Driving Up the Nicoya Peninsula to Nosara, Costa Rica

After our wonderful week with Jenine’s parents, we set off to drive up the Nicoya Peninsula. The Nicoya peninsula of Costa rica is home to amazing 4×4 roads, stunning beaches, great surfing and is the yoga center of Costa Rica.

We stopped at four beautiful beaches along the way: Playa Hermosa, Playa Coyote, Punta Islita, Playa Samara, but our primary destination was the surfing and yoga mecca of Costa Rica, Nosara. The best way to explore this beautiful area is along the costal dirt road that offers some of the best scenery in Costa Rica. Titus is the perfect rig for the job. We crossed rivers, wild camped at beaches, surfed and did yoga.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BNhy7pH78-A/Va7NJLASv3I/AAAAAAAAzwA/aVFHJ8fFOgM/s144-c-o/IMG_0431.jpg” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/Blog28DrivingUpTheNicoyaPeninsulaNosaraCostaRica#6174097696628064114″ caption=”After Jenine's parents left from Santa Teresa Costa Rica in the south, we hopped in Titus and started driving the coastal road north” type=”image” alt=”IMG_0431.jpg” ]

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Iel3ymzlsCY/Va7NJA_xsaI/AAAAAAAAzwA/j5RaxyLXMjM/s144-c-o/IMG_0435.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/Blog28DrivingUpTheNicoyaPeninsulaNosaraCostaRica#6174097693941543330″ caption=”The costal road has many river crossing, this one – Rio Bongo – was too much for Titus to handle. 6' deep in some areas if not careful.” type=”image” alt=”IMG_0435.JPG” ]

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It took us about a week to drive up, and it was spectacular. We wild camped every night, except in Samara. What was really interesting was that every night police came to check up on us and ask us questions, but always allowed us to camp as we were. Really love that about Costa Rica.

Arriving at the beautiful Playa Nosara:

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-S15XCp4wCf8/Va7NJKJJorI/AAAAAAAAzwA/UR8aLOOh8Gw/s144-c-o/IMG_0528.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/Blog28DrivingUpTheNicoyaPeninsulaNosaraCostaRica#6174097696396780210″ caption=”Coming in from surfing at Nosara – one of my favorite beaches in Central America” type=”image” alt=”IMG_0528.JPG” ]

We came into Nosara, and quickly realized this was an upscale place, and no beach camping allowed. However, the awesome Nosara Beach Hostel let us park out front and we got a great room with them. I highly recommend staying here, the location is fantastic.

It is hard to decided how much to like or not like Nosara. It isn’t at all developed commercially like most hot beach towns, absolutely no building allowed on the beach. However, there is construction everywhere in town on half million dollar and up (way up?) homes. The streets are pretty quiet, but the restaurants are way too expensive. There are tons of surfers here, yet the beach is enormous and full of waves, so there is plenty of fun to be had. The yoga centers are stunning, yet the classes cost as much as San Francisco ($15 – which is also the price we paid per night for our hostel). I loved Nosara though; the beach and the surrounding area is that amazing. We cooked all of our meals, Jenine found some great Yoga classes, and we met some very nice people. I highly recommend Nosara for a chill surf, yoga and beach vacation, you are guaranteed surf and beauty. (and also some mosquitoes at dusk ) It is still a peaceful place with great surf, however, growing a lot every year it seems.

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[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pqUG-ww9s8g/Va7NJCc2yhI/AAAAAAAAzwA/Od0CvX19Sfk/s144-c-o/IMG_0531.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/Blog28DrivingUpTheNicoyaPeninsulaNosaraCostaRica#6174097694331947538″ caption=”Surfing Nosara” type=”image” alt=”IMG_0531.JPG” ]

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[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/–o67vhQ3KSM/Va7NJBZeWvI/AAAAAAAAzwA/1tVdIR1cc0s/s144-c-o/IMG_0558.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/Blog28DrivingUpTheNicoyaPeninsulaNosaraCostaRica#6174097694049327858″ caption=”Spectators watching the surf comp in Nosara” type=”image” alt=”IMG_0558.JPG” ]

We left the Nicoya peninsula having a had an amazing time. However, we cracked one of our front leaf springs on the bad road (Titus weighs 5 Tons and all…….) So we called up our favorite Costa Rican mechanic and friend Luis at MotorShopCr. Within a day he replaced our leafs and found us some new BF Goodrich rear tires. We camped at his shop and he made us breakfast the next morning. He is such a wonderful guy!

After getting Titus in top form, next up for us was shooting south for another special place – Pavones.

[pe2-image src=”http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Nmk8c6XFFm0/Va7NJLqk66I/AAAAAAAAzwA/KWvUqQUVR-o/s144-c-o/IMG_0595.JPG” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/115263927216347870948/Blog28DrivingUpTheNicoyaPeninsulaNosaraCostaRica#6174097696805415842″ caption=”On the road again” type=”image” alt=”IMG_0595.JPG” ]

The stars on the map: Playa Hermosa, Playa Coyote, Punta Islita, Playa Samara, but our primary destination was the surfing and yoga mecca of Costa Rica, Nosara.

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