Can Costa Rica redeem itself in the eyes of two people who grew tired of the noise, pollution, crime and the crowded city? Even to the point that a bit of rain during their five-day beach vacation didn’t bother them?

Apparently, there is another Costa Rica! We finally got to see the land of sun, sand, sea and sea-food that everyone raves about. Okay, so the ocean water was a bit polluted, garbage is dumped on the side of the road, the fish and lobster are expensive. But the beach is huge, sandy, clean and lined with palm trees. The mountains are covered with lush forests that resound with howler monkeys and birds. The people are friendly; not yet jaded by all of the tourists visiting.

Samara Beach remains a fairly small community who’s economic survival was once due to fishing and now relies more on tourists who want to go deep-sea fishing, learn to surf on the bay’s soft waves, go on boat tours to see dolphins, turtles and – if you are really lucky – whales.

The town has over a dozen restaurants from a shake shop to high-end Italian food with many of these turning into bars after dinner. We enjoyed my 50th birthday dinner over good wine and lobster in a restaurant by the name of ‘el vino.’ It had just reopened for the winter season with its owner refreshed from his own vacation in Italy.

There are a few low-end hotels and hostels, many mid-range establishments and three more with prices in the $100 a night range. We stayed at the lovely Hideaway at the far end of the beach – away from town – where the quiet has been broken only by the sound of birds and monkeys. We purposely avoided staying in Samara or even too close to it because it was Hallowe’en weekend and we didn’t want to hear the partying in bars.

Our most important daily decisions were between the ocean beach or the half-moon pool, wine or beer, or from a nice selection of foods on the restaurant menu. Rather than exert ourselves with difficult verdicts, we usually went to both the beach and the pool. Most days included some wine and some beer. And we tried almost everything that interested us on the restaurant menu.

For my birthday, owners Rosy and Doug, gave me a chocolate brownie with cinnamon ice cream – both incredibly rich and homemade – with a birthday candle burning. I quickly made a wish before the breeze blew it out and we enjoyed a wonderful and unexpected treat. This was a brownie to die for just like Jacob used to make when we had a home in which to bake. They had also left a gorgeous bouquet of tropical flowers in our room and a second one on our dining table in the restaurant.

There aren’t many businesses in Samara except for a few tourist trinket sellers, a small grocery store, banks, and more real estate offices than you can shake a stick at: a sure sign that this is an up-and-coming boom area. In fact, a couple of properties away from The Hideaway, the land was recently cleared to make way for the construction of condos on the beach.

Well, we finally got to see some of the wonders people travel to Costa Rica to experience.

WHAT’S NEXT: on November 5th, we take three or four buses (seriously) from northern Costa Rica to Managua, Nicaragua. Between changing buses so often and the border formalities this should take up most of the day.

On the next day, we take a bus from Managua through to Honduras, Guatemala and finally to just inside the Mexican border – a three-day excursion. Then, we take a bus from the Mexican border to the capital and yet another bus to Guanajuato where we’ll visit friends for a week and pick up stuff we’d left there when we left Mexico in the spring. Then, off to Los Angeles for a week, Europe for two and a half months and move on to China for a year.

NOTE: My “This Expat Life” & “Writing on Wednesdays” blogs are on hiatus until we settle down in Wenzhou in February 2010. Between now and then, I’ll be writing only about Baby Boomers Traveling. Hope you enjoy coming along with us.

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