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My Family in Las Delicias
Don ChiChi, me and Doña Cecilia in front of my cabina in the garden. Hola from Montezuma, probably the last entry from here....
Last weekend I managed to go back to Samara for a few days. I splashed out and took a private van to Samara, on the way back I had no choice and take the public bus, which was a great 8-hour experience (as opposed to the 4 hour trip) It involved taking the bus towards San Jose (the opposite direction that I needed to go) get off halfway at a little place called Barranca. From there I took a local bus (no doors) to Puntarenas, a popular beach town for the locals. From there I took a ferry back to the Nicoya peninsula (the one that Samara and Montezuma are both on) On the other side, I took the bus from Paquera to Cobano and luckily bumped into my "brother" Ronald who drove me home. Tiring but a great experience. When I got a bit lost in Puntarenas a local lady, Virginia, helped me find my way to the ferry. During this 30 minute walk along the beach boulevard she explained to me (several times) how badly she wanted to go to the States. I had told her I was from
the Netherlands but I'm not sure whether she understood that that is nowhere near the States.... She invited me to her house and wants us to be "great friends". I eventually persuaded her that I really had to go to the ferry. Although she was a slightly strange lady it was another example of the friendliness of the people here in Costa Rica.
At school in Las Delicias, lessons are moving along smoothly. Some of the young boys are real brats but what else is new?! This Friday I was invited to the house of two of my students. Their mom is Tica and their father is French-Canadian (but practically Tico by now). He is a carpenter and showed me all the furniture he's made, which was absolutely beautiful. Their house is very simple, and they try to live completely independent; solar panels, a well, a woodstove. They do get electricity and water from the tank but in case that fails (which it regularly does especially during the dry season which is just ending now) they can manage. It was a great experience and I felt really priviliged to get the chance to see how this family lived.
My tutor students
from left to right, Yeudy, me and Mariela, who came over to my house almost daily to practise writing and reading. This weekend, my friend Leo (a Tico who works in the bar, Las Olas) from Samara came to visit me here. It was a pretty active weekend, on the Friday we went on a canopy tour. This involves wearing some really flattering gear and a colourful helmet and swinging from one treetop to the other. You won't actually see a whole lot of animals or plants as you're whizzing by and focusing on not slamming into the next post or just too excited. It's a great buzz. We then stopped and walked down to the Montezuma waterfall, where we climbed down the sides of two of the falls and swam for a bit at the second one. There was also a swing and we relaxed there for a while. In the evening, we went for dinner and a movie ('Meet the Fockers') followed by some drinks at Chicos Bar (which is not a gay bar as the name might suggest). At 1am I was definitely ready to sleep when Leo realised he didn't have the key. Reception was closed so with the help of the guard we eventually broke in through the window! Which really was not hard at all, slightly worrying, but I was just glad to have a bed to sleep in. The next morning Leo made his way out the window again, with a few people on the beach watching (!) and found the key at the restaurant we were at the night before. After that we went to Cabo Blanco National Park, the first in Costa Rica, set up by a Danish/Swedish couple. It was a 2 hour hike to the beach at the very tip of the peninsula (we did not know this when we went there...) and a 2 hour hike back. It was interesting as I was wearing a pair of flipflops, one of which was about to fall apart. We made it to the beach eventually, after Leo got bit by a crab in his finger (that's what happens when you try and pick them up...) and I got attacked by a load of ants (they have seriously painful bites). We even saw some white-faced monkeys on the way, and some pigeons, but not a whole lot of other animals. The beach was gorgeous, it was high tide, huge waves, lots of bamboo, palms and clear water. I'll be able to add pictures once I get to a place with fast internet connections. The way back seemed a lot faster (because we didn't stop to look at the birds and crabs) and we got a little bus to Cabuya, where you can walk to a little island (with a cementary on it) when it's low tide. A fisherman had told us that low tide was at 2pm but he obviously got confused with low and high tide because there was no way it was low tide when we got there!!! We walked along the beach and got some nice shots of the island though.
Sunday morning I finally plucked up the courage to go into the sea here in Montezuma and even swim a little bit. The current here is pretty strong and the waves a lot bigger than in Samara. In the afternoon, I walked to the Montezuma Waterfalls another time and hiked up to the second and third falls with two Canadian girls I met there. I also bumped into two British guys I had met before in Samara (I guess everyone takes a similar route here....) and the 5 of us spent about an hour trying to find the path to the falls. We eventually got there and spent about 2 hours just floating in the water, swinging from the rope and jumping off the rocks. At around 4.30pm I had to start walking back as I had to get back to Las Delicias before sunset (at around 6pm). Obviously this was a perfect time for my left flipflop to finally break!! I walked up the hill on the boiling street until I luckily saw some of my Tico friends with a tour group at the canopy. One gave me a ride back to my house on his motorbike. Phew.
Another scary bug moment this afternoon when I found the "skin" or "shell" of a scorpion under my bed, and not all that small. Which means that he's still out there!!! Eeek. Let's hope he doesn't come back before Saturday 😊 I'll be gone by then.
Friday I think I'll head back to Samara for one night before setting off on my tour. Although the two towns are really different, this place has definitely grown on me too, and I think I'll be pretty sad leaving...😞 Although it'll be great to explore some more of Costa Rica, and it looks like I'll be crossing the border to Panama next weekend, with Lucie (from Samara).
Ciao, abrazos, and until next time!
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anonymous
non-member comment
Que chevere!
Hola hermana, Me gusta mucho tus aventuras! Pero tienes que quidarte, por el scorpio y otras cosas.. Ja het klinkt allemaal superspannend, mijn leventje hier is toch echt heel westers! Vind het superstoer van je sista. Heb je toevallig ergens nog een telefoonunmmer/ adres daar? Dikke zoen, Helen - Helen