Eaten Alive, NOT good times.

First and foremost I feel I should apologise to mi amigo Beth, for laughing at her after every holiday she has come back from with deformed legs from the mosquitos feasting on her blood. I now feel your pain. Three months I spent in Africa and I think I got about ten bites in total, three weeks I’ve been in Costa Rica and I have 32 bites ON ONE LEG!!!! That’s not to mention the rest of my body, including one on my butt, which I am unsure of it happened? I think I may adopt an Iguana and carry him around with me, apparently they eat the buggers.

As if my polka dot body wasn’t enough to live with over the weekend I caught an infection in my thumb (random I know) which caused it to double in size and was apparently immune to antibiotics. So even when I wanted to scratch the mounds on my legs, I couldn’t as it hurt my thumb too much; probably a good thing to be honest. The only thing that cured my thumb was a good old fashioned needle and alcohol, when I say needle I mean safety pin, it’s all we had… but anyways it was pretty gross.

Apart from having a gammy thumb and a multi-bitten body I love Copey.  I am still getting used to the slow pace of life and the lack of entertainment. During the first week I spent most of my time trying to adjust and find my feet, I spent my time working on my Spanish, going running and explored the local towns (who all have internet, unlike Copey). On Thursday I went for the most beautiful hike up the mountains and ended up in a farmers land. He was so friendly and let me look around his land, at one stage he called me over to show me the fish jumping in the river. It is difficult to describe the beauty of the mountains around here, I found myself stopping every five minutes to take pictures, every site more beautiful than the last. The forest is littered with streams and wildlife, clear water cascading off of rocks to create waterfalls and trees so green and so tall you feel overwhelmed. If it wasn’t for the damn mosquitos I would be up there now.  

During the weekend I visited my friend Rachael in Guapiles, what can I say, the heat nearly killed me. Not overly sunny but it was more humid then a greenhouse. It’s the kind of place you want to shower three times a day. During my stay, apart from checking out the town, we went to Limon a beach on the Caribbean coast. The area is populated with tourists and I there was litter in certain places, saying this, it’s beauty would still beat any UK beach hands down (well that’s not really difficult). I cannot wait to explore further as I am confident that there is even more spectacular, remote places further south. Maybe this weekend, before classes start, I could sneak off to top off my tan. ;)