Let’s keep this chronological. I’m gonna start with two
weekends ago before I tell you how I feel about being home. This is going to be a long one, watch out.
Two weekends ago, Nurse Jessica and I made the trip to
Dominical, one of the top 3 places I wanted to visit in Costa Rica. Lonely
Planet, which has been unbelievably reliable, said that it was a hippie surf
town full of surfers, artists, hippies and “do-nothings,” and I was excited to
be a part of that. Jess planned this one, so I was just along for the ride. We
hopped a Nature Air plane early Saturday morning that landed in Palmar Sur,
about an hour outside of Dominical. There was only another couple on the plane
once we got there, and one taxi at the airport, which we needed badly to catch
the supposed public bus to Dominical that left in 15 minutes. The lady in the
couple was like “Oh, your hotel didn’t arrange transportation for you??” LOOK
at me, lady, do I look like I have a hotel that arranges everything for me?? I
don’t even know where I’m staying tonight. Guurrrl, please. Regardless, called
a taxi with minutes to spare, rushed to the “bus stop” and caught a bus to
Playa Uvita (close enough) as it was pulling out. We didn’t even really ask, we
just flagged them down and got on, and turns out it went to Uvita, which was
about 10 miles down the beach from Dominical.
Once in Uvita, we decided spur of the moment to see the
beach/marine/national park there in Ballena/Uvita. So, we squeezed into a 2
door, ghetto truck taxi and threw our backpacks in the bed of the truck. Off we
go. The national park was BEAUTIFUL! It was almost deserted, and lined with
palm trees and lush coastal mountains. The water was clear for once too! If Dominical
was going to be anything like this, we were in business. Lonely Planet also
said that this is one of those places you have to be careful not to love too
much and get stuck there. So far, they’re right.
Later on, we hopped back in the truck cab and headed to
Dominical. Dominical has dirt roads, and our hostel was beach front. For $10 a
night we got a mosquito-netted bunk in an open air, covered deck/patio above a
restaurant where you could hear the waves as you went to sleep. However, you
did have to watch out for iguanas – they thought it was a pretty cool place to
stay too. I don’t blame them. It was a SWEET DEAL.
We also met a bunch of pretty cool people with pretty cool
stories from our hostel. Jess and I, the pyromaniacs that we are, decided to start
a fire on the beach and throw a beach party. That was the hardest fire I have
ever started, and MAN we worked hard. We were super proud of our fire too,
knowing that you have that human success of making fire is so satisfying. About
20 people from our hostel and other places up the beach came to our fire, and
we even had a guy who brought his Ukulele.
Again, LP (Lonely Planet) was right when they said the town was filled
with hippies and surfers!!! It was wonderful to meet people from all over the
world and just relax on the beach by a kickin’ fire.
The next morning, we woke up, tried to find a waterfall with
some of the guys from our hostel, and only ended up getting eaten alive by
mosquitos. No waterfall. No worries either, Pura Vida, because we were going
SURFING at Dominicalito, the beach down the road! Jess and I got out there, and
it too was absolutely gorgeous. The waves were perfect for us, and even though
Jess’s foot had a little run in with a sharp rock, we looked like pros. I was
thinking about letting LP be right again and love it so much there that I got
stuck there. After getting robbed the
weekend before, this was the perfect place to renew my faith in Costa Rica and
the human kind. Plus, of all the places
I’d been in CR, this was #1 hands down!
But no, I had to go back to school for my last week of
internship….I was NOT happy to be counting down the days. I tried to teach and
observe other classrooms as much as possible, and to not think about leaving my
kids. While I was out of the classroom observing, Mrs. Calderon was up to no
good. She was scheming – my class threw me a SURPRISE going away party Friday
afternoon. I am a hard one to surprise, and they pulled it off! I went to
return some books for Mrs. Calderon Friday afternoon, and I passed Kelly on the
way back to my classroom. We were tempted to go play ultimate Frisbee with the
5th graders, but I said no, I needed to get back because I didn’t
want to be away from my kids. I had attachment issues. Good thing too, because
when I walked back into the class, they all had a little party set up and
yelled “SURPRISE!” We had cake and things that the parents had snuck into
another classroom earlier that morning after the Africa Fair, and the kids made
me a little book. The cover was mango paper, and then each student had a page
of coffee paper that they decorated or wrote on, and Mrs. Calderon put it all
together. OH man, I LOVE IT. It’s SO me. I love little crafts and I am a
complete sucker for student artwork, so this was perfect. I couldn’t have asked
for a better placement. J
Friday night was a beer tasting at the director of the
school’s house with some of the other staff (yes it was a blast), and Saturday
morning, Jess and I jumped on a place to Mal Pais (Bad Country) to stay in the
little town of Santa Teresa on the north Pacific. This is normally a 7 hour
bus-ferry-bus transfer from San Jose, so every told us not to go, but we went
anyway. BOOM that’s why Jess is a great travel buddy. And it’s a darn good
thing we went too, Santa Teresa was even more beautiful and awesome than
Dominical, just by a hair though. White sandy beaches that stretched as far as
you could see lined with more palms and lush green mountains. Dirt roads,
surfers galore, and a warm ocean breeze. AHHhhhhhhhhhh……We just laid on the
beach all day Saturday, relaxing and soaking it all in. What a wonderful place
that we were so lucky to be in! The water was cool and clear, and the sand was
so soft. I definitely wouldn’t mind getting stuck here either.
Saturday night we hung out with some Aussie’s from our
hostel, and there were so many stars that I couldn’t pick out a single
constellation! The number of stars here rivals those in Bocas del Toro, Panama.
Sunday, we tried to surf, but the waves were too big and the whitewater was too
slow, not to mention the undertow was incredible. Still a great day on a great
beach, but I was not ready to make that 7 hour bus-ferry-bus transfer I told
you about. Turned out to be pretty cool though, the ferry ride was right at
sunset, so Jess and I drank a bottle of wine and enjoyed our sunset cruise.
(She likes to carry a wine bottle in the water bottle holder in her backpack.
Class ACT J
).
Home safe, Sunday night, trying to figure out when I was
gonna pack. UGH. I SO did not want to leave Tuesday!!!
However, I think this story will have to be continued. I’ve
already written a lot, and I think maybe I’ll wait a few more days to see how I
feel about coming home and graduation and such. I think I’ll keep writing just
another post or two to document my reverse culture shock and adjustment from
this whole journey. But for now….
PURA VIDA,
Jessica
