One of my favorite aspects of solo travel is meeting new people and not being tethered to someone else so you’re free to do what you want and when you want. Some of the challenges that come along with this are that you have to put yourself out there a bit and if you find yourself too far out, you don’t have the luxury of a friend to easily swoop in with an excuse to bring you back in. Hence the title of today’s post, “being chased by men and dogs.”
Now many may chuckle and think, “aren’t you talking about one in the same?” To this I say, “no” (well, maybe a few of them). I was actually chased by dogs on Thursday night, in addition to being chased (metaphorically) by men all week. The physical chase was a turning point in how I will deal with men and dogs in the future. I’ll explain further and rant a bit now…
Arriving in Nosara, I was fresh off the plane with a short stint in San Jose where I had a really great (and platonic) time drinking beers and chatting all night with two male travelers at our hostel. I’ve always had a lot of male friends – dating back to when I was 5 years old (his name was Austin, with whom I bathed and roller skated with). Only a few friendships have evolved into something more (though all dissolved into heart-breaking train wrecks), but for the most part, I find that I tend to befriend guys more quickly then gals – and when you’re on the road, time is of the essence.
It first started with Jay (a 60-something year old Floridian), who was staying at my first hostel and offered me a used pair of sandals (after mine broke) and a beer as we talked about what brought us to Nosara. First day was fine – then he started to make creepy comments pertaining to filling a void, massages, and nakedness (ewww!). As I vented to the bartender, after Jay had come over with more salacious comments, and practiced some of my Spanish… I was then told by the bartender that for his help with my homework, he deserved a kiss. I gave him a hug and he whipped his head around to awkwardly plant a semi-wet kiss halfway on my mouth and cheek (ugh!). Needless to say, I haven’t gone back since the incident (and I also found out that the bartender was married).
On Thursday night, I went to Il Basilica for great pizza with a few women from the Spanish Institute to see Tico Hendrix (I couldn’t get a picture of him).
I thought Tico was a harmless, eccentric old man, until I complemented his music and found him inviting me to his house an hour away and giving me his number. I said I was very busy here, but he was persistent as a dog begging for dinner scraps and even sang, “Call me Kim, Kim call me” over and over as I left the restaurant to head to reggae night at La Banana, just up the street. I had laughed off the past few experiences, but this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
As someone who likes to meet and talk to others, am I supposed to sit stone-faced and silent to avoid these encounters? No way. The whole point of this trip is to feel free and I started to get really angry that these men had made me feel trapped.
At Banana that night, I stuck around with some old friends that I had met in Nosara last year and randomly ran into again (this is a place that people keep coming back to).
When dancing, I’d ask groups of girls if I could dance with them to avoid being humped (think SNL Night at the Roxbury guys). If talking to locals, I made it clear that I wanted an amigo and not a novio – which, to their credit, many women do come to Nosara looking for a Tico boyfriend for the week so the stereotype isn’t unfounded, I’m just not that woman. Now to the dogs (the real ones)…
I left La Banana around 2am on my bike for a less than 5 minute ride back to Anna’s. As I started to bike, I saw glowing green dots on both sides of the rode and then the growling of what seemed like 20 dogs. About 10 dogs surged toward me as I sped up to try and outrun them. Relieved as the pack of dogs subsided, I turned a small corner with Anna’s sign in sight. But, it couldn’t be that easy, right? The green dots appeared again for a second wave of dogs that descended upon me with guttural growls and a few just inches from my pedals as I screamed to go away. They faded away as I pulled into Anna’s house with my heart racing and panting like those dogs in the road. I made it home safely, from both the dogs and the men. Victory!
The past few days, I’ve spent most of my time with other Spanish Institute people and travelers. My fellow student, Stephanie, took Melissa (our professora) and I out to dinner at Cafe de Paris on Friday to celebrate the 20 hours of Spanish that we’d logged that week.
We had margaritas and, after dinner, danced to a drum circle of ex-pats and locals with Melissa joining in for a few songs. Later, Stephanie gave us both a ride home in her car (which was a relief because I really couldn’t deal with those dogs for a second night).
At 5am on Saturday, I went to Oscional and San Juanillo with Marco, Joy, Millie (their little girl), and Gretchen and KC (former students on the 13 month of a career break of travel).
At Oscional, we hoped to find large turtles, but only found tracks. Regardless, the sunrise was beautiful and San Juanillo’s rocky cove was perfect for shell hunting.
I made a friend, Shiva, during breakfast (thanks KC and Gretchen) at Ancient People’s, and enjoyed a coconut (thanks Marco) back at Oscional at a local surf competition. This was all before 11am!
The rest of the weekend was pretty chill. I got a bed at Solo Bueno hostel on Saturday night so I could go out that night. Ended up meeting a couple of nice guys (Shawn and Eric) from California on the beach, who had just arrived that day. I joined them for dinner at Gilded Iguana (beer and burger, $9) and we went to Hona Lai for more beers where my amigo Roger, joined us until 12:30pm. They walked me safely back to the hostel and I fell asleep feeling better about men.
On Sunday, I read Hunger Games all day on the couch at Bueno, the beach, and Gilded Iguana pool – it’s a great read, I’ve almost finished it! The back tire of my bike got shredded en route to the beach as I heard a “hisssss” noise upon arrival. Thankfully Juan at Juan Surfo’s was able to fix it for me (used tire, new tube $15) and I was back in business! Jay bothered me a couple of times on the beach, but I think he’s harmless and just lonely. I hung out with Melissa last night at her place in the Spanish Institute complex. We chatted with our moms online, ate fruit, and shared about our weekend. I think we’ll be hanging out more this week which I’m looking forward to.
So in conclusion – I later learned that when chased by dogs, you’re supposed to stop, shake your fist and yell, and they will usually run away scared. Maybe I’ll utilize that technique when being harassed by men in the future as well!
Buenos dia amigos! Tiempo por la espanol! Ciao!
