In no time at all we were back on the Easy Ride Shuttle to the San Jose airport. 4 of us were on the ride. Shelly and I made 2, one lady who owned a resort/retreat like facility in the area, and the other was a down on her luck primary school teacher who 4 months ago sold everything she owned to try and make it in Dominical. Evidently it didn’t work out for the latter of the two. She was tearful and weepy from time to time because she was leaving a boyfriend whom she had met, was financially broke, and just seemed to be at the end of any luck whatsoever. The three girls talked back and forth for much of the 3 hour ride, and I just sat quietly. Truthfully I was hoping I wasn’t going to have an accident as my guts were rolling! But the conversation was interesting to say the least; my problems may not be as bad as the one women's.
The night before we left Shelly and I had a Mexican taco scoff. Maybe that was the source of my gastrointestinal problems throughout the night and prior to leaving. It was unsettling to say the least. However I just thought positively and sure enough I held it together.
After the tacos, and before the G.I. issues Shelly and I went to a bar called Tortilla Flats. There was a live 3 person band, no Mike, but also no open mike. That was fine as it was nice to have 2 last Imperials in the Pacific seashore bar. It was back to the crib thereafter.
So after 90 minutes of the commute we stopped at the same roadside cafe and tourist trap as a week earlier. With the help of the one co-traveler with us, the one who wasn’t downtrodden, she said it is a rather famous stop to see river crocodiles. And huge ones at that. Sure enough we saw 20 basking in what is Costa Rica’s most polluted river way. Easily there were 12 footers, if not bigger. We were a safe distance away. The driver told us a story, obviously an urban myth, about a tourist who got to close to the crocs and all they found of him was his right leg.
We got to the airport about 3.5 hours early. We poked around and noticed that the airport was busy, but not bustling. We checked in and paid a departure tax and proceeded through customs and to our gate. Having lots of time we had something to eat, and even chit chatted with one of the ladies on our shuttle again. The one who more was more collected. Shelly and her enjoyed a few more laughs at their similarities, and Kerry Manter indicated she’d source her out on Facebook. We never did cross paths with Debbie Downer. I do hope she made it to her gate and ultimate destination.
Overall the trip was lots of fun. Travelling can boost confidence, but also bring one down. My confidence was boosted successfully navigating some of the transportation issues and language barriers with people. It was really a pleasure to get to that fresh water waterfall area, relax at the beach and get into the warm ocean surfing, swimming and body boarding. I had a good time running each day actually too, and reading my Robert's Rules of Order, and I read The Rooster Bar too. It got really frustrating getting down to Golfito. It didn't seem like the day was going to be that arduous considering how well all the other days had been. But I guess that is what happens. Of course the best part of it was being with Shelly and bouncing around with her in a different element other then our lives and ways here. We had lots of laughs.
Domincal is a place I would definitely recommend to people. It is rather rustic, but it has a charm to it which is authentic and real. The people were very very nice. Maybe we'll see you again another time.
The summary in CDN $ went something close to:
Flights = $1050
Accommodations = $900
All busing/transport = $300*
Airport Parking = $110
Park Fees = $30
Surfing Lessons/Board/Rentals = $140
Food + Drink = $600*
We only bought two trucker hats as souvenirs which were kind of neat.... But didn't buy anything else in terms of trinkets or anything similar. They came to about $20 bucks or so.
*estimation could be more or less by 50 bucks or so
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