Costa Rica Trip!

Ok so I was away on vaca for a week in the beautiful country of Costa Rica, in Papagayo. I finished working my summer internship at Konrad Group a day before I left, and moved into my apartment in Kingston a day after I got back, so the trip was really all the winding down I got to do. But it was amazing! It was with my entire extended family and, being filipino, I have a big family. All of my cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews.... crazy stuff but I loved it.

Exactly my kind of trip, because there was a little relaxing: I found time in there to get my first massage ever, I kayaked out into the middle of a bay and took a nap in the sun, and I squeezed in some good read-by-the-beach time (pssst right now I'm finishing up the Kingkiller Chronicles. I totally burned through Name of the Wind).

I also sat in a sauna created by a natural hot spring in a volcano. I literally sat in a room above a volcano for the steam because apparently that's a good idea. And I took a mud bath! Rub grey mud into your skin to exfoliate, soak in hot water, then in hotter water, then in freezing water.... there was a lot of screaming and panic going on during that last bit.

But we also did a lot more interesting stuff!

When I was a kid, I went on vacation with my family and we went ATV'ing. Being the 8 year old that I was, I made him promise that when I legally could, I could drive the ATV. So I did. And let me tell you, I was stellar  probably ridiculously average. But it was a lot of fun! We sped through the countryside and in the rain and through the forest so fast that I was gripping onto the handles for my life.

We also tried some interesting Costa Rican snacks. Most notable being cookies and cream lollipops with fudge centers, white chocolate dipped oreos, and the most confusing of all: cream-flavoured cheetos:

Some other things..

I went kayaking to an island that was supposed to have monkeys on it! ...but I kayaked over without flip flops and the island was too full of red ants for me to brave that, so no monkeys for me to take home (just kidding, Toronto Airport Security... he... hehe...).

My goddaughter did discover selfies. I have taught her well.

One night, my brother had a scorpion on his shirt and he did the James Bond Skyfall thing, where you just look over at it, finish what you're doing, and then trap it in a cup.

There was also a cat that would specifically come up to me and let me pet it. I'm convinced that cats are my people. 

OH! And the highlight of the trip was that I learned to go surfing! I've never consumed so much salt water in the rest of my life combined. I got a good grasp of boarding, but paddling out to the waves was the hard part. It was difficult to anchor down and push past waves that I didn't want to catch, because I'm so tiny. 

It also took a second to adjust because the guy at the surf shop said that longboarding would give me experience with surfing. The problem is, when longboarding, you shift your weight left or right to turn. Surfing is more about staying as balanced down the center as possible. The hard part in surfing is tilting forward or backwards: leaning forward will help you catch a wave and speed up, but leaning backwards will keep the nose of the board out of the water (so you don't wipe out). They were surprisingly different. Still, the most fun I've had in a while! I would've stayed out there all day if I could have. 

Overall, exhausting. But perfect. I also keep bananas out of my diet, so I didn't get a single bug bite. :) :) :)