Kleptomaniac Monkeys

Oh my word! Today was so amazing! Pictures will be coming as soon as I get back and can hook up my camera to my laptop. But let me back up a little...

OK, so yesterday, we had to leave our project in Carpio early so that we would be able to get back in time to be picked up for our four hour bus ride to Manuel Antonio. We were cutting it kind of close, so some ouf us were literally running from our bus stops to make it in time, but all 7 of us made it. The ride here was cool, as we got to see some amazing green countryside and forests. We got to our hostel where we're staying for $10 a night. It's literally across the street from the public beach and 50 meters from the National Park Entrance. And free internet and computers for guests! Woohoo! We pretty much went straight to bed last night as it had been a long and full day of working and traveling.

This morning, we had breakfast at our hostel, first was a plate of 4 kinds of fruit and a pancake, and the second course was 2 pieces of bread, rice and beans, and scrambled eggs. And it cost roughly less than $3.

Then we set off for the National Park in Manuel Antonio. It was super hot, more humid and sunny than it's been in the city, so as we were standing in line to buy our ticket into the park, we were already dripping with sweat. My friend Jennifer, who I work with at Carpio and have become pals with here, met up with 3 other girls who also work at Carpio, and started our treck through the rain forest. We had read in our guide books that this park is great for seeing sloths and monkeys and different kinds of animals and such, so I was really hoping to see some. We hiked for a mile or so and along the way, saw this cool white bird in the creek (no idea what it was, but it was cool...trust me:) ), and then either a 2 or 3 toed sloth (I didn't have time to count), and then a little later, a monkey high up in the tree. People can hire guides to take them through the park and point out the wildlife to them, but we kind of worked the system and just jumped from guide to guide. As we would see a crowd ahead looking at something in the jungle, we would come up and join them. It worked well for us. :)

Eventually, we got to the main beach, which already had quite a few people on it. We decided to walk a trail that lead to a place called Cathedral Point that had some amazing views of the ocean. We didn't realize at the time how long it was (1.4 km, so about 2 miles?), or how steep it was going to be, but I'm so glad we did the hike anyway. The views were amazing, and it was so fun to trek through a real rain forest! :) And there were definitely moments when I felt like I was on the LOST island, keeping my eye out for the smoke monster. Fortunately, he made no appearances. :)

But before we even began that hike, as we were walking on the trail that led behind the beach towards the big loop, we started to see more and more monkeys. They are capuchin (sp?) monkeys, like Marcel, the one Ross had on FRIENDS. :) They were all over climbing in the trees, and the would come down and actually steal food and stuff that people had sitting out! It was so crazy! About 3 different times today I heard and saw someone yelling at a monkey that had just ran off or was about to run off with their stuff. So funny (mainly because it wasn't me) :)

Our long hike brought us back to where we started, which we were all thankful for, so we found a spot to lay our stuff down and took a dip in the ocean. Because it was blue sky, the water was super blue, and it felt like bath water! So amazing! Again, as we were laying on the beach, I was totally expecting Sawyer to walk up to me and call me "red" or Hurley to ask me if I wanted to play ping pong. It was so so beautiful! I can't wait to show pictures!

Tomorrow night we leave to head back to San Pedro. And then Monday I get off because the pastor told us volunteers not to come, as he is going to be doing an evangelistic project. I'm so excited to have most of the day to just relax and maybe do some shopping in the big market in San Jose.

We are hoping to find a place where we can watch the World Cup Finals tomorrow afternoon. I'm super excited to watch the final game in a country where futbol is such a big deal. The other day as we were walking through the pedestrian street in San Jose (basically a massive market with stores, but no cars can drive through), there was this huge crowd of people outside one of the stores, and I coudln't figure out what was going on. But as we got closer, I could see it was an electronics store, and the World Cup game was on the TVs in the window, and people were so crowded around to watch that there were almost cutting off all traffic. So crazy.

Anyway, today has been great! I'm so thankful for such a fun day and getting to be in Paradise for a little while. I'm probably going to head to bed soon - we aren't very good night owls here, but I'm OK with that. :) Love you all!