On Friday class seemed to drag on even longer than usual, because all of us students had our sights set on the beach and sun and surf(er boys) and the fiesta-ing that was to come. Finally, though, our profesora wished us a "buen fin de semana" (weekend), and we headed back to our houses to finish up packing, followed by some lunch at Veritas (the lunches there in the "healthy" cafeteria are soooo delicious: rice, some kind of meat - I only eat the chicken, not much of a read meat girl - steamed vegetables, beans, salad, sometimes fried plantains, fresh squeezed juice...mmmm). While we were eating it started to rain. And when I say rain, I don't mean a pretty little sprinkling of drops that refresh the ground. I mean torrential downpour of water flooding from the sky. This is a good thing, since right now it is the rainy season in Costa Rica, and all of the Ticos that we have talked to tell us that this is one of the dryest rainy seasons they have ever seen. Even I am noticing how dry it is, because it is supposed to rain a lot off and on every afternoon and evening, and we only had one or two days of light rain last week. So for Costa Rica and the general medio ambiente (environment), this rain was much appreciated; however, it made simply getting from underneath the awning where we at lunch to the bus quite the chore. By the time we made it the half a block to the bus, the front of my pants were completely drenched, from my hips down to my shins. Brrrr...
So we all packed onto the bus (and let me tell you, it was completely full). It was a private tourism bus, which was definitely nice, and it had an all right amount of space, but it was definitely a tight squeeze for all of the people that were on the trip. And then...we set off. 6 hours on a bus with one 15 minute break. Talk about having a numb butt. Luckily, it was an incredibly pretty view, because when we finally breached the outskirts of San Jose, leaving behind all of the traffic and buildings and smog, we basically drove through mile after mile of endless green mountains and valleys the rest of the way. It was raining the entire way, but that didn't stop the view from being spectacular; little red-tiled buildings and farms dotted all of the mountainsides, and everything was green, green, and more green. I had my iPod with me too, so it was very relaxing to stare out the window and listen to my favorite artists sing me through the mountains.
Finally, as we neared Tamarindo and dusk began to settle, the clouds began to break and the sun came shining through. Here are a few pictures, since I really can't find the words to describe how beautiful it was:
So, after we all hung out of the bus windows for about half an hour taking way too many (of the same) photos to count, it got pretty dark. And that, my friends, is when we hit the dirt road. Actually, I wouldn't even call it a dirt road. It was more like a series of giant potholes with patches of road surrounding them. I felt bad that for those on the bus prone to motion sickness, because that part of the ride had to be miserable for them...luckily, I don't suffer from such an ailment, and the fireflies were starting to come out. We were also able to have the windows open because the rain had stopped, so I was able to prop my foot up in the window and feel the balmy breeze blowing in as I looked at patches of buildings we drove past, and interlaced with the fields and forests glittering with fireflies. Eventually, the dirt roaded ended and once again became paved, and we drove into Tamarindo. Since it was so dark, we couldn't see much except for the lights of the restaurants and hotels/hostels lining the road; no ocean in sight for me.
We checked into the hotel and headed out to try to find a good place to eat supper. We were all pretty cranky and impatient with each other, partially because we were so hungry, and partially because we had just had to be smashed up next to each other for the past 6 hours straight. So we pretty quickly decided on an Italian place that was maybe a leeeetle bit too pricey, but at that point we didn't really care. So we ate, and went out to see the ocean, with the breaking waves glowing in the moonlight (!!!), and then headed back to our room to get ready to go out. Honestly, the rest of the night was kind of boring, even the part with the bar and the dancing...the most interesting part for me was sitting on the barstool with my beer, and Raymond and Deven, watching all of the different people walk by. There were lots of locals, of course, but then there were also your token couple in their 60s walking around in tropical shirts and looking all vacationy, and there were surfer men with literally bleached blonde long hair and deadly looking tans, all lean and weathered from surfing all day. There were also lots of male Americans (or at least that's what they looked like), with their American Eagle t-shirts and meticulously messy hair. So many different people in one place. It was also nice because it was a rooftop/open air bar with a couple of different dance floors, and the view of the ocean was so vast and beautiful in the moonlight that I would have paid 2000 colones just to sit and stare at it instead of sit and stare at all of the drunk Ticos hitting on women. Oh well, I was still entertained.
The next morning: woke up for delicious scrambled eggs and toast at the hotel, and then headed to the beach! I bought a disc and a medium sized bottle of 40 SPF sunscreen (for, get this: EIGHTEEN DOLLARS! I swear that's the best deal they had), and after we all slathered some on, we went into the ocean, which was basically salty bath water. AKA: divine. We swam around and thew the disc, laid on our towels and then swam around some more, all the while reapplying sunscreen like no one's business (Mom, you would be proud). Eventually we got hungry, ate pizza for lunch, and then a few of us decided to walk around to look at the shops (just to look, not to purchase anything...the shops in Tamarindo are ridiculously expensive). We found Wendy a place to get some surf lessons, which she decided to do the next morning, and then we headed back to the hotel for a little pool/down time. After swimming around I got a nice nap in (the sun had totally zapped all of my energy), and then we got ready to go to dinner/go out for the night.
Oh man, and I need to interject here and talk about how incredibly humid Tamarindo was. I know that Minnesota/the midwest in the summer get super humid and hot, but this place was like walking around in a permanent layer of wetness. You'd walk out the door and instantly be covered in a layer of moisture. I didn't mind it too much, since I loooooove hot beach weather and tropical humidity, but this was one of the only times in my life I have actually appreciated air conditioning.
The place we ate at was this totally cute place with way overpriced food, Jack Johnson playing in the background, and a waitress who was from Quebec (which means she obviously spoke both fluent French and English) and had come to Tamarindo while on a backpacking trip in Costa Rica, and had just...stayed. For 3 years. And, according to her, she has an incredibly "guapisimo" boyfriend from Tamarindo. She also happened to be adorable, with beachy hair and a freckly tan, and apparently now fluent in Spanish as well. Could that story be any cooler? I want it. Here are a couple of pictures from dinner:
Mikaela and me
The rubias (blondes) of the trip
Wendy and me!
Our table
Oh, and I forgot to mention that while getting ready for dinner, we took time to run to the beach to get some photos of the magnificent sunset:
So anyway, the rest of the night consisted of Wendy and me going to the local sports bar to watch the Costa Rica vs. Mexico soccer game (Costa Rica lost, there were many mad Ticos calling people on their cell phones and swearing in Spanish, and lots of yelling, it was really exciting), and then we hung out at a few more bars and danced and had a great night!
The next morning, needless to say, I was incredibly tired, and Wendy somehow still went to her surf lesson at 7am...got a few fun pictures of that. And then, around noon, the whole tired lot of us headed back to San Jose on that very crowded bus. It was a long ride, but I kind of slept for a lot of it, so it was all right. I got lots of sleep Sunday night, and then Monday and today it was back to class and homework. So yep, a great first weekend here in Costa Rica! I realize this is an incredibly long post, but most of my posts about the weekends probably will be, since I don't have the internet while I'm gone.
Anyway, that's all for now! Paz, my dear family and friends. Much love.
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