San Jose (again)

God bless free internet!
Today we left Cahuita and travelled for 4 hours to San Jose, which we meant to do, and are now staying the night, which we didn't, but through a phantasmagorically unsurprising series of events, our luck ran out in terms of making connections efficiently. Until now we've always been lucky enough that we just happen to have gotten to San Jose in time to get a connecting bus to where we wanted to go, which got in before nighttime. We didn't leave things to chance because we're masochists or lazy, but because there's no other choice.. the guide book doesn't give times and even when it does, they're subject to change on a whim anyway. We want to get to Uvita (in the Zona Sur, near Dominical, for those who're following) in daylight, and this wasn't going to be possible today since the only bus to take us there would get in at 7pm earliest, which would've meant staying a night in San Isidro or Dominical. We decided that we'd rather stay a night here, knowing that we could get free internet at any hostel, and then just get up super-early, than go to a new place and get even tireder. So here we are, in the innapropriately-named 'Tranquillo' Backpackers. The plan for today is vague, but our number one priority is (as always) locate the free coffee. Then I quite fancy a new top, since I've worn this one to death and since it only cost 2 pounds originally from Primark, I feel it has more than earnt a rest.
Uvita sounds beautiful, anyway, and apparently it's very good for surfing which Ben really wants to do - one can bodyboard there too (some people call it 'boogie-boarding', but Ben turns his nose up) which I might be half-good at. Depending on how nice it is (and whether or not we can get cheap accomodation with a kitchen, since cooking for ourselves is mega fun and mega cheap), we'll either stay there for 7 days, OR, and this is only in the pipeline at the moment, we have plan B. This is to go to La Fortuna (Zona Norte), four hours away from San Jose, stay for a night and hope that we're lucky enough to see the spectacular displays of lava flowing from the nearby Volcano Arenal, then get transportation by 'Jeep-Boat-Jeep' (which does what it says on the tin, and apparently is an aesthetically and fiscally pleasing way of travelling, rather than taking the infamously shoddy road) to Monteverde, home of the number 1 tourist attraction in the country, the cloudforest reserve. Here we'll spend one day trekking through the forest, and maybe a morning's Canopy Zip-lining, which is difficult to explain but takes you through the treetops in a harness at a speed of your choice (and which doesn't qualify as an extreme sport so don't worry). As I said, though, this all very much depends on how Uvita is and how our bank balances are - I'm very very tempted though, since we're only here once and it is a schlep and a bit of money, in return for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Anyway, Cahuita - it was very lovely there, the weather alone made a very refreshing change from the ubiquitous showers we've had nearly everywhere. The change of culture (most of Cahuita's inhabitants are descended from Africans brought over a couple of hundred years ago to work in the banana plantations and build the train in Limon Province. They've been treated by the Costa Rican government about as well as Africans have in every other part of the world..) was very welcome, and overall we had a lovely stay. There was a lot of atmosphere and nightlife, too, whereas Samara was pretty much dead. Last night we went to Coco's Bar, which seems to be THE place to be of an evening in Cahuita, and where they serve 80p beer and 1.50 doubles of Cafe Rica (coffee liquer along the lines of Kahlua but much nicer). Friday night is reggae night, though it seems that every night is reggae night.
Yesterday we also walked along the trail which parallells the beach, to Punta Cahuita (Cahuita point, although since 'Cahuita' actually means 'point' in Misquito, we went to Point Point) and stuck to the trail as advised since snakes abound. We've been swimming in the sea a few times, too, it's usually very calm and clear which is doubly good, since it means it's less likely to be full of effluence (always reassuring when you get eaten by the waves and nearly swallow mouthfulls of it as I did) and also that you will probably spot a jellyfish before you step on it. We also discovered a Chinese restaurant where they REALLY emphasise quantity over quality.. we were defeated by their oversized portions of chow mein for only 2 pounds and rated it an average of 8 out of 10 for likely-to-returnability, which quickly plummeted to 1 after we went to the counter to pay for our meal, and spotted one of the members of staff counting/faffing about with lettuces. On the floor. Our accomodation, too, was lovely - we stayed in Cabinas near the sea owned by an African-American man called Geoffrey, and his wife. We don't actually know if that was his name but it should be, and that's how we referred to him, if not to his face. Geoffrey didn't seem to actually do much of everything - he was always pootling around the village on his bike, which makes sense since we never did find that branch of PriceWaterHouseCoopers that he claimed to work at. Last night (before the trip to the bar, I might add), I very accidentally and with almost slapstick precision managed to knock Ben's toothbrush down the toilet. He took it surprisingly well, merely wondering aloud- 'if you knock a toothbrush down the toilet, does it become a toilet brush?'. Also, I've learnt that ordering 'tea negra con leche' doesn't mean you get a cup of black tea, with some milk in or on the side, it means that you actually get a cup of tea made with milk RATHER THAN water. I've taken a picture of it for posterity and to remind myself not to bother next time.
I suspect that I've abused the free internet for long enough now. I'm off to get coffee and read one of my new books (managed to pick up A Picture of Dorian Gray and Dubliners for less than their 2 pounds price tags!). Can someone update me with what happened in the last few Formula Ones, please? From what I can gather - Massa only got a fine for his mistake 3 races ago (about 7,000 pounds which is precisely nothing, or a wing mirror, to Ferrari), whereas Hamilton got penalised some places for his overtaking Raikkonen on a chicane at Spa? And then he finished 1st but not really? And did Vettel really win at Monza?? I've been saying for weeks that he looks really promising, and he seems much nicer than Lewis Hamilton, so good luck to the boy. Even if it is a bit terrifying that he's the same age as me, and he's just won a Grand Prix, and I'm... pottering around in Central America. Any other news from our island? Thanks as ever for the comments and emails, they really do make a difference.
See you soon, in only 11 days!
Love,

Louise and Ben xxxxxxxxxxxx

Cahuita

Hola Amigos,

We're in Cahuita, about an hour from Limon on the south Caribbean coast. It's amazingly hot here, even at 9am it's about as baking as any summer's day in London, which I suppose is good since we've been moaning about the rain quite a lot. Here are Lou and Ben's top five ways to cope with baking hot weather and 90% humidity.
1) Worship your fan. Sit directly in front of it, as near as you can possibly get without actually sitting ON it, for a good few hours a day.
2) Since the smallest of tasks suddenly becomes a gigantic schlep requiring superhuman willpower and effort to complete, set yourself small, manageable goals for the day. Such as, today I am going to change some travellers' cheques and then probably sleep a bit, and then maybe get some dinner. Be proud of yourself after each tiny thing you do, and then repeat number 1.
3) Have a siesta. Have lots of siestas! Followed by some number 1.
4) Buy lots of water, but not in restaurants because they absolutely rip you off. Instead, don't order drinks with dinner, which will cause the serving person to give you a look that communicates that you have just massacred their family. Eat your creole food slowly and with plenty of bread and salad, since really what you need is a big glass of coke with it. When you are finished eating, walk calmly round the corner and down a 2 litre bottle of water as fast as you can to stop the burning pain in your mouth. Sitting in front of the fan will help too.
5) Get a hotel with airconditioning, and bring more than two books for a month's holiday (doh), and avoid much of the above.

So, we're probably going to move on tomorrow, to Puerto Vieja de Talamanca which is about 15km further down the coast, where it sounds like there's a bit more happ'nin', and also for a change of scenery. It's nice here and good to get out of the cultural homogenity of the rest of the country so far, people speak a sort of creole/patois here, kind of a combination of Jamican, Spanish and English which we can inexplicably sort of understand. People are more genuinely nice here too, and there's lots of character.. currently I can hear the local school's children having a loud drumming session, which is fine since I don't have a headache today. Yesterday maybe I would've seen it less as 'charming' than 'bloody annoying'. The beach here is beautiful, it's a national park since there's some of the last remaining coral reef here, and the sea is very clear turquoise and lovely and calm for swimming. Unfortunately, though, that's about all there is to do around here. You can sit on the beach but there are zillions of crabs, which I find quite sweet and fascinating to watch from a distance, but when they're within a 1 metre circumference of me I like them less well. (Un)surprisingly, we don't really like the tourists here either, probably because we're terrified that we might be lumped in with them. I finally heard my first British voices, belonging to some supercool surfer dudes on the bus down here.. very exciting!!
Also, I forgot to mention this a while ago, but here in Costa Rica the word supermarket is abbreviated to 'super', so they're called things like Super Anita, or Super Safari, or, our personal favourite, 'MegaSuper'. Also, while it's better than in India (where their toilets were really just a hole and your loo roll was just your hand, a tap and a jug), here they have virtually no water pressure so you can't throw toilet paper down the toilet, it has to go in a bin next to you instead. The bins don't generally have a lid. Lovely.

So with that exciting newsflash, it's about 11.45am and we're off for lunch quite soon, perhaps followed by some lazing around in the hammock. Hope all is well there! Missing you all lots and looking foward to seeing you and the country in 12 days.
xxx Lou and Ben