We spent the remainder of our Christmas making our way to San Jose. There was only one Taxi willing to come pick us up from the resort to take us to the bus terminal and he wanted double the going rate - $60. While debating on what t do from here, the concierge offered us a spot on the employee shuttle which was leaving (so we thought) momentarily. We rushed out to the pick up spot and waited for about 2 hours with a large crowd of Ticos waiting to get home to spend the last hours of Christmas with their loved ones.
The shuttle (a 1970's model school bus) arrived and everyone crammed in, setting off for Limon, and as we later found out with a couple pit stops along the way. After a nerve wrecking ride back to Limon, we finally arrived, and thankfully VERY close to the bus terminal! We made it in time for the final bus for the night by about 20 minutes.
We arrived in San Jose at about 11:30 and headed to a hostel that we had noticed on our last stop over in the city, the Malino Red Hostel. Since we had spotted the hostel on the bus, we decided to hike the 3k to from the terminal to the hostel, checked in and then headed out for some grub. The closest place that was open (it was Christmas and late for Costa Rica) was Soda Tapia, an American style 24hr-diner reminiscent of a Steak 'n' Shake. We had bean sandwiches and fries. Because they were out of apple pie and cheese cake I got Guanabana(Soursop) ice-cream for dessert.
The hostel, a new addition to the slew of hostels in the city, was very calm and right off the main drag. We spent the majority of our time there trying to figure out how to make it to Panama and observing a Tico Tradition- the December 27th Cowboy Parade. The parade consisted of thousands of Ticos lining the streets to grill steak, drinking whiskey, and watch the hundreds of dancing horses and cowboys prance through the city. It was freakish.
While the parade was in full force, Tiffany and I had to run around the city to all the different bus terminals to find buses going to Panama that had space. After a few strikeouts (Tica Bus was booked full for days) we were directed to Panaline. It took a while, but I finally found the new terminal on the opposite side of the city from all the other terminals. The Panaline bus would take us from San Jose to the border, through customs and to David Panama. David is still a long way from the city, but there are buses every hour from David to the city, so we were set. We stayed the night in San Jose then caught the bus for the 10 hour ride at 7am.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Parque National Ricon De La Vijia
We took the bus to Liberia and a *gasp* cab to Ricon De La Vijia National Park for camping; or so we thought. Unbeknown to us there are not one, but two entrances and nearly separate parks – one completely public with camping available, the other blocked by a resort, that offers no camping in the park. Yet again, Costa Rica's cab drivers failed us.
We ended up hitchhiking to the Hacienda Guachipelin Resort (6Km) where we got a room and arranged for a day-long adventure tour. We spent the next day on our adventure, starting with 2 hours of zip-lining, rock climbing and Tarzan swinging through the jungle canopy weaving in and out of the river canyon. It's quite thrilling to fly through the air strapped upside-down to a steel cable!
To reach the next portion of the adventure, we traveled by horseback for about 45 minutes to the river head. This was my first time riding a horse (I'm sure my sister would be proud), and (accept for the part where my genitals were continuously slapped into the saddle) I really enjoyed it.
At the river head, we got stuck behind a really large group of elderly people (how they made it this far – beyond my comprehension), so we ended up waiting quite a while to make it into the river with our tubes. Though the wait was entirely worth it! River rafting is cool, but river tubing is a whole new ballgame. The rapids were really intense and there were a few sticky spots, but in all it was a lot of fun. At one point a very large woman went down a rapid backwards and got stuck vertically and eventually flipped – it was very amusing.
Due to the lack of hop-to-it-ness of the elderly group, our return transportation was not as timely as it could have been. However this gave Tiffany and I an opportunity to chat with some folks from British Columbia, Canada. The conversation revolved around the legal issues of medicinally accepted plants and the going rates, local terminology and quality (of which there is very little). The Canadians were great and ended up giving us a ride from the resort to the Symbiosis Spa. Included in our tour package was entrance to the spa and access to the hot springs, sauna and Mud bath!
For Christmas, we decided to take a hike through the National Park. We arranged transportation through the hotel and then set off to see the major sights of the park. The Ricon is rich in geologic activity (hence the spa and mud bath)- scattered mud pools, sulfur pools etc. Halfway through the trail loop we had chosen to explore, we decided to take the trail branch to the second part of the park and the accessible hot spring. The sign claimed the distance was 6k, though we are both convinced that the actual distance is closer to 10k. In any event we misjudged our timing and missed our ride back. Fortunately for us, a young couple in a renal car stopped to give us a ride about 10 minutes into our decent back to the lodge.
We ended up hitchhiking to the Hacienda Guachipelin Resort (6Km) where we got a room and arranged for a day-long adventure tour. We spent the next day on our adventure, starting with 2 hours of zip-lining, rock climbing and Tarzan swinging through the jungle canopy weaving in and out of the river canyon. It's quite thrilling to fly through the air strapped upside-down to a steel cable!
To reach the next portion of the adventure, we traveled by horseback for about 45 minutes to the river head. This was my first time riding a horse (I'm sure my sister would be proud), and (accept for the part where my genitals were continuously slapped into the saddle) I really enjoyed it.
At the river head, we got stuck behind a really large group of elderly people (how they made it this far – beyond my comprehension), so we ended up waiting quite a while to make it into the river with our tubes. Though the wait was entirely worth it! River rafting is cool, but river tubing is a whole new ballgame. The rapids were really intense and there were a few sticky spots, but in all it was a lot of fun. At one point a very large woman went down a rapid backwards and got stuck vertically and eventually flipped – it was very amusing.
Due to the lack of hop-to-it-ness of the elderly group, our return transportation was not as timely as it could have been. However this gave Tiffany and I an opportunity to chat with some folks from British Columbia, Canada. The conversation revolved around the legal issues of medicinally accepted plants and the going rates, local terminology and quality (of which there is very little). The Canadians were great and ended up giving us a ride from the resort to the Symbiosis Spa. Included in our tour package was entrance to the spa and access to the hot springs, sauna and Mud bath!
For Christmas, we decided to take a hike through the National Park. We arranged transportation through the hotel and then set off to see the major sights of the park. The Ricon is rich in geologic activity (hence the spa and mud bath)- scattered mud pools, sulfur pools etc. Halfway through the trail loop we had chosen to explore, we decided to take the trail branch to the second part of the park and the accessible hot spring. The sign claimed the distance was 6k, though we are both convinced that the actual distance is closer to 10k. In any event we misjudged our timing and missed our ride back. Fortunately for us, a young couple in a renal car stopped to give us a ride about 10 minutes into our decent back to the lodge.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Amazing sites to see
After our first big day of surprises, the next day went rather smoothly. We took a tour of one of the caves in Parque Nacional Barra Honda. The Terciopelo cavern is a 206 foot descend and was named because of a terciopelo corpse they found at the bottom of the cave when first exploring it. There are several other caves including one which they have found remains of humans who were thrown to the bottom for whatever reason. But only one cave was open to the public at this time. We hiked up the mountain with our two guides. Both of our guides were amazing. I walked behind talking to one of our guides. He picked plants as we walked along and shared them with me. I would smell them and he would tell me in Spanish what the Indians used them for and their Spanish name. He told me that he was very well traveled and had friends all over the world. I think he said something about Obama. Sadly I could only understand maybe half of what he said, but I would love to spend time at this park studying with him. Our other guide was the one to take us down into the cave.
We strapped on rappelling gear and followed him down the ladder. The cave was really beautiful. There were bats sleeping and large toads hopping about. We climbed down until we reached a wall with only a narrow hole. Jason and I both thought it was the end of the line, but our guide showed us how to squeeze through. He pointed out the way the columns were formed and what they had named some of the formations. There was one call, “The family” and others they referred to as “papayas.” He tapped on some of the rock formations showing us how they were hollow and would make different pitched sounds. Jason is going to post a video of him and our guide playing on the rock.
We stayed at Barra Honda a second night because the buses don't run on Sundays anyways. The rangers allowed us to stay for free and they also allowed us to use the kitchen for the volunteers. We had such a wonderful time and Barra Honda. Everyone was so kind to us. Thank you!!
On Monday we headed to Playa Grande and Parque Nacional Marino las Baulas. Baulas tortugas are the leather back turtles that come to Playa Grande to nest. During nesting season there are tours at night which allow you to enter the beach and witness the nesting. We tried to see it the first night we were there but you have to make the list and they can only take so many people out at a time. Some times turtle don't even come out. Jason and I had been up since 5 am and couldn't stay up longer than 11 pm so we packed it in and planned on seeing them the next night. We stayed in a pleasant hotel that is connected to a bar called “Kike's Place.” It was not very expensive and we got a bathroom which is really nice plus free wireless.
The next day we went out bike riding to see Playa Grande. It is just across the estuary from Playa Tamarindo which is the a much more built up beach. Playa Grande will be the same in a few years. There was a lot of land that was divide into small sections and being sold by Century 21 to what I'm sure is big building companies. Lucky the entire beach is part of the park and protected land just for the sea turtles.
The bike ride was lovely. We popped in and out of the beach all the way down to the estuary, where the salt and fresh water meet. If we had planned it better, we may have taken a boat tour up the river. There are apparently always boaters waiting to take tourists across or on a tour. We watched the sunset on the beach, which was actually rather boring compared to the sunsets of Mal Pais, and headed to the ranger station to check in for the sea turtles.
Now when you go to watch the sea turtles, you wait all night until one shows up. This may or may not happen. Then they take only a certain number of people out to see. When viewing the mother, everyone stands behind her in a half circle and hopes that she finishes her nest and lays her eggs. If there are too many people, you might not get to see the first turtle that comes up. In our case we waited until a short time after 11 to see the second mother come on to shore to lay her eggs. A family drove Jason and I to the site because we did not have a vehicle. We followed out in a single line and made a small half circle behind the mother. Because we were the last of the people there was only about 15 of us instead of 30. There were biologist counting the eggs and making sure the nest didn't fall in on itself. The most amazing part was watching this giant turtle (her shell 4 ft long) back herself into this hole she had dug that was about 3 ft deep and carefully scooping sand out. The way she moved her back fins seemed almost unnatural. Bending them inwards to make a shovel and lifting them out and flicking her fin in a way to throw the sand out. Our mother laid 71 eggs. They were slightly larger than golf balls, shiny and perfectly round. Sadly, no pictures were allowed so I have nothing to show you guys. I'm sorry. We did not get to see her return to the sea. But we did see the tracks that she had left when she came on to the beach. They were so wide, they looked like a 4 wheeler had driven out of sea.
That evening Jason and I crashed in front of the abandon museum. We wanted to catch the first bus out and didn't want to pay for a room for only 4 hours. There was what used to be a small circular bar. We laid out our sleeping bags and slept till the sun awoke us. (I don't know if I have mention this but you have to try really hard to sleep past 6 am in Costa Rica. The sun comes up at 5:30 and sets about the same time in the pm. 8Pm here seems like 10 or 11 pm. It's nice in a lot of ways.)
We strapped on rappelling gear and followed him down the ladder. The cave was really beautiful. There were bats sleeping and large toads hopping about. We climbed down until we reached a wall with only a narrow hole. Jason and I both thought it was the end of the line, but our guide showed us how to squeeze through. He pointed out the way the columns were formed and what they had named some of the formations. There was one call, “The family” and others they referred to as “papayas.” He tapped on some of the rock formations showing us how they were hollow and would make different pitched sounds. Jason is going to post a video of him and our guide playing on the rock.
We stayed at Barra Honda a second night because the buses don't run on Sundays anyways. The rangers allowed us to stay for free and they also allowed us to use the kitchen for the volunteers. We had such a wonderful time and Barra Honda. Everyone was so kind to us. Thank you!!
On Monday we headed to Playa Grande and Parque Nacional Marino las Baulas. Baulas tortugas are the leather back turtles that come to Playa Grande to nest. During nesting season there are tours at night which allow you to enter the beach and witness the nesting. We tried to see it the first night we were there but you have to make the list and they can only take so many people out at a time. Some times turtle don't even come out. Jason and I had been up since 5 am and couldn't stay up longer than 11 pm so we packed it in and planned on seeing them the next night. We stayed in a pleasant hotel that is connected to a bar called “Kike's Place.” It was not very expensive and we got a bathroom which is really nice plus free wireless.
The next day we went out bike riding to see Playa Grande. It is just across the estuary from Playa Tamarindo which is the a much more built up beach. Playa Grande will be the same in a few years. There was a lot of land that was divide into small sections and being sold by Century 21 to what I'm sure is big building companies. Lucky the entire beach is part of the park and protected land just for the sea turtles.
The bike ride was lovely. We popped in and out of the beach all the way down to the estuary, where the salt and fresh water meet. If we had planned it better, we may have taken a boat tour up the river. There are apparently always boaters waiting to take tourists across or on a tour. We watched the sunset on the beach, which was actually rather boring compared to the sunsets of Mal Pais, and headed to the ranger station to check in for the sea turtles.
Now when you go to watch the sea turtles, you wait all night until one shows up. This may or may not happen. Then they take only a certain number of people out to see. When viewing the mother, everyone stands behind her in a half circle and hopes that she finishes her nest and lays her eggs. If there are too many people, you might not get to see the first turtle that comes up. In our case we waited until a short time after 11 to see the second mother come on to shore to lay her eggs. A family drove Jason and I to the site because we did not have a vehicle. We followed out in a single line and made a small half circle behind the mother. Because we were the last of the people there was only about 15 of us instead of 30. There were biologist counting the eggs and making sure the nest didn't fall in on itself. The most amazing part was watching this giant turtle (her shell 4 ft long) back herself into this hole she had dug that was about 3 ft deep and carefully scooping sand out. The way she moved her back fins seemed almost unnatural. Bending them inwards to make a shovel and lifting them out and flicking her fin in a way to throw the sand out. Our mother laid 71 eggs. They were slightly larger than golf balls, shiny and perfectly round. Sadly, no pictures were allowed so I have nothing to show you guys. I'm sorry. We did not get to see her return to the sea. But we did see the tracks that she had left when she came on to the beach. They were so wide, they looked like a 4 wheeler had driven out of sea.
That evening Jason and I crashed in front of the abandon museum. We wanted to catch the first bus out and didn't want to pay for a room for only 4 hours. There was what used to be a small circular bar. We laid out our sleeping bags and slept till the sun awoke us. (I don't know if I have mention this but you have to try really hard to sleep past 6 am in Costa Rica. The sun comes up at 5:30 and sets about the same time in the pm. 8Pm here seems like 10 or 11 pm. It's nice in a lot of ways.)
Monday, December 21, 2009
Costa Rican Hospital
Today was our first day of our “vacation” exploring Costa Rica. We don't have another farm planned until January and are taking this time to do some touristy things.
We caught the first bus out of Cabuya at 7:20am on Saturday, after a extended 3 day goodbye to our new friends that we met at Rainsong. We then connected to a Paquera bus, where you would catch a ferry. So far so good. We got off the bus around 9 and had to find our way to Nicoya. A taxi driver told us we would have to take the ferry to Puntarenas and then another ferry back to Playa Naranjo and there we could catch a bus to Nicoya from there, but it would take us a long time. He told us that he could take us there for $100. Jason told him there was no way we could afford it and we would take the ferry. He was being really persistent and offer to take us for $19. Now this is quite the change in price. We ask him several times, “$19...as in 1, 9?” And he told us yes. After getting in the taxi both Jason and I knew it was a bad idea to have taken the ride. We rode mostly in silence watching the meter run, watching the landscape roll past, thinking about what's going to happen when we would get there... waiting for the punch line. During this time we decided to have our driver take us straight the Parque National Barra Honda which was our final destination instead of Nicoya. (We were only going to Nicoya because it's the closest major city to the park and no buses go directly to the park.) Two hours later we rolled into the hotel right outside the park. The meter read 42 some odd thousand colones which is roughly $80. We unloaded and the driver told us it would 50,000 colones, which is $100. Jason argued and gave him $20. The argument continued, the driver telling us he said, “$90” and Jason saying, “$19,” which of course is what he said. He showed us his meter, which was a total joke. He was trying to charge us $20 more than what his meter read and I forgot to mention the fact that he pulled over and made a couple phone calls on the way, the meter running to entire time. We settled up with him giving him 40,000 colones and he left acting upset, but we know he was pretty damn pleased that he had gotten the gringos to pay him. After this Jason and I made a pack, “No taxis if we can help it.”
The hotel was just down a hill from the park. We carried our things up to the park to see if there was any cheap accommodations there before booking a room at the hotel. There was camping for $2 a head. That's perfect for us because we had to try and make up the $80 we just blew on the cab. We set up camp. Jason and I were actually in really good spirits, laughing about the fact that we knew better and let ourselves be tricked. Jason set up a hammock next to our tent. He tied one end to rope on a tree and the other end he used a metal S hook to hook the rope to the hammock. He climbed in. The hammock sat really low to the ground. I said to him, “I wait to climb in with you but it doesn't look like a good idea.” The hammock was so low to the ground (perhaps 5 inches) that I figured, “I've fallen further down before,” and I climbed in. We both realized that it was going to fall at any moment and we couldn't really get out of it. Suddenly it snapped and the metal hook hit my elbow. Turns out the rope didn't break, the S hook just bent out of shape and the rope slipped off. I was holding my elbow putting pressure on it to make it feel better. It felt like I had hit my funny bone. Jason said, “Well, I don't see any blood...” I removed my hand. My palm had blood in it and the skin around my elbow had swollen up like a misshapen balloon. In the center of the balloon my skin was broken open, not from a cut, but just the force of the metal hitting my arm. I started to panic. The pain hadn't changed, not even enough to cry over. But I had never seen anything like this before. What if I had broken my elbow? What if I end up in a cast and can't do anything on our vacation? I started to cry and Jason calmed me. We walked down to the ranger station. The ranger told us to grab our stuff and they would take us to the hospital. He brought me a menstrual pad because that's all he had to soak up the blood and put a sling around my neck for my arm. My hand was beginning to feel numb in some spots and I believe this was due to the swelling putting pressure on a nerve. My adrenaline rush started to wear off now and I became nausea and developed a cold sweat. I imagine that I looked much worse than my actually condition but this was because I of my panicked state.
We arrived at the hospital and we sat down to wait. The hospital was all concrete, with the look and feel of an asylum only open air. The concrete walls had openings at the top and fans to circulate the air through the room. I was called back within 10 minutes and taken to a room with two bed tables. I explained what happened the best I could in my horrendous Spanglish. The doctor/ nurse that came in spoke a little English. He cleaned up the wound and injected it with some pain killer. The sight of a needle always freaks me out and he put it right in my little swollen arm balloon. While I was waiting for the pain killer to take effect, they rolled another patient into the room. They don't have nearly as much privacy in this hospital as what we expect in the states. I had already seen this man in the open foyer like room that lead to the treating room that I was in now. It looked as though his foot had been crushed. He seemed to be rather calm about it, as he spoke on his cell phone. The doctor/nurse man came back and put a stitch in my small wound. It really didn't need stitches but I guess he figured it was still bleeding, might as well be safe.
Then I went to the xray room. The xray was the real reason we had come to the hospital. If I could have been sure that I hadn't chipped, cracked, or shattered my elbow I would have not even gone. But I've never broken anything so I had no idea what to think. The nurse lead me around through the halls. What a strange hospital. I can only describe it as you would imagine a creepy mental asylum. It was all white and concrete. The floors were all different types of broken old tile. Where Jason awaited my return there was a very small narrow outdoor area. It was probably only 6 ft by 30 ft and had a broken TV on a TV stand jetting out from the wall. The white paint was cracked and peeling off the walls in some areas. Mostly where something had been mounted to the wall. The xray room was quite large but very empty. The machine was in the middle with a chair next to the table under it. There was a doorway that lead to the control area, and on the door that I had entered there was a rosary hanging by two pieces of masking tape. I waited for awhile before I met back up with Jason. Another doctor came in and showed me my xray. Everything was fine. He gave some prescriptions for Ibuprofen and an antibiotic. And then he gave us a bunch of instructions, most of which we couldn't understand because he only spoke Spanish. He lead me to another very small room, where I regain my crushed foot companion. He was having his foot dressed by another doctor who spoke English. This doctor told me to keep my arm rested and in the sling.
We left to pay, and opted out of filling the prescriptions. I am already on 2 antibiotics from the dog bite and we have Ibuprofen already. The entire bill only came out to 30,000 colones ($60) which was less than my visit to the pharmacist in regards to the dog bite.
Jason and I decided we would try and walk/hitchhike back to the park. It was about 10-13 miles back to the park which at the time we didn't realize. We were able to catch a ride in a pick up truck for about 3 miles. It took us 3 hours to get back to the park. It had begun to rain but not to terrible hard. We stopped and grabbed a snack size bag of chips. We had only eaten a banana and two granola bars each that day. But we made it back. We were hanging out by the visitor area because of the rain when a girl our age came from out of now where. She was a volunteer and very nice. We found out there we lots of volunteers working at the national park. We went to bed and fell asleep rather soundly under the rain. It was quite the day. Jason and I made another pack to start listening to our gut feeling.
We caught the first bus out of Cabuya at 7:20am on Saturday, after a extended 3 day goodbye to our new friends that we met at Rainsong. We then connected to a Paquera bus, where you would catch a ferry. So far so good. We got off the bus around 9 and had to find our way to Nicoya. A taxi driver told us we would have to take the ferry to Puntarenas and then another ferry back to Playa Naranjo and there we could catch a bus to Nicoya from there, but it would take us a long time. He told us that he could take us there for $100. Jason told him there was no way we could afford it and we would take the ferry. He was being really persistent and offer to take us for $19. Now this is quite the change in price. We ask him several times, “$19...as in 1, 9?” And he told us yes. After getting in the taxi both Jason and I knew it was a bad idea to have taken the ride. We rode mostly in silence watching the meter run, watching the landscape roll past, thinking about what's going to happen when we would get there... waiting for the punch line. During this time we decided to have our driver take us straight the Parque National Barra Honda which was our final destination instead of Nicoya. (We were only going to Nicoya because it's the closest major city to the park and no buses go directly to the park.) Two hours later we rolled into the hotel right outside the park. The meter read 42 some odd thousand colones which is roughly $80. We unloaded and the driver told us it would 50,000 colones, which is $100. Jason argued and gave him $20. The argument continued, the driver telling us he said, “$90” and Jason saying, “$19,” which of course is what he said. He showed us his meter, which was a total joke. He was trying to charge us $20 more than what his meter read and I forgot to mention the fact that he pulled over and made a couple phone calls on the way, the meter running to entire time. We settled up with him giving him 40,000 colones and he left acting upset, but we know he was pretty damn pleased that he had gotten the gringos to pay him. After this Jason and I made a pack, “No taxis if we can help it.”
The hotel was just down a hill from the park. We carried our things up to the park to see if there was any cheap accommodations there before booking a room at the hotel. There was camping for $2 a head. That's perfect for us because we had to try and make up the $80 we just blew on the cab. We set up camp. Jason and I were actually in really good spirits, laughing about the fact that we knew better and let ourselves be tricked. Jason set up a hammock next to our tent. He tied one end to rope on a tree and the other end he used a metal S hook to hook the rope to the hammock. He climbed in. The hammock sat really low to the ground. I said to him, “I wait to climb in with you but it doesn't look like a good idea.” The hammock was so low to the ground (perhaps 5 inches) that I figured, “I've fallen further down before,” and I climbed in. We both realized that it was going to fall at any moment and we couldn't really get out of it. Suddenly it snapped and the metal hook hit my elbow. Turns out the rope didn't break, the S hook just bent out of shape and the rope slipped off. I was holding my elbow putting pressure on it to make it feel better. It felt like I had hit my funny bone. Jason said, “Well, I don't see any blood...” I removed my hand. My palm had blood in it and the skin around my elbow had swollen up like a misshapen balloon. In the center of the balloon my skin was broken open, not from a cut, but just the force of the metal hitting my arm. I started to panic. The pain hadn't changed, not even enough to cry over. But I had never seen anything like this before. What if I had broken my elbow? What if I end up in a cast and can't do anything on our vacation? I started to cry and Jason calmed me. We walked down to the ranger station. The ranger told us to grab our stuff and they would take us to the hospital. He brought me a menstrual pad because that's all he had to soak up the blood and put a sling around my neck for my arm. My hand was beginning to feel numb in some spots and I believe this was due to the swelling putting pressure on a nerve. My adrenaline rush started to wear off now and I became nausea and developed a cold sweat. I imagine that I looked much worse than my actually condition but this was because I of my panicked state.
We arrived at the hospital and we sat down to wait. The hospital was all concrete, with the look and feel of an asylum only open air. The concrete walls had openings at the top and fans to circulate the air through the room. I was called back within 10 minutes and taken to a room with two bed tables. I explained what happened the best I could in my horrendous Spanglish. The doctor/ nurse that came in spoke a little English. He cleaned up the wound and injected it with some pain killer. The sight of a needle always freaks me out and he put it right in my little swollen arm balloon. While I was waiting for the pain killer to take effect, they rolled another patient into the room. They don't have nearly as much privacy in this hospital as what we expect in the states. I had already seen this man in the open foyer like room that lead to the treating room that I was in now. It looked as though his foot had been crushed. He seemed to be rather calm about it, as he spoke on his cell phone. The doctor/nurse man came back and put a stitch in my small wound. It really didn't need stitches but I guess he figured it was still bleeding, might as well be safe.
Then I went to the xray room. The xray was the real reason we had come to the hospital. If I could have been sure that I hadn't chipped, cracked, or shattered my elbow I would have not even gone. But I've never broken anything so I had no idea what to think. The nurse lead me around through the halls. What a strange hospital. I can only describe it as you would imagine a creepy mental asylum. It was all white and concrete. The floors were all different types of broken old tile. Where Jason awaited my return there was a very small narrow outdoor area. It was probably only 6 ft by 30 ft and had a broken TV on a TV stand jetting out from the wall. The white paint was cracked and peeling off the walls in some areas. Mostly where something had been mounted to the wall. The xray room was quite large but very empty. The machine was in the middle with a chair next to the table under it. There was a doorway that lead to the control area, and on the door that I had entered there was a rosary hanging by two pieces of masking tape. I waited for awhile before I met back up with Jason. Another doctor came in and showed me my xray. Everything was fine. He gave some prescriptions for Ibuprofen and an antibiotic. And then he gave us a bunch of instructions, most of which we couldn't understand because he only spoke Spanish. He lead me to another very small room, where I regain my crushed foot companion. He was having his foot dressed by another doctor who spoke English. This doctor told me to keep my arm rested and in the sling.
We left to pay, and opted out of filling the prescriptions. I am already on 2 antibiotics from the dog bite and we have Ibuprofen already. The entire bill only came out to 30,000 colones ($60) which was less than my visit to the pharmacist in regards to the dog bite.
Jason and I decided we would try and walk/hitchhike back to the park. It was about 10-13 miles back to the park which at the time we didn't realize. We were able to catch a ride in a pick up truck for about 3 miles. It took us 3 hours to get back to the park. It had begun to rain but not to terrible hard. We stopped and grabbed a snack size bag of chips. We had only eaten a banana and two granola bars each that day. But we made it back. We were hanging out by the visitor area because of the rain when a girl our age came from out of now where. She was a volunteer and very nice. We found out there we lots of volunteers working at the national park. We went to bed and fell asleep rather soundly under the rain. It was quite the day. Jason and I made another pack to start listening to our gut feeling.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Adios, Rainsong!
My time at Rainsong was inspiring. Caring for fragile lives and co-habitating with colorful spirits. Each day seemingly a new episode in a reality TV show on the Animal Planet. The happenings, each intertwined event, created a truly comedic and emotional experience which will forever color my memories. As time goes on, I am sure to elaborate on each one in detail over drinks and casados (a typical Tico platter of rice, beans, ensalada, fried bananaos and a main veggie/meat) with those around me.
Thank you to all the friends I made at the Sanctuary, you are all wonderful people; enjoy the remainder of your adventures in "Ticolandia" (thanks to my cousin Alyssa for the term). I hope to see you all again one day, perhaps in your homes or while visiting other continents.
For now our adventure continues on to Parque National Barra Honda in the interior of the Guanecaste province...
Thank you to all the friends I made at the Sanctuary, you are all wonderful people; enjoy the remainder of your adventures in "Ticolandia" (thanks to my cousin Alyssa for the term). I hope to see you all again one day, perhaps in your homes or while visiting other continents.
For now our adventure continues on to Parque National Barra Honda in the interior of the Guanecaste province...
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Costa Rican Hospital
Today was our first day of our “vacation” exploring Costa Rica. We don't have another farm planned until January and are taking this time to do some touristy things.
We caught the first bus out of Cabuya at 7:20am on Saturday, after a extended 3 day goodbye to our new friends that we met at Rainsong. We then connected to a Paquera bus, where you would catch a ferry. So far so good. We got off the bus around 9 and had to find our way to Nicoya. A taxi driver told us we would have to take the ferry to Puntarenas and then another ferry back to Playa Naranjo and there we could catch a bus to Nicoya from there, but it would take us a long time. He told us that he could take us there for $100. Jason told him there was no way we could afford it and we would take the ferry. He was being really persistent and offer to take us for $19. Now this is quite the change in price. We ask him several times, “$19...as in 1, 9?” And he told us yes. After getting in the taxi both Jason and I knew it was a bad idea to have taken the ride. We rode mostly in silence watching the meter run, watching the landscape roll past, thinking about what's going to happen when we would get there... waiting for the punch line. During this time we decided to have our driver take us straight the Parque National Barra Honda which was our final destination instead of Nicoya. (We were only going to Nicoya because it's the closest major city to the park and no buses go directly to the park.) Two hours later we rolled into the hotel right outside the park. The meter read 42 some odd thousand colones which is roughly $80. We unloaded and the driver told us it would 50,000 colones, which is $100. Jason argued and gave him $20. The argument continued, the driver telling us he said, “$90” and Jason saying, “$19,” which of course is what he said. He showed us his meter, which was a total joke. He was trying to charge us $20 more than what his meter read and I forgot to mention the fact that he pulled over and made a couple phone calls on the way, the meter running to entire time. We settled up with him giving him 40,000 colones and he left acting upset, but we know he was pretty damn pleased that he had gotten the gringos to pay him. After this Jason and I made a pack, “No taxis if we can help it.”
The hotel was just down a hill from the park. We carried our things up to the park to see if there was any cheap accommodations there before booking a room at the hotel. There was camping for $2 a head. That's perfect for us because we had to try and make up the $80 we just blew on the cab. We set up camp. Jason and I were actually in really good spirits, laughing about the fact that we knew better and let ourselves be tricked. Jason set up a hammock next to our tent. He tied one end to rope on a tree and the other end he used a metal S hook to hook the rope to the hammock. He climbed in. The hammock sat really low to the ground. I said to him, “I wait to climb in with you but it doesn't look like a good idea.” The hammock was so low to the ground (perhaps 5 inches) that I figured, “I've fallen further down before,” and I climbed in. We both realized that it was going to fall at any moment and we couldn't really get out of it. Suddenly it snapped and the metal hook hit my elbow. Turns out the rope didn't break, the S hook just bent out of shape and the rope slipped off. I was holding my elbow putting pressure on it to make it feel better. It felt like I had hit my funny bone. Jason said, “Well, I don't see any blood...” I removed my hand. My palm had blood in it and the skin around my elbow had swollen up like a misshapen balloon. In the center of the balloon my skin was broken open, not from a cut, but just the force of the metal hitting my arm. I started to panic. The pain hadn't changed, not even enough to cry over. But I had never seen anything like this before. What if I had broken my elbow? What if I end up in a cast and can't do anything on our vacation? I started to cry and Jason calmed me. We walked down to the ranger station. The ranger told us to grab our stuff and they would take us to the hospital. He brought me a menstrual pad because that's all he had to soak up the blood and put a sling around my neck for my arm. My hand was beginning to feel numb in some spots and I believe this was due to the swelling putting pressure on a nerve. My adrenaline rush started to wear off now and I became nausea and developed a cold sweat. I imagine that I looked much worse than my actually condition but this was because I of my panicked state.
We arrived at the hospital and we sat down to wait. The hospital was all concrete, with the look and feel of an asylum only open air. The concrete walls had openings at the top and fans to circulate the air through the room. I was called back within 10 minutes and taken to a room with two bed tables. I explained what happened the best I could in my horrendous Spanglish. The doctor/ nurse that came in spoke a little English. He cleaned up the wound and injected it with some pain killer. The sight of a needle always freaks me out and he put it right in my little swollen arm balloon. While I was waiting for the pain killer to take effect, they rolled another patient into the room. They don't have nearly as much privacy in this hospital as what we expect in the states. I had already seen this man in the open foyer like room that lead to the treating room that I was in now. It looked as though his foot had been crushed. He seemed to be rather calm about it, as he spoke on his cell phone. The doctor/nurse man came back and put a stitch in my small wound. It really didn't need stitches but I guess he figured it was still bleeding, might as well be safe. Then I went to the xray room. The xray was the real reason we had come to the hospital. If I could have been sure that I hadn't chipped, cracked, or shattered my elbow I would have not even gone. But I've never broken anything so I had no idea what to think. The nurse lead me around through the halls. What a strange hospital. I can only describe it as you would imagine a creepy mental asylum. It was all white and concrete. The floors were all different types of broken old tile. Where Jason awaited my return there was a very small narrow outdoor area. It was probably only 6 ft by 30 ft and had a broken TV on a TV stand jetting out from the wall. The white paint was cracked and peeling off the walls in some areas. Mostly where something had been mounted to the wall. The xray room was quite large but very empty. The machine was in the middle with a chair next to the table under it. There was a doorway that lead to the control area, and on the door that I had entered there was a rosary hanging by two pieces of masking tape. I waited for awhile before I met back up with Jason. Another doctor came in and showed me my xray. Everything was fine. He gave some prescriptions for Ibuprofen and an antibiotic. And then he gave us a bunch of instructions, most of which we couldn't understand because he only spoke Spanish. He lead me to another very small room, where I regain my crushed foot companion. He was having his foot dressed by another doctor who spoke English. This doctor told me to keep my arm rested and in the sling.
We left to pay, and opted out of filling the prescriptions. I am already on 2 antibiotics from the dog bite and we have Ibuprofen already. The entire bill only came out to 30,000 colones ($60) which was less than my visit to the pharmacist in regards to the dog bite.
Jason and I decided we would try and walk/hitchhike back to the park. It was about 10-13 miles back to the park which at the time we didn't realize. We were able to catch a ride in a pick up truck for about 3 miles. It took us 3 hours to get back to the park. It had begun to rain but not to terrible hard. We stopped and grabbed a snack size bag of chips. We had only eaten a banana and two granola bars each that day. But we made it back. We were hanging out by the visitor area because of the rain when a girl our age came from out of now where. She was a volunteer and very nice. We found out there we lots of volunteers working at the national park. We went to bed and fell asleep rather soundly under the rain. It was quite the day. Jason and I made another pack to start listening to our gut feeling.
We caught the first bus out of Cabuya at 7:20am on Saturday, after a extended 3 day goodbye to our new friends that we met at Rainsong. We then connected to a Paquera bus, where you would catch a ferry. So far so good. We got off the bus around 9 and had to find our way to Nicoya. A taxi driver told us we would have to take the ferry to Puntarenas and then another ferry back to Playa Naranjo and there we could catch a bus to Nicoya from there, but it would take us a long time. He told us that he could take us there for $100. Jason told him there was no way we could afford it and we would take the ferry. He was being really persistent and offer to take us for $19. Now this is quite the change in price. We ask him several times, “$19...as in 1, 9?” And he told us yes. After getting in the taxi both Jason and I knew it was a bad idea to have taken the ride. We rode mostly in silence watching the meter run, watching the landscape roll past, thinking about what's going to happen when we would get there... waiting for the punch line. During this time we decided to have our driver take us straight the Parque National Barra Honda which was our final destination instead of Nicoya. (We were only going to Nicoya because it's the closest major city to the park and no buses go directly to the park.) Two hours later we rolled into the hotel right outside the park. The meter read 42 some odd thousand colones which is roughly $80. We unloaded and the driver told us it would 50,000 colones, which is $100. Jason argued and gave him $20. The argument continued, the driver telling us he said, “$90” and Jason saying, “$19,” which of course is what he said. He showed us his meter, which was a total joke. He was trying to charge us $20 more than what his meter read and I forgot to mention the fact that he pulled over and made a couple phone calls on the way, the meter running to entire time. We settled up with him giving him 40,000 colones and he left acting upset, but we know he was pretty damn pleased that he had gotten the gringos to pay him. After this Jason and I made a pack, “No taxis if we can help it.”
The hotel was just down a hill from the park. We carried our things up to the park to see if there was any cheap accommodations there before booking a room at the hotel. There was camping for $2 a head. That's perfect for us because we had to try and make up the $80 we just blew on the cab. We set up camp. Jason and I were actually in really good spirits, laughing about the fact that we knew better and let ourselves be tricked. Jason set up a hammock next to our tent. He tied one end to rope on a tree and the other end he used a metal S hook to hook the rope to the hammock. He climbed in. The hammock sat really low to the ground. I said to him, “I wait to climb in with you but it doesn't look like a good idea.” The hammock was so low to the ground (perhaps 5 inches) that I figured, “I've fallen further down before,” and I climbed in. We both realized that it was going to fall at any moment and we couldn't really get out of it. Suddenly it snapped and the metal hook hit my elbow. Turns out the rope didn't break, the S hook just bent out of shape and the rope slipped off. I was holding my elbow putting pressure on it to make it feel better. It felt like I had hit my funny bone. Jason said, “Well, I don't see any blood...” I removed my hand. My palm had blood in it and the skin around my elbow had swollen up like a misshapen balloon. In the center of the balloon my skin was broken open, not from a cut, but just the force of the metal hitting my arm. I started to panic. The pain hadn't changed, not even enough to cry over. But I had never seen anything like this before. What if I had broken my elbow? What if I end up in a cast and can't do anything on our vacation? I started to cry and Jason calmed me. We walked down to the ranger station. The ranger told us to grab our stuff and they would take us to the hospital. He brought me a menstrual pad because that's all he had to soak up the blood and put a sling around my neck for my arm. My hand was beginning to feel numb in some spots and I believe this was due to the swelling putting pressure on a nerve. My adrenaline rush started to wear off now and I became nausea and developed a cold sweat. I imagine that I looked much worse than my actually condition but this was because I of my panicked state.
We arrived at the hospital and we sat down to wait. The hospital was all concrete, with the look and feel of an asylum only open air. The concrete walls had openings at the top and fans to circulate the air through the room. I was called back within 10 minutes and taken to a room with two bed tables. I explained what happened the best I could in my horrendous Spanglish. The doctor/ nurse that came in spoke a little English. He cleaned up the wound and injected it with some pain killer. The sight of a needle always freaks me out and he put it right in my little swollen arm balloon. While I was waiting for the pain killer to take effect, they rolled another patient into the room. They don't have nearly as much privacy in this hospital as what we expect in the states. I had already seen this man in the open foyer like room that lead to the treating room that I was in now. It looked as though his foot had been crushed. He seemed to be rather calm about it, as he spoke on his cell phone. The doctor/nurse man came back and put a stitch in my small wound. It really didn't need stitches but I guess he figured it was still bleeding, might as well be safe. Then I went to the xray room. The xray was the real reason we had come to the hospital. If I could have been sure that I hadn't chipped, cracked, or shattered my elbow I would have not even gone. But I've never broken anything so I had no idea what to think. The nurse lead me around through the halls. What a strange hospital. I can only describe it as you would imagine a creepy mental asylum. It was all white and concrete. The floors were all different types of broken old tile. Where Jason awaited my return there was a very small narrow outdoor area. It was probably only 6 ft by 30 ft and had a broken TV on a TV stand jetting out from the wall. The white paint was cracked and peeling off the walls in some areas. Mostly where something had been mounted to the wall. The xray room was quite large but very empty. The machine was in the middle with a chair next to the table under it. There was a doorway that lead to the control area, and on the door that I had entered there was a rosary hanging by two pieces of masking tape. I waited for awhile before I met back up with Jason. Another doctor came in and showed me my xray. Everything was fine. He gave some prescriptions for Ibuprofen and an antibiotic. And then he gave us a bunch of instructions, most of which we couldn't understand because he only spoke Spanish. He lead me to another very small room, where I regain my crushed foot companion. He was having his foot dressed by another doctor who spoke English. This doctor told me to keep my arm rested and in the sling.
We left to pay, and opted out of filling the prescriptions. I am already on 2 antibiotics from the dog bite and we have Ibuprofen already. The entire bill only came out to 30,000 colones ($60) which was less than my visit to the pharmacist in regards to the dog bite.
Jason and I decided we would try and walk/hitchhike back to the park. It was about 10-13 miles back to the park which at the time we didn't realize. We were able to catch a ride in a pick up truck for about 3 miles. It took us 3 hours to get back to the park. It had begun to rain but not to terrible hard. We stopped and grabbed a snack size bag of chips. We had only eaten a banana and two granola bars each that day. But we made it back. We were hanging out by the visitor area because of the rain when a girl our age came from out of now where. She was a volunteer and very nice. We found out there we lots of volunteers working at the national park. We went to bed and fell asleep rather soundly under the rain. It was quite the day. Jason and I made another pack to start listening to our gut feeling.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Baby howler update
We spent another long night with the baby monkey, though her condition did not improve. On the third day we decided to have the vet put her down while on his monthly inspection that afternoon. Our feelings on the issue remain mutual – it was better to put her down than subject her to a life of agony and intensive care.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Too little time to write!
It's been a little while since I last took the time to write and a lot has happened. Quick overview:
Snorkeling/Tortuga Island trip - Had a good time, ate my money's worth in fish, though it left me slightly less than satisfied; the water was a bit too murky and choppy for snorkeling (it had rained the day prior), though the day was beautiful. It's definitely a tourist-trap type of thing.
Cabuya/Cemetery Island - Lots of fun; had to wade out to the island between the tides, left at low tide so we found the land bridge. The cemetery was really neat, the most recent marked site was from 2008; some of the headstones were really cool (pictures somewhere). No luck lobster hunting. It was beautiful day and we had a fun time and completely free.
Mal Pais/Santa Terasa/Plya Carmen - Waves were incredible (8-10ft). Surf board rental was cheap ($8/day) and surfing was a lot of fun. The towns run together and are mostly a really long road about 300' from the beach with tons of shops overpriced grocery stores & restraunts, and tons of folks from British Columbia Canada. We etrented our board from a little shop caled 'The Shit Hole' by recommendation from Joe Burger (Rainsong volunteer). The shop was awesome and the Italian guy running the place was awesome, treated us really well and when we returned the bord with a broken leash, he told us not to worry about it (we heard some horror stories about other rental places)! If you make it to Mal Pais and are looking for a board, get it from the Shit Hole! We stayed with Neils (a friend of Rainsong) at the hostel he's trying to get up and running for $5/person/night, which made the trip a bit less costly. Overall, we spent too much money between food, entertainment, and souvenirs - mostly because everything here in Costa Rica (especially the Gringo towns) are expensive by American standards.
My time here at Rainsong has been a mixed bag. There is a lot of dramaticism emanating from our host; everything is freak out, as opposed to a constructive conversation or lesson. Expectations run high, learning takes place through trial and error. Though at the end of the day when everything's been taken care of, her story begins to come out, which is very cool. If I can stand to, I'd like to write a book on her life of pirates, shipwrecks, Sea Turtles rescues, land disputes, and hidden treasures. Lots of seat-of-your-pants stuff.
Today is the 8th, and we've got 10 days left here at Rainsong. Our plans afterward are looking very open. We ended up deciding to push our visits to Dominical and Boruca until after we renew our Visas (by staying in Panama for a minimum of 3 days) which will give us a more time in Guanacaste and Panama before New Years.
TIffany has a nice travel itinerary worked up for the Nicoya Peninsula and Guanacaste Provence. All that's left is to figure out bus routes, our New Years plans and booking the Waterfall Hostel in David, Panama and We're waiting on some info from Tiffany's friend Rachel to see if meeting up with her is still a-go.
Snorkeling/Tortuga Island trip - Had a good time, ate my money's worth in fish, though it left me slightly less than satisfied; the water was a bit too murky and choppy for snorkeling (it had rained the day prior), though the day was beautiful. It's definitely a tourist-trap type of thing.
Cabuya/Cemetery Island - Lots of fun; had to wade out to the island between the tides, left at low tide so we found the land bridge. The cemetery was really neat, the most recent marked site was from 2008; some of the headstones were really cool (pictures somewhere). No luck lobster hunting. It was beautiful day and we had a fun time and completely free.
Mal Pais/Santa Terasa/Plya Carmen - Waves were incredible (8-10ft). Surf board rental was cheap ($8/day) and surfing was a lot of fun. The towns run together and are mostly a really long road about 300' from the beach with tons of shops overpriced grocery stores & restraunts, and tons of folks from British Columbia Canada. We etrented our board from a little shop caled 'The Shit Hole' by recommendation from Joe Burger (Rainsong volunteer). The shop was awesome and the Italian guy running the place was awesome, treated us really well and when we returned the bord with a broken leash, he told us not to worry about it (we heard some horror stories about other rental places)! If you make it to Mal Pais and are looking for a board, get it from the Shit Hole! We stayed with Neils (a friend of Rainsong) at the hostel he's trying to get up and running for $5/person/night, which made the trip a bit less costly. Overall, we spent too much money between food, entertainment, and souvenirs - mostly because everything here in Costa Rica (especially the Gringo towns) are expensive by American standards.
My time here at Rainsong has been a mixed bag. There is a lot of dramaticism emanating from our host; everything is freak out, as opposed to a constructive conversation or lesson. Expectations run high, learning takes place through trial and error. Though at the end of the day when everything's been taken care of, her story begins to come out, which is very cool. If I can stand to, I'd like to write a book on her life of pirates, shipwrecks, Sea Turtles rescues, land disputes, and hidden treasures. Lots of seat-of-your-pants stuff.
Today is the 8th, and we've got 10 days left here at Rainsong. Our plans afterward are looking very open. We ended up deciding to push our visits to Dominical and Boruca until after we renew our Visas (by staying in Panama for a minimum of 3 days) which will give us a more time in Guanacaste and Panama before New Years.
TIffany has a nice travel itinerary worked up for the Nicoya Peninsula and Guanacaste Provence. All that's left is to figure out bus routes, our New Years plans and booking the Waterfall Hostel in David, Panama and We're waiting on some info from Tiffany's friend Rachel to see if meeting up with her is still a-go.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Voulnteers invade Mal Pais!
This last weekend 6 of the volunteers, including Jason and myself, went to Mal Pais. A surf beach town that blends together with Santa Teresa and Playa Carmen. Danielle, Brad, Jason and I all walked. It's about a 7 kilometer hike on the road. We were going to take a short cut but Simon who was to be our guide had to deal with some other matters. At 8:30 in the morning we came across this lovely home at the top of our first mountain. With an Imperial (beer of Costa Rican chose) sign hanging on the side. We decided it was the perfect time for a cold refreshment. The owner of the home spoke English and was quite happy to serve us. We decide to do a bar crawl on the way to Mal Pais but didn't run into anymore places. Though we did pass Mel Gibson's Costa Rican hideaway, or at least the front gate.
The lost boys,Edwin and Joesph, are working over there while enjoying the scene. They are working where we stayed, at this place that a friend of our host, Mary, is fixing up. Nil's, the friend, is a pretty awesome guy who put us up for $5 a person a night. The hotel is run down but it has a lot of potential and I'm sure it used to be a really cool place. There is a large Hontei statue at the front and a platform in the back which could have been a stage or a yoga platform among other things. There is a tree house like structure. You climb a ladder about 10 ft and reach a triangle shape d little room that could be a crow's nest or a dj booth. Anyways, Jason and I are discussing the idea of working for Nil's a bit because we loved Mal Pais so much. And we would like to have the connection of coming back for a job at this hotel once it is up and running.
We walked through the town. There are surf shops, clubs, tourist rental places and many different restaurants. We stopped at an organic salad bar for some fresh juice. Jason and I also ate at a new age type restaurant with raw foods and all vegetarian. It's call Natura Mia, and if you're in Mal Pais you should go. It's mostly imported food items but the owners are super friendly and it's really delicious place to find fresh veggie dishes that just don't exist down here. Even the grocery store was exciting. It had real soy milk (we found some powdered stuff that we later realize the second ingredient was sweet milk), imported beer, tahini, sushi fixings, and I could go on and on about the stuff they had that you can't find in Costa Rica. Of course, it's all very expensive. Costa Rica is actually very expensive, mostly in food cost. We may dip out and head to Nicaragua because it's so much cheaper.
The first day we spent shopping and checking out the town. We ended up a the cool coffee shop that night where the lost boys hang out. They play their music and the owners of the coffee shop also played some great music. Nick Drake set the mood for me that evening.
Saturday Jason and I got up to catch a yoga class but got distracted collecting shells on the beach and missed it. So we got a surf board a The Shit Hole. Take note, The Shit Hole is amazing! The guy who runs it is Italian and the nicest guy. He knocked the price down for us. We lost a fin in the first hour and he apologized and gave us a new board. We went back the next day before our 24 hours was up and asked if we could keep it for longer for a couple bucks and he just told us not to worry about it. We could keep it as long as we wanted. The ankle strap broke that morning and he once again didn't seem to care and offered to replace it. We could have ended up paying a couple hundred dollars in damages if he wanted to charge us but nothing at all. A totally awesome deal. Go to The Shit Hole in Mal Pais.
Surfing is so much fun. I never got into skateboarding or bmx when I was a kid and I
kind of relate surfing to those sports but man, surfing is so much fun. Even if you just catch a wave and ride in our your belly, which is mostly what I did. I did stand up quite a few times which is really cool for it being my first time. The hardest part is getting out far enough. I think if I got to the area where the waves first begin to break I wouldn't want to catch one back because it's so hard to get out there. But it was a blast. I'm totally taking up surfing now guys.
Mal Pais is a really fun place. Everyone is friendly, everyone speaks English (though that's not really a plus when you're trying to learn Spanish) the hostels are all really nice and there are a ton of them. There are sports bars, night clubs, coffee shops, lots of hand made souvenir shops (I got me a bathing suit) but you should be there for the beach. The water is warm and inviting, and you have the jungle right behind you. In fact, there was a wild anteater where we stayed on Saturday. It was really hard to come back to Rainsong.
Saturday night we listened to the lost boys perform. I hoped to hear them solo but two locals sat in with them. I wanted to record but there is too much background noise. I took a walk on the beach back home. There was heat lighting over the ocean and I thought about how far I am away from my friends and home but I'm still doing the same thing. I'm completely satisfied and really happy here and now.
When we got home from Mal Pais, Gabbi and Siri were waiting for us. They had cleaned the volunteer house and cooked us dinner. It was really awesome. Thank you ladies for being so wonderful and fun. It's going to be hard to leave!
The boys drove us back to Rainsong Sunday evening. This was our last ride with them and our goodbye. It's my first rough goodbye of the trip. I really enjoy their presence and their music. They gave us a shell that we had been looking for as a gift and I almost cried. I know there is always facebook, but they want to travel is similar places, so maybe we will see them in South America or India some day. Edwin is writing a book so that's another thing I'll have to remember. Goodbye lost boys, take care of yourselves on your journey!
The lost boys,Edwin and Joesph, are working over there while enjoying the scene. They are working where we stayed, at this place that a friend of our host, Mary, is fixing up. Nil's, the friend, is a pretty awesome guy who put us up for $5 a person a night. The hotel is run down but it has a lot of potential and I'm sure it used to be a really cool place. There is a large Hontei statue at the front and a platform in the back which could have been a stage or a yoga platform among other things. There is a tree house like structure. You climb a ladder about 10 ft and reach a triangle shape d little room that could be a crow's nest or a dj booth. Anyways, Jason and I are discussing the idea of working for Nil's a bit because we loved Mal Pais so much. And we would like to have the connection of coming back for a job at this hotel once it is up and running.
We walked through the town. There are surf shops, clubs, tourist rental places and many different restaurants. We stopped at an organic salad bar for some fresh juice. Jason and I also ate at a new age type restaurant with raw foods and all vegetarian. It's call Natura Mia, and if you're in Mal Pais you should go. It's mostly imported food items but the owners are super friendly and it's really delicious place to find fresh veggie dishes that just don't exist down here. Even the grocery store was exciting. It had real soy milk (we found some powdered stuff that we later realize the second ingredient was sweet milk), imported beer, tahini, sushi fixings, and I could go on and on about the stuff they had that you can't find in Costa Rica. Of course, it's all very expensive. Costa Rica is actually very expensive, mostly in food cost. We may dip out and head to Nicaragua because it's so much cheaper.
The first day we spent shopping and checking out the town. We ended up a the cool coffee shop that night where the lost boys hang out. They play their music and the owners of the coffee shop also played some great music. Nick Drake set the mood for me that evening.
Saturday Jason and I got up to catch a yoga class but got distracted collecting shells on the beach and missed it. So we got a surf board a The Shit Hole. Take note, The Shit Hole is amazing! The guy who runs it is Italian and the nicest guy. He knocked the price down for us. We lost a fin in the first hour and he apologized and gave us a new board. We went back the next day before our 24 hours was up and asked if we could keep it for longer for a couple bucks and he just told us not to worry about it. We could keep it as long as we wanted. The ankle strap broke that morning and he once again didn't seem to care and offered to replace it. We could have ended up paying a couple hundred dollars in damages if he wanted to charge us but nothing at all. A totally awesome deal. Go to The Shit Hole in Mal Pais.
Surfing is so much fun. I never got into skateboarding or bmx when I was a kid and I
kind of relate surfing to those sports but man, surfing is so much fun. Even if you just catch a wave and ride in our your belly, which is mostly what I did. I did stand up quite a few times which is really cool for it being my first time. The hardest part is getting out far enough. I think if I got to the area where the waves first begin to break I wouldn't want to catch one back because it's so hard to get out there. But it was a blast. I'm totally taking up surfing now guys.
Mal Pais is a really fun place. Everyone is friendly, everyone speaks English (though that's not really a plus when you're trying to learn Spanish) the hostels are all really nice and there are a ton of them. There are sports bars, night clubs, coffee shops, lots of hand made souvenir shops (I got me a bathing suit) but you should be there for the beach. The water is warm and inviting, and you have the jungle right behind you. In fact, there was a wild anteater where we stayed on Saturday. It was really hard to come back to Rainsong.
Saturday night we listened to the lost boys perform. I hoped to hear them solo but two locals sat in with them. I wanted to record but there is too much background noise. I took a walk on the beach back home. There was heat lighting over the ocean and I thought about how far I am away from my friends and home but I'm still doing the same thing. I'm completely satisfied and really happy here and now.
When we got home from Mal Pais, Gabbi and Siri were waiting for us. They had cleaned the volunteer house and cooked us dinner. It was really awesome. Thank you ladies for being so wonderful and fun. It's going to be hard to leave!
The boys drove us back to Rainsong Sunday evening. This was our last ride with them and our goodbye. It's my first rough goodbye of the trip. I really enjoy their presence and their music. They gave us a shell that we had been looking for as a gift and I almost cried. I know there is always facebook, but they want to travel is similar places, so maybe we will see them in South America or India some day. Edwin is writing a book so that's another thing I'll have to remember. Goodbye lost boys, take care of yourselves on your journey!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Life at Rainsong
Everything has been going really well here at Rainsong. Generally Jason and I take care of the farm. I start my mornings letting out the chickens and feeding them. We have about 25 baby chicks right now and I'm in love with them. They all come running to me when I enter the pen. I've never been a fan of chickens but I really enjoy taking care of them now. Then it is down to the sanctuary for baby monkey feeding and mediation. Back up the hill to the farm to feed the rest of the animals. We have a 3 hour break before afternoon shift. In the afternoon it's laid back and time to hang out with most of the animals. Several of the volunteers take the monkeys out to play on the trees. I can usually spend most of my time at the sanctuary and finish the farm in the last hour of work. At night, we have been cooking communal dinners. Everyone really enjoys it and I love the idea that we all sit with each other and have our bonding time.
On Thanksgiving a few of us went to Isla de Tortuga for a snorkeling trip. We were supposed to go the day before so we could make a big Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night but we were rained out. The island was really nice. They take you out on a boat and it takes about an hour. We stopped for photos a couple times (waterfall, Rainbow Island) and then we reached two small islands very close to Tortuga and hopped out for a swim. I've never really snorkeled before so it was a new experience. The water was more murky than I expected but you could still see the bottom. My ears don't equalize well so I just stayed at the surface, but I still could follow many brightly colored fish around. It's strange when you look under the water and realize that these things are always under you whether you can see them or not. Our guide caught a blow fish for us all to see and take pictures. They also served us beer which was awesome and kind of nauseating at the same time (being on a boat drinking). At the island we ate a nice lunch, swam, and wandered in the sun. It was a good day at the beach. The boat ride was the best part actually.
Because we had to cancel our Thanksgiving dinner, the rest of the volunteers decided to meet up with us in Montezuma so we could go out and party. They showed up in the back of the boys pick up truck honking and hollering. The night was then filled with drinking fancy drinks, large ham-burgers, Indian food in Costa Rica, and lots of dancing to what we thought was going to be reggae night. It was more just dance remixes and reggae-ton. But we had a great time.
The next day was Edwin's birthday. The lost boys and the Swedish girls all took off for Mal Pais for their long weekend. This meant that we were down to bare minimum volunteers for the weekend. It was a bit stressful but we were able to swing out to the local island. Isla de Cabuya has a cemetery on it and you can walk to the island. At low tide there is a land bridge and at high tide the water is up to your neck (depending on your height of course). We walked out during high tide which was really nice. We didn't know exactly where the land bridge was but it never gets very deep. We actually came on to shore about 50 feet or so to the right of the land bridge. We walked through the cemetery which I really loved. Lots of fake flowers and some really interesting grave stones. There is one with two back to back heads, one with prayer hands and a propeller on the other side. You can check out the pictures on my Picasa album. Huge agave plants surrounded the cemetery. Jason and I had gone with Danielle and met Jeff, another volunteer, out on the island. We went snorkeling and saw some really neat fish. I chased one that resembled the lion fish. It would rest on the rock with its fins holding it up like paws or legs. It swan away from me and I never got a picture. Supposedly there are lobsters you can catch and eat but we never saw any. We talked about spending the night a the island one day. To catch the sunset and sunrise. Maybe even a ghost.
On Thanksgiving a few of us went to Isla de Tortuga for a snorkeling trip. We were supposed to go the day before so we could make a big Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday night but we were rained out. The island was really nice. They take you out on a boat and it takes about an hour. We stopped for photos a couple times (waterfall, Rainbow Island) and then we reached two small islands very close to Tortuga and hopped out for a swim. I've never really snorkeled before so it was a new experience. The water was more murky than I expected but you could still see the bottom. My ears don't equalize well so I just stayed at the surface, but I still could follow many brightly colored fish around. It's strange when you look under the water and realize that these things are always under you whether you can see them or not. Our guide caught a blow fish for us all to see and take pictures. They also served us beer which was awesome and kind of nauseating at the same time (being on a boat drinking). At the island we ate a nice lunch, swam, and wandered in the sun. It was a good day at the beach. The boat ride was the best part actually.
Because we had to cancel our Thanksgiving dinner, the rest of the volunteers decided to meet up with us in Montezuma so we could go out and party. They showed up in the back of the boys pick up truck honking and hollering. The night was then filled with drinking fancy drinks, large ham-burgers, Indian food in Costa Rica, and lots of dancing to what we thought was going to be reggae night. It was more just dance remixes and reggae-ton. But we had a great time.
The next day was Edwin's birthday. The lost boys and the Swedish girls all took off for Mal Pais for their long weekend. This meant that we were down to bare minimum volunteers for the weekend. It was a bit stressful but we were able to swing out to the local island. Isla de Cabuya has a cemetery on it and you can walk to the island. At low tide there is a land bridge and at high tide the water is up to your neck (depending on your height of course). We walked out during high tide which was really nice. We didn't know exactly where the land bridge was but it never gets very deep. We actually came on to shore about 50 feet or so to the right of the land bridge. We walked through the cemetery which I really loved. Lots of fake flowers and some really interesting grave stones. There is one with two back to back heads, one with prayer hands and a propeller on the other side. You can check out the pictures on my Picasa album. Huge agave plants surrounded the cemetery. Jason and I had gone with Danielle and met Jeff, another volunteer, out on the island. We went snorkeling and saw some really neat fish. I chased one that resembled the lion fish. It would rest on the rock with its fins holding it up like paws or legs. It swan away from me and I never got a picture. Supposedly there are lobsters you can catch and eat but we never saw any. We talked about spending the night a the island one day. To catch the sunset and sunrise. Maybe even a ghost.
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