I kind of wish I had four or even five "plastic" tops and one or no wool tops - the wool is not necessarily too warm a lot of the time, but although thin it doesn't dry as quickly as the "plastic" (saying that as don't know the fabric and not checking) ones - even the thicker of my three "plastic" ones takes longer to dry than the others. But I am not sure this is fair, the wool is also probably less disgusting to rewear unwashed due to its alleged sweat-handling properties, and I am probably a little prejudiced against wool and tend not to wear them so much. Maybe I should give them ago in evenings when it may be cooler as well.

Bed!

Wed 15th 1124 99% packed, just killing time now. There's a 1230 bus according to photo of timetable so will probably aim for that. Slept OK. A woman knocked on door about 10ish but after I said "Hola?" half a dozen times she finally said "oh, sorry" (something like that) and left me alone - best guess would be cleaner or something but I don't think I'm in here over-late or anything.

I'm sure the perfect tourist would have got up early and popped out for a look round town before checking out or something, but sod it. :-)

1145 Fuck it, let's go.

1206 On bus, fairly busy but seat pitch allows me to put my bag comfortably between legs, almost in front of them. 1875 for ticket, not too bad. Assume this is 1230 bus but don't know, not really a big deal. It's warm verging on hot but not terrible and we should get some ventilation once we start moving, window is open in front of me.

1720 In shared kitcheny bit of hostel, feeling slightly but only slightly awkward. Check in at hostel about 1330ish fine except I feel I got slightly stiffed on the USD-CRC exchange rate and felt vaguely dazed at the usual hostel crap (randos sitting around and no idea who they are etc).

Left maybe 2ish and wandered round city a bit. It's hot but not intolerable, similar strong east wind to Canas and in bits of shade quite decent. Had shower just now and changed clothes, bit edgy re clean clothes/laundry (in particular, the three nights here seems calculated to be somewhat poor timing, given I have only three "plastic" tops) but see how it goes.

Woman sitting in corner looking at her phone but no one else, though a few people around. Not a huge hostel but I suspect there's 3ish dorms with maybe 5-6 beds in each and maybe a single private room. I have a single non-bunk in corner of a dorm which isn't too bad, there's no socket nearby but I do have a power bank with me partly for this kind of eventuality and am writing this on K1 as I charge G5 from power bank on table in front of me.

Having been tempted by seeing some pizza places I finally succumbed and got an 8 piece "small" Mexicana pizza for 7000(+1500 for tiny drink) at Pizza Liberaña (something like that, but not quite that). Did wonder if I'd overdone it and I could have had a 4 slice "personal" for 2500 but as it happens the 8 piece one filled me very nicely. I did find myself feeling very hot and sweaty while eating it and was a bit worried I'd struggle to finish it, but still. Not ideal as I'd rather have been healthier but temptation and all that. Did also see some bars and was tempted to go into one but trying not to drink out of "boredom" and it would be good to have a couple of days off at least.

Gut feeling is - though will consult guide book later - there's very little to really see or do specifically here in Liberia. I think tomorrow I might take a day trip over to some place on the coast (no place in specific, any place - if I really like that place I can maybe stay there post-Tamarindo, if not I won't waste time going there again), if I can find a bus. I did hang round the bus station earlier before coming back to hostel and saw a bus to Tamarindo, so except for knowing the timetable/frequency, at least I know where they go from.

1736 Guide book suggests whole Guanacaste region is better visited outside the dry period - I am not going to let this stop me drifting down the coast, but it does make me think I won't make a special effort to eg go to Rincon de la Vieja right now. Not saying I won't go now, either.

Hmm, I am seeing there are allegedly lots of private transfers there from Liberia, which makes it feel a bit more tempting. Can't say I saw huge signs of tourist agencies on my stroll round Liberia today, but still. Even if I do this, it might perhaps be something to take in on an extra day or two in Liberia post-Tamarindo, rather than something I try to fit in now. Kind of depends.

According to guide book - though I hardly recognise its gushing descriptions of the city, I did see some nice-ish colonial looking houses but it doesn't impress me as much as it seems to have impressed RG author - there's a bus to Playa del Coco every hour and it takes about an hour. That seems like a feasible daytrip - and I see from an ad on the back of a bus they have a new (Maxi)Pali supermarket, so I should be able to treat myself to a chilled soft drink or maybe even a chilled lager for the beach. :-)

1754 Continuing to read guide book. Forming vague and possibly ill-advised plans to maybe return to Guanacaste and Nicaragua (if they ever loosen their entry requirements) perhaps October-ish (not necessarily of this year) and see some of the stuff mentioned in guide book. None of this is to say I can't visit these places now if I really want to though.

1801 Playa del Coco doesn't sound very nice, but it may still be a nice little day trip, and by sounds of it I could pop over to Playa Ocotal on foot to check out the views. I suspect central Nicoya peninsula (going by guide book) will offer more chances of the kind of fairly quiet relaxed stay I'm thinking of, but as this point PdC is just a nice little daytrip from Liberia since there doesn't (unless I start to faff with Rincon de la Vieja) seem a huge amount else to do - and this way I will have "had a look" at some of the more touristy places on NW coast.

Reading guide book more carefully than last night, it says most people visit the park with the turtle nesting by boat from Tamarindo, which is vague reassuring.

Seeing all the mentions of learning to surf in Tamarindo and some stuff about kitesurfing further north, it all sounds vaguely tempting but for better or worse I need to learn to swim first, so I don't have to really concern myself with these options at the moment.

I do wonder if Barra Honda caves might actually be doable for me as a visit (from Nicoya, or thereabouts). Perhaps at least worth inquiring; guide book (although it disagreed with that local tour seller about Venado) doesn't mention anything about squirming through narrow tunnels, and the other stuff might be OK for me. Guide book is actually a little confusing; it says spelunking there requires a lot of commitment, but it isn't super clear if the basic idea of visiting the caves with a guide is included in the heading of "spelunking" or is a much less involved and distinct concept. I guess it will be more obvious if/when I get to the area and see what kind of tours are offered.

Playa Samara sounds like a potential spot for my few days of beach-side relaxing, subject to prices etc. Nosara also sounds like it has potential, though bit leery of taking the guide book's advice too seriously.

Couple of other people here in the kitchen area, one cooking, one reading. It's OK, I think the main thing is I feel moderately comfortable sitting here.

There is a cat here, although it hasn't come anywhere near me yet.

FWIW pizza earlier was fine but very heavy on the cheese while the ground meat was a bit, well, ground up and it wasn't super spicy, although given how hot and sweaty I felt anyway this was maybe not such a problem - it came with some packets of dried chilli which I didn't sprinkle on (and which I should maybe have snaffled and put in my pockets, but I didn't think - they just might have been handy should I want to try my hand at cooking anything).

I do have a locker here, FWIW. In a strange way this feels a bit inconvenient, but it's only sensible. Have put more frequently accessed stuff of lower value in daypack and combination lock+chained it to bed; my keyed lock is on the locker.

Only me here in kitchen; just popped back to dorm for a different USB cable and a couple of guys lying quietly on bunks (lights were on). Not a problem, I am not feeling "left out" of any conversations and in a way it's quite reassuring to have other people around who aren't actively "doing anything" , including socialising.

Not that I think it's much of a risk, but I do need to be careful not to get sucked into visiting overly many beach towns on the offchance of finding something which meets my personal definition of cheap and relaxing. By all means take some guidance from the guide book but I suspect if I do find something I like it will probably be down to a bit of lucky meandering and perhaps a fortuitously cheap and appealing bit of accommodation turning up on booking.com or hostelworld. A bit like the "lucky" find outside Nuevo Arenal.

Taking advantage of fridge to intermittently chill tap water (owner made a big point of showing me the one tap to drink from, which has a filter on - no idea if this is necessary, but will stick to it anyway) in the freezer compartment, which feels mildly luxurious.

Been getting surprisingly carried away with reading guide book but I'm now at Manuel Antonio and I think I've pretty much at least skimmed all the relevant information for stuff roughly along the west coast down that far so I should probably stop. Will probably do a bit of book reading on phone and maybe move towards bed (I do feel slightly tired, rationally or not, but more for lack of anything really to do) about 8-9ish. Since (I just checked; hope springs eternal) the free coffee urn is empty, I might clean my teeth a bit sooner than that so I can just get straight into bed with no fuss (eg if lights are all off by that point).

Mildly dismayed to note couple of signs about sexual harrassment round near bus terminal, primarily because of the extremely arsily collectivist wording (something about "all the women of the world" in there), but hey. I already knew CR was far from immune from this sort of stuff.

1944 Did get odd low grade waking homesickness earlier, IIRC (may not) on bus. I wasn't exactly wishing the trip was over but there was this vague "it's hot and I don't have a permanent base as I do at home" kind of feeling for a minute or so. Very badly described as very hard to remember properly now.

Seven weeks tomorrow until I go home. Half wish it was longer, but anyway, try to just take it a day at a time and not wish it away or let counting the days down spoil things. I think ideally I want to have a vague sense that my time here is valuable while also most of the time not really paying attention to the fact it's limited and feeling the need to rush unduly.

2013 Someone playing instrumental guitar, quite well. No one really talking but a few people around. Feel very slightly awkward but not too much.

If I didn't say earlier, had been intermittently tempted by having pizza on various days since start of trip, it wasn't something I suddenly fancied out of nowhere today.

2023 Some other guy now listening to some sort of boxing news on his smartphone out loud, which strikes me as borderline rude, but debatable. I think it's just him, me and the guitar player in here (who has stopped, and had maybe stopped before this guy put his smartphone on).

I may go to bed shortly, as I say I am not super tired but I am a bit bored and it's fine, certainly won't really hurt to go to bed early, worst case is I lie in bed reading the same book on phone I'm reading here in kitchen.

2028 Sod it, I just yawned once, I'm a bit bored, I've "put myself in evidence" and not hidden away, I feel OKish in that sense, I'm going to bed.

2035 In bed, lights on, not looked properly and neither of us spoke but I think there's a chunkyish young woman lying on one of bunks reading. I said goodnight to boxing bloke as left kitchen, was just two of us in there. Few people around but no sign of massive amounts of chat, let alone anything I'd have felt comfortable trying to join in. As I say, on the whole I think I've done well, haven't hidden away and while I haven't really spoken to anyone I don't feel that's down to a flaw on my part, nor am I tremendously unhappy about it. Will send this now and can always start tomorrow's entry early if necessary. Have left powerbank charging on shared table in dorm, K1 for reading in bed at 74% which should be fine and G5 is at 100% in aeroplane+battery saver mode in pocket so fingers crossed will be fairly well charged for heading out tomorrow morning, and I can maybe give it a boost from power bank while I try for a free coffee in morning. Think will set alarm for 830 as a vague compromise and see what happens - plan still to go to Playa(s) del Coco and I do want to make a full-ish day of it but I don't need to force myself up ultra-early, and on current form and going to bed early I may wake up early anyway.