We met some fun travelers at the hostel in Tamarindo. Another German, Dutch, and an Irish girl. We met them in the pool and then all got dinner together on the beach. They all set out to travel alone and then met each other at a bus stop, synchronizing the rest of their time together. I’m inspired yet again by the bravery of all these women around me. It was nice to get to know them at dinner and share stories from our lives. They all seemed like such daredevils (the Irish in particular said that sky diving felt too safe), but every single one of them got all mushy when Gavin told his proposal story to Allie. One was even wiping tears away.
The rest of the time was spent enjoying the ocean or back at the hostel. We played several sand volleyball games too which was a great way to pass the afternoon.
I’m very pleased to be in Sámara after the weekend in Tamarindo. Like I had mentioned in my last blog post, it’s a place that appeals more to someone looking to party. The town felt like a cross between Las Vegas and a post apocalyptic town. The reason I say this is because the club music and parties made sense to me at night but when I walked with my brother at 5:45am to the bus stop down the block from our hostel, the streets appeared abandoned aside from the trash scattered about, with huge vultures fighting over it. There was a rowdy group of men behind us that were drinking and smoking, offering cocaine to the other guys at the bus stop. There was a man across the street walking with blood and dirt dripping down his legs, a bloody face, and a shirt falling off. I don’t know, something about this place just wasn’t for me.
While this scene was distracting, I still had a nice goodbye with my brother and thoroughly appreciated everything about our trip together. He’s made a great travel buddy and even sacrificed his bag, taking home the cat pee stained one so I didn’t have to travel the next 6 months with that smell. The best brother a girl could ask for.
Sarah, Cara, and I took a shuttle that morning to our next stops. I got out at Sámara and they headed on their way to Nosara. Even upon exiting the shuttle, it was very apparent that this town is for family getaways and offers a much safer feel. The hostel, “Blue Iguana” was very visible with its blue and orange colors as I was walking down this gravel road towards it. I checked in and to my surprise, received my own room and bathroom (I was supposed to be in a shared room).
I instantly met other “Workawayers” from the U.S. They were very kind and showed me the ropes around the hostel. I later walked around town and bought groceries to make a meal. I felt weird cooking and eating while everyone around me seemed to be working but my shift wasn’t supposed to start until the next day.
After eating and some more time walking around the beach, the Californian couple joined me and we caught up while we watched the beautiful waves. The beach is only a 1 minute walk from the hostel and it’s filled with families, so a much calmer scene than Tamarindo. The couple told me all of the tea that they have learned in their week of working at the hostel. It was lots of drama to catch up on!
That evening, I cooked myself dinner and ate with a tico who is also a volunteer here. He was polite and nice to speak with but brought up very heavy topics such as religion and philosophy. He’s on a spiritual journey and seems to only have profound thoughts. It was hard to have these conversations in Spanish, I’m realizing how limited my vocabulary is.
The next morning I woke up early enough to go to the beach and read or do yoga, but it was raining. I settled for the hammock outside of my room that’s under shelter. I read my book and sipped coffee until it was time to eat breakfast. I’m not a huge fan of the typical Costa Rican breakfast because it just consists of rice, eggs, and this sort of sour cream sauce (and plantains if you’re lucky). There’s no spices, vegetables, etc., but the meal is included so who am I to complain!?
The work day was interesting to say the least. I’m supposed to work from 9am-2pm, helping one of the cleaners. The cleaner didn’t want my help though because she had her system and there seems to be more volunteers here than guests. I would get assigned a vague or tedious task that I usually finished within 20 minutes or so and then let the manager know I’m done and ready for the next task. Eventually, I think she ran out of things for me to do because I had to do silly things like sweep the sidewalk or rooms that were just mopped. I’m realizing people intentionally take a long time doing each task — it’s very different from the work I’m use to because it’s more about the time you work rather than the amount of work you do. I grew tired of this by noon and had a thought that takes after my brother, I asked the managers if I could take photos for their Workaway website. I checked it and there are only 8 blurry, outdated photos they have so I thought this could be a useful task. They happily agreed and so I began taking photos. I felt a little weird about doing this while the other volunteers were cleaning. One manager later approached me and asked if I would photograph some bedrooms because his camera was stolen. Even though I don’t have the equipment or lens for this, I think I’ll give it a try because it’s better than aimlessly sweeping sidewalks.
I’m hoping to improve my Spanish this week. From how today went, I think I’ll get a lot of practice just listening. Several times, a manager would come up to a cleaner in front of me and just gossip for what felt like an hour. I’m not sure if they are aware I know Spanish or if they don’t care but I’m learning the social dynamics around here. I’ve been trying to speak with the other workers in Spanish but people mainly keep to themselves (besides the U.S. couple). They said they were surprised to see the spiritual guy talking to me so much, I guess he hasn’t spoken much to anyone all week. I’ve been wondering how this environment would be different during the high season. It makes me excited to be in Chile during their summer so hopefully there’s lots of interaction.
