Hotel Esperanza Playa Samara

Time for an update! Amanda speaking.

So last week was pretty chill. We continued stuffing our faces with pastries, and we went into town on Wednesday to see Harry Potter. Luckily, the movie was in English with Spanish subtitles. Most of the class went, and it was a real treat becuase we ate at the mall food court before the movie, and they had all sorts of American fast foods. I personally enjoyed a delicious, long ...

... vans full of white kids didn't really get questioned so we were okay. It was a really long bus ride to Cuajiniquil so we did not arrive until it was dark outside. When we got to the hotel it seemed very dark and we were wondering why they hotel guys came out with headlamps on. Turns out the power was out for the whole city and had been for a few days now! After we dropped our bags in our rooms, in the dark, we then went to a family's house for dinner and had a fantastic candle ...

... it's become a reality! You learn that once you're accustomed to the Way of the Road, you can go anywhere, anytime, through just about any conditions...your patience and appetite for adventure are the only limiting factors (oh yeah, and dinero, but that's more of an exercise of correct prioritization, even if you work at Burger Barn). So that said, we bee-lined it back north (or west actually) to Costa Rica, and yep, I got a second speeding ticket on the way ...

... good with a wide variety of ladies. I'm talking to some guy from San Jose who is here on vacation also. I notice this young tica lady staring and smiling at me. So, I play hard to get ( not really) I hated to be rude to the dude from San Jose. However, she asks me for a light and thanks then tells me her name. We ended up making out and talking for awhile before it got late and her ex boyfriend and son showed up and started talking some ...

... I split ways after a few days (I was staying a couple weeks longer so decided to travel a different route). They went to Tamarindo and I stayed in La Fortuna a couple extra days and then I took the boat over to Monteverde with another girl traveling alone from Switzerland named Alessandra, although my friends showed me their photos from Tamarindo it looked incredibly beautiful! I ended up making my way down to Panama eventually instead.

... nur 4 km von La Fortuna entf**nt. Die Anlage (Eintritt 28 USD) v**fuegt ueb** ca. 20 klein**e und groess**e Th**malbecken unt**schiedlich** Temp**atur sowie 2 Pool Bars, dies allen inmitten tropisch** Gärten. Das heisseste Becken hat 47 Grad heisses Wass**, was ziemlich "heizt". ;-) Nach einem feinen Nachtessen im empfehlensw**ten Restaurant "Montaņa de Fuego" ging ein wass**reich** Tag mit Vulkan-Beobachten zu Ende. An diesem Abend mit mehr Lava und Gesteinsbrocken als am Tag zuvor.

... toward the Gulf of Nacoya (for those of you who look at maps). And then to one or two National Parks, looking for birds, not that we have not already seen some lovely ones, but I hear they are more spectacular inland. I will now try again to send some pictures, it does not work on every computer so, no promises.........I will set up a snapfish album when we return. Hasta Luego mi amigos y amigas

... s, loads of colourful and noisy birds, and 3 different types of lizards. Also the plants and flowers were really beautiful. Reaching the haven of the hotel at the bottom totally exhausted a round of well deserved beers and cokes were ordered. My legs were covered in volcanic mud up to my knees and most of my kit was splattered with mud and insects. After a swift cleanup operation I crashed in a hammock and slept. Woke up late at night and just had time to get some dinner and ...

... pretty special, we saw plenty white tip reef sharks, an assortment of sting rays and a disputable nurse shark. The only bad thing was that on our last dive when we looked up at the surface there seemed to be millions of jelly fish above us. We couldn't see to find an area where it was jellyfish-free, so we had to ascend to the surface within them. One got me on the face which was annoying. Lucking they were only small so it didn't hurt ...

... me well. May you grace the life of some other traveler who will fully appreciate your insectile appearance. Since it was such a difficult beach to get to, large stretches of Playa Grande were utterly deserted. It was nice not having to be extra-careful of our pile of stuff and have some space to walk and take pictures without running into other people. We stayed out on the beach till sunset, when we went back to the apartment to get ready for the turtle ...