mommy and daddy visiting!

Day 299, el Jueves 9 de mayo 2013 11:52

MUMMY AND DADDY!!

After 290 days without my mommy and daddy I got to spent 10 awesome days with them before having to say goodbye, but this time for only 4 weeks; 4 weeks.

I got to hug them on the airport and I welcomed them with a warm heart to my country; Costa Rica. We drove to Orotina with our rental car and after a visit to my school we drank coffee and ate tortillas ate an aunt’s house I couldn’t really stop talking about everything all the time. We visited some more family and they got installed in their hotel. We drove over the chompipe mountain with Sarah and there we enjoyed the perfect view. We arrived at Desmonte and there we had the welcome party, all the uncles and aunts were invited and there was plenty of typical food which my parents had tot taste of course. They chatted with some people and Sarah and me worked as translaters since they don’t speak Spanish.

The next day we set off to Uvita, to the Marina Ballena National Park, where I’ve also been with school. We had a nice eco hotel with pool and first rested from the drive at the pool, we wanted to go to a small beach but it started raining really hard but we did get to spot some Scarlet Macaws! We had delicious dinner and I pretty much just chilled with my parents at the hotel.

The second day in Uvita we had to get up a bit early to get to the speedboat trip I also made with school. We saw the nice beaches and a lot of dolphins, the trip was very different as with school, first of all because it was with my parents which made it extra special but also because of the fact that tour guides treat international better than a huge group of students.

After the boat trip there was another long ride ahead since we headed for the Penísula de Osa, in the far south of Costa Rica. After 4 hours we arrived at our destination; finca kobo, an organic chocolate farm, CHOCOLATE FARM! My whole life the thing I wanted most was going to a chocolate farm, and I finally got there and it was A to the W E S O M E plus some more epicness. We just read our books and chilled in the hammocks. I read ‘The hunger Games’ in pretty much one breath, it’s such a good book, thank you so much Marleen for giving me this book. The nice dinner came with the best cold chocolate milk ever.

The next morning we had the chocolate tour, after seeing the fruit trees which were pretty normal to me we headed for the cacao plants, which are actually trees I found out. We saw the whole production process and got to taste pure cacao beans and grained cacao beans, so damn bitter! After the trip we had a chocolate fondue, and I am pleased to let you know that it was the best ever. Later we went to check out the village of Puerto Jíminez, a very nice harbor village, one of the nicest villages I’ve seen in Costa Rica actually.

The 5^th day is was time for the main event of our trip: parque nacional Corcovado, a national park which I wanted to go to for a long time. It is the most bio diverse place on earth and just the best preserved primary rainforest in Central America, a must go for Costa Rica visitors. First we went with a special taxi 20 kilometers to the entrance of the park, you have to go there by taxi because, well how shall I say it? You have to cross a river, 20 times! Getting to the park itself already I so much fun, imagine how awesome the park is.

And yes the park ís awesome! The first hike was about 27-28 kilometers first through some hills with slippery mud and later flat. It was a beautiful hike, being so far away from the world in the middle of the nature, just nature, nature and more nature. I caught a glimpse of a puma and we saw several birds and all 4 monkey species of Costa Rica. We crossed several beautiful rivers which gave some beautiful jungle images. We arrived at ‘La Sirena biological station’ where we stayed the night. This station was full of 20-ers estilo backpacker and indi, I felt so on my place as a 17 year old schoolboy and my parents.

We got up at 4 for the second hike, so we could so some night hiking, both because of the heat and to be able to see some night animals. We got the see the Tapir, better known as giant ant eater, and yes it was giant it was about 2 – 2,5 meters big ant eater, very impressing to see. The hike was along the beach switching between walking on the abandoned, windswept beaches and primary forest. We saw a lot of scarlet macaws and monkeys on this hike. After 6 hours and 22 kilometers we arrived at the end of the park, and the end of our tiring but beautiful hikes. We slept in a nice hotel at the border of the park, I slept but the afternoon and evening because there was a lot of energy to get back.

To get back from the park to the normal world we had to walk a bit more the next day and we had to take the ‘collectivo’ a truck where some 14-16 people fit in the back. The road wasn’t thát crappy but it wasn’t that good either, but going with the collective was an experience itself as well. We returned to the chocolate farm where we were staying one more night and headed to a small beach where we could rest some more. At was a nice and quiet beach and we got the nice surprise of Toucans when we arrived there, something else very special about this beach is that it is covered in (dead) coral, also impressing to see.

The day after this day we had a long ride ahead of us, over ‘el cerro de la muerto’ or in English the dead’s pass. It’s a highway which goes over some of the highest mountains tops of Costa Rica, at its highest point 3500 meters. The view was nice but the smell when we got out of the car even better, nice and fresh air and no heat at all, for the first time I felt a temperature below 15 degrees Celsius. We went through the city of Cartago to see the church and we moved on to the small town of Orosi where we stayed in a nice lodge for the night. At night we had a very nice dinner which was as well our goodbye dinner, again.

The last day was an easy day with some sightseeing, we first went to the Irazu volcano which again gave even more impressive view and the air gave me a skiing feeling; I love fresh air. After the volcano we went to the ‘haunted hospital’ on the mountain slopes, again something very impressive to see. Later we went to some botanic gardes and the day trip ended in San José, we ate a nice lunch and we went to the Mercado central. And then, then the trip was already over. The time went so fast but I enjoyed it so much. Saying goodbye to my parents wasn’t that difficult since it’s only for 4 weeks.

I loved showing them my country, letting them get to know my life. Besides the epic places we went to there was also just the fact that I was reunited with my parents.

Now I have only 4 weeks left on the double feelings are starting to get stronger and weirder, I have almost all my time fully planned and it is time to stop. This is the beginning of the end. I have done so many things, I did everything I wanted to do and even more, way more. Could I say that I’m done? Finished? Ready to go? No I don’t think so; I am ready to go for the part of things I needed to learn, but I am not ready to leave my life here, the life I built over the last 300 days. The life I live like it has been my life for years. For that, for that I am not ready to leave and I don’t think I’ll ever be.