Day 102 – Costa Rica

Dec 7th

*DISCLAIMER: The following entries contain details about drinking and partying. Please, keep in mind that I am a 21 year old college student that does in fact drink responsibly. So Mom, before you send me another horrified email about “being careful,” please keep in mind that I am, in fact, responsible and mature enough to make my own choices.

Getting Around
We “woke up” for breakfast on the ship. I actually never fell asleep last night because I was so engrossed in making video-slideshows of all my pictures that I didn’t realize it was time for bed until the sunlight started to creep through the blinds this morning. There was no diplomatic briefing, so we just had to wait our turn for the tenders to get to shore. After spending some time sitting around the Union, Goldie, Falyn, Becca, Dan and I bordered the seventh tender and headed to Port Caldera. (Tendering is like taking a water taxi to shore.) While we were some of the last to board, we had to find seats wherever we could. Dan was super excited to find a seat right under the front window where he could already start his tan. After rolling up his sleeves and soaking up some rays, we started for shore and not a moment too soon a huge wave came crashing in right on him. He was the only one that got wet! Goldie shared, “I guess that’s the reason no one wanted the window.” After making it to shore, we found an entire crowd of SAS kids standing around dumb struck. Apparently, they had dropped us off at a warehouse port and they only thing we could see around us were Dole cargo carriers. There was no town, no taxis, no roads to walk down except one highway. Some kids just started walking to Puntarenas, which is 20 mins away be taxi. We found a pay phone and called a taxi, which we then had to ward off the swarm of destitute SASers.

Casa de Rector
The taxi dropped us off at a bright yellow and blue Casa de Rector, which is a beach house that Becca found on the internet. A group of about 12 of us had rented the house out for the next two nights to enjoy the sun, beach and pool in the backyard. Alfronzo greeted us at the front gate with Bronco, a gentle German Shepard that “came with the house.” He showed us around the seven bedrooms, kitchen, living room, pool and front beach. There was even a bird hutch with two beautiful red parrots, and eventually we met the Pitbull that was put out in the front yard at night. We weren’t allowed to pet him because he was purely meant for defense and was not supposed to get used to strangers. (We eventually learned that Puntarenas is not a very safe area, seeing as Mark got mugged on the beach and another girl had problems with a man on a motorcycle.) The house was absolutely beautiful with its bright colors covering the walls and furiture. The pool was filled with fresh water and bright neon donut floaties. Palms trees swayed in the breeze and threw shadows cover the lawn. Bright yellow and red hammocks temptingly swayed between the trees. The expansive yard had a red-brick outdoor barbeque that we instantly knew we had to use for dinner later. With that in mind, we headed to the supermarket to stock supplies.

Supermarket
Alfronzo, the house tenant, walked us to the nearby supermarket through the balmy Costa Rican heat. He pushed the grocery cart while we piled in hamburgers, hot dogs, corn, buns, condiments and lots of beer. When we got to the house, we clearly knew the house was made for parties. The kitchen opened up to the living room, which ironically had a perfectly sized beer pong table, and a speaker system. Alfronzo’s wife even told us (without us asking) that we should have a party because they sleep through it. With that in mind and a very special ladies birthday to still celebrate (mine!), we stocked up. Alfronzo found a friend of his at the supermarket to ride us back to the house in the back of his pickup truck. We unloaded everything in the fridge, changed into bathing suits, turned up some tunes, made ourselves some cocktails and headed to the pool to wait for everyone else to arrive. It was absolutely gorgeous and perfect to just sit around and enjoy each other’s company.

Fiestas
Eventually, Sara and Britney made it back from a canopy tour. Becca, Cassidy and Torri woke up and made it off the tender. Jonah, Ryan and Todd came from somewhere. We all made it to the house to play childhood games in the pool, play soccer in the lawn and pass around newly invented cocktails courtesy of Ryan. We had so much to celebrate: my birthday, meeting each other, seeing the world and successfully finishing one of the best semesters of our lives. Britney and Dan challenged Becca and I to beer pong, which I must say was completely disappointing. (Jenny, I’m sorry to say: I have no game.) In order to enjoy some of the beach waves, Goldie and I headed to the beach to reflect on our journey. We stopped to write the top four things we want to do before we die: 1) have a reunion with the girls (Britney, Becca, Sara, etc) 2) turn a gay man straight 3) learn to “gargoyle” 4) go to Greece. So, if we have a reunion in Greece with the mission of turning a gay man straight while gargoyling, we just might be able to get it all done! (“Gargoyling” is similar to a keg stand, but you pretend to be a gargoyle perched ontop a keg while chugging. Unfortunately, I did not even make this one up!) Down the beach, we could see the other house of SASers frolicking in the waves, so we decided to check it out. We went down to find Spencer, Mark, Molly and company playing Frisbee and flying kites. We ran into the waves with a few people before realizing it was getting really dark… almost too dark to see where you were walking. So, we headed back to our house for dinner. Sara and Dan started grilling up some hamburgers, hotdogs and what turned out to be some really funky corn. The rest of the night, we spent it playing beer pong during which Jonah and I bumped out the long standing champions: Britney and Dan. (Suckas!) Then we welcomed a group from the other house to join in a MAJOR dance party that lasted for hours.

Highs and Lows
My “high” was celebrating my birthday “for realizes.” My “low” was never hearing of gargoyling before.