ORIGINAL JOURNAL

Dominical - May 15, 2009

Dominical is something special. That's maybe one of the best ways to describe this place. Its is most well known for its waves, not saying that the town isn't anything special, its just that esta playa es conocido para sus olas. This was probably not the best place to surf for the first time in 7 years. The waves at this beach are huge. That didn't stop me from trying to surf all weekend though, and the best part was that I could rent a board all day for 10$.

There were some bad stories from this trip that i am slightly reluctant to share. For starters, the rip currents at this beach are infamous, and just the week before, a young girl was pulled into the water by them and was killed. I noticed these rip currents the scary way, by means of accidentally surfing in them for a bit. It wasn't until i noticed how powerful they were that I came to the conclusion that if I was in water that was deeper than could touch then I wouldn't be able to swim back.

The other story gives me the chills when I think about it. All day sunday, I was out swimming in the ocean, diving into waves, body surfing, just hanging out in chest high water. Well, apparently there are 2 meter long sea serpents that infest the waters of Dominical. Some of the deadliest sea snakes on the world. I found this out when I asked on of the young local dudes to come deeper into the water with me. His reply was rather blunt, he said, "NO, no podemos nadar mas altamar porque hay serpientes, muchos muchos serpientes."
It was about this time that I decided to get out of the water and relax on the beach.

There are a few cool stories though, possibly one of the most bizarre things that happened to me was while I was swimming into deeper waters to catch the larger waves. I noticed the bubbles on top of the water were more of a darker hue, or more of a brownish color. The cool thing was is that as I was paddling my surfboard over the waves that had broken already, I noticed large numbers of fish jumping out of the whitewater curl. It looked like how the fish would jump out of the water at a dam. The first thing that came to mind was, "wow, that's really crazy", as some of the fish were actually hitting me on the head. The second thing that came to my mind was "ok, why are all these fish in such a hurry to get out of the water." I had seen enough discovery channel to conclude that they might have been running away from something bigger, so I decided to head up the beach about a kilometer to finish the day.

All in all, Dominical was one of my favorite places to be for the weekend. The hotel was about 30 yards from the ocean and the nightlife was a blast. Being immersed in Costa Rica's surf heaven was right up my alley. I only wish I could surf better.

Critique

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Well looking at this trip from a critical standpoint it is easy to say that this could have been one of the more "relaxing" trips. A trip where I paid more attention to my personal interests than those of the environments. This isn't necessarily a bad thing unless I am not regarding the environment. I have come to realize that because of my ambition to travel to these more remote, local places, that I have been taking "Hard-Core" trips. I have found that in each place I go I try and submerse myself in the culture, and try not to alien indigenous involvement. For example, Dominical is known for it's surf, so we see my ability to grasp the concept of renting a surfboard from a local and trying to try the things that fuel the town of Dominical itself. I took public transportation this time, however I took two busses, and the second one I know for a fact that it didn't have regulations on its exhaust...

The cultural involvement of this area was very similar to Puerto Viejo, because of this observation, I have always called Dominical the "Puerto Viejo of the Pacific Side". I enjoyed the stay very much, however, staying at a hotel yielded a lower rating, but since it was local, and didn't appear to be harmfully affecting the surrounding, housing receives a 5. Education has a lower score as well as cultural experience because I wasn't so much focused on learning from the environment as much as going out at night, sleeping, and surfing.

And once again, environmental impact remains at 8, the same as the Puerto Viejo trip because I don't see too much difference in agenda and lifestyle as I did in Puerto Viejo.

EVALUATION:
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Transport: (public transport) 6
Food: (local soda) 8
Housing: (hotel) 5
Destination: Dominical 7
Cultural Experience: 6
Education: 5
Environmental Impact: 8
Division of Labor: 8
Human Rights: 8
Indigenous Involvement: 8

Total Points: 69/100

Ecotourist Impact:
Hard-Core Tourist rating D+