Halloween in Costa Rica!

First things first.  Today is November 2nd, which means I will be flying back to California in exactly 2 months.  That makes me exceedingly sad.  Don't get me wrong, on the one hand it will be nice to see my family and friends and get back to "life as usual" but I've had such a WONDERFUL experience here that my heart hurts when I think about leaving.  Okay, I just had to get that out.  Also, on the plus side, I have lots of adventures planned for the next two months, so it's pretty much guaranteed that there will be lots more pics and more posts to come.  When January 2nd does come around, I already know I will have gotten the most out of my time here, which makes me very happy.

So, now, Halloween in Costa Rica!  For those of you who know me, you know I'm a pretty big fan of Halloween.  I don't really know why per se, but I guess I just like that Halloween ushers in Fall and I like all the stuff that comes with it.  I like the crispness of fall air, especially before the nonstop rain comes, and leaves changing colors/dead leaves on sidewalks (is that weird?).  I also like candy corn, Halloween decorations (I can't get enough of fake spider webs and skeleton cut-outs), costumes, trick-or-treaters, carving pumpkins, scary movies, haunted houses, and, possibly most important, I like to watch Hocus Pocus every year when it's on the Disney Channel because it's pretty much one of the best 90s movies of all time.  (I also might own it, but that's only so I can watch it if I happen to miss it on the Disney Channel...Also, it was $5 at Target and I'm a sucker for those deals.)  I also like throwing and/or attending Halloween parties, group costumes with my friends, and seeing all the ridiculous costumes on other bar-goers.  It's just a pretty much guaranteed good time.


Needless to say, I was pretty sad that I'd be missing out on ALL of that since I'm in Costa Rica.  While the weather's been a little bit colder and it's been raining more, I'm still living in a tropical weather zone, leaves don't change colors, and Halloween is definitely NOT a big holiday here!  In fact, a lot of people don't like Halloween because it's "the devil's holiday" and celebrating brujas and ghosts go against the grain of the Catholic and Christian culture here!  On the plus side, Ticos like an excuse to drink, and tourists still demand some fun, so the result is that in a few places (like Coco and Tamarindo), there is kind of a Hallween celebration.  But we'll get to that.  I should also note that I did catch the end of Hocus Pocus on the Disney Channel here which was AMAZING, even though it was in Spanish.  See, some things are just constants in life no matter where you are!

Playas del Coco
I hadn't really gone anywhere in a few weeks because of the nonstop rain and because I just couldn't decide where I should go.  In the end, I thought it was about time I revisited Playas del Coco to go on another diving trip and I decided to plan that trip for Halloween weekend.  Coco is known as a "party" destination, so I thought I'd have a better chance of being able to partake in some form of Halloween fun.  Turns out my instincts were right, as my three party-loving loud-mouths (Raphael, Emilio and Miguel) began telling me a few weeks ago that Coco's the place to be for Halloween!  Cool.  I'd get to go diving and drinking and  since I told Raphael, Emilio and Miguel that they were going to have to hang out with me, I'd have some drinking buddies too.  Excellent!

Here's a pic of Raphael, Emilio and Miguel.  Despite the fact that it's frequently a challenge to get them to stop having side conversations in Spanish, they are soooo freaking funny!  I love joking with them in my classes and I will miss these guys big time when I leave.  (And Diego, not pictured, is also one of the loud-mouth crew...)

Anyway, I headed down to Coco on Friday afternoon, checked into my hotel, and then roamed around town for a while.  I had to check in at the dive shop to help get all my gear ready, and I desperately needed some coffee and some time relaxing on the beach:

For dinner I was planning on going to this yummy Italian restaurant because for some weird reason I was craving red wine (which I pretty much never drink.  I'm a beer girl).  Unfortunately that restaurant was closed so I ended up eating at Coconutz instead (where I had a buffalo chicken burger with a glass of random house red wine. SO weird!).  Anyway, like so many of the beachy places, a lot of businesses (and homes and boats) are owned by Gringo ex-pats.  Turns out this guy named Dan got drunk in Coco four years ago and ended up buying Coconutz and staying in Costa Rica.  It was also his birthday, so there was a gathering of other expat gringos congregating to help him celebrate.  I briefly met some people before heading out to do some work and go to bed early.  (Did I mention that it was Elba's birthday the night before and a bunch of the aunts and cousins came over for food, tres leche cake, beer and lots and lots of dancing?!  It was SO much fun but also so exhausting!).  So, I was tired and since I had to get up early the next day to go diving, tried to hit the sack early.

Diving in Coco, Take 2:
Bright and early Saturday morning I dragged myself out of bed and down to Summer Salt to go diving.  While I was a solo diver my first trip, I knew there would be other locals diving with me this time, which was nice because it's always fun to do stuff in a group.  Turns out one of the guys (Joel) who was at Coconutz the night before was one of the guys going diving.  Small beach town.  In the end, it was me, Joel, Joel's girlfriend Mari (who didn't dive but came on the boat with us), Gavin (another local who's been living and diving in Coco for 4 or 5 years), and a German tourist named Adrian.  Raffa was our captain again, and Boscoe "the dive master who doesn't like to dive" was our guide.

In all, it was a lot of fun.  We did two dives that were different from the two I did on my first trip, which was nice.  We hit up Sorpresa and Play Pen.  Unfortunately it was pretty cold and the visibility sucked so it was hard to see much.  There were also no more shark sightings, which I was really hoping for, but we weren't so lucky.  However, I did see a gigantic sea turtle for two seconds (damn you bad visibility!) which was really cool, and a lot of super duper big rays.  One ray was swimming right under me and I'm not even joking, it was as long as me!!!  Since it was right under me when I saw it, it like scared the crap out of me!  Pretty funny.

The interesting thing about going diving with local gringos who dive pretty much every weekend is that it's a much less structured dive than usual.  Joel and Gavin were on a mission to hunt down some crabs for dinner, so they brought along a mop head (apparently that was supposed to ensnare the crabs?) a knife, and one of the scuba bags (which they ended up losing).  They were meant to go off on their own, but after coming up empty on the first dive, and losing Joel on the second dive (he was cursing the crappy visibility too!), Gavin hung out with us on dive #2 and Boscoe ended up catching a crab for him, which I witnessed.  The whole "crab hunting" thing was funny in that their preparation and tactics were hilarious, but when it came to actually catching and killing a crab, it made me super sad.  I always think of diving as a means of enjoying and appreciating under-water nature; sort of the way I approach camping.  Not so much as a hunter.  But to each his own I guess.

Here are the pics:

 Gavin, Joel and their mop:

 Adrian:

 A cave on the big rock near where we did our second dive:

 Joel and Mari:

 Raffa, Gavin and Boscoe:

Boscoe, Gavin, his mop and his little crab:

 

Oh, and this is a picture of the sky.  BUT what it's SUPPOSED to be a picture of is DOLPHINS!!!!!  Yea, that's right, when we were done diving and heading back to the beach, Boscoe spotted dolphins in the water so our awesome captain Raffa took us around with the dolphins for a bit.  It was AMAZING!  I've never actually seen dolphins in the wild before so that was a super cool perk.  Clearly my ability to snap a picture of them didn't so much work though.  I mean, I didn't even get a pic of the ocean...how lame is that!

 Some pelicans chillin on a nearby boat. :)

Fiesta del Coco!
When we got back from our dive trip, it was time to eat, so I headed over to another big restaurant/bar with Joel and Gavin for some grub.  They told me about a few parties they were planning on hitting up that night and also told me about their costumes.  What? Costumes?  My students told me I didn't need a costume so I didn't bring/buy/make one!  They told me I might be able to find a costume at a local store (which I kind of did.  I ended up with a blue tinsel wig and a witch's hat) and we made plans to meet up back at Coconutz at 7 for drinks.  Well, after diving and lunching and shopping, I was exhausted so I went back to my hotel room and took a nap...and didn't wake up again until 6:45.  Oops!  Needless to say, I didn't make it to Coconutz at 7 since I had to shower and get ready, so when I did get to the bar at 7:45, Joel had already left, but he told the owner, Dan, that he'd be back around 8.

I grabbed a table, some food, and some beers and while Joel didn't end up coming back, it was okay because I was thoroughly enjoying the massive quantities of gringos in the area.  There was a huge group of gringo expats, all "old" and costumed, congregating at Coconutz and dancing to the gringo band's gringo music.  I hung out at the bar for a bit, and kept drinking.  And Dan came around with free "shots" for everyone on occasion so I definitely got my drink on.

The band:

 Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots:

 shots!

 Gringos a-dancin!  (Did I mention there was a costume contest?!)

 Me and Dan...and a clown

 Me and Mike, my temporary dance partner, who was trying to give me a smooch on the cheek.  haha

While enjoying my time at Coconutz, I was also texting with my students so I could meet up with them when they arrived.  Finally, it was time to head over to the happening "tico" bar across the street, the Lizard Lounge. I didn't realize it, but while I was hanging with the old white peeps in Coconutz, a huge street party of legit locals was forming outside.  To save money, ticos tend to bring their own booze and party on the streets.  The scene in Coco was pretty typical:

(Note the lady who set up a BBQ to sell food on the side of the street. Also notice the distinct lack of costumes.  While some ticos did dress up, most definitely did not.  But everyone was drinking and it was wicked fun!)

It turns out that Rafael and Miguel ended up spending Halloween elsewhere, but Emilio did come with some of his friends and they all let me hang out with them and drink with them, which was nice.  They also made me put on my "costume."

 And then they all pretty much took turns wearing my costume too :)  It was pretty funny.

All in all, it was a super fun Halloween weekend.  Definitely a very different Halloween than I normally would have spent in Cali, but a super fun experience nonetheless!  Sunday morning, it was time to head back to Liberia and get ready for the coming week!  Pura Vida!