A Thousand Different Versions of Yourself: Costa Rica

8/11/17

The next day, I went to the town of Quepos and explored, although there wasn’t much to see. 

another beautiful stray mutt

I quickly started my trip back the few miles to Manuel Antonio, but a group of kids from Israel asked me for directions to the national park and offered me a ride to my hostel. I went out to the beach near my hostel and enjoyed reading while the afternoon thunderstorm was approaching. 

A man came by with two of the most adorable dogs, one of them came up and snuggled against me while the german shepherd dropped an empty coconut at my feet to play fetch. It turns out that he speaks French (the owner, not the dog) and we could communicate.

How can I say no?

A total downpour thunderstorm began in a matter of seconds, and I ran back to the hostel unsure of what I’d do for the night. Pratik sent me a message that Johnny would be driving him down the coast to see a few small towns and asked me to come.

Caught in the Storm

I was covered in sand from playing fetch with the dogs, and soaking wet, but I showered in about 5 minutes and was out the door riding with Johnny and Pratik. Johnny wore a thick chain around his neck, many rings on his fingers, and a fedora. We listened to Spanish rap on the road, while Pratik used what Spanish he could to communicate among the three of us. Johnny kept getting calls to his phone where he would pickup and just say "hola. Dominical. Chow. " 

First, we stopped in Dominical and I absolutely loved it. It’s a Hippie surfer town with yoga studios, eclectic bars, a roaring river with crocodiles, and very few people. There’s a substantial group of ex-pat Americans and Europeans (mainly french), and I realized that this is where I wanted to spend my last day and a half in Costa Rica. I decided I’d pack up my things and catch the bus there in the morning, even though it’s an hour further away from the airport. Pratik had a similar idea, but would come at a later time.

Second, We stopped in Uvita, which is a village that’s the center for whale watching because the whales head there to breed and give birth. Johnny tried to drive us into the park after hours, and when the men there told him to leave he yelled “tranquillo papi!”

We drove even further to make a third stop in Ojochal, another ex-pat village but this time full of Canadians and Europeans, with some of the top restaurants. There really was nothing to the village, it was very remote, but we took a turn up a steep hill (Pratik’s hat fell off) and found ourselves at the only Indonesian restaurant in all of central America, YlangYlang.

The restaurant overlooks the ocean, so we could see the continual lightning across it. Its is situated in a Dutch couple’s outdoor living room, and the wife was born in Indonesia. They met in Holland, and decided to move ‘somewhere in the wet tropics’ but had no specific idea where. They arrived in Costa Rica without ever having seen it, rented a car, and stopped driving in Ojochal.

the ocean view with lightning

Our hosts said that each family in Indonesia has different tasting meals because their gardens are slightly different, but our dinner was from “Maria” and the recipes were over 80 years old. Costa Rica is on the same latitude as Sumatra, so they are able to grow every one of their spices on site. It’s good that we came in the rainy season, because apparently they only serve 12 people in total per night and they are completely booked from Christmas through may.

Our Rendang beef dish had over 30 diffferent spices, and the other components of the meal each had 13. The dessert, almond mandarin cake, was made without any eggs somehow.

8/12/17

Saturday I woke up and hitched a ride up to quepos where I took a bus to dominical. The first thing to know about Dominical is the roads are unpaved, and in the rainy season that causes some issues. 

I walked to my hostel, “Cool Vibes” hostel, in the rain and I was beginning to be covered in mud. When I arrived, I learned that the owner was French, and so was everyone else staying in the hostel because of the French owner.

 

Immediately the longest and most severe rainstorm I experienced in Costa Rica began, and the ‘roads’ were flooding. After waiting a little, I had the itch to explore and went into town in all the quick-dry gear I had available to wear.

the only 'road' to my hostel

The painted Sidewalks

One of the Yoga Studios

the "town"

A Coffee shop with swings for seats

There was a little natural foods co-op that was started by a man who told me he’s been traveling for the last 17 years. His co-owner came in while we were talking and insisted that I try the 'famous' Mama Toucans ice cream. 

We talked about the Costa Rican dogs and how amazing they are. Each Costa Rican dog, stray or not, is more friendly than you could imagine. They are entirely independent, and I never saw a leash used in my entire time there. The dogs roam freely, stray or not, so they have a greater likelihood of injury from cars or wild animals, but an improved quality of life. Just like a human, they thrive with independence (and not being locked in a house all day), so their life has the capability of being much more free and meaningful. 
It made me so happy to be walking down the road and to see a dog pass me, walking with a purpose, to his friend’s house. Sometimes they would decide to sit with you for your company at a restaurant, politely, while you eat. The dogs all get along with one another, they’ve spent their whole life interacting with people and other dogs. They provide for themselves and by humans who are willing, so being unfriendly would only hinder their survival chances. With such a lifestyle, the dogs have a more intense bond with their owners. Dogs in Costa Rica hardly have to be trained; they are so thankful for their owners taking them in and feeding them that they will stay by their side and know to wait outside a shop (if they’re not allowed inside) while their owner goes in. 

I went for a run after the storm calmed in the mud and rain. The way the lighting was was beautiful.

That night, Pratik had arrived in Dominical and would be staying at a yoga retreat called Danyasa. His room was a recycled shipping container called “the womb.”  We went to a local Brewery called Fuego, which was located in the forest (you’re at the level of the treetops), to reach it you walk in an alley, along a bridge lit by hanging lights, to an elevated lodge-like building that is all hardwood. There were hanging basket chairs and I had a glass of pineapple mango kombucha. Pratik and I had more great conversations and I enjoyed my last night in Dominical with a friend I won’t ever forget.

in the swinging chairs in my Costa Rican dress

8/13/17

I spent the morning on the beautiful beaches of Dominical before catching a shuttle to my hostel in San Jose.

I arrived around 8 PM to my hostel, which was one of the nicest one’s I’ve stayed at. All the people staying there were well into sharing a bottle of Guaro and dancing outside on the porch. The hostel manager showed me to my dorm room, and some of the girls staying there came to make sure that I felt welcome to come join them dancing. How could I say no to that?  Once again, there were groups of French people staying there and I got to practice my French. It was a great last night in Costa Rica.

 

           

8/14/17

The next morning I found my way to the bus stop where I could catch a bus for the airport. It was quite a feat to navigate the big city I hadn’t actually seen yet, and once I got on the bus that was a ‘direct’ route to the airport, this French couple and I realized that the bus didn’t actually stop at the airport. We had to plead with the driver to let us out on the side of the highway and all catch a cab towards the airport together.

            My travel struggles didn’t end there. A little after take off the plane was dropping enough in the air due to turbulence that luggage started to fly and people were screaming. If we had crashed then the last thing I was researching and reading about on my phone was “armadillo facts.” That would have been my last deep thought on this earth, thinking about armadillos and sleep habits.

            Regardless of the travel difficulties, I absolutely loved Costa Rica and I love the lifestyle there. It’s an incredibly beautiful place to experience and I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to go. Pura Vida!

I'm High On Emotion : Costa Rica

8/9/17

I cut my time short in Monteverde to head to Manuel Antonio earlier. I was ready to be back in warmer weather and on the beach!. When I got on the bus to head to Manuel Antonio, Pratik was on the same one! We talked for the next 5 hours straight on the way there, and had a truly special conversation, while snacking on Rambutan fruits and looking at the most beautiful mountains.  We made a bucket list of things to do in Manuel Antonio.

I told him about PA school and my cadaver lab. I told him how perfoming a craniotomy to remove the brain from my cadaver was one of the more meaningful experiences I had of all the time we spent with them. Of all the parts of the body that we worked with, this was the part that made the cadaver an individual and conscious human being  before they even 'met' us. This individual’s brain was the core of his ability to love people in his life, to have a personality, or to make decisions. The brain's nerve synapses and neurotransmitters form us as ever-changing-and-learning beings. We talked about how gaining experiences and traveling is such an overflow of learning and experiences in such a short time and a very unique way to challenge your brain and identity. This brought us to discuss how traveling's gift of varied experiences and diversified worldview contribute to an individual's maturity or internal strength.

 Pratik, who has seen the difficulties of marriage, and I spoke about the psychology of relationships, both romantic and otherwise, and the nature of how they change in your life. When in Monteverde, we had been at dinner with a group and we were all talking about how much we learn from traveling. We referenced  how coming home always feels bizarre, because everything looks and feels the same, but you’ve changed. Sometimes, your relationships seem to change with friends and family as they feel a sort of difference between you.  
As Pratik put it: “you say you can’t keep up, but I’m not trying to run.”
Everyone in the group had similar feelings: that staying close to home isn’t what we will want, because there’s so much more to see in life. It’s not that there’s nothing worthy to being at your home, or nothing great about your home and the people there, it’s that there’s no reason to stay there in fear of it changing or of missing something. The trade-off to staying at home or living in your comfort zone is more dire, and it’s missing out on opportunities to challenge your identity and to gain ingenuity and grit. 

So, I looked at Pratik on the bus and said “if so many divorces happen (and friendships end) because people ‘change’ or ‘want different things’ as they age, and then a major passion for myself and this group of backpackers is to travel and to capture experiences that inherently will change us,  how do we hold long lasting relationships? People will undoubtedly change regardless of travel, which is really just a compacted period of life experiences and internal change. 
Every aspect of our relationships in life is a reflection of the level of maturity or internal strength one has acquired. Pratik said that each phase of life as you grow is "slowly claiming your own self."

His answer was: “it’s about having a vessel that’s big enough for the two of you to grow. If both of you haven’t grown on your own beforehand and seen the need to build a bigger vessel from the start, then how could you build a vessel big enough to carry the both of you, in addition to your changes?”         

I then arrived at my hostel and met a guy staying in my dorm for the night, David. He’s Spanish, and his parents both went to medical school in America. He's becoming a lawyer in Spain and likes to backpack to experience a different lifestyle from his own. So, here he was staying in a co-ed dorm in Costa Rica with me, hiking uphill in the hot sun to buy some groceries. 

The Hostel Cat

I went to the beach in front of my hostel and saw all the Capuchin monkeys running around and climbing the trees. There was even a sloth in the trees right by my hostel.

 

My new friend David and I went to dinner in downtown Manuel Antonio with Pratik, and then a bar named Salinas, and we all had a blast getting to know each other more. I realized that after all David had told me about his life and family, I hadn’t bothered to ask the normal things (like his age). At dinner, we realized that David and Pratik really had a lot in common. 

The next morning I went to Manuel Antonio National park. I hiked around and looked at all the nature around me. I saw even more sloths and monkeys, in addition to crabs and lizards. Some French people told me that they had seen a crocodile in the cove that Pratik, David and I were encroaching on in our beach walk the night before.

 

 

The first beach I went to was beautiful but not great for swimming.

The second beach, Playa Manuel Antonio, is great for swimming but is overrun by mobs of "gangster" raccoons and monkeys that want to steal your belongings. The locals at the beach bring long rods that they can use to fend off these raccoons, because yelling or making noise is insufficient.  The monkeys are so clever that they will steal your backpack, or really any possession, and either take the food from it or use it to barter with you for food.

Leaving the park, I ran into Michael-the fellow dog lover-again. He and his friends were passing through Manuel Antonio on their way to Uvita, and happened to be at the beach at the same time as me. They gave me a ride home on their way.

I met with David and Pratik at Balu’s, a beach bar with outdoor seating where you can have a drink watching the sunset. It was breathtaking. 

Pratik told us that he had arrived early because he had acquired a ‘driver.’  The AirBNB he was staying in is maintained by a couple, who work for the owner (Pablo). Pablo is gone for huge amounts of the year, so when the wife saw a scrape on Pratik’s knee, she insisted that Tony take him to the pharmacy in the nearby town of Quepos (yes, for a scrape). Pratik noted Tony arrived in a car with tinted windows and made several "interesting" stops along the way. He learned enough about 'the boss,' Pablo, to become a little suspicious. Pablo has more than 12 homes across the world, not including his AirBNB’s. He speaks upwards of 7 languages including Portuguese, Italian, French, Mandarin, Croatian, English…and is a “man of technology.” He owns multiple restaurants and AirBNB’s, but we can only guess why…

We also couldn’t figure out why the couple was insisting on being so nice to Pratik, and were worried that they thought he saw something he shouldn’t have while staying at their home. So, the husband, Tony, insisted on being our driver for the next days in lieu of Pablo. 
Next, the three of us went to the airplane bar in town and had dinner,

The Airplane Bar, downtown Manuel Antonio

Here's a description of the history behind the airplane bar: 

"When the strike on the Sandinista of Nicaragua was being organized by the CIA in 1986, the anti-government Contras rebel groups were assisted in the purchase of two C-123 cargo plans that would be operated out of Costa Rica. One of those plans was shot down. That event led to the global discovery of what would become a well-known political scandal involving the Reagan Administration and Iranian arms deal that ultimately assisted in raising money for the Contras rebels.

The other aircraft survived and was later abandoned at the San Jose Airport following the end of the conflict." 

The Spaniard