Hone Creek, Costa Rica

This is the place where I will live, work and surf for the coming 3 months.

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Hone Creek has two restaurants, two supermarkets, a church and a bus stop. It's in between Cahuita and Puerto Viejo; both these places have diverse surf spots. When the swell is medium I surf Playa Cocles, when it gets too big up there I surf playa Negra and when it gets epic (not yet) I can only still watch Salsa Brava -aka- the cheese grater.





To get there from my house I either wait for a bus ($0,80), take a cab ($1,-) or I hitch a ride in the back of pick-up ($0,-) but I’ll anyway buy a bicycle soon. It’s a good place for mountain biking here!



So I live above the field station. Palm trees in the front and bananas in the back, lots of birds singing and cat’s and dog’s running around. At the moment there are five of us here, the Prof., a Colombian and an American girl, and two Dutchies.







Our very brave cat chasing a squirrel up palm tree (veranda view).



Like every place in Costa Rica the house doesn’t have an address like all of us have at home. In Costa Rica they’ll give a direction; for instance, the ‘address’ of the Hone Creek field station here is:

“From the intersection of Hone Creek, 50 mts left in the way to Puerto Viejo.”

And the ‘address’ of the head office in San Jose is:

“San José, San Pedro, Barrio Vargas Araya, next to soccer field of High School Monterrey, the color of the House white and green.”

It’s what they would write on an envelope too if they don’t have a PO Pox. They do have a PO Box in San Jose though: 170-2070 Sabanilla. Add the direction above and "Attencion: Hone Creek, Matthias" (they can’t pronounce Thijs) to it and it might arrive.

And finally I can be reached by phone, the number is: 506 2756 8120

The evenings in the institute itself have been tranquil compared to the last the three months; I enjoyed it though. But then it started to rain, and when it rains it pours, for days and then the rivers turn muddy and we can’t work, and when we can’t work I might as well hit the town (Read: tiny village).



So ‘Town’ (Puerto Viejo) is 5 km away. 95% of the population used to be Jamaicans but since the tourists arrived more and more Costa Ricans and Gringo’s came in and now it’s about 50/50. Still, lots of Rasta’s here which makes it smell about the same as the center of Amsterdam. There is a large expat community and I got introduced by a fellow Dutch guy who also lives at the institute and now I know half of the town already. Fun but sometimes crazy people. The nights are big so once a week is more than enough.



Like everywhere in Costa Rica you can’t walk the streets alone at night. I didn’t expect that but if you thought its safe here you are wrong. I heard so many firsthand stories during my trip about robberies etc. and it’s the same here, well, Hone Creek is fine, but everywhere where there are tourists like in Puerto Viejo, you have to be careful. They’ll, show their machetes, knives or guns to make you give your belongings, but like I said, only at night and if you are alone.

The work is really interesting, I love it. Field days are long and sweaty and start early morning. Temperatures are high here and the humidity makes it feel even hotter, luckily the streams are cool and shaded. The research sites are all over Talamanca (Province). At the sites we determine the biological integrity by looking at biodiversity of fish and macro invertebrates and also do a habitat assessment. The environment is of course way more interesting than back home in The Netherlands; like I said before, most of the sites are in an UNESCO world heritage site (La Amistad). We get about 40 different fish species, which we find in clear streams that often run trough wonderful rainforests. We catch the fish by electro fishing, which shortly paralyses them so we can scoop them up, 10 seconds later they’ll be swimming around in a bucket like nothing happened and after identifying we’ll release them. All pretty ethical, I don’t even get to fry the tasty shrimp we catch as well.
We go about 3 to 4 days a week in the field, the other days I spend in the office playing with the data. With the results we try to protect or restore the area which is heavily under pressure by construction of hydro dams, polluted runoff from plantations, habitat alteration, etc. Local communities are stimulated to be involved; especially the indigenous in the inlands seem to have a relatively high interest in, and awareness of their surroundings. Lots of volunteers to help us out.



Prof.






Anyways, the Prof. is very organized and has lots of knowledge since he has been coming here for about 30 years. Beyond that he has a very good staff, good materials and good planning, well, overall it’s a good experience so far, I’m at the right place.

Entonces..

Living it! Loving it!

Pura Vida

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Santa Teresa, Costa Rica

This place is probably the best of all (It was my 3'th time here, not the last).

Most important: You can surf any time of day all year round and most of the time it's pretty big too. you will get smacked around pretty hard but might ride your best wave ever.

There is this "Tranquilo Backpacker" where I stayed, it's defenately worth a visit. There isn't really that much going on in the little town but there's one pretty good outdoor night club (D&N) and that's the reason I haven't been out for dawn patrol much.

Beyond that I've spend my time chilling in a hammock or at the pool side, life has been good but it's time to go to work now!


The Pan-American Highway to heaven.

























Last but not least: Shotgun Ronny!

San Jose, Costa Rica

It took a while but I finally got a job and its exactly the type of work I was looking for. For 3 months, starting next week in Hone Creek (Puerto Viejo) on the Caribbean coast.

I'm going to biomonitor rivers for ANAI in the Talamanca region, it is an UNESCO World Heitrage Site. Pretty awesome area. It is the same kind of work that I did in South Africa and Indonesia. We determine the quality of the system by looking at biodiversity. In other words, we catch fish and thereby determine if its a clean river or a polluted one and if it changes over time. Most sites can be reached in a day by car but for some of the sites we will have to go by boat and stay over night.

Anyways, the interview was in Spanish and I survived it. They assured me I'm going to improve a lot too since they work a with the local communities, perfect!

My office/house is still on the beach so I don't have to give up the surfing although there won't be a lot of time for it I think. But hey, with the Salsa Brava only 5km away I have to try it sometime (my insurance covers surf accidents).

It's all working out in the end, right now I just got back from my morning session in Santa Teresa where I also was before the interview. Love this place, later more about that...

Pura Vida!


On my way to the job interview in San Jose...

Tamarindo, Costa Rica

Its 5:30 when the alarm wakes me up. I hear Howler monkeys roaring outside. I get up and quickly eat a banana.

I’m still hungry.

When I surf I just can’t stop eating. But I don’t want to lose any time and start checking the wax on my board. It feels good enough. The street lights are still shining when I walk to Tamarindo Beach.

On the beach I burry my flip flops behind a palm tree so they won’t get stolen.

Then I look at the break and I can’t believe my eyes. It’s sill before six and I see about twenty objects floating in the surf. NO WAY, this can’t be true! I look again and try to focus better in the little dawn light from the sun that’s still below the horizon and all of a sudden I feel relieved.

They’re pelicans.

I don’t like crowded lineups. I can only spot two long boarders, but they’re surfing the outer break, so I still have the inner all to myself!

I attach my leash and paddle out. The waves are small, double over ankle at most. I smile to myself. It’s a cakewalk to get out. But the waves break in consistent nice clean lines and on the same point. There are about 12 seconds in between them and it’s simple to pick out the good ones.

I sit up on my board in the lonely lineup when already a nice one comes rolling in. I paddle a bit towards it, quickly turn around, paddle a bit to the left, quicker now, I feel the board catching the wave and jump up and turn left. Ahhh, THIS FEELS GOOD! I kick out just before it almost breaks on the beach and hastily paddle back to the still empty lineup.

For the next half an hour I keep on repeating this like a madman. Then the first surfer shows up. There is plenty of room for two, I think to myself, knowing what to expect in the next few hours.

For the next half an hour we share the wave, but then, all of a sudden, there are ten of us, and again half an hour later, we’re over twenty. It’s hard to tell who’s on the inside and people are dropping in on each other all the time, me too. It’s seems to be normal here…

But I don’t like it like this.

The tide is getting low anyway; I can already feel the rocks on the bottom and I’m getting hungry, time to do some food shopping!

In the supermarket I spend my soaked 10.000 Colones bill on bananas, eggs, cereal, milk, pasta, bread, peanut butter and beer. Back in the cabin I have two bowls of cereal standing up in the kitchen. I leave the bread and peanut butter for my second breakfast. Eggs for lunch and pasta for dinner. I already look forward to them! I sit on the balcony for a moment to ease down and start to feel sleepy. It’s nine in the morning, time to go back to bed. When I close my eyes I see waves that carry me to sleep.

I spend the afternoon surfing the net. Facebook, my email, not much going on, for some reason Skype doesn’t work today. I check stopdodo.com and some other ecological job boards but there are no new postings. I got a report saying that someone in Panama and two people in Costa Rica have been on one of my old websites. Good, they received my application and are doing their research on me through Google. I really hope I get invited for an interview soon.

I need a job!

Since Christmas I have been travelling with my friend/colleague Tomas from Amsterdam who introduced me to surfing. We checked on the waves during low tide but there were none, nada, nunca. The beach was nearly empty and we were sweating after the short walk. “It’s too hot anyway to be outside in the sun during midday”, I say, and we start debating about leaving; Playa Hermosa? Or to Nicaragua, to surf Playa Madera again or Popoyo. The waves are too small at the moment and magicseaweed.com showed us it wasn’t getting better until Tuesday. Today is Thursday! What to do? Leaving would mean more busses and it’s not easy to get around here on the Nicoya peninsula and we kind of like our two story cabin with kitchen, fridge, bathroom and satellite TV(???) for 30$ a night.

When I later wake up on the couch I see through the window that the sun is already quite low.

Shit! I have to hurry.

It must be around four o’clock already. The tide is rising again. It hasn’t been good in the evening at playa Tamarindo but a guy that works at the hotel said that the waves are better at Playa Grande. ”Las olas en Playa Grande es major en la tarde”. It’s only a little bit further than Playa Tamarindo, which gets really crowded and as I said before.

I don’t like crowded lineups.

Tomas and the others are not going to wait for me and are already on their way. I have to eat something first and stuff away another banana and boil two eggs; the 6 minutes pass away slowly. Meanwhile I put a thick layer of sunscreen, then wolf down the eggs with some bread and take my board.

I’m still hungry but don’t want to waste any time.

The walk over to the beach is a little longer but I don’t mind, I like the current girls’ swimwear! I walk to the river and put on my leash to paddle across. As a biologist I know river mouths are known for crocodiles and bull sharks but I have been assured that they’re only here in the rainy season and I have to get across to go to Playa Grande.

Half way across the river I recognize one of the guys from our hotel. He says he can’t go there -pointing out to the break- and he has lost the others. I don’t understand, how do you mean you can’t go there. I can see the waves breaking just 50 meters in front of me. “Wait for me, I don’t want to drown”, he says. Drown? “You can almost stand up on the bottom here, how can you drown?” “The waves, how do I get across them?” (OMG) These are the smallest waves ever; however, there is quite a strong current going into the river that makes it more difficult. I quickly explain him how to duck dive but knowing that he is not going to make it I wish him good luck and paddle on. Ten seconds later I look back and see he has turned around, back to the beach. I later find out it was his first time out and he can’t swim.

Then I spot Tomas. He wears a bright smile on his face. Damn, he already had his fix and I start to paddle even harder towards the break. The guy from the hotel was right, the waves are good here and there are no crowds.

We spend the next two hours surfing the clean waves until its dark. We catch one wave after another and without telling each other we decide to stay here. If it’s like this on a bad day then it can only get better! The sunset is beautiful; it colors the water red, purple, and blue. In between us, sterns and pelicans are diving for fish, a nice sight! But it’s getting too dark now and we have to get out.
When we come back to the cabin and I prepare the pasta. It’s a five minute frenzy before it’s all gone. I should have made more…

I’m still hungry.

Tomas makes us two Cuba Libras. This afternoon we agreed on checking out the night life but now I’m not so sure anymore. I look forward to dawn patrol. Playa Grande should be the same in the morning and that means I can surf the whole morning without having to share the wave. I have to set the alarm earlier though, it was already light for about fifteen minutes when I got to Playa Tamarindo this morning and Playa Grande is about 20 minutes further.

I set the alarm at 5:00 in the morning and instantly fall asleep.

It’s still pitch black dark when I wake up. I was hungry when I went to bed last night so I decide to have a proper bowl of cereal and banana for breakfast. When I locked the door behind me the night guard from the next door hotel came out to see what’s making the noise. He must have realized that burglars don’t wear board shorts, and so he turns around. We find our way to the beach and it’s still dark. The tide is still a bit low. Tomorrow we don’t have to get up so early because high tide will be one hour later than today. I feel a bit uncomfortable when I start paddling across the river again because it’s still a bit dark. One surfer followed us. He noticed the waves weren’t very good yet at Playa Tamarido but he didn’t dare to paddle across the river to Playa Grande but after he saw me going across he came too.

I’m glad to reach the other side, it’s a bit cold back on the beach, the water is warmer than the air temperature. We walk for about two kilometers to the better spot, the waves are still a bit small but the tide is not fully high yet. When I’m finally in the lineup and catch the first wave it closes out on me. It’s a quick and hollow wave.

Difficult.

I have to make the turn really fast and for the first half an hour I don’t manage to get any good waves and consider going back to the same spot where we were yesterday afternoon. Then a wave lines up behind me and I’m in the right spot. I paddle for it, my board picks up, this time I manage the quick turn and before I know it I’m riding my fastest and longest wave ever. Ok then, maybe it’s more difficult but if you catch a good one it’s amazing. So I’ll stay here a little longer and paddle back to the lineup. Some other surfers have turned up but they are at least half a kilometer away from us. I catch a few more good waves before I return home.

The next morning I don’t wake up until 8.30, have breakfast and make my way to Playa Tamarindo. The swell is getting bigger! I catch some good waves at first but then the tide gets quite low and it’s hard to maintain my place in the lineup. The water is choppy and the current keeps pushing me out. For some time already I’m annoyed by someone calling in the distance. Can’t he shut up for a moment? I look to see where the noise is coming from and I see someone quite far out in the ocean, I listen better and then I hear what all the fuss is about.

He’s calling for help.

I look at the lifeguard tower and see no movement what so ever and calmly start paddling towards the waving person. When I get closer I see it’s a rather big and older man, must be close to 40 and weighing over a hundred kilos. He is lying on a long board and can barely lift his arms. His eyes look strange, glassy and clouded. “What am I doing wrong”, he asks me, “I can’t make it back to the beach”. “I think I had my arm dislocated”. I tell him not to worry and to take hold to the end of my leash and start pulling him back towards the beach trough the riptide.

God he’s heavy!

After a while he asks me if we are moving. ”You see those rock sticking out right next to us, we were behind them earlier, we’re moving but slowly, don’t worry”. “You know I owe you a couple of bucks for this”, he says.

We’re past the rocks now and I can feel we’re out of the riptide because we start moving much faster. Few seconds later he gets off his board and stands up on the bottom. He’s even taller than me, he’s huge!

He reaches out his hand to thank me and tells me he is Paul from the US. I introduce myself and warn him not to go out again when the tide is going out and he may want to take a lesson first.

I paddle back out again just as a big set of waves comes in. One surfer starts paddling for one of the waves. I really hope he makes it because he crosses right in front of me.

He doesn’t make it. Wipeout!

I already started to duck dive for the wave but for a split second I don’t know what to do, how to protect my head and dive the wave at the same time? And then it’s already too late. His board hits me with a fin in my jaw, ouch! The wave pushes me under deep and I don’t know what’s up or down anymore it feels like an eternity. Finally I reach the surface and then SHIT, -my board is gone-. I spot my board few meters away from me and swim to it as fast as I can; I can just reach it before the next wave would have taken it away. We shortly check on each other to see if were both ok. Then I feel my teeth, they’re all there and it doesn’t seem to bleed but I decide to ride the white water back to the beach.


It’s enough for today…

Santa Cruz, Costa Rica

Its the week of the Corridas de Toros, bull fighting. Luckily they are only riding the bull here, no blood spilling.
I dressed up for the event, including moustache!

Nosara, Costa Rica

Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

Imagine: A group of girls and guys, who had just met a couple of days before in Costa Rica lit up a bonfire on the beach in laid back Puerto Viejo. The sound of the waves in the background, enjoying cuba libres and Jamaican until the cops showed up. Started a jam session and caught it all on tape.

Thx Isabel, Justin, Allison, the unknown Rasta, Tomas (guitar), Rob (bass), Fin aka Hollywood (free style) and of course Vanessa, we know you were just happy to be there too ;-)

Pura Vida!