Manuel Antonio

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Okay, I am finally caught up with everything. Sorry for so many entries at once...but hey, better late than never, right? So, this past weekend we went to Manuel Antonio, which everyone ket telling me was the most beautiful beach in the country, and now I know why. It was breathtaking! The bus ride was a little crazy and we went over a few sketchy bridges, but we made it, so all was good. We went to the beach/park Saturday as a group of like 30 gringo (very interesting) and just played and layed out. There are all these beautiful rocks everywhere and everywhere you turned was gorgous. So then, out of nowhere, my friend screamed...a monkey has stolen her bananas! Seriously, who knew that they really ate bananas?! Also, a random fact banana is not feminine like one would think in Spanish but is really un banano...interesting. So, back to the monkeys- they were everywhere! I mean, I was literally like 5 inches away from one! They were so cute and one even grabbed a banana out of my hand!

After the whole monkey incident calmed down, I went exploring with my friend Katie. It's amazing that they just let us, and basically encourage us, to do what we want when we want. We went walking all over and ending up back at the hotel laying in the hammock for a while. When we came back, no one was at the beach, so we just climbed on rocks and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. I was at such peace and just trying to take it all in. It's an amazing feeling and so insightful to just look out into such a beautiful sight. I an very lucky...

So, I still couldn't find anyone, so me and my friend Sammy walked into town with my tico friend Fabrisio. (Can you believe I have international friends now??). We only had like 1 mil between us because our roomies had our money and our sandwiches, so we ended up splitting this little pancito bread thing. It was quite a site! Fabrisio told us that it was a store with pan, but we didn't really think it was just pan...but it was...I must say, I learn interesting things every day. After showering (something else I am learning how to do everyday down here, lol), we went with all the directors and such to some place called Coconut (also the same word in Spanish in case you were wondering) and I had this amazing sushi. It was funny because they were playing music and it was all American music (well, north american music to be more politically correct), which weirded me out. So, we left and went to a discoteca which was SO much fun. Way too many turists but still superfun becaue, like I said, I LOVE to dance! FYI, 'super' is a word in Spanish and I use it every chance I get.

The next morning my nice director gave me a wake up call because I was too tired to set my alarm (he is so nice!) and I got ready to go snorkling. Shockingly, ´snorkle´ is not a word in Spanish even though you can snorkle in almost ever Spanish speaking country...i don't get it. Anyway, the boat was beautil and our guides were so nice. Sarah and I sat in the front and just soaked it all up. Then, it was time to snorkle and I must say, I loked fab in my gear 😊 We went near these rocks and it was amazing. All of a sudden, I was surrounded my bright blue and yellow fish, swimming with them. It was life changing! I was a part of their envirnoment and just watched them. I swam near all the crevases (I think thats how its spelled) and just apperciated life. One fish in particular just sparkled and I couldn't believe my eyes. It was funny because so many students snorkled together and took pictures but I just went off by myself and took mental pictures, which was a really good life practice for me. I sware, I am going to be a new person when I come back due to little things like this. When we ot back, the crew cooked us marlin with some amazing salsa and it was love! I ate and then just laid back and enjoyed the ride. We got back faster than I thought and I honestly almost cried because I didn't want to leave. I just stared and watched the waves hit the rocks...it's a feeling I can't even explain because words can't justify what I saw.

Life is good....

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