Last minute planning
At the end of December I landed in Liberia, Costa Rica with the plan to cross the border into Nicaragua for 3 weeks of exploring. As I had mentioned in my December 2021 Recap, it was much easier to get to Costa Rica from the US and then take a shuttle transfer over. I had originally thought to spend New Year’s in Costa Rica after finding a good mileage redemption flight into Liberia. But upon searching for something on the coast, I realized that apparently everyone else had the same idea as me AND had likely booked accommodation months ago – I was searching in mid-December!
So after realizing that I wouldn’t be able to find anything bookable in my price range until mid January, I reworked my plans to explore southern Nicaragua before heading to Costa Rica.
Rough start to 2022
I ended up planning my visit to Nicaragua like any sane person would do – or not – I opened up Google Maps and looked to see what was close-ish to the airport in Costa Rica that I would be arriving in! Upon doing so, I saw a small coastal town called San Juan del Sur and set about googling it and sending messages to various digital nomad friends to see if anyone had ever visited. Turns out my good friend Pino of NomadTax has been and loved it. My itinerary was set. I would spend 1.5 weeks there over NYE and then find somewhere else to spend an additional 1.5 weeks before heading back to Costa Rica.
I landed in San Juan del Sur, or SJDS for short ,on the 30th, instantly meeting a good crew on my shuttle that I’d ended up seeing off and on the whole time I stayed in town. I checked into my hostel, got settled, and met up with the crew. My first night ended up a late one, enjoying the music pumping from beachside bars while dancing on the beach.
The next day was going well. I’d made more friends, figured out my plans for the night, and was taking it easy exploring town. The night’s shenanigans got off to a great start. We had dinner, visited one bar, but then I started feeling some cramps come on. I ran back to my hostel to down some pepto bismol and hope for the best before rejoining friends on the beach for midnight. I made it just past the fireworks show, when I could tell something was wrong.
Without going into too much detail, let’s just say I left the beach, went back to my accommodation and was violently ill for the next 8 hours. Thankfully, the place was deserted for the first few hours when I was the most miserable. The following day I stayed in bed recovering and feeling generally comatose. I stumbled out of bed on the 2nd as I had to transfer to a new hostel called The Space.
The Space is a serene, modern, and friendly hotel/hostel about 10 minutes drive outside of town. They have two infinity pools, a yoga palapa in the forest, and even an outdoor workout space complete with weights and equipment fashioned from leftover building materials. It was exactly what I needed after a rough few days. They also had fast internet which is key for the other work I do beyond this website. Knowing that I wouldn’t need to hunt for a quiet place to work from relieved a great deal of stress for me.
My next week or so in SJDS consisted of working during the day then riding my rental motorbike to far off beaches to explore and photograph surfers in the late afternoons. I also got in a few walks on the long wide San Juan beach and hiked to the Cristo de La Misericordia statue high above town for some incredible views of the bay.
Isla Ometepe
After 11 days in SJDS, I was ready for somewhere new. I’d been hearing a lot of praise for the nearby island Ometepe which was not off the coast, but rather inland, located within Lake Nicaragua – Central America’s largest freshwater lake. I had actually flown over Ometepe on my initial flight into Costa Rica after noticing its twin volcanoes plopped in the middle of the huge body of water.
The island is comprised of active Volcano Concepcion on the west and dormant Volcano Maderas on the east. Between the two islands is a low lying wetland area that connects the two mountains. The island is recognized by the United Nations as a Biosphere Reserve because of its unique wildlife native to the fog forests that surround the peaks and as the most important cultural site in Nicaragua for its examples of pre-Colombian petroglyphs and statues have been found throughout.
My favorite activity from my time on Ometepe was hiking the San Ramón Waterfall trail. I will be doing a longer post in my NomadTrails series that should be ready in a week or so. Be sure to follow me so you don’t miss my next post.
The rest of my time there included kayaking through the wetlands area, eating amazing food, taking many many photos of Volcano Concepcion, and searching out petroglyphs dotted around the island. I was sad to leave that green paradise, but it was time to continue my journey into country number 45, Costa Rica!
Border crossing nerves
Unlike my initial crossing into Nicaragua, which was organized by the tour transfer company I used from the Liberia airport, my trip back into Costa Rica only included me. I had attempted to book a shuttle for a couple of days from the island to Playas del Coco, but that turned out to be an uncommon tourist request, so my only option was local buses.
I’ve used public transport in many countries, so I was not worried about that, but doing a land border by myself in the age of Covid, had me a bit concerned. Turned out that was completely unwarranted as everything went smoothly and my basic conversational Spanish was more than enough to get me through.
I spent a few days in Playas del Coco, Costa Rica to visit an old scuba diving friend from Koh Tao. It just worked out that my first week in country was her last and it was great to catch up. That said, I wouldn’t recommend Coco to anyone but perhaps the American retirement crowd, as everywhere we went, we were the youngest by decades! It felt like I was in a US retirement home in some of the places we visited!
Beach bumming in Tamarindo
The northwestern coast of Costa Rica is dominated by the Nicoya Peninsula. This large landmass pushes out into the Pacific Ocean and its coast is dotted with world-renowned beach towns and surf breaks. The most famous include Tamarindo, Nosara, Sámara, Santa Teresa, and Montezuma.
I wanted to slowly work my way down the coast, but Costa Rica has turned out to not be compatible with my spontaneity. Everywhere, but Tamarindo, was completely booked out. Searches on Hostelworld turned up zero results and AirBnB only offered up $1000 per night villas. So Tamarindo became my home base for the remainder of January, first out of necessity and later because I began to fit in.
Tamarindo is a beach town inhabited by a wide variety of expats, backpackers, honeymooners, and Costa Ricans. The nickname for the town is “TamaGringo” for its high concentration of non-native people. But it isn’t hard to figure out why so many visitors end up staying. The long wide beach offers great beginner surf breaks, warm water year round, stunning sunsets every night, and the social scene is fun and high energy.
My first week in town was filled with lots of work during the day, but I was able to escape from my laptop to watch the sunsets along with hundreds of others packed on to the area’s beaches. This daily ritual was a welcome break from hours upon hours in the coworking space at my hostel Selina Tamarindo (It also meant that most of the photos I have from my time in Tamarindo feel a bit repetitive!).
One thing I did really enjoy from Tamarindo was meeting all the crazy characters that call the area home. One night I went to eat on the beach with some new friends and we ended up at a burger joint where I charismatic and funny singer/guitarist was playing. Kevin, who is Canadian, came to Tamarindo 9 years ago as a tourist, fell in love, and decided he wasn’t leaving. Now he plays live music and owns the local pirate radio station called Shark FM. He personally is on the air as one of two hosts along with fellow Canadian Adrian during the Radio Borracho late night show. Suffice to say I ended up there multiple times hanging in the studio, choosing music, and chatting until late late!
I did use my full weekend on the beach to try out surfing though which was way more enjoyable than I expected. I grew up in Florida, on the coast, but not in a place where there were any sizable waves. The only time I ever saw people surfing was immediately preceding a hurricane!
I took the lesson through the Selina and it included a 30 minute land session going over the correct body position and method of getting up on the board with the two instructors. Then we headed to the beach to practice in the beginner waves. With a 3 to 1 student to teacher ratio, we got plenty of chances on the surf over the next 90 minutes!
I was super proud to stand up multiple times and had no major wipeouts. I did feel a lot of soreness over the following days especially in my chest and arms! But I can’t wait to try it again when I arrive on the Caribbean coast.
Where I’ve Been
COUNTRIES VISITED: 2
Nicaragua, Costa Rica
CITIES VISITED: 4ish
San Juan Del Sur, Isla Ometepe (not a city, but we’ll count it as one), Playas del Coco, Tamarindo
Where I’m Going
I’m writing today from La Fortuna, Costa Rica staring off into the jungle from my working spot. So far this first week of February has seen me in Monteverde in the mountains of the northwest portion of the country for a much needed break from the party of the coast. I’ll be here inland for another week, before heading to the Caribbean coast and the beach town of Puerto Viejo. Then I’ll cross into Panama where my first stop will be Bocas del Toro for my birthday.
Panama will be my 46th country and I’m looking forward to it! Have you been to Panama? Post your recommendations below!
