As I mentioned in my previous post, last week was a short, four day week. I came home after school on Thursday with enough time to pack my bags and watch a scary movie with Brittany before it was time to go.
Around 5PM, Sierra, Sophie, Darcy, David, and I went to the church to meet our shuttle. From there, we took the 2.5 hour trip to Puntarenas where we boarded a ferry to take us across the Gulf of Nicoya. It was so dark and the air was nice and cool. We rode outside on one of the upper levels so we got to enjoy the breeze. Once we got across, a little over an hour later, we got back in our shuttle and headed for Montezuma.
The last part of that hour and a half ride was rough. The road was gravel and had more pot holes than actual road space to drive on. Our driver was driving more in the ditch on the side of the road than on the road itself! Around 11PM we finally reached Luna Llena Hotel (which was actually a hostel) where we would be spending the weekend. Since it was already late, we hung out for a little bit and then went to bed.
The view of the ocean from our room at the hostel
We woke up Friday morning and it was a little drizzly. We got ready and made the short walk into town for breakfast before we went to the beach. We ended up eating at a place called "El Sano Banano" (The Healthy Banana). I had the best banana pancakes I had ever eaten. We went to the beach for a little while and laid out in the sun. David and I took a stroll and I collected a handful of shells to bring back home. We even saw some crabs popping up out of their holes. David tossed a rock at one, making it scurry away. It was fun to watch it run sideways! There was a stray dog on the beach that Sierra named Sandy. The dog took quite a liking to our group. It didn't take long before it began to drizzle some more, so we headed back into town for a late lunch. We went back to Sano Banano and I had some spicy pasta. From there we went back up to the hostel and relaxed for awhile. At one point we were reading outside on on of the cots and we looked up to see a monkey hanging out in the trees, eating flowers!
There was a Halloween party at the hostel but it seemed to be mostly kids from town so we didn't go to it. Around 8PM we went back into town for dinner. I had a nutella and banana crepe; not exactly dinner food but it was delicious! Afterwards, we went to the only bar in town for their Halloween party. Chico's was definitely poppin'! It was interesting to see all the costumes the Ticos were wearing. I even saw a girl wearing a MN Vikings jersey! (Randy Moss at that). They had various contests for people to win things. Often times this involved the contestants dancing on the stage like Superman here:
People watching is just as fun here as it is as home! One girl was dressed up in a knee length rain coat, rain boots, and a mask. She randomly took off her boots and poured out water next to the stage in the middle of the party. We were all very amused by her. We danced and people-watched until around 1:30 in the morning when we decided to head back to the hostel.
Saturday morning we slept in until about 9 before getting ready for the day. We went to a restaurant for a late lunch before heading to the beach. It was PERFECT beach weather. There were a few small sprinkles during the day, but it wasn't bad. As soon as we got there, we all rushed into the water and played in the waves. I was knocked down more than a few times due to my lack of balance. We spent the next 5 hours or so laying in the sun, walking on the beach, and enjoying the water. Sandy the dog found us again and David and Sierra both humored her and played fetch with a coconut.
At 4PM we walked over to a hatchery where they were digging up sea turtles to send them out into the ocean. They had various plots where eggs were buried, waiting for the turtles to hatch. We didn't stay long enough for them to be released, but we watched them get dug up which was pretty neat in itself.
The turtles are in the metal bowl; it is hard to see them as they are still covered in sand
Covered in sand from the beach, we headed back to the hostel to shower off. We went out for dinner and between the five of us, we demolished four pizzas with no problem. Laying in the sun all day really takes a lot out of you! We had some gelato from Ice Dream down the street and then went back to the hostel to hang out for the rest of the night.
I was woken up somewhere around 2AM to Darcy yelling something about a skunk. She flipped the light on and found us all in confusion. Apparently she heard some rustling around and using a flashlight, her and David found an open cracker package under the bed and a skunk climbing in the window. The skunk had already been in the room, and in David's bag, to steal his crackers. After searching the room we found the skunk had left but not after freaking us out (well, freaking me out anyway). David attempted to use a water bottle to block the hole where the skunk came in but it didn't stop me from having nightmares about skunks the rest of the night.
This morning we got up and went back to El Sano Banano for breakfast. We decided to eat outside this time, something that will never happen ever, ever again. As we were sitting there, a bird flew by and sat on a chair at the table next to us. At first we thought it was pretty cool.
After ordering and eating most of our food, David thought it would be fun to feed the bird a piece of fruit off of his fork. It was funny at first, until three more birds flew over to us. One was in the tree above and decided to take care of business.......right on Sophie's plate. Luckily, she was done eating! They seemed to be closing in on us so we decided to go back into the restaurant and pay the bill. The second we left, the birds swarmed the table to eat our food.
David feeding the bird
After eating we went to a couple of shops and then back up to our hostel to check out. At quarter after 11, our shuttle picked us back up and we headed for the ferry. The ferry ride on Thursday evening had been dark and cool. This ride was much warmer, and therefore not as fun. We were very happy to get off the ferry and back into our air-conditioned shuttle for the ride back to Santa Ana.
Sophie, Sierra, Darcy, Me, and David on the ferry
Now I have another four day week ahead of me, and then we will be headed to Monteverde for Darcy and David's birthdays next weekend!
You can find all travel posts from Hey Dreamer Blog here.
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