Costa Rica was insanely fun! Laura and I got back Thursday night, me with a backpack covered in honey and Guaro (sorry Larnie and Bodil), and I'm just starting to feel adjusted to "real" life.
Most of our trip was spent on the Caribbean coast near Panama, a small string of towns including Puerto Viejo, Playa Cocles, Punta Uva and Manzanillo. We stayed at La Costa de Papito, an amazing place in the jungle, but just across from the beach. We spent lots of time avoiding potholes with our bikes, eating lots of fish, drinking lots of batidos, swimming and relaxing. We also did a canopy tour including ziplines, and went to the botanical garden. There were torrential rains, but we didn't let that stop us!
We also visited a small indiginous community of Bribri indians called Yorkin. They have recently lost a chunk of their village, most importantly their medical center and a bridge which links many families with the main area. We saw kids going home from school walking through the river, waist high, and it will only get worse when the rainy season hits. They need a bridge! If anyone has any ideas or connections to companies needing to make donations please let us know!
The other highlight of this trip was white water rafting on the Pacuare river near Turrealba, a mountain town. Not only did we go rafting, Laura and I were in the front of the raft! And it was class 3-4 rapids! We sort of got bamboozled into it by a sneaky tour guide who told us it was really easy, and when Laura asked if anyone ever fell into the river he said only about 1 person every 10 trips. Well, 2 people in our raft fell out, along with about 10 other people from the other rafts. Laura and I got tossed around quite a bit, but managed to stay in. Needless to say, we were quite impressed with ourselves. And it was one of the funnest things I've ever done!
One of the best parts about this trip, besides all that, was NOT thinking about cancer. I don't see anything wrong with escapism. In fact, I HIGHLY recommend it! Now that I'm back home, I'm busy perusing the internet dreaming about whatever my next trip might be. If you want to see the rest of my photos, you can find them here. Best way to skim through them is by making the thumbnails bigger with the toggle in the right hand corner. Enjoy!
