Playa Coco to Playa Uvita

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Got up, packed, returned the beer bottle from dinner (to the grocery store) for our $1 deposit. Yikes, Costa Rica! Also, when I gave the checker the bottle & receipt she kinda looked at me like I was crazy. Doesn't everyone return their bottles for a dollar! Maybe not the gringos, I don't know.

Caught bus at 8am in Playa Coco & headed somewhere in Southern Costa Rica. As far as we can get today. That's where we'll stop.

Caught 2nd bus in Liberia (where we used the restroom & ordered gallopinto to go & ate it on the bench in the bus station) to Puntarenas. Thankfully the bus driver was nice enough to drive us right up to the bus stop (aka the middle of the street in town) for our next bus where we were quickly transferred from one bus to another. I swear, at these transfer points the bus helper dudes always act like we're trying to break some sort of record they personally have for getting two people & their backpacks from one bus to another. It's always a few seconds of straight up stress & a little bit of yelling (by the bus helper dude) is usually involved.

During this part of the drive we noticed a change in the scencery, temperature & humidity. It was obvious we had crossed some sort of line that changed everything to jungle. All at once it was much more humid, muggy & the dry land turned into lush green jungle. It was a trip. Literally, it seemed like we crossed an invisible line where this happened.

In Puntarenas we caught our 3rd bus to Quepos. In Quepos we got off the bus because we were in dire need of food. I couldn't survive on Maria's crackers & peanut butter any longer. By now it was 4:30 p.m. & we had been travelling, almost non-stop, for 8.5 hours. At least the buses in Costa Rica are pretty nice. They're big buses with big cushy seats that don't make your butt go numb. So there is at least that. Although now it's just hot & muggy & we're sweaty non-stop. We went to a little Soda in Quepos & decided to eat before making a decision about continuing on with travels. I had a delicious fish filet & Geoff had shrimp fried rice. We were starving & it felt really good to eat food. Quepos seems like another surfer town with a lot of Gringos & apparently you're not supposed to swim because the water is too polluted. So we decided to continue on & make it to Dominical.
At the bus terminal we met another couple who were heading to Uvita (they were radomly eating at the same place we were too, but no introductions then) & informed us that our guidebook was pretty outdated because now the roadway is brand new & we can make it to Uvita in an hour, instead of the 3 hours the book tells us. Woohoo! So we followed our new pals, Baron & Julie from Vail, to Uvita & the hostel that they are planning to stay at. The bus attempted to drop us off on the highway near Uvita until a local on the bus (after we'd already gotten off) asked where we were going & we said a hostel. He told us to get back on because the bus was going into town. Thanks dude! Bus drivers aren't often the most helpful people. Thank goodness the locals seem to care about us gringos sometimes. Once we got off the bus closer to town we took a very long walk to the hostel through the neighborhoods of this small town. The hostel was nice enough to place signs, with arrows to keep us on track, at every turning junction which helped us out a lot considering by the time we got off the bus it was already 7:30 p.m. & dark. So, we walked & walked & got to know one another & talked about travel (of course).

We are super stoked that we met them because the hostel we ended up at is sweet (well & they're really cool)! It's called Flutterby & is right near Playa Uvita & is super duper cute. We are staying in "The Treehouse," which is literally a treehouse with 3 twin beds that have mosquito nets & no walls. It's like camping but better because you get a real mattress! And they have a beautiful fully stocked kitchen we get to use & it's just artsy & inviting. Also, a large group of people had just finished dinner & offered us their leftover veggies, dip, & homemade sushi. Of course, we obliged. What a welcome!

It felt good to be done traveling after another 12 hour day. We shared a beer & sat outside & chatted with different people. Lovely. Then off to bed in our treehouse where we fell asleep listening to bugs making all kinds of noises & Howler Monkeys off in the distance. Oh, and of course, the roosters & the hens jabbering away as always.

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Photos

On another bus.
There are only 4 of these today for us. No big deal.

This is when we noticed the change in climate.
It looks like jungle suddenly.

Linner!
Our lunch & dinner because we didn't really eat all day.

Rice & Fries.
Carb overload. But Geoff was happy.