Adventure is the willingness to commit to an uncertain outcome with an open heart and an open mind. It is the ability to take a leap into the unknown with mindfulness and grace. Life is uncertain....my travels are uncertain! Being adventurous means seeing that uncertainty as the gift of possibility. This trip is a gift, a gift to myself....I hope you all enjoy following me and my journey over the next four months.
Most of you who will read this blog know that in order to live this dream of mine, I quit my fantastic job, gave up my awesome apartment and stored all of my belongings. Right now my life and livelihood revolve around adventure and to seek balance in my life. At first, I had planned to stay in Costa Rica the entire time and travel the country. However, in just eleven days I have realized that making a solid plan only limits the possibilities and just maybe I should explore more of Central America. I will keep you posted.
I left Los Angeles on Tuesday, January 19th for San Jose, Costa Rica where I spent two nights getting acclimated to my new surroundings. Honestly, San Jose was nothing special and I just couldn't wait to get to the caribbean. I left on the 6am bus to Puerto Viejo....a nice long 5 hour bus ride, which surprisingly was not that bad. I arrived just before 11am and found my way to my hostel where the a"Adventures in Puerto Viejo" began....
Point of my arrival:
Kaya's Place: where I stayed 10 nights in a single room....literally a single room with a twin bed, two shelves for my things, and a fan (thank goodness for that fan). The shared bathrooms and cold showers took a few days to get used to....but after a hot humid day, you actually look forward to it (the cold showers that is, not the shared bath so much).
This is the patio outside our rooms where we camped out at night and during the day when we needed a little break from the sun. 
My Kaya's Place crew! Meara & Wade (1st & 2nd from left) were on their honeymoon also from Southern California. Irene (middle) is from Holland and spent her last several days from her 6 month journey in Costa Rica here with us. Michael (next to me) is from Oregon and spends 4 months every year in Costa Rica. I thought I liked to talk allot, I think Michael had me beat hands down. That man loves to talk story for hours on end. I couldn't have asked for a better bunch of people to share my time here.
This is Puerto Viejo....
Playa Negra, the beach right across from Kaya's Place.
Just a neat picture.
My favorite breakfast place....everything is so unbelievably fresh and homemade. The eggs are incredible, I think they make them with real cream. Yummy!! 
Flip Flop....the best Soda on the beach!! Just a basic staple for good cheap food. The curry was my favorite.
Aaaah, my first adventure in Puerto Viejo was a trip to the animal rescue my first afternoon in town. I bumped into a girl I met on the bus (Heather) and she told me about this place. At first I wasn't that excited about it, but was so happy after I had gone. This place nurtures sick and injured animals until they are heathy enough to go back into the jungle. Amazing experience to be able to get this close to these animals.
Manzinillo Day!! Meara, Wade, Irene & I decided to rent a golf cart and day trip down to Manzanillo. We hit about 5 beaches on the way back....what a great day!!
Manzanillo.
Punta Uva.
Bribri Waterfall Day. We hired Marcos to take Meara, Wade & I to the waterfall for the day. It was a beautiful hike to the waterfall....too bad I wore flip flops. We were scaling slippery rocks and walking up steep trails. Never again!! Sneakers from here on out on hikes like this. 
This was the closest I could get with my camera....the spray from the waterfall was so strong I couldn't get closer without my camera getting soaked. I was basically treading water to get this shot. 
Marcos.
After we finished our hike to the waterfall, Marcos took us to the Bribri Indian Reservation. Because he is Bribri we were able to go....very few non ticos ever get to see this place. We were very lucky this day. This is the very long, high and scary bridge we walked across to get there.
Puerto Viejo Open Pro Day. The beaches were packed for the surf contest. It was so much fun to watch these guys. Wish I had a long lens for my camera so I could have gotten some surfing pictures. Getting them going in and out of the water was a good consolation.
Just a cute little boy on the beach.
