Hello everyone! I have internet. :) I am going a few weeks back to try an catch up, but have decided to split it into couple blogs in case of disconnection (and then loss of massive amounts of typing) so here we go!
I left the farm again.
This time with a group of 5 and we headed for the coast. 2 weeks on the farm had almost been too much for our antsy selves and we decided a trip to the beach would be a good solution. It was to be myself, Kristen (from my previous adventure), and the three lovely people from Colorado (Paul, April, Vera.) We hopped on a bus to San Jose expecting to catch an early ride to Tamarindo on the Pacific coast. After walking to the bus station where our bus was to leave from, we found out the "early" bus did not, in fact, exist. So we had 3 hours to kill in a bus station. We set up camp on some benches and almost Paul and Kristen went off to find a bank for Paul. I took the time to pull out a needle and thread and start to repair the strap on my backpack. After that was finished, we all ended up starting little sewing projects there in the station. April and I had shirts that we were hoping to turn into skirts and once the scraps were cut Vera stole the extra pieces to make herself a new top. When Kris and Paul returned they couldn´t help but giggle at us all sitting in a row folded over our little projects. The 3 hours actually flew by this way and soon we were in line to catch the bus. The ride was pretty much uneventful. Kristen and I shared earphones and listened and sang along to some music while we watched the scenery pass. It looked almost like anywhere at home. The trees werent tropical looking, and it was a lot of flatish farmland. The only difference was the mountain range off in the distance. It was a fuzzy grey reminder that I wasnt quite home. The bus made one stop and I grabbed a bit of rice and chicken and veggies to take on the bus with me since everyone else was packing peanut butter and I couldnt stomach it. As we pulled into Tamarindo we knew that we wouldnt be staying there long. It was a total tourist trap and the vibe was not what we were looking for at all. We found a hostal that wasnt full and got some things at the grocery to make for dinner. The cheapest meal turned out to be (gasp) a ramon noodle soup with a head of cabbage, onion, and carrot. We cooked a beat on the side for a little snack. The kitchen in the hostal was poorly stocked (as they usually are it turns out.) We scraped together a couple pots to cook with, and ended up sharing siverwear. I attempted to eat out of the coconut that I had hollowed in Golfito, but it turned out to have a slight leak. Not good for soup. Vera and I changed into our newly made skirts and we all went for a moonlight walk on the beach. When we finally made it back to the hostal there were quite a few people in the common area so we hung out there for a bit before hitting the sack. Travel days never fail to wear me out! Even though all you do is sit on a bus, and possibly change from bus to bus, it is exhausting for some reason. We planned to leave and head further south where we had 2 more friends staying at a condo near a beach called Junquillal. Paul and I were up first so we went to the store and bought bread and cheese and eggs for breakfast, and then cooked ours up and hardboiled the extra eggs for travel. The other three were up a bit later because they stayed in a room while Paul and I slept in the sunlit dorm with other people. That dorm had the first AC that I had experienced yet and so that was nice. We met a guy from South Carolina while we were having breakfast and he offered to rent a couple paddleboards for us all to play with before we left town so of course we couldnt resist that. We spent the morning and early afternoon playing in the surf and taking turns trying to paddleboard. It was a lot of fun, and I would love to try it more seriously another time! In the afternoon we commissioned a taxi van to take us south to the next beach.
We arrived at the entrance to the condos and were amazed! It was a really nice place and we were a bit self-conscious about our raggedy appearance and giant travel backpacks as we walked in. Our friend met us at the entrance and led us past a gorgeous pool to the 2-bedroom condo. We were in awe. The man who lived in the main bedroom was named Dan and he was a super nice man in his late 60s who seemed to enjoy having us there. We made dinner for him a couple times, and helped with his crosswords in the morning. The first day we immediately went down to the beach and set up Pauls slackline and ran into the ocean. For those of you who are not familiar, a slackline is basically a tightrope that you set up a few feet off the ground and attempt to walk across. He is pretty good, but none of us had ever done it before. We looked up videos on YouTube later and found people doing crazy tricks and even yoga on slacklines! Needless to say I never got that far. A few steps and I would inevitably fall off. But it was a lot of fun and a great way to break up your time playing in the waves. ;) The next day we hiked about an hour and a half up the beach to a place called Playa Negra and watched surfers for the afternoon. We collected a lot of shells, and quite a bit of sun as well. Once the tide came in it was impossible to walk home on the beach so we took the road back. This was a very dusty and long affair, and we were all pretty beat by the time we got back. I took the next day off from the sun and just read my book by the pool and learned how to make a few different knots for bracelets. I now have an ankle bracelet with shells that I collected that I am pretty proud of! Valentines Day was the only time we went out for a meal, and it was at a cute little place right on the water. The rest of the week was basically more of the same. It was a pretty relaxing time. Swimming in the pool or the ocean, walking to the market to get food to cook. By the end of the week we were all ready to get on the road and do something a little more exciting! Our last night we found a local place where there was dancing because April was really wanting to dance salsa. She does it at home in Colorado a lot and is a pretty darn good dancer. Paul, her and I went out and had a beer and danced with locals and had a pretty good time. As I am blond, I get asked to dance pretty often. Unfortunately I am not super good, but they usually dont mind too much. April found a couple guys who were good dancers and showed off a bit. Paul and I responded by going out and dancing like complete awkward Americans (he is a tall, redheaded guy so its pretty easy to stand out) and everyone got a pretty good laugh out of that. As we were getting ready to leave they played a few songs in English and so us and a few middle-aged women who were obviously on vacation danced as many ridiculous dances as we could think of to songs by Michael Jackson and James Brown. All in all it was a pretty goods way to end our stay in Junquillal.
