Trip to Playa Del Rey

Written by Eric.

Our group at villas Jacquelinas decided to travel today and explore outside of the small boundries that make up Quepos. We decided to go to Playa El Rey, which was told to be fairly close to Quepos. By close, I mean maybe 30 to 40 minutes by bus and foot. This was all second hand knowledge however. None of us had ever been there before. We found the right bus (it's good having a tico in your group), waited for the bus to leave, and began the trip up and over the hill. With six people, two surfboards and basic provisions, south we go. The paved road soon turned to gravel. It was indeed some sort of gravel freeway mostly deserted of cars that only allowed the bus to travel at around 15 mph (not used to talking in meters yet). The bus rattled and vibrated a lot.

The only thing I know is that the beach we are trying to get to is down the road at the first four-way intersection outside of a small town called Roncador. I remember hearing that if I saw the light post with "Rey" painted on it, I was on the right path. I was not very confident that I could lead all of us there. Oh, but we have a tico friend. I cannot stress how that makes communication in Costa Rica 10 times easier. 

We spotted the pole and were going to get off, but some local guy said we should go a bit further and get there a different way. Ok, whatever. Uncrowded beaches in the jungle await. We get off the bus, get directions to which dirt path to take there, and start walking. We walk through the palm tree forest for a while. It was beautiful. Secluded. Nobody in sight.

I heard the ocean. We were close.

And then there was a river. We were suddenly blocked. There was really no way to get around. A few locals that happened to be riding bikes down across the river approached. They said the bridge was far away. Ruben (the tico) and I had already started thinking about crossing the river. We had surfboards that floated and they river was pretty small. It was murky however and there were many stories of crocodiles. Only stories of course. So we convince the rest of the group that since we were already an hour and a half into our trip, walking endlessly is not an option. We cross. 

What happens next is pure, hilarious chaos-survival. The small murky river is pretty much mud. Walking along the bank to get to the narrow point involved walking up to your knees or more in mud. Looking back on this, it's not the smartest thing that I've done, but it was an adventure. We all make it across in the end. The ticos with the bikes stayed for all the river crossing shenanigans, laughed at us, and took pictures. Hilarious. We finally walk another 20 something minutes and we get to the beach.

It's actually marked with its name and I remember seeing a sign that said alcohol is prohibited or something like that. I mean, come on, we are in the middle of the jungle a beautiful beach with only a couple of people on the whole vast stretch. Anyways. There were nice waves coming in. We had scored. Carrying the surfboard for the last 2.5 miles paid off. It was great.


Everything was amazing. The warm water, jungle coastline, the fact that there were nice waves and no one there except friends was so sweet. I surfed until I could barely paddle anymore. Kate and Ashli even surfed a couple of times.

The first thing Ruben did was climb up a tree and grab some coconuts. The locals that were laughing at us were also at the beach and they had a machete to cut open the coconuts. 

After spending a few hours there we decided to go back. We had already decided that crossing  the river again was not an option. Our senses were adjusting to the heat. Rational thought. We walk another 35 minutes down this more organized gravel path. We pass the bridge that was talked about earlier. It turns out that we wouldn't have been able to use it in the first place. Roads and paths in Costa Rica are a trip. We finally get back to the road/gravel highway after 50 minutes of walking, and we ended up coming out to the light post that said "Rey".


We made it back to civilization! It was amazing feeling after walking something like 5 miles with our gear and surfing for hours and hanging out at the beach. The bus schedule was unknown to us and we were still in the middle of nowhere, but at least it was a road. Someone had seen a soda (bar/restaurant) down the road a bit on the trip down. We walk another mile and finally see it. We sit and have a beer and wait for the bus. It was the most refreshing thing in recent memory.

Finally, the bus comes at its snail's pace. We are impatient. It's dark and we are tired. Oh, and the mosquitoes. They were out and it was horrible. We must have looked funny standing on the side of the road in front of the soda, constantly moving to keep the mosquitoes from eating us alive. The bus we saw coming down the road 10 minutes ago finally picks us up and we ride back to Quepos. 

This is what I had envisioned Costa Rica being like. Everything takes longer, and people move at their own pace. It is wild, beautiful and hot. Today was a great day.