After the program ended a group of us packed up, stored most of our crap (like my GIGANTIC suitcase) at the hotel, and hopped on a bus for Puerto Viejo where we planned to rent and share a house. The normally 4 hour bus ride took 8+ hours in the rain where there was water over the wheels of the bus as we looked out the window. We were supposed to arrive in time to meet the Contact and get the keys to the house. Now it's dark, there's 12 of us and no one has a phone. Or even the contact number! Luckily we found an internet cafe and one of the girls had the number in her e-mail. We had to borrow one of the guys phones that was working at the cafe and were finally able to reach him and he came to meet us. He let us in and then came to check on us the next day.
We spent a week at the house it was awesome. Well sleeping arrangements were less than ideal for me seeing as I didn't get a bed, but I lived. We took turns making dinner, and we drank and hung out. During the day we rented bikes and went on trips down the coast. Found a gorgeous beach at Punta Uva where we spent the day lounging in the sun and playing in the water. I had fish tacos for the first time and of course they were amazing :) There was a little drama for me towards the end but it's not worth detailing now, haha.
After Puerto Viejo Katie, Marc, Michael and I left a little early to get into San Jose. Marc and Michael were leaving and Katie and I were continuing on to Nicaragua to meet up with our friend Quinn. The four of us found a Hostel and went out for a good bye dinner. We thought we picked a random restaurant but it ended up to be the one we went to with the program one of our first nights there so that was pretty cool. (that meal is also where I fell in love with Malbec wine!)
Now Katie and I were on our way to Nicaragua on a bus full of Nicaraguans, crossing our fingers Quinn Made the connection to the bus! (she did) crossing the boarder was super jenky! They ask for everyones passport and I mean you're told not to give it to ANYONE. but everyone else was so we did too and thank heavens it turned out ok! We made it into a city in Nicaragua but we wanted to go to the coast. We found this crazy cab driver and idiotically put our bags in the trunk... terrible idea but nothing happened luckily. And he stopped at home to get something on the way to the town we were going San Juan del Sur. But he was really nice and found us a hostel where we had an upstairs room just the 3 of us. we shared a bathroom but it was mostly us for the time we were there. and we had a gorgeous balcony and were across the street from the bay we were on. I've got gorgeous pictures from those sunsets.
Nicaragua was pretty cheap. we got a decent sized basket of fish and chips for $4 and there were drink specials for $1.50 Rum and coke, $2 daquaris, ladies drank free 8-10pm. I made friends with a local server, danced my A$$ off and I'm lucky I remember it at all. But it was a BLAST. We also got amazing coconut oil massages and a free bottle of coconut oil and a chocolate after our massage. That was possibly the best chocolate I've ever had. San Juan del Sur was just relaxing and fun. The last night we were there I stayed up all night and then Katie and I hopped a bus/cab to town where we got on a ferry to go to Ometeppe
Ometeppe is an Island in the middle of a fresh water lake called Lake Nicaragua. It's the 2nd largest lake in the world I believe. And it's gorgeous. We're genius' so we didn't see the gigantic ferry and ended up on some local boat that was getting tossed around in the waves and we lifted our feet to keep them from getting wet we made it across and to the hostel where Stefan, Mimi, and Nathan were staying to find them gone for the day. Katie convinced me to climb up the volcano with a guide and this guy from England? I think that's where he was from. remember me no sleep. 3 hours up, 2 hours down. It was incredible. I'm glad I did it but I was exhausted by the end! Water levels were crazy high on Ometeppe I think the shores had risen 50 ft? yds? there were doors of businesses halfway under water. They just got an insane amount of rain in October-November. Finally we met up with Nathan, Stefan, and Mimi. Mimi was miserable because they'd been cooped up in the hostel up until that day with the boys and they didn't want to spend money so they were reading. So lame. It was depressing being around such lameness.
Without meaning to it kinda threw off our momentum we picked up Mimi and carried on to Grenada where we used a hostel that had been recommended to us and it was really nice. We had the Largest hammock I've ever seen in our room!!! We wandered around town trying to find something we wanted to do. Money was kind of low so we weren't shopping, no one had the right clothes for clubbing... Katie was really ready to go home. It was kinda a mess. But Grenada was a beautiful city and we had fun touring the market and I bought a bracelet and some chocolate. We climbed a church tower and took pictures at the top which was really awesome.
Finally we all needed to go back to San Jose. Katie and I had booked our tickets together so we had to put Mimi on an earlier open bus which thankfully turned out okay but we were worried! Getting back into San Jose we had to pick up our bags from the program hotel and then we lugged them to a hostel (2 flights of stairs up and down with my GIGANTIC suitcase... terrible idea) the 3 of us were crammed, goofy, and delirious trying to repack and fit everything to go home the next day. We met Moncho for a farwell dinner at the Cafe Mundo the one where we ate with the program originally and then when we said goodbye to Michael and Marc.
Airport the next morning lugging my suitcase down I felt so bad because it was noisy and I was waking people up. finally someone got up to help me carry it down. Haha. I had to pay fees because my luggage was so heavy... whoops! Anyway we all made our flights and as I said before I was miserable going home! I left my heart on the tarmac and missed my friends, but I know I'll go back to Costa Rica someday and it was nice to come home to family. My Mom surprised me and I got to see my Sister Des and nieces the very night I came home! Well that's the end of my Costa Rica story. Although there might be a random post of things I Wish I'd done, things I learned, or stories I still want to tell.
Chao! Besos,
B
