Quepos-Uvita

Wed 8th 2218 Vaguely tired but can't get to sleep. Jack (who is apparently Belgian) is talking a bit noisily with annoying couple presumably in kitchen. My bedroom light doesn't work when tried it just now so maybe they're sitting in the dark, fuck knows.

I am not deeply pissed off or anything, just vaguely annoyed and broadly (nothing to do with them) lightly edgy about getting up and moving tomorrow etc.

It isn't *that* late of course, it just feels like it.

Thu 9th 0918 On bus waiting to leave. 2.7k. Taxi turned up 0750 just as I started to wait so all went super smoothly except bit of a hang around at terminal. Driver wanted to take my bag and put it in compartment under bus (can I say "boot" ?) but I hung onto it and have it between knees (overhead racks on all buses here are super thin and bag won't fit).

Slept really badly, probably mix of nerves about getting up, it pissing it down and irrational (out of my control) concerns about getting soaked today and maybe a slight (though no worse than normal, perhaps better) closeness/stickiness and the way the mosquito net kept tangling with my hands/feet (not helping one toenail has a snag) as I fidgeted.

Waved at twats in kitchen (just cos they looked at me) and said bye to owner/wife (aka "woman" ) from a distance as I left, hardly an emotional farewell but it's fine.

Taxi driver told me this "occasional" rain is just a thing, it freshens things up (it does) and the rainy season proper doesn't start till Easter (which he and I think CR couple from first night said is "semana santa" and that pascua is at Christmas!? dictionary not clear here). It isn't raining now but I assume as yday there's a chance it could piss it down at some point eg this afternoon so did pack over-bulky shell ajcket near top of bag.

1612 Oh, and apparently the ferry runs 24h/day, although in middle of the night only one boat runs whereas in day it seems there are various - I had a choice of 2 this morning and the guy left as soon as I, the sole passenger, got on. (Yes, it's about a minute to cross, but still.)

At new hostel. All OK but not great. Kitchen table seems designed for giants with microscopic legs, the bench is low even for me but the tabletop is way too high.

Fair old trog into town/hostel from bus stop but apart from it being so bright very hard to see phone screen no huge problem.

Sitting here as just made myself some coffee and it seems best place to drink it. Gut feeling is this hostel is not going to be super-matey but we'll see, fine if not.

Whined a bit on arriving at hostel to see just a big shut green gate, then realised as someone came out and I asked it was just sliding and not locked. Long story short, was able to drop bag off but not check in at that point (1130ish?) so went for walk to see place and maybe get food.

Woman called to me (in Spanish - I *think* she is Italian, she probably speaks English but we had spoken Spanish on night out in Quepos as lingua franca) from across road, I didn't exactly recognise her (not great on my part) but was a woman from Quepos hostel (first one) - she had just arrived at the hostel I was going to stay at with the French-Canadian (I think) bloke from there too. Could feel gutted I didn't end up staying there as would have known them, but it's not as if I knew them well. Anyway, bit of chat with her and then we parted amicably. She said it costs to get onto the beach (I think she's right) and told me about a bamboo forest (more below) you can visit.

Walked round quite a bit. Not massively impressed. I think all the hostels etc are in this not-quite-Uvita bit (called Bahia? not sure) so it's all rather tourist oriented, no proper sodas - one told me 5k for a casado. Best I saw was 3.5k for casado but fucking sign saying 10% not included and prob didn't include a drink and cheapest drink would prob IIRC have been a coffee at 800. Not terrible but felt kind of "fuck you" about it all and decided I'd cook at hostel, which I did after I returned (a bit early but getting bored/hungry - not much, but enough to be tempted to buy snacky junk and fill up on it, which wouldn't have been idea if I subsequently cooked) about 1330ish.

Skipping back, wandered to beach and indeed there was a not-too-clearly-manned barrier complete with rules saying you can't drink alcohol and (in Spanish only) that single use plastics are not allowed in any national parks, including this marine one. This seems like bollocks as they *inspected* the contents of my bag at Manuel Antonio *National Park* entrance to check I had no food, and didn't even tut at the sight of my "single use" plastic bottle full of water. Wankarama.

Now I think about it woman at hostel during check in told me you have to pay for this national park by credit card. Maybe you can do it there or maybe you have to do it online as for MA, because why not?

I asked woman at hostel doing checkin and she said on the beach itself the thing to see is the "whale tail" (a shape of the land, I think) at low tide only. Will try to check tide times out and maybe do this tomorrow. I also queried buses to Sierpe for boat to Bahia Drake from her, she says there's one direct at middayish from terminal I trogged in from today, but I asked and if you want to get the morning boat (which I'd rather do) there's an 8am-ish bus from near here (not sure where yet) and you get off at Palmar Norte and get another bus (one every 30 mins or so) from there to Sierpe. So that aspect of things is semi-sorted.

I will need to trog back most of the way to bus terminal to get cash, unless (unlikely) I am confident I have enough as I think no ATMs Osa peninsula, at least can't rely on it.

Got the lower bunk but in middle of the room (six bed dorm), could be worse. Spread slightly damp stuff packed this morning on it to dry, socket near enough to leave my power bank charging. There is a locker so shoved tube cube and passport in there, main bag is chained to bunk but not locked.

Cooked OKish though the (told potable) tap water here comes out milky white but does settle out to something clear - some guest said it's air mixed in, but they're not drinking it. I have drunk a bit.

After cooking went and booked highly rated cheap private room in Bahia Drake on booking.com - there was a decentish option on airbnb yday and maybe still today but given going to BD feels a smidge complex it's maybe best to avoid airbnb hassles. No free cancellation but it's fine, I - oh, need to write up brief tour office chat too - have realised there is really very little for me here, which isn't a big deal (I may find some small personal pleasures) but there's no way I expect to be wishing I had another night to say, unless the hostel turns out unexpectedly matey and even then it's not the end of the world.

So the tour office - during pre-check in walk I went to a tour office and a slightly bored but very honest woman talked to me in Spanish (she had no leaflets) - I said I couldn't swim so wasn't keen on stuff like snorkelling (which at least takes a lot of fun out of Isla Cañas tour I see advertised, I think), they do a tour to Corcovado but I said I was going to BD and would it be same kind of stuff and she said yes it would, she said (as I already thought) it's not a good time of year to see whales, I asked her about this bamboo forest and she said it's Rio Bambu or something like that and you can't go by public bus, you need a taxi and it's about 5km and it's really a place to swim.

So as I say, I really don't think there's a lot for me here. That's fine, don't massively regret coming etc, but still. If whales were in season it might be different. Other tour office signs seem to largely back up what she told me, they also offer sport fishing but that's not for me either. Woman at hostel did say they can do me a tour to watch whales cheap-ish but I'm just assuming this would be a bit of a waste of time given what I was told earlier about the season.

Overhearing hostel staff woman (not owner - she implied as much when I asked if they had free coffee) talking to someone and the slight confusion at start of phone call made me imagine the telephone being invented in Costa Rica and *obviously* the first words spoken, at least according to the legend, would be "pura vida" . Made me smile anyway.

I see no sign of BD tours being offered for sale here but it's fine, it is expected/OK if I have to book on arrival and entertain myself for a day or two. I half wonder if I should have booked BD accom for 4-5 nights but of course it might suck and I can *prob* extend there if I do so early in my stay, once I see the place. It's not quite at a hostel but does have shared kitchen and TBH if it's small-ish it may be easier for me to chat to people. And I'm doing the "hostel" thing here etc.

Right, just asked about bus to Ciudad Neilly (sp) which I get off in Palmar Norte, and it's near La Fiore de Bahia (5k soda I spoke to earlier), OSM says "Bus para Dominical y Quepos" there, woman just spoke to told me there's a bus stop ("casita") there but no sign etc. It's *not* an 8am bus because that's when it leaves Dominical, it would prob get here half an hour later, but would want to play it safe.

So rough plan for the two full days I have here is to check tides and go for walk on beach (perhaps taking a plastic bottle inside my daypack for the hell of it) and see whale tail, and to trog over towards Uvita proper and get some cash (once I count up and decide what I need) and maybe just have a bit of a look round there to fill time and find a gem or something. Evenings probably hang out in hostel with coffee, might have a beer at some point but be good to have a day or two off. If I get some chat in great but if I don't I don't.

Other guests don't seem blatantly horrible or annoying at least.

On random note while I think eg tinned veg/tuna/beans is stupidly expensive in CR (and I think in big supermarkets like Pali too, not just tiny ones in backwaters like LJ2) and Syrian guy waxed poetic about this and said it's way cheaper in Mexico (he was there in last few months) and it *does* feel insanely priced, I personally have vague recollections of stuff like this feeling damn pricey in places like Santiago as well, so it just *might* not be a CR-only thing. I really don't know though.

It's gone overcast now and although a smidge warm it is quite refreshing when the breeze occasionally gets up.

1727 Just had quite long chat with Australian guy called Russell who turned up looking for a bed on the offchance (they have nothing except glamping, which is super price) and he recommended a place near Puerto Jimenez which sounds kind of cool but kind of scary at same time. Still, definitely worth some thought.

Having another two cups of coffee (I got some milk at supermarket - the saving over eating out is borderline, but apart from the satisfying "fuck you" factor it's kind of nice to cook myself), I think I will resist any temptation to go out and get beer or soft drinks tonight - coffee will do, and probably have an early-ish night. Then maybe treat myself to an actually cold beer tomorrow, even though that's only one day off (not that I was drinking a huge amount lately, or at pretty much any point during trip to date, but lately have been drinking most days which isn't terrible but not ideal I guess).

I vaguely feel I "should" be doing more, but that's bollocks. Not much *to* do and being here in hostel and feeling relatively relaxed and open to meet people etc is absolutely a legit thing to be doing.

Amusingly they have a tin drinking cup here in (what I now assume is) a "leyendas de costa rica" series with cartoon drawings on - there was another one (same logo, same style tin cup) at the hostel I just left this morning.

For better or worse except for sunbeds round pool the main seating area here seems to be by kitchen with a single biggish table. May be good for chat but may leave me feeling in the way. We'll see I guess.

Really quite a refreshing breeze now.

2115 Bed. Write up tonight tomorrow.