Day 4: Trip to Santa Juana (highly recommended)

Our alarm woke us up at 6am, I was super excited for the day, so I was up without hitting snooze for a half hour.  I opened the door and noticed it was a little dark still.  Eh, thats weird.  I went to the bathroom...there were two girls that were hanging out doing their hair.  Still a little weird.  There were also people hanging out drinking in the kitchen.  Eh, well I guess other people woke up early too (and consequently drink early).  Come to find out our alarms woke us up at midnight.  Needless to say it was hard to go back to bed...I did consider hitting the bar since I was wide awake at that point.

Finally our alarm woke us up (for real this time) at 6am.  We took advantage of the free breakfast the hostel offered, since we weren't sure if we would get much food with our tour.  I heard reviews of the hostel not offering a great breakfast but I was pretty impressed!!  I mean your not going to get a pancakes and eggs, but I was impressed.  The breakfast consisted of rice, beans (duh), toast with jam (Jeremy loved so much he bought some to bring home), pineapple and watermelon, they also had hot coffee too.  After breakfast we went back to our room and gathered our stuff since we had to meet up with the tour in a few minutes.

I booked the Santa Juana tour through Si Como No (you'll see the hotel on the way up to Manuel Antonio), it wasn't too pricey but was totally worth it, considering all the things we did.  Our pick up time was at 7:45, and we waited until around 8:00 before I started to panic (we had an issue with me trying to book the trip).  Jeremy finally called them and it wasnt comforting when the lady (her first day mind you) couldnt find my reservations.  I really started to panic.  Luckily our driver picked us up right as my panic started to set in.  That was our first taste of "Costa Rica time."

I was starting to panic in part because I thought we were going to meet up with a larger group and take the tour together.  But I was super excited that it was only going to be the two of us.  I dont know if that was just because it was the rainy season and it was slow, but I was super stoked!  We started out driving through the palm farm thats just outside of town (on the east side of the road on the way into town).  Michael told us about the trees that are harvested for their oil, among other things.  It was interesting to learn about how they are harvested and learn a little about the land.

It took us a little bit of time to get up the mountain, but we didnt care because Michael spoke great English and our driver was awesome!  Plus we both had a ton in common with him, so there was no shortage of awkward moments.  We drove through small mountain towns, and were shocked how some houses only got electricity a couple years ago.

We made it to the top of the Si Como No area and had breakfast (again).  We got empanadas (way better than Taco Bell, lol), rice, beans, plantains, and guava juice that was to die for (Jeremy would not shut up about it...in a cute way though).  The cook was super cool, and was very excited to share her lycees with us.  I dont think Jeremy and I understood the gravity of how awesome this fruit was, but by judging from the reactions of Michael and crew, they must be pretty good.  We spent the next 10 minutes trying to cut them down.  And I must say, they were like candy!  Oh they were so good.

Making cane juice

Gnawing on some cane!  Pure sugar!

First, we went down to a little area, where we learned about how the locals make sugar cane.  It was pretty primitive really, consisting of two oxen tied to a grinder in the center, and literally just walked in a circle while the person manning the oxen shoved a cane in the grinders....out came sugar cane juice.  It was a little weird to be honest with you...totally not what I was expecting to taste.  It wasn't bad tasting per se, but just had an odd color.  It looked like green saliva, but tasted like liquid sugar.  I didnt want to be rude, so I gagged it down.  I guess it wouldnt have bugged me if it were clear (or a different color for that matter).

 

Michael took us down the mountain on a guided hike, and we saw so much stuff...so much so that I started to second guess not getting a tour guide at Manuel Antonio (almost).  He pointed out stuff that I know we would have never seen.  Jeremy shared his love of snakes (gross) and he helped me with my camera...Im pretty sure he knew more about my camera then I did.  I got some awesome shots.  This was totally the hike I was looking for when we decided to come to Costa Rica.  It was out of the way, no crowds, quiet and the scenery was amazing.  We got to the waterfall and was bummed we couldnt jump in as it was too shallow, but we got a good swim in before heading back.

Talapia pond

We hiked a little bit more and made it to the area were we could do some Talapia fishing.  I think we were both thinking something else...more along the lines of fishing in the river, it was more of a stocked pond with fish in it.  It was still super fun, and was way harder then we thought, we weren't disappointed.  We caught a couple good sized ones and took it back up the hill to the cook for lunch.  We took the horses back up, and thats when it started to rain, but it was perfect timing because it really started to come down right as we made it to cover.

Lunch was amazing...it was so good...good company...good food...and good conversation.  It felt a little weird being waited on, considering we've been staying in hostels and not in 5 star resorts.  It was awesome too, because they gave us some alone time to hang out on their chairs and just relax and enjoy the scenery.  At that point it was getting a little late, and well, Michael told us he was worried the river would be too high to cross.  We made one last pit stop at the Lycee tree and loaded up for the car ride back to town (picture kids right after a pinata had burst open, it was totally like that...everyone scrambling to pick up lycees as the cook and driver were cutting branches down with a tree trimmer! lol)


They drove us back to Si Como No and we learned a little bit about the program they were running by, Im presuming, the owner.  My idea when I was deciding on things to do was to pick things that werent touristy to the point that it was ruining Costa Rica (ATVing through rainforest...you catch my drift).  Im not super hippy, but it was cool to learn that the tour helps out the locals up in Santa Juana, and teaches them to be self sufficient all the while not completely killing the local landscape.  They also have a cool little walking tour of their mini ecosystem by the hotel too.  I wish we had more time, but we were pretty tired from a long day and really just wanted to get back to the room and eat.

We walked around Quepos for a bit and Jeremy bought some board shorts while I window shopped.  We watched a little bit of a youth soccer game...which had the longest shoot out Ive ever seen.  We stopped into the cute little bar that cooked our Mahi Mahi the night before to watch the soccer game.  The cook totally recognized us and was eager to offer us more of the fish we caught.  We just went in there to watch the game and have a beer and really didnt think she would keep it for us for the next day.  Again, we ate like kings for around $4.  We got fish sticks this time...she must have known this was Jeremy's favorite.  I went back a little early to pack and take a shower, while Jeremy watched the rest of the game on the hostel tv.

Overall, the day was absolutely amazing.  Honestly, probably one of the coolest trips we did while on the trip.  I would highly recommend Si Como No's Santa Juana trip for anyone in Costa Rica!  Michael and his crew were so awesome.