post new year party carnage!

ok, i am exaggerating a bit here..its not that bad today! despite some seriously nasty caipirinhas and copious amounts of the local brew, the hangover effects are minimal, with oddly a sore throat being the worst of it...???

oh, and happy new year!

So here I am on the second country of my cheeky paid month off journey. all has gone surprisingly well, save for a few minor things. However one has got to expect flight delays in Mexico, no? and the good news was, despite an initial cock-up on the date change for my Pacuare river rafting trip, they did realise it and showed up the next morning. the bad news was..after trekking down a dirt road in vertical swimming pool style rain, we were told the river was running too high and the trip was off. so back up the hill, a little workout that would give billy blanks tae bo a run for its money on the butt exercise..and then of course our bus had left to get us at the other end, and of course, no ones mobile phones had reception. so we spent an hour in this frigid vertical swimming pool, and i swer that is the wettest i´ve ever been in my life..and i scuba dive (!)

anyway, the guides were very gracious considering all the complaints they had to deal with and promised to refund our money. the following day i called round to the office..the owner showed up part way through, and asked if i were willing to pay part for the transport, which i was, but not the amount they were asking as was far more than regular bus fare. after which he simply pulled the full amount out of his pocket and said no more! apart from apologising profusely for the situation, and inviting myself and my newfound buddies for a beer that evening!

I was very impressed, especially after dealing with Viennese supermarket abuse and other bad service.

So yes, moving on; its been fairly easy to meet people here. On day one I met the 2 Daves and Eric, hailing from California. had both a dinner and a breakfast swapping travel tales with them, and joined them for the Canopy zip line tour which was great fun. along for the ride were a couple of adventurous swedes and we all had a right laugh over it. granted, still no one had any idea about the new year plan for the following night, but i guess in a place like this thats just how it rolls and i never worried about it.

Yesterday i decided to take it easy in anticipation of the mysterious would-be big night and rode my bike to the nearby Punta Uva beaches, which favour swimmers more than surfers so I needn't have worried about being sucked out to sea. well, not too much anyway! it was a gorgeous little bike ride, although the many varieties of local wildlife still elude me (but i notice electrical stations...i wonder what that says about me!). To continue the randomness, i had gone to the previously non-functioning cash machine and met Kate, a transplanted Californian living in Costa Rica. we had to laugh at the guys over the road really just giving it to Michael Jackson´s ¨Thriller¨. We talked more about this New Years eve thing, which was seemingly as elusive as the local wildlife is to my eyes, but an offer came for popping by the backpackers down the road so i figured set and sorted.

Back at my hotel, i figured i´d bunk down for a siesta to prepare for the evening but 2 surfers (Bradley and Eric numero dos..this doubling up of names is going to become confusing) 2 doors down invited me for a beer instead and the evening was off..after the first beer 3 horses just randomly ran into the gardens of our hotel, knocked some stuff over, slipped on the crazy paving path and ran out, leaving us wondering ´did that just happen?´or, what exactly was in the local Imperial beer!?

Never making it to the backpackers, we did dinner at a little place serving carribean food in town which was my cheapest and best meal here thus far. although i can´t remember the name of the place. had a few bevvies and resisting letting our 30 plus ages get the best of us..moved to EZ times for cocktails and Eric´s attempts to buy the part of their decor which consisted of a piranha head carved into coconut shells. The main attraction though was johnny´s, the local disco on the beach, with its blazing bonfire and locals and gringos alike just chilling out by the waves and under the stars. Here I ran into both Kate and the swedes, along with a host of people from the backpackers, and found out that party never really happened anyway, so alls well that ends well. The actual new year brought fireworks down the coast and everyone just hugging everyone and my mistaken Irish identity rearing itself once more as myself and a couple of Emerald Isle lads broke into a round of the Pogue´s ´Fairy Tale of New York´

ah. the penny just dropped. was wondering why my biggest hangover symptom was a sore throat!!! the party ensued with more random people and moving to main street´s cafe Viejo which was met with more dancing the night away in flip flops and more randoms from all over the planet with their party decorations...i ended up with a pair of green sparkly 2008 sunglasses..hmmm. not bad, not bad.

All in all, a great night to bring in the new year...I am muchos happy to be rid of 2007 and look forward to the surprises 2008 will bring!!!