Well, it's been a while since I have posted anything and at this point, I don't expect a lot of following. Sorry, everyone, I guess it turns out that I am not really one of the blog crowd, I just don't have that kind of dedication. Or maybe I do, but I just don't like the dependency of a following- I much prefer the hook and sinker of a mass email correspondence. Who says a comm major has to be up on all the major technologies, anyway?

More than two weeks ago I left my startingly routine life in Mal Pais and headed out traveling with some friends on vacation from Atlanta. Firstly, not to get on a soap box, but I've realized that life can get pretty routine anywhere, no matter who beautiful the scenery is around you. Maybe that is a lesson for me to appreciate my surroundings no matter where they are. It is a guaranteed fact that the longer you spend in a place, when you leave it, you will always be searching for it in the next place you go. At least for me, but hopefully others older and wiser can appreciate what they have in the moment.

Anyway, so we left Mal Pais, after spending a great day surfing and sunning on the beach. The next day we headed north to Playa del Coco, or Ocotal if Coco isn't on a map, because Cindy and Ashkan, my friends that were visiting, wanted to go scuba diving. They've been a lot of great places in the Atlantic, but had never dove in the Pacific. So we drove up there (they had rented a car, which was a great idea on their part!) the next day, I think that was Monday. They drive up was amazing! I'm so glad we had the opportunity to do it because taking public transit to the same place would have been via different roads completely. Cindy and AK had reserved a 4WD vehicle for the trip, as I had warned them that the roads we would probably take would need it, but the rental car agency fell through and by the time they found another car, it was just a Toyota Carolla. So we took an easy road over to Montezuma (Montefuma as I learned that day (fumar means "to smoke")) and hiked up to the waterfalls and jumped off. That afternoon we got back into the car and took about two hours to drive, maybe.... 20km. However, the ride was beautiful. One thing I have realized throughout this trip is that Costa Rica is very small, compared to the states, but, more importantly, it feels huge because of the condition of the roads. So in a way, it all evens out, because if it was as accessible and well paved as the states, the whole country would have already turned into a jungle amusement park for tourists, not by Ticos choice, though. Getting off track, we saw some beautiful countryside. The road was gravel, unmaintained, barely trafficked, and so pictureseque. Guanacaste trees everywhere, huge green pastures with cows and birds, mango trees, and not another person in sight.

We got up to Playa del Coco and found a place for the night. The next day, we booked a tour to go snorkeling/diving in the bay there, and then headed over to a nearby beach to get some sun. My Auntie Janie had friends renting a house for the month of February in Playa del Coco, and upon finding the beach, discovered that the house was just a stone's throw away. Late afternoon I ventured up to their place to meet them, and they graciously invited us all in for some cocktails and appetizers. Well, as it goes with hospitable Southerners, we ended up staying, drinking, and telling stories well into the night, heading back to our hotel only because of our early appointment with the scuba team.

I got really ill on the boat in the morning. I've never been cursed by sea sickness, but the wine from the previous evening did not help, and I only snorkeled for a bit before I returned to the boat. We still saw a lot of amazing fishes, however, and Dave even saw a turtle! Cindy and Ashkan went deeper, of course, and at a wreck Cindy spotted two sharks! I was almost ready to take a diving course for beginners, but my finances couldn't quite take it at the time, so snorkeling was the next best thing.

That afternoon we drove through beautiful, steep, green hillsides to Monteverde/Santa Elena area, south of Lake Arenal. It was weird seeing everything so green in another part of the country, after being in the Nicoya for almost five months, where it was really starting to get brown. And the temperature drop, whew!! I probably hadn't felt anything below 90 in months!

We got a great hotel with a beautiful view of the hillsides in Monteverde. We cooked a great dinner and booked some tours for the following day. So the next day, we woke up early and went for a hike through the cloud forests in the Santa Elena National Park. The whole thing was like walking through a cloud, literally! It was a misty, green wonderland of strange plants growing off each others roots!

Whoops, I'm holding up the line for the Internet, will write more later!