The trip to paradise

So, when Alberto told me about going to the beach I was really excited! The stories I heard from Daniel were still in my head and I couldn't wait to get to the beautiful beaches of Costa Rica. We took the car and picked up Lawina, the indian intern and were off on a 3 hrs road trip to Manuel Antonio. It's a National Park at the Pacific Ocean and supposedly a very beautiful place. On the road I realized what how the streets in Costa Rica actually are. I mean of course it's not an Autobahn, but hey, you don't have to stop because of big holes or broken bridges. The closer we got to the Pacific, the warmer it got and when we arrived in Quepos the shorts were back on track :). Our dinner at Chicken Bros was interesting and the first encounter with a bug in my food was a nice welcome to paradise :). The hostel we stayed at was actually pretty cool :). It was very cheap (10 $ p.p) and the rooms had nothing but beds a shelf and a fan, backpackers paradise as it called itself :). We drank our first Pilsen and then took off to a party close by with a lot of foreigners and the always needed locals with dreads or long hair. Later that night we enjoyed more Pilsen (at that point warm) and talked for a couple of hours. When we went to bed we realized how warm it actually was and couldn't wait for the incredible sweaty night ahead, omg!

The next morning was, as suspected, really hot and not even the fan was helping. We rushed out of the room to get a nice breakfast with gallo pinto, eggs and fruit. We then headed out to get to the national park Manuel Antonio and the beaches. Foreigners, as always, have to pay more for the entrance, and I was very lucky to get my change back only in coins... (omg, they have big coins), well at least we have som cash for the toll on our way back, I thought. The park has lots of plants of course and is supposed to be home to various animals. We did not see too many animals but were lucky to see a green snake, which is very rare. Being very excited about getting to the beach, I confused a corrugated sheet of roof as the blue water and was really confused when I saw the house beneath it. But it was not short afterwards when we arrived at the actual beach. My first thought really was: wow, this is what paradise looks like. Blue water, palm trees everywhere and a nice beach (and of course the girls in the bikinis :P). We rushed down to the water and I was really pleased by the water temperature: not too cold but also not too warm. After our fist dip we walked to the next beach, just on the other side of the peninsula and I met my first iguana that day :). The other beach was even better than the one we enjoyed before. It was almost completely empty and had much higher waves and the water there was a bit warmer or at least if felt that way.
We stayed for about an hour and I enjoyed the scenery so much it burnt a picture in my head. I guess now every time I go somewhere the beach will not live up to my expectation. At appr. 1 we headed back to the hotel and took a refreshing cold shower, oh wow that felt good! On our way back to San José, we stopped at a bridge where crocodiles can be spotted and I saw my first real life crocs. (Finally I know what Crocodile Dundee was talking about :P). Back home we freshened up and celebrated Albertos sisters birthday with the family, a great way to experience the family life.

Our next stop that night was a AIESEC party at the MC house, where I would finally meet the members and interns of LC UCR. We obviously bought some sixpacks of beer and headed down to the party. Tatiana was so kind to give us a lift to the house and joined us for some beers. We met a lot of people and were experiencing the latin way of dancing. In the end AIESEC partys are a bit the same, you drink talk, dance (here it was the normal way :)) and eat special food made by the interns.