Kayaking through the ocean

I will preface this by saying, I made it out alive. We decided to do what we thought would be a nice journey kayaking out to an island. The island looked really cool and we wanted to go check it out. Here is a pciture of the island we ventured out to.

We rented out the kayaks this morning and set out to the island. As you can tell in this picture, the water looks pretty calm so we were not worried at all. We decided to loop around the entire island and that was where we made a major mistake.

The calm water made us think the water would be the same the whole way around the island. We were very wrong. After I got about half way around the island my kayak started going over some huge waves. They were not breaking yet so it was okay but it made me a little nervous. Next thing I know, some massive rocks/cliffs start appearing in front of us. We tried turning around because we weren't too sure how to get around them. Once we started turning around we realized that the waves were starting to break on these huge rocks. I turn to look back behind me and I see a wave 2 times the size of me coming quickly towards me. I see that it is starting to break and I panic. I paddled as fast as I could to the side of the wave to get out of the white water.

I have never been so scared as I was in those few minutes. I started thinking about what would happen if the wave broke on me and threw me into one of the rocks or cliffs. (Mom, I debated telling you this but it is part of my abroad experience so just focus on the fact that I am safe haha love you!) It took about 2 hours before my heart came out of my stomach. I was almost in tears when it was happening and everyone in my group was really shaken up. It was quite the experience and I am just very happy that I made it out alive and kicking! Costa Rican adventures got the best of me today.

Surfing and Snorkeling in La Playa Samara

We are officially in paradise. This is Samara and it is absolutely breathtaking! We are staying in an all inclusive resort on the beach and I am in heaven. Surfing, snorkeling and kayaking are all included in the program fee so we are all about to live it up these next few days. My group mates and I are staying in little houses along the beach that the resort owns. They are very nice and we were shocked when we walked inside. Here is a picture of our place,

I am about to head out to surf and snorkel today and we are going kayaking to an island in the ocean tomorrow. The pool here has a swim up bar so I know we will be planning on hitting that after the exhausting yet fun day we have ahead of us! Miss you all but LOVING it here!

Jumping off the waterfall

Here I am about to jump off the waterfall, I couldn't get any higher because I was slipping on the moss was that was growing. The swimming hole was so cold, it took alot to swim across it in order to climb the waterfall and jump off. My brothers would have been in heaven at this waterfall and it made me miss them a lot while being there and thinking about sharing the experience with my family.

As you can see ^ I was a little nervous about making sure I jumped in the right area. My mom has told me way to many horror stories of people jumping off cliffs or bridges into the water and landing on logs or various things. The guy who led our hike instructed me where to jump then I double checked and jumped before I got too scared. It was really fun but my whole body went numb once I hit the water. My family and roommates have been telling me they are proud of my adventurous side coming out and can't wait to tell them even more of the cool things I have been able to do!

Moonlight hikes and nights in the jungle

We headed back to the jungle for a few days after Puerto Viejo and it was not an easy change of scenery. Once we got use to the beach, surfing and lighting, it was hard to go back to the secluded jungle. Luckily, we are only going back for 3 nights before heading to La Playa Samara. I should not hate on being in the jungle because we loved it at first but once we got to explore the Caribbean coast here in Costa Rica, it was hard to leave.

Sleeping and hanging out in the jungle has tested me in many ways. Before this trip I was pretty scared of even the smallest of bugs. Now I realize that bugs and insects are the last thing I need to be worrying about. We walked out of our bungalow today to see an eye lash viper snake sitting underneath our hammock. This is a poisonous snake that could potentially kill us if we got bite and did not get to the hospital immediately. Here is the group that all came running when we saw it,

Needless to say, I have gained more bravery than I ever thought I would. I do enjoy waking up to the monkey noises and watching them in the trees. We went on a night hike through the jungle with just our head lamps and we were able to see some sloths and monkeys then too. Before this trip I don’t think someone could have paid me to go into the jungle with just a head lamp on to simply see animals that would potentially scare me to death. I have now conquered some of those fears although I still get a little nervous being out in the dark jungle.

Service project at La Playa Chiquita Escuela

We had the privileged of doing a service learning project at La Playa Chiquita Escuela. They showed us what we would be helping with and introduced us to a few of the kids. Within the first 5 minutes of being there a sweet little girl named Maya kept staring at me. She didn’t speak any English so I tried using the Spanish I do know to communicate with her. After we finished talking a little she ran off and I was kind of confused. Then she started running back with a handful of flowers that she handed to me. I almost started crying because it was such a precious gesture.

Our tasks for the day were to help finish the new building that the school had just been given. We were working with cement, sanding and painting. I was able to do all three things but enjoyed making the cement structures in the windows the best.

For lunch the families of the school served us a lunch made especially by them. It was very good and the adorable little kids were coming in asking if we wanted seconds or more juice. The whole time I was at the school I had the biggest smile on my face. I have realized over the past few years that I am very passionate about children.

After our work was done at the school we had the afternoon free. A few of us decided to head to the beach to swim and try surfing again. The waves were VERY big today and there were even red flags in parts of the water where people weren’t allowed to swim. We went over to the more calm area in order to be safe. It was a very fun afternoon but after all of our activities we were beyond exhausted.

These were the size waves that we were riding. Sadly, I wasn't able to get any pictures of me surfing because we were all in the water but hopefully I can get someone to take some on La Playa Samara!

Going out dancing!

While in Puerto Viejo we went out dancing a lot. There were so many cool little places to go hangout on the beach, we were in heaven. We went to Johnny’s, Mangos, Oshiis and some belly dancing bar. It was very fun to test out our Costa Rican dance moves in these places. A lot of them are half in door and half outdoor. Almost all of them are right on the beach and we enjoyed going to them during the sun set because it was the most beautiful sites. This is one of the belly dancers from a bar we were at,

People in Puerto Viejo are very friendly and were not as aggressive as other people we had encountered so we were relieved. This was the first city that we actually met friends that were locals and were able to continue hanging out with them. We got the biggest kick out of all trying to speak the others language. They were able to show us the fun places to go as well as make sure we didn’t go anywhere unsafe. Here is the crew that normally went out dancing,

We were shocked to realize that in one of the dance clubs, Mango, they only played popular American songs. Our whole group died laughing listening to the Costa Ricans singing along to these songs. Other the other bars played only Reggae music so this was a little change from what we had gotten used to. The music scene here is incredible and dancing is very popular. We thoroughly enjoyed our nights out but the late nights catch up with me when we go surfing the next day.

Surfing La Playa Chiquita and La Playa Negra

Surfing has to be my favorite part of the entire trip! This was my second time going surfing so I did a little better than I thought. The waves were much bigger than I could have ever expected but I did my best to stay up on as many as I could. Our two surf instructors on this day were pro surfers. They had long crazy hair but they were pretty cute for Costa Ricans. Our group was all a little nervous but they did a good job of calming us down. Only four of us actually went surfing because the others were scared that they may get hurt since there was a reef where we were surfing. The surf instructors took us out on La playa Chiquita and La Playa Negra. Both beaches were just beyond beautiful. The one beach had a massive cliff to the left of where we were surfing which was intimidating. We practiced outside of the water at first and then once we got the positions down we went out into the water. Here is a picture of our surf boards and instructors before we went out in the water,

My board was smaller than the one I used the first time which made it easier to carry around but little did I know it makes it harder to get up on. Jordan was my surf instructor and he took me way out to where the waves weren’t breaking any more and explained that he was going to push me into a wave and yell “get up” when I needed to get in position. I was able to catch the first wave but I did not get my feet fully centered so I fell after riding it for a little. Here is us with our surf instructors after the first day,

The next few I was able to get up on and ride all the way in. I slowly progressed to bigger and bigger waves until I started getting scared that I was going to die in the washer machine that the waves create. Sadly, one of my friends that went with us was not able to get up at all but she just enjoyed watching all of us try for these huge waves and get crushed by some of them. It seemed to be the bigger the wave, the harder the fall. The big waves were the most fun ones to ride. After we felt confident with our surf guides on the big waves, they let us try some on our own. I paddled out to a decent size wave and hoped up when I felt it pulling me in like my instructor told me. At first I didn’t think I was going to catch it because I hesitated but before I knew it I was riding the wave all the way into shore. After about 2 more hours of this we were exhausted and ready to call it a day. It had to be the happiest I have been in about a year and I can’t wait to surf again in Samara!