Zancudo Zancudo

We are back from our New Years trip to Zancudo and I am almost completely recovered. The trip went off without a hitch and had to be one of the most fun group times I have had in Costa Rica.

Most of the group showed up on on the 28th of December and started their adventures and Monty showed up the following day in the evening. While in town I took everyone on the standard tour of downtown and the central market which I think is a must see. The Teatro Nacional is worth a quick poke in and the cafe is worth a stop except it was closed because it was Sunday. The Mercado Central is sort of an overwhelming journey into hobbit shopping land. We tried to find the ice cream shop in there and failed miserably. I asked a guy where it was and he told me it was out of the exit to the market and two blocks south. I think that he was confused as to my intentions. He might have been trying to get us out of the market so we didn't get jacked. It is hard to blend in when you have seven people following you with cameras.

Monty showed up and then we left for the real adventure the next day. We had rented out another apartment in our complex to make it easier to coordinate and it worked really well. We all got up and hopped into the taxi shuttle and hopped out at the Sansa terminal. On the shuttle ride to the airport I told everyone to imagine the tour bus with wings and that will be what the plane trip is. Everyone laughed unknowingly. When we hopped on the Sansa plane there were 12 seats and 10 of us. A lady and her husband were supposed to be on the plane also but he was over the weight limit so he had to take the next flight. The flight to Golfito was great, no one freaked out, except maybe Kearstin a little but she calmed down quickly by snacking.

Then the real adventure begins. We get a couple cabs to the Moyecito (boat dock) and do some shopping at the market next door. We manage to get a hundred pounds of liquor and a bag of chips. That should hold us out for a few days, or so we think. Macho from Los Cocos is an hour early at the dock waiting. That was a pleasant surprise. The boat trip from Golfito to Zancudo was very scenic.

We showed up in Zancudo and got dropped off at the two houses that we rented and were amazed at how nice they were. They were two story houses with a big deck on the front of both of them that looked directly at the beach. They had all of the amenities. They were even nicer furnished than my apartment in San Pedro. If we needed something then it was inevitably found in a drawer or cabinet. At one point someone busted out their IPOD and said "Wouldn't it be nice if we had a set of portable speakers?" Oh yeah, right behind the set of dominoes. Then everyone busted out their ipods and a it was a virtual music cornucopia for the whole trip.

The beach was awesome and everyone was of the same mindset, chill. I don't know if we did anything for the first three days aside from eating and drinking. Sol Y Mar's food was amazing and amazingly cheap. $5 for a Mahi Mahi steak that was amazing. Drinks there are a little weak though.

On New Years eve we were down at Sol Y Mar expecting a big party but it was fairly mild so right before midnight we went out to the beach where there was a fire. 6 people decided to head up the beach and check out the Tico party that was bumping and loud up the beach. Me, Monty, Roberta, and Kearstin stayed. We were fairly drunk so we got the amazing idea to hop in the ocean right after the woohoos of midnight. Kearstin was the first in the water and she started screaming for us to join. We all hopped in and found that our whole body was glowing. The phosphorescence were glowing very brightly. They were so bright that you could see the glow of your feet. When you splashed your arms in the water it was light a fireworks show. Absolutely amazing. That was a nightly ritual after that.

Five of us went kayaking in the mangrove swamps behind Zancudo which was fun. It was mid-morning so it was getting hot and the tide wasn't to our advantage but it was still fun. We paddled by a crocodile that was swimming in the water.

The second to last day the whole group went on the Casa Orqedia botanical garden tour. It was great. We got to taste all sorts of odd fruit and plants. I think that my favorite was the fresh pepper(black pepper). It was such a strong pepper flavor that lasted forever. Yummy.

At the end of the trip we all went our separate ways in Costa Rica. We went back to San Pedro with Monty and Kearstin and some people went up to Tamarindo, and Dan and Julene went to climb Chirripo.

All in all it was an amazing trip. It is rare to find a group of ten people that can get together and not have drama or freak-out moments.

Where should we go next year? Thailand methinks.

More pictures here