Escazu

Yesterday we left San Jose for a smaller, greener, more beautiful part of Costa Rica called Escazu. We got a late start due to the previous nights festivities at the Rugged Pineapple (the hostel bar) for Katie’s birthday. The owners at Hostel Galileo were really awesome and helped me to throw Katie a little party in order to celebrate the beginning of a new year of her life. The idea was to have a Toga Party as suggested by Mer, the hostel owner, but Katie and I felt that a Toga party meant chaotic debauchery so we opted for a “Wear a Sheet however you want” party.  We added incentive for participation by offering free drinks to those wearing sheets.  We made some delicious and fruity cocktails with peach vodka that Kirby bought at the airport specifically for birthday celebrations.  It was fun and we had a good time but are also looking forward to re-celebrating Katie’s birthday once we make it to the beach! 

So, once we got going from the Hostel Galileo, it started to rain. We walked with our bags through the rain to the bus station which wasn’t too far of a trek (maybe 15 blocks or so) but our shoulders are a bit sore still from the weight of our bags.  The people here are so nice.  A total stranger saw us huffing our way around to the bus stop with a somewhat bewildered look and asked if we needed help. We told him we were looking for the bus to Escazu but didnt see any at the stop and he went to a nearby station to check for us, then came back to tell us that yes, we needed to go to the other station. Luckily it was only a block or so. Thank goodness for that guy or we would probably have waited around in the rain for quite some time before trying something else. 

The bus ride wasn’t too long and it took us up away from the dirty city to a greener more beautiful mountain town. Katie and I were so relieved to get out of the city and start seeing some of the beautiful countryside.   Although Marlon’s directions were very detailed, they included the direction to “go north from the bus stop 25 meters” so while we were walking down the streets in various directions (we dont have a compass so we werent 100% sure which direction was north) we saw the biggest spider EVER!!!! So exciting!! It really feels like we’re in Costa Rica now, baby!! Look at these pictures! Katie was so excited she could barely contain herself (as you can see) and we even stopped by to see it again today when we took a walk into the mountains.

We were soaked and tired upon arriving at our friend Marlon’s but he welcomed us warmly and made us feel right at home. After a nice little cat nap while it poured rain outside, Katie and I awoke to have dinner with Marlon and a couple of his friends. We bbq’d some bistek and practiced our Spanish over a nice supper. We learned lots of new words and it felt good to be able to pretty easily communicate with the native speakers. Although we definitely need to practice more! Some of the cool slang words we learned include “chonches” which means “things” and can refer to pretty much anything (kind of like dakine in hawaiian) and “que cheeba” which means “how cool” and “tuanis” which means “sweet”. We learned some bad words too but you have to wait to see us in person to get the dirty stuff!! 

Marlon is a very talented classical guitar player and teacher so we stayed up listening to his beautiful music. His guitar solos were very romantic and nearly lulled Kirby to sleep after our long day of traveling and treking through the rain but things pepped up a bit when his friend Ali began to sing along to some popular songs in Spanish. Katie and I bopped along and Katie even shared a couple of her camps songs as well. We think we might need to get a guitar once we are settled because we both love to just chill out with friends and make music. 

After a good nights rest and a delicious traditional Costa Rican breakfast (gallo pinto, which is rice and beans mixed, and a fried egg with toast) we were ready to take on the mountain! Our hike started out nicely, walking up out of Escazu into the town above called El Carmen, winding past little houses, livestock, beautiful flowers, and gardens. 

There were lots of dogs wandering around, many of them very cute. Also closer to the street corners some families were hanging out enjoying the break from the rain, watching their kids ride their bikes through the puddles. As we wound more and more up the mountain houses became more scarce and the scenery became more lush. The green here is so vibrant and every flower a unique color, size, and shape. We met a few other critter friends along the way, including many butterflies and a turquoise tailed lizard. 

At the top of the mountain we sat watching the afternoon rain roll in, the mist creeping over the tops of the mountains and slowly towards us. There was lots of lightning and really loud thunder and clouds were forming and slowly swirling up out of the valley. It was beautiful to watch and we got so caught up that we stayed too long and ended up walking back in a downpour.  The rain was coming down so hard that we waited it out under the awning of a vacant house for a bit, then resigned ourselves to getting back home completely soaked. The walk back was more challenging because there were so many forks in the road and everything looked different in the heavy rain. On the way up the mountain we just kept going up and up, but on the way back there were many ways to go down. 

We got lost and ended up at the center of town, right across from a park and a beautiful church. We got some meat-filled pastries (SO good!) and made our way home from there.  Marlon’s mom couldn’t believe how soaked we were, and she was even more surprised when we told her we were going back out in the rain to the supermarket to buy food for tonight’s dinner. We wanted to thank them for their hospitality, and what better way to thank someone than to feed them? The gift of life. Walking back to the house we were dreaming about how amazing it would be to come back to a steamy hot tub and a cold beer, but instead we had warmish showers and a glass of water.  For dinner we made a big salad, pasta bolognese from scratch, and eggplant. It was delicious, so we made a very good impression for the women of California!

Tonight we’re planning on watching a movie with Marlon, hopefully one with subtitles! so we can learn while we watch. 
Tomorrow we leave for La Fortuna, which sounds like a really fun spot to be because there is a volcano, hot springs, a huge waterfall, and even a disco! We met a nice couple at the hostel who said they had been in La Fortuna for the past couple months and they loved it. Also, they told us about a house they rented for only $110 a month!! So we’re checking that out as well. After that we want to go to the Caribbean coast to volunteer at a place called Pacuare Reserva that helps nesting sea turtles. It looks like a really amazing place to visit, so hopefully we’ll be able to work that into the next couple weeks. Also on the horizon is a visit to an organic farm and sustainable community, as well as a visit to the southern rainforest sometime soon we hope. We’re thinking about trying to spend the month of October on the Caribbean side because we hear that its not as wet there in October (apparently were in for some serious soaking!) and its pretty laid back.

One last bit of excitement for you before we go! We were talking today about how fun it would be if we turned this blog into an interactive blog, so we would like for whoever’s reading this to participate if you like. For our first interactive blog question: Would you rather see a blog focused on tropical plants or interesting animals? We’re expecting lots of both in La Fortuna, so let us know what you want to see.  We’ll try to think of more exciting questions for you, too. When we were talking about it we were envisioning a kind of choose-our-own adventure thing, but we’ve already chosen our adventure for the next couple weeks so that wouldn’t work so well right now. 

OK well if you made it to the end of this blog congratulations to you! You must be at work and getting paid for doing your own thing on the computer! haha just kidding ;)  Hope tomorrow’s travel day goes well and we have very little to report. Peace and love to everyone. And sweet dreams.