First of all I want to thank those of you who took the time to read my blog. However, even if it was only Cobey and my mom I think I´ll enjoy having this blog to personally look back on and remember the details of my trip that tend to fade with time. I know that it may have gotten exhausting reading such LONG blogs... and I understand if you skipped some because I tend to struggle reading things like that where people exhaust the details of their lives... so I apologize for being one of those people.
ANYWAYS moving on... I am just going to wrap up this trip... on my last day... just half a day from getting on the plane and flying back home.... with some final thoughts on what this trip has been to me. I´ve never done this sort of thing on my own and although I spent 4 college years a solid 8 hours from home, it is somewhat different being SO FAR from home and in an entirely different culture for such an extended period of time. It was pretty tough mentally after the initial novelty of being in costa rica wore off and realizing we had 3 MONTHS here, 89 days and nights... i wish i could puncuate this blog better unfortunately the question mark, exclamation mark, parenthesis, quotations, and other such puncuations we take for granted do not work on this key board so bare with me and you´ll have to imagine what puncuation I would use in a given situation. ANYWAYS... so we were pretty nervous about the length of time.. thank goodness Romelia came to our rescue and it was a place we found that not only was what we had hope for and more from the turtle volunteering aspect, but also amazing in its natural beauty and began to truly feel like home. Who knew a place with no electricity, warm running water, or walls could feel like home.
I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to do this experience, that I jumped on the opportunity, and that I stuck through to the end. I think it changed me in so many ways: my maturity, independence, work ethic, and just outlook on life in general. I know now how many things in my life I dont depend on like my phone, my ipod, and any other material item as well as refrigeration apparently haha. However, I also realized what I DO depend on: and thats my home, my family, and people around me that are just a joy to be around. I had the time of my life in central america but I am SO excited to go home now. I´m looking forward to being able to flush my toilet paper, drink FREE and CLEAN tapwater, pick my own music, drive my own car, have a home cooked meal without rice and beans in it, have more than 5 outfits to choose from, not have to wear bug repellent and sunscreen, and i´m sure a million other things that just havent popped in my head yet. However I will miss a few things such as gallo pinto in the morning, the amazing coffee, Federicos tours, spades with my good buddies at Romelia, Sano Banano movie nights, getting amazing pastries for 50 cents at Mus Manni, GETTING AWAY with only wearing 5 oufits and grungy headbands all the time, my tan, tico time, laying in hammocks all day, handling turtles eggs like its no big deal, and handwashing my clothes...NOT.... Again im sure there are tons more that will pop in my head later.
WELL I guess that about does it for now. Again... it was an amazing experience. I´d like to give props to cass and i for being together every second for three straight months and not killing each other... although of course we had our differences and disagreements. I think it takes a special dynamic to get along the way we have traveling together. And again... I would REALLy like to thank those of you who were devoted blog readers of mine... cough Cobey and my mom cough... and hopefully others hehe
OH and I almost forgot... I have to give a shout out to the MVP of the trip... 3 dollars and 7 years later and my blue Taz flip flops were still able to make the long, rocky trek back and forth from montezuma 60 + odd times... Hung on by the skin of the heel... literally
So I´ll say a final Peace and PURA VIDA
Hay
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Summary Essay
As many of you may know, I sent my application for Pacific University Optometry while I was here in Costa Rica, just a few weeks ago. I had to write a third essay so I wrote it on my experiences here in Costa Rica. I thought it summed up the trip quite well so I decided to include it in my last blog entry. Well maybe I´ll write one more later wrapping up my experiences with my thoughts on being home again. But here is the third essay I turned in regarding my experience here. PS if you hate it I dont want to know...my future is riding on it haha.
Six months later we found ourselves on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica protecting nests of the endangered turtle species: Lepidochelys olivacea, or Olive Ridley turtle. We arrived in Costa Rica on August 2nd of 2009. We have been here eleven weeks now and are set to return on October 29th. We just finished the volunteer portion of our trip, but we set aside some time to travel and enjoy the scenery of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama as well. Coming up on the ending of our journey, I realize how amazing this experience has been for me. It has had moments of amazing discovery and exhilaration, but has also proved very challenging and trying at times.
In the beginning, it was overwhelming to realize that it would be three months before I returned to the comforts of my home and family. It was a very different environment from home, which had evident culture shock effect. However, I stuck with it and simply had to open my mind to the changes and find the right mentality for the adventure. That is when I started really enjoying myself.
The volunteering we finished was for a nonprofit organization based in Costa Rica called ASVO, or Association of Volunteers. They started a brand new project called Romelia in Montezuma, Costa Rica. Actually, it was on a remote beach which was a thirty minute walk from Montezuma. The land is privately owned and was donated by the daughter of the family who had previously lived on the land. There, we lived in a two story, very open, bungalo type of building. The living quarters had no hot water, and in fact no electricity. We lived by candles at night, slept under mosquito nets, washed our laundry by hand, and ate rice and beans for all three meals. It may sound like rough living, but it did not take long to appreciate the care free nature of waking up to howling Howler Monkeys in the trees, going for a daily swim in the ocean, and frequently utilizing the hammocks hung in the living quarters.
Of course it was not all just lying around. Being a new project, there was a lot of work to be done. They were in the process of building trails through the forest, bridges over the streams and outlets to the ocean, and starting a greenhouse where they would grow their own fruits and vegetables. All of this was in addition to the turtle aspect which was the basis for the project and consumed the majority of our time. The main project was building a hatchery for the turtle nests because without the hatchery it was very difficult to protect the nests from the tide, predators, and nest poachers. To build the hatchery we had to dig out the sand in the designated area and replace it with clean sand, build a large sandbag wall to protect it from the tide, fence the area, and build a hut for volunteers to sit under while watching the hatchery. This was a long, exhausting process which was ony completed after about two months of grueling work. During all this time, our nights were spent on patrols which involved walking the beaches all hours of the night in hopes of finding turtles in the process of nesting on the beach. When we found nests, we relocated them to safer places high on the beach, or in the hatchery once it was finished. During the time I spent volunteering, I was able to get very involved in the process. By the time I left I was capable of finding a nest with only the guide of turtle tracks, digging it up, digging an acceptable artificial nest for relocating the eggs, tagging the mother turtles and taking measurements on their size, as well as measuring and weighing the eggs. It was amazing to feel like such a vital part of an organization giving back to nature, trying to undo the damage done to this species by the human race.
Volunteering was such a rewarding experience on so many levels. I have had the chance to meet other volunteers from all over the world who also want to make an impact in their world. I found people with such interesting outlooks on life, and fascinating stories of where they came from and where they were in their life. I have also had the opportunity to further develop my spanish, speaking with locals when the opportunity presented itself. In the end, this experience may not directly pertain to optometry but it has been really important to my development in this pivotal time in my life and helped me appreciate so many good things in my life.´
`Sitting here in my hostel in San Jose, Costa Rica my journey is coming to an end. I waited to write this final essay until I could share my most recent experiences which should help to clarify the type of person I am and hopefully will help you get to know me on a more personal level.
Six months later we found ourselves on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica protecting nests of the endangered turtle species: Lepidochelys olivacea, or Olive Ridley turtle. We arrived in Costa Rica on August 2nd of 2009. We have been here eleven weeks now and are set to return on October 29th. We just finished the volunteer portion of our trip, but we set aside some time to travel and enjoy the scenery of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama as well. Coming up on the ending of our journey, I realize how amazing this experience has been for me. It has had moments of amazing discovery and exhilaration, but has also proved very challenging and trying at times.
In the beginning, it was overwhelming to realize that it would be three months before I returned to the comforts of my home and family. It was a very different environment from home, which had evident culture shock effect. However, I stuck with it and simply had to open my mind to the changes and find the right mentality for the adventure. That is when I started really enjoying myself.
The volunteering we finished was for a nonprofit organization based in Costa Rica called ASVO, or Association of Volunteers. They started a brand new project called Romelia in Montezuma, Costa Rica. Actually, it was on a remote beach which was a thirty minute walk from Montezuma. The land is privately owned and was donated by the daughter of the family who had previously lived on the land. There, we lived in a two story, very open, bungalo type of building. The living quarters had no hot water, and in fact no electricity. We lived by candles at night, slept under mosquito nets, washed our laundry by hand, and ate rice and beans for all three meals. It may sound like rough living, but it did not take long to appreciate the care free nature of waking up to howling Howler Monkeys in the trees, going for a daily swim in the ocean, and frequently utilizing the hammocks hung in the living quarters.
Of course it was not all just lying around. Being a new project, there was a lot of work to be done. They were in the process of building trails through the forest, bridges over the streams and outlets to the ocean, and starting a greenhouse where they would grow their own fruits and vegetables. All of this was in addition to the turtle aspect which was the basis for the project and consumed the majority of our time. The main project was building a hatchery for the turtle nests because without the hatchery it was very difficult to protect the nests from the tide, predators, and nest poachers. To build the hatchery we had to dig out the sand in the designated area and replace it with clean sand, build a large sandbag wall to protect it from the tide, fence the area, and build a hut for volunteers to sit under while watching the hatchery. This was a long, exhausting process which was ony completed after about two months of grueling work. During all this time, our nights were spent on patrols which involved walking the beaches all hours of the night in hopes of finding turtles in the process of nesting on the beach. When we found nests, we relocated them to safer places high on the beach, or in the hatchery once it was finished. During the time I spent volunteering, I was able to get very involved in the process. By the time I left I was capable of finding a nest with only the guide of turtle tracks, digging it up, digging an acceptable artificial nest for relocating the eggs, tagging the mother turtles and taking measurements on their size, as well as measuring and weighing the eggs. It was amazing to feel like such a vital part of an organization giving back to nature, trying to undo the damage done to this species by the human race.
Volunteering was such a rewarding experience on so many levels. I have had the chance to meet other volunteers from all over the world who also want to make an impact in their world. I found people with such interesting outlooks on life, and fascinating stories of where they came from and where they were in their life. I have also had the opportunity to further develop my spanish, speaking with locals when the opportunity presented itself. In the end, this experience may not directly pertain to optometry but it has been really important to my development in this pivotal time in my life and helped me appreciate so many good things in my life.´
Monday, October 26, 2009
Tierra Verde
So I´m sure you are all hanging on the edge of your seats to find out how Panama has treated us since the last day I posted. It has been amazing. Paradise. We are at a little ¨hotel¨ right on the beach called Tierra Verde. I dont remember if i said already, but a couple of friends of Cassidy´s uncle, Cookie and Ivan, are the owners. It is not on the main island of Bocas, but rather an island with only a few resorts, houses, and restaurants lining the beach on one side of the island. It reminds me a bit of Venice in that the traffic between islands and such is in the water. There are water taxis everywhere to take you between the islands for just a dollar or two. So all the resorts and restaurants along the coast of the islands have docks so you can be dropped off right there by a taxi. Oh and the water is so clear, it really is what you imagine when you think of like tropical paradise.
So our first day we hung out a bit for the morning, then took a taxi ride to the main island, Colon. This is like the center of town where there are shops and markets and such. So, we grabbed a bite to eat at a sandwich/coffee shop. And I tell you I didnt think it was possible to beat tico time, but Panama is on its own schedule. I dont remember if i mentioned, but tico time is what they call the lack of strict time schedule of the costa ricans. They are laid back, 5 o clock means any where between 5 and 5:15. Nothing is on time. Well in Panama they take it to the next level. We waited in the sandwich shop for like 10 or 15 minutes before we were even greeted. When we eat, we wait for like 30 to 45 minutes for our food. The first night, we had an appetizer take 30 minutes and it was just bread with tomatoes and cheese. Crazy. However, back to the point. After lunch, we looked at some shops, got a few things at the market, and headed back to our little island. The rest of the day we pretty much just hung out on the dock and swam in the water, then had some dinner and then hit the sack. The main restaurant on this island is BiBis on the beach. It is really good food, with sandwiches and pastas, but their main thing is seafood. And, if you spend $10 on a meal, then you get an hours free use of a paddleboat or kayaks. So we planned to take full advantage of that.
Yesterday we hung out a little bit in the morning again, had their free fruit and toast for breakfast with some coffee. Then at about 10 we headed over to BiBis to use up our free paddleboat ride. It was pretty hilarious because it was SO SLOW but eventually we got going. We paddled along the edge of the island, half hour in we stopped and I had a swim in the perfect water, and then paddled back. We had lunch at Bibis, then rented snorkel gear for $4 for the day, took a taxi boat to a cove we heard was good on a neighboring island and snorkeled there for about 2 hours. It was really great snorkeling. There were a variety of cool fish and I even saw a small jellyfish which was neat. Then we headed to Bastimentos, another neighboring island where we had seen advertisements for a place called ¨Up the Hill¨. When you get to the island, you take a path that goes up the hill for about 15 minutes and get to a small hut. All of their shop items were set up and sitting out for sale, but no one was in the shop. So we were trying to call out for someone and walking around the shop for like 15 minutes before Cass went further towards their house and got their attention. Apparently this place was an organic chocolate farm, among a few other things. But they prided theirselves on their 100% organic chocolate items, so we each at a brownie and chocolate milk. It was crazy how trusting this people were. Besides leaving their shop unattended initially, they said they were going to go back and chill and they would leave change on the counter in case we wanted to buy anything. Not only could someone steal something in their shop, but the money too. So, it was neat to see people so laid back and trusting. After that little adventure we took a taxi boat back to Tierra Verde where we had plans to watch the Holiday which was on TV. The rest of our night consisted of popcorn, the holiday, then a quick dinner run to Bibis (which of course is never actually quick).
Today, the plan is to go into the main island town, change some colones to dollars, then grab some lunch and catch a bus to starfish beach, where there are supposedly tons of starfish. Then we plan on kayaking at around sunset. So im trying to upload some pics to facebook, hasnt been so successful so far but you can check, its a pretty sweet place.
So our first day we hung out a bit for the morning, then took a taxi ride to the main island, Colon. This is like the center of town where there are shops and markets and such. So, we grabbed a bite to eat at a sandwich/coffee shop. And I tell you I didnt think it was possible to beat tico time, but Panama is on its own schedule. I dont remember if i mentioned, but tico time is what they call the lack of strict time schedule of the costa ricans. They are laid back, 5 o clock means any where between 5 and 5:15. Nothing is on time. Well in Panama they take it to the next level. We waited in the sandwich shop for like 10 or 15 minutes before we were even greeted. When we eat, we wait for like 30 to 45 minutes for our food. The first night, we had an appetizer take 30 minutes and it was just bread with tomatoes and cheese. Crazy. However, back to the point. After lunch, we looked at some shops, got a few things at the market, and headed back to our little island. The rest of the day we pretty much just hung out on the dock and swam in the water, then had some dinner and then hit the sack. The main restaurant on this island is BiBis on the beach. It is really good food, with sandwiches and pastas, but their main thing is seafood. And, if you spend $10 on a meal, then you get an hours free use of a paddleboat or kayaks. So we planned to take full advantage of that.
Yesterday we hung out a little bit in the morning again, had their free fruit and toast for breakfast with some coffee. Then at about 10 we headed over to BiBis to use up our free paddleboat ride. It was pretty hilarious because it was SO SLOW but eventually we got going. We paddled along the edge of the island, half hour in we stopped and I had a swim in the perfect water, and then paddled back. We had lunch at Bibis, then rented snorkel gear for $4 for the day, took a taxi boat to a cove we heard was good on a neighboring island and snorkeled there for about 2 hours. It was really great snorkeling. There were a variety of cool fish and I even saw a small jellyfish which was neat. Then we headed to Bastimentos, another neighboring island where we had seen advertisements for a place called ¨Up the Hill¨. When you get to the island, you take a path that goes up the hill for about 15 minutes and get to a small hut. All of their shop items were set up and sitting out for sale, but no one was in the shop. So we were trying to call out for someone and walking around the shop for like 15 minutes before Cass went further towards their house and got their attention. Apparently this place was an organic chocolate farm, among a few other things. But they prided theirselves on their 100% organic chocolate items, so we each at a brownie and chocolate milk. It was crazy how trusting this people were. Besides leaving their shop unattended initially, they said they were going to go back and chill and they would leave change on the counter in case we wanted to buy anything. Not only could someone steal something in their shop, but the money too. So, it was neat to see people so laid back and trusting. After that little adventure we took a taxi boat back to Tierra Verde where we had plans to watch the Holiday which was on TV. The rest of our night consisted of popcorn, the holiday, then a quick dinner run to Bibis (which of course is never actually quick).
Today, the plan is to go into the main island town, change some colones to dollars, then grab some lunch and catch a bus to starfish beach, where there are supposedly tons of starfish. Then we plan on kayaking at around sunset. So im trying to upload some pics to facebook, hasnt been so successful so far but you can check, its a pretty sweet place.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Surprise! Trip to Panama
So we woke up at 5:15, early Friday morning ready for our trip to Panama to begin! All smooth sailing from here. A short shuttle to the airport, a one hour flight on one of those little planes that connects Costa Rica and Bocas del Toro and at 9:30 we were to be met at the airport by Cookie, a friend of Cassidys uncle and owner of a cute little resort on the beach. We decided to get to the airport plenty early, so took the airport shuttle that left at 5:40 for our 8:30 flight haha. Arrived at Nature Air airport at 6:30 which was an hour before we needed to check in. SO with our free time we hit up their second floor restaurant, got some sweet plantains and a cappacino. A good way to start out the perfect day, right?
At 7:30 we head downstairs to check in for our flight... low and behold the airport checkin guy looks a little confused and starts asking us weird questions like... do you have a printout? and talking to other people. Then he tells us the flight left at 6 NOT 8:30... and the next flight is sunday. Of course we were completely dumbfounded... stood there for a second like thats not possible! Poor Cass was the one who made the arrangements and got the confirmation emails and wrote down the times like fifty times, its hard for me to believe she made that mistake, and even harder for her to believe. To make things worse she is sick, had a temperature the day before so she was not in the right state of mind for this mood.
So we had to wait for the manager to get there which was supposed to be any minute, in the meantime we called Henry who told us a bus would leave for Panama in one hour and he was close enough to pick us up. Luckily a taxi driver let us use 2 of his phones (the first phone cass dropped haha) because neither of us had time on our phonecards. The manager showed up shortly after and we were informed (luckily since theres a no refund policy with no exceptions) that we could be refunded half the money minus a 25 dollar fee, and could still take the return flight. Which was a pretty good deal in my book.
So Henry came and we darted off to a bus stop to Panama. There, our real journey began, 9:00. We took that bus down to the border which took about 5 hours probably... good news is we got to pass the infamous Boca Chica where we spent our first miserable week of our trip haha. At Panama we had to get out at the border of course (this was the beginning of the pouring rain...right when we had to get off) and get our passports checked of course. We were initially under the impression that this bus crossed the border and went straight to Bocas. However, a lady who spoke fluent spanish and english told us we could all split a taxi to the ferry to Bocas for 5 dollars each. We decided thats a good deal because the bus did not go there. There were two shuttle vans which we were supposedly going to Bocas. This lady in our van was freaking out cuz they charged us 5 each and them 10 each, and then a big group of Europeans were charge 7 each. It was chaos waiting for everyone to get everything at the border taken care of so that both vans were full, and of course everyone waiting wanted to take off. So our bags and us got completely soaked going back and forth between vans trying to figure out exactly what was going on from the lady who spoke English, and also because we were told to switch vans, then there wasnt room.
FINALLY we left after about an hour at the border, took off in the pouring rain to Bocas in a completely PACKED van full of loud, crazy people with a driver who was a bit out of control (and just about turned back around because he thought somebody hadnt paid). After an hour van ride when i thought we might be smeared across the road a couple moments, we arrived at the ferry. By ferry, i mean they packed about 35 people on a boat, put the sides of the boat down so we couldnt see and then sped off at what must have been like 50 miles an hour in a can of sardines to the island where are resort was. I have grown to have a fear of boats, and i thought the was going to sink or tip over, it didnt help that you couldnt look outside and see the surroundings. After a LONG 30 minutes, we got off that boat (at this point it is about 4 in the afternoon...but dark and STILL pouring rain).
So we are at the island, and Cassidy asks where tierra verde is, the boat driver says its on the neighboring island, about 50 yards across the water, but we need a dollar fifty each to get there. We spent our last cash taking the taxi and ferry. All we have are costa rican colones which they dont take. So at this point we run around the streets of Bocas looking for the bank so Cassidy can use the ATM, meanwhile its dark and STILL pouring. We finally get there, get back to the boat station and take a boat right to the dock of Tierra Verde where we are finally greeted and at our hotel.
so we went 5 in the morning to 5 at night, when we thought it would be an hour plane ride haha. But it will make us appreciate the place and the plane ride all the more for it. The place we are staying is really cute. We have two beds and a bathroom, TV, airconditioner, free internet, free breakfast, free coffee. Its REALLY cute, right on the water with its own dock. It was an unexpected adventure getting here but i think we will be able to relax now and really enjoy it. PHEW that was a long one...
At 7:30 we head downstairs to check in for our flight... low and behold the airport checkin guy looks a little confused and starts asking us weird questions like... do you have a printout? and talking to other people. Then he tells us the flight left at 6 NOT 8:30... and the next flight is sunday. Of course we were completely dumbfounded... stood there for a second like thats not possible! Poor Cass was the one who made the arrangements and got the confirmation emails and wrote down the times like fifty times, its hard for me to believe she made that mistake, and even harder for her to believe. To make things worse she is sick, had a temperature the day before so she was not in the right state of mind for this mood.
So we had to wait for the manager to get there which was supposed to be any minute, in the meantime we called Henry who told us a bus would leave for Panama in one hour and he was close enough to pick us up. Luckily a taxi driver let us use 2 of his phones (the first phone cass dropped haha) because neither of us had time on our phonecards. The manager showed up shortly after and we were informed (luckily since theres a no refund policy with no exceptions) that we could be refunded half the money minus a 25 dollar fee, and could still take the return flight. Which was a pretty good deal in my book.
So Henry came and we darted off to a bus stop to Panama. There, our real journey began, 9:00. We took that bus down to the border which took about 5 hours probably... good news is we got to pass the infamous Boca Chica where we spent our first miserable week of our trip haha. At Panama we had to get out at the border of course (this was the beginning of the pouring rain...right when we had to get off) and get our passports checked of course. We were initially under the impression that this bus crossed the border and went straight to Bocas. However, a lady who spoke fluent spanish and english told us we could all split a taxi to the ferry to Bocas for 5 dollars each. We decided thats a good deal because the bus did not go there. There were two shuttle vans which we were supposedly going to Bocas. This lady in our van was freaking out cuz they charged us 5 each and them 10 each, and then a big group of Europeans were charge 7 each. It was chaos waiting for everyone to get everything at the border taken care of so that both vans were full, and of course everyone waiting wanted to take off. So our bags and us got completely soaked going back and forth between vans trying to figure out exactly what was going on from the lady who spoke English, and also because we were told to switch vans, then there wasnt room.
FINALLY we left after about an hour at the border, took off in the pouring rain to Bocas in a completely PACKED van full of loud, crazy people with a driver who was a bit out of control (and just about turned back around because he thought somebody hadnt paid). After an hour van ride when i thought we might be smeared across the road a couple moments, we arrived at the ferry. By ferry, i mean they packed about 35 people on a boat, put the sides of the boat down so we couldnt see and then sped off at what must have been like 50 miles an hour in a can of sardines to the island where are resort was. I have grown to have a fear of boats, and i thought the was going to sink or tip over, it didnt help that you couldnt look outside and see the surroundings. After a LONG 30 minutes, we got off that boat (at this point it is about 4 in the afternoon...but dark and STILL pouring rain).
So we are at the island, and Cassidy asks where tierra verde is, the boat driver says its on the neighboring island, about 50 yards across the water, but we need a dollar fifty each to get there. We spent our last cash taking the taxi and ferry. All we have are costa rican colones which they dont take. So at this point we run around the streets of Bocas looking for the bank so Cassidy can use the ATM, meanwhile its dark and STILL pouring. We finally get there, get back to the boat station and take a boat right to the dock of Tierra Verde where we are finally greeted and at our hotel.
so we went 5 in the morning to 5 at night, when we thought it would be an hour plane ride haha. But it will make us appreciate the place and the plane ride all the more for it. The place we are staying is really cute. We have two beds and a bathroom, TV, airconditioner, free internet, free breakfast, free coffee. Its REALLY cute, right on the water with its own dock. It was an unexpected adventure getting here but i think we will be able to relax now and really enjoy it. PHEW that was a long one...
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Federicos
So David made it safe and sound...without his luggage. The airline lost his bag so he made it through the days at Federicos without his main luggage. How unfortunate. But the trip to Federicos was fabulous. He was filled with the same enthusiasm and random trivial information as usual. He lives in Birrisito right above the Valle de Orosi which is a fabulous coffee growing area as well as above Lago Cachi, the second largest lake in Costa Rica. The first day was rather rainy so after Federico made us a fabulous lunch with grub we got at the store in town, we just hung out on his patio that looked out over the valley. we played some cards... David taught us all a card game called Oh Hell... and then had a long hut tub session filled with smoothies and back massages. It was fabulous. That night we watched a stupid mindless comedy... year one. Then hit the sack for a big day lay ahead of us... our tour of valle de orosi.
Originally Volcan Irazu was going to be part of our tour time at federicos. However, he told us with the weather the way it was there would be no visibility, and apparently its less impressive than the other volcanoes we have visited already. First, we hit up a local store that sells organic coffee from the area. Federico has a few coffee plants that provides for this coffee brand...cafe cristina... so its possible we have some of his own beans in our bags. First real tour stop was a lookout point over the valley where we got some good pics. Next stop we went down into the valley to the town of Orosi. We stopped to get pics of the oldest church in use in Costa Rica. Iglesia Colonial. There Federico talked some local kids into letting us join their soccer game. So we had a game with the local kids, quite enjoyable.
We continued our tour to the local hot springs, known only by the locals. We chilled in the natural hot springs for a while. Privelaged enough to witness Federico in his little spandex, and David had to borrow some little shorts from him too haha. After the hot springs we had lunch at a little local restaurant overlooking a river. HUGE portions for fairly cheap. Cass david and i couldn´t finish our portion so we saved part of our HEAPING rice portion for breakfast the next morning. It was quite delicious though.
Next we went to the coffee plantation in the valley. Had some coffee straight from the sock for about one dollar, and had some coffee flan with it...AMAZING. This little restaurant on the coffee plantation was also bordering Lake Cachi, which was so beautiful because it has so much vegetation around in growing in the lake. We walked around it and took some more beautiful pics of the lake and plants and flowers growing around the lake. Then we finished up the tour by walking next to the coffee plantation, then drove home which was by a dam on the lake. In the end we did a huge loop around the valley which started at 830 in the morning and ended at about 3 i think. Oh... i forgot to mention that cass and i started off the day by making our chocolate chip banana pancakes for everyone. It was fabulous.
We just hung out the rest of the night, enjoyed some music and hot tub. This morning we left at about 830. He dropped us off at a bus station in Cartago where we caught a ride back into San Jose. Walked to central market and had some iced coffee and bread from the panaderia. now just chillin at pangea again, uploading our pics. Tomorrow, cass and I catch our shuttle to the airport at 540 in the morning to fly to panama to spend our last week here in central america. Till then...peace
Originally Volcan Irazu was going to be part of our tour time at federicos. However, he told us with the weather the way it was there would be no visibility, and apparently its less impressive than the other volcanoes we have visited already. First, we hit up a local store that sells organic coffee from the area. Federico has a few coffee plants that provides for this coffee brand...cafe cristina... so its possible we have some of his own beans in our bags. First real tour stop was a lookout point over the valley where we got some good pics. Next stop we went down into the valley to the town of Orosi. We stopped to get pics of the oldest church in use in Costa Rica. Iglesia Colonial. There Federico talked some local kids into letting us join their soccer game. So we had a game with the local kids, quite enjoyable.
We continued our tour to the local hot springs, known only by the locals. We chilled in the natural hot springs for a while. Privelaged enough to witness Federico in his little spandex, and David had to borrow some little shorts from him too haha. After the hot springs we had lunch at a little local restaurant overlooking a river. HUGE portions for fairly cheap. Cass david and i couldn´t finish our portion so we saved part of our HEAPING rice portion for breakfast the next morning. It was quite delicious though.
Next we went to the coffee plantation in the valley. Had some coffee straight from the sock for about one dollar, and had some coffee flan with it...AMAZING. This little restaurant on the coffee plantation was also bordering Lake Cachi, which was so beautiful because it has so much vegetation around in growing in the lake. We walked around it and took some more beautiful pics of the lake and plants and flowers growing around the lake. Then we finished up the tour by walking next to the coffee plantation, then drove home which was by a dam on the lake. In the end we did a huge loop around the valley which started at 830 in the morning and ended at about 3 i think. Oh... i forgot to mention that cass and i started off the day by making our chocolate chip banana pancakes for everyone. It was fabulous.
We just hung out the rest of the night, enjoyed some music and hot tub. This morning we left at about 830. He dropped us off at a bus station in Cartago where we caught a ride back into San Jose. Walked to central market and had some iced coffee and bread from the panaderia. now just chillin at pangea again, uploading our pics. Tomorrow, cass and I catch our shuttle to the airport at 540 in the morning to fly to panama to spend our last week here in central america. Till then...peace
Sunday, October 18, 2009
San Jose again... and Poas
Well I guess our last sano banano night was where we left off. The next day we took Part I of our luggage to montezuma ...our big rolling bags... and that was HELL. my arms are STILL sore and my thighs have bruises haha. But Bra had a hostel there for the night so we left them there so of course we would only have our backpacks to bring the morning we were leaving. But cass had 2 backpacks still haha. lots of big souvenirs and such. Anywho... later that day we worked on the garden and relocated the tomato plants to the outside garden patch that we had just fixed up and that was the last work we did in Montezuma. That night we had a huge nerts card game going. 4 pairs of 2 playing and that was a blast. Then we had a bonfire where we roasted hotdogs and smores and banana boats and had a good ole time with everybody. Finally... a last spades game with cass me lenin and lucas.. .a german volunteer who will be there for a year. Lenin loved spades so we played all the time. Then we hit the sack...got up at 4:30 the next morning... yesterday... and headed to the bus stop. We had a long day of traveling and got to san jose around 1 yesterday. we had some errands to run around town then just chilled at pangea and got to bed early.
Today we had a day trip to Volcan Poas. It was fairly cheap, a 1 hour 30 min bus trip one way, about 6 dollars round trip. Normally 10 dollars to get into the national park but only about a dollar and half for us with our ASVO volunteer passes so that was nice. It was really relaxing, had a short trail to the lookout over the volcano crater. At first looked like we wouldn´t have much of a view but it cleared up nicely and we could see quite well. Then a short hike futher to a big like type lagoon. And then we hung out in the souvenir shop and got a banana flavor cappaccino which was amazing. We´ve been told by people that Poas has the best coffee. So we spent an enjoyable 3 hours or so up there and then came back around 4, now just chillin again. Tomorrow my friend David Hewitt will fly into san jose so we´ll meet up with him and the next day all head to federicos for a few days of PURE ENTERTAINMENT i´m sure... Peace...11 days left...
Today we had a day trip to Volcan Poas. It was fairly cheap, a 1 hour 30 min bus trip one way, about 6 dollars round trip. Normally 10 dollars to get into the national park but only about a dollar and half for us with our ASVO volunteer passes so that was nice. It was really relaxing, had a short trail to the lookout over the volcano crater. At first looked like we wouldn´t have much of a view but it cleared up nicely and we could see quite well. Then a short hike futher to a big like type lagoon. And then we hung out in the souvenir shop and got a banana flavor cappaccino which was amazing. We´ve been told by people that Poas has the best coffee. So we spent an enjoyable 3 hours or so up there and then came back around 4, now just chillin again. Tomorrow my friend David Hewitt will fly into san jose so we´ll meet up with him and the next day all head to federicos for a few days of PURE ENTERTAINMENT i´m sure... Peace...11 days left...
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Last Days in Montezuma
Well the week has gone by fast, its been a good one. Blessed with lots of turtles and late nights, but also enjoyable volunteers (once phil left). Only bad thing was the sandbad wall fell down AGAIN! and we had to put it up and add to it for the third time. But we have good workers right now so we did it in a day, pretty quickly.
Yesterday of course we came into town to Chicos Bar for the soccer game and it was a blast. Had a burger and a few drinks and watched the game with Bra and Cass. And by game of course i mean the World Cup Qualifier between Costa Rica and USA (Cass and I thought it pretty ironic and perfect that this game was going on and in our last days in montezuma none the less. Of course all the ticos at the bar were going crazy when they scored and had a few people rubbing it in our face. But we got the last laugh. For those of you who didn't care to watch. Costa Rica scored two goals within like 5 minutes of each other around like the 25 minute mark. We scored with about 20 minutes left in the game... and then on a header off a corner in the 6th minute of stoppage time right before the whistle blew....it was CRAZY. And with that, actually unfortunately, Costa Rica wont be in the world cup. That was the only negative haha whereas we're in for sure i think.
Tonight we're in town for our LAST SANO BANANO night...CRAZy and sad. We requested the Break Up so they are playing that for us tonight and our special table is reserved for us of course. I'm pretty excited for the movie...cant believe its our last one though. Last day here tomorrow then we leave bright and early at the crack of dawn on Saturday for San Jose...
Yesterday of course we came into town to Chicos Bar for the soccer game and it was a blast. Had a burger and a few drinks and watched the game with Bra and Cass. And by game of course i mean the World Cup Qualifier between Costa Rica and USA (Cass and I thought it pretty ironic and perfect that this game was going on and in our last days in montezuma none the less. Of course all the ticos at the bar were going crazy when they scored and had a few people rubbing it in our face. But we got the last laugh. For those of you who didn't care to watch. Costa Rica scored two goals within like 5 minutes of each other around like the 25 minute mark. We scored with about 20 minutes left in the game... and then on a header off a corner in the 6th minute of stoppage time right before the whistle blew....it was CRAZY. And with that, actually unfortunately, Costa Rica wont be in the world cup. That was the only negative haha whereas we're in for sure i think.
Tonight we're in town for our LAST SANO BANANO night...CRAZy and sad. We requested the Break Up so they are playing that for us tonight and our special table is reserved for us of course. I'm pretty excited for the movie...cant believe its our last one though. Last day here tomorrow then we leave bright and early at the crack of dawn on Saturday for San Jose...
Monday, October 12, 2009
Last Week in Montezuma
Our Jaco trip finished up well. We went to Playa Hermosa in the afternoon on Friday. It was an overcast day but it was still nice... a nice beach with some surfers to watch. Then we had dinner at a nice little restaurant along the beach. Fish, mashed potatoes and vegetables since we dont get many at Romelia. Then we headed back and hung out at our hostel in Jaco. Oh and watched seven pounds on some guys computer that night.
On our boat ride back to Montezuma we saw TONS of dolphins. They were all over, swimming and jumping right next to our speedboat. We also saw sea turtles in the water. A couple were mating...so now we´ve witnessed the whole cycle for the Turtles haha.
Now we´re back at Romelia of course... less than a week left here. Saw 3 turtles our first night back, another one last night. I´m enjoying it here but theres a bit of a stomach bug going around here (pretty sure phil started it) so it´ll be nice to get out of here, but of course bittersweet. We want to watch the Costa Rica USA game in the bar on Wed (hopefully patrol schedule allows) then our last Sano Banano movie on thursday, and hopefully a bonfire friday night then we leave saturday. Then its Volcan Poas the 18th, San Jose meeting up with David Hewitt on the 19th. Visiting Federico the 20th through 22nd then we head to panama on the 23rd for the rest of our trip.
On our boat ride back to Montezuma we saw TONS of dolphins. They were all over, swimming and jumping right next to our speedboat. We also saw sea turtles in the water. A couple were mating...so now we´ve witnessed the whole cycle for the Turtles haha.
Now we´re back at Romelia of course... less than a week left here. Saw 3 turtles our first night back, another one last night. I´m enjoying it here but theres a bit of a stomach bug going around here (pretty sure phil started it) so it´ll be nice to get out of here, but of course bittersweet. We want to watch the Costa Rica USA game in the bar on Wed (hopefully patrol schedule allows) then our last Sano Banano movie on thursday, and hopefully a bonfire friday night then we leave saturday. Then its Volcan Poas the 18th, San Jose meeting up with David Hewitt on the 19th. Visiting Federico the 20th through 22nd then we head to panama on the 23rd for the rest of our trip.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Rafting Naranja
So we went rafting yesterday morning. Really fun...but i was really scared most of the time haha. Partly because our raft guide was like mid 20s and quite careless. He was just going straight over big rocks without avoiding them... and me and cass were in the front going... dont we want to avoid that huge rock straight ahead? Which ended up being how we tipped one time... went over a big rock kinda sideways and just flipped us over! Yeah so that was interesting. it was fun though. After that we got free lunch then had a shuttle over to manuel antonio national park where we went on a short hike and hung out for a couple hours. We saw a few sloths!!! First ones since that first week when i could barely see it. It was cool, then we hung out at this hostel we're at. Actually we switched hostels yesterday becuase this one serves free breakfast, is a little cheaper, and has this sweet coffee shop that we like to chill at anyways (right next door to our first hostel). So when we got back just hung out and read then went and got pizza... got a medium pizza and a free small for about $8 total so it was a great deal. Today we were going to go to Playa Hermosa but its really rainy. I guess if it clears up we'll head over there or else we'll hang out here for the day and we're set to speedboat back to Montezuma tomorrow at 11.
Oh I forgot one of the main parts of the crocodile tour before... theres this famous tarcoles bridge where people go and throw food off the bridge like chicken and there are like easily 20 crocodiles under the bridge hanging out and will fight for food when its thrown. Apparently its actually illegal but you can pay off the police. So that was cool too. Anyways we got rafting pics and we'll post those on facebook soon.
Oh I forgot one of the main parts of the crocodile tour before... theres this famous tarcoles bridge where people go and throw food off the bridge like chicken and there are like easily 20 crocodiles under the bridge hanging out and will fight for food when its thrown. Apparently its actually illegal but you can pay off the police. So that was cool too. Anyways we got rafting pics and we'll post those on facebook soon.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Crocodile Tour
We did the crocodile tour this morning in Tarcoles. It was quite enjoyable, being the downseason some of the tours are very personal. A huge river boat with only like 8 people. So we floated up the Tarcoles river (which is the second largest river in Costa Rica). Apparently National Geographic came a few years ago i think it was, and named this river the most densely populated river with crocodiles in the world maybe... if not THE most densely populated then at least one of the most. They estimated 2000 crocodiles in the last 50 km over the river, thats around 32 or so miles.... CRAZY There were crocodiles everywhere just chillin in the water and on the banks. They have names for their largest crocodiles in the river... Osama Bin Ladin is the biggest at about 17 feet long!!! We kinda spotted him today but couldn't get him to get out of the water, he was hiding. We saw George Bush (a large headed extremely aggressive croc) and he really was aggressive... swimming along the boat and sizing us up. They said to stay clear of the edge with him. Then there is Fidel Castro I believe who we didn't see. The largest female is named Monica Lewinsky and the second largest female at about 10 feet long is named Hilary Clinton. Our tourguide got in the water with her and fed her chicken so we really got to see her in action and out of the water. She was so big I can't even imagine seeing Osama Bin Ladin in action (by the was they call him that because he' s good at hiding and i think rather evasive). But the pics on their Tshirts were of a man feeding Osama i'm pretty sure and the thing looked enormous.
On the way up the river we also saw all sorts of birds. Like storks, herons, black neck stilts, hawks and predatory birds, and also one bird that was just amazingly colored a bright pink with almost orangish tail feathers. It was a skinny bird kind of like the herons but just crazy colors. On our way back we went all the way to the mouth of the river where it outlets into the Pacific, so it is a tidal river which varies a lot in depth with the tide of the ocean. Just about at the mouth we took a right into a mangrove branch of the river (which is where we saw the pink bird). Apparently there are 8 or 9 species of mangroves in the world, 7 in costa rica, and 6 on that very river, they were pretty cool. Oh and Costa Rica has some odd 850 or so species of birds!!! i believe he said around 150 on that river. ( i may have forgotten the exact numbers). Anyways after that we came back chilled at a coffee shop and then checked out more shops around. Oh and booked our tour for white water rafting tomorrow...
That whole Package... breakfast, lunch, white water rafting, and manuel antonia national park tour...we got for 99 dollars each. Which is pretty dang good considering the guy said everyone else on the tour was paying 130... and i'm pretty sure that its probably even more than that in the high tourist season. There are definately positive aspects to coming when tourism is low. These store owners are really down for bargaining cuz they need business! Anyway till next time
On the way up the river we also saw all sorts of birds. Like storks, herons, black neck stilts, hawks and predatory birds, and also one bird that was just amazingly colored a bright pink with almost orangish tail feathers. It was a skinny bird kind of like the herons but just crazy colors. On our way back we went all the way to the mouth of the river where it outlets into the Pacific, so it is a tidal river which varies a lot in depth with the tide of the ocean. Just about at the mouth we took a right into a mangrove branch of the river (which is where we saw the pink bird). Apparently there are 8 or 9 species of mangroves in the world, 7 in costa rica, and 6 on that very river, they were pretty cool. Oh and Costa Rica has some odd 850 or so species of birds!!! i believe he said around 150 on that river. ( i may have forgotten the exact numbers). Anyways after that we came back chilled at a coffee shop and then checked out more shops around. Oh and booked our tour for white water rafting tomorrow...
That whole Package... breakfast, lunch, white water rafting, and manuel antonia national park tour...we got for 99 dollars each. Which is pretty dang good considering the guy said everyone else on the tour was paying 130... and i'm pretty sure that its probably even more than that in the high tourist season. There are definately positive aspects to coming when tourism is low. These store owners are really down for bargaining cuz they need business! Anyway till next time
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Jaco
Yesssss! We are in Jaco finally. Heard bad things about the place but we really like it so far. A lot of good shops (getting some good souvenirs here), a coffee shop we love, pastry shop we love, good hostel, nice beach, and a good location for tours. I was ancy to get out of Montezuma. We ended up hiking into town yesterday for our speed boat ride here only to find out the other 2 passengers bailed and they didn't make the trip for only 2 people. So we had to wait till this morning and call the place to find out if the boat ride was going that day... then we found out it was and had to quickly get our stuff together and get in town.
For some reason I wasn't as satisfied with Montezuma this week. Was missing some of the fun volunteers we had before. We have this depressing guy from the states there now. He was really sick but wouldn't go to the doctor... was supposed to leave but didn't because he felt sick...then stayed another night... now apparently staying 2 weeks because he has travelors diarhea (which is contagious). he smokes like a chinmey...had 3 packs the other morning and had Roger go into town to get him more. He lays in the hammock all day smoking so now the hammock smells like BO and smoke and i no longer want to sit in it. Anyways.... he's a depressing guy to have around.
SOOOO... glad to be in Jaco. Tomorrow we're doing a tour to Tarcoles where we get to do a boat ride and watch them feed crocs in the river should be really cool. The next day we'll hopefully be going to Manuel Antonio for an all day event. Breakfast, then water rafting in the morning, then lunch, and a wildlife tour where i hear that toucans, sloths, and other such creatures are prevalent. So these tours are a splurge but they should be the last major tours we pay for.
Rewind to today. The boat ride over was extremely enjoyable. Then we got settled in our hostel, took a short tour of the town, found a bakery where i was able to get 2 legit pastries for like a dollar, had Frapps at a legit little cafe watching the end of the Egypt/Costa Rica soccer game on a flat screen. Then got my watch fixed (it ran out of batteries in Montezuma which left us high and dry), then did some unexpected shopping, and had dinner and played Monopoly at the same little cafe as lunch (which is next to our hostel).
Oh and PS Cassidy so a dead Boa on the path on the way to Montezuma yesterday (somehow i missed it) A local was looking at it...apparently the biggest one the local has ever seen...didnt know there were ones that big around. My guess is it was around 6-8 inches diamter, maybe 8 to 10 feet long. Cool... oh and we saw a pod of dolphins
For some reason I wasn't as satisfied with Montezuma this week. Was missing some of the fun volunteers we had before. We have this depressing guy from the states there now. He was really sick but wouldn't go to the doctor... was supposed to leave but didn't because he felt sick...then stayed another night... now apparently staying 2 weeks because he has travelors diarhea (which is contagious). he smokes like a chinmey...had 3 packs the other morning and had Roger go into town to get him more. He lays in the hammock all day smoking so now the hammock smells like BO and smoke and i no longer want to sit in it. Anyways.... he's a depressing guy to have around.
SOOOO... glad to be in Jaco. Tomorrow we're doing a tour to Tarcoles where we get to do a boat ride and watch them feed crocs in the river should be really cool. The next day we'll hopefully be going to Manuel Antonio for an all day event. Breakfast, then water rafting in the morning, then lunch, and a wildlife tour where i hear that toucans, sloths, and other such creatures are prevalent. So these tours are a splurge but they should be the last major tours we pay for.
Rewind to today. The boat ride over was extremely enjoyable. Then we got settled in our hostel, took a short tour of the town, found a bakery where i was able to get 2 legit pastries for like a dollar, had Frapps at a legit little cafe watching the end of the Egypt/Costa Rica soccer game on a flat screen. Then got my watch fixed (it ran out of batteries in Montezuma which left us high and dry), then did some unexpected shopping, and had dinner and played Monopoly at the same little cafe as lunch (which is next to our hostel).
Oh and PS Cassidy so a dead Boa on the path on the way to Montezuma yesterday (somehow i missed it) A local was looking at it...apparently the biggest one the local has ever seen...didnt know there were ones that big around. My guess is it was around 6-8 inches diamter, maybe 8 to 10 feet long. Cool... oh and we saw a pod of dolphins
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Guachepelin
Hey everybody.
So our stay at Guachepelin was RIDICULOUS! So great. By far the nicest place we've stayed so far. It was just outside Liberia in a more dry forest area outside of the national park Rincon de la vieja. So they had a sweet pool, a restaurant where a buffet breakfast was served free. They actually had tvs in all the rooms ... very nice rooms might i add! A/C and candles in the rooms haha and also they had all sorts of things to do around the resort (which was like a working ranch theme). So the first night we just chilled at the hotel played some cards and watched my best friends wedding which was playing on TV. Then the next morning we went on a 3 Km hike around the Pailas portion of the park which had lagoons and active geiser type activity. Then we went to the Symbiosis spa they had and got the volcanic mud treatment. Its normally 20 dollars but its free in the downseason (now) so we just had to hitch a ride to the place. Then you do a short sauna, spread hot/warm volcanic mud on your skin, let it dry, and rinse it off in one of their hot spring mud baths and it is supposed to be good for your skin. It was fun anyways just to smear mud on ourselves.
The next day we got up really early and did the bigtime hike to the crater of the inactive and active volcanoes. The people at the tour place said it takes 7 to 8 hours round trip. We made it to the top in about 2 hours 15 minutes. Chilled there for a while, then on our way back we climbed the inactive crater. Then when we were about back we took a detour to another little site which was the rio blanco pool, which was 95 stairs (i counted), we did it all in 5 hours... needless to say our legs were dead. It was REALLY cool though. The ranger kinda made us nervous the day before because he was surprised we were going alone. He said not to get separated or lost he didn't want to have to search for us. Some kid from the US tried to do the hike by himself August 11th and they never found him. He must have fallen in the crater or something. It was sad...i saw his missing person poster in the office...crazy. But the hike wasn't really THAT bad. The next day our butts were SO sore though. We had big plans to splurge on a massage at the spa place but when we got there turned out in the down season you have to like call to liberia to get a massage person out there...so we just did the mud spa again. Then we went to rio negro crystal hot springs for a bit. then went back. That about summed up our amazing trip to Guachepelin...it was REALLY great though.
Right now we're back in montezuma. Just relocated 2 nests to the hatchery last night. The hatchery is officially in working order and has 10 nests in it already. We'll be here until monday then we're going to Jaco/tarcoles/and manuel antonia for like 5 days. Then back to montezuma for another week. Then san jose to panama and back home. Thats where the trip is right now. I'll keep you all posted on the exciting things going on :) Did i mention guachepelin was amazing...?
So our stay at Guachepelin was RIDICULOUS! So great. By far the nicest place we've stayed so far. It was just outside Liberia in a more dry forest area outside of the national park Rincon de la vieja. So they had a sweet pool, a restaurant where a buffet breakfast was served free. They actually had tvs in all the rooms ... very nice rooms might i add! A/C and candles in the rooms haha and also they had all sorts of things to do around the resort (which was like a working ranch theme). So the first night we just chilled at the hotel played some cards and watched my best friends wedding which was playing on TV. Then the next morning we went on a 3 Km hike around the Pailas portion of the park which had lagoons and active geiser type activity. Then we went to the Symbiosis spa they had and got the volcanic mud treatment. Its normally 20 dollars but its free in the downseason (now) so we just had to hitch a ride to the place. Then you do a short sauna, spread hot/warm volcanic mud on your skin, let it dry, and rinse it off in one of their hot spring mud baths and it is supposed to be good for your skin. It was fun anyways just to smear mud on ourselves.
The next day we got up really early and did the bigtime hike to the crater of the inactive and active volcanoes. The people at the tour place said it takes 7 to 8 hours round trip. We made it to the top in about 2 hours 15 minutes. Chilled there for a while, then on our way back we climbed the inactive crater. Then when we were about back we took a detour to another little site which was the rio blanco pool, which was 95 stairs (i counted), we did it all in 5 hours... needless to say our legs were dead. It was REALLY cool though. The ranger kinda made us nervous the day before because he was surprised we were going alone. He said not to get separated or lost he didn't want to have to search for us. Some kid from the US tried to do the hike by himself August 11th and they never found him. He must have fallen in the crater or something. It was sad...i saw his missing person poster in the office...crazy. But the hike wasn't really THAT bad. The next day our butts were SO sore though. We had big plans to splurge on a massage at the spa place but when we got there turned out in the down season you have to like call to liberia to get a massage person out there...so we just did the mud spa again. Then we went to rio negro crystal hot springs for a bit. then went back. That about summed up our amazing trip to Guachepelin...it was REALLY great though.
Right now we're back in montezuma. Just relocated 2 nests to the hatchery last night. The hatchery is officially in working order and has 10 nests in it already. We'll be here until monday then we're going to Jaco/tarcoles/and manuel antonia for like 5 days. Then back to montezuma for another week. Then san jose to panama and back home. Thats where the trip is right now. I'll keep you all posted on the exciting things going on :) Did i mention guachepelin was amazing...?
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Nicaragua
Well there have been a lot of changes in our plans and events that took place since my last post at Pangea. We took a Tica bus at 3 in the morning to Nicaragua. It started out great, fell asleep for like 3 hours (it was really spacious and luxurious) and woke up to breakfast. They gave us French toast sticks from Burger King which were AMAZING. Then reached the border at about 7. We were told the border was the best place to exchange money. Well we got off the bus and there were guys coming up to us trying to exchange money. Well Cass changed her money and i guy was trying to exchange mine but i was really skeptical so I was walking around trying to ask someone what the correct amount was. So the bus driver assistant looked at what the guy was exchanging for and said that it was correct so we both finished exchanging our money only to find out later that it WASN'T right and we lost a lot of money in the exchange. At this news, it was upsetting. But Cass already was having doubts about going to Panama so this put her over the edge. She said she didn't have money to go to granada and leon... a lady on the bus said it was expensive and said she was going to san juan del sur which was near the border, a beach town, and cheaper. Yada Yada Yada...4 hours after our bus trip starts we end up not getting back on the bus and going to the full way that we'd paid for with our ticket...taking a sketchy route straight to San Juan Del Sur from the border, booking 3 nights for the both of us at $25 total (actually like 4 a night each which is ridiculous!), and heading back to Costa Rica tomorrow. So...I was pretty upset and we were in complete disagreement, but unfortunately I wont be seeing as much of Nicaragua as I would have liked to and thought I was going to.
So...the last two days we've been here in an amazing little shop and beach town called San Juan Del Sur. We've lived amazingly cheap after our little incident. Of course with the cheap hostel, and then we bought groceries to make breakfast lunch and dinner all three days for $7.50 each. Tonight, however, is our splurge night and we're going to go out to a restaurant on the beach. They have a lot of cute, cheap shops so we visited them yesterday and then were able to rent a movie... 27 dresses... and watched it at our hostel which was an amazing luxury. Not to mention (fate i'm sure of it), when i turned on the tv they were letting us use to watch the movie...what was on but SEINFELD!!! So we watched the rest of the episode (when elaine eats petermans 28,000 slice of cake and george bought the frogger machine from his old restaurant) and then watched the movie. It was really fun.
This morning we rented bikes from our hostel and we rode to the next beach which was a really secluded little beach with almost no one there. It was a nice 45 or so minute bike ride through the hills of nicaragua, of course close to the coast, but it was really pretty. Downside...the bikes werent that great so it was really bumpy and my legs got tired because i couldn't raise the seat, change gears, and the pedals squeaked loud. It was still fun tho! Right now we're gonna go get a coffee drink then have our dinner and we're taking a bus out of here at 6:30 tomorrow and headed to Liberia, Costa Rica and Guachepelin.
Pura Vida!
So...the last two days we've been here in an amazing little shop and beach town called San Juan Del Sur. We've lived amazingly cheap after our little incident. Of course with the cheap hostel, and then we bought groceries to make breakfast lunch and dinner all three days for $7.50 each. Tonight, however, is our splurge night and we're going to go out to a restaurant on the beach. They have a lot of cute, cheap shops so we visited them yesterday and then were able to rent a movie... 27 dresses... and watched it at our hostel which was an amazing luxury. Not to mention (fate i'm sure of it), when i turned on the tv they were letting us use to watch the movie...what was on but SEINFELD!!! So we watched the rest of the episode (when elaine eats petermans 28,000 slice of cake and george bought the frogger machine from his old restaurant) and then watched the movie. It was really fun.
This morning we rented bikes from our hostel and we rode to the next beach which was a really secluded little beach with almost no one there. It was a nice 45 or so minute bike ride through the hills of nicaragua, of course close to the coast, but it was really pretty. Downside...the bikes werent that great so it was really bumpy and my legs got tired because i couldn't raise the seat, change gears, and the pedals squeaked loud. It was still fun tho! Right now we're gonna go get a coffee drink then have our dinner and we're taking a bus out of here at 6:30 tomorrow and headed to Liberia, Costa Rica and Guachepelin.
Pura Vida!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Pangea
Hey I know I haven´t had posts up much recently but we´ve just been doing our thing in Montezuma for the past two weeks. Like i said last time, the hatchery is pretty much done which is good because tide has been getting ridiculously high these days. I never thought the height of our sandbag wall would ever really be needed but I can see now that it is really important. We also built a little hut next to the hatchery for when people have hatchery shifts. We made it from drift wood, bamboo, and palm leaves... its pretty cute.
Right now, however, we´re back in San Jose at good óle hostel pangea. We plan to hit up central market in a minute then we´ll just chill here for the night and tomorrow morning at 3 am is our but to Nicaragua. Its a 9 or so hour ride so it will actually be nice to leave that early and hopefully sleep most of the way! We should get there by noon which will be great. Our bus ride back to San JOse was rather long... we had to stand for about two and a half hours of it. And coming from MOntezuma we were the last ones back on the bus after the ferry so we were screwed (along with about 8 others from Montezuma) and when people got off along the way we were the last ones to fill seats (hence standing on the bus two and a half of the 3 hour trip from the ferry to san jose). Fabulous but it feels good to be back in San Jose for the night. I dont remember if i saiid last time what we were hitting up in Nicaragua. I think I did but I´ll just repeat myself incase I didn´t. We´re going to spend a couple nights at Ometepe Island, then Granada and Old Messiah Marketplace, then maybe Leon though we might not, then San Juan Del Sar. Then as a little splurge for ourselves we´ll stay at Guachepelin resort in Guanacaste whch Cassidy had seen on the travel channel which apparently has really high praise. Of course splurging here will be like only 20 or 30 a night but they have spas and things we are considering...since we are particularly dirty here haha. When we return from this trip we will be in the last third of our trip (crazy!). Then we´re plannin on staying in MOntezuma for another week, taking a 4 or 5 day trip by speedboat to Jaco and the southern pacific coast, then stay in Montezuma another week. Then we´ll be leaving Montezuma for good, spend a week in Panama (Cassidy´s uncle has connections there and supposedly will be hooking us up pretty good) then head back and spend our last few nights visiting our good ole friend Federico at his home near san jose (i mentioned him in an early post as a native who volunteered the first week and sounds like he´s on the discovery channel) anyways thats the outlook so far. We get sick of some of the long bus rides and travel so hopefully Nicaragua will be worth it! Later
Right now, however, we´re back in San Jose at good óle hostel pangea. We plan to hit up central market in a minute then we´ll just chill here for the night and tomorrow morning at 3 am is our but to Nicaragua. Its a 9 or so hour ride so it will actually be nice to leave that early and hopefully sleep most of the way! We should get there by noon which will be great. Our bus ride back to San JOse was rather long... we had to stand for about two and a half hours of it. And coming from MOntezuma we were the last ones back on the bus after the ferry so we were screwed (along with about 8 others from Montezuma) and when people got off along the way we were the last ones to fill seats (hence standing on the bus two and a half of the 3 hour trip from the ferry to san jose). Fabulous but it feels good to be back in San Jose for the night. I dont remember if i saiid last time what we were hitting up in Nicaragua. I think I did but I´ll just repeat myself incase I didn´t. We´re going to spend a couple nights at Ometepe Island, then Granada and Old Messiah Marketplace, then maybe Leon though we might not, then San Juan Del Sar. Then as a little splurge for ourselves we´ll stay at Guachepelin resort in Guanacaste whch Cassidy had seen on the travel channel which apparently has really high praise. Of course splurging here will be like only 20 or 30 a night but they have spas and things we are considering...since we are particularly dirty here haha. When we return from this trip we will be in the last third of our trip (crazy!). Then we´re plannin on staying in MOntezuma for another week, taking a 4 or 5 day trip by speedboat to Jaco and the southern pacific coast, then stay in Montezuma another week. Then we´ll be leaving Montezuma for good, spend a week in Panama (Cassidy´s uncle has connections there and supposedly will be hooking us up pretty good) then head back and spend our last few nights visiting our good ole friend Federico at his home near san jose (i mentioned him in an early post as a native who volunteered the first week and sounds like he´s on the discovery channel) anyways thats the outlook so far. We get sick of some of the long bus rides and travel so hopefully Nicaragua will be worth it! Later
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Montezuma
Hey all
Still in Montezuma right now just laying low till our trip which starts this sunday. We´re going to San Jose for a night, then taking a bus to Nicaragua and going straight to Omatepe island. Then to Granada and Old Messiah market. Then Leon, down to San Juan Del Sar then we´re going to stay a few days in Guanacaste, which is back in Costa Rica. Probably at a resort called Guachepelin but we´ll see. The hatchery is almost finished, just putting the last bit of fence around it then we´ll be able to relocate nests into it and take shifts watching over it. Tonight, cass and I are both leading our own separate night patrols which is a first so that will be cool. Thats pretty much all the updates for now, just been having a good time with a lot of down time now that the hatchery is almost done.
Hay
Still in Montezuma right now just laying low till our trip which starts this sunday. We´re going to San Jose for a night, then taking a bus to Nicaragua and going straight to Omatepe island. Then to Granada and Old Messiah market. Then Leon, down to San Juan Del Sar then we´re going to stay a few days in Guanacaste, which is back in Costa Rica. Probably at a resort called Guachepelin but we´ll see. The hatchery is almost finished, just putting the last bit of fence around it then we´ll be able to relocate nests into it and take shifts watching over it. Tonight, cass and I are both leading our own separate night patrols which is a first so that will be cool. Thats pretty much all the updates for now, just been having a good time with a lot of down time now that the hatchery is almost done.
Hay
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Back in Montezuma
So i should clear this up immediately... apparently costa rica plays el salvidor tonight IN el salvidor or something. Turns out language barrier is a problem... this guy is legit but he's actually the president of the Liberia soccer team in the futbol club in Costa Rica. I think they have a game in San Jose that we could get in for free and stay at this guys house and the whole thing...but we feel bad asking for time off for a game thats not as big as the international costa rican team so we aren't going to go. Just back in Romelia working hard on the hatchery and some other projects again.. but our trip was great! looking forward to the next one. Working on downloading some pics from it onto facebook and my skydrive through hotmail.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Tamarindo
So we took the shuttle this morning from Monteverde to Tamarindo. Tamarindo is a beach town which is way more touristy than most places we've been. Touristy as in they have a Subway and pizza hut and TCBY and its not as primitive as many places. Suprisingly we couldn't even find a little coffee shop/bakery that was open before hitting up the beach. We ended up going to this little Mandarin Fruit Smoothie place to have a fruity drink. These guys started talking to us and offered to pay for our drinks and we sat down and chatted with them...and the one guy is actually the president of the Costa Rican soccer team...as in the national team that just lost to mexico 3 to 0 and plays el salvidor on Saturday trying to get into the World Cup. He was wearing umbro and had the shirt on too. So crazy as it is he said he could watch his team practice in Liberia anytime and he can give us tickets to the game this Saturday in San Jose...CRAZY!!! He offered to fly us to San Jose from Montezuma but we asked for a 3rd ticket for Braulio... this 19 year old costa rican from Gandoca who is part of the staff... he is knowledgible enough to work with the turtles. He's been at Romelia for like 3 months and we're good friends with him....he's in some facebook pics. We play soccer with him and we thought it would so cool for him to get to go! Anyways... the point is we're going to just take the bus to san jose friday (hopefully if all works out) and catch the game at 11 saturday morning and we can stay at this guys house while we're in San Jose. So... we're cutting our time here short (seeing as all we can do is sit on the beach and we're not going to be volunteering long before leaving AGAIN) and heading back to Romelia tomorrow morning. So basically it was just the craziest thing to run into this guy who is the president of soccer in Costa Rica and have him buy us drinks and invite us to the game for free. We were freakin out (needless to say). So thats what is going on right now... this just happened about an hour ago and we're fixing our plans around.
Aside from that I have some interesting other tidbits. I forgot to say that on our shuttle from Arenal to Monteverde the guy next to us in the van started talking to us...turns out he is from Ogden and just graduated from Weber this May just like me... CRAZY. He's a 31 year old mormon and he's been all over central america the last 3 months. We also started chattin with this guy who was in the serpantarium with us in Monteverde and he said he'd been livin in the Tri-cities a short time as a physical therapist. He was just touring around for a few weeks. Then we saw him at lunch... then he happened to be riding the same shuttle here to Tamarindo. Its just crazy how you meet people...and if you see someone once you'll probably run into them 2 or 3 times... thats how its been.
On the shuttle here we saw our first Toucan, and we saw loads of scarlet macaws at a bus stop. So our wildlife total is:
loads of turtles (olive ridley), a whale, a toucan, scarlet macaws, a sloth, loads of howler monkeys, loads of capuchins, a family of Spider monkeys, loads of enormous Iguanas, a huge stick insect, lots of little stick insects, 3 turantulas, giant grasshoppers, lots of Coatis, another jumping relative of the raccoon, fresh Jaguar footprints, LOADS of Blue Morph butterflies, a few other interesting bird species, an owl, and thats all i can recall right now. Oh except i saw the fleeting image of a small cat at night on the side of the road on our ride from Puntarenas to San Jose on Tuesday but it was so fast i couldnt tell what it was... but i know it was a wild cat.
So thats the news from now...basically we have ridiculous luck and we're going to the Costa Rica El Salvidor game this Saturday for free and staying at the house of the president of the team....and hell for all i know he'll probably have us meet the team
Aside from that I have some interesting other tidbits. I forgot to say that on our shuttle from Arenal to Monteverde the guy next to us in the van started talking to us...turns out he is from Ogden and just graduated from Weber this May just like me... CRAZY. He's a 31 year old mormon and he's been all over central america the last 3 months. We also started chattin with this guy who was in the serpantarium with us in Monteverde and he said he'd been livin in the Tri-cities a short time as a physical therapist. He was just touring around for a few weeks. Then we saw him at lunch... then he happened to be riding the same shuttle here to Tamarindo. Its just crazy how you meet people...and if you see someone once you'll probably run into them 2 or 3 times... thats how its been.
On the shuttle here we saw our first Toucan, and we saw loads of scarlet macaws at a bus stop. So our wildlife total is:
loads of turtles (olive ridley), a whale, a toucan, scarlet macaws, a sloth, loads of howler monkeys, loads of capuchins, a family of Spider monkeys, loads of enormous Iguanas, a huge stick insect, lots of little stick insects, 3 turantulas, giant grasshoppers, lots of Coatis, another jumping relative of the raccoon, fresh Jaguar footprints, LOADS of Blue Morph butterflies, a few other interesting bird species, an owl, and thats all i can recall right now. Oh except i saw the fleeting image of a small cat at night on the side of the road on our ride from Puntarenas to San Jose on Tuesday but it was so fast i couldnt tell what it was... but i know it was a wild cat.
So thats the news from now...basically we have ridiculous luck and we're going to the Costa Rica El Salvidor game this Saturday for free and staying at the house of the president of the team....and hell for all i know he'll probably have us meet the team
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Monteverde
We took the shuttle yesterday morning from Arenal to Santa Elena (Monteverde). We're staying at this place called Casa Tranquillo... SO CUTE. Its an amazing little hostel with 2 double beds, a private room for us and bathroom, towels and soap, free breakfast, free coffee all day, community kitchen area usage for just $10 a night. Which you have to imagine we've often stayed in rooms with dorm beds with 4 to 6 people in bunk beds without towels and community bathrooms and often no breakfast. It was a steal...and such a cute little place. So we were thrilled about that... We did the serpantarium yesterday which was an exhibit for snakes in Costa Rica (a couple fer-de-lance coral snakes). It was pretty cool. Then we did a night hike which we were thoroughly disappointed with. It was not very intense. You are supposed to sometimes see the bigger night life animals like armadillos or certain monkey type animals or even cats (very rare) but there was a REALLY loud annoying girl from california...we were SO ANNOYED. We definately gonna see anything with her talking and her questions were SO stupid. like... what eats birds here? or are there frogs here? or to spiders eat other spiders? Because basically all we saw were insects. A big walking stick and a few huge turantulas we're basically it (although the turantulas were cool) So we were disappointed after that.
This morning, however, we did the extreme canopy zipline tour which was amazing. It was about 2 hours of doing ziplines of various lengths and also a Tarzan swing which was like a long drop then big swing out... really intense actually. The last zipline (about 1000meters long i think...) you could do the zipline superman style which of course i tried. It was amazing. We got tons of pics and videos which we'll be uploading soon. We've loved monteverde...though its raining right now... but we'll be heading to Tamarindo on a shuttle tomorrow morning (big beach scene on the pacific side just a few hours north of Montezuma). So I'll catch you all later!
This morning, however, we did the extreme canopy zipline tour which was amazing. It was about 2 hours of doing ziplines of various lengths and also a Tarzan swing which was like a long drop then big swing out... really intense actually. The last zipline (about 1000meters long i think...) you could do the zipline superman style which of course i tried. It was amazing. We got tons of pics and videos which we'll be uploading soon. We've loved monteverde...though its raining right now... but we'll be heading to Tamarindo on a shuttle tomorrow morning (big beach scene on the pacific side just a few hours north of Montezuma). So I'll catch you all later!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Arenal
Right now we are at Arenal backpackers... you can tell by my pics on facebook its SWEET! such a cool place. We took a tour up to the mountain today. We were able to go to an observatory really close to the volcano, took a hike to a nearby hanging bridge and waterfall, then catch sunset by the volcano and see lava flow down in the dark. It wasn't the best day since it was cloudy but i think good days are hard to come by around here. After that they took us a too a natural hot springs. It was real cool... you slide down into a larger pool area and if you hike farther up the springs (which is semi difficult because the rock was flat and really slippery) there was a spot where 2 rivers or streams merged... one was cold and one was a hot so you could position yourself for any temperature. In the cold one, on the hot side, or sit in a spot where they merged at the right temperature. It was cool but Julio our tour guide who was really cool in the beginning started coming on a little too strong!!! So that made the hot springs a little less enjoyable but overall it was really fun! tomorrow we're taking a shuttle to monteverde where we are going to do a canopy tour (zipline at the treetops) and check out some other animal exhibits and hanging bridges.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Baby Turtles
We finally got to see a nest of baby turtles go to sea. On the first day, just one little guy came up earlier than all the rest and went to sea right before Cass and I went to dinner and a movie (had to see revolutionary road since cass loves kate and leo). I didnt mention how we met an older lady when we saw the first movie (curious case of benjamin button). Shes an older lady and she told us her and her husband have been coming here for 2 months every year for the past 20 years when it gets too hot in california, but her husband recently died so it was her first time coming without him. Naturally after that we kept running into her. We ran into her on the beach coming back from Montezuma the day before the movie, and we saw her little house she rents and had iced tea on her porch listening to all her crazy adventures! She also gave me two books for the road: Kite Runner and the sequel which was something like a thousand suns. Anyways she was really nice and she went to revolutionary road too but her last day in costa rica was yesterday. After the movie i bought some smore goods (marshmellows and chocolate cookie things) in montezuma for if we had a fire...and crazy enough low and behold me and cass were walking back to our camp and by some miracle....fate... we run into a perfect smore fire on the beach, deserted, perfect coals, so we stopped and roasted a few...it was RIDICULOUS! The next day (which was yesterday) we went back to the nest because more should have been hatching and we saw pretty much the rest of the nest (about 88 turtles i believe) make their way down to the ocean...pretty spectacular and we got some good pictures. Oh and i never mentioned...prolly about a week ago we had another soccer game on the beach and when we finished we saw some whales off the coast which was pretty cool.
So right now we are in San Jose. Were taking the week to travel to Volcano Arenal, Monteverde, and most likely Guanacaste and Tamarindo as well. We were going to go the other direction and speedboat to Tamarindo first but the speedboat is undependable, they didnt have enough people booked for the trip. But it should be a fun trip...theres tons to do in Monteverde and Volcan Arenal is supposed to be beautiful. We also are BOTH spending all of our time at Romelia now and talking breaks for trips. The plan right now is this week trip, then 2 weeks volunteering in MOntezuma, then a week trip to Nicaragua, then a week volunteering, 2 week trip to jaco and panama, then the final week volunteering. So theres the plan for now! Its late so im gonna get some sleep...just wanted to give the update.
So right now we are in San Jose. Were taking the week to travel to Volcano Arenal, Monteverde, and most likely Guanacaste and Tamarindo as well. We were going to go the other direction and speedboat to Tamarindo first but the speedboat is undependable, they didnt have enough people booked for the trip. But it should be a fun trip...theres tons to do in Monteverde and Volcan Arenal is supposed to be beautiful. We also are BOTH spending all of our time at Romelia now and talking breaks for trips. The plan right now is this week trip, then 2 weeks volunteering in MOntezuma, then a week trip to Nicaragua, then a week volunteering, 2 week trip to jaco and panama, then the final week volunteering. So theres the plan for now! Its late so im gonna get some sleep...just wanted to give the update.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Montezuma Waterfalls
We hiked up to Montezuma Waterfalls today. There are 3 of them and wé have gone twice and had a hell of a time figuring out where the waterfalls were and whether we were at the first second or third. We got kinda lost today and went on a tough hike well past where we needed to go haha...walked down to some rocky rapids and stumbled along till we decided we had passed all the waterfalls. Saw some fresh cat prints tho. Anyways we made our way back and saw all the waterfalls. Really cool waterfalls! but cassidys camera died before we got pics.
Last night at the dinner and movie we watched city of god. A brazilian movie in subtitles but was really good...would recommend it. Then walked back to Romelia in the pouring rain and thunderstorm.
Well Cass and I are planning on leaving on tuesday to speed boat to Tamarindo then bus up to Guanacasta and spend a few days there, then bus up to Nicaragua and spend a few days there before returning here to Romelia to volunteer for another week.
Last night at the dinner and movie we watched city of god. A brazilian movie in subtitles but was really good...would recommend it. Then walked back to Romelia in the pouring rain and thunderstorm.
Well Cass and I are planning on leaving on tuesday to speed boat to Tamarindo then bus up to Guanacasta and spend a few days there, then bus up to Nicaragua and spend a few days there before returning here to Romelia to volunteer for another week.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Montezuma cont
Hey just a quick update. Of course we've been back in Montezuma all week working on the hatchery...working really hard! We had a visitor to help us with the hatchery...he heads another turtle project at Buena Vista. We've been starting to have some problems with lenin the head of our project...just because he never helps and doesn't do much. Its just hard to respect him when this guy from the head of another project is helping and he can't believe lenin never helps out! anywho just working hard and enjoying our time. had a bonfire the other night because some guys who had been here a while were heading back to mexico. Thats all for now i have to go because we're in montezuma for a movie and dinner night because kelsey (who has been here a month) leaves tomorrow. Me and cass went on sunday and saw benjamin button tho...its a pretty sweet place (first TV/movie we've since since we left)
Anyways later
hay
Anyways later
hay
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Santa Teresa
Hey...this will be short because I just posted a blog yesterday. But me and Cass got the best days off because I guess its gonna be hell getting the hatchery done in the next two days...but we've done more than our fair share of work there. We took an hour bus ride (the buses go slow because it was like a rock road windy up and down hills but really cool) that costs only about 2 dollars. We are staying at a cool hostel called Tranquillo Backpackers. they have hammocks everywhere, free internet and all you can eat pancakes in the morning which i'm looking forward to since we eat rice and beans three meals a day at Romelia. So we chilled on the beach today, got some fresh fruit and veggies at a farmers market, had some AMAZING ice cream, and ate at a fabulous fresh roasted chicken place which came highly recommended in the Lonely Planet guidebook. Our roommate is a cool guy from new zealand. Textbook... cute blonde surfer with a nice accent, real cool guy. Thats about it, headed back to montezuma tomorrow and gonna do a short waterfall hike and eat at a restaurant in town which plays movies with dinner...which will be cool cuz it will feel like home. i haven't watched a movie in forever and they are actually quite current movies like he's just not that into you, yes man, changling, and a new one i hadnt even heard of, crossing over. till next time...pura vida
Friday, August 21, 2009
Romelia
I haven't had an entry for a while so I'm sure a lot has happened! Well we've been really loving it here near Montezuma at the Volunteer project Romelia. We have been doing tons of work, spending hours working at the hatchery. Me and Cass alone have probably filled 150 sand bags and carried them and made a wall to guard the hatchery from high tides. We have spent hours shoveling sand. On top of that there are night patrols, cleaning and making trails because this area is going to be a national park although it isn't yet and they will need trails. So we are clearing the trails picking up garbage and building bridges. But there are many more odd jobs on top of that since the place has only been open for about 4 months so they are still fixing it up for future volunteers. I wish I could post pictures because the location is absolutely beautiful!
It was really fun the first week because it was an intimate group of people and some characters! In the last like 3 days we've had 3 germans show up, a girl from poland, a boy from ireland, 2 girls from the UK and 3 Canadians last night so it is packed now. It was frustrating because me Cassidy and the Canadian Kelsey had been here for a while longer and didn't have much help, were working hours a day in the hatchery by ourselves, and some of the people that just showed up seem really lazy. Anywho for the most part they are cool people but luckily none are staying long so we'll finish the hatchery and then it'll be back down to only a few of us which will be nice.
We absolutely LOVE our coffee...coffee breaks all of the time and nothing makes us happier. We have a full time volunteer cook now so that is nice...and he is quite a character. Oh and after a really tough day at the hatchery on tuesday (me cass and kelsey worked the hatchery from 5am to 7am, 9 to 12 and then 2 to 5 with minimal occassional help) the boys challenged us to a soccer game on the beach and we won 5 to 4. It was SO much fun...ridiculous. THe boys actually didn't want it to be girls vs boys because they thought it wouldn't be fun. They said we would try it for 2 minutes and then if we never touched the ball they would switch up the teams... so it was rather funny when we beat them. Needless to say cass and I scored all 5 goals. haha
Last sunday (backtracking a bit) Cass and I had the day off and took a boat ride from montezuma to tortuga island (about and hour boat ride) where we got to snorkel, lay on a pretty sweet beach, free lunch and drinks so it was a really nice day. Snorkeling wasn't that amazing but it was still fun. We might some guys from Atlanta and had a good seinfeld quiz session on the boat ride back (which was scary by the way cuz we were in a little boat and the waves were ridiculous). Last thing...we plan to take tomorrow and sunday off and take a dollar bus ride to Santa Teresa and stay there a night so that should be fun. I'm sure I could say more haha but i think this novel is long enough. If anyone wants a post card leave your address and i'll send one (of course no need for mom and dad)
Love you all, Pura Vida!!!
Hayley
It was really fun the first week because it was an intimate group of people and some characters! In the last like 3 days we've had 3 germans show up, a girl from poland, a boy from ireland, 2 girls from the UK and 3 Canadians last night so it is packed now. It was frustrating because me Cassidy and the Canadian Kelsey had been here for a while longer and didn't have much help, were working hours a day in the hatchery by ourselves, and some of the people that just showed up seem really lazy. Anywho for the most part they are cool people but luckily none are staying long so we'll finish the hatchery and then it'll be back down to only a few of us which will be nice.
We absolutely LOVE our coffee...coffee breaks all of the time and nothing makes us happier. We have a full time volunteer cook now so that is nice...and he is quite a character. Oh and after a really tough day at the hatchery on tuesday (me cass and kelsey worked the hatchery from 5am to 7am, 9 to 12 and then 2 to 5 with minimal occassional help) the boys challenged us to a soccer game on the beach and we won 5 to 4. It was SO much fun...ridiculous. THe boys actually didn't want it to be girls vs boys because they thought it wouldn't be fun. They said we would try it for 2 minutes and then if we never touched the ball they would switch up the teams... so it was rather funny when we beat them. Needless to say cass and I scored all 5 goals. haha
Last sunday (backtracking a bit) Cass and I had the day off and took a boat ride from montezuma to tortuga island (about and hour boat ride) where we got to snorkel, lay on a pretty sweet beach, free lunch and drinks so it was a really nice day. Snorkeling wasn't that amazing but it was still fun. We might some guys from Atlanta and had a good seinfeld quiz session on the boat ride back (which was scary by the way cuz we were in a little boat and the waves were ridiculous). Last thing...we plan to take tomorrow and sunday off and take a dollar bus ride to Santa Teresa and stay there a night so that should be fun. I'm sure I could say more haha but i think this novel is long enough. If anyone wants a post card leave your address and i'll send one (of course no need for mom and dad)
Love you all, Pura Vida!!!
Hayley
Friday, August 14, 2009
First Turtles!!!
Me and Cass FINALLY saw our first turtles come on the beach and nest. It was funny cuz it was when our spirits were lowest...we were on a patrol cracking jokes about never seeing a turtle and then...low and behold a turtle made its way on the beach and built a nest...and when we were finishing that one another turtle came up so two in one night. Since they were on a very busy beach at montezuma..we relocated the eggs to the beach outside our project called playa grande or playa cocoa... much less traffic so they will be safer. There was another turtle that night on the beach by our place and last night there were 3 more. We only saw the two that came up a few days ago. It was really cool though. Since then we´ve done some more training on turtles and how to find a nest, dig it out, relocate it and triangulate its position. We also are still working on the hatchery. We filled sand bags today.
Last night was really cool cuz there was the most ridiculous thunder storm i´ve ever seen. it was around 2 hours long probably and it wasn´t like a normal storm where there are big breaks between strikes. it was 2 solid hours of lightning strikes lighting up the dark cloudy sky barely ever more than one or two seconds apart. we walked to the beach and saw it from there and saw a few strike the ocean in the distanc.e.. probably one of the coolest things i have ever seen. also yesterday we did an hour hike on the beach to get to a cute little waterfall and swim in a river that looked so cool...it was oulet into the ocean but it looked straight up jungle and i hope there werent crocs in it haha.
Thats basically all for now. its just been really cool here cuz there aren´t too many people but all the people are fun and nice. We lost a bet against the two staff from costa rica that USA would beat mexico so we owe them drinks. it was pretty funny. Oh and there is this one guy and his daughter. it kills me listening to him. he is the human almanac or something. He knows random trivia about EVERYTHING and you feel like you´re watching the discovery channel if you bring up something simple and he gives this way long detailed explanation sounding very professional, enthusiastic and thorough. I wish you could here him it cracks me up...24 hours a day too. Anyways thats all for now..have to go help them carry back groceries from the store. Having a good time tho but also excited for when we get to do traveling
Last night was really cool cuz there was the most ridiculous thunder storm i´ve ever seen. it was around 2 hours long probably and it wasn´t like a normal storm where there are big breaks between strikes. it was 2 solid hours of lightning strikes lighting up the dark cloudy sky barely ever more than one or two seconds apart. we walked to the beach and saw it from there and saw a few strike the ocean in the distanc.e.. probably one of the coolest things i have ever seen. also yesterday we did an hour hike on the beach to get to a cute little waterfall and swim in a river that looked so cool...it was oulet into the ocean but it looked straight up jungle and i hope there werent crocs in it haha.
Thats basically all for now. its just been really cool here cuz there aren´t too many people but all the people are fun and nice. We lost a bet against the two staff from costa rica that USA would beat mexico so we owe them drinks. it was pretty funny. Oh and there is this one guy and his daughter. it kills me listening to him. he is the human almanac or something. He knows random trivia about EVERYTHING and you feel like you´re watching the discovery channel if you bring up something simple and he gives this way long detailed explanation sounding very professional, enthusiastic and thorough. I wish you could here him it cracks me up...24 hours a day too. Anyways thats all for now..have to go help them carry back groceries from the store. Having a good time tho but also excited for when we get to do traveling
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Montezuma
So cool... we could tell right away this Pacific Coast was more our style. It was neat to see the Caribean because it was very remote and legit rainforest...but this side kicks ass. the caribean is more poor and kind of unsanitary. Only been here a day but it has been sunny so i´m going to get a tan after all and also the volunteering here is much more intense. we are building a hatchery right now so doing a lot of work dig ditches in the sand and making sandbags to put up for a wall against the tide. The place is so cool here...still very primitive we dont even have electricity and actually a 30 min beach walk from montezuma...but its so beautiful and more organized. We are also going to be clearing trails and doing shorter night patrols on the beach for turtles. Overall very different from the other organization but very cool.
Unfortunately ...again... my camera was stolen. they got into my adidas bag and into my camera case and then replaced it took nothing else and zipped my camera case back up. its off the beach quite a ways so i have an instinct it was someone at the place. definately upsetting... but i seem to be a target for it so i´m almost becoming immune. at least i downloading almost all my latest pics but too bad it was so early in the trip. but thats the reason i brought nothing else valuable. backtracking... we arrived in san jose at around 3 on sunday and our program guy (Henry) who takes care of the costa rican volunteers in the program is the sweetest man ever. He drove cass and i around for about 6 or 7 hours to places in san jose...bought us dinner, coffees, ice cream and packs lunches for us when we go out on bus rides SO SWEET! so he sent us off from san jose on a bus at 6 am yesterday took a bus, ferry, bus again, van and then walked and arrived at our volunteer base at like maybe 1 yesterday so long travel day. but for the most part we´re happy here. thats all for now...we have to haul back to the project to start hatchery work
Unfortunately ...again... my camera was stolen. they got into my adidas bag and into my camera case and then replaced it took nothing else and zipped my camera case back up. its off the beach quite a ways so i have an instinct it was someone at the place. definately upsetting... but i seem to be a target for it so i´m almost becoming immune. at least i downloading almost all my latest pics but too bad it was so early in the trip. but thats the reason i brought nothing else valuable. backtracking... we arrived in san jose at around 3 on sunday and our program guy (Henry) who takes care of the costa rican volunteers in the program is the sweetest man ever. He drove cass and i around for about 6 or 7 hours to places in san jose...bought us dinner, coffees, ice cream and packs lunches for us when we go out on bus rides SO SWEET! so he sent us off from san jose on a bus at 6 am yesterday took a bus, ferry, bus again, van and then walked and arrived at our volunteer base at like maybe 1 yesterday so long travel day. but for the most part we´re happy here. thats all for now...we have to haul back to the project to start hatchery work
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Puerto Viejo
We finished our time at Boca Chica...left this morning on a short bus ride to Puerto Viejo (our 3rd time here). We are at hostel Pagalu which the head biologist at Boca Chica recommended and got us a spot in. Overall I had a good time at Boca Chica...it rained almost thewhole time! but I guess thats what makes it green. I had two shifts night patrolling the beaches where I didn't see a turtle but saw a pencil thin snake, an owl, crabs, and leaf cutter ants all over the trailswhich clung to our shoes. I also had one shift guarding the turtle hatchery from 6am to noon. A nationalpark worker came by and spotted a howler monkey in the tree which he showed me and a sloth which took about 15 minutes for me to finally see. There was a mom and daughter pair from Calgary Canada and they were really fun... played cards and yahtzee with them a lot.
We went to playa negra the other day which is a black sand beach and to Cahuita the last two days. We tried to snorkel in Cahuita yesterday at one of only 2 live reefs in costa rica but unfortunately there was no clarity so we called it quits. We bought our bus tickets for San Jose tomorrow and then we are headed to the Pacific Coast monday where we will be at a turtle conservation project in Montezuma for a few weeks we hope.
We went to playa negra the other day which is a black sand beach and to Cahuita the last two days. We tried to snorkel in Cahuita yesterday at one of only 2 live reefs in costa rica but unfortunately there was no clarity so we called it quits. We bought our bus tickets for San Jose tomorrow and then we are headed to the Pacific Coast monday where we will be at a turtle conservation project in Montezuma for a few weeks we hope.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Puerto Viejo
We came down to Puerto Viejo again for the day...we have a little longer to spend here today. So last night was my first real volunteer activity. I was scheduled for a beach patrol from 8 to midnight because they were expecting a certain female turtle to come back and nest last night. Apparently after they find a female nesting... they expect to see the same female in the same area nesting 14 or 15 days later. Unfortunately we didnt find her last night but i guess on a patrol this morning someone found the nest she laid last night a little further up the beach instead of down where we looked. It was definately interesting though...our leader and some girl who was volunteering for the day talked the entire 4 hours in spanish about 10 words a second. It was long and we waded across a small river at the beginning so i was soaking! Apparently there as been a caimen spotted there (spectacled caimen might be spelled wrong but i think is a croc or gator). Anywho it was rather long and we didnt see anything too exciting so that was a bit disappointing. Cass got the hatchery shift from midnight to 6 in the morning! So she definately had a long night guarding the hatchery.
When we got back from puerto viejo yesterday they did a nest exhumation. So all the volunteers followed Phil (the head biologist of the project) and went to a nest which had hatched a few days earlier to see what happened with the rest of the eggs (it was a leatherback nest). Apparently the mother laid it too close to the forest roots and one of the eggs got a fungus which infected the other eggs...and also just the roots took too much nutrition or something so they couldnt finish developing. Some eggs were broken and turtles made it but there were about 20 eggs that made it to stage 4 out of 5 i think and died. he buried 4 eggs that he thought still had a chance and was devasted when he broke open one of the eggs and the baby was still alive. He was really upset...clearly it was sad and he said the baby stood no chance. im sure difficult for him when he devotes his life to it and accidently kills a turtle he means to save.
Plans from now: We think this is good experience and all but we asked our volunteer coordinator if we could get involved in a turtle project on the Pacific coast where the olive ridleys are supposed to be nesting now. We are making plans for other places we want to go and things we want to do but spending some time in Panama is definately on our list now. It has been raining the WHOLE time here on the caribean and we also hear the pacific is usually a bit nicer. Well thats all for now...i cant believe how much i have had to say in this little while!
When we got back from puerto viejo yesterday they did a nest exhumation. So all the volunteers followed Phil (the head biologist of the project) and went to a nest which had hatched a few days earlier to see what happened with the rest of the eggs (it was a leatherback nest). Apparently the mother laid it too close to the forest roots and one of the eggs got a fungus which infected the other eggs...and also just the roots took too much nutrition or something so they couldnt finish developing. Some eggs were broken and turtles made it but there were about 20 eggs that made it to stage 4 out of 5 i think and died. he buried 4 eggs that he thought still had a chance and was devasted when he broke open one of the eggs and the baby was still alive. He was really upset...clearly it was sad and he said the baby stood no chance. im sure difficult for him when he devotes his life to it and accidently kills a turtle he means to save.
Plans from now: We think this is good experience and all but we asked our volunteer coordinator if we could get involved in a turtle project on the Pacific coast where the olive ridleys are supposed to be nesting now. We are making plans for other places we want to go and things we want to do but spending some time in Panama is definately on our list now. It has been raining the WHOLE time here on the caribean and we also hear the pacific is usually a bit nicer. Well thats all for now...i cant believe how much i have had to say in this little while!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Boca Chica in Cahuita
Yesterday after a 3 hour bus ride we got off of the bus one stop too early so had some local help to catch a questionable cab over to Boca Chica (the "hotel" we were supposed to stay). When we arrived it was humid and quite warm! We got a little tour around the place and its a very open roof basically. Chain and mosquito net sides. There are 6 bunk beds for the girls area in a very tight space! Little huts around with wood table, some hammoocks, and a little bar area playing music. Oh and a pool that I have no plans on getting in... haha.
Anywho... we just got an hour of training this morning and then at 3 today we have an activity but people have been arriving so much the last 2 days i can't imagine much work for each of us! Yesterday we had 2 people speaking spanish, a girl from holland, a few girls from germany and austria, a few boys from germany and austria, and some more canadians and americans showedo up today! We don't even have enough beds. Oh I forgot to mention we're actually in Cahuita not Panama. They're just finishing the Leatherback turtle season so I dont expect to actually see any. However, they have a couple other species i dont remember the name of...one started with an H though i think maybe hatchback. We talked to our program supervisor and on Sunday we plan on heading back over to the Pacific side where most of the Olive Ridleys are nesting in season now. Most of the people don't like our location and say the pacific side is much better...and especially with the space issues now that all of these people showed up there won't be much for us to do. It is definately primitive and takes a bit to get to used to but I don't really mind it all that much.
So yesterday after we settled in a bit we went down to the beach which is about a 5 or 10 minute walk. It reminds me of the Oregon Coast because it was very overcast with big waves but it was pretty nice. Warm water and weather. They have a little turtle hatchery they watch over all of the time for nests that were maybe in bad spots or whatnot.
And I am on this computer in Puerta Viejo I believe... a short 15 minute bus ride away but a big travel destination for surfers I guess. Its rained for the past like 18 hours straight though so it is really wet out. I know this is jumping around a lot but I only paid for 30 minutes at this little internet cafe so bare with me. Anywho we'll be heading back to boca chica in about an hour. Sorry it was a very disorganized blog... :) But remember I am new to this. Again...I am not sure when I'll next be able to post but until next time...
Anywho... we just got an hour of training this morning and then at 3 today we have an activity but people have been arriving so much the last 2 days i can't imagine much work for each of us! Yesterday we had 2 people speaking spanish, a girl from holland, a few girls from germany and austria, a few boys from germany and austria, and some more canadians and americans showedo up today! We don't even have enough beds. Oh I forgot to mention we're actually in Cahuita not Panama. They're just finishing the Leatherback turtle season so I dont expect to actually see any. However, they have a couple other species i dont remember the name of...one started with an H though i think maybe hatchback. We talked to our program supervisor and on Sunday we plan on heading back over to the Pacific side where most of the Olive Ridleys are nesting in season now. Most of the people don't like our location and say the pacific side is much better...and especially with the space issues now that all of these people showed up there won't be much for us to do. It is definately primitive and takes a bit to get to used to but I don't really mind it all that much.
So yesterday after we settled in a bit we went down to the beach which is about a 5 or 10 minute walk. It reminds me of the Oregon Coast because it was very overcast with big waves but it was pretty nice. Warm water and weather. They have a little turtle hatchery they watch over all of the time for nests that were maybe in bad spots or whatnot.
And I am on this computer in Puerta Viejo I believe... a short 15 minute bus ride away but a big travel destination for surfers I guess. Its rained for the past like 18 hours straight though so it is really wet out. I know this is jumping around a lot but I only paid for 30 minutes at this little internet cafe so bare with me. Anywho we'll be heading back to boca chica in about an hour. Sorry it was a very disorganized blog... :) But remember I am new to this. Again...I am not sure when I'll next be able to post but until next time...
Monday, August 3, 2009
Pangea
Last night we were picked up at the airport and driven by shuttle to a hostel called Pangea where the volunteer program organized for us to stay. Met a guy from Seattle doing some traveling on his own and a couple of guys who go to school in Deleware. Cool people. The hostel is pretty sweet with painted jungle walls, a pool, a bar with music going all night. A really nice man from the volunteer organization met us there and got us all set up with our arrangements. Then we had some drinks with a couple of girls that have been doing the program for about a month now and had only the best things to say about their experience! We may have informed some people we were going to be saving turtles in a place called Jaco...well this is about the time in the night they sprung it on us that apparently me and Cass are going to be on the opposite side of the country as we thought. On the coast of the Caribean side...but actually right over the border in Panama...working with MANATEES to start. I hope I spelled that right. Anyways...after 2 weeks me way switch to turtles on the Pacific Coast. Sounds like this place is really remote so I got up early before taking our shuttle over there because I have no idea how much internet access they have. Hopefully we'll be able to write a few times in the next couple weeks. So far...Pangea Hostel headed to Manatees in Panama. Till next time...PEACE
Friday, July 10, 2009
Getting Started
Right now I'm just preparing to start the trip...getting all of the supplies I will need that I hadn't even thought twice about until now! You can thank Meagan Thunell for this page existing because it was her idea that I do this (and I think a good one!). So I thought I would get my page started....create it and of course I have to make my first blog even though it isn't that exciting because I'm still at home. I'm open to any advice and suggestions people have for me!
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