Pipas, pipas, pipas
Costa Rica Days 13, 14, 15

hola, 

 

my brain dump of the last few days as i don't like to be on email over weekends and honestly would've wanted a few days off of writing to enjoy ~vacation~ anyhow(!!). working my way backwards as that's easiest..

 

Sunday, 15 Jan:

hung out with sarah last night over their backyard! so fun. nice to chat outside of her work hours. brought a bottle of wine that Mariia from Ukraine left for me (thank you so sweet!). sebastian worked on fixing the hole(s) in his board (turns out there's more than one as he'd told me earlier abuot it) while we chatted and of course frankie was there! i brought cookies too that i'd just opened up and sebastian was in shock that i found choco chip ones as he thinks those are the hardest to find here ha. his disbelief is funny. they bought land here and i didn't know this til a couple days ago. i ask sarah if she's working the AM or PM on monday (today) and she says it's their day off and they're both going over to the land. she hasn't been in a couple weeks but sebastian was just there a few days ago to cut some trees down and borrowed jackson's saw to do it. i'm not sure when they bought the land and they're not sure what their plans are for it yet but they were able to get a really good price through friends of friends and yes WOW when i heard the price my jaw dropped and it's 15m outside of Tamarindo! i see them this morning as they come back from the beach on bikes and sebastian with board in hand and thank sarah again for having me and how fun it was = sebastian asks if i'm surfing today and i say nah but i'm going to see if i can get a lesson tomorrow, he says the waves a BIG. 'too big for beginners', i ask? 'too big for anybody' . got to go check it out!

 

Saturday, 14 Jan:

truly trying to remember what i did. this is why i'm glad i'm taking photos along the way, even of the mundane things - just to keep a visual account of time. i know what i did was fun! Oh, i haven't been feeling well since friday (fine, period) so i stuck around, not that i had plans to leave Tamarindo over the weekend anyways. sarah offers me some Panadol saturday night as i see the two of them in the kitchen making dinner when i drop off the other half of my Little Lucha burrito dinner leftovers in the fridge. made me feel so much better the rest of the eve!! i catch sunset before this and who walks onto the beach and my direction as i'm scanning the scene, alex and michael - a couple i met on the Rio Celeste day tour i did the day prior! spent the whole second-leg of the ride back to Tamarindo chatting with them so we catch up and they're on their way.

i got a delish 'ginger zinger' natural juice at pico bistro brunch and met my server - Carlos - who says this is a family business. so cool but i guess not that surprising being a small town, you never know when you are going to be talking with a restaurant owner / family of owners when you chat with them!! 

 

Friday, 13 Jan:

this was my first full day excursion outside of Tamarindo! Rio Celeste tour day. it's a 6:30a pick-up with native's way business but i booked the tour thru the team at villas macondo. it's a three-part tour:

- one part short hike to Llana de cortes waterfall

- one part beautiful hike thru the (rain)forest to a waterfall

- one part wildlife tour ~~ why i signed up - sloths are there!

i make a friend with Ashley who is also visiting costa rica solo! we hike the second hike together. of course my stomach starts NOT feeling well towards the very end of the second hike. all good but something is definitely up and i think (then) that it's the water i chugged at Volcano brewing after my surf lesson the day prior. i get a coconut water drink thinking this might help and be nice - i haven't had one yet - inspired as i see Hugo, our tour guide for the day, with one in hand in a power stance when i got out of the bathroom and to the shuttle. very content looking. my guy javier sets me up with one, i ask for a smaller pipa (coconut) than hugo's. it's 2,000 colones for a pipa i think, i can't remember - so like $4. hugo goes on to use javier's machete looking knife to cut the pipa open after he's done drinking from it and i'm like 'ahh you're gonna eat that too'. i like it! using the whole (edible) part. i pay for my pipa, take no joke not even one full sip and as ashley's paying for hers, i go to hugo 'puedo usar el bano?' and he goes 'you can't wait? we'll be at the next stop in 20 minutes'. no. no, no, hugo, i most certainly canNOT wait. ashley motions and offers to hold my coconut - she knows i started not feeling well - and i race off. i think i asked 'can i use the bathroom' instead of ' i need to use the bathroom' as that was all my mind could come up with in a quick panic. hugo gives a friendly 'are you okay?' when i get back and reassures me that the coconut water will help my stomach. :)

 

i ride the next ~15-20m drive as calmly and relaxed as i can and am feeling fine but of course, on guard. as if you couldn't make this stuff up, hugo goes on to call out to all of us on the shuttle that we'll be at the wildlife tour stop shortly and that he's going to take orders for lunch. he proceeds to share the three to four different options in some detail and internally i am like please can this part be over. i do not want to imagine rice and beans and types of meat right now!!! i give a clipped 'quesadilla, no meat' choice when hugo gets to me and he's like 

no meat? you want vegetables?

sure, i'll take the vegetables, rice if you can. 

no, we don't do rice in quesadillas (here).

i'm like !*$^ the rice why did i say rice!!! (*in my head*). 'that's fine'. darn El Barrio back home makin me think i'm in line ordering a quesadilla with rice over here 

 

the last tour is awesome (we make it no casualties, i'm fine all thru) and we see..

> the signature lime green frog of costa rica sleeping. (they are nocturnal)

> some lizard

> a sleeping sloth but it wakes up(!) while we're all gathered down below and it scratches itself and is chillllin and moves around a lil bit. can see its face and everything!

> a hummingbird's nest with two babies inside

> beautiful views

 

1:16p, 16 January

photos to follow

 

btw the title 'pipas, pipas, pipas' is bc what a guy on the beach calls out as he walks up and down seeing if anyone wants one! this one's in your honor, guy