Today, papa walked me to the church where we meet for our bus rides and it was a somber walk. Last night was rough as the neighbors had an argument and woke us all up. My tico parents got involved and took the neighbor's teenage son to our home and he stayed the night. This kept everyone up much later than normal and when I got up the next morning, I told papa that I would walk to the church--he didn't need to drive me. However, he insisted on walking with me while helping me with my luggage. I really hated to leave that day, I had come to feel like a part of their family and I felt that whatever lay ahead of me would struggle in comparison with my time with Wagoner and his family. I was already missing mama and her wonderful coffee, but later, as I was on the bus, I would discover she had come into my room while I was in the shower and put some breakfast food in my backpack...I could not have asked for a better tico mama!
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| Our last walk together |
It was a long bus ride to Manuel Antonio, and I used that time to write extensively in my journal. I thought about my tico family in Heredia and wondered how my next family stay would turn out. That week passed so fast, and yet here I was heading to a new adventure with so little time to think about what had just transpired!
We arrived at the park in the afternoon and Javier was in perfect form as he led us on our tour through the park. He is so knowledgeable about the local fauna and flora. Often, it takes us an hour to travel a half-mile because he imparts so much information to us regarding our walk! This has caused us all to look more closely at nature as we attempt to discover new things to share with our guide. I'm beginning to develop a closer relationship with Javier and I really like him as a person. On our walk, we found crabs, butterflies, monkeys and many other new wonders.
Finally we arrived at the beach! What a wonder, it is so beautiful! I put my backpack down by Corey's stuff (because I planned to walk along the beach and talk to my wife), I figured it was the safest place. It was a good thing too, because he was the only person to recognize that the tide was low and would eventually move up to where we all had left our belongings! Kudos to Corey for moving all our stuff away from high tide and preventing it all from being soaked!
The beach was wonderful and I saw an iguana while sitting on a log. The water was perfect, not too cold and not too warm--just perfect for jumping in or wading! The entire area was so peaceful and beautiful! I sent a lot of time talking with my family back home as well as speaking with Dr. Aram as we watched the waves roll in. It was so very nice to relax and soak up the sun as we shared our thoughts about our Costa Rica experience so far.
