This too is something that has already been written. Marvel and I went to Costa Rica in May 2008 for a little summer get away. I thought I'd share another of our adventures. This one in the real Jungle. Enjoy =)
Published May 16, 2008
Costa Rica. A country that meets both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, is nudged between Nicaragua and Panama. It is roughly the size of South Carolina, yet takes at least 18 hours to reach either border and 3 hours to the coast from the center in San José.
I was fortunate enought to spend the past 4 days in the beatiful sun and warmth of said country with my mother. We stayed in San José a city, with no beach. (which is not exactly what i had in mind for my Costa Rican vacation, let me tell you). So obviously the beach, with sand and more sun was a must.
Here is where the story gets interesting. There was a tour through our hotel place to the Pacific coast, for beaches and ocean swimming, etc. $125 per person. Pretty Pricey for a trip to the beach, right? Marvel and I aren't really into wasting money, so she decides that instead we rent a car (against everyone else's warnings) for $75 and make our own tour. Woohoo!! So we head out on Tuesday morning, with some books, stuff for the beach, a map of Costa Rica and our rented car. Well there aren't really street signs there, but as long as you know where you're going it's all good.
Incident 1. We're driving along. The rental car agent had warned us to bring passports in case we got pulled over. Mommy says, "I'm not going to get pulled over." Sure enough, Marvel drives 80 kmh in a 60 zone --unintentionally--and we get pulled over. Well, shit. With the language barrier I thought it would be super difficult. Not so much. I understood that we had the option of paying the cop a $20 dollar ticket, paying the rental agency $30 for the ticket, or my personal favorite: paying the cop $20 and NO ticket!!! we took the latter and continued on our way.
We made it to the beach, a Marriott hotel//resort that we snuck into and pretended like we belonged there. It was lovely. We had lunch at a little local restaurant, where this man was shamelessly flirting with Marvel-cuz she's hot or something. and then went to the natural park that was our main destination.
Incident 2. The park was closed when we got there, but we stopped for drinks before heading back to the city. It gets really dark there, like at 6, and we had a 3 hour drive back to San José starting at 5. To summarize my first 19280128 paragraphs: Everything was fine until it got dark.
Incident 3. A wrong turn on our way back to San José puts us on a road we didn't recognize, but instead of turning around we continue; but ask for directions... ? One road leads to another (literally) and about 45 minutes later we are sufficiently lost on the Costa Rican roads without numbers or road signs and it's getting worse. All of a sudden the road ends, and we are now driving along an unpaved, one-laned, dirt road. That climbs up and up and up the side of a mountain. Meanwhile, I'm in the jungle trying to navigate in the dark. (And I mean dark. New York has given me a complex about what night looks like. It gets so effing dark everywhere else!!)
Before my little story comes to a close, because obviously I'm fine, I'd like to say that it was at the top of a mountain, on a dirt road, in the jungle, on a very dark night, that Marvel and I wander into a cantina of sorts and ask for directions to San José. On a Paved road. Preferably with lights. We spent an extra hour that night being lost on a dirt road. I was traumatized, it was not fun. But I can look back and laugh at it now, as long as it NEVER happens again.
And then on Wednesday I was on top of another mountin, where I zip-lined through trees on a canopy tour. Basically this trip rocked, minus when it was dark out!! <3
*This has already been written
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