Last week went by SO fast! Not much happened during the week that is particularly exciting. However, I did manage to drop one of my classes, and it feels like a gigantic weight has been lifted off my shoulders! I now feel like I will be able to enjoy Heredia more without constantly worrying about homework. So relieved!! Now I am just taking my Latin American short stories class. Yay!
Last week also consisted of an array of complicated texts, calls, and facebook messages in order to plan the awesome weekend some of us just had in Puerto Viejo! It was a nightmare to plan and decide what we wanted to do, but it was so worth it! Four of us girls (me, Claire, Katie, and Autumn) took a bus to the lively, ocean-side town of Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean Coast. Finding the right bus was extremely confusing and complicated, so I was shocked/impressed/relieved when we finally found ourselves on our way! We had to first take a bus from Heredia to San Jose (about 30 minutes) to the Caribbean terminal, and from there we had about a five hour bus ride to the coast.
The place we stayed at was called Rocking J's, the most bizarre (and only) hostel I have ever seen! Everything was turned into artwork--the bathrooms, the showers, the floor, the tables, even our lockers. Every available surface was painted by former guests, which was very interesting to look at. Even more crazy is where we slept: The four of us spent two nights sleeping in hammocks for $7/night!! It was such an odd concept. There was a huge pavilion outside filled with hammocks, and we all just slept in there together with complete strangers. It was actually extremely comfortable, and since the hostel was right on the beach we got to rock ourselves to sleep and listen to waves hitting the shore--paradise!
Just as interesting as the sleeping arrangements were the awesome people that we met. Everyone at hostels is so friendly and outgoing--I guess sleeping in outdoor hammocks makes you instant friends! Some of the kids we met have been traveling for weeks or even months, just living hostel to hostel and picking up odd jobs wherever they can. It's a concept that I cannot even imagine, but I admire their guts! It's scary traveling in a foreign country, so they get major kudos for doing it alone and staying in hostels. One guy that we met was named Bruno and he is from Brazil. He's been traveling all over the world for the past couple months and I think he said he's been to over 15 countries. The manager of the bar/restaurant and nephew of Rocking Jay himself, Gabriel, was incredibly friendly and just awesome in general. He's only 20 years old and already owns his own restaurant (the one at the hostel) and a bike rental service. It may not be the conventional way to go through life, but it sure is like working in paradise.
We spent the night just exploring the town and dancing at a local bar. The whole town pretty much caters to Americans, but I kind of wish that less people spoke English. I didn't get much practice in this weekend! The next morning, we headed to the beach for a few hours. It was absolutely gorgeous--huge waves that were super fun to play in, some sun to soak up, and the jungle just a couple feet away from us. It was unreal. After that, we went back and Claire and I rented bikes for only $5 for the whole day. We rode into town and had the best ham and cheese croissant I have ever had...yummmm. After that, Katie and three of our friends we had met at the hostel (Bruno and two brothers who were staying there for a few days) also rented bikes and we all rode to another beach. It was a looooong bike ride, but so much fun and so interesting to see the landscape. On the way back, some of the group saw monkeys in the trees, but unfortunately Claire and I missed it because we left early :( Soon after we got back to the hostel, our friends Madsion and Morgan got there. They had driven up a day after us with some of our Tico friends. After we all showered, we headed into town to eat and just enjoy the night. A lot of fun!
This morning wasn't too exciting, but still fun! We walked next door and had banana pancakes and smoothies for breakfast (which were delicious by the way!) and then walked into town to buy tickets for the bus back to Heredia. We were planning on taking the 11:00 bus to Heredia, but it was full so we ended up waiting for the 1:00 bus instead. It was scorching hot today, so it was kind of miserable walking around aimlessly waiting for 1:00 to roll around, but eventually we found some stores and a restaurant to go and cool off in, so it wasn't too bad. After three buses and five hours of traveling, we finally made it home safe :)
Overall, another amazing weekend, full of sun, dancing, and nighttime adventures on the beach! I seriously can't believe how lucky I am to be here. It doesn't seem possible that we can be having this much fun every week. This Friday, we are going to the big soccer game between the national Costa Rican team and I believe Nicaragua, but I could be wrong. It should be a lot of fun!! Then on Saturday we are going to Monteverde for a night, which is a famous national park here where apparently the canopy tours are a breathtaking must-do. Can't wait!
That all sounds so great! Glad to hear your having such a great time. Thanks for sharing.
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