Goodness

I'm horrible at maintaining these jawns.

Let me leave you with my favorite sunset in Costa Rica:

It´s about 9:30pm

Update: I´m in Panama! I think they are about to close this internet cafe down for the night, so I´ll make it snappy.

On a whim I decided that after heading down to the southern Caribbean side of Costa Rica I´d keep on going and camp out in Panama for a few nights on this wonderful island called Bocas del Torro.

Okay, they really are closing.

xoxo,
s

Santa Teresa/Mal Pais, CR

So I´m blogging and catching up, since it´s been a few days. I´ll start from the present and work my way backwards.. so scroll down to read fresh journals!

This morning Bea and I had a long talk.. about her ditching me and blah blah blah. Not sure if it´s safe to post out on the world wide web. Whatever, though.. shouldn´t be hidden to be fair to all parties. Our conversation consisted of me in Swiss guy´s room, sitting on the floor.. and Bea laying on the bed, facedown. I told her how I felt like I was being ditched and replaced, and she really didn´t say anything in particular- only that ´wasn´t I acting like the girl I had traveled with before, saying how I didn´t want to do things or go anywhere with anyone?´***Boy did that frustrate me. I just didn´t feel comfortable with her and that Swiss dude, bottom line. She knew that and continued to hang out with him, therefore choosing him over me. That hurts.

Anyways, I´m in Mal Pais right now and it´s gorgeous. Internet is expensive- an hour is about three dollars, so I´ll type quickly. I took the taxi with the kids from London, and then the bus to the hostel here. I had some great nectarines for lunch, and three cups of coffee for breakfast. The place we´re staying at here is really great and has loads of hammocks. We found a cat in the bathroom with an iguana in it´s mouth, and we later saw the cat sans iguana.. alternatively puking and dry heaving in front of us. Funny stuff.

I´m going to finish blogging the past few days and then hit the beach again.
Ciao!
-S


***disclaimer***
Johanna was a great travel buddy, and although we had our moments, I love her.
[14:53] johanna: please tell bea i had my reasons for behaving the way i did. i dont want her or anybody else to think of me as the "girl who didnt wanna go anywhere or do anything". i didnt do it to annoy anyone. i should have talked about it instad of doing what i did. but i did have very good reasons.
[14:53] sunshinosaur: i can take it out if you want! i dont want you to seem like a horrible buddy, cause you werent!
[14:55] johanna: well yeah i know she doesnt know me but tell her anyways and maybe Ill tell you about everything too. :) someday in berlin.

ps- I´m going to visit this baby girl in Berlin.

Montezuma, day two.

Woke up this morning to a beautiful sunrise.

Bea and Swiss guy and Canadian girl wanted to go to this waterfall, but I didn´t really want to be around those two (not Bea), so I declined. The Canadian girl was too loud and obnoxious for me, and that Swiss dude and Bea made me really uncomfortable. She knew that.

They left and I walked down the beach the same way we all walked down it yesterday. Oh, before that though I stopped at this little bookshop and exchanged my book I got when I traded with a guy in Monteverde in exchange for a chic thang called Chasing Harry Winston. She also wrote The Devil Wears Prada. I also picked up a thing of cookies and water from the supermarket. Walking down the beach I picked up lots of great seashells. I got yelled at by a guy from his porch- he said that this was a natural reserve. I was going to retort with ´well then, why is there so much garbage?´but decided against it. Seriously, the beaches are great, but with the last storm a lot of plastic garbage was washed up on the beaches.. so it looks horrible. I even saw two syringes among the trash! It took me about an hour to walk to where it took us 35 minutes with our surfboards yesterday. I went all the way to La Playa Grande, hung out there on the beach by myself for a few hours.. and then went back to the waterfall I passed earlier.

There was this guy who passed by me in the morning, and he seemed to be waiting for me on the trail. When I passed by him he followed me and tried to talk to me in really fast spanish. We held a long conversation that consisted of many subjects such as: my boyfriend, why my boyfriend wasnt in Costa Rica, why I couldn´t have two boyfriends, why I was travelling by myself, why I didn´t want his weed, etc. etc. It´s great being a girl, isn´t it? When I got to the waterfall I said a hearty Adios! and meandered off the trail. I sat in the water a while and explored lots, eventually settling on a little runoff stream where I made bracelets by knotting thread. Great fun. People came by and swam, and I was about to leave when I hear this obnoxious (and quite loud) hooting coming from above. I look up and there was this black monkey, I´m assuming he was a howler monkey. As I look further I see two spider monkeys hanging and swinging all over the place. They were so cute! Once it got too dark to see them I headed back into town.

Oh, on the walk over to the beach I saw a really cool iguana. He was just sitting on the trail, looking up at me with his super bright green body and olive green tail. He was pretty impressive and also quite enormous. I was thrilled.

I got back into town and got some food for dinner- chick peas, tortillas, and an avocado, yum! I passed by a pizza restaurant and where I saw Bea and Swiss dude. She told me she had some extra pizza that she was going to give me, but it had cheese on it. I went back to the hostel where I had my yummy dinner and played with this great dog that I named Luna. She´s a medium sized dog with big ears and a long muzzle. Her coat is all black, minus his paws which look like they´ve been dipped in mud. She loves chasing cars, which scares me to death.. but never runs into them and always ran back to me, sitting in the hammock. I played cards with the four kids from London, two guys from South Carolina, and a guy from Germany. There are lots of travelers from Germany, btw. It´s good, because I enjoy practicing my German and being complimented on my accent.

I went to sleep, alone. I didn´t see Bea the rest of that night.. the dog tried to follow me up to my room and I fed her the rest of the dog food I had (yes, I carry that around with me), and my last tortilla.

See ya,
-S

Monteverde, day one.

We rented some surfboards today and went surfing at 8am!! The walk over there wasn´t fun at all, but teaching yourself how to surf is quite entertaining to say the least.

Earlier in the day the waves were pretty strong, and I had no problem catching them.. I just had loads of trouble trying to stand up. Pretty soon some guys from Chico, CA (I lived there a year in the third grade) came by. They were carrying surfboards, and they were naked. We kinda talked while trying to surf (they had never surfed before either, hah), and talked about Chico and coconuts, and Costa Rica. We drank coconut juice from ripe and unripe coconuts- the latter is nasty as hell.

I got pretty dark- we stayed there probably until 3pm.. and then started heading back into town to get some food. We all said we´d meet up at this waterfall swimming hole deal that´s on the beach inbetween the beach we were surfing at and the town of Monteverde. Bea and the four kids from London, Ger, Bee, Gav, and Robbie walked ahead since I´m a slow walker. I realized I forgot my flip flops in the sand, and ran back to get them. When I got to the waterfall no one was there.. I stayed and swam around for a little bit, and who showed up but those three naked boys, Reggie, Brian, and Chase. They were wearing clothing, though. We walked back to town and I went into touristy shops while they ate dinner. We hung out with a couple of beers and watched the nightly lightening storm across the gulf. Amazing. There was a soccer (fútbol) game going on up on top of the hill, and we went up to watch.

Later on that night we went to the only bar in town- Chico´s. I finally saw Bea and we all hung out. Everyone was pretty drunk, and I was just okay.. so I entertained myself by playing with this stray dog that followed us into the bar. He was real fun, and so we gave each other lots of attention. I went and sat outside and played with the pooch. Bea came, and we talked. The three boys came, and we talked. The Swiss dude came, and Bea and him went back to the hostel. I followed a couple minutes later. I hung out on the hammock for a little bit and watched more lightening, and then went to sleeep.

-S

Monteverde to Montezuma

Oh man, I´m running out of time on this internet guy. It´s so expensive!

Anyways, we woke up early this morning to catch the 6am bus to the ferry, which took us to a city, which took us on a bus to Montezuma. The place where the ferry departed from was pretty.. okay. We walked for a while to the ferry place, since i thought it was pointless to catch a taxi for such a short distance. We met two German guys and a Canadian dude on the ferry. I talked to them while Bea slept.. um.. sorry, I feel pressured for time. The little ticker is on the bottom right of my screen and is driving me insane.

Last night was something else. We all sat outside playing silly games for a bit and got pretty drunk. THEN we went to the bar and hung out. Andrew kept wanting to buy us drinks, Danny acted quite goofy, and Bea was accepting the drinks. I told Andrew he could get me a juice since he was so insistent. It was delicious. My dog, Honey followed me into the bar later on that night- and after playing with her I decided that she needed a serious bath.

So, intoxicated me tells everyone good night, goes back to the hostel and sneaks Honey into my room. We make it into the shower, and it turns out that this dog hates water. I´ll be it was a hilarious sight- a girl getting soaked while pinning a poor dirty dog inbetween her legs, and scrubbing it down with soap- organic and all natural soap, btw. I got her clean, just in time for Bea and Danny to walk in and see her and the soaking wet bathroom floor. I fed her some dinner, and then another guy sleeping in the dorm kicked her out as we were falling asleep. I said goodbye to her this morning, though- no worries.

Andrew comes back late late at night, drunk off his ass. He keeps wanting to talk to me and to tell me about this gay Tiko (Costa Rican guy) who wanted to pet his hair. I for one, just wanted to sleep. In hindsight, Andrew was pretty hilarious.. but I knew I had to get up real early and honestly didn´t want to deal with it. Sorry Andrew! I think he ended up climbing up on the top bunk with his shoes on, climbing down, climbing back up again, and falling out later on that night. Poor guy, his ribs were already bruised from a previous incident.

Anyways, I don´t have any more money for this internet business.

Xoxo,
-S

Santa Elena, CR

Ahhh, the life.

So far Costa Rica has been extremely stress and worry-free. Well, minus the dog episode. I want to take home every dog that showers me with attention. I've been trying my best to not approach stray dogs that don't really pay any attention to me, so it's a little easier. Bea goes up to ANY dog she sees.. which isn't always a good thing, because sometimes you get the ones that snap or bark, or just don't have good personalities. I kind of refrain from approaching the dogs because I can't handle leaving them.

Anyways, there's this stray that came to Pension Santa Elena (where I'm staying) about a month ago, nearly dead from starvation. She's still really skinny, but alive and walking around. The people here call her Flor, but I've been calling her Honey. She looks like a husky, but is completely honey-colored. Sweetest personality, too. This morning I was talking to the guy Ran, who co-owns this hostel and he was telling me how easily he could help me get her to the U.S. While we were talking, another guy approached me and told me he'd give me a crate for her if I took her back with me.. paperwork is like, $20.. then there's the airline fee, and stamps at San Jose. So, it's definitely doable. The thing is, I'm not going to be here for a good chunk of time- Bioko coop. Bea doesn't really want to take care of Honey either, so.. I mean, I don't blame her- she's already promised to be a mommy to Mango while I'm gone. She wanted to take this dog home, his name is Charlie and he's short and squat and looks like an oversized weinerdog. Personally, I don't think he has a stellar personality. He just droops everywhere, and is real sweet.. but kind of a rag dog. Honey loves to sleep, but also loves to play. She's probably no older than a year or so.

So after consulting my voice of reason, Rob, I told Ran that I'd get into contact with him after coming back from Bioko and see if Honey is still here. If she is, Ran said he'd help me get her to the U.S. Rob says I can't save every dog.. which is exactly what I want to do. I'm kind of in love with this one, but I do get attached quite easily. Oh man, I'm pathetic. I'm also glad I have Rob in my life.

Yesterday. Yesterday, yesterday. Yesterday we woke up and got to the Monte Verde National Reserve by 6:45am. We hiked and hiked, and hiked. It was fantastic. Again, I can't explain how flippin' beautiful it is here. The first part of our hike was in complete fog. I mean, the lookout points were pointless, but it was really neat to gaze into the forest and see haziness everywhere. We saw a crab and many insects, and heard tons of monkeys yelling through the treetops. There was a great waterfall, and everything was green. Even the tree trunks were suffocating in leafy and viney fauna.

We hike the way back to the town of Santa Helena, and along the way stop at the Friends School (Quaker School) and sit in on their Sunday morning Meeting. It was a good hour of silence, in which Bea and I both fell asleep sitting upright. Afterwards was a fantastic (and free!) potluck. Bea and I talked to some of the people there.. mostly Bea talked. I mean, Quakers are great.. but some of the people we were takling to were just way too "nice." Sure, they were probably honest to God good people, but it was just very uncomfortable for me. I like when folks are down to earth and don't make me feel like I can't look them in the eye while holding a conversation with 'em. I feel badly saying this, but I just got really uncomfortable with most of the people there. Anyway, the food was great. I stuffed myself twice over, and then we walked the 5Km back to town.

Along the way I saw a horse, and we visited lots of little touristy shops. There was a cheese factory that smelled like caca de vaca (cow poo), and a man who made clothing from alpaca wool.

I don't really remember what we did after we got back. Probably napped, went to the supermarket, etc.. At night we hung out with some guys from Virginia (?) and had many many laughs over the Imperial beer of Costa Rica. It was a good night. We planned on waking up early and catching the 6am bus to get to Montezuma eventually.. but right before falling asleep we decided to stay an extra night. I mean, we still hadn't seen that amazing tree yet.

We slept in, and in the morning woke up slowly. 8am! What a treat! Bea and the boys wanted to hike to the tree at 2pm, but I wanted to head there earlier. So after talking to Ran about Honey, I got a book, bought some bread at the bakery, and hiked up to (once again) find that goddamn tree. Turns out I got real close, but didn't find THE tree. I found a tree that fit the description, but once I tried to climb got swarmed by bugs and spiders and suffocated by the smell of the inside of the tree.. so I got out, said "eff this" and started walking back. I didn't really know where "back" was, since I was in the middle of the forest about 40 minutes trail walking from the hostel..

when all of a sudden who arrives, but Honey! I was so thrilled. I gave her some of my bakery bread, and we set off with Honey in the lead back to Santa Elena. I can't believe she found me! It was incredible, and I had my heart set on taking her back to the states with me after that. She'd do the same thing Toast would do- the whole 'trot in front and gaze back, waiting for you to catch up.' We must have crawled under at least five barbed wire fences, and trotted through two or three different backyards to get back to town. But, we got there, and thanks to Honey I'm not still wandering the forests of Costa Rica. I mean, I'm sure I would have found my way back.. but she was such a hero, and I love bragging about her. I had that "Bea, you mentioned earlier how you wouldn't mind taking care of Honey.." conversation, but to no avail. I don't blame her.

I bought Honey some dog treats, and am in the middle of trying to get a tick out of her ear.

I am currently struggling to breathe because Bea gave me a bugspray wipe that has incredibly toxic smelling fumes.. so I'm going to go continue scratching Honey's tummy and reading "Running with Scissors" and doing an impossible puzzle, and drinking great Costa Rican coffee.

Oh yeah- I forgot to tell about how I did end up finding the tree with the help of some kids who live here. It's pretty incredible and I'm going back again tomorrow morning before we leave by bus. It was pouring rain on the walk back, and I was wearing a dress and sandals. I had my raincoat in my hand, but it was kind of pointless. Besides, the rain was actually quite enjoyable.

Bye now,
S

Cloud Forest in Monte Verde, CR

Monte Verde and Santa Helena, Costa Rica 9/6/08

Today was pretty exciting. We got up to broad daylight at around 6:30am and thought we were waking up at noon. Psych! The guy at the desk, Ran, told us about this really awesome tree that we could hike to and climb up. The tree was taken over by an invasive plant species called the fig something strangler something. Anyways, it was like a ladder that you climbed up into the tree and once you were at the top of the tree, could see the entire valley in its awesomeness. So Ran gave us directions to this tree, and we hiked and hiked and hiked. Supposedly we went about 6 times further than we were supposed to.. and apparantly it was all uphill. When I say uphill I mean up a vertical dirt hill.. hahh.. can you say out of shape?

So we never found this tree. Tomorrow, tomorrow.

At 10:30 we were picked up by this cool van and taken to this place in the cloud forest where there were 8 massive bridges along a trail. It was amazing. Like, words can't describe how awesome the rainforest is. When you're on the bridge it feels like you're on an airplane looking down at the clouds.. but really you're a body looking down at the treetops. It didn't rain, thank goodness.. well, not until we were back at the hostel. I took many many pictures, and we hung out at this hummingbird area. I was close enough to flick them with my hair, if I had long hair. Hah! Anyways, I can't explain this rainforest. The whole time I was thinking about how I was going to spend six months in a rainforest like this.. without tourists and resorts.. just pure jungle. It was so green! Okay, this is not sounding coherent.

We got back at around 2pm and I fell asleep right away. I think I'm going to shower.. or make pasta.
Pasta. -S

Leaving La Fortuna, Costa Rica

La Fortuna 9/5/08

We woke up real early and went back to the great swimming hole that we went to last night. Toast the dog, was our tourguide for the entire way there and back. It was adorable.. and he was very loyal for those 3 miles out of town. He'd walk ahead and then turn and wait for us.. looking back and wagging his little stump. I think he's got hip problems, because when he walks his back paws kind of criss cross. Maybe patella problems, but who knows? Anyways, he's adorable. At the Tarzan swimming hole we waded in and hung out for a little bit and took pics.

After the walk back we caught the jeep-boat-jeep at around 8:30am to get to Monte Verde. Monte Verde is across a lake and south west from La Fortuna. To take the local bus around the lake takes a good 8 hours, but taking a jeep, and then a boat across the lake, and then another jeep to Monte Verde takes a total of 3 hours or so. The boat across the lake was really beautiful- you could see the enormous volcano, tons of green, and etc., etc. The second jeep ride- actually a van ride- was really really bumpy. Most of the roads are horrid and dirt and.. well, uncared for. I was sitting in the back of the van with Bea and felt really sick. I get motion sickness sometimes, and I wasn't feeling the crazy roads and horrible van suspension. I will say that it was an amazing sight trekking through the mountains of CR though!

We stayed at this hostel called Pension Santa Helena tonight. Monte Verde is actually pretty hostel-less, and so most travelers stay in the nearby town- Santa Helena. It's really nice, and run by these brother and sister duo from Austin, TX. We got in, got settled, and napped. It's great that we are so used to waking up at 6am, napping for a few hours after noon, and going to bed before 9:30pm. I haven't showered in a few days, and I'm not planning on shaving for this trip. It's just not practical, and I really don't care.

At night we played Pictionary and this crossword/Scrabble game with some folks from New Zealand and some people from England. We also went to the supermarket and got foods for dinner, and breakfast and lunch for the next day. Food shopping is not one of our strengths, but I'm sure everyone else was having a fun time watching us.

Our room is right next to the internet area and front desk, so it was pretty loud until 11pm or so.. so that was kind of frustrating, being old women and all.. haha.

There are some real cute stray dogs and cats here that we can't keep our hands off of. I'm also getting bit up by lots of mosquitos.. on my ankles, buttocks, elbows, wrists, fingers.. you name it.
Tomorrow we'll explore more! -S

San Jose and La Fortuna, Costa Rica

San Jose 8:54am 9/3/08

Hello Costa Rica!

Bea and I are on a bus headed towards La Fortuna right now. Getting out of San Jose.. yippee! San Jose is like Tijuana. Actually, I'm firmly convinced that I'm in a wetter, greener version of Tijuana.

Last night Bea and I went to sleep at 5pm-7pm Eastern time. Bea had some beans and rice for two dollars before bed. I figured I'd eat when I got up from the nap, but I didn't end up waking until 11pm. My left arm was asleep and hit me in the face when I lifted it up. That sure woke me up.

I went upstairs to the rooftop restaurant to use the internet and see if our friend Gordon was up there. Gordon is also an American, and from Chicago. He was on the same plane from Charlotte as us, and stayed in the same hostel- Hostel Pangea.

I didn't see him, so after chatting with Diego online about Dino'smores I went back to sleep.
We woke up around six thirty am and got our stuff together. Our plan was to go to the HOliday Inn to try and score some free continental breakfast. Turns out you have to pay for breakfast there, so we started walking the nine blocks or so to the bus station- speaking Spanish only, of course. We pass by a Best Western, look at each other, and waltz on in. We order, and the lady asks us what room we were staying in. Bea said "13".. she says "13? There is no 13. There's 113, 213, 313.." and we go "Oh yeah, 213." She then asks us for our names, and Bea says "Beatriz." She says "What name is the room under?" and we tell her we didn't know. She asks for the room key and Bea says her boyfriend had it and was wandering around town. She called the front desk and amusingly told them that we didn't know what name the room was under.

And so, voila! Free breakfast. Bea had fried plantains, beans and eggs, and I had fruit, cereal, and toast. I improvised and had cereal and banana toast, since they didn't have soymilk and I didn't want to munch on dry cereal alone. The Costa Rican coffee is amazing, btw.

When we got to the bus station Gordon was already there. See ya!
-S



La Fortuna 6:57 9/4/08

Today was AWESOME! Last night was pretty fun as well. Let's start then, shall we?

We arrive in La fortuna in the afternoon at around one pm, and find our hostel quite easily. It's a small town. Gringo Pete's is a quaint little hostel on the eastern side of town (town is no more than three miles wide). It is painted purple, and on the outside of the gate says "There are not such thing as strangers, only friends you haven't met yet." The woman who checked us in was really great and helpful and showed us around, etc. They've got a kitchen, free Costa Rican coffee (!!!), showers and a bbq pit in the back. We paid four dollars for a dorm room. So sweet!

So we got settled and then had a walk around town: Gordon, Bea and me. It's pretty touristy, although there aren't many tourists given it's nearing the end of tourist season, which was nice. We went in the little touristy shops with their hammocks and wooden statues. I kind of want to get a hammock, and I'm in the market for some hiking shoes (for here and for Bioko).

We stopped by this restaurant place and got casados- a plate of beans, rice, friend plantains, potatoes, cheese, and a main course of your choice: beef, veggies, lengua (toungue), etc. I got veggies of course, but was kind of disappointed when they came our with lettuce and tomatoes. Bea had beef and Gordon had toungue. They shared with each other. We also ordered fruit drinks- Bea had papaya juice with water (blended with ice), I had banana "water" and Gordon had strawberry "milk." The papaya drink was excellent.

After that we went back to the hostel to meet Gavin, a guy Gordon was sitting next to on the bus. We acquired four stray dogs on the way back and named them all: Nips (for her bulbous and swollen nipples), toast (he was the color of burnt toast), Chimichanga (the original follower), and a darker, squatter one whose name I forget. They were cute, but chased away by a small boy who evidentally lived next door to the hostel.

We walk in and this girl wrapped in a towel has a horrified look on her face, and is standing in the dorm. She says "there was a man watchng me take a shower through the windows!" Poor thing, she was mortified. And after that we kept seeing that little boy peeking through the windows to our room while we were changing and doing our girl thang.

Gavin comes and tells us that the hostel he's staying at (for ten dollars more)has a nice pool. It's hot and humid and we want to go for a swim. So I get this great idea to cut out strips of red paper from flyers to mimic the red wristband Gavin was wearing. It works! And we go swimming. We're sure they noticed, but didn't say anything since all we were doing was using their pool. It was loads of fun.

Afterwards, we bought some Costa Rican beer (40's, hah) at the supermarket and got a taxi to these hot springs about 13km down the road towards the volcano. Oh yeah- I forgot to mention the volcano Arenal. It's freaking enormous and spews lava down the west side of the volcano. We are on the eastern side, so we can't see it from the town, but the volcano itself is enormous!!

So we each pay about a dollar and are taxied to this hot springs resort area. Across from the $60 resort is the "run off" where all the locals go and chill fo free. It's dark at this point and we don't have flashlights. Hah. We pick our way down to the springs, shed our clothing, and sit down on this waterfallish thing. (we are wearing bathing suits of course.) It was like a really large slab of concrete, and the water flowed over, forming a waterfall where it droped off. There were some guys from San Jose, CA there with their cool teenage tourguide and we talked for a little bit.

The tourguide kid asked me if I wanted to go under the waterfall into a cave. I said "sure" and we plunged into the waterfall. Once we got inot the cave, which was the little space under the slab of concrete, he asked me if I was having fun and if that was my boyfriend outside. Hah. He totally wanted to get some. I told him my boyfriend was in the US and went back out of the cave :). We stayed there for about two and a half hours- the taxi driver said he'd pick us up at 9pm. It gets dark before 6pm here. So Gordon and I have a tipsy heart to heart conversation while Bea and Gavin talk, and we headed back up to the main road at 9.

Guess what? Taxi driver wasn't there. Prolly didn't even plan on cmoing back to pick us up.

We walk over to the $60 resort, throw away our empty bottles, help ourselves to some food, get kicked out, and ask for a taxi. Who shows up but our good 'ol flaker driver? Great. He comes, not looking happy at all. We seriously thought he was going to do something shady like drive us to the middle of the rainforest and strand us. Buttt he drove us back to the city where we walk back to our hostels and crash for the night.

The hot springs were pretty neat, though. Not too hot, very relaxing, and the stars weren't covered by tons of light pollution.

I had a good night's sleep and we woke up at around 7am the next morning. I'd say we kind of wandered around for the rest of today. We stopped by a supermarket and got some food for breakfast. I got some great vegan whole wheat cookies and beans and hips. In hindsight, cookies for breakfast is not a good idea.

Anyways, we kind of wandered around town a little bit, sat at the niternet cafe for a half hour each, I looked for shoes. Gordon went to get a massage and Bea and I took a nap.

I was sleeping great until the town's school band started playing really loudly outside Gringo Pete's. By band I mean a dozen or so drummers, some cymbals, and half a dozen large xylophones. It was quite a racket. I got up and went outside and watcehd them do their thang. It was real cute and they were havnig tons of fun.

I'm typing fast, bc I'm at a hostel right now and people look like they want to use the internet. Pardon the errors. Also, I left the connecting cable for my camera at Rob's so no pics until I get back!

When Gordon got back we made plans to walk to this river where the local kids al go swimming. It was about a half an hour walk, but it was great! THere was a great little waterfall and a rope swimng. THe water temp wasn't freexing, and it was great to hang out, jumping off rocks and flying off rope swings into the water- surrounded by rainforest with a massive volcano looming in the background.

We were the only people there, and started heading back at around six, when it got dark. I didn't bring my camera, but Bea and I are planning on going back tomorrow before our jeep-boat-jeep leaves at 8:30am for Monte Verde. FUn, fun, fun!

I also ate a big bag of fresh lychee and a bat flew into Gringo Pete's while we were eating dinner. Ciao!
-S

San Jose, Costa Rica

Thats right, folks. Bea and I just flew into San Jose, Costa Rica. This city reminds me a lot of Tijuana, Mexico. From what Ive seen, it is a poor and dirty large city. I cant wait to get out to Monteverde and Fortuna and Jaco and beautiful places along the pacific coast.

Like in Spain, the stop signs crack me up every time. Alto, stop, also means "tall" in spanish.

I cant find out how to get the apostrophe symbol to work, if you havent noticed. I could copy and paste it from another page, but thats a little too much effort. Foreign keyboards are always slightly awkward.

The flight was good. I slept from the time I strapped in (before takeoff) until the time I unbuckled my seatbelt (after landing). It was great. We had a connecting flight in Charlotte, NC.. and Bea and I alternated between doing a crossword puzzle and sleeping on the second flight. Some girl took one of our seats, so the flight attendant sat us in the emergency exit row, after asking how old I was. I looked at the pamphlet later on, and you have to be 15 years old to sit there. Do I honestly look 14? Jeez. There was a man and a woman sitting behind us, and I told Bea that they were probably on their honeymoon. Later on that was confirmed.

In the Charlotte airport Bea got some nachos, which took excruciatingly long. Not her fault, but we were the last ones to board. And when we got in our seats and settled down, the smell of the nachos wafted throughout the cabin. One of the flight attendents was so excited that she even showed us her own take out meal- mango and chicken.

I miss Mango. I hope he didnt think that I left him forever, although he will probably come to that conclusion when Im in Bioko. Poor baby.

Oh, and apparantly we didnt get free snacks on board, but a nice attendant lady snuck us some cookies and snacks. That was great.


Again, I cant wait until I am surrounded by the rainforest and hiking up volcanos.

Love, S