Mal Pais and the Pacific Coastline

  Manzanillo, Province of Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Sunday, December 28, 2008

Everyone has mentioned that we should go to Mal Pais because it's "muy hermosa" (very beautiful) so this morning we headed that way.  I should mention that the pin shows Manzanillo which is north of Mal Pais because TravelPod doesn't seem to have it in their list.

Map of the Pacific Coast

 

Landscape on the way to Mal Pais

Mal Pais in Spanish means Bad Country or Bad Lands and we found out why.  Despite the beautiful beaches, it is pure hell getting there.  As one person said, the roads in Montezuma are like the Autobahn compared to the roads in Mal Pais.  Mal Pais, Playa Carmen, Santa Teresa, and Manzanillo make up the pacific coastline of the Southern Nicoya Penninsula.  Because of the wide flat beaches, you have to go out pretty far before the water is above your head, surfing tournaments are held here every year.  Looking at the map provided in the guide we have, silly me, I was thinking Virginia Beach Boulevard or something similar.  It shows a long straight road with shops and restaurants on either side and, of course, the ocean.  But this is the Nicoya Penninsula and that long road was just rock after pot hole after boulder with people, dogs, cats, other cars, Quads, and motorcycles vying for space.

The road we travelled

We took a side path that headed toward the water and followed it to a parking/camping area.  So we parked and headed down to the beach.  It was very nice and there was some surfing going on.






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12/29/2008
We decided to head back to Mal Pais today but headed further up the coast to Playa Hermosa and Manzanillo.  After a few hours there, instead of coming back the way we came we decided to trek across the penninsula and stop in Cobano at one of the only banks in the area so I could exchange an AmEx Gift Check that I got from some great people in the office.  The bank was very interesting...
Only one person can enter at a time.  A sliding glass door opens, you step in, it also acts as a metal detector, then the door closes behind you BEFORE the door in front of you slides open.  There is an armed guard walking around and not just with a pistol, but with a shotgun, with a pistol grip.  Let's hope he never decides to go loco.  After standing in line for single transactions, I noticed a sign that said that that window did not accept travelers checks.  So, I went an got a number and with 12 people ahead of me, sat down and waited.  When I got up to the window I handed the woman my passport and the gift check and told her I would like to change it to Colones.  She looked at it, told me to wait, left her cube and spoke to someone in the back office, then came back and asked me to sign it.  I did.  She looked at it, asked me to wait, went back to someone in the back office, then came back and told me the signatures were not a close enough match and they wouldn't accept it!  EVEN WITH MY PASSPORT RIGHT THERE!  So I argued as best I could that now the gift check was useless because both signatures were on there and all she could say was, "Si".  So when I get home I have to call AmEx and find out what to do about this.