Hola!
This will be my last Costa Rican entry. :( So Sad, I leave this beautiful country tomorrow.
As I sit here in my kitchen listening to the pounding sounds of the harsh rain, I think about the past six weeks and all that has happened.
I arrived, excited, enchanted and enthrawled in this new and exciting place, and then a week later or so I turned a bit jaded, due to a somewhat poopy experience. And then, somehow, 4 weeks of work flew by, kind of how it does back home, with a few weekend getaways in the mix-up.
I leave the country with a more excited mind, a mind that wants to return and explore all that it hasn't. This past weekend friends and I took a trip to Manuel Antonio National Park, where we were guaranteed to see and experience beautiful wildlife. Graham and I took the bus from San Jose on Saturday morning and we met Ingrid (one of my English teachers) and her family at the park. When we arrived Graham and I tried to first get a hold of Ingrid, to no avail, and we on our way to get food when a car passed by and it was Ingrid's mother yelling my name. Phew!
Ingrid had booked us a cabin (which considering what we paid, I would have been just as happy in the hostel across the road!) Graham and I were outrageously famished, so after we met Ingird we went for a big-truck-stop breakfast capped off nicely with a beer. (Beer for breakfast, a new thing to me, but a great invention! Reminds me of when we'd go camping with dad's ball team and beer for breakfast was not only a staple, it was a necessity to avoid a hangover!)
In terms of wildlife, I wasn't disappointed! We paid our outrageous $10+ to get in to the park and I was going to hire a guide but they wanted $20 a person! F&&* that! So instead, we followed closely behind a group with a guide and peered over their shoulders. We took the hike along the beach and then did the loop around the penninsula. The beach in Manuel Antonio, if you can picture it, is soft white sand with warm water, no rocks except for the big ones that jut out of the ocean farther out. What a beautiful beach. Much nice than Jaco. ( Not that I have favourites!)
Our walk was an interesting one. It was Graham, myself and Ingrid. Graham and I wore our Merrils, thinking we were going for a hike, it seems appropriate, and Ingrid wore thong flip flops. Well, turns out we were right about the shoes. The path was muddy, slippery and overall hard to walk, and she did it! In thong flip flops! Wow... Ingrid also suffers a little from Vertigo so I helped her along the bridges and edges. I felt like such a gentleman.. hahah women. ;)
As for wildlife, we weren't disappointed! We saw white tailed deer, birds of all colours, rainbow colours, and my favourite --- Monkeys!! We saw a whole bunch of white faced monkeys playing in the jungle and then we saw a couple of the orange/black/white monkeys in the trees near the bar where we had happy-hour.
Happy-hour was awesome. We got two drinks at a time and they were amazing. Graham had some mean pina coladas and I had mohitos. Mmmm.
We slept in the cabins and woke early on Sunday morning. We took a 9 am bus ride back to SJ and bought our tickets for Puerto Viejo. The walk to the Limon bus station from the central bus station is worth mentioning. Quite possibly the sketchiest place I'd ever walked, this part of SJ was aweful. Even in the middle of the day I was a little afraid for my life. Homeless men lined the streets sleeping in cardboard boxes or just hanging out hollering and hooting at the passerbys. And the smell. Oh God, the smell. Imagine putrid rotting food mixed with human feces and garbage. Add the exhaust (as usual) and you've got it. Yah. Nasty as shit.
Sunday afternoon I went to say farewell to the family. I met Fabian at the Plaza america and we went to mi novio's grandmothers house. I was met with warmth and love and saying good bye was hard. We had some amazing bread and played a few games of Bingo. Then Fabian, Priscilla, Ronald and I all went out for a few beers and laughs. We spent the evening making jokes and teaching eachother the bad words of each of our languages. It was hilarious! It was tough to say good-bye, but it's comforting to know it was just "see you later".
On Monday Jake, Graham and I left for Puerto Viejo. The 4.5 hour busride took 3 hours, as our busdriver literally risekd our lives to get there. It was nice though, as our ride home was 4 hours. Boo.
Puerto Viejo is like no other town in this country. As a matter of fact, the Caribbean side of the country is all different. Mostly populated my rastafarians, the town of PV is just the definition of chill. Everyone is totally relaxed (and high, or because their high) and everyone is so helpful and happy. Jake said it was nothing like the Pacific Coast, and we all preferred this place over anywhere else we'd been. (GO!!)
We arrived in the town about 10 am or so, bought our return tickets for Wednesday and set out for Rockin' J's, the hostel that Jake had read about and really wanted to go to. We walked and walked, and finally about 1 k out of town we made it to J's. What a place!!!
If you like Mosaic art, you would orgasm over Rockin' J's. The place is about an acre in size, completely decked out in mosaic art. We could stay in hammocks, camp out, take a dorm, or rent a treehouse. Really awesome place. We opted for the Hammocks and stayed for two nights. For a hostel, it was alright. The kitchen was kind of small for the size of the hostel, but there was never a line for either it nor the bathrooms which was great.
On Monday night we just hung out, walked around town and got some dinner at a cute little Caribbean place. Graham had Arroz con Pollo, Jake had the Red Snapper and I had chicken in Caribbean sauce. All amazing!! Plus it was happy hour - again. Mmm.
Tuesday was cool, we rented bikes and rode to Manzanillo about 45 minutes south of PV. The beaches south of PV are incredible. White(ish) sand, clear water and warm warm water. I felt like I was in a bath! That sort of made it less refeshing but comfortable. We played around in the water with the frisbee and then went to grab some snacks. Jake lost his bike-lock key and we were stuck for about 45 minutes trying to find it in the ocean. A man in a tourvan passed by and Jake asked him for a lift with the bikes. He said he wouldn't be able to fit the bikes in the van but gave us some advice and told us to look in town for some wire cutters. We said thanks and then attempted the feat of asking in town. 10 minutes later we saw the van return and the man (now known as Delroy) got out with a pair of cutters. He rescued us and to thank him he gave us the name of a restaurant him and his wife own back in PV. It is called Veronica's Place, and all natural organic restaurant. (*GO* if you can) On the ride back to PV we stopped in Punta Uva, a coast lined with some incredible reef. Two of the guys with us had brought some snorkel gear and they went snorkelling. I had never gone before because I am deathly afraid of dorwning, and can't imagine breathing under water. Well, THAT fear is gone! I threw on those goggles and snorkel and I was out there for a while. I forgot all about the breathing and my tired legs and just explored the reef. I saw tons of colourful fish, just like on Discovery Channel!! It was life-changing.
Our ride back to PV was strenuous on our minds, legs and butts! I have monkey butt, but at least I am getting ready for the season! The bikes we rented were old-fashioned, but big fat seats and easy-rider handlebars. It was fun, but the set up was hard on the legs and back. I miss Bijou (my bike)!
Last night I called it quits pretty quick. We had gone to Veronica's Place and had some herbal juices, which just ended up putting us in a daze. Calm, quiet and relaxed. I went to bed early (9pm) and woke up for the sun to rise. Since we were on the Carribean side, we had the pleasure of watching the beautiful sunrise. A cute black lab graced our presence during the watch and I took some pictures. The dogs in CR are sooo sweet. They are mangy rascals, but all they want is some lovin! On Monday night we had a chocolate female (lab?) follow us back to the hostel. She was so sweet, she even sat and waited for us to have dinner. Everyone asked us if she was ours, but of course we said no. Graham wanted her to go away and I stopped him from destroying the poor dog's soul. Graham is a cat-lover. We don't understand eachother. ;)
Today we returned to SJ and I slept most of the way on the bus. It started raining and the girl in the seat in front of me decided to leave her window open. I managed to stay dry... for the most part.
I packed most of my stuff and I have mentally prepared myself for home tomorrow. I am not really looking forward to a 3:45 am wake up but the pot-of-gold at the end of the rainbow is definitely worth it. Mi novio is picking me up at the airport and we are going to drive together for that long haul back to Woodstock. Friday is Alex and & Evan's Buck and Doe which should be good fun, and the rest of the week I will be working on some Exercise, catching-up with the family, and working on getting rid of these tan lines in time for the wedding next week! Ah!
Hope to write about more adventures in the future. Perhaps in Woodstock? We'll see.
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