MundoLoco at Jazz Cafe

A few days after the party, Kelly invited us out to see MundoLoco at Jazz Cafe in San Pedro. I was excited to go not only because I really enjoyed meeting Kelly before but also because I've never attended a jazz club when I didn't have a total blast! Max and I went and met Kelly and some of her friends and Jose Luis also came out.

The band that was playing was MundoLoco from Argentina. The lights were turned down low and the red lights were on. The ambience was incredible.

There were two people on stage. One on the synthesizer and the other was sitting on the floor, playing a Sitar.

 I have never seen this thing in my life and I was blown away!

Another guy joined them on the stage later on playing the drums that rounded out the sound to perfection.

The music was absolutely entrancing. I was taken away with the whole experience and I looked around and was surprised to see that there were no people dancing. Jazz Cafe. Insane band. Central America.... and NO ONE DANCES??? I thought it was the most odd thing. Kelly and I were both in agreement on this oddity and we decided to be content with dancing in our chairs.

Max and I left Jazz Cafe to head home and on the drive home we made a detour. Max said this was a cultural experience and I had to share it. We stopped at DelReys and I didn't know what I was in for. I got ID'd as we walked through the door but he didn't. I made a joke that he looks too old to get ID'd but he set me straight just as we walked inside. Apparently, I had been asked for identification because they wanted to make sure I was legal in case I was going there to work. This was a place where the working girls hang out. Prostitution is legal in Costa Rica and there are many places where the girls can go to work, can have some sort of protection and also are required to prove identification as well as health. If a girl gets too many complaints from clients, or vice versa, they are banned from the club. If a girl is on the streets rather than in a bar or club, her earning potential severely decreases and her risks increase just the same. This club was really just a bar. Well, it was actually a pretty nice bar. There were different rooms and three bars in addition to a bar outside in the garden area. There was a stage where a local group was performing popular Spanish songs. I knew I couldn't take any photos of the girls without inviting problems for myself but I did get a photo of the band.

Costa Rica CouchSurfing Party

Couch Surfing has really opened my eyes to a different way of travelling, both in actual couch surfing as well as meeting other couch surfers along the way. Whether it's meeting someone for a coffee or a meal or to just meet the locals or even to meet other travelers in the same area as you, usually sharing the same approaches and mind sets on a lot, CouchSurfing is a wonderful tool.
I was invited to a party at the home of a local Costa Rican, Mario, who was pretty well known within the CouchSurfing community. I finally got to meet up with Kelly Patterson, a friend of Max's. Kelly is also a CouchSurfer and a writer for a few publications like The Tico Times and The San Francisco Examiner. Kelly is an amazing person who emits an incredible positive energy and it effects everyone she comes in contact with. She's traveled the world, seen more than most people even care to read about in the news and has lived to have a story or two.

I also got to meet up with Jose Luis. FINALLY!!

We have shared a mutual friend, Kara, for about a year since she came down to Costa Rica for vacation. She called me on the phone with she was with Jose Luis so he and I could speak Spanish because they were having a hard time communucating. When Kara heard that I was coming to Costa Rica, she got me in touch with Jose Luis and we've been chatting online ever since. He's a very sweet person and a lot of fun. Between he and Rocky, not to metion the other guys at the party, I was in stitches most of the evening.

We met a guy from Dubai, Bijan, and he did the coolest trick with my hand and a bit of ashes from his cigarette. Rocky and I were very entertained. This guy was quite the life of the party. I noticed that almost everyone I've met in Costa Rica so far smokes cigarettes. A lot of the people at the party were smoking either cigarettes or from the hookah.

Mario made us all Caprihenias, the Brazilian national drink. They were great but I can't wait to get to Brazil and have one there.

Mario and Kelly:

Locals and Traveling CouchSurfers:

I can tell already that CouchSurfing is going to change the way I travel from here on out. It seems like most every CouchSurfer I've met shares the same approach and frame of mind in regards to travel as well as life in general. I am so glad I got turned on to CouchSurfing.

Manuel Antonio

We wanted to go to Corcovado National Park and see the turtles but we knew we would be pushing it for time since it was so far south and in order to get there you have to park your car and take a ferry over. We decided to go to Manuel Antonio National Park and were told that Costa Linda was a great  place to stay. Not only was it clean and convenient, but they also had a kitchen with the biggest, cheapest breakfast in town. We found a winner! Not to mention it's also a very short walking distance to the entrance of the park as well as the public beach.

It's incredible when you realize how much you can do without doing the tours or getting a guide when you're traveling in an area like this. While a tour might offer more variety of entertainment as well as various sports activities, there is still plenty to do as long as you're comfortable venturing out on your own and keeping your eyes and ears open for the crazy little critters out there. We did a hike to the waterfalls inside Manuel Antonio where we had to cross the water about five times to actually get that far off the path to arrive at the waterfalls.
It was gorgeous! The hike was only about one kilometer in distance one way, but the wading through water and climbing up and down on the steps made by the root system of these massive trees made it a slightly moderate trek.

There are trees that grow up around a larger tree and seemingly take over the space, creating a gorgeous twist of trunks.

Trees that look like porcupines, with needles growing out of the trunk:

Trees so big around that you can't even fit your arms around them... Rocky tried:

Lizards of so many shapes and colors:

Ants that have golden heads:

The waterfall was not a very big one but I am always amazed at the beauty and constant energy.

Other things we saw on the walk through the park were sloths hiding in the trees, getting a bite to eat (not the best photo but I'm surprised we even saw one):

Howler monkeys that are almost always up for a good conversation:

White faced monkeys that want any kind of food you'll throw at them (this is prohibited though people were doing it anyway) and will get so close you can almost touch them:

Raccoons, out in the middle of the day:

Some of the largest iguanas I had ever seen:

Cayman crocodiles:

Hermet crabs:

And then the beach.

Beautiful, blue-green water and white sand.

Silly Rocky. Funny photo:

I just love this one:

The beaches inside the park weren't terribly crowded and we found another beach that was almost deserted.

Immediately after we got there, a park employee came over to tell the few of us there to get out of the water because of (very large) crocodiles that were too close to shore. He then pointed it out.... no one got back in after that. Instead, we laid down and drew in the sand. It's really neat that when you make marks in the sand it reveals black sand underneath, creating a beautiful work of art.

Back at the hostel, the monkey highway was in full effect. There were more monkeys than we could count and they were extremely interested in the human attention. I'm certain they wanted food but it wasn't going to come from me. Some had babies clinging to them and they were absolutely adorable.

We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant with a great view of the beach, nachos that make you not want your dinner, an incredible grilled Mahi Mahi dish and happy hour specials.

Finishing the evening with a sunset walk near the water was nothing less than wonderful.

The next morning we went to the public beach to just be lazy and catch some sun before we headed back to Alajuela. The waves were great and the people watching was entertaining, as always.

We saw people riding horses on the beach:

A man pushing a cart and selling flavored shaved ice:

The Costa Rica flag waving high was also a nice touch:

On the way out we grabbed a bite to eat and Rocky made a new friend:

We were both so tired driving back from Manuel Antonio that we decided to stop for the night in Jaco. We were referred to Vista Pacifico, a beautiful place on the hill overlooking the Jaco coastline.

Jan and Greg are an absolute joy and they make you feel right at home. The room was very clean and the property was quiet, tucked away and gorgeously adorned with greenery around the walkway and pool.

Breakfast at a local soda, a walk on the beach (resulting in Rocky walking back to the car with a pocketful of shells and sea weathered glass pieces) and just a bit of shopping on the main street in Jaco was all we cared to do before really heading back home.

Goodbye Jaco!