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.