Jersey Shore Christmas in Costa Rica

Feliz Navidad!

On Christmas Eve we followed one of Matty's traditions by making pizzas at home. We ended up finding some pre-made pizza packages at the store along with Canadian bacon, pepperoni and queso! They were actually quite delicious. After dinner Matty and I tried to go to a work Christmas party but got lost...in the dark...on the motorcycle. We ended up driving around on a road very similar to Last Dollar in Telluride, only instead of being surrounded by aspen trees, a cool breeze and sweet forest critters we were surrounded by jungle snakes, mutant bugs the size of my hand and sucking the moist dust out of the air. After a 30 minute excursion we gave up and headed home. It all worked out for the best though - we hung out at home with Morgan and watched Christmas cartoons!

Early Christmas morning I woke up and gave Reagan some lovin'. Upon doing so, I found a couple of ticks on her. "No big deal" I thought, until I saw a bunch of little tiny babies crawling around on the floor - seriously, a ton. We spent the next hour picking ticks off of the walls in our room. They have been hiding in the crevasses of the textured walls. I would swear that we found 175 of them...but Matty said it was closer to 50 - I might exaggerate. Every morning since then, we have found less and less crawling off of her, which we're hoping is a good sign. Our theory is that a Mama tick had babies on her and they are feeding and leaving to "hibernate." Poor Rae Rae. She'll be getting a flea dip this week.

Following our Christmas morning extermination, I received a beautiful locally made necklace from Matty :) and a 6-pack of BamBoo from Morgan - it was bound to be a good day. We made eggs benedict (my absolute favorite) and smoothies for breakfast  with the blender that I got Matty for Christmas. I know it sounds like a SUPER lame and way too domesticated gift, but he had seriously been asking for one! We spent the rest of our Christmas day preparing dishes for the Pool Party Potluck later. I made mango salsa and Matty made some form of potato au gratin? Whatever it was, it was delicious. In the midst of chopping, our friends Jon & Nicole (who also manage Villa Las Tecas) walked into our house with their new puppy! We now have Reagan and Reya as the Las Tecas pups. We went to our new friends, John & Cara's house with Jon & Nicole and Jeff & Erin. Matty and Morgan plus the food and booze doubled over first. Then Matty, Reagan and I drove over. She's the best 50lb motorcycle lap dog ever. John and Cara have a 10 month old German shepherd named Benjin, a 10 year old terrier type thing named Spider, and a baby kitty named Wednesday - so not only did we make new people friends, Reagan made new animal friends! Santa clearly visited the Potluck before we did because we ate cheeseburgers and ribs for dinner - just what I wanted/needed!

A couple nights ago Jon & Nicole's friends from New Jersey checked into the room above ours. We didn't meet them the night they arrived, but we most certainly met them the day after. When I returned home from work yesterday I found everyone at the pool in their bathing suits with a couple of empty beer cans and a bottle of Jack Daniels. Their names are Bud & Melissa and we ended up hanging out with them all night. It was so much fun - listening to them talk was like watching an episode of Jersey Shore! Matty and I went to the river mouth and collected a bunch of drift wood. Surprisingly, that was our first fire on the beach - it was so beautiful. As soon as the sun goes down, Venus lights up the sky.

If You Mess With The Bull...You Get To Lay In Bed For 5 Days

Hello everyone! 

It's been an extremely busy week since I last posted. 

A week ago today we went horseback riding which was AMAZING. I rode a young "wild" horse named Santiago and Matty rode one named Palomo. This was hands down one of the greatest rides I've done - best ever for Matty. Our guide was this older lady named Beate from Germany who started this company with her husband called Boca Nosara Tours. We took a ride through the jungle, up to the river where we tried to find some crocs but failed, then rode over to the beach for sunset. This is my first time actually riding horses on the beach. Once we got there, Beate basically let us do whatever we wanted. It was like a horse race through the sand! Matty stayed on thank goodness but we were both sore the next day. I told Beate that I would volunteer to help with her horses anytime...hopefully that pans out. 

Last Thursday my friend Morgan went to the rodeo in Esperanza. Rodeos in Costa Rica are nothing like Rodeos in the states - there are literally no rules. Everyone down here knows that they are responsible for their own actions as opposed to wanting to sue everyone else for their problems. We woke up on Friday morning and Morgan wasn't home. Our initial thought was that he has stayed the night with some friends, which would've been great! We briefly touched on the subject that he might be dead or in jail but ruled those out as unlikely. I went to work like normal and didn't think much about it. Matty was going to check out a motorcycle to buy that morning so that was all I had on my mind. We exchanged a few emails (our only form of communication at the moment) about the motorcycle and BAM, it was ours! In his last email where he attached a picture of the bike he added a quick sentence stating - "Morgan still isn't back yet, but I did locate him, and he is ok." Later I found out that he was intentionally skipping details because Morgan was in the hospital in Nicoya after being gouged by a bull in the ring. We have the footage but haven't done anything with it yet :) I guess he jumped from the fence onto the bulls back and he didn't take too kindly to that. We're all still unsure of what totally happened, but he has some intense road rash on the top of his foot and his ribs are pretty banged up - nothing broken though. Matty and I went to the rodeo on Saturday and can confirm that this is one of the craziest events I have ever been to. ANYONE can jump into the ring at any time. We saw three people get taken out (we heard a local rumor that one died). Honestly with how much they were taunting the poor animal, I was kinda rooting for the bull....

Other exciting news: We bought a little Honda 125 motorcycle which is perfect for getting me to and from work! We've killed 3 scorpions in the last week (2 for Matty, 1 for our neighbor Barbara). Found the local pharmacy - where you can buy ANY medication, no prescription needed. Found a new gelato store! Matty ran into a chicken on the motorcycle (or this chicken ran into him). I meditated for the first time in my life at work (I don't think I did it right?). We learned a new local animal that we have seen 3 times now - Pizote or Coati - look it up, they're really cute. I almost ran over a Boa Constrictor on my bicycle - no joke, 4 feet long. And lastly... Matty ate a Cheeseburger with fries!!! 

Until next time...

Taking Steps

Hello everyone!

So last Sunday Morgan and I moved to a new place called Villa Las Tecas. So far, we love it! It's a one-bedroom apartment with a full kitchen. Morgan has the living room set up as his space and I have the bedroom. We have a pool and we are only a 5 minute walk from the beach, bar and restaurants. 

I started my new job last Wednesday. I work at the Costa Rica Yoga Spa as a reservationist. The spa is a large property that is set up for yoga-type retreats. We can house up to 26 people at the moment, but they are in the process of expanding. Right now we can have both hotel guests and retreat guests, but starting in 2014, they are trying to only do retreats. I love this job so far! The woman who hired me has been living in Telluride on and off for 5 years, went to school in Durango and got married about a year ago in Silverton - such a small world. Everyone that I work with comes from the states (for the most part). They are all really fun and down-to-earth. I picked up on the job quickly because it is similar to what I do at home, just much more lax. If anything my work ethic is too high to fit in... I know that sounds strange but its true. The mentality of this country is so Pura Vida! 

I get to eat meals on the property whenever I am there. They prepare only raw, organic, vegetarian meals. Originally I thought I would hate it but honestly I think it's laced with crack... you can go in completely blind and its stil incredible. I also get to participate in the yoga and pilates classes for free. I have yet to do this because I still don't have motorized transportation. I have been riding a bicycle and I'm battling the sunset on the way home every evening. Hopefully we'll buy a quad soon - very soon. 

The best thing that happened this week was Matty's arrival!! He flew in early on stand-by a got here on Sunday just in time for the sunset. I am so unbelievably happy to have him here. He's definitely got some catching up to do on the tanning :) We went down to the beach on his first day here and ended up finding a bat cave! You have to walk out through the water on the rock reef path. It's kind of scary though because it is deep on either side of the rock. And you have to go at low tide - even then the water is up to your knees. I didn't go out to the cave because Reagan wouldn't stop trying to follow us. She couldn't figure out how to walk on the path so she ended up swimming around like a maniac in the waves... I took her back. Matty and Morgan made it all the way to the cave and went inside! They said that as you got closer and closer to the cave you could hear hundreds of the bats squeaking. We couldn't get very good photos but we are going to go back soon, this time without the dog. 

More exciting things to come - we're going horseback riding this afternoon... I CAN'T WAIT! And we are going to the Nosara Rodeo tomorrow. I have no idea what to expect but we are all looking forward to it! 

Until next time...

Jungles and Oceans and Pools, Oh My!

So this is kind of a sore excuse for a video but I want to get in the habit of making these while I am here. As of now we haven't done much other than walking around in the jungle and swimming in the pool and ocean…which I'm not complaining about. But as time goes on I want to record different experiences I have while I am here and make little videos like this one, only better! Unfortunately I am in the process of updating my iMovie so this one is not that great. Sorry!  Hope you like it. 

Until next time. 

My New Life

Hello Everyone!

So for those of you who don't know, I moved to Costa Rica with my dog Reagan on November 20th. I did this because unlike most Telluridians, I am NOT a fan of the snow. I think it's pretty, I like to look at it (from a heated room) and on a bluebird day, I like to play. But my version of playing in the snow is different than my fellow townspeople. I haven't been the most avid skier/snowboarder since my freshman year of High School…I don't know why, it just doesn't tickle my fancy. All that said, I decided that instead of sitting through another beautiful winter of five layers, wool socks and a whole lot of whining (by me, of course), that I would take a step towards change - henceforth - Costa Rica.

I've been here for about a week and a half now and things are totally different. We have been staying in a little studio apartment on the top of a hill (large hill) in the jungle. It is incredibly beautiful up here. However, there are definitely ups and downs to staying in the jungle. In the first couple of days I was eaten alive by mosquitoes. No amount of bug spray or layers of clothing could keep them away. The spiders and scorpions are another challenge. Being someone who grew up in "bug free" Telluride, I do not take kindly to the big bugs. At night you have to walk with a flashlight so that you don't step on any of the gigantic spiders or the 3-inch long scorpions. Its TERRIFYING. Then, there's the ticks. My friend Morgan has found three on himself (not attached) and I have found two on Reagan. Luckily none have come after me yet. I wash the dog every day in flea and tick shampoo then cover her in flea and tick powder in addition to the monthly flea and tick treatment from the vet…hopefully I'm doing enough. On the third day that we were here, both Morgan and myself broke into a violent heat rash…awesome. The way to treat heat rash is to stay in a cool, dry place, HA! We literally sleep in a sauna every night with a ceiling fan that's power ranges from slow to a little less slow. While the heat rash is ugly and uncomfortable, it's not going to kill us. We've been taking a lot of cold showers and trying to dry in the sun - definitely making progress. Then there's the salt water. My dog has yet to learn that she shouldn't drink it. When she does, there is a lot of runny poo, peeing and puking - it's quite annoying so hopefully she'll figure it out. The monkeys in the jungle are both a positive and a negative. When its just Morgan and myself walking down the road they are super cute and fun to watch. They leap from branch to branch and make the cutest little monkey sounds. It's a completely different story when we walk down with Reagan. They literally bark and throw sticks at us. Not like little twigs or leaves, but huge sticks. This is also really entertaining, as long as you don't get hit by one. I definitely got what I asked for as far as new experiences go. This is a totally different lifestyle that I am slowly getting used to. Today we move to a new property that is larger and much closer to the beach. My boyfriend, Matty, will be joining us no later than December 11th, but I'm hoping it's sooner.

One last thing before I pack up and move out… I got a job!! I will be working as a receptionist at Costa Rica Yoga Spa - look it up. They host different retreats on the property. I can't remember how large it is or how many rooms but I will be doing similar work to what I do in Telluride. I start on Wednesday so I'll write about it in the next blog.

Until next time...