Funny how life just works itself out

January 29:  88 degrees

We are on an early rise today.  We are renting a vehicle for the first time during our adventure.  I think, deep down, we are thrilled to have this luxury.  In our minds, a vehicle equals freedom.

We are now going to travel down the Pacific coast and to the Osa Penninsula.  Everyone we have talked to thus far said this is a "must see" in Costa Rica.

Since travel is going to be a 4-5 hour trip, we decide to take our time and spend the night about half way in the town of Uvita.  Along the way, we have heard of a couple of other recommended beaches.  Now that we have our new found freedom, we have nothing but time on our hands.  We search for the little signs on the side of the road that indicate where the dirt road to the beach is.  We find Playa Matapalo just North of Domincal.  We pull up to this beautiful beach and there are only a few people there.  It continues to baffle us just how very few people occupy these beaches.

Thank you Frankie! 

In Matapalo, we back in the SUV and open up the back to watch the waves roll in.  Within minutes, we were approached by a man who was trying to sell coconuts.  At first, we said no but then he came back in about 5 minutes to just sit and talk.  This gentleman's name is Frankie and he is trying to practice his English.  Mandy is thrilled with this because it gives her the green light to practice her Spanish.  The conversation with Frankie was an extremely enjoyable one.  Right before we departed, we did buy a coconut after all.

We drove south to Playa Dominical, which was equally enjoyable but much different.  This beach was full of artisans and surfers.  The nearby streets were lined with restaurants, tour shops, surf shops and a plethora of rooms to rent.

Playa Dominical view just steps from the beach

Now we head to our final destination, Uvita.  Our roommates at the Manuel Antonio hostel recommended a place that was nice and cheap.  Just up our alley!  We search for a couple of hours with no luck.  Keep in mind that most roads are unmarked and asking for directions don't always get you where you want to go.  Bottom line, we were looking for a place that no longer existed.  We finally found someone who knew it and said the owner just closed up the business and that is common here. Ok, I guess we aren't sleeping there tonight.

We search for a while longer but now, the sun is starting to go down and it is going to be difficult to find a place.  We check out a few more but they all seem to be going up in price.  We look at each other and decide to stop our search.  We have a large vehicle and we can sleep in it for a night.  "Let's go have a beer."

We pull up to a place and feel good about being off the road. We toasted to the decision.  To make a long story short, (because Mandy already blogged about this part), we meet some people at the bar and hang for a couple of hours.  It turns out that we end up getting an offer to stay at this guy's house for the night.  Four of the people we met were heading there for the night.  One of them was a musician who was going to be playing in an upcoming music festival in town.

We all follow each other back to this dude's house and it was phenomenal.  He owns a huge beautiful home, his kitchen is open to the outside and his dining room is on his upper deck.  He also owns 3 cabinas that he rents out to people and also sets up several different types of tours in the area.  Score!

We had a great night with new and kind friends.  We even got a mini concert from the musician.  At the end of the night, Mandy and I slept on a hammock on the upper deck that is also a platform for yoga classes.  What an unexpected night.  Funny how life just works itself out sometimes.

Our perfectly comfortable bed for a night