This is Cheesa Mann reporting live from Uvita . . .

. . . and dedicating this post to her good mate Cat to whom she was talking as she was penning this entry.

So San Jose was totally forgettable. The hostel was nice enough, but the city, well, it was either raining or nighttime. And shall we not talk about the roach that crawled across the table in the restaurant where I had lunch on Monday? It crawled to the underside of the table and I cringed thinking it might turn up on my side. It at least gave me proper etiquette as I quickly pulled my elbows off the table. We probably also don't want to talk about the big roach I killed in my room this morning or the one in the shower this afternoon.

The 6 plus hours on the bus from San Jose to Uvita could've been better. Incredibly hot, people standing in the aisle much of the way, lots of stops for locals to get on and off, and then like a gigantic moron I missed my stop, mistakenly thinking it would be announced like the previous stop was. I realized fairly quickly and only had to make a 12-minute walk back to the hotel, which wouldn't have been bad if it hadn't been at least 90 degrees and I wasn't carrying 50 pounds. Can you say sweat?

The Tucan Hotel, www.tucanhotel.com, is amazingly cool, though. Pics to come on facebook. They have five hammocks hanging in front of a TV with a DVD player hooked to it and they show a different movie each day at around 4. The room is nice with a mattress as thick as my hand is long. Now I know those of you at home are thinking, that's nice? But given that it's twice as thick as any that I've slept on since I got here and that my hip doesn't bruise from feeling the boards underneath, this is a sweet sleep. Plus, nice sheets and a fan right over my bed to keep me cool. Since I'll be volunteering here for a couple of weeks, the owner said he'd try to keep my room as private as possible even though there are three other beds in there.

After my arrival yesterday, I took a quick cold shower to cool down and immediately headed up the road to a waterfall. Didn't stay long, but long enough to take a quick dip in the pool there. I definitely plan to go back. Haven't been to the beach yet because you have to go at low tide, so I'll have to time it just right, otherwise you get stranded.

Today I was up at 6 for the dive trip. It was a 45-minute drive to Sierpe with stories from the guide along the way. In Sierpe we had an awesome breakfast--eggs, bacon, and a pancake which I slathered with peanut butter and syrup--YUM! The boat ride was a long one. Thirty minutes down the Sierpe River to the ocean and then another 45 to Isla de Cano. Along the way we saw one crocodile and a pod of dolphins, and I captured some of the dolphins, who were quite playful, on video.

After pushing the snorkelers out of the boat, the divemaster, another diver, and I rolled off the boat into the water and did a 49-minute dive where we saw several reef sharks, some southern stingrays, and loads and loads of fish, more than I've ever seen on a dive probably. At times it felt like I was actually swimming in a school of fish.

We had lunch on the island and then headed right back into the water for dive number 2. As soon as we dropped into the water we could hear whales: a mama and her baby talking back and forth. You could hear a distinct difference between the two, with the baby having a much higher pitch. For the entire dive we could hear them communicating and I kept expecting to turn around at any moment and see one of them--no such luck. Divemaster said they could've been up to a half mile away. On this dive, more sharks, lots of fish again. One fish quickly made my favorite list as he looks like he just joined the US Army with his camouflage exterior. A couple of time fish swam right in front of my face as if I wasn't even there.

Upon picking up the snorkelers I was really glad I was a diver. Several of them were stung by jellyfish, little ones mind you, but they were stinging nonetheless, so they got a little dose of vinegar to the skin.

On the way back we saw the mama and baby whales that we had heard underwater, and I shot some video luckily. The baby was only 4-5 days old according to our guide, Cesar. We watched for a while before losing sight of them.

All in all, it was an unforgettable day, the complete opposite of San Jose thankfully. And tomorrow I start work here at the hotel doing I don't know what. I'll try to go to bed early and hope that the thief doesn't come poking around again in the wee hours of the morning. Yep, at 4:30 this morning there was a flashlight being shined into my room. Fortunately I had a towel hanging over the end of the bed so he didn't see me, and luckily the door was deadbolted since he tried the door as well! Just a Tico (local) who has been thieving from here lately according to the owner. Good to know as last night when I would go to the bathroom, I left my door partially open so I wouldn't have to use the key. Not so tonight buddy!

Until next time, this is Cheesa Mann reporting live from a computer that she just knocked a grasshopper off of and watched an ant crawl across!