After the Caribbean time!

Wow. This weekend was amazing. I love the Caribbean and I love my new friends! We had a blast getting to know each other, relaxing, and getting the experience of being a Costa Rican. We left really early on Friday morning to avoid the heat and get as much time on the sand and in the sun as we could. When we arrived I could not believe my eyes, the trees, the sun, the people, our hotel, the sand, the water, the everything was so wonderful. We stayed the first night in Cahuita a city and hour before Puerto Viejo, it is a smaller town with not many tourists. We had the entire hotel/hostel to ourselves besides one couple. Our rooms were beautiful and there were hammocks on the porch, the pool was beautiful and we spent 3 hours there after the dance club, its so hot throughout the night that we need a cool clean body of water to relax in. There were 12 of us so it was great fun playing pranks and hearing different life stories. In Cahuita Marlous, Immogen and I stayed on the beach all day while the others visited the national park. We made friends with the local Rasta man, Rolonaldo, he lives off the land and hangs out with the tourists. He spent a few hours with us swimming, telling stories, and climbing a tree and getting us fresh coconuts to drink from. It was crazy to see how he cut them open with a machete and cut spoons out of the sides of them. There will be a video on my facebook. He then took us swimming to teach us how to body surf, or throw yourself into a wave and hope it takes you somewhere! The people in that town are so friendly and the restaurant workers took pictures with us, made us special dishes, hung out by the table, and invited us dancing with them on Friday night. We went to the town, which was maybe 30 buildings total, and went to the two clubs. One was a live band that played salsa and meringue music the other was a Rasta club. Yes, I danced, thanks to my new friends I some how had the confidence to get on the dance floor. It was actually really fun! I don’t know if I will ever voluntarily dance with a 54 year old Rasta man again but hey it was part of the experience and he wasn’t that bad at meringue! Stories to come about that one! That was all on Friday, Saturday we went to the next city, Puerto Viejo, wow it was so beautiful. The beaches were so white and the water so clear! We stayed at the most amazing Hostel ever called Rocking J’s. It is for surfers and world travelers. Our room was called the pimp suite and was the most amazing room ever. Immogen and I layed in Hammocks on our balcony for 4 hours talking and just enjoying Costa Rica. We met so many people in the Hostel, I have new friends from Spain, Australia, Peru, Holland, and Argentina it was so cool to hear stories and just get to know different lifestyles. We got really burnt and our fingers wrinkled from staying in the water so long but I would have had it no other way! The bus ride home was a different story! I think the count of almost deaths was 6 or 7, the bus drivers think they are indestructible and the rain does not stop them from anything. It was kind of exciting and kept us on our toes. We made it back safe, red skinned, and close friends. The conversations had will never be forgotten, the people will always be remembered and my life will forever be changed. Pura Vida!!