Jacó

Laid back beach town and surfing central by the Pacific black sands

Surfing central for the Costa Rican west-coaster, Jacó has all that the unruly-locked surf dude or dudette could want. A scruffy but functional town, the beach isn’t going to win any awards for scenic beauty but conditions are perfect for making those first wobbly stands on the board, and for cutting some more serious moves too.

We spent a week at Escuela del Mundo, the School of the World, just a short distance from the beach, with daily surfing classes following the tides. The school also offered classes in Spanish, photography, and yoga – I had signed up for photography but due to a clash, found myself standing on my head for the week in the yoga studio. Having never practised yoga before, I was surprised at how difficult it was.

Playa Hermosa, “pretty beach”, a couple of kilometres south of Jacó town itself. A loan surfer heads back ashore after a bodacious morning.

Playa Hermosa was as atmospherically misty as it was scattered with picturesque driftwood.

Closer to town, Jacó beach has good conditions for learning to surf – we would head out around high tide and go for a couple of hours. The waves were generally only three to six feet high, which was fine for us.

Some of the more experienced surfers showed us what could be done with waves even as diminutive as the ones we were learning on. I had witnessed more surfing up close earlier the same year in Hawaii.

Surf dudes with attitude – kinda groovy.

This chap was giving it his best shot, but the horses weren’t all that interested in learning how to surf.

The beach is lined with surf schools and all the associated paraphernalia one would require for full surf dudery.

As an ungraceful surfing lump, I was started out on a nine foot six inch barge, before graduating to a nine-two after a couple of days. Still enough buoyancy to float a baby elephant.

Our home for the week, the courtyard at Escuela del Mundo, the School of the World.

The roof of the school was particularly popular with the neighbourhood iguanas.

Jacó town is a ramshackle assembly of shops, cafes and bars, strung along a ragged highway just back from the beach. We found a couple of good sushi restaurants and spent most of the week dining there, interspersed with occasional fish tacos.

A day’s outing on quad bikes (or “four-wheelers” for those stateside) into the local rainforest. After a couple of training circuits we were let loose into the jungle proper, and encountered several other gangs along the way.

Just as well I wasn’t wearing my best shorts for this – and that my legs are washable. Photo credit as noted.

Our final destination on the quads was a series of jungle pools and waterfalls, with swimming optional.

Not satisfied with petrol-head activities, we headed for the forest canopy to hang out for the rest of the day. Costa Rica claims to have invented ziplining, and with this course of nine lines taking over two hours to complete, I can well believe it. Photo credit as noted.

Pura vida! They shout at every possible opportunity – it’s the national motto, and all the locals swear by it. To the extent that the merchandisers have been making out like bandits.