Day Twenty Six - Sea Shells on the Sea Shore

Wow, is it getting warm down here. Now I realize I have to say that with some perspective in mind. Back in Minneapolis, you guys are hitting record highs and slowly turning into something that could be sold on a stick at the State Fair; nevertheless, it’s pretty dang hot down here too. Usually, you’re able to get some relief at night, but as far as I can tell, it stays hot all throughout the night. During the day, the sun is super strong – it feels like the rays are being pinpointed to your exact location like an ant under a child’s magnifying glass. We’ve been plowing through bottles of sun screen, but we really haven’t been burnt yet…fingers crossed!

Since this is my first time out of the country, I have been experiencing many new things each and every day. 

Today’s new experience was paying exit taxes. I never realized I had to pay my way out of a ountry before, but for just 26 bucks, I can leave paradise and return to my smoldering apartment in Minnesota. Taxes aside, banks in Costa Rica are very strange. The two occasions that visited a financial instution left me feeling like I was entering a mental institution…or a library. Unlike in the United States, the banks here are very serious places. Just to enter the Bank of Costa Rica, I was swiped with a wand to check for metal, went through two sets of doors, and had to remove my hat. Once inside, it was eerily quiet, almost too quiet. I stepped slowly to counter, conducted my business, and calmly left. They let me out – thank goodness.

On a side note, I find it pretty fun to withdraw money from Costa Rican ATMs. Since we are abroad, I can only pull out money in the local currency – the colone. On average the going rate is 500 colones to 1 US dollar. So if I wanted to pull out $100, I would need to withdraw 50,000 colones. There’s just something fun about typing all those zeroes which makes me feel like I’m a millionaire. I need to remember to cut that out once I get back to the states!

After paying my fees, I needed to get some lunch, so I headed to this little coffee shop across the parking lot called The Tico Café. Now if you’ve been reading regularly, you know that I have had some pretty awesome food while I’ve been down here. True, many of the meals have been very simple, but the flavors, like the colors of the sunset, are very vivid in strong. Those meals aside, I have had a few experiences that weren’t so hot, and today was one of them.

I walked in to look at the menu, and the lady behind the counter looked at me like she was begging me to order. Even though there wasn’t much on the menu, I couldn’t turn down those puppy dog eyes and ordered an iced vanilla coffee and a cheese sandwich. The coffee was pretty good  - very much like a blended coffee you can get back in the states. However, the sandwich was less than stellar. Turns out, The Tico Café’s idea of a cheese sandwich is three pieces of white bread and one slice of American cheese between each layer. The sandwich is then toasted, not grilled, and slapped on a plate. No butter, no spread of any kind made its way on to the sandwich. I said down the hatch and made it through my meal.

On my way back to school, I stopped at a little supermarket to get something cool to take away from the smoldering noontime heat. I ended up getting an ice cream treat which was mint ice cream with a chocolate shell. Things were looking up – I had the sun and my ice cream and I was headed back to the air conditioned palace known as the CPI office. About halfway through the walk and halfway through my ice cream cone, tragedy struck again. I went to take another bite, and all I got was stick. A few steps earlier, my ice cream delight succumbed to the heat and let go of its wooden support. There, lying on the hot blacktop was my ice cream. Food was not my friend this day.

Food tragedies aside, the day ended up turning out pretty good. Kelly and I FINALLY made our way over to Playa Conchal, and let me tell you – it was worth it! We got to the beach around three o’clock and the tide was down, so we started our trek to one of the most beautiful beaches in all of Costa Rica. Once we made it to the beach, we could easily see why it is classified as such. As far as the eye could see, white beaches met the clear ocean waves. To top it all off, one section of this beach is completely made of broken sea shells. Ouch! you might say; however, through the marvelous work of the ocean, each jagged edge of the shell has been dulled down to create a perfect place to walk. In fact, if you let your feet sink into the bed of shells, you get a pretty good foot scrub! We collected some shells and enjoyed the overall beauty of the beach.

Tomorrow is our last day at CPI, and we fly home Sunday. Not going to lie, I’m going to miss the sun, but I’m going to be happy to share all these stories and more with family and friends.

See you soon!

Casey