Weekend Part Uno

Epic.

Honestly that is the only way I can describe the past weekend. No other word even comes close to doing the days justice.

Where to begin? Perhaps with thinking it was a good idea to go out dancing the night before I have to catch a 6 am bus. My intelligence amazes me sometimes. Upon the clock reaching 2:00 am, Lindsay and I finally decided that we could get home and have just the perfect amount of sleep to wake up by 4 o’clock to pack and leave the house by 5 via taxi to reach the bus station.

My equally intelligent housemate Lindsay had set the alarm for 4:00 prior to going out that night, so when we came home after 2:00 am we figured everything was good to go to wake up in the morning.

Wrong. The alarm had actually been set for 4 o’clock in the afternoon rather than in the morning. We woke up to our amazing host mom shaking us awake at 5:24 am.

Yikes. A taxi was called and we somehow managed to pack everything we needed while still basically asleep. We left the house by 5:30 am to head to the bus station. By some miracle we made it on the bus and both had seats to immediately pass out in. (Often times people will end up having to stand on the long bus rides because too many tickets are sold. That would have been quite a painful experience on three hours of sleep.)

The trip to Montezuma, which was our ultimate destination, included a ferry ride.


(Muy bonita.)

Then we hopped back on our original bus until we reached some random town where those destined to Montezuma boarded an even smaller bus. Along the walk to the hotel, Lindsay and I made a friend from Germany, Svenja, who joined us in our adventure. We began to put our luggage in our room only to be interrupted by a random man claiming to be ‘Ronnie Sunshine.’ He explained that the room I was checking in to was the room he had hoped for and asked if he would be able to leave his luggage there for the night. Absolutely not creeper, but thanks for the offer.

Lindsay and I then thought it would be nice to take a short hike through the woods. Emphasis on the short, which was what it was intended to be. A “trail” was visible passed a barbed-wire fence so we obviously felt it was safe to approach.

During our adventure, we hiked up steep “paths,” depended on tree trunks to save our lives, and climbed up rocks where a waterfall had once been present. One of my cuts reopened during the journey and Lindsay used her survival-skill-thinking to wrap a bag around my leg so that the blood wouldn’t attract mosquitoes. (Did I mention that we forgot bug spray and the mosquitoes in Costa Rica literally bite through clothing? Ah yes… fun times.)


(There were convenient piles of twigs placed in sections of the forest.)

At some point we realized that we had actually climbed above the waterfall, being able to hear the running water below us. Eventually finding the creek that leads to the fall, I felt accomplished and deemed the hike a success. Soon the daylight began to disappear and we struggled with the idea that we could really be lost.


(Part of the creek that we discovered.)

Could such expert hikers as us, who forget bug spray and any form of light to see in the dark, really not know our way around a vast rainforest? Yes.

Discovering more barbed wire, we conveniently “found” an opening and walked until we reached a road with a car traveling up ahead of us. Finally! We see the possibility of human life other than ourselves and headed in that direction. This led us to a gigantic gate that we proceeded to pass through via a side opening under barbed wire.


(The massive gate.)

Noticing such a large gate, one would assume that the property must be equally as vast and rich. Wrong once again. Lindsay and I encountered people that may possibly be living in the rainforest all-year round. I could only use the term village people to give you a somewhat description of what they looked like. There was not even a stable building past the gates. It looked more like a picnic area to me with a shanty roof and a cement floor, complete with no walls surrounding the structure. They knew no English and must have thought we were completely crazy. We took their directions, which I could only understand as turning right multiple times, and traveled in hopes of finding another house.

A house painted white with bright red steps, no door handles, and a Rottweiler standing guard was the next building we approached.

Do not act scared if the dog charges!

Those were the directions to follow. Guess what happened? The dog began to run straight towards us. In my head, life as I had known it was about to be over.

If you are aware of the main dog from the movie Up, then you will understand my reference. The charging dog was the equivalent of Doug, the silly mutt who automatically falls in love with people the second he approaches.

Now armed with such a dangerous guard dog, we ventured to yet another house. This time, life was visible and people could be seen moving around under a picnic canopy.

Success. Although the newly found friends clearly stated with their facial expressions that Lindsay and I were crazy for walking so far, one of them spoke and understood English. And even stranger was that a few of the group were actually about to venture past Montezuma to pick up food to be included in a 50th birthday celebration.

I would have accepted their invitation to the birthday party, taking place on the next day, if I had any idea how I actually got to the house. My best bet was to travel into the woods and get lost again.

Fear not, though, because we did back it back alive and managed to avoid sleeping in the rain forest for a night.

A day I will truly never forget.


(Lots are for sale in the forest if you are interested. Just saying…)