Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
A friend of the family once told me that the difference between an adventure and a holiday was that at least once on an adventure you ask yourself, ¨What the hell am I doing here?¨
Well....this is definitely an adventure. Yesterday we left San Jose (thank god) and took the four hour drive up to Cahuita where I´m staying. It was absolutely breath taking, we were driving through the literal jungle up in the mountains. I´m talking stuff you see in travel magazines. And then we arrived in Cahuita..which is about the size of Highland. Two gravel roads..and that´s about it. Turns out that we are a little overcrowded with volunteers (imagine!) so the other two new ones and I are staying in the same house. They gave me a room with no door..just a curtain. I was pretty upset about this (not that I´m a princess or anything), but a male volunteer traded with me. It´s actually not too bad...definitely not your four seasons, but the fan and the window keep it breezy and I was able to sleep comfortably. We went out for dinner at a really nice restaurant, and met all of the other volunteers, which was really comforting for me. They all seem cool, and tanned (bonus!), and since most of them have been here for a long time..and are staying longer than me, it made my trip seem not as huge. Then i called Mom on the phone..which was pretty emotional. I´m homesick I admit it...which is odd because Í´ve only been gone a few days.. but I think that it´s just the feeling of how long the trip is. But i´m sure that it will get better. I read until I fell asleep, under my pink blankets and my mosquito net. No bug bites for me!!
´This morning I woke up to a gorgeous breeze, beautiful weather, and a great mood. Holly and I ate some breakfast (fruit) and then walked through the Cahuita National Park to get to a beach..only a fifteen minute walk to the good swimming area, and it was gorgeous.. I know I´m sounding repetitive, but honestly, it looks like scenes from a post card. Í´m sure i´ll send everyone photos when I return. So anyways, I was working very hard on my tan, like a trooper, and i looked up to see where holly had gone to, and i came face to face with a monkey!! Seriously, a monkey staring straight back at me, and then it ran away and tried to steal things from someone´s backpack. I took a video with my phone to show Morgan when i get home...it was hilarious! And another thing I saw at the beach...crabs! You would be surprised how well they blend in with the sand and how fast they run! Anyways, Holly headed back because she was burnt so I stayed out by myself for a bit (don´t worry mom..there were other people on the beach) the water was bath temperature and amazingly clear.. i loved every second of it. Then I walked back along the beach, feet in the water and flip flops in hand. It was pura vida as the ticos call it.
I discovered that bringing one towel with me was not enough. After my pura vida was over and the reality of everything sunk in, and i realized that i had lots of sand in places that i didn´t necessairly want sand. So after my shower...I dried myself off..with a rather sandy towel. Not pleasent. so needless to say, $12 american later i have another towel to keep away from the sand. We went to lunch at a chinese restaurant (weird i know) that was actually pretty tasty. And then spanish lessons.....aka 4 hours of wanting to cry and/or run away. If i thought I knew spanish before.. I was terribly mistaken. My teacher spoke way too fast, and I understood about...oh, nothing. And the other two volunteers were doing great. I just smiled helplessly and gave a lot of ¨yo no se¨. hopefully I´ll change into a less advanced class tomorrow. So anyways, that´s been my adventure thus far, now I´m at my favourite place here (aside from the beach) and connecting with my favourite people back home. And soon..dinner..then probably bed, because i´m exhausted!! Thanks for all of the encouraging messages I´m getting from back home... I miss everyone a lot, but it helps to hear from everyone!!! I´ll keep you updated
love love
Natalie xoxox
P.S- So apparently I´m not your average backpacker/traveller (who knew?). It was pretty hilarious when I came to meet the other two volunteers yesterday morning..so see that all of their luggage was consistent of one large backpack each. And I have...my large pink and white flowered rolly suitcase...with matching duffel...and pink backpack..annnd the second rolly. I got some interesting looks. You can take the princess out of canada but not the princess out of the girl...or something along those lines.
- comments