6am the next morning, I took a taxi to the local bus station and bought tickets to Monteverde ($3 for a 5 hr trip). My original plan had been to take the tourist bus – called the Interbus – from point to point. While it was 10x more expensive, it was also air conditioned and held less people. However, after talking to K, he convinced me that I should try to experience the local flavor. Thanks, K. This bus was actually not that bad. More than anything, I was annoyed w/this weird Canadian couple sitting behind me with their rag doll baby who was wearing a helmet. But I digress. The local bus was everything youd expect: painfully slow, hot, crowded, dirty, and yes, colorful.
We stopped maybe every 20 minutes to pick up people from the side of the dusty road. Sometimes we went so far off the main road that I thought for sure we would never find our way back. Halfway through the trip, we stopped at this nice palapa on the side of the road to use the bathroom and buy snacks. The sun was about as intense as it gets, and everyone clambored inside to find some shade. There were all kinds of snacks to choose from – most of which I had no idea what the hell they were — hanging packets of pickled vegetables, something that looked like peanut brittle. I watched as a local asked the store tender how much a bruised apple cost. “500 colones” – 1 dollar. The guy reluctantly paid for it, and I felt really sad for him. 500 was a tourist rate, how could they be charging these kinds of prices when it was a local bus stop? I decided on a orange flavored ice cream cone that melted almost immediately after being given to me. At least it was something to do, because we waited for ages for the driver to return so we could pile back on to the increasingly hot bus.
I rode the rest of the way to Santa Elena with the windows opened as far as they could go. Dust flew in everywhere – in my face, my eyes, and in my hair – so much so that my hair was matted down with dust and sweat. Lovely! Still, it was an interesting way to see the countryside, and for my first bus trip in Costa Rica, I was pretty happy that I had taken the local bus. It just seemed more “authentic.” The roads are so winding and narrow that I have no idea how the hell that bohemeth of a bus was able to maneuver itself up the mountainside, but, I arrived safe and sound in Santa Elena, where I was warmly greeted by the owners of my new hostel home – Pension Santa Elena. 
From all the pictures I’ve seen, and some of the comments I’ve read, this hostel seemed…um…rustic. “Lots of character.” The owners were brother-sister Texpatriates who flashed me the Longhorn sign when I arrived (I was wearing a Texas shirt). After that, all my fears melted away. I won’t lie – the fact that I had a top bunk underneath a collapsing ceiling with holes in it kind of freaked me out (was sure roaches would scurry out of there at night), but what it lacked in modern amenities, it more than made up for in atmosphere.
After eating lunch at the nearby cafe (lots of boys in there, most were super annoying. A group of british boys were so far out of their element, I kind of wanted to slap them) I spent what I had left of the day getting grossed out at this insect/butterfly garden thing. I opted to walk there, which, i thought, would be no big deal. Not until I found myself on several lonesome (and of course, dusty) roads that led deeper and deeper into the rainforest. Finally, I arrived at the butterfly center. Upon entering a series of doors, I was practically cheered on by the group of 3 volunteers who were on the other side. As seemed to be typical of my trip in Costa Rica, I was the only one there. I didn’t mind though bc the guy running the whole show was quite possibly the hottest guy I have seen in a very long time. Im not much into blonde hair or blue eyes, but he had both and was all the hotter for it. He kind of looked like this surfer boy, in the middle of the jungle – I just kept thinking, god, what the fuck. I have to trek all the way into the dark belly of a rainforest to find someone as hot as you? Anyway, we flirted and eye fucked for I dont know how long. He and the other volunteers were really cool and funny, and were always teasing me. I sat there and talked with them for a while as we filled each other in on all the basics – where was I from, why were we here, etc. And then, much to my dismay, the other volunteers led me on the tour, not him.
The blonde guy would come in every now and then to see how things were going, but what kind of lost it for me was when I saw him scooting across the ground chasing after some bug. I guess that, to some, it would be an endearing quality, and that I should make concessions for someone so blindingly hot. For me, it signaled something else – no girl would ever get between him and his bugs. Like I always say – its always something, isnt it. Evenso, I was pretty tempted to ask them where they went out at night, but being it was my first *real* day in Costa Rica, I didn’t quite have the cajones to do so.
Instead, I learned a lot about bugs, and the guys took great pleasure in grossing me out. There are some nasty ass bugs in the rainforest – like the ones that suck your blood at night, shit on you and emit a parasite into your bloodstream that lays dormant for like 20-25 yrs before finally attacking your coronary system. They showed me every single breed of roach. They showed me this tick that was about the size of a strawberry – alive but overly bloated with blood (SICK). Lots of scorpions. And most vile are these wasps – hawk wasps or something – who prey on trantulas. They mother wasp attacks the tarantula, then drags this spider through the woods only to emit her babies into the tarantula abdomen. Instead of killing the tarantula, the wasp just stuns it, keeping it alive so that when the babies are born, they have fresh protein to eat. Essentially, the tarantula dies by being eaten alive. Strangely enough, there are quite a lot of bugs in the rainforest who follow that pattern – so much so that it became a running joke with me and the guys – “so let me guess what this one does…it bites you…then the mother lays her eggs in you. Am i right?” I really hated them for telling me all that. But oh well. They were so very hot. 
That night, I took a night tour through the rainforest – saw a mommy sloth and her baby crawling up a tree – and saw lots of –guess what — insects. Our guide was really into tarantulas, so he kept digging around in the dirt to try to find a tarantula home. He succeeded – more than once. We also saw porcupines, these weird rat things, beetles with glowing eyes, lobster grasshoppers, sleeping birds – it was actually quite cool. I met up another solo traveler – a german girl who told me she was staying in a very lonely hotel. I wanted to hang out with her, but truly, her hotel was so far from mine. I was pretty damn glad to have chosen the place that I was staying, bc while it wasnt the nicest accomodations, at least it was at the center of all the activity. We left her at the park since she had to take a separate bus, and me and 2 other girls snuck onto the shuttle to go back to our pension. I cleaned up and then went to this food stand (everything else was closed) and bought some arroz con pollo which was so fucking good. Best Ive ever had. 
At night, Pension Santa Elena’s lobby/lounge area is just crowded with people of all sorts – backpackers, locals -everyone just goes there as if you woudl go to a coffee shop and just hang out. I ate my arroz con pollo and coca light and met a few people. Mostly, I talked to the 2 girls I met on the tour who at first annoyed me, but then I came to like. The atmosphere in that room was just one of warmth and activity, and it was just a really really cool place to be. Later in the evening, as things started to wind down, all of my bunkmates returned to our shared room to sleep. We ended up staying up really late just talking in the dark – sharing our stories about what we had done, what we wanted to do, etc. It was totally like summer camp, and was probably one of my most favorite, and special memories of the entire trip.
