Costa Rica (June):
I had the best time: We stayed in Jaco, right on the beach, but travelled around to various places in the area. The country is gorgeous, the people are friendly, and the food was delicious.
CR isn't particularly known for it's "cuisine"- it's mostly meat with rice and beans - but the few dishes I tried from the local places were amazing. I don't know what Costa Ricans put in their black beans...but damn. One place gave them to us as an appetizer with crumbled parmesan cheese and pita chips, and told us to eat it like guacamole. It went in seconds...so yummy. We also found a great Taco Place right down the street from our gorgeous rental house (which was right on Playa Jaco in Puntarenas!). We went there two nights in a row. I think we enjoyed it.
We all went on a crocodile tour (Gatorland can suck it: our tour guides were right in front of these gators, feeding them!), zip lining, a hike through Manuel Antonio National Park, and spent many days out on the different beaches. I even tried surfing with Bella's little sister, which was fun, I'll have to try again one day. We got to spend our last night in the gorgeous Costa Rica Marriott Hotel in San Jose (courtesy - aka paid for - of Bella's family! Have I mentioned how much I love them?) and couldn't have been a more perfect ending. Bella's family that joined us were amazing, and I had the pleasure of meeting a few of them previously, so it was like we'd all been friends forever.
Fun Facts:
*You can't flush toilet paper in most areas of CR. Their septic system doesn't handle it well. That was initially hard to get used to (and a little gross when you think about it too much!), but by the time we stayed at the Marriott, I was thankful to be able to flush my tissue.
*There was also no hot water at the house we stayed in. This wasn't a huge deal, especially once we discovered the outside shower by the pool. The outside temperature was warm enough that when you took a shower outside, you didn't notice the cold water. It was actually really refreshing. Again though, a hot shower was what we all took advantage of once we were at the hotel!
*The roads are insane. It is very rural in CR and the roads are small, congested, and full with potholes. Signage is something we also struggled to find, so thank goodness we had one fluent Spanish speaker with us, and one Brazilian whom could more or less make sense of what directions we were told. But part of the adventure is getting there...I just wasn't so thrilled when we almost had to jump out of our itty bitty rental car (which I'm convinced ran on a go-kart motor) couldn't make it up the steep hills! But it's a fun story to tell!
*When ordering food, be prepared to wait. Whenever we went to the more rural local eateries, the kitchens were usually only staffed with one to two people. Don't go to a restaurant super hungry, because you will wait. It's kinda part of the CR charm: it's a relaxed country, not as fast paced as the States, and usually I found the food was worth the wait.
*Be wary of hagging and the exchange rate. When we went shopping for souvenirs, not all of the places accepted haggling the prices down. One woman's shop in particular even gave us a bad exchange rate from Colones to Dollars (it's basically 1:2, and she almost tripled it). So 1000 Col = $2.
The experience overall was amazing, however I'm not sure I'll feel the want to visit again. We managed to pack in a lot of activities for quite a short trip, so I feel that I experienced enough for the time I was there. I'd definitely recommend it as a place to travel to. And you have to zip-line! The Vista Los Suenos canopy tour has one of the largest cables in the area! And you can do one upside down. Baller. It was definitely my favourite activity.
In one of my previous posts, I had mentioned some of the things I was looking forward to, one of them being looking for a house and moving out with some of my girlfriends.
The search has been underway for a while now, but the initial move-out date has been pushed back, as my friend Cyn got a new job, and wanted to clear her ninety day probationary period before moving out.
We have found a few places of interest, one in particular being right in our desired area and price range that we have looked at and submitted our documents. We will know something by this weekend about whether or not we'll get to move in! Fingers crossed.
In this last post, I mentioned how Ace, my ex-boyfriend from roughly four years ago, came back into my life after not seeing or hearing from him for almost two years.
Presently...he's decided to cut off contact.
We had been talking for a while about having to take things back to a platonic place, as we both had started developing feelings for each other over the course of the last few months, which I suppose what inevitable, since our last relationship never really had "closure" and he's always been a great guy. Just the last time we dated, I came into his life at a really chaotic time, so it was hard for him to balance his home and personal life. The bigger factor being, given his religion, a serious relationship was never an option for us.
He called me last Friday night explaining that this was something that had to be done. His minister inquired about what was going on, and pretty much gave him an ultimatum: Be kicked out of the church, or end the relationship. Unfortunately though, his minister is not just that...he's also his father.
So while I've been upset, confused, and angered by this decision, I do have to take a step back and try to understand and empathise with what he is going through. I can't understand what it's like to be in a religion such as his, but I know that while he had made this decision to go down a certain path in his life the first time we dated, I can see how conflicted he must also feel having the feelings he's had for me, while also sticking to his choice. Deep down did I think this would be different the second time around? No. But did I secretly hold out a little bit of hope? Definitely. I had to question him one night about all of it, considering he was constantly saying "I technically shouldn't be doing this.," because, he was. I felt that maybe he didn't want to be in this position; How serious can one really be in ones religion, when you're essentially saying you can't be doing something, but you are anyway? It's contradictory. Perhaps it was my pushing that lead up to this, but I had started having a gut feeling that he was starting to pull away.
What made me most upset didn't even have to do with not being together in the way we both wanted. It's the fact that I had someone back in my life that I've still cared about, and not even in a romantic way, whom has now disappeared again. I had made him promise me that he wouldn't just cut me off, but this decision was bigger than what I wanted, I guess. I thought being friends would still an option, but after talking with him, it seems that because of the way he feels for me, he can't be around me as he knows that things would escalate beyond friendship.
So, I've had a good cry, and while I know there will be times when I'll miss him horribly, I just have to push on. It's gotten easier as the days have gone by, and I'll at least have some nice new positive memories to think about.
I've debated on whether I want to send him an email. Just to get some things off my chest, and let him know that while I've been feeling all these emotions, ultimately, I accept and understand his decision. To let him know that I'll still care for him, and wish him the best, and that I'll miss him too, and just hope everything turns out okay.
That's all for now...
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