And so ends my weekend travels...

Another chapter of my life comes to a close - my weekend excursions around this amazing country!! It is quite surreal that I won't be traveling somewhere new and exotic this weekend. Well, I will be traveling home, so I still have a lot of travel ahead of me. :P But no more Costa Rican travels!

Since I'm feeling nostalgic, here is a summary of all the places I have been this summer, in chronological order. And, for kicks & giggles, my highlight of each trip:

1. La Fortuna & Arenal

Highlight: Climbing up the dormant volcano, Cerro Chato

2. Playa del Coco

Highlight: Enjoying my first Pacific beach experience

3. Montezuma

Highlight: Jumping off the waterfall (not this one though haha)

4. Manuel Antonio (with my family)

Highlight: Seeing my family <3 I also witnessed a proposal during this sunset - smart man. Very romantic!

5. Isla Tortuga (with my family)

Highlight: More family time & snorkeling!

6. San Jose (Sick weekend...)

Highlight: Walking to mass & seeing this beautiful church! 

7. Santa Teresa

Highlight: SURFING & spending time at my favorite beach in Costa Rica. Also, I had REALLY good food that weekend.

8. Manuel Antonio (all by my lonesome)

Highlight: Got in some hike time AND beach time - a great combo for my last weekend of travels. I also saw a ton of amazing animals.

All in all, Costa Rica is a very diverse & beautiful country. I have been very blessed to experience it. There was a lot of stuff I didn't get to do (zip-lining, the Caribbean coast), but that is just an excuse to come back in the future! :)

As for this past weekend, I went totally solo to Manuel Antonio - the plans I had made the weekend I got sick. It was nice to have the last weekend totally to myself, as it allowed for a lot of reflection of my entire experience. Me time is good.

I stayed at the worst hostel of my trip so far, but all things considered, it could have been way worse. The life of an adventuresome, cool backpacker might not be the life for me - hostels are great, but after living in one for 2 months & bopping around to different ones every weekend, I just think that the backpacking life is not for me. One of the more "interesting" hostel experiences of the summer - I got up really early this Sunday & when I hopped out of my top bunk bed, I was very surprised to see the girl below me was sleeping COMPLETELY naked! It is NEVER hot enough to sleep naked in a room full of people you don't know - is that not common sense? Not what I needed to see first thing in the morning. :P

The trip started out pretty rough. I got off the bus too early, so I was wandering around Quepos for a bit before I was able to find the public bus stop to get further into Manuel Antonio. Thankfully, I had been in Manuel Antonio before so I had an idea of where I was headed - that saved some stress. When I finally made it to my hostel, I was irritated to discover that the hostel did not accept credit cards. I used what cash I brought with me & then hiked further down into Manuel Antonio to find the ATM. Another irritating moment - the ATM wouldn't accept my PIN number for my Brueggeman P-Card, so I had to use my personal account (TOTALLY a first-world problem, but it was really irritating because I just confirmed my PIN a few days before...). Basically, I was just being a brat, but still, I was not in the best mood. But the Lord works in mysterious ways, and I was blessed with the most beautiful sunset.

The picture doesn't do it justice - I will certainly miss sunsets over the Pacific!

I went to bed super early. On Saturday, I woke up around 6:15 so I could get to the national park as it opened. I was still in a not-so-great mood from my troubles the day before. When I got to the entrance of the park, a man immediately approached me asking if I wanted to join a guided tour. I didn't want to, but he gave me about 2 seconds to decide before yanking me over to the ticket booth. I forked over an additional $20 bucks for the tour - and, boy, am I glad I did! If I hadn't had the guide, I would have just quickly gone through the park, not noticing anything. The tour guide (it was a small group too - AWESOME) slowed me down & really made me appreciate every step of the hike (again, God works in funny ways). The guide was also AMAZING at spotting animals. He also had a really powerful telescope, so we got to see a lot of the animals up close! Many of my pictures are taken through the telescope! I saw TONS of sloths, a giant red-winged grasshopper, 2 species of bats (insect eating & fruit eating), 3 different species of monkeys, a perched hummingbird, lots of lizards, crabs, and other odd bugs - none of which I probably would have seen if I had gone alone. It was awesome! The tour guide also pointed out different trails around the park; I would have also missed out on my cool hiking as well had I opted to sulk around by myself. Seeing all the animals & slowly enjoying my time lifted my mood, too. :) 

Squirrel monkey / Titi

So this is NOT my picture, but it illustrates well the size & color of the giant red-winged grasshopper. I was AMAZED at how big it was!!

Camoflauge! 

Sloth / perezoso 

I saw tons of them! They are actually super hard to spot, as the next picture illustrates.

Can you spot the sloth? This photo was zoomed in a bit, too. Thank you, awesome tour guide Albin, for finding us lots of sloths.

Hummingbird / colibrí 

I love the hummingbirds in Costa Rica, so I got myself this hummingbird tapestry to hang in my room!

Splurge!! I LOVE it!!! It will look so nice on my wall. <3

Howler monkeys / congos

White-faced capuchins / carita blanca

These little guys were HILARIOUS! I don't like monkeys that much (I find them kind of creepy), but it was so fun to watch them run around & interact with the tourists.

After much googling, I believe this is a nogodinid planthopper. Fabulous, right?

I was super pumped to see all the wildlife! After I parted ways from the tour guide, I did a hike around Punta Catedral (Cathedral Point). It was great - sooooo quiet & I only saw 5 other people during the entire hike! This really allowed for some nice quiet thinking & reflection. Plus I didn't have to fight to see the awesome views. :) 

Waves / olas

Pretty pretty!

Also, an observation about Costa Rica: from what I've seen (which hasn't been much, so this may be a poor judgment), they seem to try hard to make these experiences friendly for people with disabilities. When I was in Santa Teresa, there was a surf camp for children with disabilities, and during my hike at Manuel Antonio, there were several electric-powered golf carts buzzing around to help individuals with handicaps. 

In conclusion, I am very sad to say goodbye to my weekend adventures. As for this week, I have 4 more days left at Sanigest! :O Not sure what all I will be doing, but I have no doubt that the last week will be as much of a roller coaster as the previous 8. ;) Today was good. Odd jobs, again. The Malawi lit review rose from the dead, but luckily it was just for a formatting check. I also met a new friend:

Hello, nice to meet you, little baby lizard.

I didn't have my camera or phone at the office, so I took this shot very gracefully with my laptop. To try to break the ice, I gave him a little chunk of my apple (didn't have anything else on me, and I wasn't about to go catch him a bug). He just stared at it all day. I think he is confused?  

For lunch, I went to a Greek restaurant near my office - got a yummy falafel wrap and some pita & hummus. Last night I made mac & cheese and I was planning on bringing it into the office. I forgot it, but I'm not mad. In order to save some money & not purchase too much food for my final week, I bought 50 cent butter & a small carton of lactose-free milk. Advice: if you are a mac & cheese aficionado like myself, DO NOT make mac & cheese with 50 cent butter & lactose-free milk. 

Anyways, I paid in all coins at the restaurant. Totally obnoxious, but I've been collecting my change all summer. Costa Rican coins are really clunky, so having them in my wallet is annoying. I put them in a plastic baggy in my room and now, voilá, I have a baggy of coins valuing approximately $11 I need to spend in the next few days! Cha-ching.  

My next post will more than likely be my last. I have a long layover in Miami, so I'll have time to reflect on the journey & type up a nice final tribute to my Fellowship. Until then, I am going to try & live in the moment, cherishing every last second on this crazy awesome adventure!

amdg.