We tried to Ford the River....July 22-24

Well our last weekend trip turned out to be stressful to say the least. It was Cameron, Kameron, Dan, Heather, Tracee and myself. We made reservations Friday for a rental car $80 for two days. We left Saturday morning on the 6am bus to San Jose and got off on the Pan American highway. We waited for 20 minutes or so until a bus headed for Liberia came and picked us up at the bus stop. We all fit into the very back row except for Dan. At one point a man got on and was playing music and singing...i just wanted him to shut up. We get to Liberia wait at the bus stop because its only 10 something and the rental agreement said we´d get the car at 12. We tried to call but the phone was busy so we just got a taxi and went anyways. There was a car wreck so we were stuck in traffic for quite a lil. A semi had flipped and totally burned. After we finally get there we get our van and Dan decides on extra insurance. We take off and are in search of grub but Dan knows where to go. We get to a fish farm'Lagunas CatFish Farm and meet the owner. He´s from the US orginally, in his 30s and a nice guy. He gets our order and sends his mom over to field beach questions. She tells us that we can use their house and she would ask her husband about a price..they decided on 100 dollars for a night for the 6 of us. It was a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom two story house about 200 meters from the beach...with a cable tv, dvd player, air conditioning and so much more. They had a kayak and stuff for snorkeling. We went to the grocery store before heading that way..we followed the lady to the store then the house. We got things to drink for that night, stuff to make pancakes and bacon for breakfast and I got flipflops. Well we go to the house, change and head to the beach. The water is super clear, probably the clearest we´ve seen so far in Costa. Tracee and I head back to the house for the kyak and paddles but we get locked out because the keys dont fit the lock....we wait till the owners come about 10 minutes later and they can´t figure out why out of 4 sets of keys only theirs works. We get in and go down with snorkelying and kayak stuff. We snorkle first and it´s amazing. Rainbow colored fish, bright blue tiny fish, pipecleaner fish, and all sorts of others...I get pushed by the waves into the reef and it hurts. I finally get off and snorkel more. We decide to ask Cameron to come with us to kayak and he agrees so we head off to find a deserted beach. It was amazing. Not one person was there but there were hundreds of purple and orange crabs running all over. We finally go back to the house, shower and get ready for the Guanacaste Fair.

We get there, park and head in. Watch some pathetic bull fights, One was decent but the bulls must have been tired because as soon as they untied the rope that held them in an uncomfortable place theyd run to the corral. Tracee, Kameron and I decided to go on rides, so we got tickets but we thought one ride was 4 tickets but it was one ticket per ride. We went on one that was like a bull but a round circle ride that lots of people went on...it would buck up and down and spin. It was fun. Then we went on another that just swung side to side but fast, forceful and it hurt my legs...this one was not good because for some damn reason I wore a skirt and so that was not good when I am buckled in the seat and at one point my boob popped out...oh golly luckily no one saw and it was up high so no one looked either. We got some fair food: corn on the cob, beef shishkabobs and some other things. We saw fireworks ever! When we left we got to the car and I realized my shoes and rain jacket were not there. STOLEN! Apparently when you shut the front door u have to hold up the handle or it won´t lock and Kameron didn´t do that. I was upset the whoel way back because I get like that when i lose something. I got back and cried a lil and I just wanted my mommy. We get out the alcohol but I choose not to drink and instead just drank cranberry juice. We pop popcorn and sit down to watch PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN 2...we got it at the bus stop earlier that day...Tracee and Cameron spilt the cost of 4$. We all fall asleep during some point of the movie and at 5 am I finally made it down to the bed.

We wake up Sunday and I eat and go to the beach, Dan meets up with me at the beach right about as I was leaving. I stay for a while longer before we both head in. But there was a decent amount of american looking peopel at the beach and one was cute. He waved so I waved back...I got out as they were leaving thinking he might say hi or something but he walked away with his family..he kept looking back but didn´t come back or say a word. Well Dan (the whole weekend I called him dad, or papi) and I headed back, showered and we all packed. We got ready and dropped the keys off at the fish farm and decided to head to Samara.

WOW is all I can say. What was supposed to take 2 hours took over 7 hours. We left at 1 and at Tamarindo took a short break for lunch. I got a cute cute shirt there and enjoyed the town, wish we spent more time there...I wanted to learn to surf. We left and it got dark soon after. This is where it gets good-frustrating. In Costa Rica it is quite normal to drive through water. Even wide amounts or reasonable deep water. We crossed rivers and streams...each time Kameron would get out. get in teh water and see how deep it was and guide us. Approaching the 4th river, he gets out does his usual but stays in the water as Dan attempts to follow his directions. Little glitch is when Kameron walks in teh path and dan breaks hard in the middle of the river to avoid hitting him. We get stuck, in a hole that the tired just dug. We all try to push, including Cameron and can´t move it. Cameron lifts it up to put rocks under the tire but the wheels wont turn. Finally a fourwheeler drives by and Camern flags him down and he comes back with a tractor. GOD BLESS CATERPILLAR....he pulls us out and in short while we can drive. We all are drenched. Kameron lost his shoes in the river and we drive headed to damn Samara. Well we go more and there is a road that splits and we dont know which to take. We take one way and turn around because it seems wrong. Take the other and it is filled with water...no way in hell we are doing that again. We go the other way and go a ways then run into another river. We decide just to go to Nicoya becuase we need gas and we dont even care about Samara anymore. On the way we see a sign for Samara 4 km and decide to try it. It actually panned out..we got there and there was NO places open for food. it was 11 pm and nothing was open. Dan and Heather or as we called them Mom and Dad got a room because they wont stay in the car overnight. Cam, Kam, Tracee and I sleep in the car and get bit up like none other. As I would say...I got bit up like a 2 cent whore. Horses were roaming around in front of us and I just fell asleep. The next morning we got up and moved the car. I stayed in the car and at 7 something realized we were in ffront of a school and they were playing soccer. I saw a cute boy that was adorable and wanted to get a picture of him. They had to go in after a while and I was sad. We drove around to find a store for food and saw them. I asked to get a picture of him and he agreed AWWWW. I got some bomb yogurt-strawberry with chocolate coated cereal to put in it and blackberry juice. I love the juices here!!!!! Finally mom and dad were ready to go and we were on our way...we made it back in 2.5 hours. Shopped a lil and then some more and got on the bus to come home. That was my last adventure.....Now as we speak I am in studio and thinking how fast these 8 weeks have passed and how much I love my family and can´t wait to see them!