First thing's first: Happy Birthday (yesterday) Grandma!
Friday after I returned from the gym, the Brit picked me up and we made our way down to Manuel Antonio to meet up with Bill and Sam. What should have been a 2.5 hour drive turned into a 5 hour debacle that included: taking the super scenic route; purchasing lots of fruit we didn't need from a man who charged us far too much because we were clearly not locals; getting lost a couple times asking multiple people for directions because the Brit declared a map wasn't necessary prior to departure; taking an exit off the expressway that simply turned to a sketchy-looking dirt road instead of the well-marked town it appeared to be (much more hilarious than it sounds); and a suicidal rottweiler 5 minutes from our destination.
Miraculously, we made it to Manuel Antonio in one piece, although the same could not be said for the car, (Said suicidal dog got up and walked away. The car somehow managed to lose that fight. The dog was HUGE.) found the hostel and found Bill & Sam. We scooped up the boys from the closing bar and returned to the hostel to share some beers and Cuban cigars in celebration of Jonathan's birthday. We all then promptly gave up on any ideas we had had to meet up with some other travelers in town and passed out.
Saturday we got a late start and brunch turned into lunch. We ran into the girls (travel friends of B&S) who we were going to meet up with in town the night before. They reaffirmed our decision to lay low and not venture out into the sketchy-ness that is Quepos: one of the girls was fairly certain she got roofied (thanks to her friends, she was fine, but still...). Anyway... after lunch we moseyed into the actual park, saw a sloth, spiders & some pretty plants and then hit the beach for some swimming and sunshine. As we were getting ready to leave the beach there was an iguana trying to get some food. It got a little closer to Bill than I think he would have liked, but it was fun to watch the mini-dinosaur move around a bit.
We hopped in the car and started to make our way toward La Fortuna/Volcan Arenal. We stopped for a map and then to get gas on the way out of Manuel Antonio/Quepos. As we were leaving the gas station, a giant cable decided to scratch up the car, knock off the sideview mirror and rip out the atenna. No one was hurt, it was just... a little ridiculous. We kept on, but not before stopping to check out the giant crocodiles that live under the bridge at Rio Tarcoles. Pretty cool. From a distance, that is. I would not want to get any closer than we were and am even more baffled than I was before at the Crocodile Hunter's apparent insanity. Those things are no joke.
Bill acted as navigator (yay for free maps from Alamo Rental Car!) and directed us toward La Fortuna. Unfortunately, however, there was a crazy storm and the roads we were on had some blockage due to landslides so we decided we'd had enough of driving and headed back home to Heredia instead. We went out for some Peruvian food for the Brit's birthday dinner and met up with Jamie and her boyfriend who is also named Jonathan. Bill & the Brit were exhausted so they went to bed while Sam and I went out for a couple drinks/pool with Jamie and her Jonathan. Good times.
After taking care of some business Sunday morning (laundry and gluing the sideview mirror back on the car), the four of us and the British Jonathan's coworker Jose went out in search of lunch. What was supposed to be a short outing for a little food ended up an entire day of adventures. We ended up at Bar Calipso downtown Heredia for a little while before deciding to head up the mountain to check out the old abandoned church with the cork trees that Kerensa took me to once upon a time, where a friend of Jose's joined us (I think his name was Bernard? Bernal? yikes.). Once it started to get dark we came back down to Heredia. Long story short, we ended up back at my place (after a little drunk grocery shopping) playing Taboo and eating tamales in my room since my roommate had to wake up for work the next morning. Hilarity.
Monday morning B&S headed out to Tortuguero for some turtle watching (jealousy). I "went" to work. Wednesday morning I looked up B&S's flight info to find out what time they were leaving on Friday (as we all thought), only to realize they were supposed to be leaving Thursday instead. Yikes. They ended up having to bargain with some taxi drivers to drive them back here Wednesday night. I went out for some drinks to say goodbye to William and Mecia, who are leaving for the US indefinitely this weekend (sadness in my heart, I will miss them dearly). I arrived back at home shortly before Bill & Sam did, pobrecitos. Thankfully they made it here in time to get to their flights the next morning. Last night Kerensa and I went to Jamie's for dinner and, as per usual, it was amazing.
It was pretty great having Bill and Sam here these last couple weeks. They are great guys and lots of fun to have around. Not to mention Bill showed me how he had Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (one of my favorite video games of all time) on his phone, so I clearly went and bought it for mine. Best game ever. It really has been a fun couple weeks.
Can't wait for stateside adventures in 6 days!!
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