Manzanillo at last!!

this is the ride from town to manzanillo (click to make larger)






well today was a good day to bike out to Manzanillo for sure! i left at noon and biked the 13 km to the beach/nature reserve i ended up running into the girls that i had voulenteered with and hiked the mountian with it was really randomly cool we went swimming at the beach and just chilled for a while. then we hit up Maxi's it was a really cool restraunte the server said he was actually a perfesional foot ball player and was serving us because we where pretty girls we dident believe him then one of the other people at one of the other tables asked for a picture with him.. so maby he was telling the truth anyways he kept doing salsa dances then screwed up the bill... he probably was a football player... anyways it ended up raining just as we go into maxi's and it wasent going to hold off.. the girls were catching the bus back so i jumped on my bike befor it started to get dark and rode back... it kinda sucks we dident get to see the jungle due to all the rain but it dosent have to be my last time there...







palm fire

wow!

yesterday i went to go volunteer with the Bri Bri however when i showed up two girls where leaving to go up the mountain with a 16 year old who lives in the reserve so i tagged along. it was very beautiful there was a few waterfalls and so many different plants. he took us up to where his family lives. i have to say it was pretty sad six of them sleep in one room with roll out mattresses, and cook over a open flame. i have to say that i really did feel guilty for complaining about where i lived. this family dident even have electricity or running water. however the sounds of the animals with the river below was the most tranquil sound i have heard in my life. however i was disgusted to see melted batteries in an old ash fire... i hope they dident cook any meals over that flame....then the young man took us to his property. yah thats right his dad built him a house up there on his own land. it was actually much nicer than the first house. on his porch there was a chicken just chillin in the corner with alot of random toys and stuff. his house was very simple however perfect however, he only lives there on weekends. the other days of the week he lives just outside of the town im in. it was a crazy walk up the mountain we had to take off our sandals a few times because it was safer that way. however coming down the mountain we were going to see a waterfall below and we had to go down this side and hold a vine as we go down but only one by one. the girl that goes last gets just a few feet away from the bottom and the vine gave out! she caught up to herself...thank god it was a waterfall with alot of rocks under us... then just as we where all catching our breath seeing that she said ohh my god good thing i dident fall. as i slipped on my butt in a little pool of water hahaha we checked out the waterfall it was really cool. we also saw some poisions dart frogs. the green ones with the black patches and the bright red little ones. we also saw some baby toucans playing in the tree! the guide also grabbed me a fresh cacoa pod... it was so good! however the one disapointing thing of the day was... i forgot my camera... i wasent expecting to go up the mountian... however the girls i went with took some photos that i will get from them and update!

TD Canada Trust--Banking can be this uncomfortable

ok iv always had something against banks(sorry if you or a loved one works for a bank) but this takes the cake!

in mid-august i lost my card here... i know really bad on my part...but i called same day to cancel the card and get them to send one to my home(then have my parents express mail me it) so about 14 days went by then i called them back to make sure its sent out and check up... the woman says yup i see a note that it was sent middle of the month it takes 10 business days to get out so its probably in the mail now... ok sounds reasonable... now i just tried to call them to see if i could send money into my friends account and take it out here(i cant) but i also wanted to check and see when the card was sent... it wasn't... i had a card reissued in Canada in mid july!!! i really couldn't believe what i was hearing.. then the computer disconnected i called back talked to a really nice guy who was probably as frantic as me...so now it will take another 5 days to get it(rush) and then another few to get here from my place but i really cant believe it i cant believe that i called two times to get it sent and it wasn't sent either time...i never want to live depending on banks or money ever again i am so mad right now... i really shouldn't be mad about money but when I'm here and all i need is my bank card and i have to bend over backwards this many times to get it I'm going to go crazy... I'm over it now i promise i will never blog in spite again...and never use TD when i get back...

Im on a boat...i got my flippy floppys

well today i woke up thinking i was going to bike out to the national park however i got side tracked and ended up going on a boat with britt jay and some of his friends. his friend who owned the boat happened to be from quebec city of all places, he was just on the pacific side of costa rica giving tours and had sailed over threw the panama cannel to this side! i totally forgot my memory stick for my camera however i will get the pictures from britt soon and post them...it was a wonderful day for sailing sunny but cloud covered so we dident get a burn... i got a nice tan on my legs finnally too! it was great we went out from puerto viego to cahuita to do some snorkeling however my tube wasent that great and i took in some very salty water...however i did see some reef it was really amazing luckly i dident see the nerve shark... they dont usually go for people but still i dont really want to see a shark none the less... one of the guys speared a huge tropical red snapper... i have to say it was the prettiest fish iv ever seen... the kind that are like $300 at specal pet stores back home. then we sailed to punta uva because it was a bit windy to port going that direction so it was a nice easy sail back. i actually fell asleep on the deck and it was the best sleep ever i felt like i slept for 24 hour althought it was probably not even one hour, the waves just rocked me to sleep. it was a wonderful day better than perfect! we also went out for falafel(there my new favortie food... i cant believe i dident have them at home) and the veggie/fruit truck stopped by. the owner went out to it and picked his produce, weighed it in the back and paid for it.
it was the coolest truck ever!
(Sorry not a great picture)

then when we came back there was a baby boa at the door... j's son caught him and kept him in a bucket. now j's mother is visiting and she hates snakes...alot. so i hunted down the snake to set him free ( so it dosent end up in her bed room tonight) i found the bucket and pulled out the towel and the snake came flying out a whole bunch of people chillin had no idea they were sitting beside a little boa i grabbed it and put it back in that bucket then we set it free... thank god now that woman can sleep tonight...untill he brings home another snake! also there was this really cool moth in the room it looks so much like a leaf i kinda thought it was one...
wow boats and a boa what a day!

marine corps are crazy....

well there is 1,500 U.S. marines in town... its wayy to busy and strange they all have the same hair, build and wear striped polos... anyways lastnight there where a whole bunch partyin it up at the hostel these guys are drunk as a skunk by noon it seems anyways then they are pulled back onto their ship at midnight its kinda like cinderella... anyways they were banned from our hostel by the leader... however a few of them came today, two of them asked me where they can get a massage...i dident realize what kind they were talking about and refered them to the yoga studio hahahha yah lots of woman made lots of money this week... anyways i was talking to a few guys and a woman who was the boss two of the guy were very very drunk one started to hump the boss they are all so sex crazed its insane..i guess being on a boat for that long will do it. the boss told me its 1/10 woman to men!! these ones are doing aid work so its pretty good however lots of people in town dont like it, somthing about a free trade agreement or somthing. anyways it was to early to handel all the drunkness so me and this really cool girl from london went to check out luana's mural shes doing at a hotel its amazing

also i personalized my machete sheath i used britts dremel it was kinda hard but i got the hang of it after a while


oh yes and i got my posters printed yesterday... it only took 3 hours and 4 people to figure out the printer however i like the results...


and now its time to sleep in a hammock its been a long day

a few days of updates

well a few nights ago was the last of the yearly festival that was in town with a make shift carnival (sketchy rides that made horrible sounds and a farris wheel that was leveled on four pieces of wood...) so we went into town a few people went on that sketchy farris wheel and i told them no one could even pay me to go on... i watched in horror as britt and j flipped there cage on it. then it was off to the bull fight, now me and britt had gone a week or so earlier and it was crazy a guy got jumped on by a bull for a while i thought the bull wasn't going to stop then everyone picked him up and put him threw a little window with a + on it where there is an ambulance on the other end. now let me explain how bull fights work in costa rica... theres no weapons, the bulls dont get hurt pretty much there is this ring that you can only get out of if you climb the walls. they get someone to ride in on the bull, they get bucked off in like a few seconds and theres a whole bunch of (dumb, drunk) people in the ring just taunting the bull to get pissed off and run at them... when we went at one point there was a guy in a dress that was playing jump rope with the lasue around the bulls neck...great idea anyways all in all its pretty crazy. here are some photos and videos from the bulls
these are the guys getting ready for the bull to come out


this is a guy who was bugging me and britt all night long i think its kinda funny how the bull is picking on him...karma

this is the out side of the ring



anyways i dident want to go to another bull fight... one was plenty for me so i chilled outside. thank god i dident go in because j and his brother got into the ring i would have had a heart attack!

on another note the other day i was walking around and i saw the leaf cutter ants but they werent carring leafs... there was like 10 of them carring a dorito! it was hands down the funniest thing ever i wish i had my camera i would have filmed it and sold it to dorito for a commerical! it was so funny i burst out laughting. this is why i need my camera 24/7!

damn it!

well i woke up this morning thinking about how much iv screwed myself over by losing my bank card.. i even dreamed about it last night... anyways i was trying to make some coffee in a complicated matter (emerging coil that heats up water in a cup pour boiling water into coffee filter over another cup) with one problem there is only one cup in the kitchen(the one i bought yesterday) so i was like ok ill hold the filer over a plate pour the water into it and quickly attach it back onto the cup(now this is really complicated) the second i started to pour the boiling water about 20% got into the filter the other 80% poured onto my hand... coffee grinds all over the kitchen i then just ran my hand under water and held a frozen bottle for half an hour. its not to bad of a burn my skin just peeled but two hours later and its still freaking hot... oh the dumb things i do for coffee, at least all this has got my mind off my bank card, mabey next time i should spend the dollar at the cafe for coffee.