Jacó 08!

Jacó 08! What a great way to celebrate the two-week mark of my time in Costa Rica.
Our adventure began at 5:15 am on Friday morning when I woke up to meet everyone at La Explanada in front of UNA. We took a bus to San José and then walked a little bit to the Coca Cola bus stop and found our 7 am bus to Jacó - a beach on the Pacific ocean about 2 1/2 hours away from the capital.
Historically, Jacó was known as the tranquil beach for locals to escape to for the weekend because of its proximity to San José. But as the years, and tourism, progressed, Jacó became a place of drugs and prostitution. The beaches are nothing to write home about - very fine, black sand, and neither is the "city" itself.
Our lodging - Cabinas Los Ranchos - was $10/person/night and was worth much more than that in my opinion. Other than having 4 people in one room, it was a very nice getaway, complete with pool and a 1 minute walk to the beach. We had 8 of us (2 rooms) and we were all able to do our own thing because everything was so close to everything else.
When we first got there, we dropped our bags at the cabinas and then found brunch at La Cubanita, a quaint Cuban restaurant about a block away. It was a little expensive for our taste ($3.50 for eggs, bacon, and toast) but it lasted us until dinner. Then we spent a little time on the beach - the water was sooo warm. I'm not a beach person, of course, so I spent the rest of the time in the pool in our hotel. I'm pretty sure that's where I burned the most, just sitting in the pool without reapplying sunscreen. Silly Ellen. It seems like everytime I go out in the sun, I just can never get the sunscreen right. Fortunately, I wasn't too sore until later, so I could enjoy the rest of my time... somewhat.
We all watched the sunset which was pretty magical, then went to dinner at a 2nd floor burger joint, and then headed to The Jungle, one of the local night clubs. That place was interesting. The demographics were very wrong and disturbing - 50% old white men, 40% young beautiful ticos (95% of which were most likely prostitutes), and 10% of other gringos or surfers. I had decided not to drink that night, so a man from Oregon was giving me his empty beer bottles so I could hold them. How sweet. Jeff came by with some of his friends from the surf hostel he and Meg were staying at. I met his "friend" Martin - an extremely frightening drunk Swiss man who scared the beegeebees out of me and Brittney. I was able to steer him away from us, but unfortunately he latched himself on the the man who was provided me with empty bottles. We went to sit by the dance floor, which was fun until the older white men turned away from the over-priced Ticas and tried their luck with Brittney and Jaime (23 year old son, wink wink). I left at about 1:30 am with some of the girls and our American friends Nathan and Eric (we met them earlier in Heredia - they go to La U also), and picked up Amelia's guitar so we could jam on the beach. The stars were amazing and the second we sat down we saw a super bright falling star. We chilled on the beach for a little bit and then headed back to go to sleep.
The next morning we were awakened early at 8 and went to dinner at the Sunrise bed and breakfast where I had some of the biggest, fluffiest pancakes of my life. Then for the rest of the day, I spent my time journaling (didn't get very far) in the shade next to the pool. We left that night (Saturday) on the 6 pm bus, so we had 2 very full, long days of beach madness. I don't think I would choose to go back to Jacó, but it was the perfect way to end the first week of classes, and get to know some of my group even more.
Now, I must apply a 13th layer of aloe to my entire body :)