And So It Ends (Puerto Viejo, CR)

Tonight is my last night in Costa Rica. I am a little sad to leave, well I am very sad to leave.  For those that have been following, and for those that have been helpful in my pleas for advice, you should know that I left San Jose this past Monday, five days ago now since I last saw Luis.

It was a sad goodbye, a tentative goodbye, with the possibility of my return. But that is no longer a reality for me. As of 5 minutes ago, I purchased a flight from Panama City to Bogota, Colombia in two weeks time. Once I fly out of Central America in South America, I will not return.  When Luis and I said goodbye, we departed on a street corner and as I walked away to the bus station and Luis to his dance class, we both kept looking back over our shoulders to grab one last glance at one another.

With that said, we spoke everyday since then up until yesterday. Yesterday morning, we finally decided that reality just will not allow us to be together, and we said goodbye for good. No more phone calls, no more skyping, no more emails... at least until I get out of Central America. Too painful to hear his voice when I know he is only 4.5 hours away from me, a simple hop on bus that will bring me to him once more.

So, that's that. Another chapter closed, another window cracked open for new opportunities to arise.  Traveling really sucks in this regard, as I have expressed previously. Saying goodbye becomes one of the toughest things to do.

The past five days in Puerto Viejo have been nice though. It is a laid back beach town on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, 30 minutes away from the Panama border.  There is not as much rain here as the rest of the country, and sunshine has been blessed on my face once more.  The ocean is calm, with no large waves to wrestle with.

I have been hanging out with a sweet English couple, a Texan girl, and for a little bit an interesting American girl. The English couple, Ben and Steph are new at the whole backpacking thing, and it is refreshing to see them not take everything for granted, as I sometimes do unknowingly.  Tomorrow, it will only be me and Stella from Texas off to Bocas del Toro, an archipelago also on the Caribbean side, in Panama. I am interested to go from one country to the next and see the difference in culture, the difference in people.  Some are subtle, others not.

So... I leave Costa Rica with gratefulness, to Luis, to Cesar, to Camila, to Chris, and to all the other wonderful I have met along the way.  Costa Rica has definitely been an experience for me in which I got to meet a lot of the local people and really get to know the culture first hand.  I have been welcomed into about 6 or more Tico families here, feeding me, greeting me with kindness and hospitality. Not many travelers often get that opportunity.

As they say here in this country... Pura Vida!