I am sorry if my blog has turned into a repetition of the same thing, but this weekend was GREAT!!! I really think my favorite part of the excursions is getting there. CR is only about the size of West Virginia, but the landscape is SOOOOO diverse. After we got out of the valley, we went into soft rolling hills, and the ride was pretty good. We did go on a public bus, which meant no air, so it may have been a bit stuffy, but I really did not mind it. The windows were all down and once we were moving, it was perfect. I do not know how many of you know this, but I have this fetish with trees in a row. Most of my friends here know that and about 2 of them told me at the same time to look outside. When I looked, there were just ROWS of huge palm trees. It was so beautiful. This continued for MILES. I can not describe why I love trees in a line so much, but they really just make me so happy. I am going to go girly on everyone here, but I always pictured myself getting married in a big tree orchid or something. As long as lined trees are present....
Once we got to the beach, we checked into Didi's bed and breakfast. It was super cute. I think there were only about 6 bedrooms in the whole place, but it was nice and quiet. Most of the hotels are up in the mountains and you have to take the bus down to the beach. We rode down to the beach, ate some Italian Pizza and gelato (hazelnut) then went to the beach. We just hung out for a while and starting playing the ninja game. Next time you see me, we will play it. I think I got on everyone's nerves because I kept on asking to play it again and again. As most of you know, I love games, so that shows you how fun this one was! I can not wait to play it back home!
We finally made it back, went to bed, and everyone slept in till about 10!!!!! Woohoo!! We had breakfast downstairs then headed to the beach. For lunch I had Fish quesadillas (Zack, we are going to make these) which were great! Back to the beach to bury Hope in the ground and give her a muscular man body.... which entails me getting a bit burnt on my back :( I was doing so good. Hope and I started walking down the beach, and ended up at the exit of the National park. We turned around to walk back, but the guard called us down, and let us go in for FREE!! We walked in it for about 40 minutes, and got to see some spectacular beaches and monkeys!!! That was nice, because we had all decided that we were not going to pay to go in. PURA VIDA!
For dinner we went to this SPECTACULAR restaurant. It is called El Avion/ the airplane. In the restaurant there is an actual plane that was shot down in Nicaragua during the Sandista revolts, or something like that. I had a mahi mahi sandwish, which was SUPERB but I think the best was my drink. Our first week in CR, they gave us a little sample drink at a restaurant called a coco loco. IT. WAS, AMAZING! I would like to describe it as similar to a piña colada, but better! It is all of the same flavors but with cinnamon I think? Anyway, I saw it on the menu, splurged, and bought one. I think I am the only 20 year old who can drink a NA drink and feel that cool. (Zack, we are going to make these too, I know how you love coconut and you are a bit loco too) wE went to the hotel and played charades and cards until we all went to sleep.
Sunday, I wanted to wake up early to head down to the beach. I rolled over, asked Hope if she still wanted to go, and received a "AAAAAOOOOHHHHHH", (that means no), so I slept in too. We ate breakfast, then headed to the bus stop for 12. I sat with an older Tico on the way home, which I was kind of excited about. I feel guilty sometimes for hanging out with just my group of friends. Fellowship and community is great, but that should not be the entirety of our day. Rafa only spoke Spanish too. I started to share my faith with him, but he was a Costa Rican Catholic. It reminds me a lot of sharing with people back home. Everyone knows enough about it to talk about it and it makes it really hard to see where they really are.
I asked him what he thought about Catholicism being so engrained in the culture, and it said it was very cultural but beautiful. He said that he goes to church every week at least once but does not read the Bible because it is to profound. I tried to talk to him about that too, and feel like it was a really good conversation. It made me think back to when I did not see any need or have any desire to read the bible. Maybe my excuse was that it was to "profound" or complicated, but it made me very grateful to see how far I have come with my relationship with Christ.
We talked for the majority of the trip home. He works for a rental car company and drives everyday from San José to Manuel Antonio (3 hours) then rides the public bus home (3 more hours)!!!! Needless to say, he knew the route and showed us cool stuff along the way. The coolest--- Los crocodilos! We just passed them on a bridge but they were HUGE!!!!! That was my first time to see any in the wild.And all of those beautiful palm trees were for pal oil cultivation.
Once we made it home, the whole area's water was completely off :( My tico parents said that it does not happen much in their neighborhood, but in others it does. I went to a friends house to watch the Superbowl but it was in Spanish and did not have the real commercials... needless to say it just was not the same.
Very long post, but if you made it down to here, I know that you love me!!
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