"One day it started raining, and it didn't quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night..."
This is what I was warned about and this is what I expected. Coming to Costa Rica, or Central America for that matter, during the rainy season has its pros and cons. The pros being cheaper places to stay, less crowded beaches, more time to interact with the locals, etc. The cons are a bit more obvious.. rain, rain, and more rain. While it has been cloudy and rains several times a day right now, it really isn't that bad. Rather than the standard 30 minute rain at 4:00PM it just stays cloudy and kinda rains whenever it wants. The biggest bummer for me is that I'm right in the midst of learning to surf, we have huge swells of 5-8 foot waves consistently for a few weeks and all those storms make for some choppy, unsurfable breaks... guess we'll just wait it out for now!
I've been in Tamarindo living for a little over two weeks now. I'm on day 12 working at the hostel and for those of you non-backpacker/traveler types: a hostel is simply a cheap hotel for backpackers. You share a room with other people sometimes, living spaces, kitchens, bathrooms and many times the rooms run about $10 per night (at least they do in Costa Rica anyway). My job is pretty simple.. I work 3:00-11:00PM everyday and I check in guests, clean up after the place a bit, and do my best to sell tours, shuttles, and other things that make us money here. It has been really great meeting a lot of people from all over the world staying here and I can totally see why so many people start these things. While it is work, I still go for a beach run at sunset about 4-5 days a week, make all my meals in the kitchen, and kick back and visit or play ping pong and Foosball with our guests. Since tonight is Friday night, it is a popular night for most to go out on the town and I finally have some quiet time to sit down and blog.
Things are starting to become very normal for Ryan and I here. We have met several friends in town that we hang out with from time to time, go to the gym everyday, surf when the waves are good, are having a big BBQ tomorrow night as our little housewarming and then our much anticipated first soccer game Sunday. I'm pretty excited to play again and I imagine it will be a lot like the Mexican league back in Tyler seeing as how we will be the only two white guys and English speakers in our league... Oh yeah, and I literally spend money about once every 4 to 5 days now. If you know me well you know I am cheap, so you better believe I'm happy at that! My Spanish is getting better, but I'm ready to buckle down and start studying.. fluency is my goal before I leave this place.
Here are some long overdue pictures from Monteverde and Arenal.. I hope you enjoy these as you have all my others!
Arenal Volcano
Look closely and you can see a foot. It was hard to photograph but this tree is actually about 70 feet tall and those brave enough can literally climb up from the inside to the top.
Yes, it was as beautiful as it looks...
I love this picture of Ryan coming off the rope swing... he got even higher than this a couple of times but I kept taking the picture too late.
I love my camera, but it is a bit big and cumbersome to trudge around with. So, I find myself taking pictures from my travel partners and editing them. Luckily for me, I met this Australian girl named Lisa who was a professional photographer. Most of these pictures are from her so I definitely don't want to claim credit for them, but just wanted to share my experiences with you.
-BP
