Saturday Jan 17th, 10 20pm, Cahuita, Costa Rica
Tonight was a wonderful night. Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful. And after the discouraging day it was just what I needed...what we ALL needed. We've all been a bit down and frustrated the past 2 days about the car, Michele is pissed off at her university, and the past 2 days we could have really used some good waves to cheer us up. After a frustrated conversation about the car and brakes *the LACK of brakes, in regards to tomorrows journey over the mountain, I recommended pizza and beer. I'm tired of worrying about money, so tonight it was no object, and the others were feeling the same. We had garlic bread app and I had a salad. We each had our own FABULOUSLY delicious pizzas, and we ended with tiramisu and espressos *the European way! We were at our table for almost 3 hours. The conversaton was great/ tons of great stories, good jokes and some good old fashioned trash talking. They talked about Italians, their accent and rudeness, speaking german, alcohol, traveling europe, and espresso...ps america, you do NOT drink ur espresso with a lemon peel!! I taught them about beer pong and flip cup, which theyd never heard of, and they taught me some european drinking games. We laughed. Ate. Laughed. Drank. Laughed and laughed some more. Nico won the world domination pizza eating contest and MONO Michele woke up from her nap at the table the second she heard the word TIRAMISU. Did I mention that I enjoy my travel partners?
Tonight is movie night and surprise surprise Michele is asleep already. She says that she likes to listen to movies. Hahahaha. I'm not far behind her, this is the latest I've been up so far in Costa Rica.
Gute Nacht.
Good Night.
Buenos Noches.
Showing posts with label cahuita. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cahuita. Show all posts
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Crash.
Last night we crashed the car. Nothing serious. Just into a wall. We've been having some minor brake troubles for two days. But as of last night you had to push the brake pedal all the way down 6 times before the car would stop. It made for an interesting evening. This morning we woke up and went to the mechanic down the street. He let some air out of the brake and drained some kind of fluid. He got the brakes working in the front at least, but he said that the back ones weren't working, and only one pump was working on the front brakes...so before we make the 7 hour trek over the mountain tomorrow back to esterillos that we should get it looked at by a bigger mechanic, in limon, and perhaps have a few parts replaced. This cost us 5000 colones, $10. We headed back for a surf...it was, eh. Ate an empanada and then hopped into the car to head to LIMON. Limon is 50 KM from our cute town of Cahuita. It is dirty and smelly. In the travel book under "sights" for limon it lists prostitution, garbage and crime. There is one park that they mention where you can see sloths, but they said that the crime is bad so be careful. We drive all the way there, the mechanic drives around for a while, slamming on the brakes, and poof - they are fixed. Nothing is broken any longer, and we dont need anything replaced. Wierd. Anyways, we hop back into the car to leave Limon with headaches from the diesel fumes and in about an hour we are back to town.
THAT is my brake story. The car that Thoralf rented is kinda a piece of shit in the sense that nothing works the way it should *windows, locks, doors, brakes, etc.
This morning I had coffee with Michele 'me-shell', my new fabulous swiss friend. She has traveled all over the world. Very cool. We started to plan a trip through Sri Lanka and Thailand. She has family there. She has been to Sri Lanka before...and her story of being there is magical. She saw some documentary on the TV about a monk living in a remote cave in sri lanka. He's also an artist, who created the most beautiful paintings that she'd ever seen...michelle is an artist by the way. She contacted the TV station for information on the person who created the documentary and then contacted that man for information about the monk. Then she began corresponding with this monk. He was happy to have someone so young being so interested and determined in meeting him. Mostly he was contacted by the elderly and dying. She went to visit and he showed her all over sri lanka and took her with him to hospitals, broken and beatdown hospitals, filled with the dying. She couldn't understand what they were saying to one another, but she said that she felt something so powerful that she has never felt before.Michele is not religious, but she said she certainly feels a tie to buddhism, this monk in particular. He has since died, but every year on December 20th the other monks and people in town celebrate his life on the date of his death with a full day of chanting and prayer. We are hoping to get out there this time next year and be a part of it. All in all, Michele is kickass. Her parents are sailors. They sail. On a sailboat. All over the world, all year round. So she has grown up on the water. She plans to be a dive instructor, working and traveling her way around the world. I'm definitely excited to have become friends with her, and I'm sure that we will meet up for travel adventures throughout the years to come.
Have to go now, want to Skype call Shawn before they close the internet down.
Oh yeah, ate in Puerto Viejo last night at the same place we ate the other day, Jammin Jerk and Juice. BAH. It's so amazing. So cute and the best best best food. I got the same thing I had the other day, the Mid Eastern Rice Salad. It's brown rice with tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley and other seasonings with a spicy peanut, thai dressing and pitas. MMMM. And I had Sorrel Iced Ginger Tea. MMMM. This woman makes the best stuff.
We are headed back to Esterillos tomorrow. So wish us luck and pray to the brake gods. Sometime in the next few days I will be posting Caribbean photos. xo pura vida.
THAT is my brake story. The car that Thoralf rented is kinda a piece of shit in the sense that nothing works the way it should *windows, locks, doors, brakes, etc.
This morning I had coffee with Michele 'me-shell', my new fabulous swiss friend. She has traveled all over the world. Very cool. We started to plan a trip through Sri Lanka and Thailand. She has family there. She has been to Sri Lanka before...and her story of being there is magical. She saw some documentary on the TV about a monk living in a remote cave in sri lanka. He's also an artist, who created the most beautiful paintings that she'd ever seen...michelle is an artist by the way. She contacted the TV station for information on the person who created the documentary and then contacted that man for information about the monk. Then she began corresponding with this monk. He was happy to have someone so young being so interested and determined in meeting him. Mostly he was contacted by the elderly and dying. She went to visit and he showed her all over sri lanka and took her with him to hospitals, broken and beatdown hospitals, filled with the dying. She couldn't understand what they were saying to one another, but she said that she felt something so powerful that she has never felt before.Michele is not religious, but she said she certainly feels a tie to buddhism, this monk in particular. He has since died, but every year on December 20th the other monks and people in town celebrate his life on the date of his death with a full day of chanting and prayer. We are hoping to get out there this time next year and be a part of it. All in all, Michele is kickass. Her parents are sailors. They sail. On a sailboat. All over the world, all year round. So she has grown up on the water. She plans to be a dive instructor, working and traveling her way around the world. I'm definitely excited to have become friends with her, and I'm sure that we will meet up for travel adventures throughout the years to come.
Have to go now, want to Skype call Shawn before they close the internet down.
Oh yeah, ate in Puerto Viejo last night at the same place we ate the other day, Jammin Jerk and Juice. BAH. It's so amazing. So cute and the best best best food. I got the same thing I had the other day, the Mid Eastern Rice Salad. It's brown rice with tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley and other seasonings with a spicy peanut, thai dressing and pitas. MMMM. And I had Sorrel Iced Ginger Tea. MMMM. This woman makes the best stuff.
We are headed back to Esterillos tomorrow. So wish us luck and pray to the brake gods. Sometime in the next few days I will be posting Caribbean photos. xo pura vida.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Today is Thursday.
Today is Thursday. I know that because the people sitting next to me in the internet cafe told me so. I wouldn't know if they were right or wrong - im not even sure what the date is. I know that we are still in the month of January though.
Last night was Nico's birthday. On our way walking into the busier part of town, it started to DOWNPOUR. I'm talking Caribbean rain....REAL rain. So we ran to the only restaurant on the street...Sombre las Olas. It's a seafood and italian place on the beach...a bit out of the price range that we are trying to stay in, but hey -- it's a celebration. We had some delicious bruschetta, and then Nico, Michelle and I had pasta, and Thoralf had Caribbean cooked snapper. MMM. It was very good. Though we all wanted to go out to continue the celebration, we were all exhausted and the rain was coming down hard. michelle and i fell asleep the second we got back to the cabina, and the boys stayed up drinking CAHUITA. Cahuita is a rum that is only made and sold in the town of Cahuita. It is DELICIOUS. We sip on it all day long. Just little sips, but they warm you up and make you feel good all over. It's coconut flavor as well, mmmm. Michelle is obsessed. hahaa. We took some photos the other day, a 'cahuita photo shoot'. The photos will be up this week...you're going to crack up.
Anyways...woke up early this morning to drive 40 minutes to a spot deep in puerto viejo. The waves were big, messy, big, and not worth paddling out. We came back to Cahuita, and sure enough the waves were perfect and clean. Got in a two hour session, ate lunch, and then amazingly the waves were still good!!! So we got in another 2 or 3 hours. I cant figure out this break. I've named it "NO SE" because I never know what the hell its going to be doing. The wind, the tide, there is no pattern. Who knows. All I know is that today is was overhead and super fun.
I'm in love with a little dog down here. Medium sized...bigger than a yorky, and smaller than a lab. She's sooo cute. She is very skinny, likes to cuddle and has a wicked cut around her neck. Someone put a chain around her neck as a collar, with a lock on it, and she kept growing and it got tighter and tighter and tighter. I was looking for bolt cutters yesterday in town, and luckily later that night someone had taken her horrible 'collar' off. She follows me around town, and today even followed me out into the water when I went surfing. She only went out about 10 feet...but you could tell she was anxious to come out. She is definitely still young. Probably only a year old, but super sweet. I'm going to ask around town and see if she has a name. How about it shawnie?? Another female dog??
Today is Thursday and the Caribbean is BEAUTIFUL.
Last night was Nico's birthday. On our way walking into the busier part of town, it started to DOWNPOUR. I'm talking Caribbean rain....REAL rain. So we ran to the only restaurant on the street...Sombre las Olas. It's a seafood and italian place on the beach...a bit out of the price range that we are trying to stay in, but hey -- it's a celebration. We had some delicious bruschetta, and then Nico, Michelle and I had pasta, and Thoralf had Caribbean cooked snapper. MMM. It was very good. Though we all wanted to go out to continue the celebration, we were all exhausted and the rain was coming down hard. michelle and i fell asleep the second we got back to the cabina, and the boys stayed up drinking CAHUITA. Cahuita is a rum that is only made and sold in the town of Cahuita. It is DELICIOUS. We sip on it all day long. Just little sips, but they warm you up and make you feel good all over. It's coconut flavor as well, mmmm. Michelle is obsessed. hahaa. We took some photos the other day, a 'cahuita photo shoot'. The photos will be up this week...you're going to crack up.
Anyways...woke up early this morning to drive 40 minutes to a spot deep in puerto viejo. The waves were big, messy, big, and not worth paddling out. We came back to Cahuita, and sure enough the waves were perfect and clean. Got in a two hour session, ate lunch, and then amazingly the waves were still good!!! So we got in another 2 or 3 hours. I cant figure out this break. I've named it "NO SE" because I never know what the hell its going to be doing. The wind, the tide, there is no pattern. Who knows. All I know is that today is was overhead and super fun.
I'm in love with a little dog down here. Medium sized...bigger than a yorky, and smaller than a lab. She's sooo cute. She is very skinny, likes to cuddle and has a wicked cut around her neck. Someone put a chain around her neck as a collar, with a lock on it, and she kept growing and it got tighter and tighter and tighter. I was looking for bolt cutters yesterday in town, and luckily later that night someone had taken her horrible 'collar' off. She follows me around town, and today even followed me out into the water when I went surfing. She only went out about 10 feet...but you could tell she was anxious to come out. She is definitely still young. Probably only a year old, but super sweet. I'm going to ask around town and see if she has a name. How about it shawnie?? Another female dog??
Today is Thursday and the Caribbean is BEAUTIFUL.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
day 3 in cahuita
caribbean!!!!!!!!!!!!!
woooohoooo. me gusta. me gusta. me gusta.
it was almost time for dinner last night, but i was craving an ice cold beer. craving. so thoralf, nico and i walked down to the reggae bar at the end of the street for some muy deliciouso y frio cervezas. later, we showered up and we walked around town to pick out a restaurant. we ended up going out to this place that served italian and local food. michelle and i opted for the italian pasta (sooo delicious) and the boys had local food. my dinner was 3000 colones, about 6 bucks, and i threw in an extra dollar for a tip. on the way home, michelle was falling asleep, so her and nico went home for bed. thoralf and i went to the beach bar for one more beer and some conversation. i have a hard time understanding his english because of his thick german accent, but we get by. he has some great travel stories. when he was 24 he spent a year traveling through australia. he only had enough money for a ticket and only a little bit of spending money. he got a working visa that allows you to stay for one year. he bought a car and traveled around the whole coast of australia. he took temporary jobs to make money - being a farmhand, a busdriver, even though he wasnt certified hahaha, and picked peppers for 3 weeks. he said that he hasnt eaten a pepper since. i love to her my traveling partners stories - since the 3 of them are from europe and traveling to other countries is like traveling to neighboring states, they always have a good story to tell.
this morning i slept in until 7am. thorolf went surfing, and then nico, michelle and i went out for breakfast. im glad that we waited, because the waves only got better. it didnt look that big, but the white water here is so goddamn powerful, it took me some serious time and effort to get out. once i was out, i was fine. had some nice waves and then came back to the house for a rest in the hammock.
today is nico´s birthday, so i think that we are going to drink some rum, play some fooseball, and go out to eat tonight. not sure if we are going to get waves again, but it sure would be nice. tomorrow we are going into puerto viejo for breakfast at a place that nico and michelle rave about, and then try out a new break that is 30 minutes from there. woohooo.
pura vida.
woooohoooo. me gusta. me gusta. me gusta.
it was almost time for dinner last night, but i was craving an ice cold beer. craving. so thoralf, nico and i walked down to the reggae bar at the end of the street for some muy deliciouso y frio cervezas. later, we showered up and we walked around town to pick out a restaurant. we ended up going out to this place that served italian and local food. michelle and i opted for the italian pasta (sooo delicious) and the boys had local food. my dinner was 3000 colones, about 6 bucks, and i threw in an extra dollar for a tip. on the way home, michelle was falling asleep, so her and nico went home for bed. thoralf and i went to the beach bar for one more beer and some conversation. i have a hard time understanding his english because of his thick german accent, but we get by. he has some great travel stories. when he was 24 he spent a year traveling through australia. he only had enough money for a ticket and only a little bit of spending money. he got a working visa that allows you to stay for one year. he bought a car and traveled around the whole coast of australia. he took temporary jobs to make money - being a farmhand, a busdriver, even though he wasnt certified hahaha, and picked peppers for 3 weeks. he said that he hasnt eaten a pepper since. i love to her my traveling partners stories - since the 3 of them are from europe and traveling to other countries is like traveling to neighboring states, they always have a good story to tell.
this morning i slept in until 7am. thorolf went surfing, and then nico, michelle and i went out for breakfast. im glad that we waited, because the waves only got better. it didnt look that big, but the white water here is so goddamn powerful, it took me some serious time and effort to get out. once i was out, i was fine. had some nice waves and then came back to the house for a rest in the hammock.
today is nico´s birthday, so i think that we are going to drink some rum, play some fooseball, and go out to eat tonight. not sure if we are going to get waves again, but it sure would be nice. tomorrow we are going into puerto viejo for breakfast at a place that nico and michelle rave about, and then try out a new break that is 30 minutes from there. woohooo.
pura vida.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
waves on the e.c.
the caribbean is difficult to figure out. the tide doesnt really change more than 2 feet between high and low tide, so i gather that it doesnt matter that much. it was shit when we checked it this morning. we checked the waves again after breakfast and they sucked. we loaded up the car, packed day bags, and when we pulled 50feet to the end of the street to leave town,and the waves were head high and perfect, clean. ha. crazy that it changed so quick. so we returned the car to the cabina and went for a surf right out front. it was fun, powerful and clean. surfed for about 30 minutes and then within 5 minutes it almost doubled in size/weight. heavy and fast. the sets were breaking like the day that shawn, me and adam surfed the 'secret' spot in esterillos. totally crazy and totally random. it was difficult to find a spot, there isnt one peak. but i had the 3 biggest waves out there. the locals were hooting and hollering me on. and then just as quickly as the well cleaned up, and then picked up, it turned to shit again. in the matter of minutes. but we got in a good two hours of surf so that was good. i think that my leash stretched about a foot today haha. a few i stayed in too late and couldn't cut out, so i just had to jump off my board. some powerful surf out there. also, there is a current which you should definitely pay attention too. i just took a peek at it, but it looked crappy like this morning. but who knows, going to keep my eye on it and maybe it will get perfect again before dark?
we came back to the cabina and just hung out in the hammocks and rocking chairs. we moved into a room upstairs that is beautiful and cozy. its crazy how much cooler it is on the caribbean...even the water. its only a few degrees cooler, but the water is refreshing and the air isn't sweltering. i was dozing in and out of sleep in the hammock when nico gave us a holler about empanadas. a woman stopped by the house with chicken empanadas, for 400 colones!!!! mmmm. it was so good, and it was just what i needed.
looking forward to what the east coast will continue to throw my way. and lucky us, michelle checked the swell and in a few days when we head back to esterillos, a swell will be rolling thru! woohooo. pura vida.
we came back to the cabina and just hung out in the hammocks and rocking chairs. we moved into a room upstairs that is beautiful and cozy. its crazy how much cooler it is on the caribbean...even the water. its only a few degrees cooler, but the water is refreshing and the air isn't sweltering. i was dozing in and out of sleep in the hammock when nico gave us a holler about empanadas. a woman stopped by the house with chicken empanadas, for 400 colones!!!! mmmm. it was so good, and it was just what i needed.
looking forward to what the east coast will continue to throw my way. and lucky us, michelle checked the swell and in a few days when we head back to esterillos, a swell will be rolling thru! woohooo. pura vida.
Caribbean Cahuita
Caribbean Cahuita.
Jan 12th, Cahuita, costa rica 8pm
it took us 7 hours but we made it. cahuita (ka-hweat-ah) on the east coast of costa rica, about an hour south of limon. i love my traveling partners. they are friendly and funny and witty. me gusta. they have a good sense of humor, and even joked about selling me into the slave trade. i told them that my dad used to threaten to sell me to the gypsies when i was a kid. they got a good laugh out of it, and now their story is that they are selling me to the gypsy king. im very grateful that they speak english for me, so that i understand what is going on. though once they forgot, when they were talking about checking the brakes, and i went flying into the back of michelles seat. hahahaha. they are still apologizing. what can i say, i just cant seem to understand german.
the caribbean side is green. so green. beautiful green. and it SMELLS green. but its also surprisingly industrial? it seems as though, aside from the jobs in the beach town, the only other option is logging and driving huge mac trucks.
to pass the time on our drive we listened to a book on tape. some ´horror´story from the 1930s, narrated by, surprise, an english man. interesting. and a bit odd.
the place that we are staying, cabinas mambo, is gorgeous. its 40$ for a big room with one double bed, 2 singles and a big bathroom. there are hammocks outside and its steps from the beach. so for $10 a night, we are making out really well. its 8pm now, and we are going to head out for some good, local caribbean cuisine. mmm. all in all, im feeling superstoked on my adventure. i do feel a tadbit like shit though because my traveling friends speak fluent german, english, spanish and french as well as bits of other languages, and i barely have mastered english. ha.
AFTER DINNER....
the caribbean is bad ass. AUTHENTIC. ALIVE. im in love.
getting ready for some shut eye and hopefully wake up to waves. good night. buenos noches...or in german, GUTE NACHT!
Rainy Zen.
Jan 13th, Cahuita costa rica, 7am?
woke up this morning around 5 530am. not sure because i forgot my watch @ soda mary, but thats around the time that ive been up every morning and the sun was just starting to peek through.
walked down to the beach, about a 30 sec walk to check the waves. its about head high and building. a bit gray and a bit unsure, kind of reminded of a fall jersey swell. but we are told that it will clean up by the afternoon.
did some yoga on our very zen inspired front porch. ive really been getting into a routine with the yoga and im feeling great - light and limber. as soon as i began it started to rain, which helped me to relax and focus on my breathing. mmmm.
the swiss sleep late so im just hanging solo on the front porch, listening to the rain and wishing for some cafe con leche. nowhere is open yet and unfortunately we dont have a kitchen at this cabina, so im living sans-coffee for about another hour. ciao.
Had coffee with my german friend, thoralf. it was interesting to talk about all of his crazy travels. funny guy. have a hard time understanding his english because of the heavy german accent, but we get by. his girlfriend is coming in this week, so im excited to add another girl into the mix. woohooo. pura vida.
Jan 12th, Cahuita, costa rica 8pm
it took us 7 hours but we made it. cahuita (ka-hweat-ah) on the east coast of costa rica, about an hour south of limon. i love my traveling partners. they are friendly and funny and witty. me gusta. they have a good sense of humor, and even joked about selling me into the slave trade. i told them that my dad used to threaten to sell me to the gypsies when i was a kid. they got a good laugh out of it, and now their story is that they are selling me to the gypsy king. im very grateful that they speak english for me, so that i understand what is going on. though once they forgot, when they were talking about checking the brakes, and i went flying into the back of michelles seat. hahahaha. they are still apologizing. what can i say, i just cant seem to understand german.
the caribbean side is green. so green. beautiful green. and it SMELLS green. but its also surprisingly industrial? it seems as though, aside from the jobs in the beach town, the only other option is logging and driving huge mac trucks.
to pass the time on our drive we listened to a book on tape. some ´horror´story from the 1930s, narrated by, surprise, an english man. interesting. and a bit odd.
the place that we are staying, cabinas mambo, is gorgeous. its 40$ for a big room with one double bed, 2 singles and a big bathroom. there are hammocks outside and its steps from the beach. so for $10 a night, we are making out really well. its 8pm now, and we are going to head out for some good, local caribbean cuisine. mmm. all in all, im feeling superstoked on my adventure. i do feel a tadbit like shit though because my traveling friends speak fluent german, english, spanish and french as well as bits of other languages, and i barely have mastered english. ha.
AFTER DINNER....
the caribbean is bad ass. AUTHENTIC. ALIVE. im in love.
getting ready for some shut eye and hopefully wake up to waves. good night. buenos noches...or in german, GUTE NACHT!
Rainy Zen.
Jan 13th, Cahuita costa rica, 7am?
woke up this morning around 5 530am. not sure because i forgot my watch @ soda mary, but thats around the time that ive been up every morning and the sun was just starting to peek through.
walked down to the beach, about a 30 sec walk to check the waves. its about head high and building. a bit gray and a bit unsure, kind of reminded of a fall jersey swell. but we are told that it will clean up by the afternoon.
did some yoga on our very zen inspired front porch. ive really been getting into a routine with the yoga and im feeling great - light and limber. as soon as i began it started to rain, which helped me to relax and focus on my breathing. mmmm.
the swiss sleep late so im just hanging solo on the front porch, listening to the rain and wishing for some cafe con leche. nowhere is open yet and unfortunately we dont have a kitchen at this cabina, so im living sans-coffee for about another hour. ciao.
Had coffee with my german friend, thoralf. it was interesting to talk about all of his crazy travels. funny guy. have a hard time understanding his english because of the heavy german accent, but we get by. his girlfriend is coming in this week, so im excited to add another girl into the mix. woohooo. pura vida.
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