Southern Costa Rica did not disappoint us. We experienced the party central of Jaco and enjoyed the opening days of the World Surfing Games. We immersed ourselves within the vibrant jungle on the remote Osa peninsula and went deep undercover in 'paradise at the end of the road', Costa Rica.

Well, there was one disappointment. Where the hell was Kelly Slater?! Shay was brimming with excitement when she heard the news that the World Surfing Games were being held in Jaco the same time as we'd be there. She polished up the tele-lens of her SLR camera and positioned herself in the most ideal spot to maximise Kelly spotting opportunities. As we stood in the baking hot sun watching team after team pass by in the opening ceremony, it soon became apparent that none of the famous surf stars were there. We found out later that the big name surfers do not surf in team events as they prefer to surf for themselves.

With Kelly out of the picture, Shay decided to set her sights on Sofia Mulanovich, who took the women's world champion trophy a few years back. Sofia is mega famous in her home country of Peru and is a role model for a lot of young Peruvians. Along with Sofia there was a few other up and coming surf stars, recognisable from the latest surf mags such as Nat Young, Courtney Conlogue and Cory Lopez from team USA. Although the Hermosa waves were mediocre at best, these bright young stars managed to wow the crowd and actually make it look surfable. The overall event was won by Jeremy Flores (France) for the boys and Courtney Conlogue (USA) for the girls and team USA managed to take the number one slot overall in the team event. New Zealand came a respectable 11th out of 35 teams.

Predictably, the small surfy town of Jaco was turned into one big party town whilst the Games were on. We had arrived a day before they were due to start and had been the only people camped in a spacious campground. That was soon to change and when we awoke the next morning we had been boxed in by thousands of tents. Tranquilo it was not so after a few days of thumping disco's keeping us awake all night and crowded, stuffy streets we were ready to move on and get back to nature.
　
In the Jungle of Matapalo
　
The big peninsula at the southern end of Costa Rica which borders the Golfo de Dulce (sweet gulf) is called the Osa peninsula. The south west corner is regarded as the last great tract of original tropical forest of Pacific Central America and is dubbed the 'most biologically intense place on earth' by National Geographic. With just one potholed dirt track, leading through rivers and over rickety bridges, it's not the most convenient place to get too. The road here gets narrower and muddier the further down you go making it definite 4X4 territory. At the very end of the road in Matapalo, there is a small community of expats and luxury ecolodges hidden within the jungle. There is a few good point breaks out here in this picturesque setting which are guarded fiercely by sour American expats who believe it's their own just because they came before you did. The sort of people that end up in a place like this are not the type to mess with... they are either the 'wanted or the unwanted' and they will do anything to keep 'their' paradise unspoiled.

As the only accommodation choice in Matapalo is the pricey ecolodges, well over our budget, we decided to base ourselves at the campground in Puerto Jiminez. Port Jim is an attractive town located at the edge of a swamp and is within handy proximity to the Parque Nacional Corcovado. Our tranquil campground was nicely set amongst shady trees and a mangrove swamp, it was home to many different species of birds, reptiles and sloth's. The owner, a Tico version of Dr Doolittle, took pride in his property and the animals within it. He enthusiastically told us about his animals and introduced us to his crocodiles and caymans, located a scarily short distance from our camp!
　
The next day we decided to risk taking the truck down to Parque Nacional Corcovado to check out the point breaks and nature. The park is home to Costa Rica's largest population of scarlet mawcaw birds, as well as countless plant and animal species which include jaguars, coatis, toucans and snakes. As we journeyed down the dirt road to the tip of the Osa peninsula, the road became narrower, the jungle denser, and the scenery became more and more breathtaking. We continued down to Cabo Matapalo with our fingers crossed that we would get the truck out again at the other end. There is a series of point breaks detailed in the surfing manual that Ollie was keen to investigate on the way. Although the swell was small, we could definitely see the potential. Ideally we would of liked to pitch a tent on the golden sand at the edge of the jungle for a few days, but this was not the place for our cumbersome truck due to lack of parking places and security issues.
　
We continued onto the infinite beaches of Carate which is even more remote than Matapalo, and is located at the true end of the challenging dirt road with numerous river crossings and steep ravines. We parked up, made lunch and Ollie got his feet wet in the beach break all the while keeping a weathered eye out for sharks. It is rumoured to be the sharkiest part of Costa Rica.
　
Paradise at the End of the Road
　
Being big fans of Allan C Weisbecker, author of the cult surfing memoir 'In Search for Captain Zero', the sleepy town of Pavones was a must. We had both re-read Allan's second memoir 'Can't you get along with anyone?' (CYGAWA?), his controversial book all about his life in paradise, at the end of the road, otherwise known as Pavones.
　
Pavones was not initially made famous by Weisbecker, its colourful history starts way back in 1974 when an infamous drug smuggler flew his plane over the Bahia de Pavon and witnessed the longest left hand point-break he had ever seen. Already the owner of several different mansions located in various countries, and not short of a bob or two, he was keen to stake his claim on his very own slice of paradise, so he bought the whole lot; over 6000 acres including much of the 21 miles of stunning beach front, all for a mere US$10'000. He then barged in building materials and heavy equipment and set too inventing his own little kingdom. For more than a decade the epic waves of Pavones, without road or electricity, was enjoyed only by himself and a selected bunch of friends.
　
In 1985 his outlaw past caught up with him and he became a fugitive from the US Law and was forced to leave Pavones and hide in Mexico. At the same time the United Fruit Company pulled out of the nearby town of Golfito leaving hundreds jobless. With the owner gone, communist organisers calculated that his land was up for grabs and over the Easter holiday, Semana Santa, bused in hundreds of squatters in a large scale, unlawful invasion of the area. What followed was years of bloody wars between the squatters and expat land owners ultimately resulting in the controversial death of an American rancher by an angry squatter mob.
　
To get to Pavones we had to navigate down a series of potholed roads, over a couple of dodgy bridges and board a prehistoric looking 3 car ferry which is powered by cables and a spluttering, smoky outboard motor. Mounting and dismounting this ferry was a bit nerve wrecking as the ferry often couldn't make it right to the shore so you had to drive off the steep drop into an unknown depth of water. High in our truck, we were not so worried, but the ferry was also used by delicate looking Japanese numbers that might not of feared so well. It was getting dark by the time we entered Pavones so we drove straight down to the world famous point and made camp under some palm trees.
　
Not long after our arrival the heavens opened and hard rain fell, flooding the Rio Claro (Clear River) and making it not so clear any more. The result was muddy brown surf with lots of logs and debris bobbing up and down in the water. From our dry camper we saw a stream of water running right under our neighbours tent (a South African named Josh) so we donated our tarpaulin to him for extra protection.
　
Highs and Lows of the Long, Long Left

We were treated to a decent swell on our arrival, but unfortunately it was not the quality that Pavones is famous for. When the surf is on the wave can link up for almost 1.6 kilometres, making it one of the longest lefts in the world. It takes a big swell with the correct angle to make it epic. We did manage to score lots of 3- 5 foot peaks consistently throughout the 2 weeks but we also scored the crowds. Pavones is definitely not a secret spot any more.
　
　
At the beginning of the week Ollie was caught napping and got a rude awakening to the power of the wave. He wiped out and managed to get a good wallop to his head with his trusted old fish board, the fin breaking in the process and putting it out of action. With the fish out of play, the semi-gun was Ollie's only option; he had been spoilt by the fat fish's ease of wave catching and was now struggling on the short board as it required a lot more effort and precision at the take-off. Ollie blames the lack of epic waves on this reason.

Shay on the other hand had a major break through at the paradise at the end of the road. She was wild eyed with stokeness when she came back, exhausted from a longboard session outside the cantina. She had caught some proper waves and actually ridden the unbroken face for the longest period so far in her short surfing time-line. This is an amazing feeling after getting bored riding in the foamies for so long. The surf stoke is on!!
　
Besides surfing Shay was doing an undercover investigation. After reading 'CYGAWA?' for the 3rd time she was determined to put faces to names and identify the places mentioned in Allan Weisbeckers memoir. One of the identified people, Alex the surf shop owner, got an offer from us he could not refuse. The 9.6 Becker longboard we picked up in LA was left behind in Pavones. Alex told us that the surfboard shaper Becker has a holiday home just across the bay in Matapalo!
　
After nine days in paradise, we both felt ready to continue south to Panama. The unknown mission of selling our beloved truck was weighing heavy in our minds, we didn't know if it was even possible so we didn't want to leave ourselves short on time. We packed up the truck, and got ready for our last border crossing with our trusty green, beloved team mate.