On the Road Again...

I penned this blog a few days ago, on the road:

As the most devoted followers of this blog will know, our friend Ted is in town. He and I have just zoomed out of Nosara in his rented Daihatsu Bego for a 4-day Costa Rican excursion. Herewith are the highlights of day one.

We scheduled our departure from Nosara for 1 p.m. and left promptly at ten minutes to three, with destination Montezuma or Mal Pais, towns at the southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula. The coastal road to Mal Pais is said to be a 100km, four hour trip. No typo in that and, for non-metric folks, that is 60 miles in four hours for an average speed of just 15 mph...

Well, it took us about 4.5 hours and that was with one major detour. About an hour into the trip, after passing the beautiful Playa Carrillo--a classic looking paradise of a beach with palm trees lining the whole shooting match--we were confronted by a fork in the road. Well, thank you very much Robert Frost, we took the road less traveled by and it made all the difference.

Unfortunately for Ted, he was with someone whose sensibilities have been dimmed by six months driving on Costa Rican roads. Any other drivers would have traveled three minutes down the path we chose and said "Hey, this isn't a road...it's a walking path or a horsepath. Let's turn around." However, encouraged by my attitude and bringing his own considerable bravery to the day--Ted drove us a solid 25 minutes down what ultimately did turn out to be nothing more than a horse path. We took our Bego through rutted roads, over boulders, past downed tree branches, through still wet water gulleys (this is another topic altogether--where the heck these gullies have found water in our 3-months-rainless Guanacaste, I have no idea). All of this on a path that was a mere 0.0003 mm wider than our wheel base.

Eventually however, having taken multiple scouting trips forward, I suggested to Ted that we turn around. He deftly made a 16-point turn and off we went for the twenty five minute ride out. On the way, we approached a well dressed woman on a horse. Adonde va este camino, senora? we asked. A mi casa, she said. We moved on and so did she after a bit of a laugh and our hoping that perhaps she'd invite us for dinner. But she didn't.

A brief video that really doesn't capture the drama of the moment, but gives you a flavor...

We found our way back to a proper road and had a wonderful rest of the drive. We stopped to watch the sunset over the absurdly beautiful and remarkably empty Playa San Miguel--note to self: go back to this beach!

The beautiful and nearly empty Playa San Miguel, about 90 minutes south of Nosara.

An hour or so later, we stopped at a roadside house, near a fork in the road, to ask for directions (Who says we don't learn!) About six people--four adults and two little kids--were gathered in front of the house, their view of the street blocked by their own car. We pulled in so they could see us, which also put me in a position to see the four-foot long snake hanging out right behind their car.

Well, again, numbed by my time in Costa Rica, I didn't even mention the snake at first. We just chatted from my car window to their front porch, asking directions. But, then their dogs started barking uncontrollably. I realized the reason and said (in Spanish), "There is a snake over here." The husband and another man stood up and walked behind the car and what happened next, happened very fast.

"Ay! It is a cobra! Machete, Machete! Get me the machete!!" Everyone came running, the wife with a big rusty machete in her hand. She gave it to the husband who then proceeded, frankly, to do an awful job killing this snake. He chose for some reason to use the flat end of the machete, smacking the snake over and over rather than just cutting it in two. After about eight whacks from the side of the machete, I saw the snakes head flatten and knew it was dead.

We were all filled with the adrenaline of the moment and there was lots of laughter. I announced that we were driving round the country to protect people from snakes. "Off to the next village!" I said and, with a flourish, Ted and I were out of there. They didn't even have time to thank us.

Immediately after the snake adventure, we drove right onto the beach itself--those were the directions they gave! It was fun, and very tempting to start doing donuts all over the place--you can take the boy out of Jersey, but not Jersey out of the boy. But, given that it was a pitch black night and a bit unclear where the hard sand ended and soft sand began, I contented myself with a few swerves here and there.

Shortly after, we landed in Mal Pais, found a hotel, a good dinner, and called it a night.

Pura Vida, baby.