Tropical Bungee and we´re out

After our straightforward, written exam, we hit up happy tour with a fellow BC boy, Jonathan, then headed to the Going Global party, where they had different country drink specials every hour.
Thursday morning, we headed to Starfleet for our 2 free dives. The first we saw a huge barracuda, and for the second dive, we went to the wreck again, where the highlight for me was seeing a pod of baby squid.
We caught the 2pm ferry and then took a taxi to the Costa Rican border with a girl from Winnipeg. She had just had a terrible experience in Panama, so was keen to get back to Costa Rica. The five of us were all going to Peurto Viejo, and upon arrival, a man off the bus lead us to a quiet alley hostel. It had private bathrooms and hammocks to laze in, so we were set.
Later that evening, after eats, we headed to Hot Rocks for a free movie, followed by bed.

Friday, the sun was shining brightly, so we walked to Playa Cocles to chill out for the day. We played a game of beach soccer with some Swedish guys, and I realized how out of shape I was in, apart from the fact that the sun was scorching hot. The rest of the day consisted of playing in the waves, lazing in hammocks and drinking beers.
Friday night, we hung out at our hostel and played cards and other such games.
Again on Saturday, the sky was clear and the sun was hot, so after a delicious breakfast at Café Rico (best and most filling fruit salad I have ever had), we rented bikes and biked to Punta Uva. There we did much the same as the previous day. My last Saturday night in Costa Rica wasn´t too eventful, for I fell asleep before making it to the bar. Too much sun and beer I guess.

We really lucked out on our last few days, especially considering we were on the Caribbean, where it rains pretty much every day. Sunday it was hot and sunny again, so we walked to Playa Negra, and had a repeat of the last two days (minus the beer part, because we were all running short on Money).
Before 5pm rolled around, Connor and I made our way to the Reef Runners office to sign up for one last scuba diving session.

After dinner, we went to Hot Rocks again, and sat through 2 and a half movies…twas a great way to save money and kill some time.

Early Monday morning, Connor and I picked up some breakfast at Café Rico and then made our way to the dive shop to suit up. After 3 days of sunshine and very little rain, the visibility was prime, and the sun was again a scorcher.
Our first dive we managed to reach 21 metres, and see some cool shaped coral walls. The colors of the coral were not nearly as spectacular as in Bocas, but the fish were still beautiful. We saw some huge lobsters, and on our second dive, we managed to see a nurse shark…definitely the highlight of the dive!

We caught the 4pm bus, which was more or less brand new with plastic still on the seats. Funny, because on the way down, from San Jose, we had the oldest bus possible…mind you, the driver was far crazier, so we could only assume they give the stable ones the nice busses.

Upon arrival to Alajuela, we checked into our hostel, ate some 13 food at El Diamante and hit they hay for our big last day.

Today, we were up early, grabbed some baked goods and sorted out our bungee jumping. We decided to go out with a yeehaw and a holy &%!$, so talked to jumping price down, met up with Gabriel at noon, and headed to the tropical bungee site. 262 feet high is what the bridge was, and Jesse, Nathan and I took our turns jumping and falling 220 feet…definitely the scariest thing I think I have ever experienced. The trees and the river seem to race upward incredibly fast, and not just once, but 3 or 4 times.
With the rest of the afternoon, we played pool and had one last meal at the Chinese Restaurant (El Diamante).

With that said…Good bye Central America! It has been more than spectacular!

Photos: Jesse jumping off the 262ft high, tropical bridge.

Under the Sea!

Our last night in Peurto Viejo, we went to a delicious restaurant (apparently started by a great Canadian chef). It was also confirmed by Jessica (works at dive shop in PV) that the man we had always seen lounging in the tree, actually lived there. On Saturday morning, on our way in for our last breakfast, we could see that in fact he had everything scattered about the branches, from his shoes, to an umbrella, to a foam pillow and of course his toothbrush. Saturday wasn't a spectacular day by any means, but more or less a good day to spend travelling to Alajuela. The bus ride to San Jose ascended through some beautiful, lush, green cloud forest, and on the way down from it, the weather patterns were noticeably different: while the Caribbean was cloudy and muggy, San Jose was blue sky, and very hot.
In Alajuela, we went to a hostel right next to where we had stayed before, and where Jesse, Nathan and Connor were supposedly staying. Not only cheaper than our previous Alajuela accomodations, but we were able to make some nachos and the kitchen and do some laundry as well. These nachos were the best of them all, with beans, cheese, guacamole and chunky salsa. Early Sunday morning, I helped Mom with her bags and saw her off at the aeropuerto. On the bus ride back to Alajuela, Gabriel happened to be on it, so we caught up a bit and I got to practice my Spanish. When I arrived back at the Hostel, the guys were still sleeping of course, but at 9 o'clock we went to San Jose to start our long haul to Panama! Jesse was ill unfortunately, probably food related, but he survived the bus ride.
The border was interesting, with a rickety bridge separating the two little shacks of immigration offices. We had not taken into consideration the fact that Panama is an hour ahead of Costa Rica, so we thought we would be able to catch the last boat to Bocas at 5:30 if we just bussed to the dock. The bus ride takes 2 hours, and seeing as it was 4pm Panama time, we had to pay for a taxi. The boat ride was definately gnarly, and very beautiful as is Bocas del Toro. It is a rad town on an Island, and all the waterfront houses/buildings have patios that are over the water. We ended up lodging up at the Casbah, where Nathan lost the cheaper bed to a Japanese guy, Yoki, in a game of rock paper scissor.
After dropping our packs off, the five of us went to find some food...right after we taught Yoki how to shotgun! The beer here is the cheapest I have seen! 55 cents in the super market and $1 at the bar! (The currency here is just American dollars, so there was no need to change at the border). After a good ol pizza feast, we headed back to the hostel, clearly full of students on spring break. For a Sunday night, the partying was pretty decent. Nate and I stayed at the hostel until quiet time, then headed down the street to another hostel...this one with a bar. There was a group of 24 students from the same university there, so it was relatively pumping.
Monday Connor, Nathan and myself started our scubadiving course, and today we are finishing it up. It is fan freakin tastic! Today we made it to 20m deep, and yesturday only 13. 4 dives thus far, 45 minutes each and tomororw we will do 2 more before back to Costa Rica. Our first dive was at a ship wreck, and others have been just enjoying Coral Gardens and tropical fish!
Jesse has just been chillin on the beach in his hammock readin, and in the nights we have been hittin happy hour hard for 50 cent beers! Right now it is time to go write the Final exam to the PADI open water certification! Woot woot.

Photos: Bocas Islands (sort of like waterworld?)...Connor getting ready for a dive

Wild Weather

Tuesday night we decided to hit up Soda Be Happy for some eats. I had a hamburger which I thought was delicious at the time, but the next day didn't go too well. Woke up with no appetite, and figured I had just aten too much the day before, so without breakfast, we headed to the beach for the sun was shining down brightly. About 10 minutes after arriving at the beach, the clouds decided to make their appearance and the sun was gone for the rest of the day, and more. It was still warm enough to laze onthe beach and swim in the Sea, so we did this until about 3pm and then headed into town for some eats.
El Diez (10) was recommended to us, and I felt like I would be able to handle their reknown egg hamburger, which turned out to be quite delicious. Following the different, yet satisfying meal, we picked up some beers and headed back to Cabinas Monte Sol (accom.). I realized I hadn't drank beer the day before, making it the first day in longer than I can remember, so figured I felt ill because of that. The first beer tasted great but half way through the second and my stomach wasn't having it and Be Happy's hamburger wasn't so happy on its way up. Anyway, the rest of the night included frequent trips to the bathroom...etc.
Thursday, the clouds were still hanging around, but I was feeling more or less better, so Mom and I went for a long walk down Playa Negra. When we stopped to rest a bit, the sun made a guest appearance for about 20 minutes right above us, but that was all for that day.
That evening, we went to Hot Rocks Cafe where we enjoyed some Nachos and Pizza, accompanied by the movie "The Bookies". It was rather good food (apart from it being way overpriced), and the movie was quite enjoyable as well.
That evening, the sky looked to be clearing up, and Mom figured that Friday might be a fantastically gorgeous day...she was absolutely right!
It was clear all night, and finally clear enough this morning to enjoy a Caribbean sunrise. After watching that, I headed back to bed for another hour, and then we got our day started.
We rented bikes again, and decided to go to Punta Uva, where the snorkelling was apparently better. However, probably because of all the rain, but the water wasn't clear enough to see anything and we just sat in the sun allllll day long. It was one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been on. After maybe too much sun, we had some eats on the beach front restaurant, and then headed back to Peurto Viejo to kick it on Playa Cocles for the last of the day.
That pretty much sums up the activites the past few days...
Later

Photos: Playa negra on a cloudy day (the sun is right above us though if you look at the shadows)...Mom enjoying the Sunrise this morning...Mom walking bike on Punta Uva early this morning

Peurto Viejo de Talamanca

Sunday, after the internet cafe and eats, while wandering the strip, we bumped into Kathryn Noiles from good ol´ Nelson! She has been working here for three weeks, as well as scuba diving, and tomorrow she takes off to Guatemala.
Monday, mom and I rented some bikes for the day and biked to Manzanillo, where the snorkelling is supposed to be better. It definately was! The coral wasn´t too spectacular, but so many tropical fish in your face, it was a day well spent. Between snorkelling, we would laze on the beautiful, white-sand beach. Met up with an Argentinian and a German on the beach, and then before the sun went down, biked back to Peurto Viejo. A nice 50 minute bike ride that was far superior than a 20 minute bus ride. The smells and the scenery were wonderfual, and even got to see some Howler monkeys feasting in the trees along the road.
That night, we went out to eat some pizza, and being a small surf town and all, ran into Kathryn again. We had some beers, and then headed to Sunset bar (where Kathryn works), and enjoyed some more cold ones along with live music.
This morning, we slept in til about 9am, and were in no big hurry to do much since the sun wasn´t out. We had brunch with Kathryn and a sweedish girl, before bidding her happy voyage to Guatemala. Also exciting, is we got a load of laundry done today! Woopee, fresh clothes! Apart from that, basically did a lot of nothing, reading, lazing in hammocks and it was everything we could´ve wanted it to be! Here´s to hoping the sun comes out tomorrow for more beach time!
Later

Photo: Beach in Manzanillo (12km south of Peurto Viejo)

Rafting Rapids to Relaxing on the Caribbean

From Monteverde, Connor, Jesse, mother and I all took a jeep-boat-jeep to La Fortuna, in hopes of seeing Volcan Arenal; the most active of Costa Rican volcanoes. We took a mini van to the lake, boated across the lake in a wee boat, and then another mini bus into La Fortuna. It stayed cloudy while we were there, so no lava was seen, but we did go to a very large waterfall. The biggest I have seen probably, at a whopping 72m high! Furthermore, the water was the coldest that I have swam in while in Costa Rica. Hotsprings were very expensive, and volcano tour was out of the question, so we lazed about, played cards and drank beers.
The next day, Mom and I took a bus to La Virgen in the Sarapiqui area, and Connor and Jesse took on to San Jose, to meet up with a hopefully healthier Nathan.
We stayed in a very nice place called Rancho Leona. It was very relaxing, and just a short walk from the Sarapiqui river. We explored a little bit that afternoon, including a visit to the Butterfly Gardens. That evening was full of Cribbage, beer and nachos, before falling asleep to the gentle chirps of frogs and crickets.
The following day (Thursday), we went on a whitewater rafting tour through some class III rapids on the Rio Sarapiqui, with a french couple from San Diego, and a couple from Peurto Rico. It was a blast, even though me and the french guy both had our turns falling out of the boat. Our tour guide was great, and the fruit we had in the middle of the journey was mouth watering.
After we had finished up with our tour at about 12:30, the sky cleared and the sun came up. We played some scrabble and then walked to the river to watch the next group of rafters go buy. Like us, they had Kayak escorts.
After another night in the wonderful wood cabin type housing, we took a series of busses to get to Cahuita on the Carribean. On the way over, noticed that an Australian guy I had briefly met with Jesse and Nathan in Quepos was on the bus. Having the same final destination, we kind of buddied up for the journey.
The weather was a bit cloudy on our arrival, but the following day, the sun came out at full force. We took the bus down to Peurto Viejo to check it out, and had a good day on the beach. Despite all Moms sun smart, it was no match for way down south here, and she got the inevitable sunburn.
Another night in Cahuita, and we are now in Peurto Viejo for at least two nights. I tried some snorkelling in the reef today, but apart from a few tropical fish I saw, the visibility was not prime, so we lazed on the beach again.

Photos: At the bottom of the big waterfall.