My favorite part of the journey, however, was to Matapalo, which means, "Tree killer". We took the Pan-American Highway to get there, which, for the most part, was pretty well maintained. The last leg of the journey to Matapalo gives way to dirt roads, which are in very poor shape and adds to your travel time. Before arriving in Matapalo, we passed through the town of Puerto Jimenez, which is where we bought our food supplies. The drive from Jimenez to Matapalo is only 12 miles, but is a travel time of 45 minutes due to the poor road condition, so you want to try to get everything you will need in one shot. Previously, we made our accommodations through a company called Osa Tropical located in Jimenez. A three story Mediterranean style house was provided for us that could accommodate up to 8 people comfortably. The beach break was in our back yard and provided an excellent view of the surf. Good surf runs from April to October, but the locals say the surf will start to pick up in late May and stay fairly large through August. There are three different spots to surf in Matapalo: Playa Matapalo, a nice right hand wave that breaks best at mid tide, Backwash Bay, a slow right that breaks at low tide, and Pan Dulce, a long right that needs a larger swell to work. In addition to good waves, there is a ton of wildlife. We awoke to the sound of howler monkeys in the front yard every morning. Monkeys could be seen swinging from the trees and tropical birds could be spotted not too far away with the naked eye. A tree climbing sloth was a rare sight, but truly amazing. There are also many varieties of frogs to be seen, some of which are extremely poisonous.