Hello again everybody. I have been super busy since we last talked. Last Wednesday we had a free day, so we went to Jacó Beach. We met at school at 6am. Yes, 25 college kids got up before 6 to go to the beach. We got to the beach around nine and spent the whole day outside. It was a little cloudy, but super humid. There was lots of lying out, trying to ride the waves, and drinking. It was really fun and super chill, until we all realized that we were terribly burned. This took part way through the drive home. And yes, we did apply sunscreen, but none of us took into account our proximity to the equator, and that killed us. I'm pretty sure most of our group was burned, and now a bunch of people are pealing. Pleasant, I know.
Then bright and early at 6 am again on Friday morning we left for the Osa Penninsula. That was quite a long trip. It was a 6 hour bus ride and a 2 hour boat ride. On our bus ride we got to drive along the Pan-American highway and drive over el Cerro de los Muertes (aka the Hill of the Dead). It's about 10,000 feet in elevation and it has a tendency to get foggy and cloudy making the steep hills even more dangerous. Luckily we were there super early in the morning, so we made it with no problems. We picked up the boats in Sierpe, a little town along a river. We all put our bags in garbage bags to protect them from the water, but we were not nearly protected enough. I was in the front row of one of the boats, and obviously it started to rain. But I had fun with it because there was nothing else we could do. When we arrived at Drake Bay, we hopped out of the boats in the water because docks are a foreign concept. Then we had to make the trek to our "hotel." It was only like a mile and a half from the beach, but it was way up a hill, so we had to take trucks. However, only 12 people could go at a time, so we had to make 3 trips. Of course I was on the last truck, which means I was one of the last people to arrive at lunch. And of course, they ran out of food so we had to wait for them to cook another meal for us four unfortunate souls.
And now prepare yourselves as I explain our "hotel." Let me start by staying there is no way I would stay in a place like this in any situation other than this trip. Our "rooms" were tents on raised, covered platforms. Technically we had beds, but you might as well have been sleeping on the bed frame because you could feel it through the mattress. And technically we had electricity and running water, except they turned it off at different times everyday. Apparently Osa penninsula did not have electicity until 4 years ago, so they haven't made much progress. I'm sure all of you who know me would not exactly describe me as outdoorsy, so needless to say, this was quite the predicament.
We had the rest of the afternoon free, so we went down to the beach. We didn't have to drive back down. No, no, we took the cattle path. So yes, on our walk down we ran into some cows and lots of cow poop. Lovely. Right at the bottom we got to see a monkey which was pretty cool, so it almost made up for the walk down, but not really at all. And since we were trapped in the middle of nowhere, we stayed at the "lodge" for the rest of the night. The "lodge" was really just a pavillion where they served meals and had a bar, but there was nowhere else to go.
Saturday morning we got up early so we could head over to Corcovado National Park. The park was on the mainland, but we had to take a boat to get there because there are no roads. At the park we split up into two groups. My group went on the super hard, long, boring trail first. Our guide was not very talkative, so he didn't point out many things. We saw lots of leaf cutter ants, and he had a tendency to stop right in the middle of one of their paths, so everyone got bitten. He also liked to stop when we were being too loud. It was like learning to walk quietly, single file in kindergarten. There was lots of trees and green stuff, but not too many animals. We did get to stop at a waterfall and play in a watering hole for a little bit, and it was completely necessary. It was super humid, so we were all super sweaty. When we got back from our 2 hour hike, the other group was just hanging out. We got to play in the ocean a little, but then it was time for lunch. And again, I was one of the last people to get to lunch, so of course they ran out of food. I got rice and pasta salad and no untensil to eat it with. Awesome.
That afternoon our groups switched trails, but the other group just got to go straight to the waterfall which was only like 20 minutes away. We got to go on another hour and a half hike. Luckily this one wasn't as steep/narrow/deadly as the last one. And on this trail we actually got to see some animals. But yet again, there were tons of leaf cutter ants.
So when we finally made it back to the "hotel," all anybody wanted to do was shower. And again, we stayed at the "lodge" all night. Everybody was playing euchre. I watched for a long time and learned to play. I actually won the first two games I played (because I had a good partner, but that's besides the point). It was one of the girl's on our trips birthday, so the owner of the hotel made us cake and jungle juice to celebrate.
Sunday morning we were all woken up by the sun and the heat at 5:30 am. Lovely. It was deathly hot and obviously the water wasn't on and breakfast wasn't ready, so all you could do was sit in the heat. This time we took a boat ride to Caño Island. Here we went swimming and snorkeling. Everybody was applying sunscreen and bugspray religously because we didn't want to get burned and there were these stupid little fly/bug things that were eating us alive. The first group went out right when we got there. It was taking them a long time, and there group was mostly boys, so when we saw their boat in the distance, we ran to the food and started filling up our plates so we wouldn't starve. We went snorkeling away from the shore a little bit. I had never been snorkeling, so I thought it was amazing. We saw lots of fish and a shark! The shark was only like 3 feet long, but come on, it was a shark. When our group came back, another group went out, but by the time they returned, the island was closed. Yes, the island closed. I have never heard of an island closing, but Caño Island closes at 2:00 in the afternoon. We took the boats back and wanted to be part of the first group to get back, but no no. The boys sprinted off their boat and got to the cars first. What gentlemen. So I was stuck on the last trip, and we had to wait half an hour, part of it in the rain, on the beach. That night again turned into lots of Euchre games, but everyone was really ready to leave.
Monday morning we at breakfast at 6:15 am so we could book it out of there. We made it back to Sierpe by 9:00. It was great to get back on the bus with air conditioning. Everyone was starving and craving American food, so we convinced the adults to let us go to McDonald's for lunch. We cleaned that place out. Luckily our food was on Miami, so we feasted. We spent somewhere around $250. What can I say, we're hungry college students. We got back to San José around 3:30. The first thing I did when I got back was take a shower, and it was glorious.
Tomorrow we are going to see the United States play Costa Rica in soccer, so that should be very interesting. Some of got Costa Rican jerseys, but we're rooting for the United States. The game is sold out, and it's bound to be intense. Then on Friday we leave for our last weekend excursion. This time we actually get to stay in a resort. We're also going white water rafting, zip lining, snorkeling, and loads of other cool stuff. I'll let you all know about it, but it probably won't be for another week.
Pura Vida
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