Costa Rica: Beaches, Buses and Bonfires

I know this is now more than a month over-due but I feel it would be a waste to not make an account of the our incredible Latin American Spring Break. Semana Santa begins the week before Easter and is celebrated with festivals, bacchanals and a desperate rush to the beach to try and escape the deadly April heat. Everyone with the means spends at least a day or two on the coast. Those without buy an inflatable pool for the front yard and squeeze grandma, the cat and all the cousins into the 4x4 square of red and yellow plastic. As ISEP students, we took the chance to go to Costa Rica since the ten days of no school provided enough time for  travel and exploring. The big celebrations don’t start ‘til the end of the week, so the plan was to spend the first half in Costa Rica and then meet up with friends back in Southern Nicaragua. I had planned a trip to Peru for the end of the week, so we parted ways at the border and I’ll continue my journey from there in another post.

Transportation was a journey in and of itself, but after taxis, buses, border crossings and a twenty-minute search for our hostel, we made it from Managua, Nicaragua to Quepos, Costa Rica. Our hostel was cheap, in more ways than one, but included delicious breakfast and was run by a welcoming owner, Carlos, who was full of local advise and even drove us around a bit in has big white van. The first wonderful thing about Ticos is the fact that their accent is much more understandable than that of the Nicas across the border. They also say "pura vida" at least once and hour and they're a bit more accustomed to foreigners. So while at times we felt more like stupid tourists, we also had a nice break from cat-calling and confused stares.

Costa Rica was fresh and green, which was a great break from the unrelenting heat of Managua. We headed out our first day in search of a waterfall, but instead ended up on a beautiful white sand beach. We spent the day lounging, swimming, building sand castles and meeting all of the college kids that also happened to be at the beach for Spring Break. Most memorable was a group from Massachusetts who invited us back to their house for drinks that night. 

I should probably explain how we were invited though, because it very well epitomizes making friends in Central America:

Step 1-See another group of loud 

       young-adult students on the 

       beach.

Step 2- Hope they speak English 

       and maybe have a very loud 

       conversation so they know 

       you speak English.

Step 3- Eventually make your 

       way over to find out where they are from, what they’re doing 

       and if they are immediately turned off by a stranger starting up 

       a conversation.

Step 4- Find a local passing by who wants to 

       play soccer.

Step 5- Play soccer and finally learn the 

      names of everyone you’ve been talking to.

Step 6- Laugh, Run, Play, Say Goodbye, 

      watch everyone walk off into the sunset, 

      and head back to the hostel.

Step 7- Get in the shower at the hostel and 

      suddenly hear the owner shouting your 

      name because someone is on the phone 

      and asking for you.

Step 8- Get out of the shower to find that the 

      Massachusetts folks had remembered which hostel we 
      were staying in and gone to the effort of finding the 
      number, calling us up and asking if we’d like to come over.

Step 9- Victory Dance  

Nearly everyone in there group had studied abroad last year and they had rented a huge house with a pool and beautiful view of ocean for the week, so we all felt content to just spend the evening sharing stories on the deck. Eventually we did decide to walk down to the water, so our night ended with swimming in the moonlight and drying off around a wonderful bonfire. This was by far one of the best nights I've had in my entire time abroad. It was great to hear from people who are planning great adventures in the world and looking forward to making a difference. Their adventurous spirits had led them to us and I’m sure will lead them to incredible places down the road.

Our last day in the area was spent at the local Nature Preserve with Chris, a Canadian we had met at our hostel who was willing to explore with me while the others went to the beach again. We had an awesome time walking through the jungle and we even happened to see a sloth cross the road! If you know anything about sloths, this was a once in a lifetime experience. The area also had some incredible miradores that looked out over the ocean and beautiful coastline of the Parque Nacional.

            

                               

That afternoon, we hopped on bus headed north toward the Peninsula de Nicoya, a small branch off of the mainland that is easiest to reach by ferry. The ride across turned into a beautiful sunset cruise and we arrived just in time to catch a taxi to Santa Teresa and Tranquilo Backpackers for the rest of our stay. This hostel definitely gave a feel for the traveling life. We met people from all over the world, most of them surfers, who travel for months at a time or have found a way to work from anywhere, provided they have cold beer and internet access. We spent most of our time on the beach, drank a few too many margaritas and saw some of the most beautiful skies I can remember. Our last night in Costa Rica was spent in a small town back on the mainland where we found a delicious local place with seafood dishes and functional fans. Our hotel for the night also had air-conditioning! So we stayed in, drank toña and learned a lot about each other in a tiny hotel room  in Puntarenas.

 

Our adventure back to Nicaragua is a story in and of itself, but I’m going to wait and share it as the beginning of my tales from Peru! In other words, Stay Tuned!