Finding something to Stick

It took my about half an hour to walk from the hostel to the next hotel. I was walking rather slow and stopping every now and then to ask "donde esta aqui?". I must have asked at least about 7-9 people that i had passed. I thought it would be fairly easy to find the place, and it would have been, but there were lack of street signs. Having a map was not enough...even locals couldn't find me on the map.


An important thing i've learned from Japa and Queens, it's to be fearless in my environment. Those two walked around town like they knew where they were going and what they were doing. The fact that they spoke a bit of the language was enough to get them by but there was an air of confidence about them too. Strolling through Yoses to get to Aranujez, i noticed i had adapted a bit of that from them. I had only an inkling of an idea of where i was and where i was going, but my swag was as if i was positive of my destination. Me and my giant backpack.


I got to my hotel and it turns out my roomie was already checked in. I went to the room excited to meet her but she was out at the time. So I chilled and watched spanish comedies on tv to wait for her and the rest of the others on the group.


Her name is Ashley and she's from Nelson, BC. A 29 year old girl who admits to never having travelled anywhere foreign before (the farthest and most foreign she's gone is Hawaii). She's very nice and seems very innocent. We chatted for about an hour and i find out that she too is a twin. What a coincidence...even though my twin isn't here with me...i'm with another half.


We're in a small group of eight. Three canadians, two norwegiens, one american, one aussie, and one swede. I was expecting a tour leader to be from central america, but to my surprise he's originally from toronto. He's a gringo! A 29 year old who's been living in central america for the past 4 years. After the welcome-meeting, we all went out to dinner.


During dinner, i found out that the gringo's aunt and uncle back in toronto have a restaurant called Rain. The interesting bit about this restaurant is that they only employ at-risk youth so these kids could have working skills/experience. I explained Aissa's job and how we had brainstormed before things that we could do to help keep kids off Vancouver streets...something like this seems very possible. I bet there's already something like it back home but we just don't know about it.


Nothing in this tour is included except for accomodations and some transportation so i'm in for quite an expensive time. Esp in Costa Rica and Belize. Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico should be fairly ok.


Costa Rica ia a real nature Lover's dream. Today we woke up early to head to La Fortuna to white water raft the Rio Toro which is level 3-4 (highest being 6). The drive there was long and windy and the thing that sucked about it the most...was that i got the bitch seat. I got the middle so i only managed to get a few photos driving through clouds and small towns.


I was nervous at first about rafting, never having done it, but it was a lot of fun. Nobody on my raft fell out and we didn't capsize (there were 6 of us in there including the guide). One of the other rafts capsized and there were some injuries that needed stitches. That got us nervous (because that happened near the beginning of the river) but it was exhilerating at the same time.
Every now and then when we were at a calm i would look up and see that we're encaved around diff trees, white herons, black vultures, and remember, "holy shit, i'm fucking rafting a level 3-4 in costa fuckin rica"'. It was a beautiful day for rafting and what a better place to do it than in La Fortuna. That adventure lasted for about an hour and a half.


Afterwards, we headed for a lunch that overlooked the river. Everything was prepared by the Desafio tour guides. We had Casada which is the typical Costa Rican lunch...rice, beans, meat, veg.


On our way from the lunch spot to our hotel, we spotted a sloth sleeping in the trees. We pulled over so i had a chance to take a couple photos even though it's back was towards us.


We checked into our hotels and went straight to the adventure guides to pay and find an activity for the next day. Four of us opted to rapell down the waterfalls for the afternoon. The aussie and i are also planning on renting bikes afterwards to tour around this small town and find the local watering hole to swim in.


I decided earlier on in the night that i wouldn't eat where the rest were planning on going to; I wanted to eat at a Soda and have costa rican food. Before dinner, a few of us strolled around to wander. I stopped by at a church which seemed to just be starting mass as i had entered. Seemed almost perfect. I couldn't stay long as i had to meet the others though so off i went after doing a short prayer to do a bit more wandering. I was speaking to the other canadian about religion as we strolled. I know i've fallen off the wagon for quite some time now waiting to find something to draw me back in...waiting for "my terms" as far as getting back into the church...but it's been a few years, and i realized i haven't even looked. This break of mine has been extended and extended. I know that everytime i'm on vacation, i find something to momentarily bring me back...but i'm looking for something to make me stay. Something that will stick.


When the group all met up to take off for dinner, i had expressed that i didn't want to go to the resto that they were planning on going to because i wanted to go to a soda. As it turns out, so did everyone else. So we ate at a nearby Soda (not the one i wanted to go to but i didn't speak up...i was just happy to be going to any Soda) and drank.


So far I've been brushing up on my Spanish, asking a lot of questions as far as how to say what, and talking to whoever i can. In this town though, eveyone speaks really good english. They want to practice their english on me, but i want to practice my spanish on them. Every day i learn something new. Some phrase, some word...and every day i find some way to use it. Que bien.