Jaco Beach and San Jose

Writing three posts in a row is starting to make my vision blurry and my words run together, but gosh darn this needs to be written down! All of this needs to be documented because I have just finished the best week of my life, and this weekend was a huge part of that. Between Thursday and Sunday I managed to travel to Jaco, San Jose, Montezuma, and Isla Tortuga. I’ve learned more about myself in the last four days than in entire months in the past. Unfortunately, in this post I can only cover Jaco and San Jose because I think my fingers are going to just give up and fall off!

Jaco with Alexis, Colin, Nick, and James. After class on Thursday a few classmates and I decided to venture to Jaco which is a beach about an hour and a half away from Puntarenas. My first Costa Rican bus ride was executed flawlessly for about 1 mil (2 dollars), and we gained a very inaccurate depiction of how traveling works here. The bus didn’t have many people on it at all, we could sit and not stand, the seats were comfy, AND it was on time. Honestly weird circumstances for this country. Watching the changing landscape in such a short amount of time was absolutely incredible: from oceans to mountains to farms and back again over and over again. The vibrant colors and the breeze through the open windows made for an honestly breathtaking travel experience. When we arrived, it was straight to the beach. The waves in Jaco were much stronger, the sand lighter, and the ocean clearer than Puntarenas. Alexis and I spent awhile talking while Nick tried (unsuccessfully) to teach the guys how to surf. We all realized that we were starving and headed into town to grab a bite. The restaurant we found ended up playing music videos from Shaggy, Rihanna, and old country music stars. It was thoroughly confusing and thoroughly entertaining. I had the freshest Strawberry smoothie I can imagine while we danced in our seats to throwbacks. Afterwards it was back to the beach where James and I decided to race to catch the sunset from giant rocks in the middle of the ocean. We got there just in time, and were the only people there to see it. It was absolutely the most incredible and rewarding sunset of my life. I know I keep saying that everything is “the most,” and, “the best,” this and that, but it’s just the truth. My shoes were wet and slipping off the rocks as we lept and trudged to get there in time. To our left was the ocean that looked like it went on forever and then dropped, never to be seen again. Directly in front of us was the sun, huge over the ocean and changing from yellow to pink to orange and creating a bridge of light through the ocean. To our right were mountains covered in thick layers of greenery and forest. Behind us the beach and sand extended back to our friends. Below us the tide came in as waves crashed onto the rocks beneath our feet and exploded into the air when they made contact. It was a moment in my life that I want to etch into my memory and never forget for as long as I live. We returned to Puntarenas in the night where I was greeted by my extended family (this is everyday) and got to tell them all about my adventure for the day. I kept saying, “I just can’t believe this is a Thursday.” Here’s to many more Thursdays to come.

San Jose with USAC. 4:30 in the morning rolled up a little too early and with not enough food. We had to be at USAC at 5:15, and it was a few hours on a bus before we arrived in San Jose and had sandwiches for breakfast. Once I got some food in my belly, I was all set to sit in immigration to be fingerprinted and complete some paperwork to obtain my visa in 8 weeks. This place felt a lot like a Costa Rican version of a DMV, but the process moved a lot faster, and the people were a lot nicer. While we waited I was arguably a little too entertained by some gummies that were shaped like teeth…that I then proceeded to stuff my mouth with like teeth. Afterwards, a few of us wandered around the city for a beat. We passed beautiful graffiti on walls all over the city and found trees that you can peel the bark off of to reveal stripes of red, green, and yellow. They looked like someone had taken a paint brush to them, and we were quite entertained until we realized that we needed to be back at the immigration office to catch a bus and none of us had been paying attention to where we were going. We lucked out and got there with time to spare so, naturally, Colin decided to climb a tree. We took the bus to The Costa Rican Art Museum where a giant group of us proceeded to revert back to childhood and began to recreate the statues and paintings around the grounds. We were all laughing hysterically and even got a few of the guides laughing with us. After being 8, I learned that this museum had one of the most incredible works of art I've seen. There was an entire room in which the walls were carved from wood, stained gold. You began at one corner of the room and made your way around while the walls told you the entire history of Costa Rica up to the present. Breathtaking is too light of a word to describe the awe that the unexpected detail and beauty instilled in me.Afterwards, we ventured to the mall. I am proud to say that in the presence of Taco Bell, McDonald’s, and KFC, every single one of us instantly decided to go to the classic Costa Rican food booth. While we were at the mall, a very important decision was made. Why would we wake up at 4 again to catch the ferry to Montezuma when we could return home by 4 p.m. after San Jose, repack, and turn around to catch the 5:30 p.m. ferry to Montezuma, be there by 10, and stay in an Air BnB for the night? After some, “Can we pull this off?” and, “How do we find an Air Bnb for 11 people?” an Air Bnb was booked and our host families were contacted. The bus ride was spent getting excited for our first overnight trip whichhhhh WAS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE. But you can’t hear about it yet because I need a cliffhanger. Adios!