
February 2006, Tartapishan surfing in Costa Rica
Hi everyone!
I´m back again. My last trip (together with Tartapichin, my son) has been a surf trip. I went to Costa Rica with Fonz (Coloma´s brother) and Aleix.
We left from Mallorca on the 19th Jan. Mallorca-Madrid-San José. However, we didn´t spend much time in San José. We went straight ahead to the Pacific coast in the search of waves.
We spent 2 weeks chilling and surfing in Sta Teresa, a nice, young, surf town, where we met very nice people: Nico, Nuri, Paco, Betina, Chino…
One day went canopying! Canopy is quite popular in Costa Rica, and consists in sliding through cables from one tree to another…We met a nice gay canadian couple…
Another day, we visited Montezuma waterfalls! That was just amazing. We had a great day jumping from the top of one of the waterfalls (over 14 metres!) swimming, and bouncing from a rope tighten on a branch of a tree…Just a natural water park!
We surfed every day in Sta Teresa, although the waves were not very big, but it was consistent and a good place for learning. Surfing in the sunset, and in between manta rays and turtles was part of our everyday lifestyle!
Anyways, after 2 weeks we rented an expensive 4×4 car to go up north in the search of new waves, new people, new places and new adventures. The roads were an adventerure itselves, they were so bad that you really need a 4wd car. Sometimes we had to cross rivers, sometimes beaches, skip iguanas…Aleix became a professional rally driver!
We visited so many beaches all along the Nicoya Peninsula: Nosara, Playa Negra, Playa Junquillal (probably one of the most beautiful ones, but no waves that day), Tamarindo, Playa del coco…Finally by the 11th Feb we arrived to Roca Bruja. A magic place!
We first got there by car in such a mission because the road that goes to the beach is in a terrible condition. Roca Bruja is a huge rock in the middle of a long sand beach. For some reason, behind the road grows an amazing tubular wave known by surfers from all over th world.
Aleix, Fonso, Tartapichin and me spent the night at the beach under the stars. It was Fonso´s birthday that day (11th feb) and we had real fun at night building a shelter and having a great dinner of petrol station sandwiches and snikers!
The next day we ran out of food so we went to playa del coco where we booked a boat trip (together with english Sam) to go back surfing to Roca Bruja and Ollie´s point.This time with a full stomach! We saw all kind of creatures on the way: whales, dolphins, turtles, manta rays, pelicans… It was a great day to say good bye to the pacific ocean!
We had to return the car in San José, but, on the way, we stoped to visit the volcan Arenal. This volcano is still active, and during the night you are supposed to see the lava falling down. However, we were not lucky with the weather. It rained cats and dogs and it was cloudy as ever, so we didn´t see much…
After 2 days in Fortuna (the volcano town) we returned our “tamagochi” car in San José, so from this moment we moved by bus.
We took tickets to Puerto Viejo (Caribbean).

February 2006, With friends on the Costa Rican beach
Puerto viejo is a rasta, chilled town plenty of characters. Good waves, good weed, and good food.
Salsa Brava is the name of the most popular wave there. It is big and quite dangerous. Not recommended for beginners!
Anyways, our last destiny of the journey was Bocas del Toro (Panamá). I think this was the most impressive place of the trip.
Bocas del Toro is a group of islands on the Caribbean sea situated in the North east of Panamá close to the border with Costa Rica. You arrive there by a boat that leaves from a river. It´s a 40 minutes boat ride between “manglares” and fallen trees. The main island is Colón. The colonial houses are built half on the land , half on the sea, supported by posts. It si plenty of wooden piers in town where you can wait until a taxi boat comes. In Bocas, it is easier to move by boat than by car. It is a paradise for surfers. Perfect reef waves grow on deep waters so touching the bottom is normally not frequent. Moreover, you don´t need to touch the reef neither to get to the spot since you arrive by taxi boat. The taxiboat drivers drop you there and come back whenever you tell them. It is recommended to pay them on the way back so you make sure they won´t forget you.
In Colon, we met Nico and Nuri again! The nice “malagueños salerosos” that we first met in Sta Teresa by the beguinning of the trip. The sign was clear, they´d be my new trip mates! My last days with the Fonz, Aleix, Nico and Nuri were very cool! We moved to an island next to Colon called Bastimentos. That island was less touristic and more authentic. We met a group of very nice Argentinians. Two beautifull ladies and three good surfers. We surfed everyday in great waves, got lost in a muddy jungle, had party at Carnival…A blast.
Finally it was time for the farewell (march 2nd). Fonz and Aleix, my Mallorcan friends, had to go back to their island in the Mediterranean, while me and Tartapichin had to continue our journey with my new friends: Nico and Nuri. They were the chosen ones to take care of us.
I wonder where will will we go next!