www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I, along with my wingman and my novia nueva, did a one week road trip to areas in CR that I hadn't seen in quite some time. I must admit that we never really spent the time to fully investigate any particular area, and that we were usually totally drunk (and obnoxious).

First stop was Arenal where nobody had seen the top of the Vulcan for about five weeks (due to cloud cover and constant rains). The Tobocan Hot Springs have become completely commercialized. We used to just stop at the bridge and hop into the river, now there are fees for just about everything. Fortuna is plastered with shitty hotels, t-shirt shops, and bad restuarants.

Because of all the recent rains the rivers and streams were roaring. As reported by the Admin, there was a large slide at the northeast end of Largo Arenal. Four wheeling through the muck wasn't much of a challenge though.

Stopped at Tamarindo for a couple days (Hotel Di'ria). Couple hundred bucks a night for a room, $4.88 Imperials, $7.46 Pina Colada's. Too many tourists, but the beaches (just before sunset) load up with providers. The popular watering holes also have working girls at night (you just gotta have a good eye to spot 'em). Di'ria tried to upcharge my wingman $47 to take a "Massuese" to our room. Phuck this! we're outta here!

Playa Samara was our next stop, and has turned into still another non-descript Guanecaste beach town featuring to many cheap hotels and bad restuarants.

Headed south with stops in Jaco (same old shit), Parritta (this place is booming), and Quepos. Blurred eyes and slurred speach make for poor memories.

Ended up in Dominical (my "hometown") and was quickly administered brownies to control our behavior. A couple days of fishing, horseback riding, pool time, and fine dining re-civilized us.

The roads (with the exception of most major paved highways) were completely shitty. I destroyed the front-end on our Toyota Four Runner, but still made it back to SJ.

I'll probably not repeat this excursion in the near future. But it was interesting to see the tremendous changes along with the masses of tourists along the way. The traffic cops nicked us twice for 10 mil colones along the way. Coulda been worse.

I'm thankful nobody got hurt.

El Jefe...what do you mean about Parrita booming? I've stopped there a couple of times to get gas and a drink, and there is nothing there. I remember that one-way bridge at the south end of town.

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"In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upwardly mobile, and the rest of us are phucked until we can put our acts together; not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely"...Hunter S. Thompson (RIP)

What I mean by booming is this:

This is a primarily tico town, blue-collar, very few tourists. Curb and gutter, starting to sprawl, and the only non-tourist Tico town along the coastal highway in this neck of the jungle. And it is loaded, LOADED, with fine looking ticas - non pros - that are easily approached.

Parrita is like a miniature version of San Isidro (and you should check out the fine, fine ass that strolls the sidewalks of San Isidro day times).

I tend to prefer the Tico joints and avoid the tourist traps when out in el campo.

Damn el Jefe, thanks for the heads up. I've lived in Jaco for five years and Parrita is less than an hour down the road. I might just do a little recon mission soon and check it out. Have heard good things about San Isidro too.