So, after a whole week with my parents, walking all around Costa Rica and entertaining them, I guess I didn’t have enough adventure. This past weekend, after the folks and Peter left for the States, I, along with 6 other friends, went to Montezuma, a beach town on the Nicoya Peninsula, for the weekend (wow comma overload). To catch the bus there, we had to wake up at 4:15am in order to buy tickets for the 6:00am bus ride. They don’t let you buy tickets in advance for this trip. Well, after being at the bus station for about 15 minutes waiting for the bus to arrive, I realized that I didn’t know where my keys were.
I knew I locked the door to my house before I got in the cab but I couldn’t find them in any bag I had with me or anywhere around the bus station. I called my host family at 5:00am in the morning to tell them I couldn’t find my keys. Laura, thank the Lord for her, helped me get the right message to my host family (she’s pretty darn good at Spanish). Others in the group with me did a good job of helping me not freak out because if a student loses his house keys, the host family has to replace all the locks on the house which costs roughly $100.
I wasn’t worried about losing the keys or paying to get the locks replaced, I just didn’t want my host family to worry or be inconvenienced. Anyways, after my host dad looked outside and down the street, and at the market, and at ISA, and told me via cellphone he couldn’t find them, we (meaning Laura) called the cab company and tracked down our cab driver from that morning. As a side note, I’m not sure why my host dad looked in all those places because I only stepped outside the front door and into a taxi. I guess Juan Carlos’s (my host dad) motto should be, “Go big or go home.” Anyways, the taxi driver had them! And he took them back to my host family’s house. It was a productive and busy morning. I had successfully lost and found my keys before 6:00am.
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| The boat ride over the Montezuma. |
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We took a 2 hour bus ride to the Pacific coast, then a 1.5 hour boat ride to the peninsula (the boat ride cuts off almost 3 hours of driving) and then another 1-1.5 hour bus ride to Montezuma. It was a long trip but we got there around 12:30pm. The hostel we stayed at was rough but the people where friendly. The bathroom for our hostel was literally a stall outside right next to the shower stall. The beds where nice and the pillows were extra fluffy. I guess, overall, I don’t mind rough (in fact, I prefer it) but $15 a night was a little too expensive for the quality. But, then again, it was only $15. Of course, I was starving when I got to the hostel so I made oatmeal with bananas for lunch in the hostel kitchen. Then, we hit the beach for the rest of the day.
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| The view of the cabin we stayed in. |
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| The room we slept in. |
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| Last but not least, our bathroom (left) and shower (right). |
Two of our friends met up with us in Montezuma later that day, Mason and Caroline. Around 4:00pm or so, Caroline started having terrible, constant stomach pains. We weren’t sure what was causing them but after 30 minutes of her being in steady pain, Heather and Kristina took her to the nearest town with a doctor to see what was wrong. The doctor didn’t have the technology needed to run any tests so he put the 3 of them in an ambulance and they drove/boated the 5 hours to San Jose. Turns out, she has a bacterial infection. She just needs to stay in the hospital for a few days so they can give her the right medication. But she’s fine. No need to worry too much. But I’m sure she wouldn’t mind your prayers.
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| Some local with he longest dreads ever! I had to snip this photo of him from a distance. He was a eely one to shoot. |
After all that fun with Caroline’s stomach, the remaining group stayed on the beach until sunset then trekked back to the hostel. Laura and I made food (Rice, chicken, veggies, and pineapple) and ate for basically no money at all. Then a few of us went back into town and hung out at various places. I slept in my boxers that night because I didn’t bring anything else to wear. Packing light is the way to go.
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| The waterfall. |
The next day we went to a nearby waterfall. The hike was literally up a creek and through the woods. But it was beautiful and free and beautiful. After the waterfall we headed back to the hostel, ate the free breakfast (which was consisted of a pretty lame gallo pinto, toast, and a banana), checked out of the hostel, and then went to the beach until 2:30pm which was when the bus came to pick us up.
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| Eating breakfast at the hostel with our new hostel buddies. |
After we got off the bus at the port and were waiting around for the boat, I had some leftover cooked hamburger patties that my parents gave me before they left for the States. I knew I wasn’t going to eat them so I gave two to Josh and Mason. I was going to throw the other 2 away but then saw a hungry stray dog and decided that I wanted to make a new dog friend. Dog friend successfully made.
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| Sharing the cold hamburger love with my friends...notice our new dog friend. |
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| Getting his hamburger on. |
We finally made it back to San Jose around 10pm. I ate something real light when I got home because I wasn’t too hungry, just really tired. I hadn’t eaten since noon that day but I still wasn’t hungry. I showered, admired my new tan, and then slept. Fun weekend but I’m pooped.
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| Topped the boat ride back off with a beautiful sunset. |
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| Oh, the bus came with us on the ferry too. |
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