Jacó: Drugs and Prostitutes and Surfing, Oh my!
23. Mar, 2009 
11 Comments
If you go to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico it’s much more developed then nearly any coastal town in Costa Rica. Yet, before visiting Jacó, everyone warned me: it’s overdeveloped. Well, if you’re expecting palm frond beach huts and locals catching fish in the low tide, then yes, you’ll be highly disappointed. But since my time in Puerto Viejo, I had one mission: learn how to surf. In PV, the rains and churning rip tides kept me out of the water. In Jacó, I’d heard there were small but regular waves, perfect for riding the whitewater, and as long as you don’t mind the constant solicitations, then you could have a pretty good time here.
Or not.
I had specifically skipped the neighboring town of Playa Hermosa, the place everyone raves about. I wanted cheap surf lessons and baby waves. I got neither. The ocean was flat. The lessons expensive. But the coke? Cheap and plentiful. The prostitutes? Um yeah. Here’s a small scene to illustrate. I walked past two girls in sequined skin tight dresses, who ignored me but stopped every guy that walked by. My nose itched. I rubbed it. This is apparently the international sign for– hey I need some cocaine–and someone jogged up to me, mimicking my nose rub, asking, “Coke? Coke? You want?” This was at 5 PM in the evening.
Welcome to Jacó.
Turns out the development wasn’t what bothered me. The beach is still beautiful: long and flat and in the distance you can see rounded hills that serve as bookends on each end of the town. If the surf was better, maybe I would have stay longer. Ultimately, on what would be my last night, a guy in our hostel brought two (yes, two) women back to his room. He forgot his key. So he made a big production out of going to the reception desk, with his prostitutes, and getting the owner to open the door for him. Which he did. Perhaps if I asked the owner to break up my coke into fat rails, he’d do that too. Pura Vida.
It was time to move on.
And then I discovered the very best thing about Jacó- the water taxi to Montezuma. Montezuma is further north on the coast, but because it’s on the Nicoya Peninsula, it takes about 6 hours by bus to get there. By taking a boat, you can cut across the gulf and arrive in just an hour. If you’re lucky, you’ll get the kind of boat operator I had– someone who stopped every time he saw wildlife and pointed it out to us. He would kill the engine and let us float closer to giant sea turtles (we saw at least a dozen) who would turn and regard us, snort and then dive out of sight. There were manta rays in the distance, the baby ones jumping out of the water, the larger ones just sticking a fin up, making them look like slow moving sharks. Then we saw it. A 7-8 ft wide manta ray swimming by the side of our boat. In the first moment of seeing it, I had that strange feeling of reality tilting, that sensation you experience when something is so surreal, you can’t believe it. The driver said it was very unusual to see one so big, and I’d have to believe that was true, unless we’re living in the Land Before Time.
Montezuma, by the way, is beautiful. It’s what you want a beach to look like– azul waters, crisp white waves breaking on an outcropping of black rocks, lush greenery framing quiet stretches of beach. I only stayed for the day (there isn’t a single hotel with internet in town) and instead headed to Santa Teresa/Mal Pais. I was going to learn how to surf, if I had to go to every beach town in Costa Rica to do it.
I laughed quite hard at the mental picture of this man coming back to a hostel room with two scantily clad women and needing to be let into his room. I hope that’s one of his fonder memories about his travels.
“So this one time, I was in Jacó and I totally got locked out of my room. But the best part? I had two prostitutes with me!”
You should have found out if he had a blog, where he documents his seedy adventures.
The water taxi sounds like it provides some beautiful scenery.
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This is one of those trips that will make you chuckle whenever you remember it. Its the magic of travel, just priceless.
Look forward to the surfing anecdotes.
Oh, I love Montezuma! When I lived in CR back in 2000-2001 we went there from San José every chance we got! Of course, we did the bus-ferry-bus route, which took all day. Once we even drove our old clunker of a car there. The drive from the ferry to Montezuma on the then dirt roads took hours because we could only drive 10 kph! Great memories… Wish I’d taken the water taxi!
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love the picture!
Enjoyed your post! Until I read your hilarious and somewhat startling observations about Jaco, CR I had made (mental) plans to visit there someday. Now, I’m not so sure.
I enjoy beachfront/coastal communities. Not for surfing. Just for kicking back and enjoying nature’s perfect view. I’ve been to most places on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. I can attest to the overdevelopment of Puerto Vallarta, Acapulco, Mazatlan and Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo. But, if you travel in between those metro areas, there’s some really nice, beautiful isolated beachfront places–like Montezuma it seems.
Have fun on the rest of your journey to find (and enjoy) those perfect surfing beaches in Costa Rica.
I have to go just to see the manta rays – I scuba dive, but still haven’t seen any. Plenty of sting rays, but no mantas. Did you get any pics?
I had dreams of becoming a surfer chick after viewing Blue Crush for the very first time – and every time after that – despite the fact I have a lousy sense of balance. I did lots of research into the perfect surf camp and found it of all places advertised on the t-shirt of a NYC bartender.
That would be Witch’s Rock Surf Camp in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. I was originally looking into Surf Camps in Mal Pais but read that the waves were much better for beginners in Tamarindo. It seems that they only offer packages now, so financially it may not be the most affordable option. But the town is bustling and I’m sure there are plenty of lower cost options there as well.
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Jaco sounds really … unique. On the other hand the water taxi sounds like it was a lot of fun. I can only imagine the scenery and views you had. I wish, wish, wish I could see manta rays like that in the wild. I cant help but chuckle at the thought of the (I’m guessing) very ridiculous man as he tried to get back in his room with the prostitutes. Ha!
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Jaco is a dirty dirty place. But lovely picture
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Pura vida indeed. I’d heard all the protests about Jaco and was hoping they weren’t true. Oh well, the water taxi does sound like fun.
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Jaco is the sin city of CR… you know that when you go there…
2 Types of people go to jaco….
1) Surfers who like to party drink and do drugs.
2) Fat whales with hawaiian shirts that look like the buttons are gonna shoot off and take ur eye out, these extraordinary gentlemen are looking usually for some 18yr old girl for $40 for a few hours….
There is consistent surf, good bars, casinos, and very good food in jaco… Everything is within walking distance and you can get free wifi on the beach in most areas because of the beach bars….
Yes its a little dirty, but if you want a cleaner version with no hookers just go to playa hermosa… If you are just learning to surf though, dont try to drop in on a 6 foot day.