Wednesday, June 25, 2008

pics from Day 6 Thursday May 15, 2008

1. following the barbies and Jamieson

2. Part of the view from the walk following the barbies

3. A guy walking around with fresh fish from the marina

4. Escuela

5. Grant and his daisy dukes

6. Rachel, Alysha, Kristen, and Sarah

7. the Minnestoa kids - Lenay and Erik

8. Emily, Laurie, Allison, Sarah, Rachel, Kristen, someone, Erik

9. Erin (the hoe) and me. we didn't pick up on her being a hoe right away, so everyone loved her at first.

Day 6 Thursday May 15, 2008

First Costa hangover. I think this is where my… well, let’s just go with digestive problems (apparently everyone had this problem… not throwing up)… started. Dale never even made it through the toast at breakfast before he threw up (ok, he threw up). (NOT TO OVERSHARE OR ANYTHING... sorry)
Anyway…
So hangovers are no fun with all the heat and school, so I was pretty miserable at school. “Cooking class” was a joke, 7 people went up and made pico de gallo and the rest of us waited and talked. Finally we were set free and Jamieson and I followed hoe-Erin (who later joined the Barbie clan), Laurie, Emily, and Amber (maybe this is where she joined the Barbie clan) through a trail that lead us to Quepos and actually directly past our house. After shopping and homework Jamieson and I went to the school to have a pre-party party with the barbies and Joe, another guy, and Buddy. I talked with Erin for a long time as we checked out facebook and our e-mail and played with Escuela, the new mascot dog of the school (Joe and someone else found Escuela almost hanging herself with her leash in a backyard where nobody was home on Wendesday, so they freed her and brought her to school and Buddy bought her today). Escuela is so cute, we love that dog.
After we left school we headed over to Grant and Tucker’s house where we found them and Seth already trashed and Grant dancing around in Daisy Dukes… and only Daisy Dukes. That was entertaining enough. Then the pre-bar party started.
After that we went to Coconuts right off the beach in Manuel Antonio in a taxi van that we made the total party van, including a song of why hand jobs aren’t cheating, true story… seriously I couldn’t believe the girls, whose names I won’t mention on account of they would probably be dumped because they made the song for a reason… anyway, I wish I remembered the words. Holy hell that was funny.
Ladies night at Coconuts means free drinks for the ladies after a $2 cover. So… almost all the Texas State guys ended up drinking for free with the help of the girls, which meant we all got hammered and made Coconuts the ONLY place to be in Manuel Antonio Thursday nights. I also saw male hookers outside and apparently had a lengthy convo with a female hooker until someone told me she was a hooker.
After the bar most of us, including a few Atlanta kids, crossed the street to the beach and went “skinny dipping.” However… as it turns out I was the only one that went totally naked. I was too busy talking with an Atlanta girl (I have a thing for Georgia girls apparently in foreign countries) to notice until I walked back out of the ocean. The girl I was talking to went topless though. A lot of girls did, and I thought one went bottomless, which I thought was weird since she had a top on, but it turns out she didn’t. and all the guys were wearing boxers. So out I come, noticing this as I’m walking out with the Atlanta girl giggling next to me as she notices, holding my boys and laughing as everyone sees that it’s me. I don’t think it was quite legendary, but I bet everyone remembers that. Heh. Oh well. At least I can say I went skinny dipping in the Pacific Ocean. Fucking A.
After we got out, and dressed, we started to notice how trashed we were. Seth los his shoes, I nearly lost my camera (twice that night) and my wallet and did lose a few bucks, I don’t know how.
Finally we took a taxi back to Quepos and for some reason we stopped directly in front of a Discoteca and were immediately asked if we wanted to buy drugs or if we had drugs to sell (people call you “my friend” or some version of that if the convo results in something to do with drugs). No blow jobs or any sex offers though, surprisingly. Then we went home in groups to avoid trouble.

pics from Day 5, Wednesday May 14, 2008

1.This is the beginning of us dancing, I have yet to find a pic of Alysha and I dancing. I wish I had more pics of me for the trip, heh

2. a waterfall by a hotel

3. a wild turkey i saw from the back route to the bus stop

4. a view from the back route

5. another view from the back route

6. me in front of the view of the back route

7. a bunch of ticos playing futbol on the beach

8. Alysha at the restaurant we went to after the beach

Day 5, Wednesday May 14, 2008


:-( Danielle and Carlos are off to Barcelona. I miss those kids already.
That's the last pic of the crew.


Anyway. Back to Costa.
After another boring day of school (we're learning preterite now... o joy) and a fun half hour or so of salsa dancing, I danced with Alysha, we went on our daily playa trip. But first i walked to La Colina, along with Grant and Tucker as they walked back to their apartment, and then I had my credit card bill fixed. When I got to the desk and laid my arms on it, it tseemed like the whole desk just was soaked by my sweat (because it was totally fucking hot outside, I was dying) so after that I went upstairs to the bar to get a Monkey (Malibu, vodka, baileys, ½ banana and lemon juice) and to see Arlene. But Mike and his Russian wife were the only ones there (and I heard them speaking Russian to each other, that was cool), and Mike made me the worst monkey ever and apologized again for Saturday night and bought me an Imperial for the road.
Then he told me a back route to get to the bus stop, which lead me to just the most freakin amazing view. I took a lot of pics up there, finally I made it to the beach and joined the other 16-17 Texas State kids. At about 4 we decided to get out of the water and go have 2 for 1 margaritas at a Happy Hour on the beach, but that actually didn’t start until 430 so we went to the restaurant next door. A lot of the girls ordered cosmos and most of the guys got Imperials, the rest of us took the waiter up on their specialty, “Gahpranina” or something like that (Costa rum, mint leaves, sugar, lime juice – I think) which was basically a capriniha, but they didn’t do as well. I also got Bruschetta (buttered toasted garlic bread covered in diced tomatoes and basil) it was great. And for happy hour we all ordered 2 strawberry daquiris. There was an enormous thunder while we were there, it scared some of the girls into taking a taxi back rather than taking the bus. When the rest of us finally left it was pouring hardcore, so we did our best to get under umbrellas. After the soaked ride home the 3 of us in the house decided to go home and eat. We had some kind of meat (pork? Crocodile?) and rice. We never figured it out then we decided that rather than going to a bar we should stay at the house and drink there. We talked about just about every single thing you can talk about. Had Imperial, Ron Centario rum, Bacardi, and Cuervo. At the end Dale and I were pretty drunk and Jamieson was somewhere between tipsy and drunk and Jamieson was somewhere between tipsy and drunk, probably closer to drunk. Then, while trying to turn off the lights, Dale accidentally rung the doorbell. We thought it was pretty hilarious at the time.

pics from Day 4 Tuesday May 13, 2008

1. a teeny tiny pineapple in the front yard of our host family's house

2. quasi sunset over the marina

Day 4 Tuesday May 13, 2008

Woke up at 5:10 a.m., dunno why and then again at 630, 10 minutes before my clock was supposed to go off. So I had like 5-5 ½ hours of sleep and my body was apparently cool with it. Anyway, because of breakfast (totally fresh watermelon, pineapples, banana, mango, cantaloupe) we had to run, or I hobbled, quickly to the bus station, barely making it.
We covered ser and estar (ooo! Ahh!), so I was basically bored out of my mind with it, but I wasn’t feeling well, so I wasn’t talking or bouncing around like Monday.
We played numero bingo, Jose (our professor) won. We think he cheated somehow. And he immediately jumped into homework, which later took me a whole 10 minutes (and that’s because half of it was asking questions to a friend, which took me awhile to make up).
After we did an hour of conversation class or whatever it’s called, almost the entire school went to la playa again. The waves sucked at first, but they got enormous at the end. Oh, and those cuts on my foot are now very green, that was before the water today. I told Costa Rica Danielle “I am practically on vacation in paradise; this foot is not getting in my damn way of the ocean.” Anyway, it hurt more than ever without my bandages on it for the way home, but I’ve learned to ignore it when I really want to.
After the beach and cold showers, which feel great after the hot sun, Dale and I went to the internet cafĂ© where I e-mailed my mom, dad, Danielle, Daniela, and Ysela. Danielle and Carlos are moving to Spain tomorrow, that is really sad, but if they are only gone until August, then it isn’t bad at all really, since I won’t be in Texas at all.
We had pasta for dinner before Dale and I (I think Jamieson is afraid to drink with everyone now… or there is some rule the cops gave him that he isn’t telling anyone about… like if you drink you go home… good, I hope I’m right) tried to go the bar where everyone was in Manuel Antonio, but the bus took forever, and I forgot my wallet and needed it to go back to La Colina, where they fucked up my when ringing up my drinks the other day, so that I could get my money back (they not only charged me for the whole room, which Colby and I already fixed, he just paid me back but still… and Mike… can you say incompetent hotel owner? Idiot).
Anyway, so we missed the last bus and decided to go to another local bar near our house, rather than take a taxi into town. We sat at the bar next to this big drunken “country boy” (old guy too) from Cali who is a veteran, but hates what Bush is doing to the country so he moved to Costa with his brother who was actually already here. He kept talking up the bartender, hitting on her and all, and we were feeling pretty sorry for her, until she said she taught Spanish and was correcting his Spanish and I started trying to correct him as well, and talked to her about anything I thought to say, and she really helped me a lot more than Escuela ever did. “I can just take the break and come up here, have a beer, and actually learn Spanish, rather than do that shitty homework” – Dale
Ok and Cali boy told us he was a journalist and had already sold his journal of Costa to National Geographic and then he took a pic of Greg and I. we are pretty sure it will end up on a porno site of some kind, totally photoshopped saying “my gay Texas bitches in Costa Rica.” Whatever. He just seemed like that kind of creepy guy.
Oh, and on the way back to the bus station I had the revelation that I wouldn’t know a hooker if I ever saw one, this was before we went to that bar (which was called Dos Amigos by the way), unless she looked like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. So in the bar Dale kept turning around saying “oh, well there you are” and I would turn around and say “ah, hot girls” and he looks at me, pauses “and what more about them?” “Oh! Hookers?” “that’s right Adam. And then we laughed as an older one followed and pointed at me while laughing. I was like “dude…you just called our host mom a prostitute,” and sure enough, she walked by later with the “new girl” living with us, who looks like she is 10… and Dale started cracking up because he really had called our host mom a hooker.
Anyway now I am going to sleep.

pics from Monday May 12, 2008


1. the pic speaks for itself. here's the school...
2. this is my class

3. exploring around quepos

4. guy washing himself

5. Dale and Jamieson walk up to the house right in front of them.