ribday

[ribday]

Day 9 Part 1 - Panamá City to O’Hare

Last night I realized that my phone clock was not updated to the local time of Panama, it was still on Costa Rica time. The hotel room clock was unplugged and no help. I’m glad I realized it because I’d have been an hour behind like my clock was. I fixed both clocks and set up a wake up call with the front desk. I packed the night before so all I had to do was brush my teeth and off I went. I didn’t sleep great because I stayed up later due to the clock issue.

I got downstairs and the bus showed up shortly after. It was fun to ride through Panama City on the way to the airport. The buildings are unique and tall, it reminds me of Chicago. The shoreline of the Pacific Ocean is really weird here. It’s super shallow but it doesn’t look like a beach or anything. Not sure what the deal is there.

We got to the airport and it looks like Copa, of all the airlines, has managed to monopolize the place. I had a boarding pass already and just needed to drop my bag off, so I went to the kiosk. I put in my confirmation number and the kiosk shits out a ticket that says I need to see an agent. Ok. I stay in the line and get up to the agent. “No, not THIS line, THAT line”. I get into the other line. Come on, Copa! This person takes my bag and does whatever the other one couldn’t. Now I can head to security.

Security in Panama is the same as the US. Remove your shoes, blah blah blah. That goes fine so I head towards the gate. Normally I’d get coffee but the three lines so far have made it pretty close to boarding time, so straight to the gate. There’s another security line at the gate. Same shit as the one minutes before. Take off shoes, blah blah blah. Kinda stupid. I don’t understand what they think people are capable of doing between the two security lines.

I got through and boarded right away. I know now that Copa likes to shut the plane door ASAP so the plane can sit at the end of the runway for an extended amount of time. We sat at the end of the runway for a pretty long time, this must be a proud tradition. Why, Copa? I talked with my neighbor a bit. She was in Ecuador for a foreign exchange/nursing student program that sounds pretty cool. I put in a good word for deep dish pizza because it reigns supreme in my homeland and she may have time to get some. Some assholes don’t like deep dish pizza. I bet Copa doesn’t like it. Fucking moron.

We finally took off and then they brought us french toast. I forgot to take a picture for the blog but just imagine some bread that I dumped syrup on. There’s a WiFi network on this plane but it doesn’t let me do what I want to do, it only lets me read some magazines, see the plane on the map, and other Copa-centric shit. Whatever, Copa.

One of the things available as entertainment is a show called “Copa Man”. One of the episodes is about how he invited some friends to dinner at 6:30pm at his house. He could see them in his driveway at 6:31pm but decided to close the door and lock them out anyways, then paid for them to all go to dinner with each other. The next episode was about him going to an appointment and getting in his car right when he had to leave to be there on time, but then just sitting in his driveway for no reason at all only to show up late. It’s a terrible show.

I got to see Cuba from the plane and that was cool. The water on the southern shore was super blue and the land on the coast had a unique look to it. The perk of getting a door slammed in my face and being stuck in Panama City for a night. That and the free passport stamp. I guess I’ll start collecting those now.

I kinda have to go to the bathroom but knowing Copa the toilet is probably upside down on the ceiling. I don’t need that.

I’ve been wondering what the weather is like in Chicago. I’d check if there was WiFi.

The lack of real WiFi has made the flight kinda boring and the seats are once again horseshit. JetBlue knows what they are doing, and if I remember like 10 years ago they were an absolute mess. Learn, Copa. I’ve slept a lot on this plane and listened to music. I’ve also thought about how I can’t wait to be off this long and boring flight. I hope I don’t have to fly Copa again. They really bug me. I’m glad the door was open when I got to the gate though. That’s cool, and a huge improvement.

[ribday]

Day 8 Part 6 - Hotel RIU Plaza Panama

I didn’t know what to expect here. A Super 8 style place for us to rest before we have to fly away? Maybe an Old Country Buffet type shit? Who knows? Only knew I’m not going home tonight.

We all packed into a shuttle and hit the road. Panama City feels like an city in the USA. It’s much different than San Jose.

We were driving by all these skyscrapers, fancy looking places. I figured our hotel was behind one of the skyscrapers, but I didn’t expect it to be one.

This place is nuts. I haven’t ever stayed at anything like this. I’m not so upset anymore. We all got a ticket to the buffet as well. I ate with a couple from Orland Park, near Chicago. It was good to have some company during dinner. Eating at a buffet alone isn’t ideal.

Not sure what to say about Copa. They could’ve avoided me staying here if they’d just held the door open for another minute. I can’t complain much though. The vacation feels extended for a bit. I hope I wake up early enough to catch my shuttle tomorrow! We shall see.

[ribday]

Day 8 Part 5 - They only give you a Panama stamp for leaving the airport...

...and I got a stamp. We took off 53 minutes late and my layover way about an hour. In the air hey told us our gate numbers and told us to be quick! The ramp sat there not moving to the plane for about 10 minutes and my gate closed 15 minutes after closing. Once I got off he plane, I sprinted so hard over to the gate. When I got there, the security for the gate was closed. The plane was sitting there, but they would not let any of us through.

Copa made it sound like they’d accommodate our lateness and get us onto our connections. Instead, they shuttled 20 of us to the hotel they’re paying for for the night. It would’ve been much easier to hold the plane for a few more minutes, but this is the situation now.

My shuttle to the airport leaves at 530am and I’ll be back home at 1pm. I got a Panama passport stamp and an extra day on vacation. It kinda sucks though because I’m here by myself. Some people from my flight seem nice though, so maybe we can eat out free dinner together.

I would much rather be getting to Chicago tonight though.

What the fuck, Copa? You morons could’ve saved 20 hotel accommodations by waiting a few more minutes. Someone said, in a serious way, “should’ve taken Spirit”, and they’re right. I’ll try to enjoy this quick visit to Panama though. I left the airport. It counts.

[ribday]

Day 8 Part 4 - Sitting in the Rain

As soon as I boarded, I noticed the flight had elevator music which makes sense because elevators and airplanes are about the same thing.

This airplane has the shittiest seats I’ve ever encountered. JetBlue was great. These are scratchy through my shirt and hard as a board.

We boarded and moved over by the runway. And sat. It’s been 40 minutes since I sat down. I feel I might miss my connecting flight. There’s another dipshit Copa airlines plane in front of us, and an Avianca just came up and flew away. Not sure why these moron planes can’t leave. Get your shit together Copa. The vacation definitely feels over.

Once we took off the flight was pretty normal, but I kept thinking about the time we wasted sitting on the runway.

The view of Panama City is great! The pilot made it sound like we would all have enough time to make our connections. We shall see.

[ribday]

Day 8 Part 3 - Adios, Pura Vida...

I hung around the hostel and took care of some stuff before going home. It continued to feel empty without the rest of the group, but it gave me a chance to update this thing with some pictures and more entries. My friends arrived safely in Houston and started their 10 hour layover. I’m lucky to not have such a long layover, but I think I’d rather have left with them and spent the day in an airport than hang back alone and sleep - they’re all such fun people and have wonderful and silly personalities. I feel so lucky to have shared the last week in such close proximity to all of them. I feel like we were constantly laughing and it was impossible to get into a bad mood. We were literally on top of each other due to sleeping in bunk beds, but it never felt like too much. Maybe I should see if we can all move in together and the fun will never stop!

Back in the USA

I talked with the receptionist of the hostel for a little bit and she said she’d like to go to the United States once we get a different president. I let her know that I felt the exact same way.

I hired a driver through the hostel and he picked me up. He was really nice and pointed out mountains, and let me know I should consider Costa Rica my second home. Not a bad idea! Wouldn’t mind it being my first home either. He talked about all the variety of the small county. North, Central, and South Pacific regions. The Caribbean. The mountains and volcanoes. I feel like we saw so much of the country and experienced as much, but there will always be more to see in this place should I ever make it back.

Imperial Brewery

A big wooden sloth

The mountains.

At the airport I did what I usually do: get coffee and water, charge the phone and wait. The wait was shortened a bit by a guy from the Board of Tourism coming up and asking if I’d take a survey about my trip to Costa Rica. It was pretty comprehensive and hopefully the data he got will be helpful in making their work more effective. I can’t imagine it is hard to attract people down here though, it’s such a fun and beautiful place.

[ribday]

San Jose Hostel

This place didn’t have the breathtaking views of Turrialba or the party party beach vibes of Puerto Viejo, but for the night before our flights home it was absolutely perfect. There aren’t many community areas or even a kitchen to use. There is a cafeteria where they sell breakfast and dinner, as well as a fridge I raided for my friends’ leftovers. It had dependable WiFi, quiet rooms, and a bathroom I only had to share with my friends rather than a bunch of other people. This is the perfect place for a quiet night before flying out of the country.

[ribday]

Day 8 Part 2 - So long and thanks for all the food

All my friends have left the hostel, and despite the crippling loneliness I now feel, I am carrying on. My friends didn’t have time to eat their leftovers, and now they are all mine! I finished off my fried rice and will be moving on to whatever is left. This food is filling the void in my stomach, and it’s doing a good enough job filling the void they left when they had to go to the airport.

A weird way to spell Andy Group

Lomo Salteado

Fixed it! 😉

[ribday]

Day 8 Part 1 - ¡Adios, amigos!

The alarm clocks started going off at about 3am. I woke up and discovered that I had fallen asleep on my arm and it was super tingly and weird. The rest of the group got up because they had to catch a 6am flight to Houston. They’d stay in Houston for 10 hours and finally reach Chicago at around 11pm. I climbed down to say goodbye to them after they packed up, then they headed off to the airport. I went back to bed for a few hours because I don’t have to leave the hostel until noon.

[ribday]

Day 7 Part 3 - San Jose

We checked in and settled into our hostel for the night before walking over to the central market to find some souvenirs. The market was chaotic and interesting. It reminded me a bit of a mall but the corridors were more like hallways and the vendors had fresh fish and meat that you wouldn’t see in a mall.

We were all once again hungry so we stopped at the hostel to figure out what our final meal together would be. We chose Peruvian food, and everyone loved what they got. The group got some delicious drinks and then decided to do a shot of pisco. I ordered Chaufa with seafood, which is seafood fried rice. There are some Peruvian dishes which are Chinese fusion, this and saltado are two of them. It was such a delicious dinner but I couldn’t help but thinking that this was it. The Andy Group (the hostel called us that) would not do anything else all together this trip.

We returned to he hostel and the boys left for Anton’s hostel to grab some luggage that wouldn’t fit with the seven of us. It was the last adventure the three of us would take, and luckily or unluckily it was uneventful.

It was nice to catch up with Anton and his family to see what they’d been up to that day. They had tried to visit the volcano, but it had been closed. We said goodbye to them and told them to enjoy their upcoming California camping vacation and headed to the hostel where everyone was about to start playing Irish poker, but was also in each of their respective beds. I’m not sure if they did play because I climbed up to my bunk bed and fell asleep.

Just before sleep, I tried to make everyone watch this video...

[ribday]

Day 7 Part 2 - Puerto Viejo to San Jose

We began our long car ride to San Jose. Most of us took Dramamine because we all felt a bit carsick on the way from Turrialba to Puerto Viejo. We put on season 3 of the Serial podcast and hit the road. The podcast was great but the Dramamine made us drowsy. I was out fairly quick but I managed to get some good pictures out the window.

I was in and out of sleep for a while until I woke up for good needing to go to the bathroom. We stopped at this department store that looked a lot like a Walmart because it is owned by them. Different name though.

We walked each aisle of the place like it was some sort of museum, caring most about the snacks and candy available in a place far from our own homes. We ended up with the most ridiculous road trip trash buffet that got passed around the car between all of us.

We snacked for a good long while comparing notes on what we had bought. It was deliciously glorious.

We continued driving and snacking until finally reaching San Jose.

[ribday]

Day 7 Part 1 - Adios, Puerto Viejo

As we all planned, we woke up really early...but it was only because Lauren’s bunk bed ladder had crashed to the ground when she moved from the vacant bottom bunk up to her top bunk. Most of our heads popped up, realized she was ok/there was nothing we could do for her and went back to sleep. Not too long later all the alarms we set because we had to be up at 6am, which is easy, started going off. It was a symphony of the most annoying sounds you could possibly hear at that time of day, and each one of us turned them off without hesitation and slept more. I think we finally woke up around 7am.

All we really had to do was finish packing and use more aloe. Packing to go home is a much different experience than packing to go on vacation. It��s never really dry in Puerto Viejo. We had seen it rain for parts of or all of afternoons and nights, and we had definitely been caught out in the weather, which made our clothes wet. The best place we had to dry the clothes was outside on the hostel balcony that didn’t get direct sunlight, so a lot of our stuff had gotten damp and stayed damp, then started to stink. Into the suitcase it goes!

You’re also a lot more organized when you’re going on vacation. By the end, you’re just trying to slam all of this shit in and make the suitcase shut.

Once we were all packed we decided to go to breakfast at our favorite bakery one last time. We said farewell to our other hostel host and thanked her for everything. I complimented her on her great English language abilities because I’m not sure what her native tongue was over in England, but her English was pretty good. We departed the Lazy Loft and piled into the car for the first time that day.

We got to the bakery and ran into one of our snorkel friends, Nigel, when we entered. It was good to see him, he’s quite a funny character. The breakfast once again did not disappoint. I ordered the french toast and it’s probably the best I’ve had.

That was it for Puerto Viejo. We had spent so many fun-filled days there and now we had to leave. It felt like we had been there forever with how much we’d done, but it also felt like we’d just gotten there and it was too soon to go.

[ribday]

Day 6 Part 2 - Lunch and Hostel Hanging

I had checked into that other hostel the day after we arrived in Puerto Viejo, and I still had the key and needed to check out despite never sleeping there. Hussein drove me over there so I could do that. They were a bit confused about what happened and how I’d been checked in there despite never showing up otherwise. They were super nice and only charged me half the cost for those days, which I was happy about because I was technically taking up a bed. We headed back towards the party hostel. We decided to never stay at the other one because the party hostel was super quiet the day after the party and at some times the bar downstairs didn’t even open.

We had a few things we wanted to do now - go to the bank but also eat. The dudes went to the bank so Ben could take out some cash, and the ladies went to the pizza place for drinks and lunch. The bank took a bit of time and then we went over to the lunch place. I got a 1/4 chicken and a slice of pizza. The chicken had such good seasoning!

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at the hostel and said goodbye to one of ours hosts who was traveling to Mexico City. We got to know the new hosts a bit and started cleaning up the room all seven of us had occupied for five days.

We were finally able to grab some skewers and empanadas off the street since this was probably the only day we never had a drop of rain and all of the vendors stayed there to sell their food.

Leanna and Lauren took full advantage of the swing one last time. The pictures speak for themselves.

Sunburn still needed to be taken care of and I’m pretty sure we all used way more aloe today than we had the rest of the trip combined. That’s what happens when you are laying on your stomach looking at the sea floor while the sun shines overhead. Fan + Aloe = Relief. It was hard to stay awake after such an eventful day.

A few of our group went out for a final drink, but the rest of us stayed in. Ben and I started out a new non-billiard rivalry by playing dominoes, and he HAS beaten me in Costa Rica in that game, but I’ll still hold my pool victory over his head. Lauren tried to learn dominoes while we played but it didn’t go so well since the monitor made her a bit sleepy.

We all went to bed around 1am because we were absolutely totally leaving at 6am so we could have time in San Jose. We would have no problem waking up at that time and we would be in the car by 7am at the latest.

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Day 6 Part 1 - Snorkeling

We woke up early to go snorkeling! We were picked up right at 7:55 and taken to Cuahita National Park. Our group of seven was mixed with five other people who were a lot of fun. Our guide was great and you could tell he really enjoyed what he was doing. We got flippers, snorkels, and life jackets and hopped on the boat. The National Park is beautiful from the water. The coastline is all natural, just palm trees and sand. We went out to a marine reserve to snorkel. Some of us felt a bit queasy from the choppy water. We put our stuff on and into the eater we went. As soon as I hit the water I did a big dry heave burp, and the people still on the boat laughed along with me. I felt immediately better.

Breathing through a tube is a bit weird but you get used to it. The view was great! Fish of all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately I don’t have an underwater camera, but I assure you it was beautiful. The coral and other things at the bottom of the ocean was also exciting to see. We did 45 minutes in the first spot, and then we’re going to move to another, but four of us decided to bail out because we were feeling sick again. We were dropped off on the most beautiful beach. It looked like something off of a postcard. We sat in the sand and waded into the water. I decided to start making a sand castle village and a wall around it to keep water out. We stayed noticing white-faced capochins (monkeys) in the trees! It was cool to see them out in nature, and we saw on attempt to steal another persons vackpack, then one even tried to steal ours. We saw a bunch of monkeys when we went snorkeling!

The boat showed back up with the rest of our group and they unloaded onto the beach for a break and fresh pineapple. We hung out with the monkeys and got to know each other a bit more before getting on the boat and being dropped at another beach to begin our hike.

The hike was great! The guide pointed out a Jesus lizard, an iguana, bats, sloths, capochins, and howler monkeys. The guide was extremely good at his job and super friendly to all of us. We really enjoyed the tour. The others on the tour were great and each made us laugh with the things they’d say, whether it was purposeful or not. They dropped us off at our hostel and we started tending to our sunburn. We were all hungry at this point.

Choice quote of the day: “I used to play basketball but I wasn’t tall enough so I couldn’t go pro”

[ribday]

Day 5 Part 3 - Black Sand Beach and Bikini! (But not that kind)

After tacos, we decided to check out a local brewery we drove both of town a short ways to Playa Negra Brewing, which happened to be across the street from Playa Negra. The name comes from the fact that the sand on the beach is black due to volcanic activity. The sand feels much heavier than the sand I’m used too, but it’s also much softer. We played around on the beach a bit before going to the brewery.

The brewery was great, and the first thing I noticed was the pool table, which was also free! I immediately challenged Ben to a game because I haven’t beaten him in about 10 games and each game has tragically ended in me sinking the 8 ball early to seal the loss for myself. I beat the ass of that piece of shit and informed him that he’s never beaten me in Costa Rica. Anton played winner (me) and quickly destroyed me while mentioning that when he was 16 he saved up and bought himself a pool table to practice everyday. We hung around more, Leanna found a crab in the bathroom and set it free in the ocean. We went back and hung out at the hostel real quick before dinner.

Dinner was alright. It took forever though and we were all so tired. I forgot to do any pictures, but we ate sushi and mahi mahi with avocado sauce. We were tired so we went back to the hostel and talked to some of the other people staying. Was fun to find out about other countries and compare them to our own. Went to sleep and rested up for quite a big day.

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Day 5 Part 2 - 2 for 1 Tacos!

We did one last big meetup for our group before some of the members departed. We all got together for a taco lunch on taco Tuesday. The place is owned by the brother of our tour guide from the jaguar rescue center. They had some good local beer and cocktails. The tacos were pretty tasty, we tried pork, beef, shrimp, fish, vegetable, and chicken. Anton didn’t go zip lining with us so him and baby Bean drove over on their bike to meet up. Ivan and Cybel left for San Jose after lunch, and we wished them safe travels. Sad to lose them from our group, but it was great to meet them and talk to them while they were staying down here.

[ribday]

Day 5 Part 1 - Zip Lines!

We all woke up at about 7am today to catch our 8am shuttle up to the jungle for some zip lining. We took a bus with all of us to a point where we split into a van and a 4x4 for the journey up. Our van stopped and the guy told us to wait 4 minutes, but we thought he said it was a 4 minute walk up, so we started walking and had a good laugh when he told us to stay put, the 4x4 will be right back. Then we reunited with the rest of the group and got our harnesses on.

Our guide gave us some fruit afterwards and it was delicious.

It was amazing to zoom from tree to tree. There were big platforms up in the trees and we would stop there and then get onto our next line. There was a big Tarzan swing too! Didn’t expect that, but it was great to swing over the big opening. We were all so tired and hungry after our long trip, and now we are going to get some tacos.

[ribday]

Day 4 Part 4 - Night

It rained all night but we went swimming in the ocean while it rained, too dark for pictures though so there aren’t any. The rain kept us inside all night so cocktails were made and silly games were played. Robyn went towards the room and said “party party, be right back!” and immediately passed out. Ben would break out into laughter and then not tell us why, exclaiming “No, that one’s just for me.”