I decided since I was already in the western hemisphere to go ahead and again visit my friend who was traveling central America. He didnt need to try too hard to convince me, especially when my Jetblue flight was canceled. I initially planned to fly to Jetblue to Liberia, Costa Rica, but while my sister and I were hiking with friends, she received a message from Jetblue. I had given them her number as I do not have a US number. Apparently, only Americans with American numbers are allowed to book American flights or some BS - it is really annoying. Anyway, we waited to listen and found out that that flight was also canceled. Wth? I thought Jetblue was one of the most reliable.
I wound up rebooking with American Airlines, which I have not flown in at least a decade. I had to fly from Rochester to Chicago to Miami overnight then onto Liberia. Rochester - easy. Chicago, actually pretty easy but friggin freezing and all restaurants were insanely packed. Arrived in Miami just before midnight, got a taxi to a nearby hotel for a quick rest for about 6 hours, then
back and easily back on the flight (my luggage was checked the whole way through and I had my boarding pass).
I arrived in Liberia quickly got through customs, got my small luggage, and my friend was waiting for me - we both thought it would be another 45 minutes or so. The humidity was immediately apparent and I was still bundled up due to the freezing airports and planes, so I did a quick change and we waited for a bus to take us to Playa Samara. While waiting, we started the party early, getting rum and Coke Zero to pass the time. We were among the first on the bus to take us to Nicoya, a white open air very basic bus. Yes - the experience started immediately! In Nicoya, there are three bus stations, and we were dropped at one, the second was the wrong one, and the third was where we caught the very crowded bus to Playa Samara. A guy told us that another bus was going, but this one was too and it was leaving right then. We had to stand for a bit, but one by one, people got off and
We got off in Samara, right in front of a cute little cafe. It was pouring rain. We walked towards the hostel we had booked, Hotel las Mariposas, me pulling my roller down the gravel and flooded streets. I was in flip flops and did not even try to keep my feet dry. L kept walking in front, carrying my bag at this point, but I paused in front of a gate, standing in a huge puddle, telling him, I think this is it! Yep. We went in and the entire lot was flooded by about 6 inches of water. We saw a guy swinging in a hammock inches above the water. A girl met us and took us to the little reception area, apologizing for the flood. She said they messaged me to say I could book elsewhere as they were not expecting the flood; apparently, it had been raining heavily since the previous night and had not stopped. The wet season had essentially started early. She said, we would be ok as our room was upstairs with a bathroom on that floor. I was trying to not think what was in the
water at my feet with the toilets on the ground floor.... Otherwise, the hotel was actually pretty cute.
We decided to unload our stuff and go back to the crossroads area (town) to get some lunch. We ate a delicious lunch at Cocos and had some margaritas and while there, the rain stopped. So we walked around town a bit, looking and some of the cute artisan areas and potential options for travel to the next location. Then we walked down to the beach and turned left. It was getting mid afternoon, but based on the geography, there would be no real sunset views and it was still a bit misty anyway. We took our time though and enjoyed the beach, finally heading back up through boutique hotels to the main road. Here, a guy in a golf cart with a little dog offered us a ride back into town and dropped us off at Limeys Bar and Restaurant.
