Middle-aged flash packers

It was a sad morning leaving Drake’s Bay. What a unique and intriguing place it is. Beautiful and full of interesting characters, people untouched by big city “sophistication” , full of optimism and always having time for everyone. I liked it very much.
Back to earth with a bump. Arrived at Sierpe to find the car battery as flat as a pancake. Managed to find a guy who had some jump leads – again, always someone around who is happy to help. Got it started but obviously a worry as will it happen again?
We had booked accommodation in Jaco for a night on our way up to the Nicoya peninsula. When we arrived at the Taunis Apartments we met Ricky, the owner. Steve had been on the phone to Avis, the hire car company, who told him to buy another battery and they would pay for it. Steve asked Ricky if he could recommend somewhere and Ricky took us to a garage , spoke to the guy who didn’t speak English and made sure it was all done even though he was late picking up his daughter from school. What a star.
He also warned us that it really wasn’t a great idea to be driving long distances this weekend as it was a “special” weekend and all the Ticos would be on the road. He said drink driving was a real problem with lots of accidents and his advice would be hole up until Monday. This could have been an elaborate sales ploy except he was fully booked for the following night.
Worried about another breakdown and heeding his advice, we found somewhere across the road to stay for one night and would go back to him the following night.
This worked out well for us as it gave us time to reassess what our next lot of travel plans are and make sure we had stuff booked accordingly – we’ve learnt you can’t leave accommodation to chance over the weekends here as it gets completely booked up.
After all this it was time to chill. Jaco gets a bad rap from the guide books as seedy and over developed. Well, obviously they have never been to Thailand. Jaco has one main Street which has bars, restaurants,tasteful shops and banks. When we walked along the (huge) beach, it was hardly wall-to-wall towels or bedchairs. Considering it was a major holiday weekend, it really wasn’t busy. Try Bournemouth on a sunny day, that’s busy.
We played in the surf, read our kindles by the pool and wandered into town to have pre dinner capairhenias followed by chicken and salad at our cabina. Bliss!