A weekend in Jaco!

This past weekend we went to Jaco!  One of the girls in my group knows a local woman who lives in San Jose who offered to take us to the beach but unfortunately she got sick and wound up in the hospital.  We then resorted to plan B and headed to the bus station to catch the next bus to Jaco!  The bus cost 4 dollars each way and was about a two hour trip until we arrived in Jaco.  The bus was really nice, similar to a large charter bus in the US and sat 50 people.  On our receipt there was a number of our assigned seat to the bus…we soon realized that they sell 10 more spots on each bus and the extra 10 people have to stand the entire way!  The bus was a little bumpy and so the extra passengers were holding on and swaying every which way in the aisle.  

At the bus station we met a new friend named Jorge, who was traveling alone from Mexico for the weekend and headed to Jaco as well.  We invited Jorge to join us for the weekend; the more the merrier!  After a two hour trip we arrived and walked from one side of town to the other side, which only took about 20 minutes.  There is one main street full of street vendors, shops, restaurants and hotels.  We finally found our hotel called “Flamboyant” which was right on the beach.  We changed quickly and made our way down to the beach.  The beach was not a white sandy beach but was covered by smaller rocks instead; the weather was perfect!  While laying out on the beach we were approached by a local named Freddy who taught surf lessons on the beach and he told us about the local surf competition that was happening that afternoon at a beach about 5 minutes away called, Playa Hermosa. 

Why not check out a local surf competition?  We grabbed our stuff and shared a cab with Freddy to Playa Hermosa to spend the afternoon with the locals.  The surf competition took place in front of the restaurant and bar which was called “The Backyard Bar”.  We found a table right on the beach, ordered dinner and watched the surf competition.  The waves were huge!!   We got to meet the #1 pro surfer in all of Costa Rica and meet the other participants as well.  We watched the sun set and then it started to rain, not just rain….it was the closest thing to a hurricane that I have ever seen!  Everyone headed up to the Backyard Bar indoor patio and bar where we watched the awards ceremony for the surf competition and had a few drinks. 

Most of the people at the bar were from the United States or other countries which was kind of fun because we were able to talk to people from other countries and find out why they ended up in Costa Rica.   The next morning we woke up and had breakfast at this local breakfast place and watched the World Cup.  We spent the day laying on the beach and by the pool.  Later that afternoon we we did a little shopping and explored the town before heading back to San Jose.  Our bus left at 5 pm and we headed back to work to get ready for another week of work!  A relaxing weekend by the beach was just what I needed to end the week.