Rafting and Farewell

After a sleepless night for me... Nicole and I woke at 6 for her to finish packing and be ready to go. I went back upstairs and laid down while she had a few tasks left over.. I had some really weird dreams about her going rafting... I can't remember now, but I remember waking up feeling dazed and confused. I heard Nicole scream at one point and she goes a frog just jumped on me! I freaked out and said what color since the green poisonous dart frogs are indeed poisonous... Turns out it was my tree frog just getting crazy. He had jumped on her butt... I think somebody liked Nicole!!

I had recently gotten a tree frog... Not much to say about him... rarely see him but he has scared me a few times as well! One time in the shower! haha

It was sad to see Nicole go, I was very anxious waiting for the bus to come pick her up. They were late and I kept thinking, maybe I didn't do the correct reservation, maybe they wouldn't find the hotel.. blah blah.. Luckily they showed up... Oh those exploradores boys are soooo good looking.. I wish I could date all of them... I was nervous the entire day worrying about whether Nicole had a great time or not. Turns out she did and loved it!!! yay!!!

I had a wonderful time with her. It went by so incredible fast, every minute of every day was filled with an activity! It was a great experience and I was so happy to have her here. We did some great catching up and it felt like a day hadn't gone by since we had last seen each other.

Thank you Nicole for coming and spending time with me. You are an amazing friend and I am so thankful you are in my life.

As the days get closer and closer to my return home, I get more and more anxious about seeing all of my family and friends!! It's only a matter of time!! Love you all.

Chile Rojo... Good ole PV

Nicole and I decided it would be fun to spend her last night in Puerto Viejo. We went to my favorite restaurant Chile Rojo. We had drinks, an appetizer, and our dinners. It was a fabulous time, spent talking and catching up.

Afterwards we walked around town and looked at all the little jewelry shops along the way. There was one street vendor who Alex had purchased a ring from in January. Nicole decided she needed to treat herself and bought a beautiful green ring from the same vendor. I am thinking to keep the tradition going I will have to purchase one as well before I leave this beautiful area.

Afterwards we took a taxi back to Cahuita. I had approached this taxi driver, asked him how much it cost. He said it would cost 10.000 colones... I said ha no thanks and turned to walk away. He said well that's the price around here. I said no it's not, the last time I was here I had a taxi for 7.000. So we agreed upon 8.000. I still felt this price was a little to high, however we must all pick and choose our battles in life. When we returned to Cahuita we stopped at Coco's bar and had a cocktail. Troy met us out for the last little hurray! We ended up heading home around 12, which was later then planned since we both had such an early morning the next day. On the way home we were walking new Playa Chichita and I saw this lump in the road.. I thought to myself where did this huge rock come from. Troy being the smarty that he is goes oh look a sloth... haha I couldn't believe I thought it was a rock. We then sat and tried to take about 40 pictures and had a hard time capturing the moment. The sloth was doing the most perfect downward dog yoga move ever!!! It was a fun last sloth sight!!

It was a perfect way to have a last little celebration. A nice dinner the two of us, and a last outing in Cahuita.

Canopy to the Extreme!

For Nicole's last full day in Cahuita we decided to do the canopy and horseback riding tour. I had already done this tour earlier upon my trip with Toya (one of the girls from California). I decided that as much as I wasn't wanting to spend the money, it was one of those things you couldnt' resist doing with your close friend. We were both really excited. It was a little odd and disorganized in the beginning. We weren't quite sure what was going on and this was making Nicole a little anxious. I went first and waited for her to come on the other side. I got some good shots of her coming in and some of the scenery around us. In the picture above that is the river that is below you, called "rio banano."

The horseback riding part of the tour didn't go according to plan. The last time I had been there I had a difficult horse which actually made me very nervous. This time my horse was ok...Nicole's however, was not the best. He actually wouldn't follow any commands and Nicole was starting to get very anxious. I was so nervous about the entire situation all I could do was laugh, which of course does not actually help the situation. In the end, Nicole stopped trying to control the horse and our guide took the reins. Still the situation was not improving and as she turned around with a horrified look, in the midst of my laughter and stopping my own horse I asked our guide if we could please go back. On our way back to the center, there was a wild horse galloping in a near pasture. My horse decided that was a better method of travel and started to take off! My camera flew out of my shirt and Nicole gladly got down from her horse to retrieve it from the ground. I was so nervous my horse was going to stomp on it, luckily that did not happen. Nicole returned to the center by walking and I rode back.

Nicole getting rescued, she and I both go stuck on the second zip line and had to get help getting back! He was more then willing to take a photo and even yelled at me for the appropriate time to take a photo.

Me all ready in my gear for an exciting time in the air with Coley! The sun came out for the entire time we were doing the canopy. It was perfection. The weather was doing wonders for her trip!

Sobre Las Olas.... Reggae Bar Experience!

After our fabulous day in Puerto Viejo and a fabulous time at our last yoga class, we ate dinner at Sobre las olas. Sabina (coworker or really my only coworker) joined us for a few drinks and dinner.

After dinner we went to Reggea bar for a cocktail.. we ran into Beno my landlord at the time and he had clearly been enjoying his time at the bar (which he does frequently) and bought Nicole and I a drink. |We got some weird fruit drink.. and continued to enjoy each other's company.

I wanted Nicole to experience Cahuita to the fullest and I think she saw as much as she could and did as much as she could for the time she was here!!

A little PB and J?

Upon much debate over the previou two days... at work that morning I settled on a plan. I had filled the rest of the time with all the activities Nicole wanted to do or I thought she should see in the area. When Nicole arrived that morning I was very impressed with my newly developed schedule.

Wednesdsay approach and we decided to head to Puerto Viejo during the day. We ran and caught the 12 o'clock bus and arrived promptly at 12:30 just in time for lunch. A favorite in that area is called bread and chocolate. Nicole enjoyed a fabulous peanut butter sandwich while I enjoyed a BLT... I looveee BLT's... hmm hmm goood.

After lunch we wandered around town so she could see the difference of night and day. We sat on the beach and talked and took in the beauty of the area.. Did a little souvenir shopping.. I found a ring for $90 I wanted.. go figure.. something new.. still not being able to afford things.. how fun!!

Finishing with a brownie and ice cream before heading back to Cahuita to once again be running to yoga. We took a taxi.. which we paid to much for... but enjoyed the class in the end which was much more important!!

Coral Reef

On Tuesday we decided we would have dinner at Coral Reef. It is the last good restaurant that is open on Tuesday's.. Since I worked till 8 that night we had a late start, yet still a good one. Of course dinner was filled with laugher and chatter..

We went next door and were going to have a cocktail at Coco's but decided to head out on bikes. Earlier that day, Nicole gave riding the bike a go. It was quite painful and hilarious to watch. Painful because we were going so slow that I kept falling off my bike... I still don't know how she stayed on riding the slow! And hilarious because of how slow and how focused she was.... just like any good student, and the good student she is.. Nicole improved with flying colors and was ready to fly like the wind that night.

I wasn't to into the idea of riding all over town at night.. but thought it would be fun to ride to black beach near my house and quickly show her how beautiful the water is at night. We weren't going to stay long and didn't... but she did get to see the beauty of the beach underneath the moonlit sky!! Troy took some pictures of us being silly at the beach!

Hiking in the National Park

Tuesday arrived and Sabina asked if she could work that morning. I said yes of course. She will now be working Tuesday morning shifts as well. She was very accommodating and helped me out a lot by taking a lot of hours for me so I could spend time with Nicole.

So Tuesday morning we decided to hike in the National Park since we had quite a bit of time. We did however get off to a late start. We left the cabina at around 9:30 and headed into town for some breakfast at Annette's. We had this chocolate coffee drink and the waffles with fruit. This was the first time I had the waffles and was quite satisfied. We finally hit the road at around 11. We took our time seeing the beautiful views, taking pictures, enjoying our time. It was absolutely perfect weather.

Halfway to our desired destination we ran into a guide who mentioned he had seen sloths up on the left had side... This to me seemed to make sense.. of course he meant our left.. Then Nicole was like which left?? I wasn't so sure at that point since what he didn't mention was the exact location. We were lucky enough and they were on our left! It was so incredible. It was a mother and a baby three fingered sloth. They were in touching distance, so close. We took about a thousand pictures trying to get the best one. We were blinded by the sun but kept trying.

After standing and taking 100 pictures of the sloths, we kept walking on to reach our destination. Of course stopping along the way for photo opportunities.

I have told you about this spot before... it's very secluded takes around 2 hours to reach and is like swimming in calm bathwaters with the most gorgeous views. It was calm, we swam, relaxed. Sometimes on the beaches here you get Europeans who feel the need to take their tops off. One time I watched two topless women practicing some sort or martial arts on the beach and thought to myself this would be a perfect photo opportunity!! Who does that? On this particular day, this woman really thought she was in a bath! She paraded herself around naked.. entirely naked on the beach... We couldn't help but laugh.. who does that?