All is well in beautiful Costa Rica. We've had a great couple of days.

This is the view from our last hotel room.

It was an awesome room, but staying there wasn't worth listening to the constant fighting between the owner and his novia. Our room was a large open-air loft on the very top of the hotel, right above the owners house. So we heard everything that went on downstairs and in the street. For the first few nights, there was just bickering and bad words, but last night we enjoyed the grand finale. I awoke to the sound of glass bottles being smashed outside in front of the hotel, followed by lots of screaming in Spanish. I didn't hear anything from the owner, but his girlfriend sure was pissed about something. In the end all the screaming and bottle breaking prompted the owner to pack her things and kick her out. She protested by standing outside yelling and throwing rocks at the hotel. It was totally wild and that's not even the end of it.

This morning we went downstairs to find the lobby full of cops. One of the hotel employees was trying to tell them that crazygirl had been kicked out, while crazygirl was there insisting that this was not the case. We didn't stick around to see how it ended, but while we were roaming the streets searching for breakfast, we were passed by a police pickup truck with about 4 cops and crazygirl in the back. As they passed she started freaking out and repeatedly punched one of the cops in the head and then tried to bite his ear off. It took all 4 cops to restrain her. It may have been one of the craziest things I've ever seen.

I should point out how well the cops handled the situation. There were no displays of authority. There were no patronizing 'Ma'am, you're gonna need to calm down' type remarks, and there definitely wasn't any unwarranted or excessive physical force. It was the first time I have seen cops handle a stressful situation with out acting like an ape. So bravo for Puerto Viejo's police force. Provo PD could definitely learn a few things.

Besides eavesdropping on fights, Nate and I have spent a lot of time at the beach. Most days we take a 20 minute walk on a jungle path and stop every so often to watch the monkeys and sloths. At the end of the path there is a beautiful beach. We swim and read and just sit and relax until Ephraim, the coconut vendor, comes by and offers us some agua de pipa. It's a pretty good way to spend a day.




We're planning on heading to Panama sometime in the next few days. We'll come back to Puerto Viejo in the first week of November and then I'm going to start volunteering for the Jaguar Rescue Center. The rescue center takes animals that have been illegally trafficked, hurt or orphaned and cares for them until they can be released back in to the wild and if they can't be re-released, they keep them and care for them until the end of their days. The center requires that volunteers work for 40 hours a week for at least three weeks, so I'm going to have a full schedule for quite a while. I think it will be rewarding, though, and I'm definitely looking forward to chilling out with animal babies.

So yeah. Fights, coconuts, animals... and I bought a new dress.
More pictures to come later.
xoxo
Kia