Some Pictures

Here are some pictures from the trip. Always nice to have some images to put with words!

Conquering Machu Picchu!

Just got back from visiting the ruins of the lost Inca city of Machu Picchu. This city is particularly famous because it sits on top of a beautiful mountain and is the most well preserved Incan city. When Francisco Pizarro came to Peru he succeeded in destroying much of the Incan empire. However, Pizarro and his men never found the hidden city of Machu Picchu. The city was no longer occupied some 500 years ago. Many theories exist for the reasons that it was abandoned. It wasn´t until 1911 that an Englishman ¨re-discovered¨ the lost city with some tips from some of the local farmers living in the remote area of Machu Picchu. There are many ways offered to get to the ruins. We chose the jungle trek because it was the best fit for our time situation. First we took a bus 3 hours out of Cuzco to a mountain pass roughly 9,000 ft. above sea level. From here we got on mountain bikes and rode down-hill for 5 hours to an elevation of around 3,000 ft. I could feel the temperature rising as we decended from the snow-capped peaks to what are the fringes of the Amazonian basin. The scenery was beautiful and the ride was great. I was heading full speed down the valley for most of the time. Through the mud, the rivers, and the passing cars I did my best to keep concentration and avoid Peruvian road rash. Finally we arrived in the small city of Santa Maria where we took a mini-bus to another city closer to the ruins. Being in Peru I have come to realize that roads can be built anywhere! We clung to the side of the mountians as we bounced our way to Santa Teresa. Here we spent the night and got up early the next day for our hike to Aguas Calientes. Aguas Calientes is a city built at the base of the Machu Picchu Mountian specifically for the many tourists who visit the ruins. The surrounding moutains and jungle give the place a real ¨Indiana Jones¨ feel. After a nice lunch I headed up to the peak of Puticusi Mountain. This peak has a great view of the ruins from across the valley. The climb up was steep but well worth the views. The trail I used was an Incan trail from hundreds of years ago. It is amazing that the same trails are still used today by backpackers throughout Peru. The next morning we woke up at 3:50 AM to climb the steep trail up to the ruins. We left in the dark so that we could be some of the first 400 people to enter the ruins. Only the first 400 have the opportunity to climb the peak of Winay Picchu behind the ruins. This peak is the small mountain head that most people recognize from the most famous pictures of Machu Picchu. I will be sure to post my pictures as soon as I can. The climb up Winay Picchu was steep and slippery becuase of the many misty clouds and light rain. Although sunshine would have been desirable, the mist and low lying clouds made the mountain and ruins feel alive. After tackling my 2nd mountian in 24 hours it was time for a 3rd! Soon I found myself huffing and puffing up the peak known as Machu Picchu, where the ruins get thier name. Machu Picchu means ¨old mountain¨ in the Incan language of Quechua. I was feeling like an old man by the time I got to the top an hour later. Normally the peak offers great views of the ruins and the surrounding area. However, mother nature allowed me to see about 50 ft. in each direction at best. The mist and rain blanketed the entire landscape. I have to admit that I was pretty disappointed with the weather during our day at the ruins. This only gives me a reason to come back again! I need to see the place with some sunshine! Despite the mist I would not have changed a thing. Not many people get to see the ruins with the mystical surroundings we were granted. We just got one of the two days that it rains during Peru´s dry season! After taking the bus d0wn around 4 that afternoon (scaling 3 mountians in less than 24 hours allows me the luxury of modern technology to get down! ) I devoured a nice meal before we caught the train for Cuzco. Last night we had a nice meal and celebrated my birthday by drinking Peru´s finest Inca Cola and then passing out after our long day. Today we are catching a night bus to Lima for our flight tomorrow night. Peru has been great and of course the trip went by way too fast. My spanish is greatly improved, I surfed and kited more waves in 3 weeks than I have in my life, I hiked the world´s deepest canyon, slept on an island on the world´s highest lake, rafted a beautiful river, saw amazing ancient wonders, ate llama, took a bus with over 5 different species of animals, and had a great trip my first time in South America. I have a feeling this will be the first of many times. I will post my pictures in the next week. Hope you enjoyed reading about my trip. Until the next 0ne!

Cuzco Rafting

Four days ago we arrived in Cuzco from Puno. Cuzco was once the capital city of the Incan Empire. After the Spaniards came and killed off many of the Incans in thier conquests the city became the colonial one it resembles today. Many of the churches and buildings were contructed using the same stones the Incans used for thier buildings when the city was thiers. Today Cuzco is known as the capital city for ancient ruins in South America. The day after we arrived we booked a rafting trip and a jungle trek to Machu Picchu. The rafting was an amazing time. We drove about 5 hours outside of the city to the Uripumac River. This river is actually the beginning of the great Amazon River. After some safety drills we were on our way. The trip was 3 days and 2 nights of beautiful scenery and great rapids. We completed some sections that were level 3 through level 5 rapids. The campsites were amazing with sweeping views of the river and canyon. On the second nights we were treated to a Peruvian sauna miles from civilization. Our guides rigged an air tight tent on the beach by our campsite. After heating up rocks in the fire for a few hours they took them out into the "sauna". The air temp was about 50 and we packed all 17 tourists and guides into the tent. After about ten minutes we made a mad dash for the freezing cold river. We did this 3 times and it made for an experience I will never forget. After our spa treatment we dried off by the fire and warmed up. The next day we did some more rafting and surfed the river waves with our boat. Last night all of the guides and travelers met up at a bar to watch the video from our trip. The shots of our boat going down the rapids our great! I´m all smiles in the front of the boat while Sarah is hard to spot ducking for cover in the raft. Today we are going horseback riding to some different Incan ruins in the area. Tomorrow we head for Machu Pichuu via the jungle path. First we will bike down an area of the Andes to the outskirts of the Amazon jungle. Here we will spend the night and begin to make our way to the ruins over the following two days. I am really looking forward to visiting another one of the ancient wonders of the world.

Titicaca to Cuzco

Just got back from 4 days in Copacabana, Bolivia on lake Titicaca. Copacabana is a sleepy town on the lake just across the border with Peru. We chose to go there because it is home to Isla del Sol and Isla del Luna. The islands of the sun and moon are an hour boat ride from Copacabana and is where the Incan creation myth is centered. The Incans believed that the sun was born here and where the first Incan people came from. After spending two nights on the island I can certainly see why. Our hostel was on top of the island with panoramic views of both Bolivia and Peru. Bolivia´s Cordilla Real mountian range rose dramatically about 30 miles from the island on the lake shore. The snow capped peaks where beautiful to watch as clouds moved in and the mountains changed colors all day. After our second night on the south end of the island we began our 3 hour hike to the north end where the Incan ruins where primarily located. The hike was great and a nice break from the intense hikes we had done in the canyon. On the north end there was crystal clear water and an Incan palace with The Rock of the Puma nearby. The Rock of the Puma was used for animal and human sacrifices to the gods. It was cool to imagine the Incan rituals taking place here 500 hundred years ago. The island was great and it was time to head back to Copacabana for one night before back to Puno. These sound like simple plans, however my stomach was ready to take me on a whole other kind of adventure! Not the kind of adventure I would ever like to experience again. I will spare you the details in order to save your appitite. Lets just say I never knew my body was capable of making the noises it did. I´m writing this 24 hours after the first incident and feeling a lot better! A short trip to the local hospital in Bolivia set me right. $5 USD later and I had the antibiotics I needed for my road to recovery. I am considering getting some cavities filled at these great exchange rates in South America! Tomorrow Sarah and I are heading to Cuzco for Machu Pichuu, river rafting, and whatever else the local travel agency touts can try to con us into for some commission. Still unable to put pics up. Hopefully in Cuzco. Hope all is well back in the northern hemishere!

Deepest Canyon To The Highest Lake!

Picked up Sarah in Lima without any problems and then headed to Arequipa the next night. Arequipa is Peru´s second largest city located in a valley surrounded by three volcanoes, two of them active. Not the best place to build a city! After a day in Arequipa we headed to the Canyon Del Colca about 6 hours outside the city. On the way to the canyon we stopped at a lookout point for the Andes. For someone who is not acclimatized it would probably be a good idea to not run off the bus to relieve themselves at 12,000 ft. But of course I was only thinking about getting off the bus as fast as possible! The view from my ¨bathroom¨was probably as good as you get for a toilet. There was no time to enjoy it too much as I was rushed back onto the bus to head to the canyon. So I ran back on and sat down. What followed was my attempt to not scare Sarah and pass out from my sudden onset of altitude sickness. My head was spinning and I began to sweat. Nothing serious, but I thought I was going to be on the floor! After about ten minutes I regained my senses and was able to enjoy the great scenery down to the canyon. A word to anyone traveling to the mountains, take it easy and don´t run to the bathroom at 12,000 ft the first day you are there! This was the worst of our mishaps so that is a good thing. After a night in the city of Cabanaconde on top of the canyon we headed down. Walking downhill sounds a lot easier than it is! The paths clung to the sides of the canyon as they wound down to the bottom. 4 hours later we had reached our first destination. A small camp on the Rio Del Colca would be our home for two nights. We were in luck as our camp had natural hot springs down by the river. After two days of recovery we headed to Sangalle or ¨the oasis¨ located further down the river. In order to get there we had to wind our way up out of the canyon and back down again, no easy feat as we had already learned. This was another 4 hour hike. The scenery was amazing so it made our trekking much more exciting. My motivation was always to see what was around the next bend or over the next hill. I also was trying not to leave Sarah in the dust as I can be a little speedy. I think I managed to not make her too upset as she huffed and puffed her way up. But she did great and should really be proud of tackling such daunting hikes. I have to realize that not everyone loves the feeling of being absolutely exhausted and still wanting more. For me, thats when I feel most alive! After a night in the oasis we headed up out of the canyon on our toughest hike. I was about to feel absolutely exhausted and absolutely not wanting more! After three and a half hours I reached the top. It was not easy, but a great ending to our time in the canyon. This morning we made our way back to Arequipa and plan on leaving for Lake Titicaca tommorow morning. Many of the internet places do not have places to upload pics so I will put them up as soon as I can. Track me on the GPS!

On The Move Now

After my first 18 days in Peru I have been able to get a good idea of what one very small town on the coast is like. Rising at dawn to surf and kite everyday is not a bad existence! However, Peru has much more to offer than wind and waves. I will definitely be back to get the w´s again. I did learn a good lesson in camping while in Lobitos. Never leave your tent open when the surf camps pet dog has fleas! I thought it would be nice to listen to the waves and have some fresh air during our first nights stay directly on the beach. So I left my tent open, oblivious to the fact that the flying flea circus would be visiting that night. I woke up around 2 AM itching like crazy! At the time I though that I had just been biten by a bunch of misquitos in the night and quickly shut my tent to keep them out. It wasnt until two days later that I put two and two together when a fellow camper mentioned that the flea infested perro liked to snuggle up to unsuspecting campers who left thier tents open. But thats the fun in traveling you see! New experiences. Getting attacked by fleas, and ailments of travlers sickness on 18 hour bus rides are just a few of the fun things that go on! Now its time to have more adventures and check out the rest of this very diverse country. Tonight I am getting Sarah from the airport and we are heading to Arequipa where there are the world´s deepest canyons. From there we will head to Lake Titicaca, possibly the Bolivian salt flats, and then on the Cuzco for Machu Pichu. The pics are of Lobitos and Pacasmayo where I was kiting and surfing. The little car is called a Moto and they are quite fun to see how many people and bags you can manage to fit in them! Record for the trip so far was 5 people (including driver) and 4 surfboards.

More wind and waves!!!

I have not written in the last week because I have been staying in the small beach town of Lobitos. Lobitos consists of about 800 people and seems to be a town that time forgot. There is no internet, the lights sometime go out and as of now the water stopped working. But I love it! I have been staying in a house near the beach where I surf in the morning and kite in the afternoon. I don´t need much more than that in my life! Although I am looking forward to meeting Sarah in Lima and exploring everything else Peru has to offer. Check out my location on the google map link from my first post and you can see how isolated Lobitos is. I will probably stay here until I head to Lima to get Sarah this weekend. I find that it is always nice to take your time and not visit a new place everyday. I know most of the town by now and I am beginning to feel comfortable there. Although more than 3 weeks in Lobitos mights make anyone staying there a little loco! No hay nada in Lobitos! But thats cool because they have the wind and waves of course. Thats what keeps me going to crazy places and lugging my kites and surfboards around the world! The things we do for what we love!

Wind and Waves

Yesterday evening Nick and I made a decision to get out of Lima and head north asap. We cancled our hotel room for the night and bought a bus ticket for Pacasmayo in the north. A 12 hour overnight bus ride later we had arrived at our destination and ready to catch some waves. The bus was definitely nicer than the plane we took to get here. Plenty of leg room, large semi=sleeper seats, dinner, a game of bingo, and an on the road movie were just a few of the perks. Greyhound should take note of Perus luxury bus line. Anyway, today was what I have been waiting for. Nick and I rented boards from our small hostel located near the beach and headed out. Pacamayo is home to one of the longest left hand waves in the world but is by no means a surfing town. Pretty much the only people that surf here are the gringos that come from abroad for a shot at Peruvian perfection. After a nice surf by the beach in front of town it was time for the real reason I initially planned a trip to Peru. Wind. The thermal wind starts picking up around 12 and I couldnt wait. I headed further down the beach and rigged my kite. I was in front of arguably the best kitesurfing point break in the world and I had the entire 3 mile break to myself. This is kitsurfing heaven. After riding until my legs were numb and my torso torn I headed in. I was joined by about 4 other windsurfers during the time I was on the waves. I have been talking to one of them that is staying in our hostal and tmrw we are going to Chicama to surf. Chicama is said to be the longest wave in the world, and its supposed to be BIG. My body is shot todays watersport extraveganza and from over 18 hours of traveling the last two days. However, I will be getting up at 630 tmrw morning to go see and feel what Chicama, the longest wave in the world, is all about. As long as the conditions remain good we will stay and enjoy the incredible combination of Peruvian wind and waves.Check out the link to see me on Google Maps.

Heading North

Nick and I arrived in Lima safely last night at 10pm local time. The flight was not too bad, but it was a huge relief to be in Peru! Last night we had our first Peruvian meal consisting of a hamburger and a chicken sandwich. Im sure we will explore our taste buds a bit more in the coming weeks with cuy (geunie pig) and fermented corn beer. Tonight we will stay in a suburn of Lima by the beach and hopefully head north tmrw for some big waves in Chicama. Check out the link on my first Peru post to see where we are on a google map. Click the satelite view to see it in Google Earth mode. Hopefully I will have caught my first wave the next time that I write!

Peru!!!

Heading out early tmrw morning. I have known about this trip for 3 months and I am still up at midnight the night before doing last minute things for my trip! My friend Nick from Atlanta called me the other day and was asking a lot of questions about the trip.Long story short, Nick is on my flight tmrw and is going to be surfing and kiting with me for the first part of the trip.Its going to be great to have an old friend join the adventure! I am also going to have a GPS tracking device that will show where I am at on a Google Map. The link can be found at http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0TtPAWDKTcK5Lz0gfLDYfgxOiXozuAVJF

Got to do some packing and last minute details. The next time I write it will be from the southern hemisphere in Peru!!!!

Travel Bug

School is done and I am looking at my first summer in as long as I can remember that won't have classes waiting for me in August. College has been the main thing that has kept me from becoming a true global nomad. After my first big trip abroad in Australia I extended my plane ticket twice. I returned from the other side of the world only 3 days before the start of my sophmore year. Without school bringing me back I thought I'd be gone for awhile after this summer. Originally I was going to get some odd jobs and save up to take a big year-long trip. My travel bug took over and I couldn't resist the urge to escape for a few weeks before I started on my original plan. I looked into cheap flights and Peru seemed like a good place to go! South America has been on my list and I figured I'd get a little taste to hold me over until the next trip. I am leaving June 9th and returning to Tampa July 27th. I am flying into Lima with my kiteboarding gear ready to go. From there I will go north near the border with Ecuador where the wind and waves are supposed to be as reliable as the sun rising in the east. Here I plan to eat, sleep, and dream about kiteboarding for 18 days. On June 29th I am going back to Lima to meet my girlfriend Sarah at the airport. From Lima we will head south to visit as much of the country as possible. The world's largest sand dunes, deepest canyons, and highest lake all await us. We will also go to see the iconic Machu Picchu ruins that are pictured above. Peru appears to be a beautiful country with many amazing things to do and see while we are there. In the meantime I am going to teach some kiting, visit Eduardo in Wisconsin, and celebrate my sister being done with high school and my completion of college! This never gets old! I hope that I am continuing to write about new adventures and far away places for years to come. Stay tuned for updates......

4 Years Ago.....

4 years ago I had just signed a basketballl scholarship to attend The University of Loyola, New Orleans. A little Hurricane named Katrina came along and changed my plans before I could even go to orientation. I ended up at Eckerd College in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Later that year I learned to kiteboard and the rest is history! Two years of collegiate athletics was enough for me, not to mention I had a severe wind addiction. USF St. Pete was a great alternative just 10 minutes from Eckerd. As I write this I am pretty much a college graduate. Well.....technically not yet, but I have all of my requirments fullfilled. I am in no rush to join the "real world" so I am prolonging my student status for as long as possible. I did not apply for graduation even though I can very well get my piece of paper. This way I can extend my college life and not have to start payments on my student loans. I am not just trying to become a college bum, despite what may appear to be a blatant attempt to work the system and live off of Mom and Dad. Number one, Mom and Dad have long since disowned me......monetarily. Secondly, I have some big plans. Not sure exactly what they are, but the future looks promising! This past weekend I went on a day trip to the Keys for some kiteboarding with a former student I taught. This could be the start of something very cool. The adventure travel/sports market is something I have always had a desire to be involved with. Check out the video for an idea of my kind of day trip. In the mean time I have to move out of my apartment and get ready for a busy May. I am planning on going to see a space shuttle launch, compete in an adventure race, visit my friend Eduardo in Wisconsin, find some temporary jobs, and plan the rest of my life outside of school! Should be interesting! I'll be sure to keep you updated as to which country I'm in and where I'm heading along the way. Let the journey continue........

March is WINDY!!!

Well, I didn't make the cut for The Best Job In The World. I guess I will just have to go and find/make my own best job! I have some ideas for that. Only about 6 weeks left until I'm done with school! At the moment I have a severe addiction to wind and a bad case of Senioritis! I guess wind is not a bad thing to be addicted to. This past weekend was unreal! Friday was one of the windiest days I have kited in and Saturday was definitely the windiest day I have ever been out in. We had a south wind gusting 40+ for the whole day. The day was perfection, sunny, windy, and warm. It doesn't get much better than that! Below is a short video from the day and from the keys. The jumps in the video are high, but I definitely had bigger ones that day. Saturday was exactly what keeps me coming back for more. I'm addicted!!!!

Spring Break in the Keys

Its been four years and it still never gets old! I could definitely do this for the next 4, easy. Since my freshman year I have been coming down to Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys. Each time I have stayed with my friend Lance and a handful of others on a mission to get away from the world. The break is usually about relaxing, chasing the wind and chasing the girls. They don't call the Keys the "Conch Republic" for no reason. Life in the Keys feels like being in a far away country, not a few hours from Miami. Cj and I arrived yesterday and plan on staying through next wednesday or so. Like a lot of the things I do, it depends on the wind. If its good, I'll make sure I'm there! The house is not as packed as it has been in the past. I believe it has been in the thirties at one point! With Lance, PJ, Unk, Bo, Cj and I we are rolling with plenty of room. Fresh fish for dinner and a cold beer usually ends the days around here. As night comes we head to Duval Street for the famous Duval Crawl. I'll put up some pictures in the next few days. So even though this is my last "official" college spring break, I hope I'm still taking a week off every year in March to get away for a little bit. Cj want to play beer pong before Duval so I'm done! Don't usually do shout outs through the blog, but I got to send a big one out to Lance for letting us crash and Bo "My Man!", and of course Q-Dawg!!!!!

The Best Job In The World!!!

Its official, I am one of over 19,000 applicants for "the best job in the world!" The Queensland Tourism Board has put together the opportunity for one lucky person to have the job title of island caretaker. All that was required of me was a 60 second video stating why I think I should have the best job in the world. You can view my video at http://www.islandreefjob.com/#/applicants/watch/Ljvt48DZeww. I filmed the video last week at Fort Desoto Park in St. Pete. I really feel like I have a good chance at making the first cut to 50 applicants. If I make that then I need everyone to vote for my video! The video with the most votes automatically makes the final 11! It would be perfect! I graduate in May and the job starts in July. Getting paid to take care of an island is not a bad first job! Some of my duties would be to write a blog and post pictures and video from the islands of the Great Barrier Reef. I'm qualified perfectly for the position. I already write a blog with pictures and video, I'm personable, I enjoy being outside and adventurous, the list goes on. They HAVE to pick me! : ) Anyway, check out the video and let me know what you think.

Hellogoodbye

Last week was pretty crazy here in the Tampa Bay area. The Super Bowl came to town and took over! The whole week was one party after another. Anyone involved will tell you that you can easily forget that there is a game on Sunday! I came down with some sort of flu-like sickness for the better part of the madness. In a cough medicine induced haze I went to Tampa to watch the game with my best friend Eduardo. The game was great and exciting, every part of the bowl lived up to its super-ness. Eduardo left yesterday to start his first job out of college. He will be interning with the Milwaukee Brewers as an advanced scout. Guys don't generally get too emotional around each other. We said goodbye and that we would see each other soon enough. Eduardo and I are more like brothers than friends. I pretty much talk to him everyday. I think that I am just now starting to realize I won't be seeing him as often as usual. This is life isn't it? A series of hello's and goodbye's. New people come in and out of our lives all the time. It is the few that stick around that we must not forget. Family and friends are at the top of this list. I won't see him but we will still talk everyday. It is important to maintain these relationships. In life, if we don't have others, what do we have? If you are not talking to someone for one reason or another, think about why. Is it really worth it? 9 times out of 10 the answer is probably no. So give an old friend a call or stay in touch with a new one. When I am old I want to judge the value of my life not by my car or house, but by the friendships I formed.

Kite Cam Keys

Here is the video that I took from the Keys. In case you are wondering, I have a waterproof digital camera that I strap to my kite using a make-shift rig of an ipod case and some velcro. Seems to work pretty well! The water down there is really beautiful. Sometimes if feels like I am riding in a giant pool. Also, no it is not as fun and beautiful as it looks on the video. Thats just good video editing and some greenscreen applications.

Notes From Home

In the past I have only written in this blog while traveling abroad. I feel like there are a lot of cool things going on in my life right now and I want to share them. Two weeks ago I went down to the Florida Keys to work with Greenpeace on their New President, New Policies campaign. Myself and three friends were going to try to break the world record for distance kiteboarding non-stop. The current world record is 144 miles, we were going for 200. The wind did not cooperate for a record attempt, however we still got some great riding in. I will be posting a video of our riding in the crystal clear waters of Islamorada ASAP. We are currently in a holding pattern waiting for the next good weather forecast to complete our journey. Now that I am writing the blog from home you will get a pretty good idea of the fact that my life is controlled by wind!! I will tell you that I have loved only a handful of women in my life. At 22, I guess a handful is a lot. My mom, sister, grandmothers, and aunt are at the top of my list. I know what your thinking, they are all related to you! True, but I love them. However, there is one that I can really never get over. I knew her pretty much my whole life. It wasn't until I got to college that I really had the guts to really "use" her. Don't get the wrong idea. I'm talking about Mother Nature....lol. She provides the wind that I so desperately need in my life. Kiteboarding is obviously a wind driven sport. Without wind, I don't fly. Since I learned to kiteboard I have been obsessed with the wind. Every kiteboarder is. How many of you check current wind data and wind reports 3 to 5 times daily? Unless your a kiter, the answer is probably zero. If you do ride, the answer might be even more. So when you start to notice that I have not made a post in a while it is probably because I am either riding my face off or pulling my hair out in a lack-of-wind craze. So I've told you every woman I have ever loved on the first day of blogging from home. At this rate you should be completely inside my head by the end of the month! Hope you enjoy and stay tuned for much more. Below is a video of my first trail of Kite Cam. Check out my links, pics, and video's that I'll be posting periodically.

Bus for Quepos...Maybe Not

The last couple of days in Costa Rica I was not able to get on the internet because of the shops being closed for the holiday. After Dominical Kyle and I took what should have been a short bus ride north back to Manuel Antonio. We arrived at the bus stop with plenty of time to spare to catch the bus north. When the bus came it read, "Quepos", which is where we were heading. Kyle went in front of me and paid for the both of us. Here is a rule that can save any of you some time if you ever find yourself travelng in a foriegn country. Always double check the destination of your bus with the driver! : ) Even if the bus says the name of where you want to go on the top, this does not necessarily mean that it is heading there. I think we assumed that if the bus has a city's name across it, than that is its destination. Not exactly. I soon realized that we were definitely not heading north in the direction we should be. Long story short, what should have been a 2 hour bus ride , was an 8 hour day of over crowded bus rides. It was all good though. We got to see the city of San Isidro and take a pretty hilarious bus ride back. I counted over 100 people on a bus that has seats for 45! Men, women, children, and even a dozen baby chicks were crammed inside this sauna on wheels. It was an adventure just wondering if we would make it up the next hill! Like, The Little Engine That Could, we slowly climbed up and down the mountians at a brisk walking pace. It is amuzing things like these that keep traveling interesting. It's important to look at it this way, otherwise you can find yourself way too stressed over things like deceptive bus destinations. No matter where you are in the world, you can always find an adventure on the public bus! The last couple days where nice to just relax and reflect on our time in Costa Rica. Kyle and I surfed one last time in Manuel Antonio and also saw the elusive sloth that we had been wanting to catch a glimpse of. We were able to get pretty close, and man are those guys ugly! It was quite a site to see the sloth doing what they do best. I guess the best phrase for this behavior would be slothing around? Anyway, it was trying to climb a telephone sign and not having much luck. Imagine someone trying to climb a well griesed fire pole and you will get an idea what he looked like. After our sloth entertainment we went to the La Mariposa hotel for lunch by the pool. As one of the "1000 places to see before you die," I thought I might have already passed and gone to heaven! The hotel sits on top of a mountain that has a 270 degree view of the national park and the Pacific Ocean. There is an infiniti pool around the entire deck and views that I will never forget. The hotel was a nice ending to a great trip. Above are some pictures from the trip and a video below. I hope you enjoyed reading about Costa Rica as much as I enjoyed being there! I am set to graduate in May so there will be many more adventures to come!