Time Flows Like a River...

Its been awhile since the last post, sorry about that to the many many followers (dad and Janna). We have been down in Costa Rica for about 10 days now at the Resort. Our last week in Nicaragua was awesome. We stayed out in the jungle at Parque Maderas, which i mentioned earlier. The hombre who founded the place, Tyler, bought a bunch of land about 10 years ago and has been working on it ever since. He's got a grand vision for the place, but as of now its still pretty cool. The buildings accomodate around 15 people, all new with a very unique style. Anyone that comes to Nicaragua MUST stay at Parque at least for a few nights. It was very laid back. Each morning the howler monkeys would wake us up at the crack of dawn, reminding us that the surf could be firing and that we'd better go check it out. We spent early mornings surfing, afternoons exploring/lounging at the Tranquilo (calm) Bar. And the evenings checking to see if the massive death spider was still in the same place in the bathroom (it was). The food was excellent as well. Each night we had a family style dinner at the long table with everyone staying at Parque. It made for a great atmosphere and great conversation, and we met some very interesting people while staying there. The surf was just a 10 minute walk down the hill, and we ended up getting some pretty nice waves by the end of our stay.

Crossing the border back into Costa Rica was an experience that I won't soon forget. There is about 1 km between the Nicaraguan Post and the Costa Rican post, which you can either walk, or hire a Nicaraguan to cart you across on a bicycle trolley. The second we stepped out of the cab on the Nica side we were bombarded with people trying to swindle us into paying them money for one service or another. We dodged the melee, and decided to walk it with all our gear, which didn't end up being too bad with large backpacks, small backpacks, and surfboards. After making it safely through we caught a bus to Liberia, followed by another to Tamarindo where we were picked up by a driver from the hotel. Arriving at our destination we were greeted by Ioven's grandfather, Senor Patillo. We got acquainted and shared stories over dinner, then hit the sack fairly hard. The place we are staying is Senor Patillo's private residence, reserved for himself (when he is in CR) and personal guests of his. Our personal chef, Gabby, is the most amazing/sweetest lady you will ever meet, and even though she does not speak english, we have all grown accustom to each other and there is mutual affection that goes beyond words. Gabby basically cooks for us whenever we want, which is generally fairly gourmet, but if we decide to eat at one of the three fabulous restaurants within the resort we let her know so she can take the rest of the day off. It works out well.

Anyway, we have basically been living the life. We eat, golf, surf (if we need to get to the beach near the property that has great surf, we just call a driver to come pick us up), and laugh nearly to the point of vomiting. One of Ioven's friends, Joey, and her boyfriend, Raul, joined us a few days ago. They are awesome and today Raul was kind enough to take us all fishing for sailfish, which i was particularly excited about because these fish are never seen in HI. Our day was amazing and we saw a bunch of spectacular sights including marlin sunning themselves on the surface, more dolphins than i thought existed, giant manta rays, and mating green sea turtles. We didnt get the elusive sailfish we were after, but Rob reeled in about a 45lb bull Mahi Mahi (one of the biggest ive seen). Raul is a photographer who works for an underwater camera housing company, so he jumped in the water and got some unbelievable shots. During its airshow the Mahi almost landed ontop of Raul, which made for an amazing shot.

The plan for the rest of the trip is taking shape. We are going to stay with an old friend of Mr. Patillo's who runs a hotel, La Carolina Lodge, with his wife up in the mountains near Bijagua. The place sounds unreal, check it out. After that Ioven leaves, and Robert and I are debating going to Jaco to surf, or to make the treck of a lifetime to Northern Panama and the Caribbean side to a group of islands that we have heard great things about. Both would be cool, but im leaning toward the Panamanian adventure. Ill keep ya posted beeches...

Hasta Luego

Los Viajes Continua

Hola Familia y Amigos,

So we are back at Casa de Oro today. We went out to Playa Madera two days ago in search of surf, but were disappointed to be greeted by onshore/blown out waves. We walked two bays north from Maderas Beach to our hostel for the night (Matildas Hostel) expecting to find loads of kids our age hanging out and waiting for the surf to improve. Instead, the place looked deserted other than two older American guys and a very nice local gentleman by the name of Alberto. The building was very quaint with a unique style to it. It was a pretty cool site to behold, just this small and simple little community on the edge of the Pacific Ocean on a nearly empty beach in Nicaragua. The type of place people talk about discovering 20 years before it blows up into a bustling resort destination. Alberto set us up with beds in the doghouses (little mini huts about 4 ft tall consisting of just a mattress, a reading light, and a fan that later electrocuted the hell out of me. Not a fan of this fan. Anyway, the accommodations were all we needed. We spoke with the American guy (bubba) for awhile about travel plans, the surf, etc. He comes down to this same hostel every summer for about a month and a half and has been doing so for the past 5 years. He told us that this place also generally has about 360 days of offshore wind a year, so we just happen to be there the two days where it was onshore and terrible. Just our luck. The other two American guys were very nice (one of which has bought several properties down here), which Rob and I were very interested to hear about. The land is still very cheap and in addition to the idea of owning land near an amazing beach in Nicaragua, I feel that it is really only a matter of time before this place hits rapid expansion. A great investment if you ask me. After we got settled Señor Perlstein rolled up out of nowhere and the three of us, along with an older kiwi guy staying at Matildas, each bought a liter of the local Toña beer for $2.25 (almost twice as much as in SJDS) and shared stories and laughs. Getting Matt back to his place at Parque Maderas (about a 25 minute walk away) before dark became an issue as we let the daylight slip. Bubba had mentioned that someone had been robbed at gun point in broad daylight in between the beach at Matildas, and the surf break at Maderas. We frantically grabbed flashlights and sprinted to the other side of the beach as these crazy orange land crabs snapped at our heals. Unfortunately the tide had risen too high to cross over the rocks so we ran up into this person property where there were about 6 local people grilling out. ¨Lo Siento¨spilled from our mouths as we ran past, left Matt at a point where it would be easy to find his way home, and then got back to the hostel to start cooking our gourmet $1 mac and cheese/bread dinner. This became quite and ordeal seeing as how it was a wood burning stove, all the wood was wet, and we had to boil the water for 5 mins before using it. It ultimately took us just under 2 hours, along with about 8 trips to the beach for more drift wood to create this feast, but what a feast it was! Feeling utterly full for the first time in days, and working a good buzz we brushed our teeth, said our prayers to the surf gods, and hit the doghouse. Along with my electrocution, Rob had an incident worthy of laughter during the night. At some point very early in the morning he awoke to a parched throat. He reached for his water and took a massive gulp only to discover that it was the bottle of local vodka that we had brought. He frantically searched for the juice in the dark, which he eventually found after an extremely uncomfortable few seconds. Needless to say sleep was no longer appealing, so he decided to stay up for awhile reading...

The next day we awoke to disappointing onshore winds, heavy rains, and no option of surfing the perfect waves that wed planned on. We decided to trek back to SDJS for a night or two, as yesterday was some sort of celebration for the local people, and Monday is the celebration of the Nicaraguan Independence. We did a pretty cool hike to the top of this cliff overlooking the town of SJDS with a massive statue of Jesus perched on top. The coastline is beautiful and we enjoyed the adventure. From the top we could see this large cave along the coastline across the bay, so we decided that if the surf was lackluster again today that we would try to make it there. Last night was pretty fun as a bunch of new people checked into our hostel. There were two big stages set up on the beach (one a techno party in support of the local turtle population, and one a reggae ton party). One of the bars on the beach we went to last night was the most stereotypical Hispanic bar scene with everyone packed onto the upstairs of this bar, no room to move, reggae ton bumping, and everyone sweating all over each other. It was wild, definitely a cool experience.

Today we tried to do the cave hike, but there was a barbed wire gate and the guy wanted $5 to let us pass. We decided against it, Matt returned to Parque, and rob and i walked over to the other side of the bay near the trail to the Massive Jesus statue to cruise/relax on the rocks. After being out there for two hours we began our trek back to town. We were intercepted by a guy and 6 police officers. The guy asked us if we´d seen a guy recently about 6 ft tall and wearing jeans. we said no and asked why. He proceeded to tell us that he and his friend were at the top next to the statue when an altercation occurred between his friend and another guy. His friend had made the mistake of throwing the first punch, and the guy pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest near his heart. It was at this point that we noticed there was blood all over the guys shirt. The cops told us to get out of there as it was a notoriously sketchy area to be hanging out. We had a very sobering walk home and both expressed the utter stupidity in allowing a confrontation in a foreign country to escalate to the point of a fist fight. Keep this guy in your prayers, I hope he survives.

Other than that everything has been going great, minus the lack of good surf. We have been meeting a ton of people and its really interesting to hear different peoples stories, where they are from, and what they are planning to do down in this neck of the world. We are here for the night and then are heading to Maderas in the morning in hopes that the surf improves. Swell charts and wind direction are looking promising!!



I´ll keep you posted, beeches. Viva La Revolucion!

The Fun Begins

Ahhhh traveling abroad, what an experience!! Its only day tres, and we already have tales that will be told for lifetimes to come. Ill just start from the top. We arrived in San Jose at 5:30 am after an uncomfortable 5 1/2 hr flight. Due to complications with booking my window seat turned into an aisle seat that did not recline. Unluckily for me, the seat in front of me reclined twice as far as it should have, leaving me no choice but to read my book, and ogle at the two new surf mags i had brought with me. After landing, getting through customs, and getting our bags, we hopped in a taxi bound for downtown San Jose. The cab driver took us for the most obvious loop, taking a 30 minute rout that should have taken 15 minutes. We got out at the Tica Bus stop feeling thoroughly taken advantage of, but we were happy to be there. We entered line to buy our tickets, but once we got to the counter (20 people in line behind us), we soon discovered that not only did the guy behind the counter not speak a word of english, but no one else in the building did either. After rattling off something in spanish Rob and I looked at each other with the blankest of looks as the people behind us waited impatiently. The hombre smiled, and looked at his partner and said something along the lines of ¨stupid gringos¨. Through our broken spanish and spanish comprehension, we soon discovered that the 7:30 bus was full, and the next available bus was at 12:30 pm. It was 6:30 am. We had some time. We decided to walk around San Jose for a bit to check it out and find some food. Unfortunately this was the semi industrial area (very ghetto, with garbage dumped everywhere in the streets, mangy stray dogs, and unmarked massive 4 ft deep holes in the concrete sidewalks), so Rob and I walking around with our backpacks stuck out like the sorest of thumbs. For the HI people, picture two asian teenagers walking around Wailuku at 7 am with backpacks and nothing but a few phrases of english in their arsenal. Yea, we got some looks. We eventually found a little restaurant and ate a massive meal of gallo pinto, huevos, y salchichones (eggs, beans and rice, and sausage) for 1400 colones, which is about $3.25. After walking some more, reading, and destroying high scores on Rob´s electronic Yatzee game, it was time to get on the bus. Our time in San Jose was an interesting and uncomfortable welcome to the country, in which i felt thoroughly out of my element....and i loved it!

The bus was somewhat comfortable in that at least my seat reclined this time. Unfortunately we were put in the back of the bus right next to the porto potty, with a fresh smell of urine fluttering into our nostrils every time the door opened. Mmmm, discrimination perhaps? Anyway, no biggie. I thought it was fairly odd that the movies were shown in english considering Rob and I, along with 1 french girl were the only ones that spoke any english on the 50 person bus. It was pouring down rain, (or lluvia, one word i remembered from spanish classes), so it was slow going. The country is beautiful though, so i didnt mind. It has a striking resemblance to Hawaii, which makes sense given the proximity to the equator. It was nice. All the awkwardness aside, I felt somewhat at home. In addition to the slow ride we also had to do border stops, which took forever. All in all the bus took about 10 hours. In Rivas we caught a taxi for 60 Cordoba ($3) a piece to San Juan Del Sur, and after feeling fairly sketched out, we arrived and the taxi driver turned out to be one of the nicest guys around, finding us a hostel that actually had room. SJDS is the coolest little town right on the ocean, with interesting architecture, friendlý-ish people, and a thriving international traveler population. Everywhere you look there are hostels. We found a room, walked the town/beach, and then crashed. We did meet an australian chick who had just come from Bolivia and chewing on coca leaves that she had bought there. She told us that the locals there use this substance daily and it is no big deal. She said that they have a ritual in which you take about 5 leaves, rip them in half 3 times, throw some of the leaves over your back as an offering to mother earth, and then put the leaves in between your teeth. You then take a small bite of this stone-like substance which is the stimulant enhancer. You grind all of this between your teeth until it turns to a paste at which time you spit it out. She said side effects include a numbing of the mouth, and then a small boost of energy somewhat similar to a cup of coffee. An interesting ritual. She said that all the political leaders in that area of the world are pro-coca plantations because it is a source of economic stimulation for the countries, and this ritual is also part of everyday living with the local people. The next day we moved to Casa Oro, and nicer hostel with more going on and then set out to find surfboards. Unfortunately used boards were much more expensive than we´d expected, with most going for upwards of $200. After several hours with no luck, we cruised on the beach for awhile before getting back at it.

The first shop we checked on the way back had no boards, but a guy ¨working¨there said he had a friend and could help us out. You may be wondering why working is in quotes, ill explain later. The guy, named Adolfo, told us to go wait at our hostel and he would come by. He did, and we went off with him to find these alleged boards. Adolfo was a very talkative, happy go lucky type of guy and spoke english, albeit it was very broken. I could honestly understand him better in spanish. He took us to the back of this bar, and showed us two of the roughest boards i´d seen. Fortunately they were too short, so we didnt have to insult him by saying they were too shitty. He then took us to another board shop where they had a pretty good selection. Coincidentally we had been in this store earlier, and the boards were not for sale. I guess they had to liquidate some assets because now they were for sale. Ahh the perks of being amigos con Adolfo. We chose two boards, and bought them for $290 total. Not bad. We then went in search of leashes, with Adolfo once again at the helm. We had no luck, but Adolfo said he´d find some for us before we left. He then took us down to this bar on the beach for a beer and the sunset, it was purely awesome. Much like Hawaii, but more enjoyable given our situation. Adolfo was great the entire time, and told me that he was a spanish teacher. This was good for me because he helped me to converse with him in his native tongue, boosting my confidence and bringing the language back into my mind. Everything was sweet, but that was about to change. Adolfo asked if he could see us that night, and we said sure, we´d meet him at the hostel bar at 9pm. After walking away Rob and i both expressed that we´d gotten a weird vibe from the guy. Just the way he asked, it seemed kind of sketchy. But whatever, right? He is a nice guy. He came at 9, we had a beer, and then he took us to ¨his uncles bar, which he owned half of¨. Down two sketchy back alleys, i was about to call it quits when we finally arrived. Adolfo kept talking about how cool it was, how beautiful the girls were, and how we wouldn´t spend hardly any money on drinks. Inside the bar there was no one but the bartenders, and adolfos uncle, who we figured out was not actually his unlce at all. We got a beer, and then Rob and I made the executive decision to leave. we went to the bar to pay, and Adolfo quickly slithered off to the bathroom. We paid for our beers, and waited for adolfo to return to pay for his. He came back and said he didnt have any money, so i picked it up for him. He wanted to show us the upstairs of the bar real quick, so we went up, sat down, and rob went to the bathroom. It was at this point that Adolfo got all up in my face asking why i hadnt just paid for his beer right off the bat. I explained the situation to him and that it was no problem. I told him to order us another round on my tab to make up for the confusion, and to show him that i was thankful for his help. He did order another, but only for himself. I was under the impression that he was friends with all the people in the bar, so i didnt want to cause a scene. He was really seriously mad, and at this point i could tell that he was on something, and emotionally unstable. Rob returned and we both tried to calm him down. It didnt really work, he just started acting really crazy. The bar tender had told rob on his way to the bathroom that Adolfo esta loco, so at least he knew. I thought that all these people were on adolfo´s side, so i didnt want to pit him/them against us. As soon as he had finished his beer i paid for it and we got the hell out of there. He walked with us back to our hostel, and then just outside, asked for 20 cordobas ($1) for a bag of cocain that we could all do. We both told him that we dont do that, and we were just going to go to sleep. He started to freak out, touching his head, rubbing his face, and pulling his hair. He kept asking, dropping his number down to 10 cordobas (50 cents). We tried to rush inside but he was all over us. Just then, a guy who we believe to be his drug dealer rolled up. I thought this guy was trying to fight rob because adolfo was standing in between them, sort of pushing the guy back. It was a tense situation. Right then the guy shoved adolfo, and adolfo took off down the street. The guy told us we were all good, and then walked off.

So basically the moral of the story is don´t trust anyone. That saying ¨tust your instincts¨ is something that we did not do. I knew the guy was sketchy and going to his bar was probably the worst decision ever. In the end it was an experience that i will never forget, and thankfully we didnt get into any serious trouble. I was a little bummed because he seemed like such a nice guy, and i thought it was cool that a local person would reach out to us like that. To find out that he just wanted drug money the whole time was a little disheartening. But hey, you learn, you grow, and life goes on.

We stayed at Oro again last night and surfed out front in the bay yesterday evening. It was not the best wave in the world, but it felt awesome to be in the water, not to mention the majestic backdrop lush green forest, the small fishing village, as well as an enormous statue located at the top of the cliff on the north end of the bay. Last night we just cooked and stayed in. We made the worst dinner i have ever had. I actually regret even making it because i felt worse after the meal than i did before. The hot dogs are not nearly as good as the ones in the US, and someone gave us some second hand rice and beans to help us spice things up. Our hot dog stew turned into a disaster, and we were the laughing stock of the kitchen haha. At least the food is very cheap here and we can eat like kings for around $5/day. We will be heading to Playa Madera tomorrow (15 mins away) because this beach has much better surf and we are both very excited to get some good waves.

All in all the trip has been awesome so far. I have had great experiences, and seeing as how barely anyone speaks english i have been able to exercise my spanish, which is a very liberating experience. More to come soon, beeches....

1 Day Countdown!

Hola,

Me llamo Sir Nicholas Stephen Schlag, perro mucho gente me conocieron a "Señor Francisco" (it was my spanish name freshman year of high school, I figured i'd return to my hispanic roots). I, Señor Francisco, am about to embark upon the trip of a lifetime. A classic tale of the post collegiate, last-ditch, final "hoorah" adventure-fest featuring myself and two of my best friends in the whole wide world, Señor Robert White, and Señor Ioven Fables. Also joining us is a fine fellow by the name of Matt Perlstein, an east coaster by nature who comes very highly recommended via Señor Fables. Señor Perlstein is an accomplished cage fighter, therefore there is nothing to be worried about...cough Dad, cough Janna. We will be traveling to the magnificent paises known as Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. Collectively, they become one destination known as "Costaragua, Nicarica", hence the name of my blog. The initial adventure begins with Señor White arriving in Denver for about 12 hours of debauchery before we have to finagle a ride to the airport at around midnight. 5 1/2 hr flight, cake walk for da Hawaiian braddahs. Still, let us pray for an exit row. After arriving in San Jose, Costa Rica, we'll journey north, making our way to a quaint little town dubbed San Juan Del Sur, or "Saint Juan of the South", known for its awesome people, epic waves, and magically delicious Hispanic beverages. We'll spend about 10 days in this area, meeting up with Señores Perlstein and Fables midway through. We will seek shelter at various locations, including two hostels, one of which is located on the infamous Playa Maderas beach (epic surf), and the other in the town of San Juan Del Sur. We will also spend a few nights at Parque Maderas (http://www.parquemaderas.com/), a sustainable living development promoting clean living and a pure heart, and a few more nights en la casa de Motha Natcha herself, camping on the beach with the help of mine and Rob's easy-to-use, stylish, and oh-so-Costaraguan Skeeter Beater Hammocks (Campmor.com, $46). Along with the hammock, I'll be living out of a brand new Eagle Creek 90L Thrive backpack. This pack is the ultimate in luxury backpacking equipment, fully functional and featuring a steam room/sauna, assorted hot and cold mineral baths, a hot tub, a shiatsu masseuse (20 years experience) and a full-time, live-in chef. The detachable day pack is great too! So much room for activities.

Post SJDS, we'll all journey south together, back to the good ole CR. Señor Fables' grandfather owns a hotel called Hacienda Pinilla (http://www.haciendapinilla.com/), located on the Guanacaste Peninsula where he has been kind enough to invite us to enjoy a complimentary room, food, golf, nude horseback riding (because that is what you do in Costa Rica), and whatever else the resort has to offer. I guess this is one of those opportunities in life that you just don't pass up. Señores Fables and Perlstein will exit around August 6th, and Señor White and I will venture south for about a week before returning to the homeland with sweet tans, jacked backs and tris, maybe a couple parasites, and some epic tales of travels abroad.

Seeing as how this trip has a large surf-chasing component to it, Señor White and I will be purchasing boards in SJDS, which we'll keep for the entirety of the trip and then resell them in the popular surf town of Tamarindo, Costa Rica. Lets hope neither of them break.

In my travels I hope to find thrilling adventure, spend much needed quality time with some very old and very good friends away from all of the distractions of everyday life in the U.S., surf epic waves, meet new and interesting people, explore my socks off with my socks off, if you know what i mean, as well as learn about new cultures, traditions, and lifestyles. Wish me luck. The Journey begins 7/12/2010......Stay tuned, beeches.


Disclaimer: plans subject to change......