Quepos, Part I

I woke up at Hostel Pangea early the next morning after having a couple beers with Carrie, this Norweigen couple who were working at a Zoo in San Jose for three months, and Adrienne - the nicest guy from Hostel Pangea. Sitting by the pool and feeling the sun on my face was such an amazing feeling. I'm really here! I've made it!

My first hostel experience wasn't bad. Our dorm mates weren't loud or obnoxious at all, in fact I think they were all in bed (with one exception who came in around 4) and were still sleeping when we left. Carrie and I met up with Darlene and Amanda, two other girls from our course who were also at Pangea, and headed off to the San Jose bus terminal... once there, we were all trying to figure out when the directo bus from San Jose to Quepos left, but at the same time being solicited by taxi drivers to take us to Quepos for $100. We took the cab ride, which was only a few hours, and even got to see some crocodiles on the way.

I'm really glad we took the cab because the roads here remind me of a cross between Chuckanut drive and the switchback portion of the road up to Baker, with tour busses on them and everyone driving about 60mph...We would get behind busses and end up watching as their tires would barely hang onto the side of the road as they negotiated a turn while trying to avoid hitting any oncoming traffic. Its a trip...

Once in Quepos, Carrie and I find a hotel to stay at since the Wide Mouth Frog was full. Darlene and Amanda went straight to their accomodations - the Papaya house. I think we walked around a bit, got acquainted with the little town, and then went to sleep. I wanted to go to the beach in Manual Antonio the next day.

We spent the day at the beach on Saturday, and after meeting a bunch of ticos in the bar, ran into Darlene and Amanda, who made friends with the American men (older of course... there to sportfish and hit on women) who ended up scaring the Ticos away... I didn't get burned... so... yippee!!!

The beaches here are great. The water a constant 70 degrees, and the sunsets absolutely gorgeous. After sunset on Saturday, we saw a sloth climbing across a phone wire, so I ran out to take a picture... or 7. :) Super cool.

Enter Sunday. Here's where the story begins.