February 2002

ihana.com - big trip - diary - costa rica - february 2002

 

The ferry to Nicoya Peninsula

Camp site on the beach - spot our flag

Playa Santa Theresa

Sunday 10 - Saturday 16 February

On the way from San Jose to catch the ferry at Puntarenas we pulled in for some overdue lunch while waiting for a car crash to be cleared from the road. As we were eating a big white landy turned up with Marty and Alison from travelswithrover.com. After spending a while getting to know our new friends, we left to catch the ferry to Nicoya from Puntarenas. As TWR had already been on it they led the way and showed us how 180hp of Rover V8 can climb hills way faster than our little diesel. In the town we just managed to avoid getting shot as an enraged bloke with a pistol ran into the road after a guy on a bike, telling him to stay away from his house. The unfortunate victim happened to stand right in front of the landy meaning we were in the line of fire. Swift evasive manoevres safely led us to the ferry and there was no sound of gunfire behind. Once we arrived on the peninsula there were some currogated and very dusty roads to negociate. We kept up with the V8, sitting uncomfortably in their dust cloud until they came to a sudden halt, the engine dead. After investigating the fuel system we turned to the sparks and found that a wire had simply fallen off the coil. It made us glad we have a diesel!

Justin serves up decent shots of Cuba Libre

"I'm Marty Mar...the next Survivor star"

Ingenious use of a cheese grater

Escrabble

Hermit crabs clean the campsite every night

Three dillweeds

The Roca Mar campsite at Playa Santa Theresa is a perfect place to chill out. The beach is right there with decent waves for surfing and our pitch was shaded with almond trees where squirrels sat and dropped half eaten nuts on our heads. The days went fast, between surfing and chilling sessions, we fitted in a few games of spanish scrabble and painted a dodgy union jack on the new metal section on the back door of the landy. Marty fancied his chances of being on an american reality TV show called Survivor. He had to make a three minute video tape for the selection judges and settled on murdering a modified Frank Zappa song. This gave us plenty to laugh at as he sat on the bonnet of his landy singing away while Alison videotaped the embarrasing goings on. The entry deadline was in two days time so he had to drive a round trip to Fed Ex in San Jose. The winner gets a million dollars so maybe it'll be worth it...

Getting ready to be seriously dissed by the bull

Gerroff!

Rodeo MC

Fancy your chances?

Some rapid fence climbing necessary

Lassoo action

The nearby town of Cobano was hosting its annual rodeo fiesta. This was an excellent spectacle. The riders get on the bull in a narrow stall but they don't like being sat on much (T sat on one but the camera battery went flat so no pic) and tend to jump around in the stall or just lie down and refuse to move. A poke with an electric cattle prod or kicking some dust in his face usually puts paid to those rebellious ideas and the rider gets on his back. The other riders use their feet to keep the bull from leaning into the sides of the stall and squashing his legs. There are two ropes around the bulls torso, the front one has a hand loop and also allows the riders spurs to hold on too, the rear one seems to serve no purpose.

Once the bull is released it goes mental and tries to throw the guy off. If he manages to hold on for half a minute or so the bull sort of gives up until he's goaded by some other guys waving red cloths at him. Of the riders that got thrown off, one got gored and another trampled on. It looked pretty severe but they managed to escape without any broken bones this time. Once the bull is riderless it wanders around the ring - this bit is good fun if you're stood down there too - as the bull comes near everyone scrambles up the fence and then kicks the bulls arse as he goes past. One or two of them were super agressive, pawing the ground and charging everything they could until a couple of guys on horses lassoo them before much damage is done. In between the bull riding the guys (the girls aren't daft enough to go into the ring) drink beer and throw inner tubes at each other, while the bulls are in the ring they run around, trying to get the bull to chase them.

 

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