Day 18 - Going to the "Bad Land"

Today we were walking to Mal Pais. Mal Pais directly translated is “Bad Land”. Early settlers called it this because of the lack of fresh water. Fortunately now, they have fresh water and there is nothing bad about this land in the big scheme of things.

Jon and Connie from next door were going to walk with us over to Mal Pais today, but Connie had come down with some sort of virus. Jon came by around 7am this morning and told us about Connie and visited for about 45 minutes. We definitely wish her well and hopes she gets better really soon.

Mal Pais is a town directly west of Cabuya about 7km. The only challenge of that the walk is that it is straight up when you leave the beach, erratic ups and downs, crossing of 4 rivers, and blistering sun. Besides that, it makes for a phenomenal walk. The views are spectacular from up on top of the hills as you look down on the towns and across the ocean. The pasture lands are like rolling hills with what looks like cows hanging onto the sides of the mountain. All splattered throughout are palm trees which just seem to be out of place.

Prior to leaving, we threw our pineapple scraps over the fence to feed our neighbors. They tend to visit us every morning around 7am looking for some treats. After feeding, we ventured out of our casa at around 8am. We figured leaving early in the morning was best. Beating the morning sun is a good idea. Once 10am hits, the sun has started it full brilliance of the day and it does not start to retreat until around 4pm. During that time, it is typically best to look for shelter and shade.

We walked up the road and the kids and Anna thought the first hill would never end. It is a straight shot up once we head left out of our driveway. A half a kilometer we got our first reprieve. A boycott was about to ensue and definitely thought a mutiny was on my hands, but the hill gave way to one of the most beautiful scenic views of the walk. Everyone took a little breather and wiped off the sweat only to march towards another hill. With a little encouragement and some positive words, the troops marched on. Before long, Cabuya was no longer to be seen and we were in a surreal valley.

I had been snapping the TG-810 at so many things. The flowers were in full bloom due to the wet season, which also invited the butterflies to make their way from blossom to blossom. If there were any butterflies still enough for me to take a picture, I tried to fire off a snapshot. Everything was in bloom. Anna pointed out all kinds of vegetation that was foreign to the both of us. Plus, things we did recognize really grew to a proportion that was bigger than we were us to.

Around an hour into the walk, we started to have some fallout. I’m not going to say who it was but, it wasn’t Thomas, Anna or Little man. I’ll let you take a guess. We kept trudging on though. We brought some round sugar cakes from the bakery that we purchased the night before. They came in a packet of three and we the size of a Frisbee each. I pulled one out and we all split one for a little energy. These things were the bomb. Sugar got the kids fired right back up. Of course, that rush died about two minutes later after the sugar wore off. 

About 2.5 hours into the journey we were close to the end of the walk. As we came off the mountain heading into the main town of Mal Pais, there was a beautiful flatten road that runs beside the river. As we came around one of the river turns, there was a very nice entrance, well fenced, and professionally groomed. This was to be the entrance of Mel Gibson’s Estate here at Mal Pais. I heard prices between $20-35Mil. He apparently owns the whole mountain. Not sure how many acres, but the guard shack and main entrance quarters make my at home look small.

Thirty minutes later we were in the old town section of Mal Pais. We were told of Mary’s a restaurant that was very famous in the area and decided to stop by and have lunch. As we came to the entrance, we were greeted by a gentleman who informed us that they no longer serve lunch. They now only are opened for dinner. The surprise is that this place is in the middle of nowhere, in Costa Rica. But, this one little place has been listed in the who’s who of epicurean magazines along with the publications like the New York Times, for “The Places to Eat”. We thanked the man and headed on our way.

We walked about another 600 meters and managed to find a place called Beija Flor. Great little place with a restaurant out back. They had a magnificent pooled right beside the restaurant. No of us decided to go for a swim though. I think we were all simply too hungry.

While we were waiting for the food, we noticed a little squirrel that was hanging around on one of the nearby trees. It seemed to be somewhat friendly and wasn’t as skiddish as the average squirrel. Thomas went to the tree and pretended to want to feed it. Surprisely, it came down and went straight to Thomas. Way cool.  Anna tried to get a picture, but by the time the camera fired on, it was too late. She however attempted the same as Thomas, but this time was ready with the camera. She managed to get several close up shots.

We had lunch, which was delicious and head back down the road towards the beach. After walking about a .5km, the gentleman we met at Mary’s pulled up beside us in a pickup truck and offered us a ride to Playa Carmen (the main place). Turns out the gentleman that picked us up happens to be the owner of Marys ( http://www.maryscostarica.com/main.html ).

Thomas was happy we finally made it to Playa Carmen. After the girls hit a couple of local shops, the clan hit the local Italian Gelato Ice Cream parlor. Not bad stuff. Pricy, but not bad stuff. We slammed the gelato and we were beach bound. Off we walked for about another 200 yards and the flip flops came off. Anna and I perched our rumps on some nearby stools and we ended up watching the kids play for the next two hours. Not a bad way to spend the afternoon.

At around 4pm we flagged down Kristian the cab driver at the main corner in Playa Carmen and made our way back to Cabuya….It took around an hour to drive back home. He took us the scenic route. It was simply beautiful.