Playa Sámara

This weekend, Beth, Katie and I traveled to Samara Beach.

We left on Thursday in order to get in as much sun as possible. It took us about 4 hours on a bus to get there, but it was totally worth the travel. Our bus got to Samra around 10:30 pm and we headed to our hotel...or so we thought. After walking for about 30 minutes down a pretty deserted road (only people were guys making cat calls to us) we finally came to the conclusion that we were lost. We thought we were following the map we had looked at that morning, but apparently we had taken a wrong turn somewhere along the road. We mustered up the courage and asked a few people along the road where Casa del Mar (our hotel) was and they didn´t know - not a good sign if you ask me. Then we heard some music and saw what seemed to be a bar. It wasn´t. It was someone´s back yard. But they were very nice and directed us the way to our hotel. They even gave us a map of the tiny town. We hoped that this wasn´t a sign of what was to come the rest of the weekend.

Once we found our hotel, we discovered that it was literally right across from the beach!! We knew things were looking up then. Unfortunately, everything in the town closes early, so we went to bed without eating.

On Friday, we headed out early to get some breakfast and to maximize the sun. And did I ever get sun! That´s kind of an understatement. I GOT FRIED!!! And before you pass judgement - yes I put on sunscreen...I just might have forgotten to re-apply the sunscreen to my back and the backs of my legs. Needless to say, the remainder of the trip I did all I could to protect the back of me from the sun. But it was to no avail. The damage had been done and I´ve been in pain for the past three days. I can barely walk...it´s bad enough that I didn´t even go to my project today! I feel awful, but the reality of the whole thing is that I couldn´t stand the pain of the kids jumping on my back or tickling my stomach (as both occur daily). I´m applying a constant stream of aloe and lotion and am hoping to feel better tomorrow. The bus ride back was excrutiating - but I´m geting ahead of myself. Back to the beach...

This beach was amazing! Not very crowded, and most people there were locals. Of course there were plenty of tourists, but it´s not a big tourist spot which made the experience just that much better. Our hotel provided beach towels and beach chairs. We also had a private beach access which made it feel like we had our own little private area. It was great!!

Friday night (after spend the whole day in the sun) we went to a bar called Tabanuco. It was reggae night. They had a live reggae band and also a DJ. I had a great lemonade - they make them so much better down here than in the states! We had a great time watching all the drunk people dancing. You can learn a lot about people by watching. We came away feeling like we knew some of the people. Hahaha! Our favortie people to watch were: woman in a sarong dancing in the front (sometimes with her husband & sometimes alone), two sailor men (not really sailors, but both dressed in white pants and blue shirts), blondie (all that needs to be said), and two high girls. It was a good night ;)

Saturday consisted of more sun. I didn´t last quite as long as the day before due to the burn...but I did my best to burn the front of me as well. Haha will I ever learn? We did a little shopping at the little shops along the road where I bought a dress and a hammock - I know...I succomed. I just hope I have a place to hang it wherever I´ll be living when I get back home to the states. It was really hot when we were walking around so it felt great to get back into the ocean. Beth and I wanted to take surf lessons, but when I asked around, they said they weren´t doing them today since there was going to be a surf competition to raise money for the local kids later on. Sadly the waves never got big enough for the competition, but we still missed out on learning how to surf on one of the best beaches to learn. ARG! Oh well...I have 4 more weekends here to get to a beach and learn.

Sunday, Beth and I went horse-back riding along the beach and up in the mountains. It was so fun! The horses ran along then beach, and then it was a slow walk up the mountains. We saw monkeys, iguanas, birds swooping down to catch fish in the shallow water, and some kind of spider-thing. And the view from the clifs were AMAZING!! The horses wanted to get closer to the cliffs than we did, but they weren´t too inclined to obey our commands to stay away, so we just had to trust they wouldn´t make us fall. It probably wasn´t the best activity for someone with uber sunburned legs, but it was fun! I wasn´t going to miss out on the opportunity just because of a little sun.

Then Sunday at 2 we headed back to San Jose. It had only taken us 4 hours to get to the beach from San Jose, but we had traffic the entire way back which made the ride over 5 1/2 hours! Sitting on a freaking hot bus (no air conditioning of course) with a sun burn for that long is not fun. I was in so much pain by the time we finally got off the bus I declined going to dinner with Katie and Beth and took a cab straigh home to be plastered with aloe. It was probably one of the most miserable 5 1/2 hours I´ve ever had!! But alas, it´s over. And so is another week here! I can´t believe it´s already been 2 weeks!! Only 4 more left. I have so much more I want to do while I´m here too.