The Sketchiest Form of Transportation: Costa Rica Week 3
- Kjerstin Roberts
- Dec 26, 2019
- 7 min read
Happy Mother's Day 2017! Luckily for me, Mother's Day isn't really a big deal in my family so it honestly wasn't that bad to miss it. I know in some families it's a huge holiday, but for mine it's not so that was honestly great. To be honest, this week was fairly boring, so this post probably won't be that long. I hope you enjoy it anyways!
Day 1
On Mother's Day, Jacqueline and I woke up in the middle of a treehouse on the beach at Flutterby Hostel, which was amazing. From the treehouse, you could see into the middle of the rainforest and hear the ocean that was only a few steps away. The treehouse was open air so we did have beds covered with mosquito nets and all manner of small animals (lizards, frogs, bugs, etc.) would come into the treehouse. Luckily, I was happy enough that I didn't mind.
Jacqueline and I had to go back to Quepos that day, but we did go to the beach beforehand with Amelie and Frieda, our new friends from Denmark. The beach in Uvita is really cool. It's called Playa Ballena, which means whale beach, because during low tide, the ocean heads out and reveals what a massive sand bar that looks exactly like a whale's tail if you look at it from an aerial view. You do have to be careful not to get caught out on the whale tail when the tide comes in or you will be stuck for hours!
Before we headed back to Quepos, both of us called our mothers. I told my mom I was missing her and that I wished she could see all the amazing things I had seen. I told her all about my days and what everything was like. Three hours later, she called me back while I was watching the sunset and said she had plane tickets coming to visit me in less than two weeks. She had found a random deal and had immediately booked it, so I guess that shows where I get my spontaneous travel genes!
Day 2
I went back to work at Jardin del Mar. The kids are so cute there. I was also just extremely grateful that Brittany left and would not be returning because she had to go be a mom to her monkey children once again. Tragic. Mostly I just love that school and kids in general. I even ended up playing cards with Samuel and Antonio, my host mom Francisca's grandchildren, that night after working on changing my flights to accommodate my mom's new schedule. I also wanted to stay even a few extra days in Costa Rica because I had absolutely fallen in love with the place and everything that it represented: freedome, happiness, and new exploring and adventures.
Day 3
I had the same standard routine as normal: wake up, eat a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit and bread, and go play with some cute kids. I'm sure you're shocked that that's what I did that day. Afterwards I went to... you guessed it... the beach! Jacqueline and I met up with George and William, my two surfing instructors. George invited us to a bonfire he was throwing on the beach that night, so Jacqueline and I agreed to go.
Because the sun goes down around 5:30 or 6pm, it's really dark by the time 9pm rolls around. Jacqueline and I took the last bus over to Playa Manuel Antonio with the expectation of getting a ride from someone else home. We were with Willy, a local boy and our next door neighbor Jacqueline was sleeping with at the time. When we showed up to the beach, there was not a single soul there other than some super creepy dudes getting high. They were catcalling us like none other. Neither Jacqueline nor I had any idea why George and William weren't there, and we had to figure out a way to get home. Luckily, Willy was with us and had a friend who would come pick us up in a collectivo.
Collectivos are just random everyday cars that will pick you up from wherever you are on the side of the road and drive you to your destination. They are usually slightly higher priced than buses but much cheaper than a taxi. In Quepos, it costs 500 colones (around $1) to go from the beach to Quepos or from Jardin del Mar to Quepos. Collectivos can be sketchy as they are just random people with no accreditation. I wouldn't recommend taking them if you are by yourself or don't speak the native language. Collectivos just drive and honk/flash their lights at every person they go by so you also could end up with a car full of creepy strangers. Mostly you should just be really careful when using this mode of transportation.
Anyways, Willy, Jacqueline, and I ended up taking a collectivo together back to Quepos. It was one of the sketchiest rides I have ever been on. The road to Manuel Antonio from Quepos goes over a rainforest covered mountain. Everything is covered in trees and there are a lot of really pretty spots. The way is paved with hotels because Manuel Antonio is a big tourist town as well. We were flying over the mountain and had what felt like no control. It was an experience, and I am so glad we made it back safely.
Day 4
I had another very mellow day. After work, I went to Parque Nahomi and just chilled there. I actually found a sloth in one of the nearby trees and was able to take a picture. It was my first time seeing a sloth, and they do move almost as slowly as I thought they would. They are slightly faster, but only slightly. Apparently they can attack pretty quickly though so you are supposed to stay away from them. I wasn't planning on touching them anyways, but it's a good reminder to stay away from the wildlife, particularly because of the laws in Costa Rica protecting nature.
For dinner that night, we had fresh ceviche and patacones. Patacones are plantains cut into thirds or fourths. They are fried in pieces and then smashed and re-fried to get the crispy texture on the outside. They are salted and served hot. In Costa Rica, they use these as a kind of chip or just a normal side. It's definitely different from what I'm used to back home.
Day 5
One of my very favorite traditions in Costa Rica is to walk to the malecon every day and watch the sunset. The malecon is a long strip of asphalt that runs across the ocean and stops the water from flooding into the city. The malecon is right across the street from Pops ice cream shop, so nearly every night Jacqueline and I would go get ice cream and then watch the sunset.
That night, the sunset was seriously incredible. The sky turned almost white and then a faint pink. The birds overhead were flying through the palm trees. The clouds were a stark white while the sky turned a dark blue streaked with yellows, oranges, and more pinks. I honestly felt more content in that moment watching the sunset by the ocean than I have felt at nearly any other time in my life. To be fair, I love a good sunset, but that is still saying something.
Day 6
The next day, Jacqueline and I hopped on a bus immediately after work to go to a place an hour and a half north called Jaco. Jaco has black sand beaches made of volcanic rock and we stayed in a surfing hostel called Room2Board less than a thirty second walk from one. It was unreal. Our room even had air conditioning, which we hadn't had in the three weeks we'd been in Costa Rica. When the weather is 87 degrees Fahrenheit and about 95% humidity, it can get pretty hot. Normally, you have to cool down by leaving your window open and using a fan, so the AC was a treat.
That night, Jacqueline and I met this group of people at the downstairs bar of our hostel and we decided to go out with them. Jacqueline looked like she was going to hook up with the bartender, so that was interesting. I went along to keep an eye on her and to help out the other American tourists because none of them spoke any Spanish at all.
Jaco is a gambling town and is filled with bars and clubs. We went to a downtown club with a large group of people. I mostly read my book in the corner, being the absolute party animal that I am. When it came time to leave, Jacqueline was so drunk she refused to speak English, even though the only other person in our group who spoke Spanish other than us was the bartender she had picked up from our hostel. I ended up having to translate for her back to English so she could communicate with the group. Moral of the story: don't get stupid drunk when you are in a foreign country. The funniest part of all was that she told me at the end of the trip that she had never gotten drunk, "only tipsy." She and I obviously have different definitions of the word drunk.
Day 7
I ended up staying in Jaco another night from Saturday to Sunday. I wasn't planning on it because I was supposed to play the piano in church on Sunday morning at 9am. However, Jacqueline and I met these super fun boys named Kyle and Darian from San Diego. We hung out with them all day and even ended up going to a surfing competition together. Apparently, every Saturday in a little town slightly south of Jaco, there is a massive surfing competition and all the locals go watch it. It was amazing to see professional surfers doing tricks and all sorts of amazing things on these massive 8-10 foot tall waves. It was quite a unique experience, especially when it started to pour rain and everyone was still sitting out watching the surfing because they were so amazing at what they did.
Kyle and Darian were a lot of fun until they realized we weren't going to sleep with them. They ended up ditching us at around 9pm when Jacqueline and I said we were tired and going to bed (completely understandable after a night of staying out until nearly 5am on Friday night). We didn't ever see them again. Jacqueline and I did go to bed early after laying in the hammocks on our rooftop for a while just talking. It was a very mellow, yet memorable, day.
Life Lessons
My mom is very spontaneous and also loves to travel, so probably I get a lot of that from her.
Don't get drunk because you will act extremely dumb. Guaranteed.
Take time to watch the sunset because it will calm you down and make you content in a way that other things can't.
Sex and your willingness to have it can change a lot of things. When you're going to sleep with someone, make sure your expectations are on the same level. If they just want sex and you want more, don't sleep with them. If they are only hanging out with you for the sex, ask yourself if you're okay with that. It's okay not to be and to say no. If you're not going to sleep with someone, that's also fine.
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