I kind of suck at keeping up with this whole blog business. Therefore, I will write a few catch-ups, and hopefully that will count for having documented my time here in Costa Rica.
Before coming to Costa Rica, I had thought about planning all my weekend travel in advance, to ensure that I could do what I was interested in without outside input. Upon consideration, however, I thought it might be smart to wait until I got here, to see what sort of travel secrets I might uncover. Turns out, I was right to do so! Originally I wanted to spend my first weekend in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, a really chill-sounding town on the Caribbean coast. The eastern coast is where the African ex-slaves settled after working on the banana and coffee plantations as free laborers. So I thought the mix of cultures would be fascinating, and I loved the idea of kayaking through the coastal mangrove swamps. This, however, was not in the cards for me (this time, at least.) Puerto Viejo is about six hours away from San José, and with my limited amount of time on the weekends and the danger of third world countries after the sun sets, I decided to search for closer, if not greener, pastures.
For my first weekend my wonderful host family, consisting of my mamita, Flory and my hermanita, Michelle, invited me to go with them to a place called Manuel Antonio, a national park that is well known for its beaches. Then I found out it was a "gay paradise", and I was in! I was flattered that they liked me well enough to want to spend the weekend with me. On Friday afternoon, I left early from class and we took a four hour bus through the mountains, the farmland, along the coast, to the village of Manuel Antonio. The first night we met an awesome Colombian woman named Jovvana (Yoh-ah-nah), who has since become my tía (aunt) Jovvana in my Costa Rican family. She joined us on our adventures!
Interestingly, the entry fee for gringos into the national park is way more expensive than it is for nationals. Flory tried to get me in as her daughter, but alas, my pasty whiteness gave me away... The walk from the entrance of Manuel Antonio led us through the forest, where I saw capucin monkeys for the first time (they´re like the monkey in "Pirates of the Caribbean"), a wee green frog, a snake with a cream-colored belly and an emerald green back, some bats, lots of racoons, and some SLOTHS. Kill me now. Sloths in life are just as horrific as they are on the National Geographic shows. The monkeys are cute though :)
Manuel Antonio has three beaches within the national park, with the third being by far the most spectacular. Don´t get me wrong, the other two are also lovely, but the third one has the animals, the white sand, and more places to explore! The presence of wildlife has its price though - we had to fend off a gang of monkeys, who get rather aggressive when they want your food. One of them stole a small packet of cream-filled cookie sandwiches from another group, then ran up into a tree to eat them in peace. He pulled out each cookie, one by one, then pried the cookies apart, licked off the cream, then dropped the cream-free cookies onto the man sitting beneath the tree. The guy´s face was priceless when he realized with this cookie rain was coming from...
That night, after a day of swimming in water the temperature of bathwater and watching monkeys cavort in the almond trees lining the beach, we went out to the public beach to watch the sun go down. It was quick, because of Costa Rica´s proximity to the equator, but very beautiful. The next day, given the ruby red status of my skin, I opted to stay in the shade during the few hours we spent at the beach. We took the bus back to San José in the afternoon, and that was the end of my first weekend in Costa Rica... or so I thought. I woke up around midnight, feeling like I was going to die, or at least puke up all my internal organs. But one day of yuckiness and the loss of the pinkness in my hair in exchange for a weekend at a national park? I´ll take that trade any day.
Things I learned:
1. Those birds gracefully wheeling through the sky are not hawks - they are vultures.
2. Salt water is the enemy of unnatural hair colors. My streaky pinkness VANISHED during my day in the sea.
3. Probably not news to anyone, but the sun close to the equator? It´s hot! And carrying a backpack on sunburned skin is nobody´s idea of a good time.
4. I wouldn´t mind if sloths were an endangered species.
Oh and 5. Costa Rica is awesome.
Happy adventuring!
*Olivia
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