Attention Please: Nice Butt

I am happy to report that the past two days have yielded much growth and development in my life ... I can now, in perfect Dutch say, 'Attention Please: Nice Butt´ and ´My Guinea pig likes lettuce´ ... which, of course, can be rearranged to say, ´Attention Guinea pig, nice lettuce butt¨ if you truly wanted to insult your local Guinea pig. I think that I can leave Costa Rica knowing that I learned what I came here to learn.

In other news ... where did I leave off?

One of those days that already happened that wasn´t today (which is just about how well I am telling time these days), Joyce and Rueben and I decided to go to the Cabo Blanco nature reserve near Montezuma. We spent the day on a 9km hike through the jungle to the beach at the tip of the peninsula and back looking ever skyward for the Costa Rican tree sloth. Where we didn´t find the sloth we were looking for, we did see Howler monkeys (ok ... we HEARD Howler Monkeys), Agouti (which are glorified bunny rats), lizards, bats, butterflys and some of the freakiest insects you never wanted to see.

Take for example, the spider of gargantuan size. First of all, I somehow managed not to have a Indiana Jones moment and walk right into this thing such that it landed on my face. (No, that happened last night with the killer cockroach from outer space) The spider, thankfully, was just to the side of my head when I noticed it´s holy gargantuanness. Face pincers like ... well, like face pincers (do you really have to try to make those sound gross?) a long black body with flourescent yellow spots, and a leg span of about 30 feet (okay, maybe 30 tiny gekko feet). In other words, it was cool and gross and I never have to see one that close to my face again. Really now ... do we have to have creatures like this? Lo, it was mighty.

That night, we somehow managed to rally and tried to create some party action. We made it as far as Foosball games in the reggae bar and lots of beer on the beach next to a faux campfire (it was a mound of sand surrounded at the top by banana leaves with a candle in the middle) ... unique, but lacking somehow. Yet, when you can wear shorts and a T-shirt until 2am, you don´t really need a fire, do you?

Yesterday was mostly a lazy day. Joyce and I spent the day on the beach and in the ocean. In the afternoon, we drank fresh juices and she braided Rueben´s hair. I got a little crispy.

At night, we wanted to celebrate Joyce´s last day and all went out to dinner with Katie and Stephanie, the Austrians. (For those of you who know her, Stephanie just happens to be K. Tafel´s European double - not so much in appearance, but everything else - it was great fun to watch her talk and get all animated and excited like KT so often does!).

We heard about this new bar that was having a party hosted by DJ Sweat. Yes, the DJ Sweat! We decided to check it out. The bar was actually very cool and felt like a tropical taste of SF with the blacklit drapes across the tiki-bar-like roof and surrounded by a big tropical garden. The music eventually picked up and the room began to fill, but no once would dance. So I decided to work the room and get people on the dance floor (including my SF roommate Jennifer who, the night before, came walking around the corner with her boyfriend Walter as I was sitting down in the intersection in town. Weird. I love when you randomly run into people you know in remote corners of the world.)

We ended up dancing barefoot for hours on the circular hardwood dance floor and I had a really fucking great time. I never expected to get to dance like that on this trip and it was pretty great that over the past several years I have become totally unafraid to dance in front of people. In the past, I never would have been the person on the dance floor dancing my heart out and coaxing other people to come join in and have fun. It was good to try on a new role.

The music shut down around 2am and a few of us went to the beach to watch the stars and listen to the ocean. As people began to fade, Rueben and Joyce and I decided to stay up to watch the sunrise because Joyve had to leave super early anyway. We made it until about 5:30 when the sky was getting light which, we concluded, was good enough. We said our goodbyes on the beach and each headed to our various beds and pillows. Rueben heads to Mal Pais today and Joyce flies back to Gouda. I will miss them.

So today, I am tired, a little sunburned and quite happy. It´s been a good many days here and I am now starting to plan out my last week in Costa Rica. Tomorrow, I will check out Mal Pais, another beach town on the west coast of the peninsula, and then on Sunday will take a boat south to the Manuel Antonio reserve where I hope to see the elusive tree sloth.

I am certain I am forgetting to mention things I would otherwise like to remember to mention, but such is life without time schedules and important things to do - your brain turns to a nice, fruity mush.

I think I am off to take one of my twice-daily cold showers and find a nice shady spot on the beach to finish Angels and Demons.

ciao and have a nice butt!