Nicoya Peninsula
2/17/6
We have 2 friends from Canada visiting us for 2 weeks, Gary and Jim. Yesterday we headed out early in their rented 4×4 to explore the Nicoya Peninsula. Just north of here, shortly after we entered Guanacaste Province, a policemen stopped us to let some schoolchildren cross. When they had crossed, he told us to pull over to the side of the road. Gary had apparently been speeding, although we didn’t see any school zone signs, were not driving excessively fast, and had been passed by many trucks and cars. Linda and I were in the back seat and did not have seat belts on, although Gary and Jim did. After a lecture, he gave us the option of getting a ticket and paying it at the bank, or paying $20. cash. We paid the twenty. I am sure he would have taken a long time to write the ticket and checked many things to delay our trip. After more consideration I’m not sure we did the right thing, but I am pretty sure a Tico would not have received the same treatment.
We didn’t let that bother us too much and continued on to Nicoya. The roads were not too bad all the way to Playa Samara where we spent some time walking through town and along the beautiful beach. I understand all the big beach towns on the west coast are like this one. It is very long with beautiful sand and yesterday there were some nice waves breaking on the beach. We talked to a woman in the restaurant who is staying at a cabina near my house that is run by a naturalist who gives horseback rides, and she told us about a parrot sanctuary close by as well. Jim is very interested in both. He is an avid bird watcher and horseback rider. We will explore these today. He already has a ride planned for here on Saturday, and I think he wants to do this one too.
We had to backtrack to the town of Nicoya to head south on the main peninsula highway to Playa Naranjo to catch the ferry to Puntarenas. The road was pretty bad, it took us an hour and a half to travel 72 km. The ferry left for Puntarenas at 5pm. giving us a beautiful sunset cruise. It was a long day, but we all agreed that it was wonderful. The scenery on the Nicoya Peninsula is beautiful and it was well worth the drive. If a person wanted to take an extra day and sleep overnight on the west coast, I am sure the Pacific sunset, the scenery, and the other beaches, would be worth the extra time.