Pink Island Angels

Hello! I think it’s been over a week since I wrote the last email. This week has been so amazing. Whenever you’re least expecting something, it happens. A group of 8 of us went south about two hours to Playa Nosara, a little surfing town on the beach. I love it! Definitely a place I could imagine living. We stayed in a hotel/ hostel place with a great view of the beach. The first night only 4 of us slept in the room, and the others tried to sleep on the beach but it was super windy. On Saturday I went on a 7 hour walk on the beach with a guy from school, Spencer. Actually, more of an adventure than a walk. Found an island to swim to, with pink sand….it was crazy…definitely something out of a movie. We had to jump into this rocky, tide pool area and the rocks were covered with sea urchins and the currents were coming from both directions. It was crazy. But when else do you get the chance to swim to an island with pink sand? It was about a 30 minute swim and the whole time I was trying so hard to not think about sharks. But we made it to the island and the only thing there were two sets of footprints and a couple conch shells. It was one of those experiences where you wonder when you’ll wake up and you wish you had a camera to capture everything but know the pictured couldn’t do any of it justice.

We swam back, got thrown into a whole bunch of rocks covered with the urchin, but when we both stood up neither of us had a single scratch. There must have been angels watching over us. Pink island angels. The water was only about a foot over the urchins and we slid over about 20 feet of rocks. I felt myself scraping over them and was sure that when I stood up I would be covered with scrapes, cuts and blood. but nothing. We headed back towards the hotel and didn’t get back until after dark. I somehow forgot how to get back to the hotel. The roads are really confusing in Nosara and there are beach paths everywhere. Somehow I didn’t know which one to take so we were walking around in a tropical forest for an hour. What an adventure. And another crazy thing is that neither of us put on sunscreen that morning and we were out in the sun all day…for 6 hours, walking next to the water….getting all those extra reflections and neither of us got sunburnt. Sun angels around for sure!

I just had my last week of language school..a great week….a great last Ladies Night at the local bar, Las Brisas.

I had to pack my 60 pounds of stuff yesterday and start getting my mind prepared for this next big adventure. For the past 8 weeks it has been like another college experience or something. I became really comfortable with my Tico Family. And on Monday we’re off for about 4 months! I guess we can make any place home if we want to, but it’s bittersweet leaving this place I have come to love. I wonder if I’ll ever come back? I’m full of lots of emotions…..excited, sad, scared, ready, lucky, nervous.

I’m heading down to Playa Langosta and Negra with the guy from school (Spencer)that I met. We’re going to go camping….should be fun! Monday, Anna and I will take the bus to San Jose and meet up with our friend Melissa. We’ll then take the bus to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. Buen Viaje!