if you can be one thing in life, be interesting.: monkey

Day seven was a whole lot of resting. We decided we needed to go to the SUPER super in Cabano to get some groceries. In the states SUPER means huge--SUPER Walmart means enormously large and you can find anything you ever wanted and then some. Here in Costa Rica SUPER means you can actually get a diet pepsi at the grocery store (miracle!). We did manage to stock up on some fruit, veggies, and the essential, liquor.

On this very same journey, we figured we weren't far from "world famous" Tambor, so we thought we'd cruise on down and check it out. On the way, we decided to get gas, only to find the attendant at the station we stopped at taking a ciesta. He told us to go on. He sure as heck wasn't going to pump our gas in the middle of his ciesta. God, I love this country. Anyway, back to Tambor. It wasn't at all the place we'd imagined, minus the enormous Golf Course with armed guards surrounding it. RIDICULOUS. No wonder it's famous to Americans, it's little America.

Around dinner time we had a little excitement: a friendly little scorpion rearing its little head. Aaron massacred it with a broom stick. Five minutes later a friendly little tarantula reared it's little head. It, to, was massacred. Through all of this there was a bit of freaking out throughout the family. I felt invincible though, after all, I'd already survived a territorial war with a monkey, what were a couple little arachnids going to do?

Day eight the boys took off doing their thing, Rooster didn't want to leave the house, so mom and I took the SUV and headed into Montezuma to check out Montezuma Falls and see what the street vendors had. First off, mom and I, in a car alone, usually equals erratic driving and obnoxiously loud car karaoke. Mix that with two track dirt roads in a foreign country, and it's either a recipe for disaster or a really good time. Luckily it ended up being a really good time, no disaster involved. We hiked into Montezuma Falls, avoided a loco Jamaican, and enjoyed the trickle of a waterfall that was left at the end of summer. Very pretty, but clearly a tourist trap, not our usual forte.

From there we walked through Montezuma, checking out the local artistry and talking with vendors. Found some super neat stuff (bought something for you, Kels--it screamed your name!) including this fun bracelet from a Jamaican man. I hope there is no voodoo spells involved. Unless the voodoo has something to do with winning lottery numbers.

Dad, Mom, Aar, and I made dinner. Fish that the boys guide caught, rice & beans, and salad. Pretty delicious, but not quite as good as the fish mom made the other night or the fish at Coyote Soda. Also had two little lobsters that they caught--pretty yummy. We all need a break from fish though....where's the venison in this country?? Oh yeah, the whitetail is "endangered" here....crazy.

Day nine mom, dad, and I left the house around 630 in hopes of seeing Cocolito Waterfall, a couple hours north, by beach, of Montezuma. This was my mecca.

You know when you're a kid and you go to the beach and there is always a certain "treasure" you search for? My treasure is sea glass. There is something almost magical about what the ocean does to glass to make it this perfect little piece of art. I love how someone else's trash becomes such a treasure...I get almost giddy when I find a different color. Found clear, a couple shade's of blue, a couple shade's of green, and one small yellow piece. Super exciting.

Anyway, our beach walk went through two natural reserves, a whole lot of beautiful beaches, and the forest. It was pretty spectacular.

And then, newsflash, tsunami warning. Being in a semi-peripheral country, on the beach, when a tsunami hits is pretty much the worst case scenario when it comes to being hit by a tsunami. Lucky for us, NOAA was overly prepared, as as we ran like hell up the hill 400 yards when we saw that the wave was coming, it just barely splashed us on our feet, phew. Ok, maybe that's not what happened. Maybe nothing actually happened, but just the "warning" kept us away from the beach for the afternoon. I was safe though, with my arm floaties and my pina colada. Invincible.

For dinner we went american--bbq'd chicked and pasta roni. Pretty delicious. I also finished book number two: "Handle with Care" by Jodi Picoult. Anyway, off to enjoy the sunshine...

exhibit a: scorpion in kitchen

exhibit b: tarantula in bathroom

the gecko's crawl into the paper lanterns at night to eat the bugs, super cute.

Montezuma Falls

"Grande Beach" and not a soul in sight.

this was a rock balancing area about a half hour into the beach hike...the physics of it was incredible, and these "statues" even withstand the tides. pretty rad.

beaches of the future?? I hope not. This is my proof that you all should stop using plastic.

the trail along the beach in the turtle refuge.

my "goldmine" in sea glass :)

This morning we woke up early, about seven here (5 at home--eek!), and headed to Cabo Blanco National Reserve. Cabo Blanco is Costa Rica's first national reserve, and takes over the entire southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula. It was super interesting to see the difference in primary forest and the secondary, or replanted, forest. In the rain forest it works the same as our forests back home--the old growth is enormous and spread out, while the new growth is over crowded and smaller.

Mom and dad made me the sherpa, and I carried the water for our journey of about 8 miles round trip in 90 degree heat. I'd like to continue to tell myself that this was good practice for backpacking season, although backpacking season is still months away, considering the rumors of rain and snow at home.

I saw a slew of wildlife--mostly monkeys, birds, lizards, and butterflies, and a ton of flora and fauna. It was pretty incredible. Even the spiders here are pretty, and I really do hate spiders. They are also incredibly large...so big in fact, that I think they could eat me, but they're still pretty.

Be forewarned, I have LOTS of monkey stories. BUT I will share with you only the top three:

On the trail, we met a few white faced monkey's face to face. Like, literally. One monkey apparently wanted me off his property and shook a stick at me as if he was Rafiki. There was an entire colony though, it was pretty neat, although I was scared for my life (for no particular reason). They were running all around us, swinging from the trees. It was like the bell had just rung for recess as we walked up. We knew we had worn out our welcome when they started throwing things at us (although I'm pretty sure my welcome was worn when that damn monkey shook his stick at me).

As we were walking back we could hear a few howlers off in the trees, we stopped to see if we could spot them, and, waited, in silence, to see if their sounds would help us see them. Then I heard the saddest, most terrible noise as I saw this female with a baby on her back. I'm not sure what the noise was, but I'm pretty sure that she was either in mourning or in pain. The sound made me want to cry. It was so sad. Absolutely heart breaking. She was certainly an emotional lady...I almost hope that there was a reason for her pain, other than PMS. No one likes a PMS-ing monkey.

On the trip back, there was all this commotion in the bushes and I was sure that I was about to see the elusive giant Guinea Pig thing, but then there was this crazy screeching and howling and scariness, quickly followed by a monkey falling from a tree, and a howler monkey going crazy like he was a badass UFC fighter above it. It was INSANE. Who knew that monkey's had turf wars like the bloods and the crypts?! Crazy!

That's really all I have for today. I'm ridiculously sweaty and look like a disaster, and my sunburn has become this disgusting blistering mess. Time to finally jump in that pool....