Back to life, back to reality

Well, after a very long break, I'm now back at work. We had training Wednesday to Friday, and I was teaching yesterday. After a great three weeks, Rita and Enda went home on Monday. The pic of the week shows them enjoying cocktails in El Avión restaurant in Manual Antonio while the sun sets over the Pacific behind.

Playa del Coco
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Unfortunately, our plan to go to Nicaragua didn't work out. All three bus companies were booked out and we couldn't get a seat. So while Rita headed to Manuel Antonio early, Enda and I headed to Playa del Coco, a beautiful town on the northwestern coast in Guanacaste province. We went diving. I hadn't dived since a very dramatic dive when I ran out of air in Brazil in 2003, so it was a little nerve wracking for me at the start. However, when we saw the amount of multi-coloured tropical fish around us it was absolutely incredible. At some stages you had fish 360 degrees around you, as well as above and below. Enda was a first time diver, and he took to it ... well, like a fish to water, I suppose.

San José and El Pueblo
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Myself and Enda had one night in San José after Rita went to Manual Antonio. I thought I'd bring him around the bars, and we had a funny night. We went to a few bars on Calle Amargura, the bar street near the University of Costa Rica. We ended up in El Pueblo, where I haven't been in an age. It's a strange place. It's a compound that looks like an industrial estate. But it's full of bars, nightclubs and souvenir shops. You wander from bar to bar. Some are small with live music, and some are larger with shows. What amused Enda the most was the way that the bouncers tried so hard to get you into their club. It was like the polar opposite of Dublin.

Manuel Antonio
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We ended Rita and Enda's trip in Manual Antonio. It's the first place on the coast I travelled to when we got here, and I've been there more than any other place. But I just love it. It's so breathtakingly beautiful, but also so relaxed.

A total wreck!
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Anyway, now that the string of visitors have gone, I feel that I need a rest! Unfortunately, when myself and Enda were here in Heredia before joining Rita, we were coming home from having a meal and a (very) few beers. I wasn't drunk, honest! But I did have a fall, and really hurt my foot and ankle. That was almost 2 weeks ago, and I'm still limping.

Then when we were in Manuel Antonio, because of the ankle injury I couldn't go to the National Park with Rita and Enda. So I went to the beach and got very badly sunburnt. Now, after almost two years I thought I really understood the Costa Rica sun. The only time I was burnt previously was on an overcast day and I learned my lesson from that.

This time, however, I was under a beach umbrella for the entire day. The sun was very high in the sky and it was hot, but I thought I was completely safe. So I took off my t-shirt to take advantage of the slight breeze. Whether UVB rays came through the umbrella (some percentage can get through apparently), or bounced off the sand (my sides were much more badly burnt than my front) I don't know. Anyway, I was really miserable and sore after it. It's over a week now and I'm still obviously burnt on the sides, and I'm peeling whole sheets of skin. Never again.

One of the girls in school told me that she'd read an article that the sun in Costa Rica was the
strongest in the world. And now I believe it.
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Anyway, that's it for this week. This will be my first full week working, and I'm looking forward to seeing my old students. I also have four new classes, so I'm looking forward to getting to know new students too.

Until next week,

Pura Vida,

Éamon

Today's headline from La Nación: State subsidises fish kills on Isla del Coco