Heard a scream the other day...went down to look and this guy was slithering from the kitchen to the bathroom downstairs at my office!! Pretty much just glad it wasn't me who found it in the first place
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Unwanted Visitor
Heard a scream the other day...went down to look and this guy was slithering from the kitchen to the bathroom downstairs at my office!! Pretty much just glad it wasn't me who found it in the first place
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
My (Much Needed) Trip Home
Originally, my mom and I were making plans for her to come visit in April. I needed to leave the country for at least 72 hours to renew my visa, so we were thinking of traveling in Panama for a bit. BUTTT I kind of changed my mind :).
One day, most likely over another plate of rice and beans, it hit me that I needed a little break.
I've made good friends with the girls studying abroad here and we have a lot of fun on the weekends, but the truth is that work is stressful, trying to communicate in Spanish is frustrating...and I think I was coming dangerously close to reaching my limit.
I had three months of built up cravings for my good friends, good food and just being HOME.
It was exactly what I needed when I got off the plane for my layover and could use my cell phone!!! I immediately bought my favorite magazines and overpriced airport candy. I was greeted at O'Hare by my mom, dad, and excited puppy Avery. So good to see them!
As the week went on, I realized that the tiniest things pleased me. My bed, free of beetles. Obviously the cell phone and my car, but just to be able to walk up to someone in a store and ask about where something is. Without wondering how to say it. Or to be in a store that actually carries what it is I'm looking for, for that matter. The ease with which I could do everything and get anything I needed was AMAZING to me.
I can't hop in my car and run to the store here. Or go rent a movie. Or really go anywhere during the week. I can't call anyone I want to. For about 2 months, I couldnt get on the internet where I live. And half the time I can't communicate what I want to say face to face...so it's no wonder that my life in the US now seems like such a breeze!
It was so great to see all of my friends. And so nice of them to all come out to dinner with me when I got to Columbia :) I think I probably have the best friends ever, but that's something I knew before I left anyways. Maybe it's that I missed and can better appreciate being around people who know me so well.
I think the transition back here was even harder after having had a taste of home. On one hand I do love how simple my life is here. I love biking to work. I love having a set little schedule and sometimes I do even like not having a phone, feeling less attached. So I'm not sure if I should feel guilty that I often miss all those little luxuries I left behind. Or maybe it's enough that I know I will appreciate them so much more when I return.
I almost even feel guilty now that I can get on the internet without at least first getting up and biking to the computer lab....almost.
One day, most likely over another plate of rice and beans, it hit me that I needed a little break.
I've made good friends with the girls studying abroad here and we have a lot of fun on the weekends, but the truth is that work is stressful, trying to communicate in Spanish is frustrating...and I think I was coming dangerously close to reaching my limit.
I had three months of built up cravings for my good friends, good food and just being HOME.
It was exactly what I needed when I got off the plane for my layover and could use my cell phone!!! I immediately bought my favorite magazines and overpriced airport candy. I was greeted at O'Hare by my mom, dad, and excited puppy Avery. So good to see them!
As the week went on, I realized that the tiniest things pleased me. My bed, free of beetles. Obviously the cell phone and my car, but just to be able to walk up to someone in a store and ask about where something is. Without wondering how to say it. Or to be in a store that actually carries what it is I'm looking for, for that matter. The ease with which I could do everything and get anything I needed was AMAZING to me.
I can't hop in my car and run to the store here. Or go rent a movie. Or really go anywhere during the week. I can't call anyone I want to. For about 2 months, I couldnt get on the internet where I live. And half the time I can't communicate what I want to say face to face...so it's no wonder that my life in the US now seems like such a breeze!
It was so great to see all of my friends. And so nice of them to all come out to dinner with me when I got to Columbia :) I think I probably have the best friends ever, but that's something I knew before I left anyways. Maybe it's that I missed and can better appreciate being around people who know me so well.
I think the transition back here was even harder after having had a taste of home. On one hand I do love how simple my life is here. I love biking to work. I love having a set little schedule and sometimes I do even like not having a phone, feeling less attached. So I'm not sure if I should feel guilty that I often miss all those little luxuries I left behind. Or maybe it's enough that I know I will appreciate them so much more when I return.
I almost even feel guilty now that I can get on the internet without at least first getting up and biking to the computer lab....almost.
Catching Up
It's been a month since I've updated...but I have my new computer now after my trip home!! So I'm going to start back with Semana Santa...
Kaia's friend Francesca came to visit from Norway at the perfect time because we all got a Thursday and Friday off. So we headed out of EARTH on a packed bus on Wednesday afternoon to San Jose. We checked in to "Costa Rica Backpackers" and then just walked around the city for a while. I havent really spent that much time exploring San Jose, and it doesn't have the best reputation as being a nice place to visit, but there are some prettier parts I think.
We met up with Luis, Luis Miguel and Javier later that night at a cool little bar downtown, then went back to Luis´ house where I refused shots of Cacique because I know where that gets me now haha! It was just a relaxed, fun night and good to see the guys before they headed off on their own for the rest of the week.
The next day, Kaia, Francesca and I got up early and caught the shuttle to Monteverde. Hopped out when we stopped at a hotel to pick up some other people and scored ourselves some breakfast from Dennys...who knew they had Dennys here ha! We switched buses a couple hours later at Limonal, then began the steep, bumpy, dusty, completely uphill journey to Monteverde. We stayed at a cute little cabin on a dusty road in Santa Elena with great views of the surrounding hills. And there was actually a breeze up there! Definitely a change from the heavy, humid weather I've gotten used to down here in Guácimo.
View from the kitchen of our little hostel
We barely had time to eat before it was time for our canopy tour! Our tour guides came and picked us up and took us further up the mountain to get us all fitted with out ziplining gear. We walked through the cloud forest for a while and came to the "Tarzan Swing," where you climb a platform, get hooked up to a rope and step to the edge of the platform...and then youre flying!! Really cool to be swinging in between all the trees. This is supposed to get you used to the feeling of ziplining, but I think it was the scariest part haha. Ziplining was so fun! Its so easy and pretty impossible to mess up (unlike repelling in Australia hah). The views got better and better as we zipped from platform to platform until you could look out in the middle of the line and see for miles.
At one point we got to climb up inside a massive tree and up a shaky rope ladder to the next platform! The tour was about 2 hours and sooo worth it!
We spent the night in Monteverde and then caught the shuttle the next morning to Tamarindo Beach in Guanacaste. We got there early afternoon to "The Chocolate Hostel," which of course was further from the beach than advertised. But it was really nice and clean and we had our own balcony and little hammock...so I can't complain! We just dropped our bags and headed straight to the beach. Costa Ricans were warning us that the beaches would be packed since it was Semana Santa, but I didn't really think so...or maybe I'm just used to beaches being pretty packed in the US. The weather could not have been any more perfect and we just layed out for the rest of the afternoon, then watched the sunset from the beach.
We ate dinner at a small restaurant right on the beach that night. They werent serving alcohol because of the holiday, but our waiter seemed to take a liking to us and brought us a few free drinks anyways haha. We went to a club afterwards just to check it out, but it was so packed and we ended up just squeezing onto the balcony and parking ourselves there.
And that's where we met son. see above haha. This 18-year-old on spring break from Michigan decided to try and hit on us, and then got really awkward when he found out we were 22..and really nervous when he found out Kaia and Francesca were from Norway. So we decided to just make it worse and ask him "Isnt it a bit late for you to be out?" "What would your parents think?" and I think Francesca called him son hahah. Poor kid.
The next day was my dream day, just laying out, drinking smoothies on the beach and relaxing, but we all got a little burnt and Francesca wasnt feeling too well so we didnt go out that night. Kaia and Francesca were heading to La Fortuna the next day, but I had to get back to work, so I rolled out of bed at 5:30am the next morning to catch a bus to Santa Cruz. I wandered around the dusty little town until I found the bus station to Nicoya and was pretty proud of myself when I made it there to meet Matt. He was driving back to EARTH from Guanacaste as well...and any time I can avoid taking buses, I'll do it!
It was SUCH a perfect week until I got home on Sunday and started feeling a little weird. I took a nap...still felt bad...then it began. I threw up for 12 hours straight, was pretty much incoherent and remember having thoughts of just trying to get to the phone to call the medical center. It was truly awful and I think probably the sickest I've ever been. Turns out the same thing was happening to Kaia in Tamarindo! So we think it was food poisoning. ick. But I recovered pretty quick and had my trip home to look forward to...!
Kaia's friend Francesca came to visit from Norway at the perfect time because we all got a Thursday and Friday off. So we headed out of EARTH on a packed bus on Wednesday afternoon to San Jose. We checked in to "Costa Rica Backpackers" and then just walked around the city for a while. I havent really spent that much time exploring San Jose, and it doesn't have the best reputation as being a nice place to visit, but there are some prettier parts I think.
We met up with Luis, Luis Miguel and Javier later that night at a cool little bar downtown, then went back to Luis´ house where I refused shots of Cacique because I know where that gets me now haha! It was just a relaxed, fun night and good to see the guys before they headed off on their own for the rest of the week.
The next day, Kaia, Francesca and I got up early and caught the shuttle to Monteverde. Hopped out when we stopped at a hotel to pick up some other people and scored ourselves some breakfast from Dennys...who knew they had Dennys here ha! We switched buses a couple hours later at Limonal, then began the steep, bumpy, dusty, completely uphill journey to Monteverde. We stayed at a cute little cabin on a dusty road in Santa Elena with great views of the surrounding hills. And there was actually a breeze up there! Definitely a change from the heavy, humid weather I've gotten used to down here in Guácimo.
View from the kitchen of our little hostel
We barely had time to eat before it was time for our canopy tour! Our tour guides came and picked us up and took us further up the mountain to get us all fitted with out ziplining gear. We walked through the cloud forest for a while and came to the "Tarzan Swing," where you climb a platform, get hooked up to a rope and step to the edge of the platform...and then youre flying!! Really cool to be swinging in between all the trees. This is supposed to get you used to the feeling of ziplining, but I think it was the scariest part haha. Ziplining was so fun! Its so easy and pretty impossible to mess up (unlike repelling in Australia hah). The views got better and better as we zipped from platform to platform until you could look out in the middle of the line and see for miles.
At one point we got to climb up inside a massive tree and up a shaky rope ladder to the next platform! The tour was about 2 hours and sooo worth it!
We spent the night in Monteverde and then caught the shuttle the next morning to Tamarindo Beach in Guanacaste. We got there early afternoon to "The Chocolate Hostel," which of course was further from the beach than advertised. But it was really nice and clean and we had our own balcony and little hammock...so I can't complain! We just dropped our bags and headed straight to the beach. Costa Ricans were warning us that the beaches would be packed since it was Semana Santa, but I didn't really think so...or maybe I'm just used to beaches being pretty packed in the US. The weather could not have been any more perfect and we just layed out for the rest of the afternoon, then watched the sunset from the beach.
We ate dinner at a small restaurant right on the beach that night. They werent serving alcohol because of the holiday, but our waiter seemed to take a liking to us and brought us a few free drinks anyways haha. We went to a club afterwards just to check it out, but it was so packed and we ended up just squeezing onto the balcony and parking ourselves there.
And that's where we met son. see above haha. This 18-year-old on spring break from Michigan decided to try and hit on us, and then got really awkward when he found out we were 22..and really nervous when he found out Kaia and Francesca were from Norway. So we decided to just make it worse and ask him "Isnt it a bit late for you to be out?" "What would your parents think?" and I think Francesca called him son hahah. Poor kid.
The next day was my dream day, just laying out, drinking smoothies on the beach and relaxing, but we all got a little burnt and Francesca wasnt feeling too well so we didnt go out that night. Kaia and Francesca were heading to La Fortuna the next day, but I had to get back to work, so I rolled out of bed at 5:30am the next morning to catch a bus to Santa Cruz. I wandered around the dusty little town until I found the bus station to Nicoya and was pretty proud of myself when I made it there to meet Matt. He was driving back to EARTH from Guanacaste as well...and any time I can avoid taking buses, I'll do it!
It was SUCH a perfect week until I got home on Sunday and started feeling a little weird. I took a nap...still felt bad...then it began. I threw up for 12 hours straight, was pretty much incoherent and remember having thoughts of just trying to get to the phone to call the medical center. It was truly awful and I think probably the sickest I've ever been. Turns out the same thing was happening to Kaia in Tamarindo! So we think it was food poisoning. ick. But I recovered pretty quick and had my trip home to look forward to...!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Been living for the weekends! The weeks are going really fast, and almost every weekend weve been heading to San Jose with a group of guys who are from the city. Fabio has an amazing house up in the hills with a perfect view of the city lights below... and its so nice to just hang out on his porch, listen to music and have a few beers. Although this last time it turned into playing Kings Cup and losing a few too many bets/drinking shots of disgusting alcohol... haha.
Hanging at Fabios
Two weekends ago, all 8 of us loaded up in Fabios VW van on a Saturday morning and headed to Playa Hermosa-a beach on the Pacific side. Its the first time Id been over there and it was beautiful! Sun sun sun and sand so hot it would fry your feet if you werent carfeful. Pretty entertaining to watch people trying to make it from the water back up to the shade of the palm trees-we all just started racing as fast as we could between the shade and the water! I just layed out all day as the boys surfed, then watched the sunset on the beach. So perfect. We all spent the night at Danielas condo in Jaco-it sleeps 7 normally and we were 14! haha so we had people on blow up mattresses everywhere, including the back porch. Sunday was another day in the sun, and we ate at a really cute little restaurant on the beach before heading back to Fabios, then back to EARTH. Totally felt like we were on vacation, so its always back to reality on Sunday night when I realize I have to get up for work the next morning!
Start of the trip!
We stopped at a bridge on the drive to the beach...and there were about 12 HUGE crocs under it!!
Sooo nice...
Somewhere along the way, I lost rock/paper/scissors with Luis and the bet was that I couldnt wash my hair for a week. Hardest thing ever!! These guys are serious about their betting so I couldnt really go back on my word. Spent the whole week just trying all kinds of ways to do my hair to hide that it was definitely dirty...and everyone joking with me all week that they heard people in my office talking about my hair...rude! haha So the first thing I did when I woke up at Fabios last Sunday was to wash my hair! Best feeling ever.
In San Jose the day I got to wash my hair :)
Had an EARTH weekend this weekend and just hung out and relaxed. Luis and I went for a bike ride yesterday. I thought it would probably just be a leisurely bike ride, but it started raining and we ended up taking this seriously rocky trail completely uphill for about an hour...we were COVERED in mud and it was so fun to ride right through the huge muddy puddles of water and just get dirty. The way down was way more fun-dont think I had to pedal once!
All the girls left on Friday for Panama to renew their Visa and take a mini vacation. Im staying about 2.5 months longer, so I have to wait longer before I can renew mine...and Ive decided to go home for a week in April! It will be so nice to stock up on some things and see friends and family :)
Hanging at Fabios
Two weekends ago, all 8 of us loaded up in Fabios VW van on a Saturday morning and headed to Playa Hermosa-a beach on the Pacific side. Its the first time Id been over there and it was beautiful! Sun sun sun and sand so hot it would fry your feet if you werent carfeful. Pretty entertaining to watch people trying to make it from the water back up to the shade of the palm trees-we all just started racing as fast as we could between the shade and the water! I just layed out all day as the boys surfed, then watched the sunset on the beach. So perfect. We all spent the night at Danielas condo in Jaco-it sleeps 7 normally and we were 14! haha so we had people on blow up mattresses everywhere, including the back porch. Sunday was another day in the sun, and we ate at a really cute little restaurant on the beach before heading back to Fabios, then back to EARTH. Totally felt like we were on vacation, so its always back to reality on Sunday night when I realize I have to get up for work the next morning!
Start of the trip!
We stopped at a bridge on the drive to the beach...and there were about 12 HUGE crocs under it!!
Sooo nice...
Somewhere along the way, I lost rock/paper/scissors with Luis and the bet was that I couldnt wash my hair for a week. Hardest thing ever!! These guys are serious about their betting so I couldnt really go back on my word. Spent the whole week just trying all kinds of ways to do my hair to hide that it was definitely dirty...and everyone joking with me all week that they heard people in my office talking about my hair...rude! haha So the first thing I did when I woke up at Fabios last Sunday was to wash my hair! Best feeling ever.
In San Jose the day I got to wash my hair :)
Had an EARTH weekend this weekend and just hung out and relaxed. Luis and I went for a bike ride yesterday. I thought it would probably just be a leisurely bike ride, but it started raining and we ended up taking this seriously rocky trail completely uphill for about an hour...we were COVERED in mud and it was so fun to ride right through the huge muddy puddles of water and just get dirty. The way down was way more fun-dont think I had to pedal once!
All the girls left on Friday for Panama to renew their Visa and take a mini vacation. Im staying about 2.5 months longer, so I have to wait longer before I can renew mine...and Ive decided to go home for a week in April! It will be so nice to stock up on some things and see friends and family :)
Saturday, February 27, 2010
La Florita
Working 7:30-5 in an office all week while in Costa Rica just wasn't sounding ideal...I love the cause and I do feel like I'm helping (and putting my Photoshop and Dreamweaver skills to use!), but of course I always need to push the limits. I felt a little cut off from everything that makes this university so alive with activity all the time, so I decided to see if I could get involved with some of the projects going on in the communities around EARTH. There is an actual class called Community Work that students take part in, so I started going with groups of students on Wednesdays to surrounding small towns where they help farmers with field work/how to improve their crops, assist organizations with meetings and gathering for a purpose, and help teach the principles of EARTH in elementary schools.
I wasn't sure where I could put myself to use, since I'm not exactly a pro in using a machete or planting much of anything, but it turns out that both adults and children in a community named La Florita, about 20 minutes from EARTH, were interested in learning English...which I happen to be a pro at haha. Callie, an exchange student from Michigan State, and I spent two days just walking the dusty roads of the community, house to house, and asking families in our bumbling Spanish if they were interested in English classes and what time would work best for them. The houses are very modest-I would call some of them structures more than houses. I have yet to see a door, everything is open air with maybe a curtain covering it. Each family would invite us in, insist that we sit, maybe feed us some fresh pineapple. The people are amazing.
We were a little worried, sitting there at 9am on a rough wooden bench in the structure used for meetings, that no one would show for our first class. But five students ended up trickling in! After we realized that we are on tico time and people would be coming whenever they wanted, we had a great first class just teaching the alphabet, numbers, colors and a few useful agriculture terms. It's so hard teaching from the beginning! Because it's just not how we think. We taught another class in the afternoon, this time with about 12 adults lining the bench and a couple kids as well. The best part is when they correct our Spanish as we are correcting their English! haha.
We are in the community from about 6:30am to 4pm, so this past Wednesday, one of our adult students who everyone calls Macho invited us back to his house for lunch. He's a big guy with curly blondish hair and just tramps around in his big rubber boots while we try to keep up with him on the uneven roads haha. His wife made patacones, which are like fried sliced plantains. so good!! And his four young daughters are so adorable-the biggest eyes! Then we walked around his property just picking fresh fruit-left with some oranges and a grapefruit!! I can't imagine just being able to go in the backyard and find myself a grapefruit in the morning.
I took pictures this past week of our class, but don't have a computer to put them on...I'll figure something out. Until then, these are a couple Callie took on our first day walking to all the houses.
We would just walk along for a couple hours and stop at each house for a chat. At first, a 4th year student named Sandro came with us, but then he left us to fend for ourselves with our Spanish haha.
Finished for the day and talking with the professor in charge of the project, Julieta.
I wasn't sure where I could put myself to use, since I'm not exactly a pro in using a machete or planting much of anything, but it turns out that both adults and children in a community named La Florita, about 20 minutes from EARTH, were interested in learning English...which I happen to be a pro at haha. Callie, an exchange student from Michigan State, and I spent two days just walking the dusty roads of the community, house to house, and asking families in our bumbling Spanish if they were interested in English classes and what time would work best for them. The houses are very modest-I would call some of them structures more than houses. I have yet to see a door, everything is open air with maybe a curtain covering it. Each family would invite us in, insist that we sit, maybe feed us some fresh pineapple. The people are amazing.
We were a little worried, sitting there at 9am on a rough wooden bench in the structure used for meetings, that no one would show for our first class. But five students ended up trickling in! After we realized that we are on tico time and people would be coming whenever they wanted, we had a great first class just teaching the alphabet, numbers, colors and a few useful agriculture terms. It's so hard teaching from the beginning! Because it's just not how we think. We taught another class in the afternoon, this time with about 12 adults lining the bench and a couple kids as well. The best part is when they correct our Spanish as we are correcting their English! haha.
We are in the community from about 6:30am to 4pm, so this past Wednesday, one of our adult students who everyone calls Macho invited us back to his house for lunch. He's a big guy with curly blondish hair and just tramps around in his big rubber boots while we try to keep up with him on the uneven roads haha. His wife made patacones, which are like fried sliced plantains. so good!! And his four young daughters are so adorable-the biggest eyes! Then we walked around his property just picking fresh fruit-left with some oranges and a grapefruit!! I can't imagine just being able to go in the backyard and find myself a grapefruit in the morning.
I took pictures this past week of our class, but don't have a computer to put them on...I'll figure something out. Until then, these are a couple Callie took on our first day walking to all the houses.
We would just walk along for a couple hours and stop at each house for a chat. At first, a 4th year student named Sandro came with us, but then he left us to fend for ourselves with our Spanish haha.
Finished for the day and talking with the professor in charge of the project, Julieta.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
RIP MacBookPro
I know I know I'm ridiculously behind on writing! My current lack of a computer is a good excuse though right?! It had been giving me trouble for a little while..but then I came back from the beach two weekends ago and it wouldn't even turn on. I guess it was pretty old in Apple years!
Obviously a lot has taken place since the last time I wrote...so I'll just try to cover the good stuff.
Sam and I, along with a student from Guatemala named Everardo, went a couple weekends ago to Puerto Viejo (ab 2 hours from here on the Caribbean coast) to help the Iguana Verde Foundation. They had been having trouble with local boys coming and trying to steal eggs or just kill the iguanas for sport, so we patrolled the iguana compounds/beach area for 2 days. The foundation is located on a beautiful strip of beach and we got to see so many iguanas! (Now I know that the one I see in my backyard here is an older male since he is an orangish color). Also saw my first sloth! We watched him just slowlyyyy reachhhh for the next branch of a tree. They have the funniest little faces and theyre cuter than I thought!
It was also a good weekend because Everardo didn't speak English, so Sam and I had no choice but to speak Spanish the entire time!
Male iguana at the foundation.
Takin a break
We didnt get to enjoy the actual town of Puerto Viejo since we were on the outskirts at the foundation, but it has the feel of the rasta Caribbean culture, with tiny restaurants facing the beach, live music and backpackers everywhere.
So Sam, Kaia and I, along with three 3rd year guys, Javier, Favio and Luis, decided to go for a weekend and just hang out on the beach. We stayed on Friday night at probably the best hostel I've ever been to. It wins mostly just because it was right on the beach, but it also had two levels- the ground level was just a ton of hammocks for rent, and the top level was rows and rows of tents. Kaia and I ended up staying in a little tent, but if we go back I think I've gotta try sleeping in a hammock for the night! We went out that night to a big party on the beach, danced with some rastas haha...then went to an after party with some people we had met from Sweden until around 3am. That's around the time I realized that I can't stay up late anymore! I'm so used to going to bed at 10pm and getting up at 6am here.
We had big plans to just lay on the beach all of Saturday, but it raineddddd. All day! Sunday we walked through the muddy trails of the rainforest to a beautiful part of Manzanillo beach that we had all to ourselves. Definitely worth it. And I saw monkeys! They were pretty far away, but I saw two of them swinging around up in the trees. I just realized that it's monkeys I usually hear on my way home from dinner at night...
Alright there's much more, but that's all for now
looking out after our walk through the rainforest
We saw this guy crossing the street on our way back into town!!
Obviously a lot has taken place since the last time I wrote...so I'll just try to cover the good stuff.
Sam and I, along with a student from Guatemala named Everardo, went a couple weekends ago to Puerto Viejo (ab 2 hours from here on the Caribbean coast) to help the Iguana Verde Foundation. They had been having trouble with local boys coming and trying to steal eggs or just kill the iguanas for sport, so we patrolled the iguana compounds/beach area for 2 days. The foundation is located on a beautiful strip of beach and we got to see so many iguanas! (Now I know that the one I see in my backyard here is an older male since he is an orangish color). Also saw my first sloth! We watched him just slowlyyyy reachhhh for the next branch of a tree. They have the funniest little faces and theyre cuter than I thought!
It was also a good weekend because Everardo didn't speak English, so Sam and I had no choice but to speak Spanish the entire time!
Male iguana at the foundation.
Takin a break
We didnt get to enjoy the actual town of Puerto Viejo since we were on the outskirts at the foundation, but it has the feel of the rasta Caribbean culture, with tiny restaurants facing the beach, live music and backpackers everywhere.
So Sam, Kaia and I, along with three 3rd year guys, Javier, Favio and Luis, decided to go for a weekend and just hang out on the beach. We stayed on Friday night at probably the best hostel I've ever been to. It wins mostly just because it was right on the beach, but it also had two levels- the ground level was just a ton of hammocks for rent, and the top level was rows and rows of tents. Kaia and I ended up staying in a little tent, but if we go back I think I've gotta try sleeping in a hammock for the night! We went out that night to a big party on the beach, danced with some rastas haha...then went to an after party with some people we had met from Sweden until around 3am. That's around the time I realized that I can't stay up late anymore! I'm so used to going to bed at 10pm and getting up at 6am here.
We had big plans to just lay on the beach all of Saturday, but it raineddddd. All day! Sunday we walked through the muddy trails of the rainforest to a beautiful part of Manzanillo beach that we had all to ourselves. Definitely worth it. And I saw monkeys! They were pretty far away, but I saw two of them swinging around up in the trees. I just realized that it's monkeys I usually hear on my way home from dinner at night...
Alright there's much more, but that's all for now
looking out after our walk through the rainforest
We saw this guy crossing the street on our way back into town!!
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