Hi family and friends, Keely here from San Jose, Costa Rica. We just completed our week of free travel, which we spent in Puerto Viejo de Talamaca, a small beach town on the Caribbean coast. We had a low key week in this relaxed town, using rented bikes as transportation. (A shout out to Mike, who was kind enough to tote me around on the back of his bike due to my pathetic inability to ride one.)
Although it was a little difficult to find things to do in Puerto Viejo that did not involve partying, we did manage to set up some cool activites. Some of the group went on a Jaguar tour at the local animal shelter and got the chance to hold baby sloths and play with the monkies! The next day some of the group, myself included, went on a canopy/ziplining tour that included 20 platforms and a tarzan swing! This was definitely a highlight of the trip for me, and luckily we all survived the extremely tall platforms and the many ziplines. Other than that we got the chance to spend some time at the beach (when it wasn’t raining), shop at the many stands, watch a belly-dancing performance, and enjoy a sushi buffet at Chile Rojos as a group. Food was a big part of this week (as usual in our group) because there were so many delicious places to eat in town. I know that fruit Batidos are a group favorite.
Emotionally this began as a difficult week for the group, since two of our members went back to the U.S. But as usual the group has pulled through a rough time and in my opinion, has become closer because of it. We did our best to still have fun and enjoy our time in Puerto Viejo, even in the rain.
Free Travel ended today with a long bus ride back to San Jose, and in light of Becca’s 19th birthday we went out to an Asian restarant and after much anticipation saw the 7th Harry Potter movie. At 3 o’clock tomorrow morning we set off for the airport to fly to Honduras, our last stop in the trip! We are all in complete disbelief as to how soon we’ll be coming home and how fast this adventure has gone by. I have made great friends throughout this experience and we have all become very close. All we seem to talk about is how much we’re going to miss one another. But we are all looking forward to having a great last week in Roaton learning to SCUBA!!
Also, a belated Happy Thanksgiving from all of us to our family and friends!
