Saturday morning started early as I walked down to the bus stop from the farm at 5am as the sun was coming up. Donald had said the bus would arrive at 5:30 but I should be down at the corner at 5:15. I got the the corner and waited. I heard the bus before I saw it a block down the hill from me. And it turned left! I panicked and started running and yelling and looking like a fool. The bus turned around and was pointed back down the hill as I tried to catch up, passing a man that was standing in his yard. The bus stopped and I was so relieved. I jumped on, payed my 350 colones and sat down. Only then did I realize the bus was turned off. And we sat. And sat. And sat for about 12 minutes while others came and got of the bus. I really felt like a fool that I ran so hard for the bus. Ugh!
I made it into San Isidrio and took the map Donald had drawn for me to get to the bus terminal that would take me to the beach. I was walking in the right direction but couldn't quite find where I needed to be. A younger guy, realizing I was lost, stopped to assist. When I told him what I was looking for he pointed me in the right direction. In fact, he was going to the bus terminal too. He told me the cost of the ticket and although I had problems at first understanding what he was trying to tell me I finqlly figured it out and got my ticket?
We boarded the bus and took off at 7am. There were lots of stops through out the drive as people got on and off. Many of the stops I couldn't figure where the people came from or where they were going. At about 8:30 I thought I was in Domincal but I wasn't quite sure where to get off. Fortunately the same guy that helped me get on the bus came up to me and told me that I was were I needed to be. I wished I had caught his name because he helped me not once but twice!
Dominical is a small little beach town. Since it's winter the waters are rough and swimming is prohibited in most of the areas I walked. Surfing however is a big sport here and I was able to watch a few people on the waves. I stopped and talked to a Canadian about diving and asked where I should have lunch. He directed me to a great open air place 100 yards from the ocean. The only problem was it was still only 9 am and not much was happening in this town. I didn't have anywhere else to be yet so I stopped and had 2 screwdrivers. That was not my best decision I would later realize.
After I finished I went back and put a deposit down on the diving for Sunday and then went to find a room for the night. The Canadians suggested a place down the road with a pool and pool bar. Sounded good to me. I went and purchased my room just as it was starting to rain so I decided to take a short nap. 2 hours later I woke up with a horrible headache. I decided I needed food so I went back to Tortilla Flats where I had the screwdrivers. The clientele were all Americans and the staff was 1/2 Gringos and 1/2 Ticos. I had a great Cajun chicken club and a couple of beers but started feeling even worse. I headed back to my room around 3 and laid down. I woke up several times but my head still hurt so I would roll over and go back to sleep trying to remember what Patty told me about dengue fever. A few times I heard rain and didn't bother trying to wake up. A couple times I heard people and thought that was a good sign. When I finally woke up and felt like I wanted to get up I could still hear people partying; however, when I looked at my clock it was 2am. Holy cow I slept all day and half the night! I needed to be up at 6am so getting up now was not an option. What a bust of a day. Of course now i understood why there weren't many people out that morning when I arrived. I laid there listening to the party, which was at the rum bar next door, for about an hour before I feel back to sleep.
At least when I got up at 6 I felt great. I got ready for my dive trip and headed to the dive shop. There I met the 4 Canadians that I would be diving with along with the divemasters Ricardo and Marta. This was going to be the first dive for 3 of the Canadians. After getting my gear situated we all piled into a van and headed south 19 kms. There a boat was launched off the beach into the water and we headed west towards Cano Island, a marine sanctuary that was about 1.5 hour boat ride out. Here we did 2 great dives each about 45 minutes at 50 feet. The day was beautiful, no rain at Cano and the diving was great. Lots of life, white tip sharks, eels, lots of schools of fish, and Lots of activity. The newbies dove with Ricardo while Tom and I dove with Marta with the expectation we would dive longer. Well, we did dive longer but not by much. I came up each dive with 1200 psi while Tom only had 200. I'm used to diving with fishes, Dan & Paul specifically, where I'm always lowest on air. For my first dive without Dan I was pretty impressed with my oxygen intake. This was also my first dive with borrowed gear which was just fine except that a couple times the reg mouthpiece would fall out if my mouth. I'm used to a custom fit piece, like a football mouthguard, where I can relax my mouth without it falling out. All in all both dives were great and I had a lot of fun. We had lunch in the boat, a rice dish, before heading back. Unfortunately I did get a little sunburned on the ride back but nothing some fresh cut aloe from the farm wouldn't cure, I hoped.
We got back at 2 which gave me plenty of time to chill before the bus was to arrive so I went back to Tortilla Flats for some lunch (a mahi mahi sub this time) and some cervezas. At 4:30 I headed to the bus stop and caught my bus at 4:45. I got on and found a seat and got situated and then looked at the person across the aisle from me. It was the guy that had helped me get on the bus the day before. He tried talking to me but I couldn't understand him at all. At one point I thought he asked me where I was staying and I said 'finka'. Apparently he was asking my name because the guy sitting on the other side of me, who was his friend, asked if my name was really Finka. I cleared up the name business and found out his was Carlos. He then asked me for my phone number. I was very surprised- why would you want to call someone who can't understand a word you say?!? I was flattered though, he could've have been more than 27, but no numbers were given. I think this annoyed him because when he got off the bus before me he didn't say goodbye. I was glad I knew where I was going and didnt need his help this time. I made it to my bus stop and headed for a taxi. I had some difficulty determining the fare to the farm but worked it out with my driver. I could have taken a bus to the bottom of the hill and walked the hour walk in the dark but that didn't seem like a good idea. I made it back to the farm by about 6:30 and just wanted to crash. It was only once I looked in the mirror and changed clothes that I realized how sunburnt I'd gotten. I managed to make it through dinner and finished the dished before I crashed at the late hour of 8 pm. And it was totally worth it for the spectacular day.
Pura Vida!
