We just went Rasta!

The hour long ferry ride that took us and the Man from the Nicoya Peninsula to Punta Arenas was spectacular. Despite a few garbage flotillas we were happy to be afloat with a fully stocked snack shack and some jammin tunes. We found ourselves climbing the mountains of Costa Rica, gaining altitude towards or next destination, San Jose. After a brief pit stop at McDonalds (only the forth time) we made it to the capital city. There was a chill in the air and it all made sense once we realized that we had elevated to 6,000 ft.. The search for a place to spend the night was super fun. We turned into the Marriott and was greeted by a nice, good looking receptionist. I put on my best charm, which is hard to do when you have a puffy beard accompanied with massive neck hair. Anyways, she didn't bite and the room was quoted at $170 for a night, so I didn't bite back. We were thrown around a bit and redirected to many other hotels until we found our savior, Randolph. He said, "I take you to good, cheap place." We were happy to hear that. He hoped in the Man and off we went to our glorious hostel. After thirty minutes of being parked directly in front of the hostel some drunk guy eyed the Manburban and thought he would try his hand in theft. With a screwdriver in hand he actually tried to pry the door open, just like the bears in Yosemite do. I wish I could of seen this. The front desk guys ran out there and scared him off. They even called the police for us but they never showed. The next day (12/10) we left the city and headed towards the Caribbean. There have been about three or four memorable drives on the trip so far. This was one of them. Starting high in the mountains and descending through clouds, rain, sunshine, and lush forest. A waterfall would come out of nowhere and splash onto the the side of the road and rivers would flow with mild energy as we crossed over them on high bridges. We hit Puerto Limon first. There were large cruise ships and many container ships shuffling about. They had a Pizza Hut, which seems to be the deciding factor on whether or not you have made it in this country. This was the first time I have seen the Caribbean since I was a little kid. I think it was a family vacation to Florida and my dad took me out in the water where the warm little waves scared me. Soon we had met our destination. The town of Puerto Viejo. It is great here. Our friend Jason said, "Be ready for the rasta." and he was right. The Caribbean is different then the Pacific side. He has brought us into his home with his family. Today we went to a secret spot down the road from his house. We had to leave the Manburban parked in the sand and trot by foot about 20min. through rain forest until we popped out on a sandy patch of beach. The coastline was so beautiful. The best way to describe it is simply by saying, there is a little strip of beach and on one side there is water and on the other there is a wall. A giant green wall. The wave was pretty wild, it would jack up really quick and bend around the reef. I got the best wipeout of my trip today at this spot. Took off late and had a little free fall, landed and made it to the bottom of the wave where my body was standing completely upright and my legs close together (not good). Then, since i couldn't bend my knees in time and find my balance the wave overpowered me and suck me right in. The spot is not very deep and yet i wasn't hitting the bottom and had no idea where up was. Finally I rose to the surface, just in time to hear Jimmy say, "Look out!" The next wave cracked on my head and the restart button on the washing machine was flicked back on. But there were plenty of other great rides today and we were all high fiving our way out of the water. After that the secret spot was empty, just the way it had been when we arrived.

-Ya Man!