Dominical, Costa Rica : Day ?

I don’t know what day it is anymore and I think I have fully succumbed to the island lifestyle. I quit bothering wearing makeup that sweats off, haven’t shaved yet and never, ever, wear a shirt. A bikini top with a sarong or kimono and shorts is my uniform and so far I’m decorated with two long necklaces and a long owl feather earring in my forth hole.

Waking up at the hostel was pretty sweet, I wake up at like 5:30 a.m. here. I go down for my free coffee but it’s really bad, so we decide to head out for a real coffee. We go to a place down the street and I change my mind and get a smoothie instead.

Next door I peek in the window that’s adorned with an array of beautifully decorated cakes and cupcakes. Not being able to resist, I go inside and to my delight, it’s all soap at and natural beauty products!

If you go to Dominical, check out the artisanal beauty treats at Mamoncello, it’s at the end of the road right next to Rum Bar. Apart from being absolutely beautiful, the products are fantastic, can I get this in Canada? I’m greeted by a Rasta women from London named Maxine Clarke who makes all the products herself. I pick up a natural sun butter with SPF 35, $15 (I think) and I’m telling you, I have not burned once since I got it and I’m really white—but all the crappy drugstore sunscreens are useless. It has zinc and coconut oil but goes on smooth and blends into your skin.

If you want clear skin while traveling, I highly suggest grabbing a bar of activated charcoal soap, $10. It pulls the toxins and dirt from your pores like nothing else. I also grabbed some natural face moisturizer with ylang-ylang, $35 and it smells so sweet. Overjoyed with my travelling beauty purchases, I think I’ll make another trip to Dominical before heading back home.

Later we make a feast in the hostel kitchen. I fried up my zucchini florets, some red pepper and red onions. Kim’s on patacones (a plantain dish) and Arnaldo whips up some ceviche. We also have tortillas, avocado, burritos—just the whole shebang. We start eating our feasts and I notice the other hostel kids eyeing our giant meal. We decide to share with everyone and it was super cool, felt good to help out fellow travellers and made everybody socialize.

Among the hostel guests is one Israeli Rasta man and the second he saw me it was like a moth to a flame.

That night Kim and Arnaldo go to bed early, sadly pretty much everyone is in bed by 10 p.m. here. Surfers. One of the guys at the hostel and a Tico say they’re going to Rum Bar and I’m like hell yeah! Let’s go! Rasta man in tow, we had to the bar.

It’s been like a ghost town since I get here because it’s the low, rainy season. After getting our ear talked off by coke-high hostel boy, Rasta man and I decide to hit the beach. I must say, Dominical has my favourite beaches so far. Wide, sandy beaches that are perfect for tanning, among other things . . .

At 2 am the beach is completely pitch black, other than the stars (I must say they are incredible) and the moon. We do the whole romantic thing, stargazing and going for a long walk on the beach. Then we decide to rip our clothes off and go skinny dipping and I place my black purse with my clothes on the beach. It’s pitch black and we start running towards the water.

Skinny dipping is good, but I can’t find the water . . .

We get to the shoreline and nothing, the tide was completely washed out.  We start running at top speed in the ocean for like five minutes, hesitating a bit before we finally reach shallow water. 

Then after our escapades, we run back and my purse is like trying to find a needle in a haystack in the dark. We’re just running around the beach naked trying to find our clothes. If I don’t find my shit I have to go back to the hostel—naked.

A sigh of relief that we find our stuff and head back to the hostel. I asked for a private room earlier when a girl moved in, but they refused to upgrade me because I already paid. Frustrated by our sleeping accommodations, me sharing a room with a deathly ill French girl and him with his lesbian girl friend, we make a plan. What if there’s an empty room, open? Rasta man finds one and we sneak in and take the private room for the night. We sneak out early in the morning and no one catches us. We’re such rebels. Yes!