Manuel
Antonio's best places are up on hill like the book says. Rejected
$70 "tree house". Found cheap ($40) cabina, darkest
room on planet, but close to beach and fenced in (crime seems
popular here). Very odd fan vs. AC/light circuit cycle issue,
hope it doesn't burn down while I'm here. Drove thru incredible
traffic jam to park entrance, wow this place is more intense than
I expected.Paid $2 to park, $7 to enter, what am I in CA? Crossed stream w/ shoes off, OK now I see what's up.
Saw
white-faced monkeys 
& 3
toed sloth 
almost
immediately. Didn't see as much fauna during lengthy walk,
suspect they are planted there near entry! But flora was
magnificent, 
massive
trees, 
best
jungle I've been in. 
Neuroma
on left foot is bothering me, no barefoot for remainder of trip. 
Deep
jungle is dark and almost scary! Giant plant with eight foot
leaves. 
Thunder
in distance, it's great that I have mota for this. 
Finished
loop just as rain begins to get real. Returned to cabina &
went down to check out Espadilla & have a beer. Steady rain
now. Nowhere covered to sit and (despite pic and reputation) waves
not so bad, 
so I grab
the board & head out. Hey, it doesn't suck! 2-3' but crystal
clear water, offshore wind, fun little barrels & all to
myself which is good because waves are somewhat scarce. Weird
light making horizon & waves hard to judge. Foot cramp thanks
to beer. Much better than expected and I'm happy. Nap for an hour
& puff a bit and head out for dinner. Found pirate
restaurant, expensive but good, 
fine
electric guitar player. Manuel Antonio is probably quiet on a
good night and this is not one. Stopped @ Byblos, local hot spot,
hardly anyone there, spent 4K colones on pool for maybe 45 mins.
& 2 beers, M. Antonio is expensive but beautiful. Back to
cabina by 10pm.Woke up Monday @ 6. Walked to cove where there were only 2 other guys out. Got some fun rights & lefts & saw some sneaker sets we all mostly missed. I'm stoked! Forget the volcano, I'm surfing, next move: drive to Boca Barranca & see who wants to go to Malpais! Quick nap @ cabina, then on way to breakfast met Irish girls Sinead & Karen, too bad I didn't meet them earlier. Hit the road about 11:30,
longer
drive than remembered to Boca Barranca, forgot how rutted the
road is near Puerto Caldera. Loved the extremely accurate sign 
at Rio
Grande de Tarcoles. 
At
Barranca Melisa had already left, but Heather is there. 
Hotel Rio
Mar is more haphazard than expected. We hang & puff for
awhile (including senora's heroic con hielo effort) but
Heather isn't coming along and eventually I head off to
Puntarenas.Well, my 'friend' Pablo (tallest Tico in CR) met me @ ferry entrance & he made sure I was taken care of.
What a
scam. Forced to trade Ed's excellent BVI hat for a very ordinary
Imperial one, then got it back via that damn watch I never liked.
Drank about four beers, I think I paid for half so that was only
cost effective part. Pablo eventually became a real nuisance
& I had to tell him to leave. Glad to be rid of that watch
though. Spent ferry ride talking to the three Johns & to Abe
& co. from New Mexico (!). Feeding the gulls with really
nasty fritas was the local entertainment although I did not
participate nor really approve. 
Once off
ferry, it was on, I know the Terios well, I love this
road & it took only a couple of quick passes to get
clearance, I might as well have been on two wheels in Marin. I FLEW
to Cobano & drove pretty quickly to Malpais as well, all in
the dark, I was feeling the numerous cervezas y mota, that was FUN.
Got cabina @ fave location aka Cabinas Azul, 
oh by the
way that dust is real, dust was always an issue in Malpais. Dona
Maria at cabinas remembered me so that was easy. The sign lies,
we are at Playa Carmen centro, Sta. Teresa is 2km away. The
Swedes are still here, I hung w/ them until they left for
Montezuma, I wasn't up for that although Mont. is supposed to
have great party scene. Apparently Jason left today for Panama,
that's too bad. Ate @ Frank's again. Napped for 1.25 hours (oh
and I now have beer in the fridge), 
then to
Tabu where saw Melisa & all her beautiful friends from
Oregon, holy sh!t I missed something when I lived up there. Crowd
is not as familiar as before. Did some business & enjoyed
myself together (thanks Tico Hendrix).
Camera takes excellent night photos of fave cabina. 
A bit hung over @ 8am Tuesday & forgot to hydrate. Paddled out anyway @ Carmen to find really nice head high peaks with no crowd whatsoever. Only was out maybe 1 hour but it was really fun. Went to Jungle Juice for breakfast, met Wendy from England, very nice. E-cafe session & then crash @ cabina. It's hot! About 1pm get up, hang w/ Gustav (the only really serious surfer of the Swedes) & go for photo tour to Mar Azul...
did I
mention I love Mar Azul? 
The sand
is 100% crushed shells. 
There is Plumeria
growing right there, and the perfume is amazing. 
The
'action' of Malpais is well hidden as seen from afar. All that
partying happens behind the green door. 
Sunset
Reef is awesome too. It may be fancy 
but you
still may have to wait to enter until they pull a boat out of the
water. 
I
dissuaded some big birds from eating a plastic bag...turns out it
had shrimp in it. 
The new
camera eats batteries, I'm on the fourth set already! Checked
Sta. Teresa, tide coming in, Carmen should be OK. Showed 10 yr.
old chico the PDA, he was entranced. Evening session @ Carmen is
great as expected. Head high & bigger peaks all over, crowd
not too bad, reminds of Guiones, I get four or so lefts &
rights, long rides & long paddle a bad match, frequent
cleanup sets, I poop out after an hour or so. Nice sunset,
gorgeous girls on beach, what's not to like? Well, I could use a
Jason clone to facilitate social scene :-)Back to cabina.
Swedes
are leaving tomorrow. They are good guys even if I can't remember
any of their names. Drove to Tal Burger for excellent pollo
sandwich. Back to cabina for crash time, check out Tabu but
nothing happening there, quiet evening w/ moody Swedes & old
guy (older than me) surfer Daryl who's been everywhere but,
improbably, hasn't been to Pavones.Morning session Wednesday should have been great (high tide early) but I was lazy & didn't get up until 7:30. By then it was already declining & the paddle wasn't so easy either. Got 1 inside wave, that's all. Have to hope for Teresa at low tide. Wind showing from NW. Washed hair (it needed it) & went to breakfast @ Frank's, elaborate fruit plate. Ran into Jennifer the realtor & her Avellanas friend, talked properties in my range (minus Jason), could happen! Email her as soon as I get back. She made reservation for me at airport hotel, that was very kind. For a change I don't feel like sleeping, hang @ cabina for a bit, say goodbye to Swedes then rack the board for Teresa, it's now 11 & low tide is 11:30. Get there (Bliss), watch some very nice waves peel, I've forgotten booties, I drive all the way back to get them as I don't want to risk bad session at Teresa. Back @ Bliss Beach, 1st wave get pitched from lip, nice freefall Paul, pounds me hard, arm goes buzzy, thumb numb all day (post trip note: still numb two weeks later). I recover to catch a couple of left drops (nothing after drop but fun) and one pretty good right that eventually slaps me off my board like the fool I am. Hang & swim for awhile, then drive to check Hermosa (there are at least 4 P. Hermosa's in CR!) which was beautiful but windblown. Explored road down to north end of beach & up the hill. Hardly anyone around. Should have brought camera, theft is not so much an issue now that it's not Semana Santa. On way back saw cool A-frame in north Teresa, not a bad model. Gustav is not one of the departed Swedes, he's still here. We hang in afternoon but eventually I head back to Carmen. It's still head high & bigger on sets. I have a great time @ south end near reef (a bit smaller). Great sunset again. Trying to decide where to go for dinner. Hannah & Kristen from SF live next door, they work @ Jewish Community Center 2 blks from me, that's remarkable. Drove to Mar Azul where had best casado of trip, they recommended filete and they were right, plenty of veg's & tasty beans, did I mention Mar Azul me gusta? Hung w/ SF girls @ cabina, traded cigarettes for mota. Oh yeah, it's Surf Camp night again.
By 11pm I'd shown up, by probably 1am I was gone. Weirdo Mark (one of Canadian party guy group I saw in three different towns in CR) was relentless in his pursuit of Hannah, yours truly asked to intervene but Kristen finally had to do the job, score 0 Paul. Returned to cabina & tried to puff and drink what was left, didn't manage to consume all the beer.
Woke up too late Thursday about 7:30. Final session at Carmen was pretty damn good again, a little more crowd on it but still manageable. Got one good right where I actually stayed in the critical zone. Feeling a bit overhung. Carmen will change soon,
the
bulldozers moved in today. Returned to cabina, everyone's there
so we go to Jungle Juice 
for final
meal, Gustav needs to eat more ha ha. The girls are blown away by
smoothies at Jungle as I knew they would be! 
Then I
pack up & split Malpais, but I'll be back!Gorgeous day, delightful ride to Paquera, holy sh!t it's crowded here,
hope I
make it on the 2:30. Ha! No chance there, Aussie couple says it
leaves again in 2 hours but not according to the schedule right
there on the sign. Very hot afternoon trying to sleep in car.
Thank god Aussie couple was correct, apparently they are now
running extra boats, I get into Puntarenas about 6:30. Nice last
sunset on ferry. Drive to San Jose is slow--there is much traffic
& one accident. Arrive at Budget around 9, rental cost yanks
me back into reality. The hotel had given away the room Jennifer
booked, but another at Millenium is just as good. Watched funny
Curb Your Enthusiasm where Larry buys pot for his glaucoma ridden
dad, geez I don't even have cable at home. Woke up Friday to very nice fruit & granola breakfast. On TV now I know 'Daddy Yankee' does the Gasolina song, I just had to hear it one more time, video is rather fun actually. Airport
shuttle
was perfect, short wait @ gate w/ Seattle girls Jennifer &
friend. I'm believing stories of extreme deforestation in CR
after seeing from the air. 
No time
to chat in Houston, had to scramble 1km to gate, that sucked. 4
hours & $40 worth of cab later (sticker shock already) I was
home. Todd & Jeannie called for evening out, well if I'd
heard the word 'karaoke' I might not have joined them, but I did
& it wasn't that bad. No beer though so went on to Solstice,
very cute crowd, I got rather drunk to celebrate being on the
moto again ha ha. Came home and crashed but had to pee in middle
of night, honestly thought I was in cabina somewhere, tried to be
quiet, completely disoriented, laughed out loud at the
realization, I guess I'm home.