All the things I collected

09/03/10 - San Jose Airport

For Sunday lunch we ate the rest of our fish on a BBQ which was so good. After that we headed down to the beach to light a fire, have a few beers and watch the sun set. It was lovely being as a whole group for what felt like the last time this trip. We managed to place our fire perfectly so all the wood had burned before the tide claimed it.

Despite it feeling really late it was still early enough to go to Pizza Tomate for a dessert! Chocolate cake with ice cream, sooooo good! Once we'd got back up to the Funky Monkey we realised the Oscars were still on and we had timed it so we got to see the final 3 awards.

Monday was a sad day, everyone packing, last surfs and saying goodbye to Sante Teresa.

We'd started the trip as 11. Russel left after the road trip, 10. Dad left a week later, 9. And Nico's travels meant he stayed in Sante Teresa so Monday afternoon found us 8.

We caught the local bus, leaving at 2 getting to the airport for 9.

The next morning Alex left during breakfast, 7.

Jackie left before 11, 6.

Elliot left at 12, 5.

We went to Jalepeno's for a lunch and at 1:30 Sam Millar left us, 4

Our next destination was Goodlight book shop, were we spent an hour browsing through books and generally chatting and chilling. I left at 3. 3

Sam flies to Panama tomorrow morning, 2.

Erin's bus takes her to Puerto Viejo, 1.

Frankie goes to America before heading to Bolivia.

0. Until we meet again.

07/03/10 - Bet you'll never guess where I am!

Yesterday was our last Saturday and other then the prearranged festivities all I planned on doing was charging! So when I checked the surf and saw sets coming in that were double overhead (For me anyway!) I was stoked!Once I'd got my board I saw Viktor and we headed out together. God it was a hard paddle out, must have taken me over 10 minutes! Every time I caught something I had to do it all over again! Despite this I caught 5 lovely waves and found its all a lot easier when the waves are big! Annoyingly I cut my foot on my fin as I was coming in and its quite deep so I'm out the water. However, for a last surf it was brilliant.

Also last night was Rafa's BBQ with our tuna and a cocktail which all tasted amazing! True to form really. I cooked Frankie a birthday cake which tasted really good, this rather surprised me as it was from a packet mix!

We followed this with a game of ring of fire with slightly different rules and a game of I have never. Ending the night on the beach with 3 of the guys naked!

This morning I went to an Internet cafe as I needed to print some stuff off so I figured I'd read your blogs. Naively I'd hoped that whilst I was away things would have cleared up. Also reading them makes me want to be back now to give you all huge hugs! Not that it would solve it but it would make me feel better about it all.

04/03/10 - Funky Monkey

Today we went fishing at Mal Pais. We got up to leave at 6:30. Fortunately both Nico and Elliot were able to join us as they both had been ill recently.

When we got there we split into two groups as there were two boats. Priddy, Alex, Frankie and Elliot in one and Nico, Sam, Erin and me in the other.

After fishing for 3 hours we collectively had caught 14 tuna, 2 barracuda and 1 sardine. The other caught a tuna each and Alex caught a sardine. Erin and Sam both caught 2 tuna and a barracuda each. Nico and I caught 3 tuna each.

Some of it has been frozen for a beach BBQ Sunday and the rest given to Rafa, the Funky Monkey chef, for a big meal Saturday.

27/02/10 - Kitchen of Funky Monkey

Currently I'm waiting for my beans and rice to finish cooking. Which will be a while as they've only just started!

First off. Last night was messy! We got invited to a party in a hotel near is and as the only way not to fall asleep at 9 is to drink we got a drinking game going.

Ring of fire with basic international drinking rules. Ring of fire is played by shuffling a pack of cards and placing them in a circle around a pint glass. Each number has its own rule:

• Ace; Waterfall, the person picks a direction. Everyone starts drinking at the same time and can only stop when the person next to them does, however, they don't have to!
• 2; Question time, ask anyone a question they have to ask someone else one. No-one answers the questions, whoever breaks the chain drinks.
• 3; If its black you have to drink 3 fingers width of your drink, if its red you nominate someone else to.
• 4; Last person to have both hands on the floor drinks.
• 5; Chicks, all the girls drink.
• 6;Dicks, all the guys drink.
• 7; Bust a move, last person to stand up and be dancing drinks.
• 8; This person becomes thumb master.
• 9; Bust a rhyme, clockwise you each say a sentence that rhymes with the last, break the chain and you drink.
• 10; You make a rule up.
• J; Whack the jack, down your drink.
• Q; The person to your left downs their drink.
• K; The first three kings fill a third of the pint glass with their drink. The fourth has to down it.

The only other rule is if you break the circle you down your drink.

Alex got to make a rule and he settled on "If your name is Sam you get double punishments." Therefore, when Same got his 10 he said "Every time someone drinks Alex has to join them." I thought that was fair justice!

I was drinking vodka topped up with lemon flavoured water. This morning I worked out I drunk a 365 ml bottle of vodka which is 14 shots. No wonder I couldn't stand still!

I remember putting my top on to go out and the next thing was giving my invitation to the lady so I could go into the party. Apparently we walked for a little bit then got a free taxi up the hill to the hotel.

I decided to leave as its hard to have a good time when you can hardly walk! At this point I discovered how long and steep the hill is! Walking down it drunk inevitably I fell over a fair bit.

This morning we had a 10:30 surf lesson and when I woke up I was still drunk! Although a tiring surf as we had drills to do I caught 4 of my best ever waves, even managed a little cut back on one.

We found out about the earthquake and tsunami and got kinda excited. Despite being 5 minutes from the sea we're up a big hill. On a good note it didn't hit as we were on the beach and it would have destroyed the main street. On a bad note, not only did it not hit but there was no sign of it so we saw nothing.

26/02/10 - Funky Monkey (Suprise suprise!)

Yesterday we went snorkeling. We left at 8 for the fishing village of Pochenta. When we got there, there was this little boat waiting for us, it housed the 8 of us perfectly. After speeding along for a while we reached Ilsa Tortuga. Ilsa Tortuga is a nature reserve with no inhabitants. However, one of its beaches is not private and it houses the most tacky tourist area you've ever seen. It was a dollar to use the loo for gods sake! Unsurprisingly the sea was warm. Its one saving factor was its volley ball pitch.


As soon as we got to the island we headed out to the first spot. After a bit of faffing around with flippers and masks we were ready. It was truly amazing. I really hope my pictures come out and the videos for that matter! Sam does a bit of spear fishing so when I had trouble diving he was able to help. Apparently you have to make your ears pop on the pressure which gets quite painful.One sexy face!




Back at Tortuga we had lunch, which was fantastic! Rice, Potato and Marlin in a sauce and if that wasn't enough, for dessert, Melon, Pineapple and Watermelon.


After that all settled down we hit the volleyball court. Priddy, Nico and I against Sam, Alex and a local. Thanks to some great serving from yours truly we won 11-9.

Once we reached the second spot we were told reef sharks had been seen here before. I figured I'd been mauled by one animal this trip so I was safe! My camera ran out of battery half way through so annoyingly I didn't get the est footage. Our guide caught a puffer fish which obviously puffed up and was floating!

On our way back a call went out from another boat that humped back wales were around. We got within 20ft of them. So truly amazing! A mother and her calf!

24/2/10 - Funky Monkey - Again

Yesterday we went on quad bikes to Montezuma. Which was epic fun! We all got coated in about an inch of dust. Fortunately, there are waterfalls to cool off and clean up in. Frankie, Sam and Alex jumped off the 40ft jump. I limited myself to the 10ft one!

Right now Erin, Frankie and me are having a Disney singing session. Emma would be proud!