My foot doubles in size

Look at me, being all Costa Rican and cool. I think relaxation looks good on me!

So Saturday was a great relaxing day and if I could have done it over, I would have stayed in Samara longer. The thing is- while I was relaxing and forgetting about life for a while, something bit me. Not like a little bug bite or a small child- like probably a monstrous spider that I somehow missed since I was watching the waves and skyping with my dad in his robe. All of a sudden I looked down and see this-

I have no idea how it got this bad before I noticed it but I spent most of the afternoon icing it and praying for the swelling to go down because if I had to end up in a Costa Rican hospital I would probably have killed myself at this point. It got worse before it got better but it did eventually get better, thank God.

Sunday morning we drove to a new spot- Mal Pais. This trip SUCKED! The worst roads we encountered the whole time, by far. Nothing to look at, except the whites of my knuckles as I clenched the steering wheel and swore. I can’t remember why I took this photo but I’d sure love to pretend I know what she was saying. “My friend is crazy, we’ve been driving on horrible dirt roads for hours, we’ve been robbed, her foot is now a size 14 and we are lost.”

Here is another one of my favorite photos from the trip. I LOVED the bright colors everywhere we went. It made every image in my camera and through my eyes, pop!

We arrived in the town we were going to and picked up Holly’s sister, Cati. All we knew was that she was at a bakery. Well, in this very small town it didn’t take us long to find the white girl with a backpack and a surfboard. Here is a photo of a sign in the hostel we stayed at. It’s like they were talking right at me. (sorry mom, I promise to call more when I get home!)

Once we arrived there I needed some MB time to cool off and destress from the drive. I ended up taking a nap in a hammock next to a strange dog. When I woke up, Holly, Cati and I went to an amazing place for dinner where we had food fresh off the fire and at least 2 bottles of wine (that I remember).  I was looking forward to more discovering the next day.

Also- this. Interpret as you feel appropriate.

 

I wish I had heard this song before I went on the trip, it was so fitting for that day. 

 

 

Day 7 – Tico Time and Headless Barbies

Day 7-

Samara is a beautiful town and we got to truly enjoy it on Saturday. Holly walked along the beach and I sat and read and caught up on some work. One hour turned into 6 and with no plans, great views and wonderful weather, we truly began to relax. At one point I asked the waiter if he needed my table on the beach for other customers and he looked at me like I had 2 heads. “You take as long as you want here, stay all night, relax, you are on Tico time.” It was wonderful. I thought to myself, “I can sit, relax, not answer to anyone, enjoy my tea, this view and breath.” Hard to remember the last time I felt so content.

This was my breakfast and this was my view as I worked. 

During this time I was able to skype with family and it was so good to see everyone. I caught everyone up on the fiasco in Castillo but assured them I was in a good, safe place now.

Texting with Dad (sorry dad)  Texting with Hannah who wanted to show me her new cats 

I spent more time writing and reading. These are such simple activities but I never give myself the time to do these sort of things at home. I realized that it’s important for me to go home and carve out time each day to do these type of things. It’s so easy to get caught up in the day to day. The work that never ends, the jobs that pile up on after another. But this life isn’t meant for just work. It’s also meant for travel, for reading, for talking, for writing, for photographing and for simply relaxing and enjoying the fact that you are alive.

This is by far one of my most favorite photos from the trip. Beauty was literally all around us. 

Here’s my soul sister Holly trekking the beautiful sand. 

And here are some random toys I found of a young child sitting near me. Fucking awesome. 

Song of the day: This song was on repeat while I relaxed and lived on this wonderful day in Samara 

Day 6- Holly’s Bday and other shenanigans

Day 6- Holly’s Birthday

Friday was Holly’s birthday and although I’m sure it didn’t feel like a birthday, she put on a happy face and was ready for another day! When we woke up we packed our stuff, thanked our new friend for all his help and went on our way. The goal today was to get to the Pacific coast of Costa Rica on Pennisula Nicoya. When you look at a map, it doesn’t seem further than maybe a few hours. The trouble is that the conditions of the road can limit your speed to 15 mph, adding on additional hours we never expected. We drove through the mountains and to a saw some of the most beautiful landscape in the world. We had a huge lake to our left, the volcano straight ahead and mountains, birds and wildlife around us.

This cat greeted us upon arrival at our hotel

Early afternoon we made it to our final destination, Samara. The place I booked was more beautiful than I could have imagined and we were given the “Tree top suite,” which was the top room of a small building that literally felt like the top of a tree house. The room was spacious, clean and had a balcony with a hammock.

  

We spent the afternoon walking around this small beach town. We talked to some of the locals and Holly bought a few new pieces of clothes to begin the process of rebuilding her wardrobe. We found a spot right on the beach that we would have dinner at, later that evening.

We found this security gate near our hotel- it was to ironic NOT to take a photo.

We went back to the hotel, showered and go dressed up. Dressed up meaning we were clean, we brushed our hair and even put a little make up on, it felt good! I told Holly I had to go talk to the owner about the photographs she wanted me to take of the hotel. What I actually was doing was finding a way to have a birthday cake delivered to our room while we were eating dinner.

We went to dinner, had champagne and a wonderful meal. We had great conversation and even answered a few of my Project Captured questions. Wow those are tough! When dinner was done, Holly wanted dessert. But I didn’t want her to! I had a  cake waiting at home. So I said, why don’t we just go get a drink somewhere else instead. She agreed and the waiter told us about a place along the beach that we could grab a late night cocktail. We attempted to find this place and as Holly was weaving in and out of the darkness, getting her balance on rocks and walking through water, I confessed my secret plan and said loud and fast, “STOP! I HAVE CAKE AND WINE AT THE HOTEL!” She laughed and we made our way back to the car, went to the hotel and spent the rest of the evening eating a huge cake and more boxed wine.

We couldn’t figure out what this was. It was boxed wine, the size of a bottle. What gives? 

 

Also this is the creepiest video I’ve ever seen- here’s to you Holly!

A crazy horse and screaming chickens

Day 5- A crazy horse and screaming chickens 

We decided that we would go horseback riding in the morning. We wanted to stick with one part of the day we had planned. We realized a majority of the day would be spent at a police station so why not try to do something, “normal,” first.

With little description of what the horseback riding entailed, we paid our money and got on our horses. Little did we know that we would be horseback riding up an entire mountain, and not just any mountain. A wet, muddy, extremely steep mountain. This was horseback riding gone extreme. My horse’s name was Puncha. Puncha was a bitch who hated her life and wanted to take it out on me.  And honestly I don’t blame her. I think she was the smartest horse because she misbehaved and I would think the owner might not want to bring her out anymore. She took the path less traveled which I had to give her credit for but at the same time we were going through 12-18 inches of mud and I had little if any, control over her. In fact the more control I tried to have, the less I had it. Sounds like someone I know!

When we reached the top of the mountain there was a small river. Puncha decided she was hot and that she would like to sit in the river- with me on her. I screamed but it was too late. Puncha and I were in the river.

Soaking wet, I attempted to shake the river out of my shoes and we made our way to the next stop which was a 20 minute hike down to a waterfall. Once we got to the waterfall I took off my socks and shoes and went in fully clothed. I was hot and this waterfall was absolutely beautiful. I felt like Costa Rica and I were getting closer. Like we had fight last night and now she was trying to make amends. She’s so beautiful, it’s hard to be mad at her.  I took the time to look up at the sky, feel the water on my skin and be thankful for what was right in front of me.

On the way back Puncha didn’t feel like going up the large hill ahead of us so she turned away from the group and decided it would be best to go back to the water. I started off with a ,” Um hey,” which turned into, “Someone help me!” So the dude came over and smacked Puncha with a whip which got her to take off faster than the speed of light. With everyone else way ahead of us, Holly told me that the image of me coming around the corner going 47 miles per hour on this crazy horse will be one that forever lives in her mind. She laughed the whole way down the mountain.

What I imagined horseback riding would be like: 

What horseback riding actually was:

We made our way back down the mountain and it hit me that we now had a long day to face. I won’t bore you with the details but here’s the long story short. A guy we met in Castillo (originally from California) told us to go ask for a guy in Fortuna. We drove to Fortuna and found that guy and he brought us to the police and was able to translate our story to them. He also set us up with a free hotel room for the night in Fortuna. We spent a few hours dealing with all of this and eventually found our way to dinner and drinks. That’s where I realized I was on empty.

Poor Holly tried to talk to me and I had nothing left to say. I was exhausted from the crazy drive, the night of no sleep, Puncha and all the attempts to explain our story to the right people. She understood, we called it an early night and went to bed. I was looking forward to a good nights sleep which I had until 3 am. Holly woke up at the same time as me and my exact words to her were, “What the fuck is that?” It was a noise you could not ignore. At 3 am the local farmer decided it was time to kill his chickens. The screaming of this chickens will be a sound that will be forever engraved in my mind. We both agreed this was an adventure of a lifetime, laughed (because what else can you do) and attempted to go back to sleep. But then I realized it was technically Holly’s birthday so I looked at her with all seriousness and said, “Feliz Cumpleanos!”

Song of the day, Day 5. For Puncha, who brought the beast out of me.