Amman and Beyond

Oops!

Of course, I got drunk and then forgot about everything! So typical! Not at all actually, I’m not a huge drinker. Once a month, max. I promise to finish up the updates and post pictures soon! I have a six hour shift at work tomorrow, that’s plenty of time to finish up and get some episodes of Lost in!

I’ll update mre on Thursday later hit it was fucjing amazing and I legally drink so more later!!! Half price screwdrivers!

Wednesday

Still raining but not nearly as bad. It just spits for a few hours and then stops. This morning, Drew (Dawn’s wife) took Dawn back to the doctor, who was in. It turns out that he had to recut her cut open with a scalpel in order to make sure that all of the sand and coral was out of the cut…it wasn’t. They pulled crap out of it and gave her stitches - THAT deep. She also got a shot in the ass, which we all found hilarious, but seriously, poor Dawn! She’s hobbling around because her foot is so sore and is being such a good sport about it. As for the rest of us, we left around 1 p.m. to go on the canopy tour of the rainforest - ziplining through the forest! After meeting up with the other group, we headed out to the middle of nowhere and then got in huge 4x4s to tackle the trails up the mountains. We came to a creek that the cars couldn’t go over with all of the weight, so we had to get out and cross ourselves, and then the car crossed. I looked hesitant and one of the tour guides just scooped me up and carried me across! It was hilarious. After we finally made it to the top, we got outfitted in our gear (which is insanely uncomfortable and also makes my butt look bigger than ever) and got instructions. Then we were off! IT WAS AMAZING. Let me state that a million times: IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! INCREDIBLE! UNBELIEVABLE! LIFECHANGING! MEMORABLE! AHHHHHH!!! Definitely one of the coolest things that I have ever done in my entire life. In between some of the zip lines was hiking which nearly kicked my ass - straight up HIKING THROUGH THE RAINFOREST. We were drenched in sweat and covered in mud from the rain. So completely worth it. It was absolutely amazing. I wish I could have taken video or pictures while I was going down the line, but you needed one hand to brake and one hand to keep you from spinning around, so no free hands =( However, there was a videographer/photographer that was there the whole time and we purchased a CD with a bunch of stuff on it from him that we’ll pick up tomorrow morning.

When we got back to home base, we were all filthy and muddy and I couldn’t wait to shower, because, uh, I haven’t yet. Haha, I went like three days without a shower because the rain cleaned us up! Unfortunately, there was no hot water. The coil was messed up or something. But it’s not that big of a deal because the water isn’t that cold in Costa Rica to begin with, so I just let it be. Let me tell you though, I have NEVER been so happy to use 2 in 1 shampoo/conditioner in my life. I got used to it after a while, it wasn’t that bad. But tomorrow we’ll have hot water - yes!

After showers and clean up, we headed to a restaurant on the beach that has an all-you-can-eat pizza night on Wednesdays. There was a kid playing a guitar and singing that sounded like what I imagine Costa Rican emo sounds like, but we gave him props anyways. The place was so quaint, and there were adorable little kids running around everywhere. I’m obsessed with foreign kids! For 8,000 colones (16 dollars), I got endless pizza, a big (rum-filled) pina colada, and two beers. Gotta love that.

So now we’re back at @ E’s. This place rules so hard. They also have fresh pina coladas made right in front of you that, I SWEAR, are getting stronger every time. I’ve decided that these pina coladas are my new thing. I’ve never had one in America, but they are delicious here. There’s a big group of people playing poker with the owner of this place while the rest of us are just updating our internet lives.

I am so obsessed with this place. I will definitely, without a doubt, return here. I’ve found all of these places that are SUPER cheap - 10 dollars a night - and free bicycle rentals (the best way to get around). It’s the most laid-back place. Puerto Viejo was founded by Jamaican workers that came to Costa Rica to work on the railroad. So it’s very Afro-Caribbean and also very Latin. Everyone smokes weed, everyone rides around on their little bikes, nobody wears a bra and nobody is in a hurry.

Also, these are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. EVER. They are constantly helping you in any way that they can, such as carrying you across a creek so as not to get your feet wet before you hike up the rainforest.

Today was amazing. Tomorrow, the girls and I are getting massages at this spa that’s outdoors in the middle of the jungle. Everything they use is natural and handmade, like the coconut oils and creams. Chocolate is also big in Costa Rica, so I’ll have to grab some of that before I leave.

I’m having a blast. I love this place! And pina coladas!

Tuesday

The rain kept up all Monday night. Somewhere after a few games of beer pong, we decided that it would be fun to go down to the beach in the torrential downpour. Um, it was a good idea? The sea looked FIERCE, the waves were insane. We got pelted with rain and it stung like hell. Afterwards, we went back home and uh, stayed there.

It lightened up a bit on Tuesday, but returned full force later on. Luckily, we took advantage of the few hours of sprinkling by visiting the monkey and sloth sanctuary that Dawn volunteers for. There were monkeys jumping all over us and eating my hair! It was awesome. The sloths were absolutely adorable. We also studied some pit vipers, lots of weird snakes and frogs. After that, we headed back to home base and hung out for a while. Dawn, Dawn (there’s two of them!), Rayke and I all headed to Manzanillo (sp?) for a short hike to a place with an amazing view. The catch is that you have to cross this little rivine by foot before you can get to it. Because of the rain, it was much deeper than usual, but we went for it anyways. BAD IDEA. Dawn slipped and cut her foot up bad on some coral. I also got a cut on my foot. We turned around when we realized how bad Dawn’s cut was and got her to a doctor. In the meantime, we hung out at @ E’s (pronounced “at ease”), eating more amazing food (tomato quesadillas!) and drinking more amazing drinks (the pina coladas are made with FRESH coconut, right in front of you…and lots of rum). We headed back for the night when Dawn realized that the doctor (there’s only one in town) was out for the day. I was exhausted, so I headed upstairs and watched movies on Rayke’s computer until I fell asleep while the rest of the gang played a game called “mexican” that involves dice and keeping score…I don’t get it.

Monday

I wrote this on Monday, while the power was out and there was no way for me to post it. Enjoy!

After a quick trip to Houston and Panda Express at 8:30 in the morning (terrible idea), we boarded our flight to San Jose. Unfortunately, we couldn’t sit together since I bought my tickets a few weeks before Rayke. I was seated in row 25, him in row 9. A couple asked me if I would switch with one of them so they could sit together and I obliged since I got a window seat out of it. The couple sitting next to me were from Germany or maybe Finland; the husband spoke no english and the wife spoke perfect english. Anyways, none of that matters because I was asleep in two seconds and stayed that way the entire time. I woke up about ten minutes before our descent into San Jose…that’s when the turbulence started. It was bad, probably the worst I’ve felt in years. Couple that with having Panda Express at 8:30 a.m. and being dehydrated and….well…I just couldn’t handle it. I threw up. A lot. I spent the rest of the flight blowing in and out of those bags that they give you and then once the airplane doors were opened and the 80 degree air was blown in…yeah, I felt like shit. SJO is a pretty small airport, but half of it is windows. The second we looked outside, our view looked identical to the LOST island! It was insane. You could see smoke coming out of the active volcano not too far away and everything was so green. We poked around in some tourist shops for a bit and I learned that Costa Rica has lots and lots of handmade wooden stuff for your kitchen, like bowls, salad servers, tongs, cups, cutting boards, bread baskets, etc. I want all of them. We of course found coffee, some of the best in the world, for 5 dollars per pound. Lots of adorable keychains. Usually I’m not in to touristy kitsch but this stuff is adorable. Anyways, we went through immigration and I got in with zero questions asked. Apparently Rayke filled out his form wrong (it’s his first time out of the country, let’s give him a break) and his immigration officer didn’t speak English, so it took him forrrrever. I went through customs with no problems, which was unexpected since I had medication and a banana in my backpack…until I realized that I didn’t put my backpack through the scanner, just my suitcase. Oops? I exchanged 10 american dollars for Costa Rican Colones and we immediately found our group outside the airport. An awesome deaf-mute guy at the airport took our stuff to our van while Drew explained that some disabled people come down to the airport to carry peoples’ luggage and such to earn a few dollars. We met the other couple, Dawn and Josh (two Dawns!) and our driver, Omar. We stopped at a supermarket called mas X menos (more or less) for beer. Just beer, haha. Beer is three things here: 1. insanely cheap (40s are the equivalent of 2 dollars), 2. delicious (i’m picky with my beer), 3. EVERYWHERE. Equipped with our beers we headed out of San Jose to begin our 4 hour journey to Puerto Viejo, wayyyyy out on the Caribbean coast. We drove by a park that was teeming with people everywhere - families flying kites, kids on skateboards, girls gossiping, old couples talking. The way of life here is so insanely laid back. I fell asleep pretty soon and woke up in the middle of the rainforest. Seriously. We had to drive through a mountain within the rainforest on our way to PV and I was awetruck. It was just walls of green. Of course, it was raining. The awesome part was the waterfalls everywhere. People would just pull over on the side of the road and get out their jugs to fill up with water from the waterfalls before they continued on their journey. We stopped at this awesome outdoor restaurant/hut/thing so I could potty and it turned out to be a big buffet of food. I wasn’t hungry and still pretty nauseous, but Dawn, Drew and Josh had fried chicken (who knew?), rice and beans, and this purple…thing. I think they said it was beets and cream? I’m not sure but it was BRIGHT magenta, like borscht. There were enormous, ENORMOUS containers of pickled vegetables on every table which reminded me of my mom, who orders them every time we go to eat mexican food. There were apples and onions hanging from the ceiling and four kinds of hot sauce on every table. Everyone was insanely hospitable and one guy even carried an umbrella over my head when I got out of the van so I wouldn’t get wet! Afterwards we carried on and I basically passed out. I woke up just in time for it to be pitch black dark outside, on the worst roads you’ve ever seen, with our driver speeding and dodging pot holes like a fucking pro. It was sort of terrifying, so I just went back to sleep. We finally made it to PV and I was smitten at first sight. There’s one road that goes through the middle and it’s cluttered with little shops, bars, restaurants and street vendors. There are bars everywhere. After about a mile, everything cleared and to the left is just beach and lots of it. I mean, it was dark so we couldn’t see much but you could hear the waves. We finally got to our road and our home for the week and it is the cutest thing everrrrr! It’s essentially like a tree house. There’s a huge porch, a bottom level with an open room, kitchen and bathroom in the back and a bedroom on the other side. The stairs are basically suicidal and you have to hold on to a bunch of stuff to get up or down them. The upstairs is a big veranda for lack of better words. Two rooms, and a big huge deck. Our room has windows on either side that swing open and shut. It’s literally like being in the trees. In other words, amazing. We set our stuff down and got acquainted, then headed down to the local youth hostel for food and internet. It’s pretty much the coolest place on earth. You can rent a hammock for 10,000 colones (5 dollars) a ni ght. I immediately ordered a margarita, because why not? Passionfruit, nonetheless. I ordered the fish tacos which were out of this world- served with black beans, coconut rice and some kind of delicious aioli. We hung out for a while, I got to call my mom via Skype and we found out that the packers lost. By this time, I’m pretty much exhausted and playing with all the stray dogs (none of which are dangerous or feral or even starving…everybody feeds them and takes them in). When we got back, I brushed my teeth and washed my face (which feels a million times better after a day of flying) and went straight to bed. Under our pink mosquito net. I fell asleep right away. Then the rain started. And the wind. So loud that we had to close the windows (boo!). Around 7:30, it was still raining, so I figured we probably weren’t going to the beach. And here I am, at 12:09….and it’s still raining. The neighbor said that it never rains like this. I mean it is like torrential downpour and it’s been going on for at least 10 hours by now. Dawn and Drew told us that all the little lakes and creeks had dried up around here so it’s good to get this rain. I find it really relaxing, actually. I’m just laying up in our bed, watching the rain and listeneing to the rain and smelling the rain. I’m not sure what time the power went out, but it did. And it’s still out. Luckily, the stove is a gas stove. We had breakfast around 9:30 and it was delicious! Beans and rice (every meal), fresh pineapple (the best I’ve ever had), tortillas and plantains. Fun fact about Costa Rica - they don’t put salt or pepper on anything. I didn’t see any salt or pepper shakers at any of the places we had been. So I just covered everything in hot sauce. And it was delicious. I went upstairs to take a quick nap before we went to the monkey sanctuary (apparently, just throw on a dress and flip flops when it rains like this so you can just hang up the dress and hose off the flip flops). Rayke and a few others went “to town” to get some flip flops and found out that there are two power lines just laying in the middle of the road…so that’s probably where the power is, haha. Unfortunately, we can’t shower (no hot water), I can’t read my book (no light) and…well…not much actually. So we’re just playing beer pong. All day. I think. I’m already tired again, but who knows? Maybe the rain will let up, although from the sounds of it (really, really loud sounds of it), it’s going to stay around all day.

We’ve made plans to go ziplining through the jungle, go on an ATV tour through the rainforest, and snorkel. We’ll see what else we can fit in, since we only have Tuesday-Friday left (Saturday is all travel). I think I’d be content sitting on the beach for the rest of those days but we’ll see what’s in store. It’s insane that I went from sitting on the couch in my apartment to this, and I’ll be going from this to sitting in a classroom! Outrageous! But so far, so good. Costa Ricans are super nice and there’s lots of conveniences for Americans - they use the same power outlets (no adaptors), everyone takes american dollars (no fear of getting ripped off), a lot of places even take our credit cards (don’t need to carry cash) and there’s people from all over the place everywhere. I hear lots of cheering, I think that means somebody scored in beer pong. My turn!

I have so much to say but there is a huge storm in puerto viejo and the power is out. I’m updating with my iPhone! Today was monkey sanctuary, sloth petting and manzanilla. Tomorrow is zip lining through the forest. Thursday is massages in the jungle. Friday is shopping. It’s beautiful here even in the rain! Can’t wait for some sunshine though.

Accomodations are amazing! It’s like a tree house with everything open and the air swimming through. I feel like a princess under my pink mosquito net. The food is AMAZING. Fish tacos are the best, everything is fresh, and did I mention the pineapple? Oh my god, amazing! The drinks are also awesome. All fruity and such. Margaritas with passionfruit, piña coladas with fresh coconut, it’s all delicious.

We just found out that a huge earthquake hit Haiti, that might be why it’s raining so hard here- the whole caribbean is on tsunami watch.

Anyways the travel bug is back! Can’t wait to go south of the u.s. again to Bolivia one year from now!

Cheers! Post soon!

It’s time for Costa Rica!

Hey all! I’m back to my travels, so the blog gets updated! My boyfriend Rayke (like the lawn tool) and I will be boarding a plane to Costa Rica in two hours. My backpack is packed and my suitcase has plenty of room for lots and lots of coffee to bring home to all of my closest. I’m stoked for beaches, rain forests, volcanoes, and legally drinking. I’m not sure on the picture situation until we return because I’m not taking my laptop with me. But I’ll be updating whenever and wherever I can throughout the week.

So stoked!