Sámara, Wednesday/Thursday

Wed 22nd 1906 At hostel terrace, bizarrely utterly deserted. Quietly successful day of touristing, of which more later.

Change of plans (probably) re onbound. Spoke to one of roommates (the more chatty - others are a couple and maybe it's a bit weird) again this afternoon - but I get ahead of myself. Looking into Jicaral when got back to hostel 3-4pm ish. Guide book maddeningly unclear about where the ferry lands west side and it's as if no one *ever* arrives in Nicoya peninsula except via ferry from Puntarena. Fuck all accommodation in Jicaral and Paquera - one of those has one dorm cheap hostel. Everything else is boutique and/or out of town.

Roommate sold me on Montezuma. Contrary to opinion I formed based on RG, it's small, nice walks on beach, waterfall (lethal according to RG and may not do it, but we'll see), fairly quiet (no cash machine - may try to wd a wodge of dollars tomorrow in semi-anticipation), etc. Probably dormtastic in order to avoid insane costs but not ridiculous given willingness to stay in dorm.

However, I've just been looking (went to beach between that chat and now) and info on how to get to Montezuma on web is also maddeningly shit. From Liberia (!) you should go to Puntarenas and get the ferry. WTAF?! The ferry might dock in Paquera which may have onbound connections but who fucking knows? I had thought I could get a bus from Nicoya to MZ and had maybe pencilled in that good out of town private room as a little break between dorms. But maybe that doesn't work given there seem to be fuck all buses.

Roommate talks about a water taxi (albeit at USD70ish!?) from Montezuma to Jaco and at the very least it's close-ish to Paquera so going on *from* there to Puntarenas and heading south down west coast of non-peninsula may be reasonably practical.

But how the fuck to get there? It sticks in my throat on multiple levels but I may have to pay USD50 for a shuttle from here to there. Not sure.

1920 Slightly drunk and annoyed about lack of clarity re above. Let's try to write up today.

Slept OKish. Woke up 7ish, finally got up maybe 830. Left hostel maybe a bit after 9. Walked down to C beach then along beach to far (east, I think) end, scrabbled around a bit on rocks at Punta Indio something but obviously even if *possible* to scrabble round to Carillos beach it would be foolhardy without good knowledge of tides.

Walked round via road to Carillos beach and walked all way to far end. While resting by big rock on beach a biggish black crab appeared in my peripheral vision and (truth, though it kill me) I emitted a bit of a scream as I thought it was a big spider, though rapidly recovered despite crab hiding so I couldn't confirm it was a crab. I stayed there a bit and saw that/some other crabs after.

Then came back, had a look at east end of Punta indio whatsit rocks on Carillo beach before returning to road. Due to not thinking and also some concerns re a "river" coming onto beach and tide maybe having come in I walked back via road rather than beach which I think rather extended the distance but was otherwise fine. Feet killing me as I gratefully ordered same as yday (not quite as good, but still good) at soda near hostel.

Forgot to say yday saw some monkeys in trees above where I was sitting while at beach pre-sunset.

Beach today sort of nice, decent exercise, got but not intolerable (maybe I am acclimatising), took bottle of water with me (last few days reaquainting me with taste of extremely warm water in a plastic bottle on a hot day ;-) ). Some interesting floral-y fractal-y designs on beach sand which I realised seem to be caused by tiny crabs that have "nests" at their centre and presumably make the marks on little forays out.

Came back to hostel, chat with roommate as already noted, showered, went down to local beach and had beer from mini super yuri, was going to have another at sunset but implausibly (surely this is goldmine hour?) they were shut some came back up to hostel, had a piss (silver lining), got beer at much bigger and more business-like mini super iguana near hostel and took it back down to beach and sat on beach as it got dark. Fire as yesterday, few people around, very nice if not that impressive colours in sky due to wrong direction etc. Came back and had piss and got cold water from fridge and came down here to look into buses to Montezuma and get frustrated which is where this entry started. As I say had 2x710ml beers so not off my face but feeling a smidge drunk.

Resisted temptation at MS Yuri earlier but you know I might pop out to MS Iguana and get some snacks.

2000 Did. Packet of 20 fags is under two quid but have resisted so far. Feels a bit lardy having these snacks but hey, it's been a week or so and I did walk a lot today.

2004 Jeez. Looking on booking.com for 3 nights Montezuma after I check out here, there's 1 dorm at about USD20/night inc tax (borderline OK) and everything else is private at like three times that.

hostelworld has that same hostel and one other place with privates and that's it. FFS.

Oh, there's a real liquorice/treacle aroma in the air (which is oddly cool) probably (but not clear) because there's been some road re-surfacing just in front of Iguana supermarket just round corner.

2015 Have a vague suspicion people have gone off to a party on the beach which I am not invited to, but even if true not a big deal.

2238 Bed.

Thu 23rd 0949 Right, bit of last minute pseudo-panic but I think mostly sorted. Last night suddenly roommate turned up and invited me to join them at hostel next door where they had stayed before (no space to extent) and went over in a bit of a rush and had quietly enjoyable stereotypically traveller sort of evening - sitting round (v smoky) fire, bit of chat, French Canadian guy called Michel Roi (sp) who is apparently a retired circus performer played guitar (I did semi-sing "Thorn in my side" when he played as he didn't know the words), etc. We also had a power cut at one point so went out into street to see stars, and there was also an anteater (apparently) in tree - I saw it, but am taking it on trust it was an anteater.

This morning woke up feeling slightly rough (I think the two beers earlier hadn't helped, but also probably all the smoke had affected my throat/eyes) but not too bad. Was up pretty early and got dressed etc and came down to terrace to sort out onward travel etc.

Long story short, for tomorrow night there was one OK-ish hostel in Montezuma with tolerable prices (and it's still about USD20/night form dorm) - Saturday night same, Sunday night another hostel had availability at that kind of price but nothing was getting mega cheaper even if I waited. I tried to research the travel situation but as far as I can tell the only chance of a public bus would be via somewhere like Paquera which is a fair hike (and not necessarily direct in itself) from Nicoya. So basically it looks like shuttle is the way to go - the alternative is to spend several days and associated costs trying to get round via Nicoya/Paquera-ish, with no clear info on what bus routes exist ahead of time and as already noted wrt visiting Karen Mogensen reserve, there's bugger all cheap accommodation round Paquera-ish anyway. This sticks in my throat a little but not too much.

I popped into town to see if I could get some dollars, since there's no cash machine there and I figured despite theft risk it's best to prepare (GBP/USD rate also a bit dire at 1.2 but can't help it) and go with plenty of cash. I asked at a couple of places about a shuttle, one told me USD65 and another said full tomorrow and Sat would be USD72! I'd already seen sign at my hostel saying USD50 but I wanted to check other prices/avail. So came back to hostel, they said no problem, so I went up to get my K1 to book the accom first - roommates there, bit of chat, they are leaving on 11am shuttle to Nosara - and although maybe I was being manipulated, booking.com showed 1 bed left at that hostel when I am sure it had been 3 earlier, so I felt a bit rushed but was going to book it anyway (that's why I was on the site) and did. Have asked for lower bunk, we'll see. Reviews a bit mixed but sounds OK and it does have a free (if crowded, apparently) breakfast, which may be a valuable saving in Montezuma (though roommate told me there is at least one soda there). Only booked for three nights as although I could imagine spending 4-5 nights in M if it's OK I can extend once I'm there and can see what it's like and what other accom there is etc.

It is mildly sucky going into another dorm but I guess it's all part of the experience etc. I may well do a surreptitious wash of some underwear in the sink in a bit and that will help, plus presumably there will be laundry service or hand wash option of some kind in Montezuma.

Got a free smoothie from Canadian woman who runs/helps out with hostel, which was nice.

I *don't* have a voucher or any kind of receipt for my USD50 for shuttle but it will probably be OK; they are picking me up here and the woman who took my money said I don't need one and she will probably be here etc. She did write a voucher *out* when making the booking, but anyway.

My 40ml deodorant has run out - forgot to buy some in town (tho if dorm on verge on selling out maybe lack of delay no bad thing) so will pop back in in a bit and get some. That will be a bit of exercise today at least.

Torn about maybe popping back to hostel next door for chat tonight. Owner guy said I was welcome any time and while it might just be a formality the impression got from roommates is that they are very open, plus of course it's just an invitation to hang out in their courtyard, not to join them for dinner.

If I do that I might take a beer over from Iguana about 2030. Apart from that I may not have a beer today, though TBH as I write this the idea of having one on the beach at sunset is kind of appealing.

Incidentally the "everyone is invited to a party" thing last night - not that I was feeling terribly worked up about it - was just that someone on beach gave my roommates a flyer/invite for some techno rave thing and they passed it onto some German guys here who they had heard blasting out techno as they didn't want to go themselves.

If I'm *really* lucky I won't get any new roommates today, but gut feeling is it's busy enough here that I probably will, which isn't the end of the world.

I want to buy deodorant here as according to RM Montezuma is a bit "end of the road" rather than on the way to anywhere so while it's not exactly "cut off" , prices there are a little bit higher than elsewhere.

I will probably try to pay by credit card in dollars where possible with no surcharge in M, although touch wood I have a fair chunk of cash including a fair chunk of USD (and I could get more, but I already have probably USD400ish - guess, not counted - plus prob quite a lot of CRC, so the limiting factor is my comfort factor with risk of loss/theft). But with the only cash machine an infrequent bus ride away and no guarantee it's working/has dollars, doing what I can to avoid running down my cash supply seems prudent - I'm willing to write off the minor privacy loss in the circumstances (as I did at expensive hostel in Tamarindo). This isn't to say I expect to run out of cash even if I decide to stay a week and do a few pricy-ish activities (though I get this impression a lot of the stuff I'll want to do there is just self-guided walks on beach etc - also maybe (based on chat with RMs last night at that other hostel) to the *lower* parts of that waterfall the guide book warns about being dangerous), but if I get a chance to conserve cash I should take it.

It may also be that for spending in eg supermarkets or sodas on food (if push comes to shove I'll adopt the Tamarindo strategy in the hostel kitchen) that may be in CRC anyway, and I have a fair amount of CRC cash so might spend that there even if card is an option. But we'll see.

I had vaguely hoped to never take a shuttle but as waffled above I think it was probably the smart choice here. I think (from vague online/RG stuff and also a map in one of shuttle places) Paquera is a western terminus for the Puntarenas ferry and it's fairly near MZ so I'm hoping I can get a public bus or buses over to the ferry from MZ without having to splurge on an expensive shuttle or double back massively etc. But I think I'm repeating myself.

While I remember Michel said last night it's good to come here in November - it's cheap and right at end of rainy season. FWIW if I do consider a "late in the year" trip, either this year or another.

Incidentally if the hostel had sold out or the shuttle wasn't possible tomorrow I'd probably have still gone to MV (given recommendations, plus the fact I think I'm about done with expensive Nicoya peninsula for this trip and it's kind of looking the best route off the peninsula without backtracking) but maybe stuck on here for another day or two. But while nice enough here, I think I've done enough sitting around lately that it's smart to move on - vaguely tempting to wear out my welcome next door, but TBH even going tonight might risk spoiling the decent memory of last night.

Sweating a bit but kind of want to hang on down here til RM gone, partly just to say goodbye and partly because once they're gone it's probably a good moment - barring super-efficient cleaning kicking in - to go up and sneakily was some underwear before I go back into town for deodorant. (TBH I am sweating a lot with deodorant - I sort of got some out this morning - but presumably would be worse without.) Feels deeply odd 40ml of deodorant has run out before my nominal (perhaps over-filled) 50ml bottle sunblock, given I plaster visible quantities of that on head every day.

I am a bit red round the neck etc BTW, but while not great I don't think it's an actual burn, it's not sore etc, so hopefully no serious damage done and it will probably turn into more of a tanned colour than red colour given time. I don't think this is new, it's maybe been happening for a while, though I'm a bit vague.

1910 So I went into town and got a small roll-on and a bottle of coke zero - breaking a 20k, although presumably MZ is not some kind of utter desert where I'll struggle, playing it safe - and walked down to beach to drink it. (Tempted by a beer, but didn't.) I didn't realise just how close "Cangrejo" (sp) beach actually was - I was all "well where's the bit I started from yday?" and had to look at map on phone to realise I was virtually there. It's odd how this influences perceptions - I had C beach down as a bit obscure and so forth, but when approaching from town end the same beach just seemed like part of the town beach. Not sure I'm making sense.

Sat on a bench and thought random stuff and watched some lizards/iguanas. Went back to hostel about 3ish IIRC (not sure I do), perhaps briefly met new roommate then (nice enough but not super chatty maybe-French guy), backed up some photos while sitting on upper terrace (fiddling with SD cards), then popped out to nearby soda for lunch/dinner (3500 as usual, dropped 1k in tip jar though don't know if I "had" to, but this isn't too bad averaged over last three days) then back to hostel for sneaky laundry and shower.

Headed out with intent of going to local beach about 5-530 and bumped into Michel heading out with his guitar to play on beach so walked in town with him, onto beach there, tide very high (aiui prob beach all underwater down at C end), back down towards C beach as he wanted to get away from the bars etc with music, past owner of hostel from last night and some friends, and we ended up as I say down towards C end and although I felt slightly awkward it was also kind of cool and I sang a little bit with him etc. We then came back via a supermarket so he could get dinner supplies and when I said bye to him outside hostel he said to come over later - I had originally been intending to do that (given owner chap had said it was OK) and then after meeting M I thought maybe I wouldn't push it but now thinking I will head over there 2030ish as I had semi-originally planned. I'll take a beer over with me (first today) and have that and aim to be back here no later than 2200ish.

Wearing the same top I wore last night, it smelt really smoky this morning so I gave it a quick no-soap wash and I think that mostly killled the smell but *maybe* it is a bit sweaty dirty as I feel a little sticky - OTOH it's perhaps oddly muggy and lacking in breezes on the beach etc.

Incidentally beach this afternoon not excessively hot because of plenty of nice breezes, whereas earlier on hostel terrace with "better" shade it was a bit over hot because it's kind of sheltered and there wasn't much breeze.

Michel a bit down on Montezuma but be interesting to see it for myself. Also it does seem like there's some walking potential (eg the chain of nice beaches) so I should be able to get a bit of exercise in.

My fingernails could stand being cut but it feels a bit awkward doing it with being in all these dorms. Would it be a shitty move to take some nail clippers down to the beach in Montezuma? I suppose my nail clippings are organic matter and there's no real reason they should cut anyone's foot in the unlikely event they get trodden on.

Hair also ideally needs a cut but I'm not so desperate that I am willing to pay over the odds - saw a sign from bus in Nicoya for 3k so I'd hope to pay that. We'll see what's on offer in Nicoya.

1934 Very odd mini "query" from some woman who seemed to ask if I speak English and then if I speak Spanish and seemed vaguely worried I might be upset by her conversation on the phone or have overheard it, which I wasn't paying attention to. I still actually don't know what she really wanted or actually if she thinks I don't speak English or Spanish. Meh.

M said there is a boat from here to Montezuma on Fridays, but if he's right no one seemed to be advertising it very heavily and obviously I have booked the shuttle now. Guide book didn't seem to mention it either.

What I think is Pachelbel's Canon playing from somewhere. Odd query woman is gabbling away in Spanish but I'm doing my best not to pay attention. Wondering if she said insulting stuff about me earlier and was worried I'd understood but it feels unlikely; I don't think I'm a terribly odd sight sitting here at a table playing with my phone. Meh. I do wonder if my lumbering Spanish made her think I speak it worse than I do and I could have profitably earwigged in the aftermath of her question, but I didn't think.

2000 I think that woman is now speaking in English with a group of Germans and she says she's Chilean, which might account for my intermittent earwigging failing to understand properly.

Feel suddenly very BNM at this conversation starting up and me sitting here on my own (not that I was making any effort to meet anyone) especially after that weird-arse query earlier. Fuck knows, absolutely fuck knows.

I will definitely pop next door about half past with a beer now, if only to try to shake off the BNM feeling. If it's crap I don't have to stay, I suspect I could actually drink my own beer here even though they sell it here, there seems to be no shortage of beer in the guest fridge etc.

2014 Earwigging and apparently Iguana closes in 45 mins. WQ woman is going to buy some pisco. Fuck it, I'm gonna go see if I can get a beer ahead of her and go next door. Meh. Maybe won't. Oddly worried it will shut. Ah, fuck it, let's just go, annoying sitting here earwigging and feeling like a loser.

2221 Bed. Minor linguistic glitch (shelf said 1605 for can Pilsen at Iguana, I handed mildly bored/rude cashier 10k+10 to avoid excessive change fiddling and she looked blank and I saw on till it was 1600 and my confidence being shaken from earlier/lack of practice I struggled to explain that it had said 1605 on shelf and I felt peeved with myself) buying beer but no major deal. Felt bit awkward going to Casa Tierra but it was fine, I'd be lying if I said I felt 100% comfortable/"in there" all the time but it was fun, spoke some Spanish with Michel (who complimented my accent, but then he also said I can sing, and I know damn well I can't without any false modesty), M and a poss local guy (Alex/Peque - short for pequeno because of his instrument?) playing ukelele did some duets/improvising and vaguely Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain feel.

Got back and the guys on lower terrace still seeming to be talking among themselves, do feel a bit BNM with respect to them and not exactly peeved but still vaguely "WTF?" and wishing I'd been "calmer" and understood what was going on (I still can't quite remember what happened after she asked if I spoke English then Spanish) - I can't control random weird Chilean women and I can't automatically wangle my way into every conversation, but in theory I can control "not freaking out internally when some odd social interaction happens" .

But I wouldn't swap tonight at CT with the music and fire and so forth for the conversation here tonight. It's just the way it started up while I was there and with the weird woman that kind of annoys me.

I think it's just me and maybe-French guy in top bunk tonight, double still looks unoccupied. He is either out or downstairs but I'm writing this in bed and will try to go to sleep soon. Fingers crossed shuttle OK tomorrow and maybe I am improving my social technique and will do OK in hostel in MZ. If nothing else I should maybe take a lesson from M who if seeming very slightly nicely weird and claiming to be "introverted" (my paraphrase - but *not* shy) seems to just talk to everyone eg in the street and get away with it - he is probably way more charismatic than me, but he's also probably at least 10 years older and thus I shouldn't (and to be fair *mostly* aren't) use my age as an excuse.

Anyway, enough pseudo-psychodrama. Will send this. Oh, I did a proper hand-wash with soap of top I was wearing tonight before I cleaned my teeth, should be dry by morning in this heat, and this should mean I start MZ with a full complement of clean stuff.