The Dirt Field

The serpentarium, while interesting, was a fairly short trip. I was able to skip most of the non-venomous snakes, if only because I had already had then as pets back home or had seen enough of them in the past to not be enthralled. However, the venomous snakes were fascinating with their gorgeous colors and their triangular heads, and the workers didn’t even mind when I slipped a hog-nosed viper into my backpack as a souvenir.

I spent the rainy afternoon reading my book (Caitlin: I love Atlas Shrugged) and socializing in the lounge area of my hotel. Almost everybody staying here is in their twenties, and the hotel has a distinct hippy/Rastafarian feel, which makes hanging out with the other guests while downing beers a sublimely relaxing experience. At seven, my friends from the previous evening came by to meet me for dinner, and we headed to the “nice” restaurant in town (although I still dressed like a dirty homeless man). We met a small group of people there, and the seven of us enjoyed our dinner and drinks until the restaurant had all but turned the lights off to kick us out. After that, we headed to the local discotheque, where, despite feeling exceptionally pale and grubby, I still managed to flop wildly and enthusiastically about the dance floor.

Because no evening is complete without a completely ridiculous and dangerous adventure, I proposed a midnight hike up the Cerro Amigos trail in search of wildlife. We set out armed with a single flashlight and trekked a few kilometers to the lookout point at the top of the trail. My map of the trail, however, didn’t indicate the many forks in the path that we came upon, so I have the distinct impression that we ended up significantly off course.

We also encountered a car along the generally dark and deserted road that, in our adrenaline-filled and highly alert state, appeared to be stalking us. It sounds crazy now, but when it is 1:30am and you are in the middle of nowhere on a dark trail and suddenly a car starts slowly moving towards you, it is terrifying. So much so that we crouched in the bushes and hid the first time it passed, and then hid again when it sounded like it was coming back. I know, Mom, you don’t need to say it. On the bright side, I was armed with my camera, so I would have been able to retaliate by taking pictures of the bastards while they dismembered my body.

My plan was to catch a bus ride to the rainforest at 6:45am this morning, but considering that I didn’t get to bed until 3am, I decided to chill today and visit El Mundo de los Insectos, and hike in the rainforest tomorrow. I’ll be in this town until Saturday morning, at which point I catch a bus to Playa Tamarindo to surf and explore the Pacific coast for my last four nights. And then I’m moving to Costa Rica, where I’ll raise monkeys and sloths while living out the rest of my days in blissful peace.