Today is day 22 of the 80 day world trip - we are now one quarter way through our haerenga and visiting the second country of 18 that we will visit. The past 7 days we have spent in Costa Rica. It's a small ish country located in Central America between Nicaragua and Panama. Full of tropical forests, beaches and volcanoes, Costa Rica has both the Pacific and Caribbean oceans at its shores.
Upon arrival into San Jose, we were met by my lovely friend and sister from SWY25 Costa Rican delegation who I met in January and we became good friends beginning in Nagasaki where we were paired together for 2 day homestay. Gloriana Araya and her fiance, David are our hosts for the week! (muchas gracias my friends!)
During our travels in Costa Rica, we ventured to Volcan Poas, one of the many volcanoes close by San Jose with great views of the crater, nature and some wildlife. But it was not meant to be as we couldn't see a thing with cloud forests covering up the views, kei te pai though, it's about the journey as well, not just the destination! We came down the maunga and stopped for lunch, buying fresas (strawberries) that were so good and fresh, and tried our first Casada which has rice and beans (a staple here in CR) salad, some potatoe type thingy, grilled plantain (it's like the savoury cousin to the banana) and some pollo (chicken) - YUM! Really good food... and the prices are quite reasonable, for one of those plates (which is a humungous serving) is about $6USD. They use colones here though, so 1000 colones is $2 US dollars. It looks like Monopoly money and is kind of confusing when you think you're rich as with 50,000 not even.
We ate really well in Costa Rica and went out for dinner to Olio, a Spanish tapas bar and drank beautiful Spanish red wine with our friends. This is right up mine and Tu's alley! My friend Glori gave us a tour of San Jose city and we visited some of the markets. Quite different markets to Lima... Lima was rich in colours and textiles and Indigenous art works which we didn't see much of here in CR. Glad that we were able to get some of our art pieces from Lima. On Tuesday night we had a party at Glori's house - all the Costa Ricans from the SWY delegation came over. It was so good to see them and catch up again. Quite surreal being with all these crazies again! We all reminised of the good times and memories we shared on the Ship for World Youth. Reflecting on that trip seems like a distant memory and experience and now seeing my Costa Rican whanau, I feel grateful for the SWY experience...
Glori and David are the beautiful people who we have been staying with the past few days and they invited us to take us to La Marta - a rainforest and river in the mountains about 2 hours from San Jose. We arrived and hiked into a river where David and Glori got engaged - a very special place for these two and we could feel the wairua and aroha. It was so nice to swim in the freezing waters of the river - we felt rejuvenated and refreshed, connecting with Pacha Mama (Papatuanuku) and the fresh water river. It was a nice shared moment with my beautiful friend Glori and her soon to be husband.
Being with the SWY whanau, Tu and I were invited to celebrate the birthday of the Japanese Emperor. A swanky midday event, with officials, politicians and foreigners (and Maori's!). The most formal clothes we had, we rocked it. Remembering that we have packed one 20kg bag each, for three months, catering to beach & mountains, so we didn't have room for heels or number ones. It was a great gig with sushi, tempura and sashimi all round and of course sake, vino and umishu. Once again, Costa Zealand could be found by the bar. It was a great time to catch up with the Costa Ricans, and meet parents of my CR friends who are politicians. Speaking of which, my dear friend Glori, well her father is running for president in Costa Rica. A good looking man with a brilliant smile is scattered across San Jose on gigantic bilboards campaigning for presidency which will be decided in Feb 2014. Good luck Johnny Araya, all the best from Aotearoa!
We ended the week in Puerto Viejo - one of the most hippest (and potentially, hippiest hehe), chilled out, relaxed, surfy, reggae, rastafari beaches I've been to. It was so nice. It's on the caribbean coast not far from Limon. My good friend Nelson (from SWY25 Costa Rica) organised us to go down to this place for the weekend. We took two buses travelling about 5 hours from San Jose. Taking a bus at 6am for a 5 hour trip is not ideal let me tell you, but once you step off that second bus into Puerto Viejo - it is instantly worth the trip.
We stayed at a cute hostel on the main drag for $10 US a night and tried the famous rice and beans and caribbean chicken for lunch which was quickly followed by a liquid second lunch :) we thought that we'd take advantage of the night life and head out to some bars - real Hawai'i feel here, with the island time and chillaxness. The music is of reggae and salsa varieties mixed into one; and of course the US pop smut that we're all used to. We had a great night out dancing and drinking and playing pool with a Jamaican brother. Tried some street food of chicken skewers and didn't get sick (bonus! haha). The next day, feeling somewhat under the weather, we took our beach cruiser bikes that we hired for $5 and cycled through the country roads from Puerto Viejo to Punta Uva beach. Such a beautiful place...
We swam and drank coconut water from fresh coconuts and ate patti (meat filled pastry... much like a mince savoury) and pondered life... So blessed to be living this life of ours. Never taken for granted, always appreciate it and always thinking about home and our families & friends.
Tu and I loved Costa Rica, such a different vibe to the other places we've visited and so special to share it with the SWY Costa Rica whanau. Thank you to all my SWY whanau for an awesome experience, we will be back to CR soon x
No comments:
Post a Comment