Day 8 - Arrival at Plaza Hermosa! (Juan)

 Today started out early in the morning, letting out the morning sleepiness with a bit of yoga practice. After that was done, students finished any last-minute packing preparations and ate breakfast (eggs and pancakes; delicious as usual). When our guide Bryan finished loading our suitcases on top of the bus, we began the process of getting ourselves situated for the long ride ahead. We had just been briefed earlier about the itinerary, which involved us piling ourselves and all our things into the bus and traveling for around 5 hours to our beach AirBNB.

During the trip, we took two stops. The first was in the small, picturesque town of La Fortuna, which had bordered Ranch Margot for the entirety of our stay. In our short stay, we disembarked the bus after around 45 minute of driving, and were given around half and hour to do some small souvenir shopping, an activity that had been absent for most of the trip. There were a couple things of note that I observed, including painted wooden boomerangs, specialty cigars, and a small wooden frog that I purchased for myself. After we finished wrapping up that section of the excursion, we stopped to eat some ice cream at a store chain named Pops. That mint chocolate chip milkshake was delectable indeed!

The next and final stop was at a remote restaurant deep in the Costa Rican mountains that have off a distinct aura more reminiscent of popular tourist destinations, rather than the typical rural-esque establishments more common in the area. Such a facility seemed more at home on the flanks of some extravagant resort or natural wonder rather than on a small two lane highway, miles from any group of structures categorizable as a town. The food served was equally out of place, served on modern white china. I'd be loathe to imply that the courses served were anything but delicious, as I could attest after wolfing down a seafood fettuccini dish with Alfredo.

Moving on from that stop was the destination of our trip, which we reached after 50 minutes or so more of driving. As we pulled into the town of Plaza Hermosa, it seemed to complete our expectation of what a proper trip to the thoroughly tropical nation of Pura Vida should be. we drove by the row of palm trees standing tall, catching fleeting glimpses of the destination we had hungered so much after. After abruptly taking a sharp left off the main road, an incline that seemed to exceed safety limits awaited us; a foreboding obstacle separating our group from the most hyped activity of the whole trip. The bus stalled more than a few times, forcing Bryan to wrestle with the uncooperative stick shift engine in an effort towards the top. We did it, and were rewarded with a small winding road hiding our prize at the end; a two story block of a house with a view rivaling that of a NYC penthouse. The house was beautiful, and personally reminded me of the house I grew up in. It featured 2 stories, a pool, and enough bedrooms that no sharing of beds was necessary (much to my relief, as the opportunity to finally sleep unperturbed by legions of insects was within my reach). A quick stop to drop off our luggage, and we were off once again, winding down the steep mountainous road for a quick hop to the beach. It was getting late (around 6 PM), and Mr. Roddy informed us that the excursion would be a brief affair. As we walked out into the sand, it was surprising to find that the sand had the hue of a rich black, leading into a deep blue body of water we had sought after for the better part of 6 days. Our motley crew ventured into the tumultuous waves, splashing any enjoying the little sunlight that was left; darkness heralding the end of the day.

A small dip into the pool wrapped up what had been a long, arduous day with a truly spectacular ending.

(Check out the sunset photos in the accompanying post!)