Nameless Update

Someday, I am going to travel with a morning person who believes in my backpacking rule number one: be ugly.

So far it hasn't happened, and my 6:30 internal alarm goes off without fail reminding me of the places to go and people to see, but somehow it always forgets to wake up my travel buddy. So hours later I am still waiting for my buddy to get beautiful while I have embraced the fact that I may just happen to be unattractive while I travel. I have embraced this concept. Seeing the world appeals more to me than how the world sees me, I guess.

But anyway, on to important things of life:

Hostel Pangea is a part of the Costa Rica hostel network and does a great job of accommodating backpackers. For $14 a night you get a nice, clean bed (no bugs!!) in a dorm with five others (girls and guys separate,) WARM(ish) showers which is always welcome, super friendly and helpful staff, free wifi, a nice, comfortable place to relax, watch movies, meet people, drink an Imperial from the bar, or book a trip through their travel agency. Honestly, this place far exceeds my expectations of a hostel. It is amazingly clean and safe - they have strict rules about visitors and going in and out, but you're still free to do whatever you want to. Downsides, its a little hard to find at first and takes a bit to remember how to get from there to downtown, and breakfast is not included but you can buy meals from the bar. Besides that though, the place is amazing (especially the staff!) and I would definitely recommend it to anyone traveling, definitely worth a few extra dollars!

Next...(wow, I really got into those hostel details.) this is an awesome tree in the park that reminds me of Antigua.

We took the wonderful bus system to San Pedro where we visited Maximo! It was incredible to see people there again (even they remembered me!) For those of you who are new to my adventures, Maximo Nivel is an incredible volunteer organization that I volunteered with last March. Such great friendships and times to be had at that place!

(The view from Maximo) 

We also tried to withdraw money...good gosh I was about to throw in the towel. I have such bad luck with the Cajeros here. After the first try it ate my card so I had to wait at the bank to get it back, and then it didn't give me my receipt or money, but I'm thinking the transaction went through. I tried to explain this to the nice lady who worked at the bank, bit apparently my level .2 Spanish wasn't enough to get my point across. Which means I am out $100 because the effort to get it back would be way more effort. Ahh the joys of traveling.

(Kayla, me, and Yi!)

We also stopped at the Artisan Market to get a few things for Kayla and her friends (I'm sorry, I will not be bringing anything home for my friends except myself...maybe;)) and as always the colors and crafts and incredibly convincing salespeople amaze me. Such a different culture.

We are basically living off of that fruit stand there for the duration of our trip. I have made a goal of spending $5 or less on food daily. Hard, but definitely not impossible. I have a feeling that most days I may fail. I also have a feeling that I may be 10 pounds lighter when I come home. Ha.  

And after eight months of thinking about how all beer is absolutely disgusting except for Imperial, I got to enjoy an Imperial while chilling in the hostel listening to beach music and looking out over the city to the mountains in the distance. 

Two days down, not enough to go. Tomorrow we head to Manual Antonio, stay tuned for some beautiful pictures. Should be a good time, and as much as I love this city, I am excited to travel and experience something new.

 Much love to all. :)