One Last Costa Rican Hoorah!

This past weekend was absolutely amazing; Tortuguero was B E A U TIFUL. :) And I have soooo many pictures to post!

It all started off with a trip to Amigos Thursday night for a couple of drinks and many games of pool :) I'm actually getting somewhat decent at it since we play so much here! Thursday night was also super exciting because I got my camera battery from Brika - so I was finally able to take my own pictures with my own camera again :-D I stayed in Santa Anna with Brika because we had to get up bright and early at 4:30am on Friday so that we could catch the 5am bus to San Jose. We were picked up in San Jose by our private transportation van at 6am (by Fran, who come to find out is a native Michigander as well!) - and then proceeded to pick up 6 others who were coming along on the trip. There were four Russians (Victor, Sofia, Maria, and Alex) and a very cute couple CJ and Danny, from the U.S. and Canada respectively. Needless to say we were a pretty eclectic group and Brika and I were definitely the only ones under 40, haha.

Our trip to Tortuguero started off with our ride through the mountains and the Braulio Carrillo National Park to the Limon Province. We stopped for breakfast about hour and a half into our journey at a gorgeous restaurant tucked away in the "jungle."
























Our wildlife sightings started early with a couple of toucans flying overhead (Toucans, check!) It's hard to see them in this picture because they were really high up in the trees, but I swear there's two of them! Look for the yellow of the throat and beak :)



We got to the port of Moin in probably about 2:30-3 hours, then it was time to meet Modesto (Fran's husband who has AMAZING eyes, which will be talked about more later) and get on board the Francesca for a 3 hour trip up the canals to Tortuguero. On our way to Tortuguero we saw lots of birds and butterflies, but we also got to see a troop of Howler Monkeys, a Three-Fingered Sloth, Green Basilisks, a Caiman and lots of friendly locals :) Modesto's legendary keen eyesight was proven true right off the bat when he spotted the Green Basilisks sunbathing on the branches on the side of the canal while we must have been going at least 40 mph in the boat! You wouldn't believe the things he could spot without being there, he seriously has super human eyesight.

























































When we got to Tortuguero Brika and I were the first ones to be dropped off, we had opted to stay in the village rather than at the Laguna Lodge (mostly because it was cheaper, but also because we didn't want to get trapped into tourist land). Boy were we surprised when we go to our hotel and it was right on the beach! Neither one of us had been expecting to get beach time in during the trip...but there it was the beautiful Caribbean :) We had the rest of the afternoon and evening to ourselves so we took a walk on the beach and through the village (very much a rural village, not a lot going on, one street through the whole thing and walking from end to end of the village probably only took about 10 minutes) and relaxed in the hammocks. There wasn't even a bar in town! Not to sound like an alcoholic or anything, but it was just really strange because EVERYWHERE we have gone there has at least been a bar - it's just an illustration of how rural this village really is! There was so little to do that we just ended up going to bed at like 8:30/9 - I know, hard to believe ME going to bed that early!



We were picked up at 6am on the dock for our morning canal tour. We got up nice and early and had some amazing smoothies for breakfast. Brika and I joked that all the old folks were probably going to be very surprised and impressed that we were waiting for them at the dock! We saw a ton of different birds - herons, macaws, a few I can't remember the name of, but most importantly another toucan!

After the morning tour we had the rest of the morning and afternoon all to ourselves until 3 - so Brika and I got some serious beach time in! I'm a tad burnt...but hey, that just means I'll come back to the States on Saturday with more color, right?! It was a gorgeous day - sunny and super hot! We found lots of sand dollars too :) I hope I can get them back to the States without them all breaking - 1 of my 5 broke just on the trip back to San Jose :-/

The afternoon canal trip took us deep into Tortuguero's "Mini-Amazon" - absolutely beautiful! No Jaguar sighting though :-/ Just lots more birds and some Spider Monkeys :)

Brika and I dined at the best restaurant in the village on Saturday night - the Buddha Cafe. Contrary to what you would expect from the name, it served mostly pizzas and pasta - they were really good though! After being in the sun all day, and not really having anything in the village going on to keep us going, we went to bed at about 8:30/9 again (I know, can you imagine, two days in a row!)

We were picked up for our return trip to San Jose at 8am - it had stormed through the night again and was still raining so we didn't see a lot of wildlife along the way back to Moin. EXCEPT for...the Crocodile King! He was huge! Oh, and the Spoon Billed somethingorother...Basically looked like a mini Flamingo with a spoon shaped beak.

Once back to Moin we hopped in Fran's van for our trek back to San Jose. We stopped by the same restaurant for lunch and we were on our merry way through the National Park. All was going well and we were about 45 minutes away from being home until....there was a landslide in the National Park! Luckily we weren't close when it happened, but I think we must have been only a half hour or so behind because people still didn't know what was going on. I am sooo thankful that this was the one and only trip we had decided to take private transportation for, because anyone that was in a public bus up there had to camp out for the night - the road is too narrow for a bus or semi to turn around, and the road won't be opening back up until today. On one hand it was nice to have to take a different route, because I got to see parts of the country that I hadn't seen before. We drove through the beautiful Central Valley "Coffee Country" and through the gorgeous city of Cartago (actually the old capital). BUT, we had to back track a lot and take a South East loop around to get back on track to San Jose - so it took an extra 3 1/2 hours or so to get home. I got home at 7:30 pm. Recap - we left Tortuguero at 8am...so...yesterday was about 12 hours of traveling!

The weekend was amazing, although yesterday definitely wore us down some. I'm really glad that I made it to Tortuguero before coming home, it was quite the experience! I got to see new Costa Rican country side, an inumerable amount of new animals, spend time in the Mini-Amazon and experience rural village life.

I am, however, definitely ready to come home and see my friends, family, and especially Adam again. I love you all and can't wait to see you - 5 more days!

p.s. Blogger is being a PIA again with photos...so I will add them as it allows me. Meanwhile, I put a LOT of them on Facebook already, so check them out there :)

Rainy Season...

Not too much of an update really...I stayed in town this past weekend and it was mostly boring :-/

Thursday night Beth, Myla and I celebrated their going away, Friday we got pedicures and said our goodbyes, Saturday I went shopping for the groceries I needed to cook for the family on Sunday. Sunday was the most eventful day because I cooked a Benton/Heindryckx lunch for the whole family. I made bacon casserole, grandmother's jello, mawmaw's broccoli salad, and corn bread :) It was a huge success and I was give the "you can get married now" stamp of approval. It's a saying here...that once you learn how to cook you can get married - my dad, Chico, was particularly impressed :)

This week is pretty crazy because it is Sports Festival week, so classes are all over the place and they have half days on Thursday and Friday...which means that both of my "going out with a bang" projects have to be postponed to after my flight date. I'm really disappointed that I won't be here to see the Crusades Debate with the 8th graders or the Reformation Biographies with the 9th graders. But such is life here at Pan-American...slow-moving and plenty of postponements.

The rainy season officially started yesterday with a thunderstorm in the afternoon from like 1-4. Supposedly it's going to rain like that every day until November...I really hope it takes a break this weekend; I've been looking forward to Tortuguero for a long time and I really don't want the trip to be ruined by getting stormed out!

Well, that's about it really...I've been pretty homesick lately - definitely ready to come home and see everyone! So I'm just kind of riding out my last couple weeks here and hopefully I'll have an awesome update with gorgeous pictures on Monday from Tortuguero :)

Follow the Lava Rock Road....

Hello friends and family! I just got back yesterday from our trip to La Fortuna and the Arenal Volcano and I am SUPER excited to share my pictures and stories with you :)

We got into La Fortuna at about 8:30 or 9pm on Friday night (we left Santa Anna at 2:30pm - gotta love public buses!) The hotel we wanted to stay at was full so we ended up going across the street to Pura Vida Hotel...we were a little skeptical at first given the fact that it's above a Chinese restaurant at all...and the owners obviously can't pick a language identity between Spanish, Chinese and English as the sign would suggest haha. BUT, it ended up being the best hotel we've stayed in throughout all of our travels so far! The shower was seriously the best shower I've had in a year, the water pressure was awesome and the hot water didn't run out! :)



The only bad thing about the hotel was that our windows faced the east...there was no sleeping in. We got up bright and early Saturday morning so that we could plan out the day. We found a company to book our Zip Lining adventure with, grabbed some breakfast, and then headed to the waterfall! It was absolutely gorgeous - and a decent hike haha :)















































After our waterfall swimming we headed back to La Fortuna to grab some lunch before our zip lining adventure! The road there offered some gorgeous views of the volcano.


































I was definitely a little nervous about what I was about to do once I started reading this sign... I was about to be flying 656 ft in the air attached to nothing but a cable at 50 mph for distances of up to 2,440 ft across the jungle! Now, all of you who know me know that I'm not exactly the most adventurous person in the world...but Costa Rica has brought out a little bit of a new Kelsey and I didn't back out :) After the first one I wasn't nervous at all anymore. It was so much fun, and beautiful!



After zip lining we grabbed a quick dinner and then headed to the hot springs! It was absolutely gorgeous! And the higher up you went, the hotter they got! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures for you of the hot springs...it's kind of a "romantic" get away place...and I'm pretty sure they would have frowned on me ruining the mood with my flash haha.

By the time we got back to the room at about 10:30 we were totally wiped out. I took another one of those AHmazing showers, and konked out pretty quick!

...Only to be woken up bright and early by the sun again. We didn't have time for much on Sunday other than to get breakfast, do a little bit of souvenir shopping, and basically just hang out and explore the town a little bit before we headed to the bus stop. We took the 2:45 bus back to San Jose; I got home right around 7 or 7:30 I think.

Even though we really only had one day for activities in La Fortuna, it was a GREAT trip. It was absolutely gorgeous, just as girls, and a lot of fun and relaxation :) This week is Beth and Myla's last week here! So I might have some pictures to put up of our nights out this week...other than that we're taking it easy. Next weekend is my last trip in Costa Rica - to Tortuguero! It's where I've wanted to go since the beginning - the most biodiverse national park in the country! I hope I'll get to see the elusive toucan :-D

P.S. Blogger is being really difficult about pictures. I have a lot on facebook already, and I will slowly but surely continue to add some here as it lets me.

More Pictures from Semana Santa

bruised, bitten, and a little burnt - but totally worth it!

Semana Santa started off with getting on the bus to Puntarenas in San Jose on Tuesday afternoon. We stayed in Puntarenas Tuesday night so that we could get to Malpais and the beach earlier on Wednesday, and to help break up the trip. There's not much to say about that first night, other than the fact that we ate some pretty damn good Chinese (I don't know why, but there were a TON of Chinese restaurants there) for dinner and there was a boat on fire in the harbor when we got into town. Puntarenas was kind of dirty...definitely just a pit stop kind of place...but the hotel we stayed in was very nice and clean, and we even had tvs in our rooms!

Wednesday we took the ferry across the gulf to the Nicoya peninsula and then a bus to Malpais. Malpais is a very small town...not a lot to do...except go to the beach and surf, so that's exactly what we did! We stayed at really awesome Surf Camp and Resort - with a pool and everything :) It was a little strange though to stay in an open air room






Unfortunately our surfing pictures are on Myla's camera, so I don't have any to show you right now. There were lots of monkeys and iguanas hanging around too. The beach was a short walk from our hotel, and we definitely took advantage!





















After we spent Wednesday and Thursday in Malpais we headed to Montezuma on Friday morning. Montezuma was a LOT of fun, there was a lot more to do and a lot of ticos on vacation too :) We hiked to a huge waterfall on Thursday and on Friday we went horseback riding to a different waterfall. Sean and Caitlin were the crazy ones who actually did some cliff diving (the whole time I kept thinking about how much I wished Adam was there because I know he would've loved it...and he probably would have been one of the crazy cliff jumpers too). I stuck to the small stuff, rope swings and jumping off boulders :)

Pedicures, Cockroaches, and a Boy in Striped Pyjamas

I have a lot of extra time on Thursdays, so I figured I would update - I'm sure the title intrigued you :)

All of us girls got pedicures on Tuesday before going out to Myla's birthday dinner at a Caribbean restaurant in Santa Anna (soooo delicious!). This little Nicaraguan woman went to work! It was by far the most thorough pedi I've ever had - and for only $12 including tip! :)

I HATE cockroaches. Uggh...it gets worse and worse. And I swear they flock to me because they know I hate them so much. In the beginning I had deluded myself into believing that I just had to make sure I kept everything off the floor...Well, then I come home the other night and there's one on the wall above my bed. So now I know they can climb walls. When I told Floria about this she laughed at me and said "didn't you know that they can fly?" UGGH! They've gone from bad, to worse, to absolutely terrifying. They are so disgusting...and I keep seeing more and more of them; I don't know if it's the weather or what.

Yesterday, Myla's real birthday, all of us girls went to the Multiplaza to go to the movies and get some ice cream :) We saw the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - extremely sad, but very good.

I've been reading the Twilight series; something I never thought I would do because I thought the plot sounded completely stupid - but I am ADDICTED. I read the first, 500 page, book of the series all on Monday. I read the second, almost 600 page, book on Tuesday and Wednesday. I checked out the third in the series this morning and I'm trying to keep myself from reading it because I know I will continue to read too fast (and Myla still has the fourth and final book checked out so I need to make the third last!) Besides, I'm hoping to take it with me on Semana Santa for some good bus ride reading. Self restraint is difficult for me when it comes to reading, and I haven't experienced a book that I could get lost in like this in so long - since the Harry Potters really. It reminds me of how much I used to love reading in High School, definitely a past-time that I have missed a lot in college - the only reading I had time to do then was textbooks :-/

Anyway, I highly recommend the series to any young adult females out there who are looking for an addicting read!

I don't have a lot to talk about really, since it's only been week days that I'm updating on. We don't have any big plans for this weekend other than watching March Madness games at Amigos. Our Semana Santa trip to Malpais and Montezuma begins early Wednesday morning - who has two thumbs and is super excited? THIS GIRL! :) Horseback riding to waterfalls, surfind, hammocks, and sun soaking here I come!

A little in town relaxation :)

Well this past week was fun, and relaxing because we're taking a break from traveling until Semana Santa next week!

It all started on Thursday when Beth, Myla, Brika, Jeffrey (B and M's professor from OSU) and me went to Tihany. Tihany is like a mini circ de soleil - it was pretty freakin awesome.
I wish I had more pictures to put up, but you weren't supposed to take any pictures, even without a flash, and we got yelled at. It was hilarious though because they were putting people up on the screen and saying things about them...like a couple that had "beso! beso! beso!" at the bottom of the screen (kiss) and a group of old people that had "blah...blah...blah...." Lol, so we were talking about how funny it would be if they put our group on the screen and said "gringos! gringos! gringos!"...and lo and behold....they found us (not that we are hard to spot in a crowd of ticos!).














Just to make sure everyone remembers who people are here...in this picture, from back to front it's: Brika, Me, Beth, Myla :)







Friday night was Bingo at PAS, none of us won anything :( I stayed after school from 3-6 and caught up on the Grey's episodes online that I've been missing out on - crazy stuff has been happening! After bingo we all went out to our favorite bar in Santa Anna, Amigos, to celebrate Jillian's last night in Costa Rica! :(



Saturday we all chillaxed until we went to Cocos (the tico bar) to watch the Costa Rica-Mexico game. If you didn't know...soccer is big here! :) Unfortunately Mexico won 2-0. The day was fairly miserable, I'm pretty sure it got into the low 90s, it was definitely high 80s anyway.

Sunday was unfortunately yet another miserably hot day. I woke up at 9:30 already a little sweaty. I took the bus back to Santa Anna to join everyone at Amigos (our favorite, gringo-friendly bar in SA) for the OU-UNC game.

That was pretty much the weekend. I came home last night and went to bed at about 8:30/9! Even thought we hadn't done a lot, I think the heat totally zapped my energy because I was exhausted. I think my body is going crazy with so much sleep though, I feel really out of it today.

This week is going to be another week full of local relaxation and fun - tomorrow us girls are getting pedicures and going out to dinner for Myla's birthday (which is on Wednesday) and on Wednesday we are going to Multiplaza to do a little shopping and to go see a movie - the boy in the striped pajamas? (i don't know if that's the title in english, but that's the translation of the spanish title) Not exactly a happy bday movie, but it looks so good and we all want to see it.

I've decided that if I could have changed my packing...I would have packed fewer clothes, and a few more books! I've been slightly bored during the weeks...but, at the suggestion of dear Beth and Myla, I am going to start reading the Twilight series which is available through the school library - for free! Yay for libraries! :)

I can't think of much else to update you all on...other than I'm SUPER excited for our semana santa vacation - I can't wait to do some surfing and horseback riding! It's kind of crazy, but if you think about it...after next week I will be almost half way through my time here; it's going faster than expected.

Miss you already Jill! :-*

Trip to Manuel Antonio and Quepos

Hello everyone!

It's Monday, you know what that means...

weekend trip update time!

Well, the beginning and ending of the trip were a little rough...but other than that it was a great time!

On Friday after school we headed into Santa Anna to pick up the bus to San Jose. We were supposed to all meet at the bus stop a 3. Haha, well...by 3:10 all of the girls were there and we were only missing Sean. So we waited...and waited...and waited...and searched...and waited...until 3:45 when we said "screw him." Then, lo and behold, he was at the San Jose bus stop already when we got there. What a punk. It turned out alright though because we were able to hop on an earlier bus at 5.

I think we got into Quepos at about 9:30, with two things on our mind: hotel and food!

We found our place to stay fairly easily, and the owner of the place was really nice and very funny. When the 6 of us walked in he looked at Sean and said "What do you do with five girls?! I have one and that is enough?! All these women, they are a lot of trouble!" Haha...he was very cool. He also directed us to a restaurant that was still open. Our rooms were right off of the common area and we immediately met a Belgian and two Aussies who were hanging out. They came out to dinner with us to a BYOB place and the two Aussies told us their story about how they just decided in a couple of days that they wanted to do a world tour - they started off by going to the US and they are making their way down to South America; from there they are heading to Europe and then to Asia. I admire their ability to be so spontaneous - I'm not the pick up and go world backpacking type, haha!

After dinner we headed over to the small casino at the Best Western, just for a little fun. It was hilarious because for roulette they had like a BINGO ball setup, and they had a five card draw table (never seen that before!).

We turned in kinda early because we knew we wanted to get up early the next day to head to Manuel Antonio for the beach!

I think we got up somewhere around 8 in the morning, had a fantastic (and fairly cheap) breakfast at the hotel and then caught the bus to Manuel Antonio. There were a ton of market stands lining the street along the beach. The walk through the national park wasn't nearly the hike that Cahuita was - but along the way we saw four sloths, some capuccins, and an iguana :)

Third beach was absolutely gorgeous - and totally worth the $10 and walk to get there. It was in its own little cove right up against the edge of the jungle...beautiful. Unfortunately I was an idiot and left my camera at the hotel for the first half of the day, so you have to wait until I get pictures from the rest of the crew for me to add them here.

We stayed at Third Beach until about 1 - soaking up the sun, swimming in the ocean, floating with the greatest of ease (yay salt water)! There was quite the episode when a very large raccoonish animal started skulking around the edge of the beach looking for unattended food - well, he found one! And even though Brika started running up the beach at him, he made off with this woman's bag of bread. It was absolutely hilarious - definitely funniest home videos materal, I wish we had a video of it!

We headed back into town for a small lunch and a little bit of market shopping (I got two beautiful necklaces for $6) and then we caught the bus back to Quepos. It was miserably hot and the sun was ridiculous - I swear I was putting sunblock on every 20 minutes but my shoulders are toast!

We showered, changed, and freshened up to head back toward Manuel Antonio to go to El Avion for dinner. El Avion is a restaurant based off of an actual cargo plane that was left in Nicaragua,bought, and transported all the way to Manuel Antonio. The restaurant is right on the edge of a cliff and has a gorgeous view - so we got there by 5 to make sure we had a good spot for sunset watching. And - we definitely did! The sunset was absolutely gorgeous!




















After sunset watching and a fantastic dinner we went back to Manuel Antonio - our real reason for going back was because Sean and I had talked to a guy earlier about horseback riding in the morning and we told him we would come back to set up a reservation... we went all the way back and he wasn't there! :-/ So, what else would we do except for split some bottles of wine on the beach! Haha :) The six of us passed around some bottles under the stars while we waited for the next bus back to Quepos - it was pretty awesome. After we got back, Sean, Jillian and I went out for a night of dancing.

Sunday we got up for breakfast, walked around town for a while, had a huge lunch (burgers!) and then got on the bus back to San Jose at about 2:45. We got into SJ at about 6:30 and hopped on a bus to Santa Anna. The bus we took, however, was a bus that takes the calle vieja route - a route which no one in the group had gone on at night before - big mistake. We missed our stop, went all the way to the end of the route, had to get on another bus to take us back...it was a big mess! We didn't get back into Santa Anna until almost 8! (what should have been about a 40 minute bus ride turned into 1:30!) We grabbed some pizza for dinner in Santa Anna and then I headed back to Belen.

Well, that's about it. I wish I had more pictures to show you; I will add the pics of the beach as soon as I get them from the others. This weekend there are no big plans - we are staying in town for BINGO at PAS on Friday night (which is also Jillian's last night here!) And then there were 5... :(

Week 2

This week has gone by super fast - I can't believe tomorrow is already Friday and I might be embarking on my next weekend excursion! I say "might be" because we have all been talking about going to Manuel Antonio on the Pacific coast but there hasn't been any definite plans made yet as far as I know. I'm sure that by the end of the day today I will hear something.

If the weeks keep going by this fast my time here will fly!

The only exciting story from this week I guess would be St. Patty's day. It was very strange to have a St. Patty's where hardly anyone else recognized or celebrated it. Me, Beth, Myla, Bircka, Jillian and Sean all went out in Santa Anna. We weren't planning on drinking a lot until we found out that there was a drink special with 1 1/2 shot vodka, oj, pineapple, and mango juice for only 700 colones! (aka about 1.25 each!) It was the first time anything has been crazy cheaper than in the states - so of course we took advantage :) No worries though, we were all in a big group and very safe.

I know one thing - I want my belated corned beef and cabbage dinner when I get back!!! I have such a craving for it; I only get it once a year and I couldn't here :(

I'm starting to adventure a little more on my own - I took the city bus by myself to Santa Anna on Tuesday night and I walked around town after school by myself. Slowly but surely I am getting more comfortable with my surroundings.

It sounds like Adam and maybe 3 others are really thinking about coming down the last week of April - which would be really awesome, but kind of sucky at the same time because my break is in the first week of April. Basically, I'm going to have to figure out where they can stay and what they can do while I'm at school everyday. I mean, I know they are big boys and they can fend for themselves...but you kind of have to travel to really find stuff to do. It's kind of like being in Chelsea actually - you have to go a couple towns over to get to a movie theater and whatnot.

Well, that's about it really. Nothing too crazy to update you on. Hope all is going well in the States!

My Weekend in Cahuita

My first Costa Rica weekend excursion was a HUGE success! In a nutshell, the beach and jungle were beautiful, I got to see a three toed sloth in action at the national park, as well as a whole family of capuccin monkeys, we went snorkeling, and I got to spend some quality time in some hammocks!

The bus ride to Cahuita was about 4 hours long - so we did not get into Cahuita until about 8/8:30. But, while it was still light out, we got to see some beautiful countryside along the way.


There were seven of us who went: myself, Beth and Myla (who are the other student teachers here at PanAm's elementary school), and Bircka (sorry if I butchered your name, I'm not sure how to spell it!), Jillian, Sean, and John (the other four are all Spanish study abroad students at Conversa).

Our first night in we did not do much except for get dinner and go to the bars for a couple of drinks. Cahuita is a pretty small town - there were only two bars really and they were right across the street from each other. On our first night we met a guy who was traveling from France - he was very cool and gave us some insight on the area.

We stayed in the cabinas that Jillian's host family owns - practically right on the beach. It was really nice because the rooms only ended up being $26 for two nights!














On Saturday we got up early to watch the sunrise - which turned out to be very unfruitful because it was overcast. We went back to bed for a little bit before getting up again for breakfast and to head to the national park. We ate breakfast in a great Caribbean style restaurant that was known for having the best crepes in the area :)

After breakfast we headed to the national park - which at the time we did not realize committed ourselves to about a 5 hour walk through the jungle and beach...but it ended up being soooo worth it!

Throughout our walk in the park, which we were very lucky that it was mostly overcast and not really that hot, we saw: LOTS of crabs, birds, a three-toed sloth! (so exciting because they're usually rare to see), a whole family of Capuccin monkeys, a howler monkey, and, of course, we got to spend some quality time on the beach!


















The family of Capuccins literally just miuraculously appeared out of the woodwork right after we had got done talking about how we were disappointed that we hadn't seen any. They basically surrounded us, came right up to us on the path. I was honestly less than two feet away from a couple of them, and they just sat there checking us out - it almost seemed like they were more curious about us than we were of them! The whole time I kept thinking to myself "Adam is going to be sooo jealous!" I wished he was there with me for it, it was an amazing experience.










































Right when we got to the beach the sun started to come out - we got sooo lucky with the weather! It was overcast and not too hot for our walk through the park, and when we got to the beach we got the sun we wanted! :)




























After our 5 mile walk through the park and beach we were pretty tired - and definitely ready for some food! We headed back to Cahuita for lunch and some relaxation before getting ready to go to Puerto Viejo for the night. Puerto Viejo is a city about a 20 minute bus ride south of Cahuita, it's bigger and has more bars. We had dinner and quite a few drinks in Puerto Viejo before cramming all 6 of us (John didn't come) into a taxi back to Cahuita. We had one more drink and a little dancing before going back to the cabinas :)

Sunday we got up early to go snorkeling! Cahuita has a a very large coral reef. It was really cool, we were probably out in the water for about a hour. It was too bad though because the water was fairly murky because it had rained two days ago - Maimo (Jillian's host dad) said that in two days we probably would have had at least twice the visibility. But it was still cool, we saw a lot of different coral and fish.

We checked out at about 11:30 and John, Beth, Myla and I caught a bus to Limon at 12, and a bus from Limon to San Jose at 2. I was so exhausted from the weekend that I slept most of the way back, which made it a lot quicker! Having been using public transportation all weekend, I felt brave enough to try out the bus from Santa Anna to Belen all by myself, and I did just fine :)

Well, that was my weekend in Cahuita. I have a TON more pictures to show you all when I get home...but for my family's sake I didn't want to put too many on here and make it take 2 hours to upload :)

I love you all! And it looks like this coming weekend we're traveling to the Pacific beaches in Manuel Antonio - so more beautiful pics to come next Monday for sure! :)