Dominical (Weekend of 4/20)

Thursday, before my weekend actually started involved adventuring into San José with Alex to see The Hunger Games movie. I had my heart set on seeing the movie as I just finished the book earlier that week. The movie was only playing at one single movie theatre in all of Costa Rica, and it involved taking lots of busses all over a city that I don't particularly know very well. After the movie we headed back to Heredia to go to our favorite sushi spot, where I had two rolls that I'm very much fond of- which definitely have a bit of Costa Rican-ness to them!!
The one in the back was the Jamming Roll, the ultimate favorite: Spicy tuna, avocado and MANGO! Mango in sushi is such a good idea. The one in the front was the restaurant's specialty roll- the Nippon Roll, with shrimp tempura and avocado inside, and cream cheese and a fried plantain on top. YUM.

Friday morning started off with a 6am bus ride to Dominical. Dominical is on the Pacific side, about 4-5hours away from San José. Naturally I was sleeping for most of the time on the bus, and apparently I'm too trusting of Costa Rica- because someone stole my backpack that I had put in the overhead rack. Luckily I had all of my actually valuable things in my purse down by my feet... sooo I hope that Costa Rica thief has fun with all my clothes and bathing suits and toiletries. AND RETAINER. And two books! The books may have been my greatest loss. Just kind of annoying for this to have happened, but I guess I learned a lesson. 
Dominical is a very sleepy, slow-moving surfer beach town. Everything was very relaxed, but there definitely weren't that many people around. It kind of seemed like an eerie ghost town at some points. 

Friday was pretty tame, Alex and I hung out on the beach for a while then met up with our friends Ryan and Breigh-Anna for dinner. At the restaurant, Ryan (also from Maryland) was quick to point out that there was a sandwich called the "Ripken Club," and on the Spanish menu it said that it was a chicken sandwich with OLD BAY (although it didn't have Old Bay listed on the English menu). I was super excited, because of course both Ryan and I had to try this sandwich geared towards us Marylanders. It unfortunately did not have Old Bay on it, but was delicious nonetheless. Saturday morning, Alex and I were up and ready to begin our adventure to the #1 reason why we were in Dominical- to see the Catarata Nauyaca: Nauyaca Waterfall. We take a taxi to the entrance to the trail, which was 6km basically up and down a mountain. The first (and last) kilometer was straight down going there and straight up going back. SERIOUS incline. I definitely could feel that hike the next day! But luckily the hike was beautiful, lots of jungle and nature to see. Alex swears he saw a toucan fly over us, I'm pretty sure I heard a howler monkey, we saw encaged peacocks,

...and one of my person faves, leaf cutter ants! Nature is so cool, look at these guys with their own leaf carrying highway:

The waterfalls (there were 2! to my surprise) were absolutely breathtaking. Easily one of the coolest things I've seen in Costa Rica, and definitely the best waterfalls I've seen here.


Waterfall #1

Hike down to Waterfall #2

Amazing!

There was a boy who looked about 12 years old who came to the falls and immediately starting scaling the main waterfall. Scary but extremely impressive! He definitely knew what he was doing. And then he would dive off from about 40 feet up. So naturally, Alex wanted to try too. With some assistance from the boy, he made it up the falls 

and jumped! Crazy!

After an exhausting (but beautiful) trek back, 

we hopped on a bus back down to Dominical, and decided to check out happy hour at a hotel/bar right on the river that runs next to the town. It was beautiful- we drank a few Imperials and watched the sun set over the river while Jack Johnson was playing in the background. Really doesn't get much better. At this hotel there were a few gringos hanging out, 2 guys from Manhattan (one of which was named Vinny...haha so New York), and another one from North Carolina. I always get excited to be around East Coast people! After showering and freshening up, Alex and I went off to find some dinner... what do we decide on? Sushi, of course. But this was hands down the BEST sushi I think I've ever had. Again more rolls with mango and the fish was just so fresh and absolutely amazing. So great. Definitely slept well that night after an exhausting day of trekking around and that awesome meal.


Looking back on that day, it may have been one of the best days of my life. I'm so lucky to be in this country, and even more lucky to be able to travel around and have these experiences with Alex.