Trip to Damas on Wednesday, Feb. 4

Written by Kate.

Our trip to Damas was quite an interesting one as many new things happened. We ventured out of the villas around 8:00am. It was a group of 4... me, Eric, Ruben, and Michon. We were instructed by Steve to walk down to the waterfront and find someone with a boat to take us across the river mouth. Now, it is only about 30 feet wide, but there's always the fear of alligators at the river mouth. We head down to the waterfront and it was a nice, sunny morning. When we neared the water front, we did not see anyone with a boat... and then we spotted him. A man with the tiniest boat ever. It couldn't have been more than 6 feet long and it had one seat in the back and one board across the middle. Ruben asked the man if he could take us, and of course he said yes. There were 4 of us, plus 2 surfboards, plus him. Ruben gets in first and sits on the back with the 2 surfboards, all the while tipping the tiny boat and even letting some water in. Then it's Eric, Michon, and me in the middle, which nearly capsized the boat in the process. The man is at the front end and he shakily paddles us across for 500 colones, about $1.

So, we survived the river mouth. Now it's time to find Damas. We were told once getting to the other side, we would need to walk down the beach pretty far, maybe for 1 hour, until we find another river mouth. That is Damas. We head out. Eric has a surfboard and a backpack, Michon has a backpack, Ruben has a surfboard, and lucky me... I have nothing. The sand is dark and wet. It sinks in with every step and makes the trip seem to take that much longer. This beach was void of shells... but so many pretty rocks. Rounded and smooth, like they had been in a rock tumbler. Purple, yellow, blue, and green rocks. We continued our walk. The sweat started to drip and there were sand fleas, horrible sand fleas. Finally we got past the fleas and could walk bite-free. I started to get cranky and made it known. Eric started to get annoyed. We walked and walked.

Finally, in the distance, we see a house we didn't see before. The sea breeze blows a sort of mist across the horizon, so the house became clear to us as we got nearer. We decided we would walk to that house and if we didn't find the river mouth, that is where we would stay. As we drew closer to the house, the waves started to look good. Eric and Ruben spotted some good waves and Michon and I spotted a few nice shady spots. It had been 45 minutes. We picked this place.


Michon and I immediately set up shop. Towels, books, sunscreen out! Grab some water too. Eric immediately went into the water to surf... I was still cranky and he was still annoyed. I stayed in the shade to read on my towel while listening to the waves. Michon and Ruben decided to go for a walk to take a closer look at the house.

After awhile, it's Michon and I in the shade, Ruben and Eric in the surf.

Everyone is mellow now. I went out for a dip and then Eric came in.

We sat near a coconut tree and both boys were picking coconuts and breaking them against the tree. The juice was so good! Woody and sweet. I packed a canister full of ice, and we had cold coconut juice... just like a pipa fria! It was delicious. With pineapple and nuts to snack on... cold coconut juice and water... it was turning into a nice morning!

Eric went out to surf more while Michon, Ruben and I napped in the shade. The sun started to move and our shade was disappearing! Ruben and I did not take notice as we were asleep. Michon had gotten up to take a dip and when she got back, moved Ruben and their stuff to a neighboring shady spot.

I was still asleep until Eric came in and woke me. The sand was so hot! I felt like I was walking through fire. We were in search of another coconut tree. Finding some coconuts and getting our pallets wet again felt good. It was about 11:30am now, and we had been there for 2 hours. The tide was getting low and we were getting hungry for lunch. It was time to go. Would it take us 45 minutes to get back again?

The walk back was shady because there were clouds. Thank God! It was nice. We could see more clearly the town of Quepos with the Marina, so it didn't seem to take so long.


It's funny how when you can see your destination, it always makes you feel better about the trip... but when you can't tell how far you need to go, it seems to take forever! On the way, we spied a small fort someone made for their beach day.

We finally get close, but we take a left this time... into the village. None of us had ever been here before. It was really cool to see an actual village. Small little houses on dirt roads. Laundry out on the lines. Many children running and playing while the grown ups sat on the porches. We thought we were heading to the road, but we ended up heading to a boat dock. A boat guy saw us and whistled for us to get on his boat. This one was bigger with seats! Made to transport people from one side to the other. We got on and in 5 minutes we were across.

We still have more village to walk through, but we eventually found the road. Walking walking... up our dusty little road and finally we were home! Another beach explored. Another surf spot conquered. However... I don't think we ever actually made it to Damas...