El Volcan and departure

Today is my last day in CR and it is with definite mixed emotions that I leave. On the one hand, I am sick AGAIN, faced with the reality that no one in this country must wash their hands regularly. I´ve become obsessed w/ hand sanitizer, but to no avail. So, the thought of staying healthy for over a week at a time is a definite draw to go back to the US. Then, there are my family and friends...all of whom I miss very much and look forward to seeing. However, on the flip side, this experience has only opened my eyes to how much of the world there is to see and I cannot imagine staying in the States for much longer once I return...a few weeks at most, then off again to parts unknown as of yet.

I haven´t had a chance to write about my adventure last weekend and wanted to get it down before I throw myself into the Christmas rush as soon as I step off the plane in Boston. This was the trip I imagined myself taking last weekend:

The rental car is delivered exactly on time and it´s an automatic (because I forgot to ask about that when I booked it). I pick up Angela at her house, go to my house and pick up my bag and we hit the road. We drive safely and with out any problems to Fortuna and the trip takes a mere 4 hours, much to our surprise at how easy the roads in CR are to navigate.
We check into our hotel and enjoy a hot shower, followed by a comfortable sleep in our gorgeous resort room. In the morning, we awake to rumbles of the nearby volcano and as we look out our window, we are greeted with an awe inspiring view. I change into the clothes I carefully packed and we are off to a lovely breakfast at the restaurant nestled serenely in a lush, tropical rainforest setting. Next, we set off to explore the volcano, taking in the delightful vistas and many photo ops. Angela returns to the hotel for a massage and I check out the hot springs, all of which excede my expectations. Later that evening, we dine at the Observatory Lodge, where we take in the sights of lava, freely flowing from the magnificent volcano. We finish off the night at the local disco, where we both meet the men of our dreams and decide to settle down in Fortuna to have babies and...ok that last part about marriage and babies was not in the plans, but it´s about as far fetched as the rest of the story I've written so far.


Here´s what really happened:
The car was dropped off over an hour late. It was a manual. Angela cannot drive a manual. I can barely. Did I mention that there are a lot of hills/mountains in Costa Rica? And that I´m not so great with first gear? Um, yeah. Anyway, we did go to my house to get my bag but left without it somehow so I was stuck w/ no clean clothes for the weekend. Or contacts. Or anything. Great. The drive took 7.5 hours because we drove about two hours out of our way and had to backtrack. There are NO signs in CR. Like, worse than Boston.


Our hotel was really fabulous and the showers were hot. The roads were a nightmare and I had to drive the whole way, everywhere. It was cloudy for all of the time were were there, with the exception of 30 minutes. At first, we thought it was hoax and the entire town existed for no reason at all and that the volcano did not exist. We did catch a glimpse of it though, so that theory was out. Angela did get her massage and I did check out the hot springs at our hotel. (I had a bathing suit, shorts and a T-shirt with me that I took to school earlier in the day to go to the beach.)
We drove up to the Observatory Lodge (will have to describe the roads later, but let´s just say that I´m VERY glad we had a 4 wheel drive vehicle). They don´t let anyone in after 5pm unless you´re a hotel guest. WTF????? Ok...down the hill we went. We did find a place to check out some lava flowing and that was cool. Even with the clouds, we could tell that it was lava and very hot at that.

The ride home was better and only 6 or so hours. The views in the daylight were magnificent. We were only 20 mins from our houses when we had to cross the last bridge. Ah the bridge. This is a story for another time. However, here are a couple of photos taken from the car, looking down onto the "bridge" as we drove over it:


















I have to get to the airport and pray that flights are running close to on schedule so I don´t wind up spending Christmas in NC.

See you all soon!!!

Manuel Antonio

I went out last Friday night to sample the nightlife here...purely as a scientific exploration, I assure you. I met a bunch of students from my class as well as two of my instructors at a restaurant called Ronnie's Place where we saw an amazing sunset over the ocean. That's about all I remember. (Just kidding mom!) We did have some adult beverages called guarro sours, the specialty of Ronnie's. Yum. (Here I am with some of the other women from TEFL, enjoying them...)
Then, we went to two bars and danced and talked with the locals. Good thing my Spanish is improving or I would have been left in the dust! I really hate not being able to communicate with people when I know what I want to say, but just don't know the Spanish words to use. I think I'm going to take a Spanish class in whatever country I live next.

Saturday was spent recuperating and walking around the town, catching up on email and drinking lots of water. Sunday was amazing. I went to Manuel Antonio National Park (photo of park entrance above) with Jason, another student from class. He's my age and in addition to Angela and Nahir, the person I get along with best. We live close to each other and he's my chaperon when we walk home from school. We got to the park around 10am and walked all of the trails there and hung out at the beach for an hour or so. The first few trails were gorgeous and very well kept up. I was surprised at how well they were maintained but a little sad that it was so touristy.












We saw our share of monkeys and various lizards, some beautiful birds and lots and lots of rain forest.

After taking the first few trails, we hung out at the beach for a while and saw even more monkeys. They come down out of the trees to steal beach-goers' food--right out from under them (literally) at times. I saw one come down from a tree, sneak up to a woman who was using her bag as a pillow, and the monkey reached into her bag and pulled out a plastic bag before she could react. It was pretty funny, but bad for the monkeys. They're eating way too much people food and getting heart disease and that kind of nasty stuff.

After the beach, Jason and I went on the hunt for the waterfall trail that we had heard about. On the way there, we saw a sloth in a tree (they REALLY do move incredibly slow) and three deer.

Seeing deer in a rain forest was quite strange. They were whitetails and an endangered species in Costa Rica. I took a million pictures of them and was able to walk right up to them. It was totally surreal and they were so calm. I plucked some leaves from the ground that they were eating and held them out to one of the deer. It actually ate the leaves right from my hand! Amazing to say the least and certainly not something that I'll ever be able to repeat, I'm sure. We found the waterfall trail and finally, we did some actual hiking. We had to climb over trees, under trees, wade through a couple of shallow rivers/streams, slip down some muddy hills and finally, got the payoff of a gorgeous waterfall at the end of the trail. We were the only people there and it was awesome to be that deep in the rain forest and feel like we were not in a park, but in the wilderness, on our own. Soon enough, it was 4pm and the park was closing so we had to return to the beach. It was a great day and I'm glad I got to explore the park.

This weekend (tonight through Sunday), my friend Angela and I are driving to Arenal in the northwest part of the country where there is an active volcano. We're actually going to stay in a REAL hotel with REAL hot water. Oh, I can't wait!! There are also hot springs there that are pretty famous and lots of horseback riding. There are some caves there as well that I'd love to check out if they're not too wet and I can find a guide to take me. Angela lost her toenail in a night of drunken something and is in no shape to go with me. I'm really looking forward to getting out of Quepos and the thought of an actual shower with hot water is so appealing!

I hear that MA got a LOT of snow yesterday and I'm sure Phil is doing cartwheels of joy. Cathy is the best roommate ever for shoveling the driveway and sidewalks with our favorite boyfriend, Erik. Thanks guys! I hope everyone else is doing well and hello to you all. I can't believe that I'm going to be home so soon! Feel free to email b/c I love hearing about what's going on in your lives!

Boruca and other crazy stuff

I have not been able to write much lately because I have been away from anywhere with an internet connection, or I get out of class way too late to go to the internet cafe. I swear there will be pictures soon; I have them transfered to someone's laptop, but need to get that connected to the internet to get them online. Hopefully you'll be amazed at this crazy place I'm living in as much as I am.

Over last weekend, I went to a village called Boruca, one of seven indigenous reservations in Costa Rica. It encompasses millions of acres of land and is nestled in the most gorgeous mountains ever! We were taken there by one of the teachers at work, Omar, who is Borucan and grew up in Boruca. He shared a lot of stories and legends with us and I fell in love with the lore. Seriously, some parts of the town have not changed in a hundred years, whereas others have progressed in very strange ways. For instance, one of the houses we visited had a dirt floor, thatched roof and a clay wood stove for cooking. However, it had a refrigerator and a rice cooker plugged in and on the counter. Very anachronistic to say the least. Also, there were hundreds of ... you guessed it, CHICKENS!!! I was in heaven! I have to apologize in advance that a disproportionate number of my photos involve my feathered friends. In addition to the slew of chickens, there were plenty of (stray?) dogs (as is the norm everywhere in CR) and cats and roosters (aka boy chickens) and even a wild turkey to remind me of home, and the infestation of turkeys in Brookline. I also heard a wild hog somewhere in the woods but luckily did not get close enough to see it. There were plenty of horses and donkeys and people were actually riding them around like the old West, but on the same dirt road as cars and trucks.

However, just because they have cars and rice cookers does not mean that they have been fully introduced to the 21st century. They still have the same problems with water as the rest of CR and we were without water in the town for 9 or 10 hours. So, just to paint a clear picture of what happens when there is no water, there's also a lack of some other really important things, like cooking (as every meal involves rice, you had better believe that they need water), showering/bathing and well, flushing the toilets. There's not even water to wash your hands so you had better think ahead when planning to go to the bathroom. As it turns out, a lot of people had to use the bathroom and the only suggestion they got was, "El campo?" and were pointed toward the door. I found this hysterical and no big deal really b/c I had even packed toilet paper for myself. I've gone camping enough to not care, but this was not the attitude of most of the group. In fact, I think I'd rather go outside; there were not toilet seats on most of the toilets so you really needed to have some strong thighs to make it in that town! As a side note, I've noticed the lack of toilet seats a lot while here. So, note to self, if you need to ever bring a gift to someone at a homestay, a toilet seat is not a bad idea. We should have thought this out before going to Boruca; we could have been kings in that town!!!

So, like any native village should, Boruca had three bars. This town is so small that you can walk to everyone's house, chances are that you are related to at least 1/4 of the town by blood or marriage, but they have the need for three bars. I only got to check out two of them because the one bar owned by a non-Borucan is men only. Again, what century is this? Because there are no hotels within 20 miles (just an estimate), we all stayed with family or friends of Omar's. I stayed with the local natural healer. I will not say medicine woman, but close enough. How cool is that? I should have asked her to heal my strep, since it seems to be back. I didn't think about that until after we left. I did get to try some of the local brew, chicha, made from maize and it's basically moonshine. It was pretty good, surprisingly. Unfortunately, it was not strong enough apparently to knock out my sore throat.

We got to meet Omar's dad, who is a nationally recognized artisan and makes the most beautiful ceremonial masks out of balsa and cedar. Also, one of Omar's aunts has been declared a living treasure of Costa Rica and we got to meet her and watch her weave. She collects her own cotton right out of her front yard (!!!!!) and spins it into thread/yarn, dyes it and weaves on a wooden loom. Holy moly could she make some beautiful things. Both Omar's dad and aunt started teaching the local kids their crafts because all the craftsmen were dying out and they wanted to pass on the traditions. I am so glad that they did because these are two beautiful, talented and rare people who radiated with warmth and kindness and I'm so grateful that I got to meet them and was fortunate enough to get to see their work.

Also while in Boruca, we got to eat some of the local cuisine. These were by far, my favorite meals so far on the trip. The tamales were unlike any other and made with smoked pork on the inside, then steamed in banana leaves for three hours on a wood stove. Um, yeah, try finding that somewhere in the states! I will admit though, that even when there was water, this is one place where I turned down tap water and stuck to the bottles. We were only there one night so it was no big deal.

The only downfall of the trip really was the bus ride. It was 4.5 hours each way and although I got to see a lot of the country, having to drive on unpaved roads for more than half of the trip was really not so much fun. Plus, I won't even comment on how they pass each other on the roads here since my mom is reading this. Let's just say that even I wouldn't do some of the stuff they do regularly around here!

I should wrap this up since it's getting really long and I've accumulated about 600 colones worth of time here at the cafe and I'm not sure I have that much on me. Oops! I'm actually here with two of the three guys from my class so I can hit them up if necessary. And don't worry mom, I'll have one of them walk me home since it's dark here!

I hope everyone at home in Boston is well and staying warm (haha) I hear you got some ice and snow there and although Simon seems to think this is a bad thing, I am pretty happy to be missing it. Next weekend, I think I'm going to stay local and check out the beach near my school and the park at Manuel Antonio to spot some sloths and monkeys and just chill out after a very long week. I taught my first one-on-one lesson last night and I have a much greater appreciation for teachers now! I team teach my first actual class tomorrow with another student and then six more classes over the next two weeks, two as a team and four solo. It's really intimidating and I'm putting in a lot of time and effort into my preparation...it's very exhausting.

For those of you keeping track, I'm getting on much better now, living in the home stay. I actually hung out with my whole host family last night after dinner and was able to follow most of the conversation and even make some inappropriate jokes w/ the dad (who definitely started it, I swear!!!). So, if I can joke in Spanish, I must be getting better! I am picking up more and more each day and feel confident I will improve greatly by the time I return to the states.

Keep those emails coming...I love getting them and will do my very best to respond individually this weekend when I have more time to be at the computer.

Love to all!