I love staying with locals. Not just cos they might pick you up from the airport, smiling and holding a sign with your name on it, even though you're two hours late. Not just cos they might cook you spag bol that rivals your mum's. Not just cos it's cheap accommodation. Though I recently experienced - and greatly appreciated - all of the above. One of the greatest things is the info sharing and advice you can get from locals, and no others.

So when I stayed with a now-local, once Argentenian and USAian, couple in San Jose I asked them for advice. Coming to the end of my travels, I wanted a place to relax, some beach - after being starved of it for a whole two weeks in Ecuador - and obviously nowehere too pricey. So they told me about a small town on the Caribbean coast, with cheap beachfront shacks for $5 a night. And even took me to the bus station and made sure I got a ticket for the right bus. Just one more example of the incredible hospitality I have experienced while travelling.

And this place is what I imagine - and hope - heaven is like. Sunshine, beautiful beaches, tropical warmth, palms, almost jungle on the sand. Quiet town, much smaller than say Paihia, but with enough cafes and restaurants. I would never had discovered the place I'm staying at if it weren't for the tip-off either. It's a little walk out of town, along the beach or road. Run by a woman who seems to laze around in her hammock all day in place of an office. There's about five A-frame, corrugated iron-roofed huts. Mine has no windows; something like trellis instead. And it's sitting on the sand, and you can hear the waves crashing as you lie in bed. But if you looked out the window, ahem, trellis, you'd be forgiven for thinking you're in the jungle.

And this whole place feels more like Jamaica than Costa Rica. There are lots of Afro-Caribbean guys with dreads, riding bicycles or sitting at roadside stalls selling Bob Marley t-shirts or red-yellow-green striped bags and headscarves. Reggae cranking. This morning I had a coffee in a little cafe called "Jammin." Makes me wish for my dreads back so I fit in a little better.

Anyways, it's proving to be a perfect place to rest / reflect / pray / dream as I come towards the end of my travels. Hard to believe in a little over a week I'll have my feet back on Aotearoa soils.