COSTA RICA!!!!

I am finally back in the United States! Woo hoo!

Costa Rica was amazing! We spent 3 weeks treking around the whole country. We landed in San Jose and hung out for a few days. San Jose is much like LA. BIG city with lots of people and corporate businesses. It's also scary at night. The taxi drivers are maniacs. They fly through stop signs and red lights like it's nobody's business. It's like being on a roller coaster. INSANE! We stayed at Hostel Bekuo and met up with a British lad. We invited him to Monteverde with us.

Then we headed up to Monteverde in the Cloud Forest for my birthday! It was so beautiful! We stayed in this wonderful cabin from Cabinas Valle Campanas. Beautiful family! Rayna is a wonderful hostess and I highly recommend staying there if you ever visit! She recommended the best for us. We hiked up through the Cloud Forest and saw so much wonderful rain forest! On my birthday, we went Zip Lining through the Cloud Forest and it was the biggest rush of my life! LOVED it! We also visited a Bat Museum and got to see all the different species that live in Costa Rica. Monteverde was one of my favorites!

After Monteverde, we took a private shuttle with the Brit to Brasilito on the Pacific Coast just north of Tamarindo. That's when it got HOT! I thought I was melting! Brasilito was fun! Our room was right on the ocean (literally, the beach was on the other side of the street in front of our door). Joey got to surf a bit on Playa Grande. I tried, but panicked in the water (open water terrifies me!). I collected WAYYY too many seashells. Near the end of the day, I got some excellent shots of the sunset. I also put on 4 applications of sunscreen but got SOOO sunburnt. We were going to try and wake up late at night to watch a Leatherback come ashore and lay her eggs, but it proved to be quite an expensive task. Regardless, Brasilito was fun, but at the end of the trip, the Brit decided to part ways and head to Tamarindo while we went to Montezuma.

Montezuma was next and it was so great! It is this tiny little town, only 2 blocks long and it's on the tip of the northern peninsula. The nearest police station was 20 miles away (20 miles is quite a bit when there are only dangerous dirt roads leading to everywhere) so the town was pretty liberal. We stayed up the road smack in the jungle in this Hostel-style hotel names Luna Llena. BEAUTIFUL view and hotel. I woke up to monkeys on the deck one morning. Iguanas try to catch sunlight on the roofs of all the buildings but they are made out of metal so the Iguanas can be quite loud and frightening if you don't know what they are. Luna Llena was so beautiful. Joey surfed at another Playa Grande and we hiked to beautiful waterfalls. We had a great time! :)

Next up was a ferry across the channel to get to Turrialba. Turrialba is east of San Jose, so it was quite the day of travel. Turrialba is a little like San Jose, but a lot smaller and with more wildlife surrounding the town. It's not very touristy so the prices were very reasonable with souvenirs and other things. Veronica taught me how to knit there which was so fun! I love knitting now! Turrialba is also known for their coffee which is SO DELICIOUS! We bought lots while we were there. We also went White Water Rafting on the Pacuare for a full day. It brought back so many memories of my Dad! I had such a good time!

After a couple days there, we went to Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean for Christmas! We were staying at Rocking J's hostel and had rented out J's Palace for three days over Christmas. It was the most magnificent house I have ever seen! J (founder of Rocking J's) had built the whole thing himself. It was loaded with tiled mosaics, incredible artwork, hammocks and little flairs of the Caribbean! As he was showing us around, he gave us a complimentary joint. WELCOME TO THE CARIBBEAN! :) Rocking J's was an experience alone. I could write a book about it, but you'll just have to check my Facebook and see pictures...or go there yourself! Puerto Viejo was a typical Caribbean town. Vendors everywhere. Rasta everywhere. Jamaican weed EVERYWHERE! Joey and I had some (hello! Jamaican weed in the Caribbean? A genius wouldn't turn that down!). It was a very fun high. :)

During the last few days we had free, Darius, Shane, Larissa, Veronica and Ross (the Brit! We met up with him again) all wanted to head to Panama for a few days. I really didn't want to go because we had been so active and busy for the last few weeks that I just wanted to sit in the Caribbean at Rocking J's and do absolutely nothing. Panama was a little too spontaneous for me, so we split up. Joey stayed with me and the others went to Panama. Joey and I had fun the last few days in Puerto Viejo. We spent wayyyy too much money shopping for our families, we spent one morning at an animal reserve playing with baby Howler monkeys, and rode bikes all the way to Punta Uva where we snorkled in Emerald colored waters! :) It was very nice and relaxing...just what a vacation should be!

Nearing the end, we headed back to San Jose and reunited with the others. The others had a great time in Panama and came back with Ross. We had one last 'hoorah' at Club Vyrus, the bar we stopped at on our first night where everyone enjoyed Cuckrochas. We said our goodbyes and departed on December 31st 6am Costa Rican time. Joey and I walked into our apartment at 11:15pm Californian time (1:15am Costa Rican time). Twas a long day.

I am so happy I went to such a beautiful place. It was challenging for me to be so far away from my family and miss them so much over the holidays but I am still so happy I went. I really want to go back and see what I missed another time (not during the holidays!). I miss the warmth and patience that everyone seemed to bestow. I am relieved to see everything in English again, but a part of me misses trying to talk to everyone in my broken Spanish (also, warning: not as many people speak English as you would think!).

PURA VIDA!