Enjoyed Fish Hook Marina so stayed two nights. Perhaps it was the great waterside location? Perhaps it was the fab food? Perhaps it was the Happy Hour drinks? Or perhaps it was the non stop monsoon rain for the 48 hours we were there - who wants to run out to pack the car when it's positively pouring down!!
Sun shone on 14th so we packed up and shipped out - booked ourselves in to the Hotel Ibiza in Jaco 241km up the main drag - an easy journey we reckoned - as did Maps.me who predicted 3 hours 21 minutes driving time!
WRONG!!!!
2 hours 5 minutes driving time later we arrived at the back end of a mega Traffic Jam! Other cars were cheekily queue jumping up the wrong side of the road - we joined them - and nudged our way past 2 km of stationary vehicles! The jam became 2 lane so David hopped out and found the cause of the queue 200 metres ahead - Juggernaut off the road buried nose first into the dense jungle + saloon car badly smashed up in the ditch on the opposite side. Fire Engine straddling the road and half a dozen Police Cars lights flashing - Cops all over the show! Rubberneckers advised there had been deaths and the road likely to be closed for many hours whilst a Judge arrived to investigate the accident and decide who's at fault!!
DARN IT!!
Don't get me wrong, very sad that people died - but we have to keep heading North!
Mucho Jammo chit chat - everyone out of their vehicles - too hot to stay inside your metal box once the air-con is off! We met a Swiss family in another Toyota 4x4 who reckoned they knew a back road through the Jungle - dirt road over the mountains - so long as we left straight away we'd catch the last ferry across the river at Sierpe!
What are we waiting for! Let's go!! It was like being back in Bolivia - along a dirt road that was more of a mule track! Pablo loved it. We made it to the Rio Sierpe where the Ferry was waiting for us - may have been it's only car passengers of the day as we hadn't passed a single vehicle along the 30km of Jungle Road! Amanda asked the 'Captain' whether there were Caimans in the Rio Sierpe and he nodded with a casual "Si"!
Back on the Pan American Highway we put the pedal to the metal, but the Traffic Jam and our Jungle Adventure had put 3 hours onto our journey time. As we drove on towards Jaco darkness fell and the heavens opened - still 100km to go - we're not going to make it!
And that's how we ended up in Quepos! It was dark and the heavy rain made visibility virtually zero, but David insisted we must find a beachside Hotel and a Double Room with unobstructed balcony view of the Pacific Ocean! Which explains why we checked into the 'Intimate Boutique Hotel' Mango Moon! Gecko Suite! King-size four poster bed with full Mosquito Net.
Next morning the Ocean View was truly fantastic, although breakfast wasn't - Extortionate Room Rate included Desayuno - but continental only - as in bread & jam and a single cup of weak coffee - extra $4 for a bacon rasher - and $3 for an egg!! Mood improved though when a Sloth (Three Toed) walked (very slowly) by and disappeared (inch at a time) into the shrubbery!
