We left Saturday morning at 4AM! This would not have flown with Robin Russell...There were 11 of us, but this time we had two cars. Jake and his family in one (Pablo, Teresita, Tito, Paula, and Sharon) and Brigette and her family (Jackie, Melanie and Stephanie) in the pick-up truck, plus me. We had to take the same road we took last weekend to the river, but this time I was mentally prepared and our car had shocks, so it was an entirely different experience in the best way possible. We arrived at Manuel Antonio around 7:15 and were the first people at the beach (shocker). We got a prime parking spot under some trees, and I had my first Costa Rican monkey siting! They were just hanging out in the branches checking out the tourists down below. We had gallo pinto and coffee for breakfast and then spent the next eight hours walking, swimming, lounging, sleeping and eating more (hot dogs that weren't hot for lunch, not sure what you call those...). It was pretty wonderful. The beach got really crowded by around 11 am with gringos and ticos all on their Semana Santa vacations. It was super hot all day and us three gringos got a little sunburned, but no worries mine has already turned into a nice base tan.
Around 4:30 we all piled in our cars and headed to Parrita, about a half hour away where Jake's family has a family friend who invited us to stay on her property. The road to her house was all palm trees, and then we arrived at a modest piece of land with an even more modest house. It had two bedrooms and an open kitchen area, unfinished cement floors and walls, a hanging hose for a shower, and some chickens in the back. Dona Signa lives there with her 12-year-old son, Justin, who had down syndrome, and she happily welcomed all 11 of us, smelly and covered with sand from a day at the beach, to enter her home, use all her running water to shower (literally, it shut off that night), and sleep on air mattresses in her kitchen and in tents on her front porch. Costa Rican hospitality and its finest.
Sunday morning we woke to roosters crowing around 6 am and packed our lunches for the day (I learned how to make arroz con pollo, a staple here) and headed out to a nearby beach called Playa Bandera, which was completely empty and SOOOOOOOO beautiful and peaceful. I guess there are no tourists there because no buses go there and there are no restaurants or shops, but it was awesome. Brigette and I found some palm trees to sit under and try to protect ourselves from a second day of sunburn, but our two hour walk in the afternoon ensured a somewhat painful car ride home. After an even more perfect day, epitomized by eating the juiciest watermelon and then jumping directly into the warm, refreshing ocean, we headed back to Dona Signa's to drain her water supply once again and then hit the road.
I'm feeling very recharged and relaxed, which is good because we have a LOT of work in the next two weeks as we are hitting the halfway point of training and are actually being expected to know and speak Spanish. Que lastima!
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