Teaser!

So I know I haven't updated in a while... but this whole TEFL business doesn't leave a lot of free time and what free time I do have I've spent traveling! Which often means no laptop and spotty internet access.  I'm still working on an actual post (or 5) but here are some pics til then!

sorry these are scrambled I promise a beautiful organized post complete with words will be appearing soon! (I'm adapting to Tico time here!)

Pura Vida!

We made it Costa Rica!  After a looooong day of traveling (3am until 10:30pm) we arrived at our beautiful hotel in Quepos.  We had a stop over in San Jose, where we went to our school and got a tour.  We were able to store our bigger bags there (and also decided we brought way too much stuff!) and got to hang out for a while until we needed to go to the bus station.  Upon arrival at the bus station we learned that the 6pm bus (that we were planning on) was already full and we would be waiting an hour an a half for the 7:30 bus.  It was mildly nerve racking sitting in the bus station with all of our stuff, not really knowing the procedures there (the bathroom costs 100 colones by the way) but not wanting to make the already seemingly angry ticket lady any more so with any questions.  So we sat there and waited, surrounded by a couple dogs and many strangers, all of whom spoke spanish and many of whom were yelling loudly.  This was alarming at first, until we realized that what they were yelling at was the tv, which had a soccer game on it :)

The hotel reception desk

Pool area and restaurant

Soon our bus arrived and we boarded, proceeded to sit in the wrong seats not realizing they were assigned, and eventually found our correct ones in the very back, seated very cozily between some friendly Costa Ricans.  The ride was definitely a trip.  I can only compare the ride to the Knight Bus in Harry Potter 3.  This man drove with conviction.  He maneuvered that huge bus through the tiny streets of San Jose like there was no tomorrow, and when we got on the highway he couldn't seem to go fast enough.  I'll just say I was glad to be inside the bus and not driving in front of it, the driver took tailgating to a new extreme!

Never the less, we made it to Quepos safe and sound, and then on to our hotel, where we were luckily greeted very graciously despite the late hour and shown right to our rooms.  I was over the moon to see that right outside our door was our very own hammock!  I could tell I was going to like it here :)

lounging in the hammock :)

The next day we slept in given it had been almost 36 hours without sleep, and then ventured out to see the hotel.  We learned that there was a nature trail right from the hotel and decided to go for a hike.  As we approached the trail, right off the bat we saw a huge hanging bridge. We were blown away!   To top it off, right as we started to cross the bridge we saw a 3 foot iguana in the tree about 10 feet away from us!  So far so good!






Walking through the jungle here feels like Jurassic Park, the leaves are so huge they could serve as umbrellas, there's vines and huge roots everywhere, and it's hard to believe it all real and not something in Disneyland or something!  We definitely think we found where some of the inspiration for the Jungle Cruise ride comes from!  As we made our way around the trail we kept our eyes out for any animals, especially monkeys.  We turned at every sound and questioned each squeak.  Was it a bird? A Monkey? A mysterious jungle being? 

We played this game for a while until finally we saw them.  Monkeys.  Lots of monkeys.  Hanging, jumping, practically flying through the trees!  We probably stood there and watched them for a good 20 minutes. Then we moved on. And up.  After a few questionable bridge crossings on the trail, we made our way up to the lookout tower. 




It was bit treacherous and extremely muddy making our way up the hill, but when we got to the top we realized it was well worth the effort.  It was absolutely breathtaking up there, we were above the tree tops and could see the jungle all around us, mist covered mountain tops and tremendous trees!

 Beautiful Costa Rican Jungle!!!

the steps down from the lookout platform

We stayed up there for a while, taking in the scenery until we decided it was probably getting dark soon and we should head back.  We hiked the rest of the trail loop a little more briskly than the first half, and made it back just to the hotel just as the sun set.  After a swim in the pool and dinner at the hotel restaurant we called it a night.  It was a wonderful day in Costa Rica!