Today at work between meetings and entertaining drug reps we got onto the topic of most embarrassing events and stories in our life.
I have only been here two weeks - these people have no idea what they are in for with me!
Embarrassing is hard for me. DUMB moments? Now I can think of plenty of those! So in honor of #tbt, I am going to reminise about the DUMBEST travel decision I ever made.
I'll be honest, there are a few of those as well. The time I booked my trip backwards with the departure city as my arrival and visa versa (ok, that happened more than once..) the time I was pick pocketed within an hour of arriving in Spain, and the time I still SWEAR I bought a train to Slovakia but it ended up in Slovenia. Rookie mistakes.
A few years ago I went to Costa Rica - a short trip we were only there for a few weeks and bumming around the country on public transportation. Drinking and speaking Spanglish on a public bus bouncing around to different surf spots, from Manuel Antonio to Monteverde and back was one of the most fun trips I have planned.
When this is the view from your public transit, you know you have done something right.
After spending the afternoon in the rainforest, rappelling down waterfalls and running through the jungle with the biggest grins on our faces, our four tour guides invited us to experience the "real" Costa Rica. Away from the resorts (or in our case the hostels) and go out with them to downtown La Fortuna. Ready to experience the local life, and spend more time with our attractive guides, we jumped at the chance.This is how you go out for a night on the town in the rainforest.
Dresses+Patagonia forever.
It is there that the story starts like any other - a few too many Imperials, a boy, and a motorcycle. Deciding I had to go for a ride on his motorcycle right NOW, the boy obliged and drunkenly we set off. This is where it goes horribly wrong.
Let's forget for a moment that I am on the back of a motorcycle of a drunk stranger and on a volcano in the Costa Rican jungle because it was one of those moments you know you are going to remember forever as a snapshot in your mind.
We rode up the Arenal volcano and down backroads littered with small shacks that were the real life of a Costa Rican family. We sped down hidden trails without a soul in sight while a full moon as big as the volcano it sat next to shone brightly on me. It is one the best traveling moments I have experienced and I happily sat behind him and fell in love with traveling all over again (and again, and again, and again...)
At this point he began to slow down in order to stop on a small road and I panicked a bit, ready to fight my way out of the situation. I contemplated pushing him off the motorcycle - but realizing I would most likely go down with it, began formulating Plan B. As he came to a stop I noticed two cabs pulling off and the last of our friends jumping into the thick jungle along the roadside. I smiled, my girlfriends were here!
The best natural hot spring in the area has been built into a fancy resort, you can't get to the hot spring without staying at the resort. Which is a bit of a bother really.
Luckily, our new friends knew a back way into the resort so we trudged through the jungle, tredding through warm rivers that were fed from the hot spring, and finally shimmied through a drainage pipe to emerge into the resort.
There's no turning back after shimming through a drain pipe.
The rest of the night was spent racking up a pretty steep bar bill that we felt guilty about leaving to our hosts, swimming in the waters with steam pipping out into the night, and having a beautiful night in the Costa Rican jungle.
But what are we here for except to make amazing memories and experience this beautiful LIFE.
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