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!

21/02/10 Funky Monkey - Pool side

We stayed in Tamarindo for a few more days before heading back. Surfing wise we did very little other than going to playa Avellanas, the reef break. On one of the days we were messing around in the sea on a cloudy day. when we had to head back to the car we had to walk along the beach. By the time we got there I had severely burnt shoulders! I had put on waterproof 60 yet I managed to burn myself so that it ended up blistered. =[

Other than that it been pretty uneventful. In our surfing lesson George wanted us to start using cutbacks! Not the roundhouse kind but all the same! To me I've always thought of the cutback as a high profile move yet he wants us to start using them! WOW!

Yesterday we went to a Rodeo. The drinking had begun before we got there but none of us were drunk, tipsy yes, drunk no. At 8 we entered the stadium and got very good seats. We quickly realised you could enter the ring which Alex, Priddy, Franky, Sam and I all did. Obviously flip-flops removed! After the rider has got off his bull everyone in the ring tries to tease it and get close. Not long later two cowboys enter the ring to lasso the bull, which will normally calmly leave the ring. The bulls vary how aggressive they are; one started eating after he threw his rider off and as he walked beneath me (I was on the wall.) I could put my feet on him, the other side of things was one attacking someone standing next to the wall, which the others hadn't done.

At one point they released a bull with no rider and no warning. Alex got chased by it twice only narrowly missing it!

Right now your probably amazed that I'd managed to be in a ring with 7 bulls and not get hurt. Well think again! With 15 minutes till our taxi was coming to pick us up we were out of the ring when the 8th bull was released. All of us clambered to get back in for one last go! By this time he had rid himself of his rider and made his way to our side of the ring. I was hanging ready to drop when he moved off. In my peripheral vision I saw this fast moving 4 legged beast running away from me so jumped down.

It was a horse.

I had turned to listen to a Costa Rican.

The bull had turned around and was coming towards me with 2 tonnes of muscle.

Naturally I jumped for the wall but only made it half way before it hit me picking up my legs. It head butted me off the wall and bounced me on his head a few times before I hit the floor. At which point I scrambled underneath the bottom rung in the fence. Honestly that's the fastest I've ever moved!

Fortunately I got lucky, my left hand fingers got cut from holding onto the wall and I've got a bruise on my left thigh from the bull. All superficial damage, mainly because it happened so quickly I was relaxed which limits damage.

None of that is a joke, it honestly happened. Ask my Dad I think its taken quite a few years off him!

13/02/10 Hostel Chocolate - Tamarindo

On the ninth we left the funky monkey for our road trip. Dad and Jackie have stayed in Sante Teresa. Which after last night I'm glad.

After taking a wrong turn into the mountains we pulled over for lunch. During lunch the conversation rolled onto our porn names. This is where you take your first pets name and your Mum's maiden name and put them together. Most of them are quite strange; Frankie was Doubles Hamilton for example. I'm Splash Miles. I only remember the ones we're still using. As there are three Sam's it seems I'm now Splash!

After a bit longer on the road we got to our first stop, Nosara. Its slightly more americanised then Sante Teresa. Everyone here speaks English and Reggae is hardly ever played, we get a load of American rubbish. We got shown to our rooms, removed the boards from the van, attached the fins and leashes and hit the beach. I decided not to wear a rashy and now have a lovely rash on my stomach and chest from the wax.

The wave there is a really mellow one although during our two 6am surfs the wind was offshore and turned them into large rollers, peeling off. As the road trip motto is to never drive away from a good surf we delayed our departure until midday on the eleventh and got in an extra two sessions.

Both of our lessons were drill based; 5 waves in 15 minutes, 5 lefts in 15, 5 rights and 5 changes of direction. If you didn't succeed then punishments are delt out. Pressups, Squatthrusts, Crunches Vertical Jumps and much more. They were evil lessons but good fun!

After leaving Nosara we headed to Tamarindo. This is the place they surf in Endless Summer II. I've now seen the place where the plane gets crashed! Tamarindo is quite built up. So far I've seen a HSBC, Pizza Hut and a Subway. To americanised for my liking.

However, this did prove to be a good thing! Yesterday was Priddy's 22nd birthday. This is why I was glad Dad isn't here. Unlike any normal team leaders Linely and Sam planned on getting us wasted!

From 9-11 we had a video anaylsis session which is where we watched footage of us surfing and corrected mistakes. I've got this annoying habbit of ending my front arm into my body.

During and after this I cooked everyone birthday banana pancakes which seemed to go down well. At 12 we loaded up the van and headed to a beach called Playa Avellanes, its 45 minutes away as there are no direct routes there. It was incredibly gentle reef break over rocks. Do you hear the sound of inevitability? I do! The take off point is really small so it was a battle to get a wave. Despite this I got some lovely lefts and rights. My last wave was great. The wave totally cleaned up and no-one else went for it. I rode it left saw it was breaking ahead so turned right, saw it was reforming behind me so turned back. Only then did I notice the rocks a foot beneath the wave. Gently getting off the board I slipped up and cut my leg. Choosing to walk to shore over the rocks, rather than paddle back out over them, I got to the shore with a nice selection of cuts and grazes on my legs and feet.

When we got back we set up for a birthday BBQ which again was delishious food! Everyone there had beers and a few bottles of vodka had been brought earlier. After the BBQ we filled our cups and on our team leaders decision played Have you ever I have never, with international drinking rules.

7 or 8 shots later we'd left for the monkey club. After getting there I realised Erin wasn't with us. She'd dropper her camera case which had money and her drivers licence in it, but fortunatly no camera. Its highly unadvisable for a girl to on their own out at night here so I lef to find her. We never did find the case. I don't know what time I got back to bed mainly becasue I lost my watch in Nosara but I know it well past midnight.

Today is a rest day, mainly so that Sam and Linely can get over their hangovers!

6/02/10 Funky Monkey

Were to begin?

The other day, ( I lose track out here!) we went to Mal Pais for a canopy tour on zip wires. The longest was half a km long and on another you didn't have to worry about breaking. So I hung upside down, no handed and took a photo. =] Afterwards we found out that Mal Pais translated to bad lands!

The days here seem to disapear! You could surf in the morning, lounge through the midday heat, do yoga or spanish in the afternoon. Surf or body surf in the evening and the days gone!

I really like the way things are done here. Yesterday we went to a local school to look after the children during their beach lesson. (How cool is that!) We don't need CRB checks, no need for million pound insurance cover! At karate I'm covered for £5,000,000 worth of damage! Thet also sprayed the lodge for Dengo fever, a day time malarie that is only temorary. The fumes are non toxic but understandably they asked up to stand around the pool while they sprayed. In the appartment someone wounldn't out as their room mate had trouble sleeping and she didn't want to wake her. Did they have to call the police to remove them from the room? Did they delay the spray until they came out willingly? No they went ahead and srayed anyway. Think of how much health and safety we'd need here. We'd probably need to be a mile from the property and all need to sign disclaimers! Also, yesterday they brought a fridge back for the owners kitchen. They live at the top of the hill with a LOT of steps. So 5 of the employees, Dad, Nico and me used rope to carry it there. In return we got a free beer, or coke in my case.

On Thursday we shed out hire boards and got shiney new ones. I wanted a second hand one but none suited what George and Sam had in mind. So after some quick calculations I realised that the new board would cost me £280. A good £100-150 cheaper than in the UK. I also realised I've been paid by work and have done overtime. Also as its 7' I can sell my current 7' board which is a perfect beginners board and in tourist season will fetch a pretty penny! Also after riding it in the lesson and catching 4 nice waves I know its better than my old board!

I've also solved the E150 charge for bringing boards home. I'm taking Priddy's board as he's travelling until August so its only E75 each now. Still cheaper then a board in the UK!

Rie will find this interesting, tonight I'm cooking a chille for 12 of us. Hopefully it will go down well.

I'm loving this place. Have I said that yet? =]

31/01/10 Funky Monkey

First off happy birthday yesterday to Georgie.

I know I've said it before but this place is lie heaven. I'm definately coming back and I want to bring you guys too. Em will hate the heat but I'll still drag you here. Unfortunately, we wouldn't be able to stay long so we'd always be the standing out pale tourists! At least with 6 weeks I have a chance of getting close to the locals.

On Friday's surf lesson we concentrated on turns. Afterwards our coach said to my Dad that I was like a robot, told to do something so I do it. I wish it was that easy in the free surf. I know I've only just started trying to correct 6 years of bad habits, but its still frustrating when it goes wrong.

I've caught a few awesome waves and made some text book turns on them, riding the reforms, but these are far between the mistakes.

Everyone else has improved loads. From my group, Sam really charges when he goes out despite riding a NSP! All the guys in the other group are consistantly standing up and people like Fankie and Dad are starting to turn.

On Friday we also had our first yoga lesson. It was very relaxing and some of the positions make you feel very grounded, completely rooted. This is lead by George's wife, Linar (George is our other surf coach.) she's swedish and very good looking. It seems that most of the guys have a crush on her. Its very funny.

Saturday evening we had a BBQ on the beach at Georges. It was so idylic (Again!). The stuff dreams are made of! The idea after this was to go to the Full Moon party further down the beach. Over here the night life doesn't start till midnight so as it was only 9 we had some waiting to do. Come 11, the vodka consumed, most of us were shattered. One 24 year old, one 21 year old, five 19 year olds and an 18 year old all beaten by a 40 year old, Jackie! She went and stated out all night.

One thing thats nice here is you don't go through clothes quickly. Most of the time you wear boardies, in anticipation of going in the sea. The rest of the time its shorts. When you do wear a t-shirt its not for long enough for it to need a wash.

My feet have taken quite a beating so far. They have a number of cuts from sand in the wax. And due to the chance of theft we have to wal to the beach barefoot.

28/01/10 Funky Monkey

This place is idyllic, my idea of heaven. Tonight we were free surfing as the sun set with the moon in the sky, the water temp was perfect. I could have died and been happy!

This morning was our first surf lesson. I was in the more advanced group and one of the two people with short boards, mainly due to my size! We started off with the basic pop up. I needed to keep my hand up but leave them on the board until my feet were on the board. Then we moved too dropping our back knee to the board without loosing balance.

During the afternoon surf I helped Erin catch waves as she was having difficulty.

We just finished the day by playing poker.

26/01/10 San Jose

Well Dad and I have been right plonkers. Not in planning, just in our minds. We thought the rest of the group turned up last night and we'd head off this morning. No-one turned up yesterday so we got confused. There is a shuttle that runs in the morning to Sante Teresa so we planned on getting that. Fortunately after emailing TTRide we realised the group turned up tonight and after checking with the receptionist we'd booked for 2 nights. What idiots!

24/01/10 Flores

The journey back was uneventful. Dads gone for a swim in the lake and I'm sitting by the side watching the world. Everything is incredibly peaceful.

A perfect end to a brilliant week.

24/01/10 Jaguar Inn

We spent 6 hours in the park today. We entered it at 6am, when it opened and made our way to temple 5. At the top you have a severe sense of vertigo. It's just so steep and so far down!

Two spider monkeys swung by on the edge of the clearing, unfortunately I didn't have my camera ready. That was basically all you could see through the mist. This, however, proved to be my fortune. As I left Dad up the temple I wandered off to find complex C, I ended up in the Grand plaza, although I didn't realise this. The ruins had a great effect, looming out of the mist. The tops only just visible. It really added to the majesty of the Mayan stone work. I made my way around the ruins and climbed one next to temple 1 and , both of them ominous in the fog. At the top my leg gave way, making it a long and painful climb back down!

Dad and I made you way to temple 4 about 8:30. Temple 4 is the largest in the Tikal complex and faces east in worship to the Sun. Some people had paid extra money for a sunrise tour at temple 4. We knew something they didn't! The sun may rise at 6, however, due to the mist you can't see it till 9ish when the mist drifts away. So they saw nothing! Due to chance, luck or fate we had settled down just as the mist started to clear and temple 5 appeared above the tree line. Accompanying this was a collective gasp of awe. Minutes later temples 1 and 2 loomed out, followed by one off to the far right, who's name eludes me.

Without the mist it got a lot hotter, quickly!

When we got back to the hotel we had another shower, simply because we could. Then with clean clothes (Even socks!) we waited for or lift back to Flores.

23/01/10 Tikal Jaguar Inn

We got up at 6 today and left at 7:30 to avoid most of the midday heat. They said it would be a 5 hour trek, however, we'd need to wait till 3:30 to buy out ticket for the ruins as it would include the following day then. Therefore, we walked at a slower pace with larger rests. Again it seemed cooler again, this may just be the tree cover.

All of this was good as we had to cary our own packs today. This was partially because no horses are allowed in Tikal but mainly because of the path.

On the first day the trail was well trodden and wide enough to drive a car dwn, yet it was the ardest slog. Day 2, the path was wide enough for two to walk abrest but narrowed to single file by the end. Day 3, however, was proper jungle. If our guides weren't there I wouldn't have realised there was a path at all. At points, tree's had fallen over the path so we had to make wide detours to go around them.

This was the path!

When we were 5 minutes from the ruins our guides went off to get changed. They came back, smart shoes, crisp shirts, aftershave and combed hair. We were all wearing the same clothes for 3 days, hadn't washed, or brushed our teeth. In short we STANK!

At the hotel I discovered the 3 best feelings ever!

1) Washing off 3 days of jungle grime off.

2) Brushing 3 day dirty teeth.

3) Putting on clean clothes.

As close to bliss as possible!