Who's that guy on the boat in paradise? Oh wait, that's me!

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This first weekend has been AWESOME! On Friday night all of us from TEFL went out and hit the spots... unfortunately we hit them a little late in some cases (Bambu Jam) and not at all for others (Republik). But it was still awesome to hang out with everybody, and we even managed to get some of the staff here at TEFL to join us so that was cool.

Saturday though... well that's a whole other story. Yesterday I attended what was basically a gay booze cruise/house music party. Although there were a lot of gay guys on the boat there were also a lot of really really hot women! Which is why I went. Well, that and because I needed desperately to shake my booty after being beat-deprived for almost a week.

The party was so incredible! Not the boat, it was just your basic double decker, but the day was perfect on the water and the people who were on board with us were all really fun. I found out about it through a girl I met on FB from San Diego who is part of what I now know to be called "the gringa crew." She was there and so were a bunch of her friends and they are super cool and a bunch are from San Diego like me! And they're sexy too... look at the pics. The boat left the new Quepos marina and cruised through all the bays and coves in Manuel Antonio on what can only be described by all who were there as one of the most perfect and beautiful days possible before stopping halfway through just off Biesanz beach to let all of us go swimming. Which we did. Which was awesome.

Until...

Some of my group started getting stung by jellyfish so we bailed out of the water pretty quick which resulted in a couple of us getting scratched up getting back on the boat. My toe got scratched and another girl got some on her thigh. What was funny about the whole thing is that when we told the boat staff what happened they gave us limes to squeeze on the scratches to help with infection. (I also made sure they iodined mine and I bandaged it myself) Then it was back to the party... The music was great! Thanks to Eddie and the other dj's who made it happen, those beats were just what I needed 😊

Kept on dancing until the boat docked then my new friends and I went to Manuel Antonio beach. It was my first time and we had dinner and happy hour at Marlin's I think was the name... Then caught the sunset on the beach. A lot of these girls are TEFL grads teaching English here and so it was cool to meet some of their local Tico students at the beach. Manuel Antonio beach is beautiful! The whole area is just a little tropical wonderland and everyone is having a good time. After sunset I was invited to join a couple of the group and go to their friends birthday party and so of course I did. This girl lives right by Vista Serena and the view from her porch is insane. (So is the Suicide Shower of Doom she has in her place!) That was really fun, I got to meet even more girls in the "gringa crew" and a lot of them have been here for more then 10 years so it was cool to talk to them about Costa Rica but also about home. After a few rounds of drinks there we left for Mar Luna up the hill a bit. That place was really pretty and the views again are incredible. (too bad it was nighttime and the pics from then didn't really come out...)

Another girl wanted me to go with her and her other friend from earlier in the day to Muzik (sp?) in Quepos so we cabbed it there and then before going in we went to the local bakery and grabbed a snack. I got this caramel turnover thing that was just absurdly good. Then on to Muzik for a little more dancing.

We had a great time there but I was getting tired and it was already almost 1am which is late for here, and especially late after you've been drinking and dancing since noon. I hadn't been able to shower or anything so I decided to bail and I came home. Today we are hosting an impromptu bbq at the campus and I invited pretty much any cool people I met so who knows how many will show up...

I'm even more in love with Costa Rica now then I was before. This place and these people are amazing! Pura Vida 😱

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Photos

Julie and I pre-bandana donation
She looked gangster with it