Costa Rica 11/8/09

Hey Everyone,

Today was awesome. As i mentioned in the last blog Myles had been really wanting to go snorkeling, and since our last attempt did not work (it was the day Myles was deathly ill.) yesterday we signed up for a tour to Cahuita National Park and some snorkeling at the point there. Cahuita is one of only two living coral reefs in all of Costa Rica, and it is supposed to be beautiful. We woke up around 7:30. Our bus was supposed to pick us up at 8:00am. We had a little toast (and tried the new peanut butter. Its weird) with some fresh fruit and we were ready to go. We sat around and waited, and waited. Finally the bus showed up 30 minutes late. But, at least it showed up right? We got on the bus, and were greeted by our guide, whose name i did not catch. He was really nice and was very sarcastic. We had an interesting group of people with us. There was a couple from Colorado, a couple from Texas, 6 Aussie boys, and 2 other couples that i never got to speak to. The ride into Cahuita was not bad, the drivers here are a little crazy, but they get you to your destination fast which is always a plus. The ride was about 20 minutes.

Once we got there we all piled onto the waiting boat. We were going to take a boat out to two different sites. The first site was to view large schools of small fish, and the second site was were all the larger fish hangout. Once we got to the first location the guide handed out masks, snorkels, and fins. We had our own, we brought them all the way from California, and we damn well better use them. Lol. We put on our gear and jumped off the edge of the boat. Once we got a little away we started seeing fish. There were so many of them in all different colors and sizes. The water was still a little murky, it is the end of the snorkeling season, but we still were able to see a lot of things. Some of the things we saw were: a lion fish, a huge barracuda, some really big sea urchins, 2 big sting rays, and a large school of fish. It was so neat when we came upon the school because we decided to dive down to the bottom and swim with them. I have never done that before and getting to experience that was really neat. When everyone had their fill of the first location we all lumbered back on the boat to the second location. At the second one we did not see a lot of fish. It was in some deeper water where we were supposed to see some bigger fish, but the only thing we saw of interest was a large rooster fish. He was red and white with a big fin over his head. Once we all started to prune up we got back into the boat and headed for land. As we landed i scouted a place to change cloths. In the midst of changing Myles pointed to one of the nearby trees. There was the cutest white headed capuchin monkey. He was only maybe 2 1/2 feet long from head to tail. I think he just wanted some food. As tempted as i was there were signs all over saying do not feed the monkeys. So i didn't. But, i did spy him sneak on to a table and steal some fruit. As we watched the monkey the guide cut up some pineapple and watermelon for us to snack on along with some bottled water.

Once everyone was dehydrated and refreshed we started our hike. By "hike" i mean a slow meander across the beach and a board walk way. Along the hike we saw two large iguanas, a sloth, and heard a lot of howler monkeys. Periodically the guide would stop and point out some cool plant or insect. It was a really informative relaxing hike. Since the humidity and heat are killer here i was not into a huge crazy long hike so i was stoked. I got some neat pictures of the beach and Cahuita point, along with the monkey. After the hike we piled back into the van and headed home. I love taking tours that drop us off right at our door. Its so convenient. We got back around 2pm. Cindy and George had anticipated how hungry we would be once we got back from our adventure so they had some fresh egg and bacon sandwiches waiting for us. They are so thoughtful. The sandwiches were so welcome after everything. When we were both happily fed we all sat down to read for a bit. We still needed to go back to Banana Azul to pick up all of our confirmation papers for all the tours we had signed up for. So after a little rest we headed up the street for drinks and to take care of that. Cindy and George enjoyed some red wine and beer while Myles and i had some mint free mojiots. Once the papers were done printing we headed home to start cooking dinner.

Cindy and George volunteered to make fried chicken from the food we bought at the farmers market yesterday. The fat kid in me was so excited, fried chicken, mm mm mmm. Dinner was delicious, even more so because i didn't have to cook it. We had fried chicken with fried potatoes. I think its the most fried anything that i have had since coming here, but it was great. With dinner we had some (as George calls them) "jungle juice drinks" which is some random fruit juice with vodka. Dinner was really filling, and now i feel like i have a food coma. I think i am going to read for a little bit longer, and then go to bed. Big day tomorrow, ziplines, and then an Atv tour through the jungle. Im so stoked because i really wanted to do the Atv ride. Love you all, have a good night. Hope you enjoy the pictures :)

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