Prior to the expiry of my visa on April 16rh, just the weekend before the huge holiday weekend of Semana Santa (Easter), I felt the need to flee Costa Rica just long enough to get my passport stamped with a brand new 90 day visa so I would be legal in Costa Rica until my planned departure in May.
Being a basically confident and trusting soul, I allowed myself to be talked into going along with a "gringa" .. a reformed New Yorker who has lived here for several years and who assured me that her expert knowledge of Spanish and Italian and her SUV would be valuable assets on the trip I had hoped to make to San Juan del Sur, a beach community not far over the frontier. I had been following 'net stories about this Pacific coast fishing village and its appeal to gringos for several years. She had never heard of it.
Well, I do not want to get into sordid details, but while the trip started out ok.. I wound up covering way more miles than I had hoped, not really seeing much of SJDS at all, and winding up coming back alone. Wiser, but slightly worse for the wear, physically as well as $$ wise. Basically, I got ripped off by a high maintenance indoor whiner posing as a wordly, easy going outdoors person, carrying a considerable amount of emotional baggage as well as avoir dupois, if you know what I mean.
However, had my short-lived travel companion not found so many things objectionable in SJDS, enough to spend an entire day risking the vagueries of Nicaraguan back roads (read barely passable dirt tracks, rivers without bridges) and unmapped bi-ways, I would never have gone to Pie Gigante and met up with Keith and Maria.
This is Pie Gigante, a place miles from anyplace else. It is in Nicaragua up along the pacific coast North of Guanacaste Costa Rica, but very different. Very remote. Pigs roam everywhere. Small fishing Pangas go out early each morning, returning afternoons with lots of catch. A few beach restaurants serve cheap food. Lots of controversy here already about ownership, concession rights, beach access. My friends, Maria and Keith have best restaurant, building rooms next door. Will try to stay in touch with them as they are great folks.
