Costa Rica 11/1/09

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To whom it may concern,

Today started out alright. I woke up around 7:30am feeling a little hungover after last nights festivities. We finally arrived home some time around 1am, which isn't really that late, but here, where the sun goes down at like 4:30, 1am feels late. I got up and decided that i wanted to go to the beach. Myles was still sleeping and i didn't want to force him to get up so i figured this would be a good way to stay busy without bothering him. I got dressed grabbed my towel, and whispered to Myles that i was on my way to the beach in case he needed me. After i was sure he was awake enough to remember where i was, i locked all the doors and left.

The sand at the beach is so hot here because it is so dark, it really attracts the heat and you have to be very careful. Feeling the way i was it was very comforting to sit in the warm sand and just relax. When i would get to hot i would simply run into the water and dive under a wave, then come back up to the beach and tan some more. Im trying to get rid of most of my tan lines, but it isn't really working. About an hour later Myles came down and asked if i wanted to head into town. We had plans to meet a friend that we were introduced to last night (Alex) he was supposed to take us spear fishing.

We got home and washed off in the iguana shower. That shower is so handy when you live so close to the beach. Washing off your feet before you come inside saves a lot of cleaning time. We got inside and packed all our snorkeling gear that Alex had told us to bring. After we were all packed we headed up the road to Banana Azual Hotel to rent some bikes, and then we rode into town to meet Alex. We were supposed to meet him at Rockin Js around 12. After a long bumpy bike ride we arrived and decided to kill some time by signing up for a snorkeling tour for tomorrow in Cahuita National Park. The guy that was signing us up told me the last time he went there he saw 3 sharks, a barracuda, and a large ray of some sort. Myles and i are both really excited to go because snorkeling is one thing we have not done while we have been here.

At Rockin Js we ran in to some other people that we had met from the night before. Most of them were actually just getting up. From what we hear the party last night did not end until 6am this morning. I'm glad we did not stay that long lol. By 12:15 Alex hadn't shown up and we were beginning to wonder if him inviting us out last night was just a drunken olive branch. But, finally at about 12:30 he came strolling in. He apologized profusely and told us that he actually had to start working so he couldn't take us out. But, maybe next time. We told him we would meet up with him sometime soon to just hangout. We were both disappointed and relieved. Spear fishing sounds like a lot of fun, but also like a lot of work, and after the night we had, we kind of just wanted to relax. So, we grabbed our bikes and headed back to the cabina with plans to relax and enjoy the sunny day.

We still hadn't eaten so as soon as we got back we heated up some left overs, (red beans and rice again.) and decided to try some new hot sauce that we gotten at the farmers market yesterday morning. Its really yummy, its called green iguana and it has a nice little bite to it. The food was delicious and we were starving, so it worked out well. After lunch we relaxed on the porch and read in the hammocks. At about 2 we headed down to the beach for a dip in the waves and then we headed home again. At about 4:30 we were both very hungry again, so we decided to go back to Rockin Js for dinner. We hopped on our bikes (again) and headed into town. When we arrived at Rockin Js i saw a guy that we had met in passing last night. I waved, and i guess he saw this as an invitation to join us (which it was not, i was simply being polite.) we sat down and he walked over to our table and pulled up a chair. He doesn't speak a lot of English, but from what we could understand, he was STILL partying from last night. He must have been going on a full 24 hours of drinking, and was definitely worse for wear. After a lull in the conversation i looked over at our new "friend" and realized that he had fallen asleep sitting at the table with us. As i was looking at him i noticed he had started drooling down the front of his shirt. At that point Myles and i decided it was time to get up and find a new place to sit, or new people to talk to, where he wouldn't feel welcome. We got up and went to talk to some of the people that work there about our snorkeling trip tomorrow, and to put a deposit down to ensure that our guide would be there to meet us at 7:30 am. When we had all that business taken care of, we saw that our food was ready. So we snagged another table, as far from our drunken "friend" as possible. I got a deluxe cheese burger (burger, 2 kinds of cheese, a slice of ham, 3 slices of bacon, ranch, and lettuce.) and Myles got a chicken chipotle burrito (chicken, chipotle sauce, black beans, rice, and cheese) Both were very good, and we enjoyed them with our cocktails. As our meal was ending, our "friend" came over again and started bugging us, so we decided to leave. We hadn't noticed that as we finished our meal it had started raining. We both decided that we really wanted to go home, so we thought we would tough it out and ride in the rain.

As soon as we got about 2 or 3 blocks past Rockin Js, it started to pour rain. We didn't have any ponchos or umbrellas, but we had already started our ride, and we were not that far from home, so we kept going. With this humidity, it feels like you are wet constantly anyway, whats a little rain added to that? This was at about 6:15. It gets dark here at about 5, so its dark and pouring rain, and we are riding. We see some of the other locals riding their bikes as well so we don't feel to stupid. Right as we cross the bridge to exit town and head to our house (its about a 15 min bike ride from the middle of town to our place.) you have to pass over a small bridge. As we get to the other side, in the lamp light i see the slumped man walking down the dark street closer and closer to us with a bag slung over his shoulder and a machete in one hand (men walk along the street every day with machetes cutting down coconuts to sell on the street.) this is a pretty common occurrence but, because of the rain and the dark it was pretty ominous. He walked right by us with no problem. Whew, we go that out of the way, what else could go wrong right? We start peddling harder, we are getting soaked and we were eager to get home. I feel like with every peddle i made, the rain pounded harder and harder. There are streetlights here in Puerto Viejo, and i am sure if you are driving, and have head lights to compliment the dim streetlights, the roads are no big deal to drive on. But, with a bike, at night in the pouring rain, they are too dim to gauge how deep the rain filled pot holes are. The whole ride home, i couldn't see where my bike was going and i just kept thinking, i am going to hit one of these pot holes and go "ass over tea kettle" into the road. Thankfully we reach our street unmolested and in one piece. We haven't walked or rode on our road at night yet, there is a small problem that we didn't notice. There are no streetlights at all where we live, so as if the last rode wasn't nerve wracking enough, we had to ride this road with no light. We then remembered that Myles had a maglight in his pocket, so he took it out and held it in one hand while he still tried to steer and peddle his bike on a potholed dirt road with no street lights. As if it could get worse, as we approach or house, we notice that none of the neighbors have the lights on in their front yards. That's really weird because our property manager Hernan keeps a light on in his yard all day and all night long always. And, come to think of it, when we left earlier today we left the porch lights and the yard light on. When we are right out side our gate, we realize, there is no power. We are having a black out. Great, just great. We are soaking wet, dirty, terrified, shaken up from our ride, and now there is no power. It just had to work out that way. Lol.

Using the maglight we manage to get inside, get out of our soaking wet cloths, and find some candles. There aren't any candle holders though so we grab some narrow water glasses and improvise. After that we took a shower (the heater on the shower is electric, so no heat.) , and tried to read in bed by candle light. At one point i asked Myles if he wanted to try to sleep, he looked at the clock and stated laughing, it was only 7:45, and i was trying to get him to go to bed. At around 8:00 all of the lights came back on in the house. We weren't home for more then an hour with all the power out, but i do believe it was the longest hour we have spent here. It was scary, and i really had wanted to get some blogs up for you guys. Now we are ok. We are clean, well fed, and tired, reading, or typing in the bright lights on the porch, and counting the seconds between the lightning and thunder to predict how far away it is. Thank god for electricity. What would i do without it. Riding home in the rain is an experience i probably will never forget for the rest of my life. It was terrifying and fun. I hope you all had a great and safe Halloween. Sorry no pictures today. Ill have to send some more soon though. Love you all. Good night.

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