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Published: April 29th 2012
9. PUERTO VIEJO y TURRIALBA
Sunday, 29 April
FRIDAY (20
th)…
In my last blog, I haven’t told you everything about that Friday yet.
About the volunteer project: because of Montserrat, I get to work my last two weeks at the orphanage that Kevin also worked at! Of this place, she was also sure that they would definitely have work for me. 😊
About La Virgen: I didn’t go. Because I was feeling cranky and stressed and I had had to much disappointments for now in Costa Rica, and considering that I had no security about whether I would be able to actually go kayaking, I decided to play it save. I couldn’t hack being out there by myself when I would’ve been disappointed again.
So, I joined Poppy and Emma on their trip to Puerto Viejo, Limón! I had about an hour to pack since I had decided this, so I stuffed a whole lot of tiny clothes (because it was going to be hot as hell on the Caribbean side), my sunglasses, and a towel in my bag and we were off! We got to Puerto Viejo at 8pm
and got a cab to the hostel, “Rocking J’s”, where we had a 3-bed private room. There were fans and although they looked disgusting, they were very pleasant.
For dinner, we share one BIG pizza – delicious and Italian! After that, we went back to the hostel and I joined 3 Frenchmen on a game of pool. Unfortunately there was no time for a second game, because the hostel’s ‘quite time’ (11 pm) had begun, so I joined Emma and Poppy and went to bed.
SATURDAY (21
st)…
We got cash out, bought three bus tickets for Sunday, got breakfast and went to the beach! The sand is almost white and the water is as clear as can be! We couldn’t go far into the sea, because the was a lot of coral, creating a sort of bay at the beginning of the sea. Here, the water was calm, although behind the coral the waves looked pretty strong. The most fun thing of all: if you lay on your back on the water and relax your body completely, you float! So that’s what we did, we floated on the water and laid on the beach. Except
for Poppy, by the way, she was running around like a kid, showing us the coral she had found and then running back into the water for more, haha!
We went for lunch at a cool (yes, really ‘cool’ as in ‘not-hot’!) place owned by an English man who was born in Africa and on his travels though Latin America, decided to live in Puerto Viejo and start a fusion restaurant (with Thai food!). I had a pita with falafel!!! I am very enthusiastic about this, because there is hardly any meat-replacing food in Costa Rica, so this was heaven for me! We took a peek at the dinner menu and decided to come back here tonight. On our way back to the hostel, we walked by some touristy stands where Poppy bought a bracelet made out of can lids (yeah).
We took a shower and, as promised, went back to the restaurant we were earlier and had delicious… SUSHI! Also, the shots were only 500 Colones (equivalent to 1 USD or 0.75 EUR) and the cocktails were 2-for-1! After dinner, we passed a mini market and bought tequila and ginger ale, to then return to the hostel
for a pre-drinking session – as has appeared to be very popular amongst today’s British youth. At the hostel, we met some British folk (of which two formed a couple) and joined them that night for a night ‘on the town’.
Somewhere along the 15 (more or less) minute walk to the bar, we lost Poppy and her British fling. According to Emma, this happens more often so when we couldn’t find them, we just went on. Once we were at the bar I went to get a drink with Emma, which we drunk outside, where lots of people were standing, because it was too crowded inside. While chatting with some folk here and there, I suddenly realized I hadn’t seen Emma in a while. I went to look for her and fortunately found her, at the beach (with
her crush). However, one of the guys had followed me to find Emma and now started hitting on me – ARGH! In the awkwardly painful process of telling him multiple times and in multiple ways (they just don’t wanna hear it, do they?!) to fuck off and “what ever you’re trying, you’re wasting your time”, I lost Emma again! The
Puerto Viejo
me and Poppydude that tried to hit on me finally got the message and was off to the hostel. I didn’t want to leave without Emma, and I didn’t want to have to walk back alone, but fortunately I knew two other guys around there that behaved normally. I asked them to help me look for Emma and when we couldn’t find her, we walked back to the hostel together. On the way, though, I spotted Emma! She was walking back as well, with her ‘crush’, so everything was fine. 😊 I went straight to bed and the moment Emma came in, I passed out.
SUNDAY (22
nd)…
I slept ‘till about 10 am (which is very late, especially considering the heat!), waking up lots since 6 am, because that’s when Poppy woke up. She has been sleeping in her crush’s bed in the dorm next to our room ever since we’d lost her (the guy slept in a hammock, haha).
We had a hangover-breakfast and Poppy gave us the pleasant announcement that she’d lost her bus ticket – of course. We woke up slowly, packed and checked out at 11.30 am. We took a taxi to the
bus station (because it’s a 20 minute walk and it was HOT), where we bought Poppy a new bus ticket. We waited for the bus in the shade on the beach and got on the bus at 1 pm.
We got back to the apartment at 5.30 pm, so we tried to order food in, but people in Costa Rica take Sundays very seriously – only one restaurant was opened, and they didn’t answer their phone.
Fortunately, our friendly upstairs neighbors (two football players) we going to the mall to eat – one of them also going to the cinema because he was on a date :P – and we were invited to come along!
MONDAY (23
rd)…
Today is the day that I’ve been Jotte’s girlfriend officially for 6 months! :D
Today is also the day that I start my new volunteer work at ‘Hogar Infantíl Blanca Flor’ (see
www.hogarblancaflor.com)!
Today is ALSO the day the Dutch government fell apart because of the stubbornness of the racist dick called Geert Wilders!
Such a happy day… :D
The people at Blanco Flor are very social (!), nice,
helpful and organized. Halle-fucking-lujah!
Montserrat took me there this morning at 9 am. I stayed ‘till noon and will be working every workday from 8 – 12/12.30 am.
TUESDAY (24
th)…
Worked all morning and when I got home I was too tired to do anything. I had a good time at work and the kids just exhaust me – but, in a good way!
We all had to do some grocery shopping, but we were all too lazy to get off our asses. That afternoon, when we had lunch with our upstairs neighbors, we came to the idea that we would go with them, in their car! :D Lazy? Who?
So at 6 pm, we woke Juan up from his nap (oops) and Emma, Poppy and I went with him to the AutoMercado. Turned out, he didn’t even need to buy anything! We felt pretty bad… So I bought him a piece of pie. 😊
WED (25
th) and THU (26
th)…
Just worked from 8 ‘till 12.30 am; I’m really liking this place!
On Wednesday, I Skyped with Iris, Alie and Jan (respectively: cousin, auntie and uncle)!
I think I’m ready to go home (after making a very necessary pit stop at Washington DC)… I miss everyone!
FRIDAY (27
th)…
Verena came over to pick up her stuff I’d been saving for her while she traveled around with her sister; she’s staying in a hostel in San José this week. Her sister was with her, too – she’s leaving tomorrow – so we all had (late) lunch together at Las Leñitas (one of the soda’s around the corner). Afterwards, we all went ‘home’ to take a nap and meet up again at 8 pm for dinner. We went to the Italian restaurant ‘La Fabbrica’ and Neni paid my dinner to thank me for ‘taking care’ of her stuff! Very unnecessary, but very sweet – thanks again! After dinner, we had beers at a rock café on the way to the apartment. It was a nice night!
SATURDAY (28
th)…
Had a rough time waking up this morning at 8 am, but Alonso was going to pick me up at 9/9.30 am and I still had to pack some stuff to take with me. The plan: drive to Turrialba, go horseback
riding, have lunch/dinner, shower at his grandma’s house (Alonso’s family lives there), go to a party in the area. It was going to be Alonso, his brother Jorge, Andrea, Monia and me.
I still have to learn, though, that ‘plans’ in Costa Rica are different from the ones in the Netherlands!
Alonso showed up at 11 am – they’d had a party last night. On the way to Turrialba, the car broke down and we had to stop along the road. A car stopped and I think the driver is a mechanic, because he found out what was wrong. He and Alonso went in his car to buy a part for the car while the rest of us waited. Monia and I even asked at the distribution factory along the road, if we could use the bathroom – we could! I found it quite funny… Eventually, Alonso and the mechanic returned, fixed the car, and we were off again. It was quite late, though, and there wasn’t any time left to go horseback riding.
We came to the place and there was some sort of fair or festival going on; ‘Feria Internacional CATIE 2012’. I asked Andrea
and apparently, this was also the ‘party’ we were supposed to go to at night. We just hung around at the festival – there was food, dancing and music from different Latin American countries. They even had a Europa-stand, where I got a Spanish tortilla and a Belgian beer (Leffe)! We looked around at the booths where they were selling little things as jewelry and bags (I bought another bracelet), and watched dances from different countries.
I had a good time! But at 6 pm, I got kind of hungry and bored, because we’d kind of seen everything there was to see. I suggested to go get a real meal (because here, there were only small plates and not a lot to choose from for non-meat eating people like me), but no one else was really hungry. So, when we went back to San José at a little to seven I was tired and hungry, and because the road was curvy, inevitably I got car-sick. 😞
The day had gone a liiittle different from what I had expected, but we had a good time! And once I got home and made myself a pita with cheese in the
oven, the sickness went away too.
SUNDAY (29
th)…
At 7 am I woke up and decided not to wake up. I fell asleep again, woke up two other times, but didn’t really wake up until 11 am – I’m so proud!
I had a long Sunday-shower, killed a cockroach, wrote my blog (“you don’t say!”) and put off grocery shopping because you’ve got to do what you’re good at.
I am putting it off right now, as we speak (well, as I type)! However, after I’ve uploaded this blog, there is nothing much left for me to do except do to the AutoMercado. I could change my clothes and my hairdo a couple of times, but that will buy me half an hour tops. I will have to face the music and walk the wet streets of cloudy, grey San José (whoops, made a rhyme!). If only my neighbor (with his car) was home!
Also: In one week, I'll be on my way to Jotte!!!
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