August 31, 2009: La Fortuna (again)

Owen: We woke up at an ungodly hour. I didn’t even know that 3:30 in the morning existed! Last night we watched “I Love You, Man” before we went to sleep, and only got about 4 hours. The trip to the airport is kind of a blur, seeing as it was so early, but once we got there we said goodbye to the last two members of our GAP crew, Carl and Catalina. We got all our paperwork done, and said a tearful goodbye to Sean. I miss you already dude! Hope you have fun though, don’t be too sad!! And after a long wait, we boarded the plane to Houston, TX. That was an ordeal. We got past customs, twice, and rechecked our luggage (loogash), and waited for our delayed flight to Portland. I am making this day sound short, but it really, really wasn’t. After sitting next to a nice kid my age from Silverton for the 4 and a half hour flight, we were greeted by Mom and Dad! It was great to finally see them again.

We started driving home, stopped at Starbucks, and talked about the trip for a really long time. We discribed every little detail to them, which made the drive back pretty painless. Upon returning home, Goldie (my dog) freaked out when she saw me. She started to pee on the ground and jump around in excitement. We gave Dad the Hat we got for him, and we gave Mom her shawl (thanks for the recommendation Emilie and Eve-lyn!) and the coffee for them both. They were very happy with the gifts and stories.

I cannot begin to explain how thankful I am to everyone who made this the perfect trip. Grandpa for letting me use his amazing camera, Mom and Dad for funding the whole thing, Sean for leading us around, Danny for being a great guide, and the Group for being way better than could ever have expected! Also, Liam for being a good brother and putting up with my crap, and the people of Costa Rica for being so welcoming and accommodating.

Pura Vida!

Liam: After waking up and going through all security at the airport, we decided not to get breakfast and wait until later. The plane ride to Houston was really long, but I slept for most of the time or read. Then we were in the Houston airport for about 4 hours, it got soooo boring. Owen and I got some food and walked around the airport for a while before boarding the flight that was thirty minutes late. The plane ride took forever, I just wanted to get home. When the plane finally landed it was about 5 o’clock and I was more than ready to stand up for a while. Right when we left the gates Mom and Dad were waiting to meet us. We met up with them and told them all about our adventures. After the drive back from Portland, we were finally home and it felt so good. After we walked in the door I took a long shower and used a ton of shampoo so my hair doesn’t stand up anymore (Emilie and Eve-Lyn). After a dinner with Mom and Dad I just hung out for a while.

Sean (This blog is all mine now...): Today was as long as any of the trip. The boys and I woke up at 3:30 am! That is by far the earliest I have gotten up in years. We all took quick showers and then checked out of our hotel room. A short time later, 4:00am, we jumped into an airport transfer. I was surprised to find that Carl and Laura (Canadian couple on honeymoon) were on the same shuttle as us. It was great to see them one last time!

Our drive to the airport flew threw stop signs and passed anything moving less than fast. We quickly arrived and made our way to the check in counter only to discover we had to pay $26 in airport tax before entering the queue. After paying the duty we quickly proceeded through the line and got the boys checked in for their flight. I then entrusted them with their passports and all the reasonability that comes with flying an international flight.

It was then time for our goodbyes. It was a sad, sad moment. I have had such a great time traveling with my brothers that it is hard to imagine that I will be on my own for another week. We have spent all-day, everyday together for the last three weeks. Surprisingly, I cant remember us getting in any big fights. Of course there were times where we gave each other a hard time (especially Liam) and times when we got frustrated (especially Owen when playing billiards ;) but it went smoother than I ever imagined.

The boys are born travelers. After fighting off some sickness early in the trip Liam opened up to everyone in the group. As expected, Owen was friendly and nice to each and every person he came in contact with. I look forward to the next trip I take with my brothers!!

After watching them pass through security I was on my own and made my way to the street to catch a cab back into downtown San Jose. I flagged down a young cab driver who had no idea where my hotel was. After explaining the general area he told me he could get me there so I got in. It turned out to be a long ride. One in which we had to ask other cab drivers, policemen, and pedestrians for directions. Eventually I asked the cab driver to drop me off on the main street so that I could walk from there.

By the time I got back to the hotel it was 5:30. I went back to the room and, unable to fall asleep, used the internet for a while. At 7:00 I met up with my father and we decided to get out of San Jose. Unfortunately, I was also informed that the car he had rented for his one-week stay was broken into on his first night in Costa Rica. They smashed a window, stole the radio, and trashed the inside of the car. Undeterred we set of for La Fortuna, home of Arenal Volcano (or as I now call it Wolcan).

I expertly navigated the streets of San Jose and got us on the Pan American highway. Once outside of San Jose the drive was fairly easy. We only stopped once to grab a bite to eat and arrived in town at 11ish. From there I decied that we should stay at the same hotel that we did with G.A.P, Hotel Sierra-Arenal. As I made my way to our room I gave a quiet nod to Room 5, where my brothers and I stayed for three nights just a week ago.

Once we were settled in our room, my dad and I went out to grab some water at the Super Christian #2 and on our way stopped at Desafio to book some activities for our stay. I took Dannys advice and decided to try the Venado Cave tour despite the very unexciting photos.

After eating lunch it was time for our tour pickup (1:00pm). We met our tour guide Edgar and were informed that we were the only ones going cave exploring today. Forty-five minutes later we arrived at the mouth of the cave and were given our gear: hardhat, flashlight, and mask (which I only used for a photo op).

Danny was 100% correct. The Cave Tour was amazing. Almost the entire cave had a small stream flowing through it. We wadded through the water and ducked under a small opening to enter the cave. Once inside we were met by some very large spiders, bats, and crickets.

As we proceeded deeper into the cave the passageways became smaller and smaller. At some points I had to crawl through opening with everything but my head submerged underwater. Other times we were forced to dart through waterfalls that served as doors to chambers of the cave. In fact, at times of the 1.5 hour exploration there were periods when my father had to stay behind because he could not fit through some of the cracks. Some of the other highlights included a fossilized shell, a large guava shaped stalactite, a fossilized turtle shell, and a fossilized coral reef.

We were returned to our hotel room at around 5:30 and decided to grab a quick dinner before heading off to Baldi Hot Springs. Avid blog readers will remember this as the location where there are many pools of varying temperature and a large pool with several waterslides. It was the perfect way to end a long, long day. I was excited to revisit all of the pools and get to try all 3 of the slides again.

Still, retracing some old steps made me miss my brothers and our G.A.P group even more.

NOTE: I am probably going to repeat a bunch of things i already did so you dont need to keep reading the blog if you dont want :)

August 30, 2009: D-Day in San Jose

Owen: It is a sad, sad day. Almost everyone from the group is gone. D-day has arrived (departure day). In the morning, we woke up early, again, on accident. Sean was up at 6:30 on his computer, and I fear that we have fallen into a trend of going to bed early and getting up early, one that will be hard to break. At a reasonable hour, 9 or so, Emilie and Eve-lyn, two of the five other remaining members, knocked on our door. I was typing last night’s blog when they arrived, but I stopped part way through, and headed out to breakfast with them. We wandered around and stumbled upon a bakery across the street from the hospital. The brothers and I ordered a loaf of guava and something bread (can’t remember what else, something strange and sweet, but good nonetheless) and a juice to split. The whole meal cost us a little over one dollar in total, and was very tasty.

Throughout the meal, we reminisced about the trip, the good and the not as good (there weren’t many not so good). Joshua was a topic we laughed about for a while. He was the Rara Avis nature guide, who knew virtually nothing about nature, and he was a creeper, frankly. He would give informational speeches with the voice of an airline stewardess but even more exaggerated, while staring at Sean the whole time. Like seriously, creeper status. I could go on about him, but I won’t because I feel bad. We also talked about what we would put in our small backpacks. I repeat again, small backpacks with no valgubles in them (that was our way of mocking Danny, in a good way, did I mention he was awesome?).

The transportation to the airport was waiting for the girls when we returned to the hotel, so they grabbed their things and we said goodbye to our closest hommies of the trip. It was sad to see them go. Carl and Catalina are still here, but they are on their Honeymoon so we didn’t want to bother them too much. Sean seems very sad that everyone is leaving him, which gives me Heavy Boots (I finished my book today if you didn’t catch the reference).

Tomorrow we must get up before 3:30 to catch our ride to the airport. That will be rough. I’m sorry to see this trip come to an end, but all things must come to an end, which is what makes them worth doing. I had fun with everything we did. Honestly, I can’t think of one time I didn’t have a lot of fun (although Sean and Liam might disagree and say I wasn’t having fun during billiards, which I was but I am just competitive, and the table was slanted. Whatever…). I have to say goodbye to Costa Rica, for now, and thanks to everyone for making this one of the highlights of my life. PURA VIDA!

Liam: After our sad breakfast and last goodbyes, we rested in our room for a while before leaving to go explore San Jose. We walked the main road, only to be sadly disappointed to see the big market was closed. So, depressed we walked down the road again until we came to a pizza shop that looked really good. They had great deals to, a slice and a drink for about 1.50, and the slices were about a third of a pizza. We finished eating and walked back to hotel, stopping at many shops and purchasing a few things. When we arrived at our room again, we all went through the trips pictures. After a while we decided to go back out into the town and look for more things to buy, Owen found a shirt and bought it. We dropped the shirt and some of our stuff off at the room then went out to find a place for our last Costa Rican dinner. We stumbled upon and bar and grill and got some rice and chicken, the same as the first meal we had in Costa Rica, and it was very good. When we all finished we went back to the room and got ready for bed, typed up this blog, and watched a movie before having another early night.

Sean: Well, I think I messed up in planning this trip in a couple of ways. We did not need our extra day in San Jose. It is a nice town but not worthy of multiple days of exploration. I think it would have been more fun to leave the same day as everyone else. Secondly, I kind of wish I had done my extra week before this adventure started. I am finding it hard to gear up to go out on another week of activities without my brothers and without our traveling companions.

Luckily, a few days ago I found out my father decided to make a last minute trip to Costa Rica and accompany for the last week. Having some company will make things much more fun!

Today was fairly slow. We said goodbye to Emily and Eve-Lyn and then did some last minute shopping. We also spent a large amount of time on the computer going through our pictures and videos. Sadly, when I tried to burn a DVD copy of everything for my brothers to take home the burn failed. When this happened it was too late to get another once. Sorry Oregon family, you will have to wait a couple of weeks until I get home to see the pictures!

The rest of the day was spent reminiscing and talking about how awesome our trip was. We have a lot of great memories that will last a lifetime. But it is always sad to have it end. My brothers aren’t even gone yet and I miss them terribly.

August 29, 2009: Quepos/San Jose

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIAM!!

Owen: Today we didn’t have specific wake up time, but due to the consistent early get-ups we got out of bed around 7:30. I was the first to wish Liam a Happy Birthday. We went down to the sitting area and ate a hotel breakfast for $3, then went back up to the room to pack. After everything was in order, I decided I was going to go read my book in the sitting area. Liam soon joined me. Sean descended the stairs and asked us if we wanted to go cruise the town with him, so we did. We went into a lot of expensive souvenir shops, and then walked along the beach. On the path, there was a little structure where we found Chris Atkinson in the process of vandalizing it (we even took a picture)...

After that we ran into some group members walking around, and then went back to the hotel to get ready to check out. Once everything was out of the room, we walked down and joined the rest of the group before departing to the bus station. The bus was about 20 minutes late, and once we were on it, we got caught behind some of the worst traffic of my life and didn’t move for about an hour. I just got out my book and read, the bus ride felt really short but it was about 5 hours long! I was in the zone reading my book the whole time! We arrived in San Jose, caught a cab to the Hotel Rincon, again, and got ready for the last supper, as Danny called it. We walked across the street to a fancy restaurant, ate our food, and sang Liam happy birthday as a waitress came out with a piece of apple pie. That was very nice, and after he finished that up, we headed back to the hotel, where there was a cake waiting for us! Danny had bought Liam a cake, after Eve-Lyn reminded him of course. We had a little get together in the dining room, as Liam and Eve-Lyn played speed, everyone else talked about the trip, and little by little, one by one, people began to trickle away never to be seen again… =(

Liam: Yay its my birthday, it wasn’t to exciting at first but then it turned out to be very fun. After a hotel breakfast, we packed our belongings and set out to explore Quepos before getting on the bus to San Jose. We got a great lunch from a bakery across the street from our hotel; we got meat pastries and ate them on the bus. The bus ride was the lowest point of the day, it showed up really late then about twenty minutes into it we stopped for about an hour in a traffic jam for a one-way bridge. Owen and I read our books for the ride so it wasn’t too bad but it was still very hot and there wasn’t much legroom.

When the bus ride finally ended, we hopped into some vans that took us to the hotel that we stayed at the first few nights and got checked in. After showering, we met up with the group and went for our last dinner. Our tour guide, Danny, took off after I got some free apple pie from the restaurant. When dinner was over we all mingled for a while before going back to the hotel to hang out a bit more before everyone left. We got to the hotel and found out that the restaurant didn’t give us the birthday cake that Danny had got for me. So Sean went back to the restaurant and we all enjoyed some cake and Eve-Lyn dominated me at cards. Once everyone went to sleep we went back to our room and watched District 9, Owen fell asleep pretty quick but Sean and I watched the whole thing, it was really good. The movie ended and we went to sleep.

Sean: Happy Birthday Liam! Today was the last official day of our tour and things really started to wind down. The boys and I woke up sans alarm clock at about 7:30. After getting our things together we decided to cruise around town and try to do a bit of shopping. Unfortunately, we are terrible shoppers and struggled to find much of anything. We felt much better when we saw Emily and Eve-Lyn on the street and they informed us that the shopping in the town was in fact not that great. Even so, we checked out a number of shops and wandered through a farmers market before checking out the local beach and heading back to the hotel.

Lunch from the bakery was quite good. It seems as though the local bakeries are by far the cheapest way to eat (too bad we only discovered this on our final day). As the boys mentioned the Bus Ride was brutal. The local bus had no air-conditioning so when we sat motionless for over an hour it became a sauna. Everyone was dripping with sweat. Luckily, Sherri traded me seats so that I could have an isle and not be totally cramped by the window.

At around 5:00 we got into San Jose and everyone raced to their rooms to shower. An hour later we headed across the street for our last meal with the group. I spent most of the time talking with Dan and Cally. Alsmost as soon as we had finished eating Danny and Liam had his pie Danny had to jump up and go in order to catch his bus. It was sad to see our tour leader go…

When we returned to the hotel I talked to Eve-Lyn and she reminded me about the cake. I went back to the restaurant and after a bit of confusion managed to get the cake Danny ordered and bring it back to our hotel. We sat and ate and reminisced about our trip. Liam got pwned at cards. Eventually there were only a few of us left in the lobby and we decided to call it a night. The G.A.P Costa Rica Adventure trip was over.

The 3 of us: Here is a list of the people in the group and how we will remember them:

Danny: Tour guide, naturalist guide, rafting guide, etc. This guy does it all. He is the man! He was a really funny dude who had a passion for making sure we got the most out of our trip. Danny loves Costa Rica and wants all of the tourists he encounters to do the same. I repeat again, Danny is the man! Thanks again Danny! I (sean) hope to see him again during my last week here in the country. I will be sure to bring a day small backpack…

Sharri: A really funny lady from Vancouver, BC. She was a boss at the canyoning, she repelled down the cliffs really, really fast. She is very nice and loves the Costa Rican wildlife.

Dan and Cally: These two from London are hilarious! We had so much fun with them in the trip and we all loved their accents. Dan had a newly discovered love of pork rinds, and Cally drank the most Coca-Cola out of everyone! They have probably traveled more than anyone else on the tour. They were awesome and we wish them the best of luck when they get married next summer!

Nick and Casey: Nick is a Lacrosse player, so obviously he is super cool, and Casey was very nice and loved to show off her English Bulldog, which was very cute. Nick must have been the most calm and relaxed person around, and Casey liked to scream and eat ants. =) Since they live very close (Vancouver, BC) we hope to see them again!

Emilie and Eve-Lyn: These two girls from Montreal were definitely the people we hung out with the most and two of the nicest girls ever. They were very funny and we had a blast with them. Like us, they were on a budget but they were far more skilled at spending as little as possible on meals. They were always up splitting the price of pictures and recreational equipment. We learned a lot of ways to eat cheap and even a little bit of French! We also loved to hear Emilie say “Eh” like a Canadian!

Elena: She is from Frankfurt, Germany. Before the trip she had been working at the Sloth Center near Puerto Viejo. She described this two week job too us with full detail and it sounded very interesting, but a lot of hard work. Elena was very fun to listen to as she had a unique accent akin to Sasha Baron Cohen in Bruno. Ohh and she despises American Cake (and its not a secret).

Dianna: Also a Canadian, Dianna had been on the same GAP trip through Egypt as Sean did, just a couple weeks later. She has a brother who did a GAP trip through Asia and she talks about him a lot. Dianna came prepared with tons of medical equipment and Sean will always be indebted to her for fixing up his heel.

Carl and Catalina: This couple had just gotten married and they were on their Honeymoon in the GAP tour! Not sure if they knew what they were getting into but I think they had a good time nonetheless! Carl works with kids, and Catalina was originally from Colombia, and now they both live in Canada. Congratulations on the marriage!

Veronique: She lives in Montreal and her first language is French. She claims to be very shy, but we don’t think so at all. She loves to dance and laugh. She had some very interesting stories to tell. Always ready to go out on the town, Veronique gave the rest of us something to talk about.

That’s the group! We liked everyone and had a great time.

August 28, 2009: Quepos

Liam: At 7:15 our group of brothers rose from our deep slumber. We got up and ready for the day, we got the breakfast from our hotel while we waited for some of the other members of our group to get ready. After breakfast, we caught the 8:30 bus from Quepos to Manuel Antonio along with most of our group. After the bus ride we paid the admission to get into the park and went to look for some beaches. We found an all right beach for snorkeling but the visibility was not to good so we soon left. We started hiking to another better beach, but when we were almost there a rope stopped us and a sign telling us the road was closed. Our disappointed group went to the closest beach and ate lunch while we decided what to do for the remainder of the day.

After we ate and walked back out of the park to the beach we were at yesterday, we waiting for members of our group, that were buying lunch, to finish up. When they finished, we went and rented three surfboards for the rest of the day. It was very fun, Sean and Owen taught some people from our group to surf, and we all rotated through the boards. After a few hours of surfing, we had to leave the beach because there was a massive downpour and lighting. The rain was so hard that the street gutters started to flood everywhere, including onto the beach. After a run to catch the bus back to Quepos, we went swimming in the hotel pool to clean up. When we got out of the pool we rested in our room for a while before going to a nearby bakery to get some sandwiches for dinner. After we ate we went to a nearby restaurant to hang out with our tour guide and some of our group members for a while. When a couple of hours passed we went back to our hotel room and got ready for bed.

Owen: Today felt a lot longer than Liam made it seem. After breakfast and the bus ride, we went into the national park. The beaches were beautiful, but there were a ton of people and brave raccoons (I say brave because they would not hesitate to come up and inspect your stuff, even if you were sitting next to it), so that was a bummer and it got most of the group into a bad mood. I could tell today that this trip was the perfect duration because the people are getting sick of one and other, which doesn’t really matter at this point, seeing as tomorrow is our last day. Sad face.

We cut a deal with a guy renting surfboards when we returned to our favorite beach, and got the boards for pretty cheap. We used them from about 11:15 to 4 and got our money’s worth. I had an excellent time! We had 3 boards for 6 people, but I got to use boards for most of the time. After hours and hours of surfing, the rain swept in along the coast. After around half an hour of surfing in moderate rain, it went off the charts. It was astonishing! The streets began to flood, our visibility was virtually nothing, and a man told everyone to get out of the water. This was appropraitly timed because we were ready to go anyways, most of the people were tired or beat up, but Sean and I stayed out as long as possible. Around the time we were leaving, the ocean began to stink horribly. All the run off from the street and sewage was running straight to the ocean. We sprinted to get our belongings, and ran to catch the bus. We made it back to the hotel covered in sand and sopping wet. I made a B-line for the swimming pool, remembering how good it felt yesterday.

We swam around for a bit, returned to the room, showered and went to a bakery for dinner. We ate our din-din and after, we were invited our to a place with some of the group members. We left at 6:30, had a great time, and now its about 10:15. Today was a lot of fun. Also, we had to say goodbye to two of the group members today, Casey and Nick, because they had to catch an early flight home. And a little fun tidbit, I saw a man wearing a bright orange Oregon State shirt on the beach today, I approached him and he informed me that he and six other people from Corvallis are in Costa Rica accompanying him! What a small world!

Sean: I have to say, I enjoyed the National Park Manuel Antonio more than most of our group members today. Though somewhat crowded, it had beautiful beaches and some fun wildlife. On our walk to the beach we saw some monkeys, a cool snake, a few spiders, and lots of raccoons. After discovering that the raccoons were quite curious and the snorkeling fairly poor, we ate our lunch and returned to the large beach just outside of the national park.

As Owen mentioned, some of our group members are getting a bit sick of one another. Personally, I quite enjoy almost everyone’s company and find it a bit hard to juggle hanging out with the two subgroups that have formed in the last day or two. Very interesting group dynamics!

Surfing was super fun. I can’t believe it has been almost a year since I have been on a surfboard. I had almost forgotten how awesome it is! The three of us brothers went out together with the boards and I shook off some of the rust. After a while we went in and allowed the other group members to give it a shot. None of them had ever been on a surfboard before and I tried to give lessons to 3 people at once. It was quite difficult! Even so, I think everyone managed to stand up at some point during the day and everyone enjoyed the experience!

The rain that forced us off the beach was epic. It started as a light sprinkle and built into an incredibly strong downpour. I think everything got a bit wet. Luckily, I had my emergency poncho (thanks mom) and I was able to cover up our backpacks so that our cameras could survive the storm.

August 27, 2009: Quepos

Owen: Today was such a long day! We woke up late at around 4:56, having to be on the bus by 5. Luckily, we had prepared all our stuff, packed our bags and such last night. We made it to the bus with time to spare! Departing Santa Elena/Monteverde was sad because I enjoyed that leg of the expedition very much, but we were heading to the place I was looking forward to for a while! The beaches of Quepos! WOOT! We stopped online the way for breakfast, Gallo Pinto con Huevos Rancheros for me, and viewed massive crocodiles from a nearby bridge. There must have been 12 or 15! We also saw a grand snowy egret fishing in the same river, also very cool. But the highlight of the stop was seeing two scarlet macaws fly overhead. Danny, our tour guide, congratulated us on being the first group he has ever had to see both the Green and Scarlet macaw in one trip! We have been very lucky this trip, not only did we see both species of macaw, but also the incredibly rare King Vulture, Quail Dove, Black and Yellow Dart Frog, and a tarantula on the hunt! Not many people see any of those things!

Anyways, we arrived in Quepos around 10, and checked out our hotel. It is very nice! Soon, we headed out for the bus station to go toward Manuel Antonio National Park, where all the nice beaches are, or so we ignorant tourists believe. We spent hours and hour there! It was a beautiful setting, nice sand and good body surfing waves. We stayed in the blistering sun till about 4ish (I say blistering for good reason, Liam will tell you why…) and got back on the bus. We took a swim in the cold pool at the hotel, which Casey described as “falling into silk sheets”. It did feel very good on the skin. Soon, we returned to the room, showered up and read our books for a bit. We became hungry and went to eat our usual PB&J, which the Londoners hadn’t heard of! We hung out in the eating area for a while and talked with the crew. We all headed out to “El Avion”. This is an astoundingly large cargo airplane that was turned into a restaurant. Very cool.

We are in our hotel now, lathering Liam with Aloe Vera. Sean is in the process of shaving as I type (yes, he gave in on the beard for the whole trip idea), we will see how that turns out. I am tired so I will type some more tomorrow! Hasta la Pasta!

Liam: When we stopped for breakfast on the way to Quepos I got a omelet that was very good. The restaurant we stopped at was interesting, almost everyone was still very tired and Elena, from Germany, said the coffee tasted like horse. We got to our hotel and settled in for a bit before we were rushing off to catch the next bus to Manuel Antonio. While the group ran to the bus station, Sean went to get more money from a nearby bank. When we got to the bus stop Sean wasn’t there yet so Owen and I went running to all the nearby banks looking for him. Luckily he came jogging up to the group with about five minutes to spare, so we all went to a nearby market and got some snacks for the day.

The beach was great when we arrived; it was about 11 o’clock and very warm. The whole group jumped into the water to cool off, and it felt very good. After many hours of playing in the waves, we got ready to leave at about 3:45. We had great luck in getting to the bus stop within about three minutes of the bus pulling up. It was a short bus ride back to our hotel where we showered and relaxed. Sean went out to get food supplies, and while he was gone it started pouring rain and lighting started. He got back and we made some sandwiches. After eating I looked at the sunburns I got that day. I got my first sunburn of the trip and my first sunburn in about a year. That’s pretty amazing for a ginger, but anyways I got burned on my shoulders and my arms. After all that we went to dinner where Owen, Sean, and I just got desserts while the group ate. We took a cab home and got ready for bed.

Sean: I started out today on a silly note. Instead of setting my alarm for 4:30am I accidentally set it for 4:30pm. As such, we did not wake up until Danny knocked on our door a few minutes before we were supposed to be on the bus. It was a stressful few minutes but we managed to make it to the bus on time. But I still hate being the last one of the group to be ready…

I slept most of the bus ride and when we awake we were at the restaurant. I very much enjoyed looking over the bridge and seeing so many crocodiles. When we arrived in Quepos I thought our hotel looked a little shady. However, once inside, I was quite impressed. The place even has an indoor pool!

The beach was as amazing as the boys described. The sun was hot and the water warm. Unfortunately, the waves did not look that great for surfing so we decided to body surf instead. Luckily, most of our group came to the beach so we were able to take turns watching the waves while the others were in the water. The sun was so hot that I had to reapply sunscreen numerous times. Sadly, Liam did not listen to me until it was too late. I tried my best to keep him from getting burnt, honest!

Anyway, on the ride back from the beach I fell asleep. After a quick dip and a shower I was more awake and set out to get the snacks. It was a longer walk than I anticipated because the first store I visited did not carry any peanut butter. As I left the larger market it started the typical tropical downpour. Needless to say, I got soaked and had to change my clothes again when I got back to the room.

The restaurant we went to for dinner was very cool and the centerpiece was a cargo plane that was shot down in Nicaragua during the Contra episode there. The plane has been turned into a really cool bar in the middle of the restaurant.

August 26, 2009: Monteverde

Liam: We woke up at 6:50, twenty minutes behind schedule; Sean forgot to set his alarm. Luckily we didn’t wake up too late, we had enough time to get ready and get breakfast before leaving to go to the hanging bridges. The tour started at 8, we walked for two hours, on seven bridges, and saw many things. We saw three foxes, a tarantula, a couple walking sticks, a coati, two agoutis, a sloth, and two sleeping owls. Along the way we also climbed up the inside of a strangler fig tree. The tour ended at around 10, we got some food then got ready to go to the canopy tour.

The rest of our group arrived at about 10:50 and we got ready for the canopy tour. After getting all the gear that we needed on, we set out on our adventure. There were thirteen cables that we rode on, a tree we repelled down, and a couple of hanging bridges that we crossed. The two best parts of the tour were the Tarzan swing and the Superman ride. In the Tarzan swing, we got connected to a very strong rope that was connected to a large branch from a nearby tree. The rope resembled a rope swing on steroids. To ride this thing, you had to walk up a lot of stairs to get to a platform, once there you get connected to the rope and the workers push you off the platform. After a few swings going very fast, two workers catch you with a special made device. The Superman ride was a 700-meter (~2,100 feet) long cable that you had the option to hook up the pulleys to your back so that you flew through the air like Superman. The ride was very fun and Sean, Owen, and I each got a video of doing it. The tour ended with the Superman, it was an awesome tour.

Our group got back to the hotel around 2 ish, right when we got back we set off for the biology station. Sean led Owen and I through the streets of Monteverde to get back to his old home. It took about an hour and a half of walking uphill to get to the station. When we got there Sean took some photos and we walked around for a while. We left the station and had about a one hour and ten minute walk back to the hotel. It was about 5 when we got back, and we made plans to go out to dinner at 6:30 with some of the members of the group. After hanging out for a while we met up with some of the members of our group to go to dinner at a restaurant in the downtown. The place had very good pasta and we all got some, it was a fun night. We got back to our room about 8 o’clock and got ready for our 4:30 wake up tomorrow.

Owen: Once again, today Liam wrote first and covered most of the day, and once again, I will try not to repeat it all. The hanging bridges hike was quite interesting. I thought we were going to be very high up, but in reality, we were very close to the ground. We saw many different animals, reptiles, and insects. One of which Liam forgot to mention, the Road Guarder Snake. It was a long, skinny snake, with a vibrant orange underbelly. Sean and I each held it. Other than that creature, Liam covered most of the rest. We all enjoyed the hanging bridges.

The canopy tour was amazing. It was ten times better than the other zip lines we did on my birthday. We started off very slow, and similar to the other one, but after the fourth or fifth line, we got pushed off the platform! It was scary because we didn’t know what was going on, but I handled it a bit better than most people. Little did we know, we were supposed to be repelling down the tree, but we had no control, the guides let us fall and caught us before we splattered on the ground. Several people (all of which were girls. This is not sexist, just an observation) were exceptionally terrified and let out shrieks to rival the howler monkeys. After everyone was down, we sat under a structure resembling a bus stop and waited until it was time to go to the next platform. While we sat, a scream and a thud came from the top of the bus stop looking covered benches. Everyone was frightened, it sounded as though somebody had fallen on top, but it was just the guide playing a trick on us once more. After all that good fun, we continued on to several more zip lines, the Tarzan and the Superman. They were mind-blowing! I had so much fun!

After the Canopy, we went to the Biology Station in Monteverde. It was neat to see where Sean had spent his summer five years ago. He had many stories to tell and I got to read and criticize his research paper! =)

I will let him tell you about the Bio-Station though, he knows more about it, obviously. Goodnight!

Sean: Wow, today was action packed! The hanging bridges were great! It is amazing how much activity you can see on the forest floor below. Most of the animals aren’t used to looking up when they hear a noise so it is much easier to go unnoticed.

The Canopy tour was incredible. The tarzan swing was a pure adrenaline rush. I had never heard of such a thing but now I want one! J The superman cable was by far the longest zip line I can remember being on. It was over a huge valley and we were very high up.

The hike to the biology station was as brutal as I remember it. I am not sure howi managed to do that walk twice a day everyday for a month. Still, it was super fun to get to visit a place where I have such great memories. As usual the weather was unpredictable. The hike started out hot and by the time we were half way up the mountain we had our ponchos on.

At the biology station I showed my brothers the rooms where I spent hours studying and we even got to dust off an old book with my research paper. After exploring the inside of the station we went out in search of the famous strangler fig tree on the property. I think I found it but the trail was not kept up very well and it was raining fairly hard so we chose to head back. But before heading down the mountain we went on the main trail from the lab and made it to the first bridge. As we walked I envisioned Carlos quizzing me on the names of all of the floura and fauna we saw.

On the walk back down from the biology station Liam spotted an armadillo. We were very close to the creature and watched him try to scamper up the side of a hill a few times before we decided to continue on with our journey.