Packed up and left San Jose and said goodbye to our beautiful new friends, Yi from China and Celia (pronounced See-ya) from...some small weirdly named French Island in the Carribean.
We bused with our luggage to Maximo where Ingrid (Leo's wife from Trans Leo Tours. If you ever go to San Pedro, book tours with them! They're great!) was waiting for us to take us to Tracopa bus station.
In the few minutes at Maximo I got to see my good friend Mario! Mario is incredible, and last time I was in Costa Rica we climbed a mountain together and I was the only one who could keep up with him. Oh yeah farm girl muscles! Haha... And funny enough, Mario is getting married and moving to Minnesota just three hours from my house! I invited him to come visit the farm, and he said he'd love that! Woo! (P.s. I miss my cows :)
So, we left Maximo, drove like crazy through morning traffic, arrived at the bus station to wait for our bus, paid 100 colones for the bathroom (it's like 20 cents,) then boarded our nice coach bus (everything comforting but air conditioning or bathrooms) for the three hour bus ride through the most beautiful country in the world. Seriously...I'd driven there before, but even so, my face was glued to the window and my breath was gone. Sooo beautiful.
We arrived at Manuel Antonio which is one of the most discussed destinations in the country.
It had a national park, a white sandy beach that is perfect for swimming (small waves, nothing like I am used to and love about Ostionel or Monterrico,) and the widest variety of wildlife in the country.
Oh yeah. And a bajillion tourists. Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike tourists? I am not traveling to do touristy things or spend lots of money or talk to people in English. If you want to experience Costa Rica tourism though, they literally have everything you could ever want to do here.
Despite being absolutely beautiful like the rest of the country, Manuel Antonio is not my favorite place. Way too many gringos and way too expensive.
On the other hand, it is good to come here to realize that I am much happier meeting crazy locals and spending next to nothing and living in a bug infested hostels than being a tourist...I swear on my life I will do anything I can to not look like a tourist and to instead look like a backpacker (there is a HUGE obvious difference in looks, actions, personality, ect.) Or maybe I'll just move here and not be a tourist or a backpacker. Yeah, I like that idea. But anyway. End of rant. :)
We jumped off the bus and were greeted by several people offering to help in any way they could. We allowed one guy (Julio!) to show us to a hostel, then we got settled and headed into town. We met Julio's friends (the guys who are paid to be nice to tourists...er, backpackers like me) and discussed Spanish and how little money I had, and the fact that you just have to make friends with the right people to do everything the tourists do for free. I'm still working on that one. So far I may have a free horseback ride and cheap surf lessons. Not bad for only a few hours in town. I guess it helps that
1) I am a blonde American girl and
2) I try to speak Spanish and look like an idiot...but they love when you try!
For once though, someone was impressed by my Spanish! I had been getting really frustrated with myself, whyy am I not fluent!? (I look like a tourist!) If I was fluent I could experience so much more and meet and get to know soo many more people, and when I tell my native friends that I am trying, they don't seem impressed. (You were here eight months ago. You should be fluent by now!) Anyway, we were sitting on the beach, and a lifeguard comes up all pura vida like and asks where we were from. After answering in Spanish, he asked how much Spanish I knew. I said un piquito. He said a lot piquito or a little piquito? I said mas o menos. He loved that. And I felt pretty accomplished when we had a little conversation in Spanish and I could translate for Kayla. I guess you just have to put it in perspective, because she thinks I know a lot! :)
We headed down the beach and watched in amazement all of the giant crabs living in the rock crevices.
I probably would have climbed in there further, but I kept seeing a horror film in the making and decided against it. There were so many crabs and you could hear their spider-like feet as they crawled around. Yikees. So creepy. They were really cool looking though!
Later, we asked Julio's friend Jeffery (the guy who may convince his uncle to let me ride the horses for free) where a cheap place to eat was, and we took his word and went there...
Um, we definitely have a different definition of cheap. Yeah, you get a ton of AMAZING food, but $8 meals break my bank. I am dying in this town! The server was really cool though, and he gave us a Costa Rican drink to try - it's made from sugar cane and you can definitely tell. Soo sweet.
It's about seven billion degrees out. Seriously ridiculous coming from -22. We just sit here, inside, under a fan and even after cold showers are sweating like pigs. It's great.......(someone make a snow angel for me?) Besides that, I decided that I am not a huge fan of feeling like I am on vacation. I know almost anyone else in the world would kill to be here, but I want to be DOING something (Kayla and I differ greatly in this area. She is completely content to sit and relax like were on vacation. I would much rather be playing with kids or saving sea turtles or saving the world or learning to dance or learning Spanish...so I am really looking forward to going to Panama in a few days!
That being said, I am definitely going to enjoy my day on the beach tomorrow and will be thinking of you all the whole time. We watched the sunset and as always, absolutely incredible over the ocean. :)
Pura Vida. <3
Kyle would be all over that snow angel request except the snow is all icy. We now need a blizzard to go with our warm (ish) temperatures!
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