Weekend Adventure

Phew!

Sorry I wasn´t able to post in the last three days. Friday and Saturday were spent bushwacking through the Costa Rican wilderness, and on Sunday my blogging efforts were hampered by technical difficulties. But now I´m back.

This weekend was absolutely amazing. As I mentioned in my previous post, Heike and I decided to take an overnight excursion to Tortugero National Park. The park is accessible only by boat, so the voyage involved a two-and-a-half hour bus ride, followed by a one-and-a-half hour boat ride.

On the first part of the drive, we passed through the cloud forest in Braulio National Park. It´s called a cloud forest because, well, it´s always cloudy. But we happened to pass through on one of the clearest days of the year, which was quite fortuitous given the fact that Volcano Turrialba was showing a bit of activity.

Our guide told us that we were among the four percent of people passing through the region who are lucky enough to see the following:

O´scuse me.

After passing through the cloud forest we stopped for breakfast, and then continued on our journey to the boat.

We pulled off of the road for ten minutes when we spotted one of these...

This guy is one lazy MF.

...then we stopped at a Del Monte banana plantation...

The bananas are in the blue bags, drowning in chemicals.

...and finally we arrived at the boat.

Our bus driver, Thomas, passed us off to our tour guide, Alonso...

Shit, dawg.

...and off we went.

The boat ride was amazing, and I was a pretty happy camper...




...but this kid was happier:

After an hour and a half, we arrived at the hotel. I wasn´t quite sure what to expect in terms of lodging. The price for the tour was inclusive of hotel and meals, so I figured we´d be shacked up as cheaply as possible. Quite the contrary, though, the resort was a tropical paradise.

I dropped my stuff off en mi Cabina Privada...

...then we ate a traditional Costa Rican lunch, hopped back on the boat, and headed over to the park.

After watching the most boring informational video of my life, we took a short walk through the bushes...

...and arrived at the Caribbean Sea.

The only thing missing is a photoshopped Corona.

Here, Alonso asked each member of the group to introduce themselves and their country of origin. Heike, 27, was from Germany, and Emily, 24, was from Canada. Mal, 38, and Kate, 30, were from England, and Gregorio and Norma, both 70-something, were from Argentina.

Brandon, 27, was the only American.

Alonso proceeded to give us a tour of the beach and the village. I hung in the back and talked to Gregorio the whole time. Gregorio spoke very little English, but when I told him that I was in Costa Rica to practice my Spanish he was more than happy to oblige. He asked me a million questions about myself, and then he began to give me little exercises. He had me recount for him what we had done on the tour that day, and then he had me explain to him the itinerary for the next day. When I made mistakes, he corrected me--which is exactly what I need--and he explained the proper way to say things.

Gregorio was the coolest old foagie I´ve ever met--with the exception of maybe my father--and by the end of our conversation he requested that I call him by his nickname, Goyo.

Here´s a picture of Goyo, his wife, Norma, and I:

Goyo and I got so involved in our conversation that we lost the tour group. Eventually, we found our way back to the village on our own, and we headed back to the resort with the rest of the group for dinner.

After dinner we headed over to the bar, and after a few cervezas with Heike and Emily I retired to my cabin for the evening.

The next morning, Goyo and I sat in the rocking chairs outside of his cabin while Norma got ready. Then the three of us headed over to breakfast together. It was a typical Costa Rican breakfast of gallo pinto, eggs, cheese, fresh fruit, and coffee. Gallo pinto (literally: "spotted rooster") is a dish consisting of white rice and black beans mixed together. From that moment on, I began referring to my buddy, Goyo, as "Goyo pinto."

He ate it up.

After breakfast, we all boarded the boat once again and headed for the canals (which were supposedly teeming with wildlife.)

I asked the guide if I could sit on the bow of the boat for a while, and he obliged. This was probably the best decision I made all weekend...

(I had a video of this that I really wanted to share, but I´ve been sitting here for three hours and it hasn´t uploaded yet.)

And they weren´t kidding about the wildlife, either. Here are a few snapshots of what we saw:

This guy just wanted to fit in.

This guy asked to borrow my Grey Pupon.

This guy convinced me to eat an apple off of some tree.

And this guy saved me 15% on my car insurance--if not more.

By the end of the day, we were all exhausted and ready for a nap.

Goyo took the lead...

When I arrived home in the evening, the three children greeted me with big hugs. The family now refers to me as Tio Brandon. (´Tio´is Spanish for ´uncle.´) I got home later than expected, but Kristian and Sebastian had actually waited for me to eat dinner. It was a very nice gesture, especially since I had no way of informing them that I would be late.

Then, finally, after a long and fulfilling three days, Kristian and I sat outside with his best friend, Luis, and had a few beers...

All in all, it was a weekend to remember.

(And now, thanks to the internet, it´s been thoroughly documented.)