Day 14 - Playa Carrillo

As usual I was up at the crack of dawn so I took a long walk around town and along the beach. I saw the Las Brisas del Pacifico hotel which is located a ways east of the main part of town. The hotel looked very nice with a pool right on the beach. If you had the money, this would definitely be the place to stay in Samara. Walking back I found a great little bakery on the street that parallels the main street to the east. It’s called Bohemia and they have some awesome pastries. I got a pineapple pastry (still hot out of the oven) with coffee for only 400 colones. After finishing a second cup of coffee (free refills) I headed back to the hotel. After my wife woke up we both had the typico breakfast at the hotel restaurant and decided to spend our last beach day at Playa Carrillo.

Playa Carillo is about 5km south of Samara and the road there is nicely paved. The beach is crescent shaped and stretches for a few kilometers. We passed the beach and went up[ the hill into the town which consists of only a few hotels, a school, and a small grocery store where we got a few cold drinks and drove back to the eastern end of the beach and laid our towels out under the shade of one of the many palm trees that line the beach. There are also some concrete tables with chairs under the trees if you wanted to have a picnic or something. The beach was mostly deserted with only a few tico families nearby. The beach itself is very nice but the waves were somewhat brutal. The beach has a late break and a mild undertow so swimmers should be careful. On the far eastern portion of the beach are some tide pools that were quite hot as they were heated by the sun. After a few hours we headed back to Samara, took a dip in the pool and had a pretty good pizza at the hotel’s Italian restaurant (Pizza-a-go-go). My wife took a nap while I went back to Las Olas for a few beers. I ended up talking to a few newly arrived American and Canadian girls who were going to be studding Spanish at the intercultural school. It was their first time in Costa Rica and they were all doing home stays and would be learning Spanish.

After a while I headed back to the hotel and got the wife up so we could go have dinner somewhere. We walked around town but nothing looked too good so we ended up going back to the hotel restaurant and I had some pretty good raviolis for dinner. Afterwards we went to the La Gondola bar for a drink. La Gondola is a cool place with a pool table, ping pong, and a dart board. After a few drinks we then headed to Shake Joe’s for a last beer and then went to bed.

Day 13 - Samara

After waking up and having coffee at Gilded Iguana we drove back over the bumpy road to Samara. On the way we stopped to fill up with gas at the intersection from the roads to Nosara and Samara. The gas station is cash only so keep that in mind if you travel that way. Just as we pulled into town we saw our friends Dave and Phadera waiting at the bus stop. We learned that they stayed at Casa del Mar across from the beach for $55/night which sounded a bit expensive for a room without a pool or a/c. We were still undecided on where to stay so we looked at rooms at Hotel Belvedere and Hotel Gadia. The Belvedere had a nicer property and larger room but it is located on the edge of the town and the long driveway was pretty muddy so we instead chose the Gadia which wasn’t bad. The room was small but comfortable with a/c and satellite tv and a small private deck overlooking one of the two swimming pools (the one in the back of the complex is the nicest with a grass lawn and chairs and tables for lounging). Breakfast was also included in the $55/night price.

Since we didn’t eat breakfast we were pretty hungry so we headed down to Shake Joe’s for sandwiches and some awesome blended icy fruit shakes (they are good with a shot of added tequila!). We saw a topless woman wearing only a thong at the beach who was getting a good share on gawkers. Personally I have nothing against nude sunbathing (and was enjoying the view myself) but I think it’s disrespectful to the townspeople to do it blatantly in the open. After lunch the beach was looking pretty inviting so we went back to the Gadia to change into our swimwear. As soon as we got to the beach it started to rain. So we walked back to the hotel to relax in our room and watch some TV.

After a few hours the rain stopped so we took a dip in the pool and then headed out to walk around and scout out a good place for dinner. Someone had recommended El Lagarto which is a few hundred yards west of where the main street dead ends at the beach. They didn’t open until 6pm so we had some time to kill. We ended up nearby at Las Olas just down the beach. Las Olas is a pretty big Tico bar with a few pool tables. I think they also serve food but the kitchen was closed while we were there. There are also some big tall benches outside that face the beach and is a perfect place to sit and people watch while having a few beers which is exactly what we did for the next hour or so.



At 6pm we headed over to El Lagarto and ordered drinks. Seeing that the menu was a little pricey, I ran back to the hotel to get some more $$ out of the room safe. The restaurant has a giant BBQ along the side and specializes in chicken and steaks. We split a salad and both had big steaks with a large potato and vegetables. Our bill with tax and tip came to $56 but was well worth it. I saw someone being served the chicken which looked pretty good and was only $9.50. After dinner we were full and tired so we headed back to the hotel, watched some TV and then crashed out for the night.