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One of the things that’s really neat about Costa Rica is la naturaleza — the nature. We’ve already showed you photos of the lush forests, secluded beaches and monkeys. There are also lots of critters, and not just scorpions.

There are lizards and geckos, iguanas and bats, crabs and frogs. Just yesterday, we caught this crab trying to get into our house.

There are also these really, really tiny ants that hang out in the kitchen if we don’t clean up thoroughly, as well as the occasional biting ant. Today, this poor frog was stuck in the swimming pool.

Who knows how long he’d been in there? He kept trying to jump out, swimming around the perimeter frantically, so I used my flip-flop as a launching pad for him. I may have made a ridiculous scream-squeal at the same time.

This week, we’re looking forward to some fun activities being offered through the school: a cooking class, nature walk, and coffee tour. Also, our classmate sent us some more photos from our bus adventure on Saturday. Ominous clouds led to us getting totally drenched, and wandering down a jungle highway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our classmate Christina invited us earlier this week to check out Playa Guiones, a few kilometers away from Nosara — one of the towns near Sámara. It’s a surfer area with lots of hostels and yoga studios, and she was planning to take a yoga class and check it out. We opted to tag along and check out the town. What we didn’t know was we were all in for an adventure/comedy of errors!

5:15am
We’re up before our alarms because, as usual, the sun and the birds are out early.

6:50am
Meet Christina at the bus stop downtown. There are a couple other people waiting. We have to take the bus toward Nicoya, then transfer at the gas station (referred to locally as la bomba) to another bus toward Nosara. We see a bus coming the opposite direction and confirm that our directions are right with the driver. We chat with Christina about places to visit on the Yucatán peninsula in Mexico, since she’s been there and has recommendations.

7:05am
Hop on the bus to Nicoya. Because we’re only going to la bomba, we pay a reduced fare. The bus ride, while a little rough, is gorgeous. Jungle all around!

7:15am
Stop very briefly at a gas station where the driver runs out to make change. We stand and ask each other, is this la bomba? No, it can’t be! It’s too close; we’ve barely been on the road. We sit back down.

8:00am
Arrive in Nicoya. Yep, that was la bomba when we first stopped. We ask the driver when the next bus is coming because we didn’t realize that was the gas station where we needed to catch the other bus. Since we took the whole journey, he asks us to pay the rest of the fare. Since the next bus to Nosara doesn’t leave until 10am, we go wander around the town. We make our way to the central square, where we find a pretty park and a very old church. Christina tells us that someone told her all churches face west in Costa Rica.

 

 

 

9:55am
Make it back to the bus station in the nick of time and hop on the bus to Nosara. It’s HOT and there are vendors selling drinks and fruit-flavored ices. But the windows are down and it cools off once we’re moving.

12:00 noon
Hop off the bus in Playa Guiones in front of Coconut Harry’s. Stand there trying to get our bearings as the bus drives off to its final destination. I ask Chris, “What time is it?” and he reaches into his pocket for his phone. It’s not there. It must have fallen out of his pocket on the bus. After numerous expletives, we go in search of a taxi to see if we can catch up with it. It’s not the dollar value so much as the fact that we both use our phones as e-readers, maps and cameras. Christina is very accommodating and says she wants to find the phone, because really, how awesome would it be to get reunited with it? We stop at a tour operator office and explain the situation. The woman says by the time a taxi gets to us from Nosara and back, the bus will be gone. But, she calls someone based in Nosara and asks him to meet it at the bus station to check for it. When we tell her it was an iPhone 5 that was left behind, she looks skeptical that it will be there. We go get coffee and juice at the place next door and watch a soccer match while waiting. No dice; it’s gone.

1:10pm
Head over to the beach and hop in the water to cool down. Near us are some girls playing fetch with a dog in the ocean, and there are only a handful of surfers. It’s beautiful and relaxing, and we find a spot in the shade to relax in. We see some clouds coming in; there was a gentle afternoon shower yesterday also.

 

 

 

 

2:15pm
The last bus comes at 3pm…or 3:30pm. We’re not sure because we’ve received conflicting information. We decide to play it safe and head back into town to be at the stop at 3pm. We walk into a store to grab some drinks and snacks. In the five minutes we’re in there, the sky opens up. We run over to Coconut Harry’s next door because there’s no bus shelter. Even though their taco stand is already closed, they let us stay there to get out of the rain and wait for the bus.

3:30pm
Still waiting for the bus. Starting to get worried — and Holly’s hungry! Could we take a cab? Christina says she heard the cab ride is US$70. Forget it! So we keep waiting. But are also enjoying the torrential downpour. Rivers of water are rushing past us in a drainage ditch next to the taco stand. It’s amazing. Thunder, lightning, the works.

4:10pm
I almost don’t believe my eyes when I see the bus coming…and we’re hidden out of sight. I run into the street waving my arms over my head and scream. Fortunately, someone is getting off the bus, so the driver stops. We run in and pay. A girl runs up behind us and says to the driver, “Can you wait? I have some bags I need to go get.” He responds, “Do not speak English.” She is standing outside the bus getting drenched, so I say, “Ella tiene maletas,” and he tells her he’ll wait until she puts them in the back. We happily settle in.

 

 

5:05pm
Arrive back at la bomba for our transfer back to Sámara. We ask the driver if he knows when the other bus is coming, and he tells us if it doesn’t come soon, it will come at 6:30. Ugh. We stop in a cafe across the street to ask if they’ve seen the bus go by, and the kid tells us it doesn’t usually come until 6. We’re only 5km away from Sámara, so we decide to just walk. Besides, if the bus passes, we can just hop on!

5:10pm
Dusk is approaching, so we stop on the side of the road to douse ourselves in bug spray. While we’re stopped, I see our bus coming. I wave and so does Christina, but apparently our waves are not urgent looking enough, because the bus driver just smiles and waves back, and then the bus is gone. We’re too tired to be mad, and just laugh and laugh. Oh well, at least the walk is downhill.

5:35pm
After going up several hills and crossing one-lane bridges, we realize it’s starting to get dark. It has to be just over that hill, right? “Maybe this is the time in our lives when we should try hitch-hiking,” I propose. But I don’t really mean it, and we keep walking. Not long after, a pick-up truck with one guy in the bed already slows down. Our eyes widen and we gratefully accept the ride. The guy in the back is also going to Sámara, then continuing on to Carrillo, just south. He tells us he was just playing soccer with his friends but his team lost. “La próxima vez,” we say.

5:45pm
When we get to Sámara, we thank the driver and hop out of the back of the truck. It’s barely still daylight and we hug our good-byes with Christina. As we’ve said, travel is full of good-byes, but hopefully we’ll see her again someday!

PS: More photos from today as well as yesterday’s kayak adventure coming soon.

 

Tonight we’re treating ourselves to some A/C. It has been HOT here, to the point where we’ve been sleeping very poorly, so we decided to live it up for a night. Other updates:

• Yes, Sámara looks like this at sunset. I almost don’t want to post the other photos I have because it’s just mean. But here’s one more.

 

 

• One of our travel heroes, Nora Dunn aka The Professional Hobo, featured some of our travel advice in her recent article Frugal, Amazing, and Easy-to-Navigate: The 10 Best International Cities to Visit. Check it out for some travel tips!
• And lastly, Spanish classes are going really well. We both feel like we’re learning a lot, and we like that we all sign a promise to only speak Spanish while on campus. Off to bed…class starts at 8am.

Just north of Sámara is a small beach called Playa Barrigona. It’s known because it’s only accessible via a bumpy dirt road and because Mel Gibson lives/lived there. Fortunately, he wasn’t around when Jose, Chris and I biked over there.

 

 

This is the smoothest part of the road. We also had to bike through a small river. But it was worth the ride — probably 30 minutes, give or take, to get there. I couldn’t tell you how we got there since there was very little that was marked, but we took the main road towards Nosara, then followed the signs towards the Flying Crocodile Hotel, and then went a bit further past it. It’s really not very far, but the humidity encourages you to go slow. It’s like riding through the ocean. But when we arrived, we were rewarded with a nearly empty beach and some cool tide pools with slugs, sea urchins and more.

 

 

We were going to go fishing with Jose, but the waves were bigger than he’d anticipated, he said, so we just wandered around the rocks instead.

 

 

 

 

Afterwards, we ate our lunch and went over to the little estuary by the beach to see if we could do some fishing there. Jose brought a net so we could catch some sardines to use as bait.

 

 

He caught some sardines immediately, but once the lines were out, no bigger fish were biting. Plus, we were all pretty worn out from being in the sun for so long. The day started out overcast, but once that sun comes out it feels like you’re dying. All in all, we had a fun day.

Today, we’re in a bit of pain from bouncing up and down on our bike seats. We woke up early to head over to the language school, Intercultura, to get signed up for a couple weeks of Spanish classes. The campus is right on the beach.

 

 

They alternate between morning and afternoon classes, which is nice so we can vary our activities. There were a lot of students — more than in our school in Buenos Aires. They also have a firm rule about speaking Spanish at all times while on campus, which we appreciate a lot. More practice!

 

 

 

Holly is feeling much better. She’s walking like a champ (well, she’s walking like a 15-year-old dog) and her little cough is almost gone. She thanks you for the well wishes.

We’re enjoying the relaxed life here in Sámara. It’s nice being surrounded by so much lush vegetation! The tree above is right near our bungalow. The sun comes up around 5am and we’re usually up right along with it — maybe closer to 6. We took a walk all the way to the end of the beach and back this morning, taking a dip in the ocean to cool off at the end.

…And then recommitted to being vigilant about using DEET, because we both have a ton of mosquito bites on our legs.

 

 

This is the main drag, which ends at the ocean. If you take a left just before the beach, there’s another road with some hotels and shops. We were wandering around yesterday and saw a sign for a farmer’s market from 3-5pm, so we came by around 4 ready for some fruit.

Actually, there were no farmers — just gringos like us who were selling their favorite goodies. We bought a loaf of seeded bread made by a French woman, everything bagels made by a girl from New Jersey, and strawberry-lime popsicles from a couple girls from Georgia. Guess we found all the expats!

Tomorrow, we’re going on a bike ride with Jose to go fishing. We’re excited!

Holly is one tough old bitch. Seriously. If I live to be as old and tough as her, it will be a great, great accomplishment. Nothing can stop her: not tacks, not rocks…

…not scorpions.

After a day that felt too good to be true, we had a real wild morning. Let me begin by saying that Costa Rica has a high standard of living, but many houses don’t have screens and/or have lots of crevices where creepy crawlers can enter. Our bungalow is the opposite: the screens fit tightly, seams are sealed, holes are covered. But, we’re close to la selva, the jungle.

As we were getting ready to take Holly for her morning walk, I stepped out of the front screen-door to spray on my ritual bug repellent. Two seconds later, I hear Chris ask, “What happened? What’s wrong?”

I look in to see Holly hobbling around, her right hind leg tucked as close to her body as possible. She’s not making any sound, but she’s clearly anxious and won’t stop hobbling. I open the screen door to enter and see, just on the inside of the house, a huge-ass scorpion.

With all the crazy medical emergencies we’ve had with her, you’d think we’d be able to keep cooler heads. But as soon as we saw the scorpion indoors, we totally freaked out. First, we trapped it under a tupperware. Then, we looked around for the best weapon. Ah, that shoe will work. Where’s Holly? Is she alive?! She still has to pee!

I should mention that it’s barely 7am at this point, but now we are awake. Is it poisonous? Is the poison working its way through her little body right now? We grab Holly and the tupperware with the dead scorpion and run down to the house of the couple who owns the bungalows and ring their doorbell. No answer. We try again, but still nothing. I tell Chris to wait and see if the couple comes to the door, while I run back up to the house to call the vet on Skype. No answer. I try again, while Googling “dog stung by scorpion” and speed-reading the first couple results. Still no answer, so I note the vet’s address, grab a wad of cash, and head back down the hill.

I come back to find Chris carrying Holly since she can’t stand, and he’s talking to Jose, the groundskeeper. Chris says, “Jose says it’s not poisonous,” which is a real relief. But Holly still won’t let us touch her leg to inspect it. Out of options, we bring her back to the house to give her 5mg of Claritin and ice her leg.

While Chris prepares the ice pack, Holly is looking around for her food which we take as a good sign. She eats it all, but of course has trouble because she’s bouncing around on three legs. Meanwhile, I snap the above photo and email it to the vet, explaining that we tried calling and want to bring her in just to make sure everything is OK. I get an email back in 10 minutes saying not to worry — it’s not poisonous, and she’ll be in at 9am.

So we Google, we read, and we wait. Most of what we read is about people whose dogs are bit by scorpions in Arizona. Things we learned:

• The bigger the scorpion, the less dangerous it is.
• Most species of scorpions are not fatal. The most common fatal one is the bark scorpion, which is found in both North and Central America. It’s small.
• The first thing to do after your animal is stung is to try to capture/kill the scorpion, if you can do it safely, so the appropriate treatment can be identified.
• If possible, try to wash the sting site with soap and water. If you think it was a dangerous scorpion, try creating a tourniquet to keep the venom from spreading quickly. Also, keep the animal immobilized since moving around gets the blood flowing. Then, get them to the vet.
• Scorpion stings are supposed to be like really, really bad bee stings. They hurt a lot at first, then gradually get better, but may feel bad for another day or so. Another common side effect is a sore, scratchy throat. (We were relieved to read this, because Holly had started coughing.)
• Scorpions are nocturnal and like to hide in shadowy places, so shake out those shoes before you put them on.
• Scorpions are gross and scary prehistoric creatures that I never want to see again.

By 8:45, Holly has been napping and we’re ready to take her to the vet, except that it’s already like 90 degrees and super humid and a 20-25 minute walk. Fortunately, the bungalow owners have no problem dropping us off and feel awful that this happened. They feel bad for Holly, are confused because they worked hard to keep the bungalows sealed off, and are worried because their 3-year-old likes walking around outside with no shoes.

When we arrive, there’s one other person waiting — a friend of the owner, it turns out, who found an abandoned dog and wants to take it in. He’s bringing it to the vet for its shots. After a quick chat, he graciously tells us to go ahead. We tell our host that he doesn’t need to wait and we’ll make the walk back, and he says he’s going to run a couple errands and swing back by — no problem.

The vet is very kind and apologizes she didn’t answer; she was dealing with an emergency — a puppy that ate a frog. (Naughty puppy!) She checks out Holly’s leg but can’t find any remnants of a stinger. Then, she tells us she’s been stung a couple times by the same kind. She said the biggest thing is the pain in the beginning, and the sore throat. But for dogs and humans, that’s it. She gives Holly a painkiller injection, then gives us some combination painkillers and antihistamines for the next two days. Total cost: US$25.

The owner is kindly waiting for us when we get back, and he’s relieved to hear that everything’s fine. He and his wife are very friendly, and we believe them when they say this is really, really rare, although we’re a little on edge every time we think we spot movement in the house.

When we get back, Holly is already able to put a little more weight on her leg and goes to play with her toys. I have a nice little cry, apologizing because she never asked to come here and doesn’t deserve to be in pain and Chris comforts us both. But Holly doesn’t need it, because she’s already almost back to her old self. Because she’s a tough old bitch.

 

 

Arrived in Sámara yesterday evening and we are literally in paradise. It doesn’t feel real. We keep waiting for something bad to happen because it can’t really be this nice, can it? This is the bungalow where we’re staying.

 

 

Right?! It’s also the least expensive of all the places we’ve stayed so far, because we’re here at the beginning of the “green season” a.k.a. rainy season.

This morning, Chris and I were leaving to go for a walk when we bumped into Jose, the groundskeeper. He told us about a trail that leads to the beach, so we set out.

 

 

Chris found these big pods, and we saw crabs roaming around in the leaves!

 

 

 

We must have taken a wrong turn on the trail because we ended up on a cliff overlooking the beach, but couldn’t figure out how to descend. Check out this view.

 

 

 

Since we couldn’t figure out the trail, we just headed back to take the road instead. We bumped into Jose again, who laughed and told us he’d take us there this afternoon so we’ll know how to go. Then, he pointed up.

 

 

Monkeys! So we took the road to walk over to the beach. Even though it was early in the morning and overcast, it was still really hot.

 

 

 

 

After heading to the grocery store and walking around through town, we met up with Jose again in the afternoon. Sadly, I forgot my camera and Chris’s has some problems, but we managed to capture a couple shots.

We chatted with Jose about Sámara, where he’s lived for the past decade. He’s originally from Nicaragua and will be going back to visit soon. He pointed out different types of trees and told us the pods that Chris found can be turned into a tea that people use to treat anemia.

When we came to the beach, we passed one surfer who was leaving. Otherwise, it was totally deserted.

 

 

But the real highlight was when Jose started throwing rocks to get some coconuts out of a tree. They were really stuck on there; even after throwing several rocks big enough to give concussions, they weren’t coming down.

Two seconds later, he’s grabbing the palm branches. I thought it was to try and shake the tree, but instead he uses them as handles and starts shimmying up the trunk. When he gets to the top, he throws several down, shimmies his way back, and cracks them open on a rock so we can all drink fresh coconut water.

Yes, this day was real. Thanks for showing us around, Jose!