through the mountains we left at 7:30. we walked on the beach at first, way past Sector A to punta mona (the organic farm). we had to cross over two creeks. before we entered the jungle, i put on another layer of bug repellent and switched to my strap on sandals. it was a dry path at first, like the walk through the forest to get to the station. then all of a sudden, i was stuck. first one foot, then both feet when i lost balance. i couldn't move at all. Janek pulled my hand and my right foot came out, but i still couldn't get enough leverage to pull out the other foot. again janek pulled my hand and my foot popped out, but my sandal was still stuck. i tried to pull the sandal out with my hands, but in the end, i needed to dig it out of the muck. i was elbow and knee deep in mud. i tried to follow the footsteps of the person in front of me, but everyone was spaced out. in the really wet parts of the trail, i was literally stuck with every step. Anibal had his flip flops in hand and so did val, but i refused to walk bare feet in the mud. it was smelly. it had rotten leaves, sticks, dead bugs and who knows what else. the path was never actually dry. the parts that didn't grab your foot was slippery and uneven. the insides of my sandal was fully covered in muck. my straps constantly slipped on and off my feet. the whole sandal itself would rotate and the sole would be facing up. the path would be steep at times because we were going up a mountain. i was so hot and sweaty, my hair was stuck to my face. it bothered me so much, i wiped two fingers on my pants so i could flip my hair back. after a while, the path was not so wet, or maybe i just got better at avoiding those spots. my toe slipped out of my sandal and hit something sharp while i was walking. my sandal rubbed the skin around it raw. when my hands were a bit drier, i began to rub the mud off. i asked Anibal (the only one with clean hands) to get my camera out so i could take pictures in the jungle. we saw a red tree frog. they are tiny and poisonous. one can´t kill you, but it can give you a bad allergic reaction. i slipped a lot but i never wiped out.
clean and beautiful water when i heard the ocean, i was so relieved. the first sight of beach and ocean and sky was so wonderful. we took off our shirts and shorts to swim. Anibal showed us red and black sea urchins that hid in cracks on the side of the big boulders in the ocean. we washed our things in the water. everything was so slimey. we polluted all the water on shore to a murky brown. Anibal went to a point on the beach and brought back 3 pipas. he took off the skin and made a hole so we could drink. i went snorkeling with Joke but the fish were sort of a disappointment. most of them were small and black. the most colourful was a dull yellow with a big black spot. there were some coral, but all in shades of yellow, green and brown. i liked snorkeling in the ocean though, it was so easy to stay afloat. i could concentrate on taking pictures and videos with my camera. Ani whistled when we swam too far. it´s hard to tell when you´re swimming. we didn't spend that much time at the beach, we went back into the jungle to get to the town for lunch at 10:30 am.
into the jungle we thought it would be a short walk, so no one changed back into their jungle shoes. midway through, val stopped to put on a shirt and Janek put on his water shoes. They were dressing so hurriedly by a bush, it looked like they just finished doing something naughty. However, all the paths to the ocean were overgrown and closed off. it was a long walk. sometimes we walked with huge leaves slapping us in the face (not once, but twice! because it was a dead end. the forest started to smell really bad, i thought it was the swampiness of it. it turned out that a dead green turtle was washed up dead on the shore. Anibal said it was probably of natural causes because the turtle was not harvested for anything. it was the biggest turtle i've ever seen. the moment was really sad. on the way to town, we passed by a table rock. Ani let us walk closer for pictures. then he led us up a mini hill that opened with a wide ledge for a breath of wind and nice pictures. it took a while for me to get the pictures i wanted. this time, the jungle path was a lot steeper. i got fatigued when the path rose sharply, but other than that, i had energy to keep walking. we saw a lot of people going the opposite way on the path. once, there was a guided tour with a group of 20 young people. two times, i saw a fancy camera crew filming wildlife. there were also a lot of locals using the path.
in town we got to town at noon. the sand in Manzanillo is white (the sand in Gandoca is black) and the ocean is calm. it is a postcard beach. we saw surfers, families barbecuing, people swimming and sun bathing. first, we went to the restaurant. val and joke got french fries, janek had fried yuca. Ani had a red snapper with fried rice and i had chicken fried rice. i ordered a pepsi in a glass bottle that i kept as a souvenir. we spent an hour at the beach. Anibal went off, but the 4 of us stayed by the water. the couple went for a swim, but i just tanned with my dress as a beach towel. i didn't want to get my cut wet again.
long ride home a taxi came at 2:30 to drive us to Puerto Viejo. we missed the last bus at 12:30pm because we were eating. it was a small green car. val and i had to squish in the front. in Puerto Viejo, we bought tickets for the 3:30pm bus to get us to Sixaola. it wasn't going to come for another 30 minutes, so we sat in the shade. Janek saw a guy playing basketball and joined him. we watched them play and a skater do tricks using the same court. the bus was already full when it came, but we all managed to find seats. the next stop was really far and i fell asleep. after the first stop, i was able to shift to a window seat. then the stops were more frequent. i enjoyed taking pictures out of the open window, a local in the bus talked to me (Jeffrey). i saw trees trimmed so they were just cylinders of leaves on top of a trunk. i saw lots of dogs and people on bikes. i saw houses made with the trunks of trees unaltered as the supporting frame. we got to Sixaola a bit after 5 pm. Anibal said we had time to look around the supermarket. It wasn´t very big and I didn't need to buy anything. we waited outside and saw a dog poop on the road. we took a van with a lot of other people going to Gandoca too. a little boy kept saying ¨Ani! Ani! Ani!¨ to try to get his attention while he was loading the van. the road was bumpy and dark. we live at the end of the road so we were the last ones off. we made 3 stops before we finally got home. good thing Anibal had a flashlight. none of us thought we´d get home so late. walking to Manzanillo took as much time as getting a ride back.
Jeffrey yellow stripped polo with a pen clipped in the V of his shirt. there were no more seats on the bus, so he stood next to mine. at first, he said something in spanish, but i probably looked confused. then he spoke in english. he asked where i was from. i said canada. he was so friendly. he said ¨Welcome to Costa Rica, Canada is nice, I've been there before, i went to toronto.¨I was like, ¨i live there!¨ he asked where i was going, how long i was staying and if i danced (everyone here asks if you dance). he said Canada has good music. then he sang my ¨my heart will go on¨ by Celine Dion and a song by Bryan Adams. I said a lot of popular songs are from the States. Then he sang two songs from the backstreet boys (show me the meaning of being lonely and i want it that way), a song by whitney houston and one of toni braxton´s. he guessed that i was 21. he´s 24. he was going to talamanca for a party. when it was his stop, he said again ¨Welcome to Costa Rica.¨
home sweet home i only had a slice of meat at dinner because i felt sick from the car ride. we talked at the dinner table until 9:30pm. then a lot of big bugs started showing up. Felix got rid of a cockroach, then he went to the bar and i got ready for bed. we all ended up missing our patrol shifts tonight. val was tired and nauseous, Janek had an upset stomach, I couldn't walk with my toe hurt and Joke went too late and they left without her.
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