Indigenous people to Turtle Rescue...

Well a lot has happened already. This is going to be a quick update. We woke up 5:30am (light) here and headed to Manuel Antonio, a park with beautiful beaches and lively wildlife. We were the 2nd ones to enter the park because we got there when it open so it was like we were explorers (just the way I like). We saw this huge white rat thing, monkey's, crazy dinosaur-like lizards, beautiful floating butterfly with brown underneath but ELECTRIC blue on top, and also the elusive SLOTH. Cool pics. Then headed out and rode buses the rest of the day to the other side of the country, final destination: Puerto Viejo. Today we rented bikes and trekked about 17 miles on half-paved bumpy roads to this other part of town (Punta Uva and Manzania); it's funny how quickly you meld with the ways of traffic here...driving here is CRAZY. Anyways, our legs were totally burnt out by the end of the day. We also saw some amazing beaches: white sands with jutting rocks and jungle growing off of them. We were exhausted all day though because we awoke at 4:30am to complete our travels to Puerto Viejo (stayed in a town along the way last night).
Our itinerary has completely changed though. Tomorrow we are doing 8:30am yoga and then trekking into the backwoods (30mins from town) into an area where an indigenous people live. THere we will swim in the river, weave baskets, and help them with whatever they need help with ! Friday they are having a unique celebration that we hope to partake in/witness. We will spend the night in some hammocks by the fire (and if that gets too mosquioty, then they have a thatched bungalow we can stay in). No running water or electricity, what I've been DYING to experience (though this is barely enough time). We have a day of play, but plan on getting to this Island near Siquierres where we are going to meet up with these people who track turtle activity. We will be partroling the beaches at night, finding turtles laying there eggs, tagging, measuring, etc. SO COOL! We also get to stay in a locals home while we're there and they will cook us 3 meals a day. A staple here is rice and beans so I'm sure we'll be having plenty of that while we're here. SO don't be surprised if you don't hear from us for a few days...but we'll try to check in on Sat.
Side Story: The other night at the hostel, Missy and I got ready for bed and all of the sudden this huge roach scurried up the wall and hid behind the curtain. I made up some excuse as to why it was Missy's turn to get it and after much arguing agreed. Long story short, much screaming and slamming into things persisted. After almost peeing in my pants with laughter (because it was after 10pm so QUIET TIME - u know that just gives you the automatic giggles) and Missy leaving me alone to battle it out (with no success), a team effort of knocking the roach off the bed and Missy crunching the juices out it with her shoe proved successful. We laughed so much.

There was also MUCH laughing on the bike ride today, not very cooridinated and crappy $3 bikes leads to much amusement.

Times up! Love you guys, lovin it!