PURA VIDA EN COSTA RICA

Journal Entry
March 28, 2006
Playa Samara, Costa Rica


the beautiful playa samara

As I write this now I'm privileged enough to be sitting on the hot, sandy, beach of Playa Samara, under coconut palm trees that sway with the breeze. I have once again returned to the beach life and, for the first time since LA, the Pacific coast. The waves behind me are crashing forcefully into the shore as the tide appears to be heading out.

As I said goodbye to the GAP group yesterday morning, I was excited to head out for a solid week of relaxing in one spot. Emma and Lisbeth, from the GAP group, decided to join me at the beach, for their couple extra days in Costa, before heading home from San Jose. We decided to go the faster, private, route to get here and hired a jeep and driver to set out on a little road trip back through the mountains of Monteverde, for the coast. Our driver, Alex, was really friendly and very talkative, which gave me, riding shotgun, ample opportunity to speak Spanish. It's one thing to learn the vocabulary, and something else entirely to understand locals and their many different accents, pronunciations and, most of all, slang. That's all a part of the challenge though and it's a challenge I accept gladly.


the road trip crew: Lisbeth, Alex, myself, Emma and teh red truck

Once we arrived in Samara, Alex very generously drove us from place to place in search of the best deal for accomodations. We found a little piece of paradise in our last stop. It's mere metres from the beach, with sparkling clean bathrooms (never underestimate the importance of clean bathrooms), a full service kitchen and so much more. The relaxing garden area has hammocks hung from the many branches of the huge, shade bearing, mango tree and out back we found a family of howler monkeys munching on their favourite fruit from the trees there. With that, another mission accomplished. Get close enough for great monkey pictures...CHECK!! You know those put a smile on my face!


look at that monkey!!

I really like the place I'm staying and hope I won't have to switch tomorrow when Emma and Lisbeth leave. That, however, depends on whether Rob, also from the GAP group (and fellow Canuck) will be here tomorrow night from San Jose (note: Rob will be here and I don't have to move...sweeet!). He's planning to spend an extra week in Costa, here at Playa Samara, so I have a friend until I head to Mal Pais at least.

I'm really hoping this week of relaxing on the beach will give me the energy I need to wrap out my final couple weeks of my trip on a high note. I'm certainly not complaining about being on vacation, but 4 months on the road can be quite exhausting in it's own rite, and I'm feeling that exhaustion right now. What I'm not totally sure of is whether it's the trip as a whole that's taking a toll, or just the busyness of the last couple weeks with the tour. Either way, I hope this week will give me some more energy, and hopefully a travel companion or two, to close out my trip with some of Costa Rica's finest beaches and just general good times!

-----------LATER THAT DAY-------------

Something occured to me this afternoon as I walked back from the beach and I found it a little strange. This trip, especially the point I'm at now (in two days I will officially have been on the road for 3 months) is the longest I've ever continuously been away from home. It's no wonder I'm feeling tired and thinking a lot about going home.

Sure, I've been away form home a lot, and for long stretches of time, but I realized today that the longest continuous stretch thus far is only 2 months....

EUROPE = 2 months
CAMP = at longest 7-8 weeks = 2 months
MONTREAL = okay 8 months but I was home roughly every 2 months

It's no wonder that as I close in on my 3 month travel anniversary, I'm wishing I could see my family and friends. I'm not pining for home exactly, but I do miss you all very much!

Luckily, I have the beauty of Costa Rica to help keep me distracted and remind me of how lucky I am to be here. Also, I know just how quickly April 19th will arrive and I will be navigating connecting flights at Miami airport on my way to home sweet home.