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Wow

I cant believe that I am actually sitting at home, in my house. Sitting on my computer using my parents free internert. The time has come. The trip is offiicically over.

The last two weeks were good though. After Santa Taresa we took the ferry back over the peninsula and hopped a bus to Playa Hermosa (yes, another beach town). Playa Hermosa is beautiful. Black sand beaches that stretch on for ages.... We stayed in a little cabina type thing that was actually pretty cheap.
The surf was a bit intense. OK. It was friggen crazy. It was all on-shore waves, huge and powerful. I did not go out. Way too scary. I watched some people get worked for a while, which was fun. You know me, I like to see other people struggle surfing...hahaha.
We only ended up staying one night in Playa Hermosa, but that night being a Saturday we decided to go over to the next big town (Jaco) and party it up. We also went with a couple people from our hostel...these crazy english boys and a couple americans. We had one crazy-ass night. It was completely off the hook. We went for a night swim, and it was so late that we watched the bloody sun rise.

The next morning was a bit slow...we had plans that we made earlier to meet Mauricio in this mountain town a couple hours away at 5 in the afternoon. We thought we were going ot have plenty of time. BUT, when we went to go catch a bus, we found out that we had just missed the last one and there wasnt another one untill bloody 4:30 in the afternoon. So we decided to just to try to hitch a ride there. We stood on the side of the road for a while tryign to hail rides from surfers and travallers going by. No such luck. But finally two local guys in this van type thing came by and told us it would be no problem for them to give us a ride. So we happily got in stoked that we were getting a ride for free. Oh, how we were wrong....
When we arrived in Quepos (only half way there), we got out and heaped our stuff on the sidewalk. Being the nice people that we are I offered him 10 dollars and pack of smokes. He just stared at it blankly, so I told him it was for him to say thank-you for the ride. He then demands for more money telling us that the gas alone would be 40 american dollars.
Let us say, that we were not pleased. Not pleased at all. We wernt even going to give him more money, but we decided we should since he got a bit scary and pissed off and we really didnt want to start anything. But Sage did get her words in. She reamed him out, and by the end he kinda drove away looking scared.
So there we are, standing in a stupid bus station, out of 40 dollars. We are tired, hung-over, and pissed. We still have to make it all the way to San Isidro, and we are only half way there, and its already 5:15. Oh, and more bloody good news, the bus dosent get leave into friggen 7:00. So we sat in a bus station for two hours, pissed off and antsy. I think Toni may have eaten a whole back of Doritos in utter pissed-off-ness. She also rapped along to some eminen which amused me and the rest of the bus station.
The bus finally comes, and we get on. I have no leg room, my stupid window is broken and its about 400 degrees. But Im feeling better, its only 40 km to Dominical, where we will take a cab to San Isidro. We should be getting there soon.
Oh, how I was wrong. The roads were in such poor shape that it took us 2.5 hours to go 40 km. TWO AND A HALF HOURS. We had to drive though a river once, and the grand canyon of all potholes. It was pretty terrible.
When we arrived in Dominical, we ordered stiff drinks and waited for a taxi. Luckily, the taxi ride went smooth, and at 12:00 AM, we finally made it into San Isidro. Only 7 hours late...nice.
We had a nice dinner of shite fast food and passed out. It had been a long day.

The next morning was gorgeuous though, and we ate breakfast and took a taxi to Quebradas (little village where Maurico is, that we visited two years earlier). Mauricio wasnt theres, so we went up to Fudebiol to look at the football feild that we had worked on 2 years ago. It was really beautiful. All the grass had grown in, and everythign was looking very lush and green. Carlos's rock wall was still there, and our steps too.
I picked a banana right off a tree, something I have wanted to do for a long time. OK, so it was a very small tree and the banana was green and hard as a rock...but it still counts. I also went back to my host familys house. Unfortunatly only one of my 'brothers' was there, but it was fun and he showed us the house and yard and stuff. It was so weird to be back there. Everything was pretty much the same, just a little bigger and brighter.

Later on we met up with Mauricio and went to the bar to have a few drinks and catch up. It was crazy fun. Who knew a Sunday night in a mountain city could be so incredibly busy and off the hook?

The next morning it was back to San Jose. We said our goodbyes to Maurico telling him it was his turn now to come to Canada. The bus ride was uncomftorable and I felt sick. I had a fever, and was not feeling happy. When we arrived at our hostel though, I felt a little better and we hung out and went for dinner. We decided not to go out and party. I thought it would be pretty dumb feeling Malariay and all. We had glorious sleep, and in the morning it was off the airport. It was sad, I didnt want to leave my little Central America. We had grown so close.

Little did I know, I would be spending more time in the Costa Rican airport than I thought. Right before we were supposed to board our flight, there was an announcment that there was a 'burning smell' coming from the plane, and it needed to be checked out. Two and a half hours later, we board. I was pissed...there was a very big chance that we wouldnt make our connection flight and I was in no mood to stay in Houston the night.
But we were going to try to make it. So when the plane landed in Houston we booked it off the plane. We had to run and get our baggage to bring through customs again before we took off. The baggage took forever, and mine came first so I booked it through customs and hucked it on the convator belty thing. We had about 25 mins to catch out flight, and everything seemed to be taking ages. Then it was security, which was an absolute nightmare. I had this stupid safety-pin holding my shirt together in the back (im homeless remember?) and no matter how hard I tried to explain, they did not understand. SO, I got the nice 'female assistant' to give me a pat down. There was something still beeping and we couldnt figure it out. At this point my carry on bags were somewhere I didnt know and I didnt know what the hell was going on. TURNS OUT, there was one lone stupid-ass coin in my money belt that was under my clothes. She then had to put the damn thing through the XRAY machine. It came out OK, and I grabbed my bags that appeared from nowhere and started booking it. Halfaway down this massive halway, I relized that they had taken my passport and I had not gotten it back. I had to run back, and get it from this stupid guy who was convinced that I wasnt who I was.
Now I was madly running down the halways not knowing where the hell I was. Zoe and Sage were not well ahead of me. George Bush airport is not only scary, but HUGE. I had about 2 minutes to find the stupid gate, and I couldnt. I kept asking people and they kept pointing me in the wrong direciton. I was sprinting by people with my passport and boardingpass clamped in my mouth. I finally see my gate about a km away and start sprinting. All of a sudden, I feel my backpack shift. The friggen zipper opens and all my stuff GOES EVERYWHERE. Now Im pretty angry, and Im scrambling around the floor swearing scarily gathering my things. I grab my shit and book it to the gate. Sage and Zoe are there, and WE MADE IT. Thats right people, we made our flight. After all that went wrong, I got on that damn plane and I flew all the way home.

Well nearly home. Our plane arrived in Vancouver. Right away I felt the frigid Canadian air. So cold. So very very cold.
All our bags arrived, except Sages pack, which got lost in Houston somewhere. Luckily enough my booze survived the trip. After that flight I was gonna need it.

Met up with mum, chella and lisa which was great. Havent seen anyone in ages, it was nice to see some more familiar faces. We caught up a bit, I had some tea which was FAB. Zoe and Sage went to Sages aunts house and I went with my mom to chellas apartment.
It was odd not to sleep next to Sage and Zoe. A little sad actually. Im gonna miss living with those two...we had some crazy good times.

This trip was absolutey amazing. I wouldnt change it for the world. Everything we did and saw along the way was incredible. I have had the best times of my life on this adventure and it was sad to see it come to an end. Already I miss the little Central American quirks. The smells, the food, random spanish yelling, not having to wach your clothes, warm weather and even warmer water, and especially people. I have met so many cool people on this trip. Its gonna be hard to be so far away from my friends.

but already my next trip is in the works....

Santa Taresa has been treating us well.
The surf has been crazy big though so we havent been able to surf. The last couple days we have just been chilling out at the beach with some of the friends we have made down here.

The beach is amazing here. White sand, and palm trees everywhere. Its streches on for ages. Its probably one of the most gorgeous beaches we have been to.
We also so Deano again and last night everyone went to Jacks pad for a bonfire. It was good fun. We also manages to break Jacks hammock again and now we all have very sore tailbones and skulls. I swear, the most dangerous things in Central america are their hammocks...

Today we said or good byes to Jack and Dean. Tomorrow we are also leaving Santa Taresa and heading of to Dominical which is farther down south.

Santa Taresa

WOWSA!
Ok, so we oficially have Toni under our evil reign now. Hahaha, she is definetly not going home normal. These ten days are going to turn her life around.

After a nice long bus ride and ferry ride we finally arrived in Santa Tareca. It was 11 o'clock at night pitch dark and we had no idea where we were going. It was hilarious watching Toni. She has this silly rolling suitcase and she was rolling down the gravel road trying to avoid potholes, mud and random crabs. This french guy we were with said it was like watching a movie and Toni was the city slicker coming for a trip in the jungle.
It was great.
So, we finally made it to our hostel (called Brunellas). We were really hoping to see crazy Aussie there BUT he already went back to Australia. The place we are staying at is really chill. Its all surfers who just surf, sleep and smoke pot. Its all good..
Today we went to the beach, which was fabulous. Really nice. And hot. And nice. And humid.

We also saw friggen Jack again on the street (turns out he didnt go home...) and are meeting up with him later maybe for a drink. They have these things here which are called Cuba Libras Original Format and it comes all mixed up together in A CAN. Its crazy, and they are cheap as chips...Ah, I love my Central America.

Mauricio

Yesterday we had quite an adventure. We decided that we wanted to find Mauricio, and being the smart people that we are we forgot his number and address at home in Canada. So....we became sneaky bastards and looked up info online. Little did we know that that info was outdated...
SO, we spent the next while wandering the streets of San Jose yelling his name out hoping he would somehow hear us and answer (we have really high hopes...) It didnt work, so we went into a bank to ask for a telephone book. The manager of the bank could actually speak english as well so we asked him if he could help him out. 5 minutes later bank manager is on the phone with Mauricio telling him that there is 'tres muchachas' from 'America' that want to talk to him. Lets just say Maurico was shocked. We hadnt talked to him in a year and now we are barging into his office laughing hysterically. It was really funny. He couldnt quite wrap his mind around the fact that we were actually in San Jose talking to him at his work.
We couldnt hang out then (the whole work thing and all) but we decided to meet up today for lunch. Which, unfortunatly didnt work out because he had some kind of Emergency at work today. He said it was something to do with a volunteer emergency, but I secretly think that he is too depressed to come out because Costa Rica is out of the world cup. Har har.

But, we plan to meet him in Quebradas (little Village we did volunteer work at 2 years ago) where he is taking a canadian group for volunteer work. We'll spend a couple days there with him right before we come back to Canada. Its gonna be crazy fun.

Today we have no set plans. Gonna hang out somewhere and do something....

Oh, and another thing...

I forgot to mention in my continuation a key part of my unbelievably hilarious life (that is, for other people...).
Over the last month or so my hair has turned into a complete nightmare. At the back of my head I had 2 MASSIVE knots/dreadlocks. Sage attempted many times to set them free, but it was no good. So one night while Sage and I were watching TV I got the scissors out (crappy medical ones) and told her to cut them out. They were driving me crazy and I couldnt friggen take it anymore. So she did. Let me tell you people, I was scared. These dread locks were huge...probably about a 1/4 of my hair in total. BUT, Sage being the masterful person that she is she also cut some off the bottem and even layered it to even out. AND, this was all while watching a movie in a hostel with a shitty, dull pair of scissors. And it looks pretty good. Infact Sage says its the best hairstyle I have had in a while. Im pretty pleased. Infact, im estatic. I can actually comb my hair, and wash it properly and run my hands through it.
I love Sage, she is my hero.

A continuation...

OK, so I will finally continue on with my camp story.

Dan and I had a great night, we met some really cool people and spent most of the night laughing our asses off. That night at camp we all slept in hamocks which was nice because this campsite had some nice big ones.BUT, I was awokened in the middle of the night with a man looming over me. AND, in the morning, I found a bunch of bannanas in my hammock with me. WEIRD.

Day 7
OK, so after finding the bunch of bananas in my bed I ate a couple and Zoe and I went to the beach. It was gorgeuous, and I watched Zoe get beat around in the surf for a while while I basked in the sun. Jack and Dan were out surfing. When they got back, and Sage finally woke up we hung out and played 'shit-head' our new favourite European card game. We also did laundry, which we had not done for weeks...
We actually didnt spend another night at that camp because there was a few problems...BUT, everything worked out and we moved to another camp/hotel kind of place. It had a bed and everything. For the first time in a week I slept with my spine in a horizontal position.We made some wicked good food (when I say 'we' I mean, the boys cooked and we just sat around the fire and watched), and had a few drinks. A few drinks turned into a few more, and everyone had a really good time.That is, untill I tripped over a peice of drift wood or something and sprained my wrist. Which really hurt...but I was luckily enough to have Nurse Jack around who straightened it out with some tiger balm and a tensor bandage. Also, some dry clothes, since our laundry was STILL not dry. Little did we know they would not be dry for a very long time.

Day 8
We decided to stay one more night in Popoyo and just spent the day hanging out and playing cards. The wrist was still sore but getting better slowly. It was a slow day. Laundry still not friggen dry am forced to wear boys clothing. Not that that was so bad since all I did was lie around in a hammock all day and drink Gatorade.


Day 9
Left Popoyo today around 4 in the afternoon. Dan decided to stay behind with his Isralei friends but we packed in Jack and this guy name Josh and headed back to San Juan Del Sur.Our plan was to go and get more supplies and head out to Yankee (another surf beach). Jack ended up staying in San Juan because he decided he wanted to go home to England for the world cup (English boys and their football...) and needed to get a flight from Costa Rica. Josh is a camping pussy so just us girls went out to Yankee. The drive was intresting to Yankee. Im glad we had four wheel drive because the hills were pure gravel and about a 90 degree angle incline. Luckily we had a local guy show us where to go otherwise we would have gotten lost somewhere.Unluckily we had a local guy show us where to go, and we drove up onto the beach where we got stuck in the soft sand. Unluckily for us, the tide was coming in at a alarmingly fast pace. Unluckily for us, this local guy didnt speak any english and kept dissapearing for periods of time. Unluckiily for me, I had a sprained wrist and sprained it even more trying to push the god damn truck out of the sand.
BUT, luckily for us the nice local did help us out, and our truck didnt get swept out to sea and everthing turned out good. We had a nice dinner of gritty mac and cheese and had a fire on the beach. Which was nice, untill it started raining.
So, the sleeping arangments were that Zoe and Sage were gonna sleep in the back of the truck with tarp on the board bags, and that I would sleep in the cab in the passenger seat.
WORST SLEEP OF OUR LIVES.
Zoe and Sage got pissed on ALL FRIGGEN NIGHT and were practically sleeping in a swimming pool. I slept in the sitting position boling to death in my chamber of death. NOT COOL.

Day 10
Sat on beach. Sleep deprived. Hungry. Waves are shit. Beautiful beach though.We went swimming, and did some sun basking. Sage and Zoe decided to try the surf out. I was way to freaked. It looked choppy as shit. And it was choppy as shit. Sage and Zoe emerged from water 15 minutes later with numerous cuts and scrapes and 2 very dinged boards.
We decided to leave Yankee that day. Now we really needed to get out surf boards fixed, and we were sandy, and wet and tired. So, we went back to San Juan dropped our boards off at the surf shop, bailed on camping and went to stay in a hostel. And of course, while we were doing all our unpacking and moving it was pissing rain. HARD. I was wearing my towel and a tank top. Nothing else. This is high class people.
The hostel was glorious. Warm beds. Warm food. Other people. DVD's. A Shower! We were beyond estatic. i had the best sleep of my life. Mmmmmm

Day 11-now
We have relized now that our camping trip was officially over. A tropical storm had moved in and it was constantly raining. Also, the surf was shit. SO, we spent the next couple days in San Juan hanging out with some cool people, eating some good food, watching films...stuff like that. We met two really cool Scottish boys (Liam and Grant-----how beautifully Scottish is that??) and this guy from Aussie-Land (Dean). We spent a couple days hanging out with them. Went to the bars one night, had a good time. I got stalked by a creepy Nicaraguan guy who is older than my father and almost started a massive bar riot. Everything turned out alright though....it always does.

OH, and we also went to Maderas where I watched Zoe get beaten by the massivest wave ever. It was funny. Really funny. And we messed around in the white wash where I got to practise my duck-diving. It was good tmes.

We have left San Juan Del Sur now and are in San Jose Costa Rica. Toni is coming the day after tomorrow and we are all going to Santa Tarica to go to the beach. Should be a right good time.

It is true. Zoe does indeed fit into a board bag

Wow. I relized that I have not updated in a really long time. Infact, I think its been more than 10 days.
We have been having a blast. When we first arrived in San Juan del Sur we thought about how we were going to go around the remote beaches that are close by. We decided since the taxi trips out to the beches are very expensive that we could try renting a truck. Also, with our surfboards and stuff, taxiing it can be very annoying and dangerous for our precious boards. We decided to relax and spend the night, and hang out in our hotel. We actually ended up sharing our hotel with two guys from Quebec who could not get a room for the night. We all hung out, and went to the beach to drink beer and watch these crazy El Salvadorian hippies fling fire around on ropes and batons. It was a very good last night of civilization.

In the morning, we found ourselves a truck, bought ourselves another surfboards, picked up a cute irish boy and headed for the beach. Our plan: To camp, to surf, and to have one hell of a two weeks.

Day 1
Drive on very bumpy road in our truck, with 4 surfboards, cute irish boy (Matt), all our packs, and enough food and water to last us a while. We decided to go to Maderas first which is supposed to be a really good beach for beginers and has a right, and left break. Maderas is absolutely beautiful. Really secluded, there is only two or three restauraunts and places to stay along the beach. That night we set up camp under a grass hut, went for a surf and cooked some itchiban. The sunset was aboslutely amazing.Everything was good infact, except for that nights sleep. There was three hamocks. I had the good one. The good one consisting of a hamock made of plastic and riddled with holes. Sage and Zoe, on the other hand were not so fortunate and spent the night, in two different very very skinny hammocks. Those kind where you cant move around because its only just big enough to fit your hips. I also got eaten alive by mosquitos. Which sucked.

Day2
I awake to a very ithcy face and the sound of Zoe swearing. She is trying to light a fire with damp wood, and no paper. She is not a happy camper, but finally she suceeds in lighting the damn thing. We drink shitty instant coffee and Zoe and Sage go out for a surf in the freezing cold. We cook some food on our crappy fire and hang out for the day. The sun is gorgeous, and we go out surfing. I manage to half-ass get up on my knees, which for me in surfing world is very good. We get a visit from Matt (who is staying at a place down the beach) and talk about Irelands surf (and how its apparently good---weird...) The sunset once again, is very nice and I take some good photos. We decide to soup our camp up with a diffent hammock and mosquito nets. Zoe and Sage are sharing a bigger hammock, with a nice big net, and I have the smaller plastic one with a net as well. The sleep goes better, but not by much.

Day3
Get up, eat some rice and beans and go for a surf. Come back to camp and chill out for a while. We are soon joined by a new camper who is going to share the grass hut with us. His name is Jack, he's from England, and is very nice. He also has a very nice Mexican hammock, which we all try to steal constantly. We just spend the day hanging out, I read my crappy trash novel and Sage goes for another surf. She catches her first real wave which is friggen sweet. We go to town for snacks and supplies, mainly a bottle of rum and coke to share around at the beach. The truck ride was intresting...I was riding in the back with some other people and we hit a large speed bump. Arm collided with railing, making very large bruise. Its all good though, just added to my other 2876 battle wounds. That night we all have a good time, play some rum-games with some french guys (very funny with the language barriar). Jack gets very drunk, and keeps losing because he has no idea what he was doing. That night, I get a very good sleep beacuse Jack, being drunk and very sweet lets me sleep in his hammock. Let met tell you, this is no ordinary hammock. This thing is made of cloth, not plastic, and is huge. I get my hoodie on, crawled into my sleeping bag and had the best sleep EVER. Mmmmm, big hammock...

Day 4
Today is a slow day. People are recovering from crazy rum night, and are just taking it easy. Didnt go for a surf, but went for a very nice refreshing swim. The ocean is so nice. Not warm, but not freezing cold. Just nice enough to cool you down when your hot. Didnt really do much that day, just hung out, read...cooked some more rice and beans probably.
The people who run the hotel and resteraunt lit this huge dead tree on fire to get rid of it, and that night we made some more drinks and sat around this buring tree. We were also joined by Deryck and Christine, some super cool people who are tenting near us. Played some cards, and watched Deryck lose miserably. That night the flocpherencents (sp?) were nuts, and we all went down to the sea to check them out. They were super cool, and we all had a good time splashing about.

Day 5
OK, am starting to forget, exact days...but I think this is right....
We are still in Maderas, hanging out and surfing. Jack relizes that on one of our surfboards (Daves Love Board is what we have nicked name dit) has a major crack in it (like almost snapped in half), and is in desperate need of repair. So...we send it off with this crazy Nicaraguan guy who works at the surf board shop to get it fixed. We spend one more night, chilling out, collecting shells...things like that. Cant really surf much beacuse our board is broken. Sage goes out though on the other board and catched another real wave. Sage, is on fire!

Day 6
We decide to leave Maderas to go to Popoyo (another beach place). Jack, and this other guy from Israel-Dan decide to come with us. We get the surfboard back, which is nicely fixed and get on our way. The drive to Popoyo is intresting...Jack, Dan and I sit in the back with the surfboards, and talk about Israel and how Dan hates it. The ride is nice and smooth on the tarmac, but once we hit the dirt roads, its kind of a nightmare. We bounce around, Jack crushes one of 'his boys', and get lost. BUT, we eventually find Popoyo and set up camp at a cheap camp place. Popoyo is really nice, but the waves are fecking huge. Jack and Dan go for a surf (fucking huge, is how they described it). Everyone is tired, and goes to bed super early. That is, everyone but Dan and I. We had one hell of a night.
to be continued...