Author: Fei An Tjan
July 3rd 2009 – July 10th 2009
Last week, I experienced the true meaning of volunteering and traveling abroad. Due to Costa Rican school holidays, we offered our volunteers a small holiday, while in the meantime letting them experience another volunteer project. Fiorella and I were the lucky ones to come along on this exciting journey, which would start in white water rafting heaven, Turrialba; then we would continue to do some labor in Gandoca, where one of our Turtle Conservation Projects is based and after that, we would probably need the last three days to relax on the beaches of Puerto Viejo. This week, I will give you a daily update of some memorable moments…
Day 5-July 7th 2009
Trying to get 10 girls ready in the morning is not an easy task. Again, we left about an hour later than planned. And after stressing multiple times that everybody should get their clothes off the drying line, I was not the slightest bit surprised that there’s always one that doesn’t listen, me… Luckily, traveling with myself for such a long time made me get over the loss quite quickly and there was no need for tears. Proxima estación: Puerto Viejo.
After so much action and excitement, I noticed everyone’s relief to spend the last three days on the beach. The weather was amazing and we spend the morning hanging on the playa doing nothing. Vlad, Kristen and Matthew had rented bikes, which would later turn out, wasn’t such a great idea.
After lunch in one of the nice seaside café’s and a beautiful speech that Vlad prepared for us, Tia and I decided we could ‘dink’ back to town with the bike people. Everything went as planned and I jumped smoothly on Vlad’s bike’s backseat, which I had done already hundreds of times in Holland. I found out in about 10 seconds why not everybody in the whole wide world rides a bike: stones! A small rock decided to bother us and before we knew it, Vlad and I were seeing the sand from very up close and personal. When the sand would be a person, it would be one of those moments where your personal space was intruded. From that close we saw the sand…We survived, but the bike unfortunately didn’t. The wheel was twisted, Vlad upset, I even more and we had to take it to the bike repair shop for some fixing.
The Beach Cruiser diaries aren’t over yet though. In the evening, Tia and I picked up the bike, a good excuse for us to leave the house and find some presents for Eli, whose birthday would be the next day. 7000 Colones lighter, we left the bike shop and rode around in town a bit. Also that didn’t last long. Right after telling her that there are a lot of bike accidents in Holland because of tourists riding bikes, Tia, who could only just touch the floor using Vlad’s bike couldn’t keep her balance and almost tumbled into the sea. Luckily she came to a halt by falling on her ‘derrière’ right before she would actually fall in the water. That was number one. Yes, it is exactly what you think. There is a number two! A safety hump. After getting some drinks for the night, the safety hump did exactly where it wasn’t designed for. Dear little Tia got stuck on it trying to cross and BOOM! fell again, this time with all the cans scattered around her on the street. I don’t think I stopped laughing at least until we arrived home again and I think Tia broke a record by falling off a bike twice in less than an hour.
