Friday, May 12, 2006

Costa Rica

I made it to Costa Rica in the first few days of May and spent about 5 days in puerto viejo at Rockin J's hammock hostel where I met some really awesome people and we all stayed multiple days longer to hang out with each other. I also got my hair ¨dreaded¨ for $60. I paid that much cause I thought she would do a good job, but she basically did knotty braids that I spent the next week and a half redoing myself. It took her 2 and ahalf hours when it should have taken over 8 hours. So she scammed me and we had a bad relationship whenver we saw each other in town, which was kinda funny. But at least I know how to do dreads now and I have the satisfaction of having done my own. So my long curly hair is all goine now, and it feels GREAT!

To give you the run down, I had an amazing time with some new people I met and i am sure that some of those people will turn out to be long lasting friends. Raoul and Meya and I spent alot of time together (they are in the pic with me above) We even made a really cool sand castle with a mayan pyramid and a sacrificial pit. One of them was a guy from Holand named Raoul and we rented bikes and biked down the coast for about 15km and then hiked for 2 hours along some of the most beautiful and striking beaches ive ever seen to an organic Permaculture farm called Punta Mona where I found a strange fruit that looked like the shape of a cucumber only 4 inches long and was the color and taste of a green starfruit. I gave Raoul a bit and I had about 2 to 3 times as much and about an hour later, while in the middle of the jubngle with frogs and giant bugs and monkeys all around while tromping through thick mud, Raoul and i started to feel very light headed and became very gitty and very very high and somehow made our way laughing our asses off out of the jungle and got on our bikes and rode back to the hostel. While we were trekking through the mud we came across an overgrown road where the sun was shining down, and being high as we were, we thought it looked like and angel with its soul or heart being a patch of sky within its dress. We called it the sun god, you can see from the pictures on the left what we were thinking. It obviously isnt a good idea to eat random things you find in the jungle, but we did it anyways. It wasnt entirely random, it was the only tree in the Permaculture farm that I saw that had a name tag and they obviously planted it so I figured it wouldnt hurt us and we only at a vbery small amount in case it turned out poisonous. Although I probably wont eat random things I find again, I am really glad that we ate this blilimbi thing.
(I have updated a video that I took while we were high on bilibi or whatever it was called, its pretty funny, check out the NEW videos section)

Raoul later accompanied me to Parismina where I met up with Becca Parish and got to see amazing giant sea turtles that night. When I arrived, Becca was in the first house from the boat launch and had no idea that I was coming and we hugged for quite a while. It was great to see her again. That night, Raoul, Becca and I went to the beach in search of giant turtles and after a very long walk down the beach in the beautiful moonlight with the waves lapping at our feet, RAoul was feeling sik and decided to turn back and walk to the hostel along along the beach. Right after he left, we saw one about 4.5 feet in length come on shore but the 3 dogs that were with it scared it and it turned around to leave, but not before I got to touch it. then becca asked if I saw its eyes and I jumped in front of it to see its eyes right as it was going into the water and scared it accidentally. I got really excited I guess and I felt really bad for scareing such a gentle amazing creature. Then right after that we saw another one and watched it lay eggs as a group of volunteers scouped the eggs out to take to the hatchery. i stayed there for a while watching the nturtles face. It was one of the most amazing and beautiful things I have ever seen The turtle was cryng and every now and again it would take a large gasp for air and her whole body would shake. I walked away feeling very calm and peaceful.

My frind Raoul however was beaten up by a poacher that night on his way back to the hostel. Luckily he didnt get punched in the face and the poacher left, but that is a pretty crappy way to get introduced to a tranquil, remote little town.

Becca and I headed to Puerto Viejo again and spent about 4 days there and went to Cauhita, a national park on the coast with amazing beaches and lots of monkeys and sloths. Some of the monkeys were really fearless and even came up and grabbed my hand and jumped on beccas leg. Basically they wanted my bag with food in it but it was cool. After we saw them we went and skinny dipped in the ocean and had to run naked, screaming at a monkey who had just decided to steal my shorts. Luckily he dropped them. We then made Leaf Loin clothes while keeping an eye out for the monkey who was hiding in the tree waiting for another opportune moment.

We went to San Jose for one day and then to Santa Theresa where we stayed for 3 days and surfed . One night we went out to surf at sunset and it was by far the most amazing sunset either of us had ever seen. It was as though we were surfing in a Michaelangelo Fresco. Its undescribable how beautiful it was, so I wont make an attempt to describe it :) I met an Italian there named Keko, a very open and kind hearted man that I for some reason felt very drawn to. Becca and I had seen him everywhere that day and at the saturday Organic Market we saw him and Keko and I just started talking and hit it off. Im sure that I will meet him again. I have met alot of really cool Italians on this trip, which only makes my longing to live and work in Italy and learn Italian that much stronger.

After Santa Theresa, Becca and I went to a wildlife sanctuary where we stayed for 2 nights for $2 per night and we got free meals and worked on the organic farm planting things and clearing land for about three hours. It was cool but we were happy to leave.

Becca and i then split up and she went to Nicaragua and I to La Fortuna where i spent a few days. I will update that section soon.

5 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Zack!

Cool piece of writing man! Enjoyed reading it :). Don't forget the trip in the back of the taxi ;).

Here it's moving time :(. But I got to see my girly again so that makes the hurt less. Man, I wish I was back on my travel again, miss it much, the freedom, the tranquilo way of life and the weird things you do and eat :)

Have fun with the rest of your trip and I keep tracking this site :)

Come to Holland when you can, will be lots of fun!

Hope to see you again in the furure pickle!

Greety from Jelly from the block!

7:24 AM  
Blogger Leifh said...

Wow, what an amazing opportunity Zack! And the fruit story is hilarious, I hope you are still okay --did you ever find out what it was?

Lots-o-love,
Leif

(PS, I recently did an 'intercast dialogue' with a pagan friend I met in seattle, check out the blog/podcast when you you're around acomputer with audio or an ipod.)
Say Hi to BEcca for me!
(:

7:16 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Haha Raoul, yeah I will definitely have to update it with the crazy ass car ride.
-Zack

4:45 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Hah, no i never did find out what it was,but i plan on looking it up online sometime. So many things to do when I get to a computer though. Speaking of which, how do i view the podcast? can you send me a link? I will be updating my site with pics in the next couple days so you can get a better visual of what ive been doing. Becca is in Nicaragua right now and i will be meeting up with her later this week since I had a little more i wanted to see in Costa.
Talk to you soon Leif, and say hello to the fam for me.
Love,

Zack

4:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

mui belo mui....
ricos dias belo sr.

8:40 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home