Villa Gaia Dominical

We bid farewell to Rob and hit the road heading south. And of course it freaking rained. But in the afternoon we made it to a little Costa Rican beach town called Dominical. It was low season here as well (of course), but we found a cheap hotel, Tortilla Flats, on a dirt road right on the beach which was the hub of young tourist activity, which here was mostly young US ...

... and birds flutter about, pizote rustle in the bushes as I walk pass, and usually monkeys are playing overhead. I honestly expect Tarzan to come swinging by at any moment! I get to work by 7:00 where I spend the day working the reception, helping hotel guests and day guests who are signed up for tours. Im finished by 3:00pm and usually leave right after as thats the time the rain normally hits. There has been a day where it started earlier, unfortunately, and ...

... where we swam and relaxed after a couple of hikes in the park. We saw loads of wildlife and spent a total of 7 hours hiking and relaxing on the beach. I´ll list what we saw and add the best pictures: white faced monkeys, agoutis, racoons, bats, a deer (on the beach!) a baselisk lizard, various smaller lizards, iguanas and 3 sloths. The sloths are really hard to see as they perch very high in the trees and hardly move. Iain doesn´t like them but I think they are cute.

... a few drinks and an early dinner. We had a nap, then decided to go into the nearest big town called Quepos for a night out. First we went to a pub close to our hotel, but that wasn't really happening, so two locals we met suggested we go to Arco de Iris in Quepos. It was a big club and there when we arrived we were the only gringos in the place! On our final last day in Manuel Antonio, we just relaxed. We ate nice meals in the local restaurants, swam and relaxed on the beach ...

... the most amazing pair of eyes and let us take pics through his binoculars. A praying mantis, lots of sloths, Jesus Christ lizards, white faced monkeys, Iguanas galore....and all this is along the coast with beautiful beaches. The town beach is nice too, waves for the first time! We didn't have time for a surfing lesson, but the next place..I think that we came here at the right time though. The forcast was awful, even though we have had perfect ...

So. I´ve finally arrived in Costa Rica. For those of you that don´t know much about this place (which I didn´t before I came here), it is a little country in Central America, bordered to the North by Nicaragua and to the South by Panama. I was surprised to learn that there are only 4 million people here, 1/4 of whom live in the capital city of San Jose. Just a bit of trivia ...

... The longer, thicker, and shinier the hair, the more beautiful you are. For example, Jazmin, my most popular 5th grade girl, has gorgeous hair all the way down to her butt. And even though it always seems that someone is helping her to get it untangled from being caught on a chair or fence or something, her hair is one of the most beloved things in my little town. My hair was also something of a wonder, it being long and lighter than most people's ...

... happy to have someone take the time to teach them the Bible and let me tell you the Bible teach book is amazing because even though we don´t speak the language well the book explains things so clearly and gives such amazing illustrations that you barely have to explain anything at all. Acting also comes in handy to express words and thoughts. I was studying with a young girl and was trying to explain the scripture where Jesus healed the man who was infirm for 38 years and he got up, picked ...

Another great day of some surfing, sun tanning, eating, and chilling out. Thats pretty much all we did all day, it was great. I'm not gonna be around on Valentines day, so Chelsea and I decided to make today Valentines day. We had a great and relaxing day together. Chelsea had the idea of making a fire on the beach for the sunset. After making sure we weren't going to be thrown in jail for it, we ...

... out of here! Not a comfortable situation as we are the minority here!! He takes his bag and is gone!! You can't trust anyone here!! Always a good story though!! Our rest of the trip was calm and uneventfull, except for the views!. We picked up extra oil just incase but never needed it. The car ran perfect and the dash was stroked alot and patted in appreciation !! I even promised the car a good washing if it brought us home safe and sound!! Which I did the next morning at 7 am!!