The Guilded Iguana.

The morning after El Dia De Suerte, we awoke to the sound of Matt coming home at 3:30 AM. I yelled at him for waking us an hour too early, then couldn’t get back to sleep. Katie and I proceeded to get changed and prepared, and to have a very early breakfast of guava jelly on toast. At some point while we were getting things ready in our room, we heard a loud crash and a couple of minutes later, Matt was knocking on our door and asking, “Do you guys have a needle and thread?”

“NO!” Katie responded. “What do we look like?” A valid question.
“Actually, I have some!” he realized.

It turned out that Matt had fallen prey to the fake chair in our living room. For some reason unknown to any of us, our family has a “show chair” next to the living room couch. It is the frame of a wicker chair with chair pillows on it, but no actual seat. On my second night here I sat down in it and was utterly mortified when I proceeded to just fall through, in front of my host dad and little brother. So Matt went to put his shoes on at four in the morning and fell through the fake-out chair, ripping a huge hole in his pants. Needless to say, Katie and I thought it incredibly amusing that the chair had caused him to rip one of his four clothing items (Matt brought an absurdly little amount of clothes), and also that he had actually brought a needle and thread with him to Costa Rica, in case of pant-ripping situations such as these. As I stood at the counter in the kitchen eating more guava jelly, Katie ran out of the bathroom exclaiming, “Chrissy, do you have your camera?” “Yeah, why?” I asked. She said, “Matt’s in his bedroom, sewing his pants!” Indeed Matt was. I snapped some pretty excellent photos, and we proceeded to walk out into the pitch-black morning with all of our packs.

The morning was a surprising success. Flo and Mike actually made it into the cab with us after only sleeping for about half an hour each. Flo told a rousing tale from the front seat about how he’d made the amazing discovery, a couple of hours before, that cab drivers in Costa Rica have no problem going through the McDriveThrough to pick up a Big Mac, Fries, and a 10 piece chicken McNugget. at all hours of the day and night. Matt and Mike seemed very interested in this crucial piece of information. We hung out at the bus station waiting for Adam, who needed to bring his surfboard and therefore couldn’t fit into the cab. As I mentioned before, Adam is a very quiet, chill person, and honestly he had planned on going to Nosara by himself to surf, before Katie and I accidentally picked the same weekend destination. Because he’s a bit shy, we like to draw attention to him. So there the five of us stood at 5:15 AM in the bus station with about thirty Costa Ricans looking on, applauding Adam as he walked through the door with his surfboard, massive hair covering his eyes, sheepish grin on his long-bearded face. Miraculously, the three additional boys got the three final tickets on the bus. We climbed on board, and settled for another LOOONG bus ride. But this time, our teeth were clean and I had my trusty huge bottle of water. Later, after the rest stop, I also had guava empanadas and these delicious salty limy corn chips that I love, so I was really quite content. Sometimes Katie and I read or talk or stalk our friends with our cameras on the bus, or sometimes I tell her to shut up and I fall asleep. Usually she finds it amusing to use her camera to videotape me sleeping, as I’m often seated on the outside, allowing my head to fall over and over again into the aisle.

The hotel we were to stay at was called The Guilded Iguana, and because we’d ended up with six people (People REALLY go for us), we’d all only have to pay about ten dollars a night. This was the only information we had. As the bus ride turned slower and more rural, I kept asking Katie, “So, do you know where we’re going?” “To the Guilded Iguana!” she’d respond, exasperated. That was all. At some point someone told us that if we wanted to go to the Iguana, we’d have to get off and walk left. So we trekked down the long dirt road, while beachy-looking people rode by us on four-wheelers, wearing nothing but bathing suits. The Guilded Iguana was totalmente perfecto for our crew. The suite had a room with a double bed for Katie and I (the lesbians), a connected room with a double bed and two single beds for the boys, and our own bathroom, something we hadn’t yet experienced in Costa Rica. It also had a big porch outside, perfect for lying around on during the evenings.

Just a few minutes down the road was a very pretty beach that was kind of like a cove. Each day there were tons of people surfing in the water, and when we first arrived Adam was eager to get out there and show us his stuff (and by this I mean he was simply eager to surf and probably the opposite of eager to have a bunch of people watching him). Flo and I pretty much immediately rented surfboards and got into the ocean. At first Adam refused to surf with us because the waves were crap for people who actually know how to do it, but he insisted upon coming into the water with me to give me a lesson. Adam taught me so much more about surfing than I’d learned during my first lesson in Samara. Obviously I’m still terrible, but it felt great to learn more. Adam surprised and impressed me by how vocal and irritated he got when he was trying to teach me how to surf. I would be catching my breath and wiping the salt water out of my eyes, and he’d be yelling, “Paddle, paddle paddle!! Here comes a wave! NOW!” Finally I yelled, “You’re so BOSSY in the water, Adam! It’s very out of character for you. I LOVE IT!”, to which he responded by becoming embarrassed and quickly paddling away from me.

Eventually Adam got his own board and paddled way out to where the real surfers surf real waves. Flo and I paddled out with him, and proceeded to WATCH the real surfers catch their real waves. Eventually I got injured, of course, when I got caught in a spot with a huge wave crashing over me, and forgot that to hold the board in front of you with your arms draped over it is the absolute worst possible action when a wave is about to crash, because the wave catapults the board right into your face. Hence, I really really messed up my nose. And my shoulder. Standard procedure. Katie and Flo and I chilled on the beach for a bit when Flo and I had had enough, trying to watch Adam surf like a champion, then coming to the conclusion that we must force him to buy a bright neon yellow rash guard in the near future, as he and his hair and his black attire just blend him in with the waves. Adam stayed surfing until it was almost completely pitch black, and by the time he returned to the pool at The Guilded Iguana, the rest of us were already lying there fully clothed, listening to music and drinking cuba libres.

We enjoyed a nice dinner together, chatting with a pair of sisters, one of whom blows fire on the beach. We then headed to the beach to watch her practice and to look at the stars. I think that Friday night was the first night when the six of us really became a sort of unit. Since then we have rarely been apart for very long. Katie and I both ended up falling asleep to the sound of the boys being dumb and playing poker, me just sprawled on their double bed wearing Katie’s long pretty dress I had decided to wear that night to dinner. There is something I love so much about being comfortable enough to just fall asleep in a room full of people. This only happens when I really know and enjoy those I am with, and when I know that they won’t care if I just choose to fall asleep while they’re laughing and talking. At home I have trouble falling asleep, but here, with the breeze coming through the window, and especially with friends around me, when I’m tired, I simply go to sleep.

The next day Katie and I had some great girl-time by the pool, chatting and swimming and meeting people. It was so hot that I knew I didn’t want to surf until later in the afternoon. Adam had suggested sunset surfing, and I really liked the sound of that. When the late afternoon rolled around, I put on my surfing garb and left Katie, Mike and Matt poolside to trek down to the beach to find Flo and Adam. Flo was easier to find than Adam because his board was red, and because he was often much closer to the shore. I got into the water, and just went for it. There’s something about surfing that is therapeutic, because you clear your mind of anything that’s in it, just falling into the rhythm of trying to catch waves, and then trying to get back out past them again, over and over again. At one point I got caught in a riptide, and got out of the water because I was scared, to find Katie and Mike and Matt chilling on the beach. I thought I was done for the day because I was thoroughly exhausted, but something about the sun setting and the way the waves had calmed drew me back again, and Flo and Adam and I kept surfing until we really couldn’t see anymore. So much fun. So relaxing. I can’t wait to do it again.

Saturday night we ate dinner then I tried my hand at poker. It did not go well. Mike and Katie and Adam passed out, so Flo and Matt proceeded to take advantage of the fact that I really didn’t know the specific rules of Texas Hold ‘Em, and to take a lot of my money. After losing, I became the dealer, something that made me think so much of my mother because I never could figure out how to do the bridge while shuffling, no matter how hard she tried to teach me. And because I love to play cards with my mom’s side of the family. I have yet to find someone to play cribbage with here in Costa Rica, but don’t worry Uncle Dave and Uncle Dave 2, I will do so before I leave, and I will make you proud! After poker the three of us lied out on the porch feeling the crazy wind that had descended upon us, and I ended up sleeping on the porch for half the night, because I just couldn’t bring myself to leave it. On Sunday we made an executive decision to be irresponsible by staying another night! Mike bailed out at the last minute and took the bus home alone, so the five of us stuck it out. Katie and I had really started to feel like it was our home, being friendly with all the staff at The Guilded Iguana, and meeting the newcomers each day by the pool. We enjoyed some more sunset surfing, and I swear I have never seen a sunset like Sunday’s. My God, it was beautiful. El Hermano Matt cooked us a delicious spaghetti dinner and the night ended far too soon.

On Monday we returned to San Jose, but not without some memorable bus conversations. I really really love talking to new people on the bus rides home, especially if I can do so in Spanish. Our crew enjoyed a final dinner together in San Jose, and then Katie and I collapsed into our beds, talking about the events of the weekend before finally falling asleep. The weekend was so excellent simply because of the amount of laughter. I think I was smiling and laughing much more often than not. I have not felt that way in quite some time, and I’m so glad that our plans fell through and we all ended up together in Nosara. And that I had a rash guard. That rash guard really was key.

More to come,

X-tine.