Is there really an Arenal volcano?

Week 5

Hola amigos! My time in Costa Rica is coming to an end, and while I'm loving my time here, I'm ready to get back to the states (and have one last Papa Dels pizza...) I still had a sick week (both literally and figuratively) though!

Although this may not seem like a big deal to most of you, Monday I finally heard "Huevos man" as we have dubbed him. This guy walks along our street very early every morning with a loudspeaker, yelling at people to come out and buy eggs from him. Everyone in our group had heard him except me, probably because I'm a ridiculously sound sleeper, so I was pretty excited!

Tuesday was a girl in our group's 30th birthday. We all went out to a Mexican restaurant by fake Fridays and had an absolutely delicious meal. It's a relatively small restaurant, and we managed to get almost 20 people there, so we pretty much took over. It was a fun party, and we were even able to buy a strawberry cake a Mus Anni, this amazing chain of bakeries they have here.

Wednesday, everyone had a barbeque here at the casa. Unfortunately, I got sick with the plague that was going around the group, and was stuck in my room not wanting to do anything but sleep - and that includes no eating for almost 24 hours. Everyone was concerned that I wasn't going to be able to make it on our long weekend, but I was going regardless!

Thursday morning we had to get up really early to catch a bus to Monte Verde. We got to the bus stop, and I realized I had forgotten sunglasses, so I bought a pair of "Ray Bans" for 1500 colones (a little less than $3). We were all settling into the bus when Liberty told Davis to check his pockets. I guess he had been leaning over, messing with something in his backpack, and a guy had pretended to drop a piece of paper. He leaned over and reached in two of Davis' pockets, but luckily didn't get anything. A woman overheard us talking, and told the bus driver. He walked up to the guy and said "If you're trying to rob these people, I'm going to call the police," and the guy took off running. The bus driver was ranting about tourists and how people take advantage of people before they're settled on the bus - but the best part was he was ranting in Spanish and I understood most of it! It was a crazy situation, but luckily it reminded us that we shouldn't let our guard down, without anything horrible happening.

When we got to Monte Verde, we discovered that our hotel was very far out of town, so we took a cab to another place within walking distance of town. The group split up, and a couple of people went on a sky walk in the cloud forest, while my group went ziplining. It was an amazing experience, with 14 lines, some over 2000m long. There was also a rappel, where they dropped you straight down, a tarzan swing, and a chance to zipline "Superman style." Unfortunately, we couldn't take many pictures for fear of dropping either the camera or our gloves, but it was one
of the best things I've done here.




Friday we took a jeep-boat-jeep to Arenal. The weather was awful, and it didn't get much better all weekend. Luckily, we were staying in a really nice place. We all sat around in the hot tub for a while, then I got a wonderful massage. We saw tree frogs, and blue and gold macaws, just flying in and out of the hotel as they pleased! That night we had a nice dinner, and people came and hung out in our room for a while before calling it an early night.

The next morning, we woke up early and taxied into La Fortuna, the town nearby. A couple of us decided to hang out and just walk around the town, because there was pretty much non-stop torrential downpour. We ran into another group from the program, and hung out with them until it was time for the hot springs. These hot springs were pretty much the best part of Arenal. We went to a pretty exclusive place called Tabacon, which lets in only 100 people per night. There were eight or nine springs, ranging in temperature from 37-42 degrees Celsius (I'll let you all calculate that in Farenheight, but it was hot!) with waterfalls and volcanic rock on the bottom. We hung out there for five hours, even eating dinner at a bar in one of the hot pools, and sliding down extremely hot water slides. We were climbing the waterfalls, and some of the other patrons looked at us like we were nuts, but we all had an amazing time.




Today we had asked for a taxi to be ready at 7:15 am so that we could be at the church to be picked up for caving by 8. The guy at the front desks response when we asked where it was? "Oh, the cheapest one I could find was $35, and I figured you wouldn't want that one." Sigh. We got into town only 10 minutes late, and drove an hour to the Caverna Gabinarraca. After a short introduction that basically terrified me (chest high water? spiders that are half spider half scorpion?) we donned our gear and headed into the cave. Words can't really describe what it was like in there, but it was definately a once in a lifetime experience. We walked through an underground stream, a large waterfall, and spaces so tight that I had to hold my breath to get through. We also had to crawl army style through areas so small that I was sure we would never make it. Although I was terrified, I had fun and I'm really glad we did it.

We had one last adventure on the way home. Because it had been raining so much, there had been several landslides. The first one we came across was being flattened down by a tractor - what a horrible idea! We saw several trucks try to make it through, slip, and have to be pushed back onto the road. We were afraid we were never going to get through, but our bus driver came through for us, and paid the taxi to tow us through!

One more week to go, then adios Costa Rica!

Tortugas in Tortuguero

Week 4

This was the week I've been looking forward to most! Turtle tagging in Tortuguero was awesome, but more about that in a minute. Oh, and for those that have been asking, this is NOT a blog about school. I'll tell you all about what I'm learning if you're interested, but I don't want to subject most people to the tedium!

This week, Senator Bob Graham came to speak in our class. He was very interesting, talking about his career for almost an hour without losing me to boredom - quite a feat! Afterward, I got a picture with him, which was pretty exciting; after all, how often can you say that you had your picture taken with a former governor of Florida and US Senator?



Wednesday we had our water law conference. It was, to say the least, a different kind of experience. Half of the speakers spoke in their native Spanish, so we all got tiny headsets and a translator made it more understandable. I was so impressed by him, because he was able to listen in one language and simultaneously talk in another language without even pausing. The conference itself was interesting, and we all got nifty certificates saying we attended. Maybe something else for the law firm wall? There was also a small reception afterward with free wine and delicious food, and the professors wanted us to go to the reception so much, they put off a paper we had due the next day.

Thursday we headed out early to EARTH university. EARTH is a really cool place that has been around since 1991, and specializes exclusively in agricultural engineering. The students do work on sustainable projects, and get training to help out with small businesses in their home countries. We got a talk, lunch, and then headed out to look at organic banana and pineapple farms, and then a normal pineapple farm. Sadly, we didn't get to eat any pineapple. That night, we headed about 45 minutes away to a town called Guapiles to dance salsa, meringue, and
cumbia. We had a load of fun, but didn't get back until almost 2 am, so our 6 am wake up call came much too soon!

Friday, we got up early and headed to Tortuguero, a small place not far from the Costa Rican/Nicaraguan border. We drove for what seemed like forever on the bumpiest roads possible (thank you Brandon for the dramamine), then got in a boat. While on the boat, we saw some really cool wildlife, including spoonbills, monkeys, and a giant iguana. Tortuguero is only accessible by boat, and we rode for almost an hour on canals to get there. When we finally got to the CCC (Caribbean Conservation Corporation) headquarters, they had lunch waiting for us. Afterward, a bunch of us went to explore the village. It was very colorful, and had a lot of shops. I found a glass turtle necklace that I loved (and it was a good thing, because I broke it, and had to buy it :(). I also bought a hammock, and while we were getting rope to hang them, the man in the ferreteria cut it with a machete, awesome.



I signed up for the midnight-4am shift the first night, so I napped in preperation. While the first group was out, there was a torrential downpour, but it was clearing by the time I was ready to go out. We dressed in all black, because light colors could scare the turtles and prevent them from nesting. My group saw 6 turtles, and we were able to tag and measure them all. The turtles we saw were all green turtles, but another group saw a hawksbill, and we saw a leatherback nest as well. Sadly, we couldn't take pictures because it would disturb the turtles, but I can safely say it was one of the most awesome things I've ever experienced, even including the flipper to the face I got while trying to measure a camoflauging turtle!

Saturday, I wasn't feeling so hot, so I mostly slept in the room. I did go on a walk on the beach, and got the best pictures of monkeys. I also went to the museum and watched a video on turtles. Saturday night I went on a sunset boat cruise with the Senator and his family, as well as some professors and students from our group. We saw some cool wildlife, including green macaws and loads of bats. On the way back, I asked the senator's grandaughter where she went to school and she said "Bob Graham Elementary." Poor kid, that's a lot to overcome!



Now, I'm mostly just exhausted, and I have to go finish school work. Pura Vida!

Una Fiesta!

Week 3

This week was a San Pedro/San Jose kind of week. We had a barbeque at Andrew's hostel, which was a good time. He wasn't sure how to direct us to his house, since there are no addresses here, and none of the streets have names, so he ended up drawing a complicated map. Luckily, everyone made it okay, and there was plenty of food and alcohol to go around.

Since I ended up spending a little too much money in Manuel Antonio last week, as well as getting incredibly car sick on the bus ride home, I decided to stay in town this weekend. A lot of people had the same idea, and we found plenty of things to do around here to keep us busy. Thursday after class, I went to the mall, and we finally had time to do some serious shopping. I even got a shopping bruise, that's how serious it was!

Friday we all got up really early, and took the bus downtown. We walked around for a while, taking pictures of the Teatro Nacional, and then headed to the gold museum. It was a really great place, but we definately divided into groups based on how quickly we went through the exhibits. Afterward, we all split up for lunch - Wendy's here is actually very good, better even than in America, and very inexpensive. We all met back up to do some more shopping, including at a store called Carrion (a very odd name). We were getting tired, so we headed back and called our new Tica friend Tayler, who was taking us out to dinner that night at a barbeque place.

We headed up to the BBQ in a cab and a car. This place was very cool, both because it was extremely remote, and because basically what they do is roast a pig, and stay open until it's gone. I split a plate with 3 other people, and it was possibly the most pork I have ever seen in one place at one time. We ate sausage, pork chops, sausage and potato burritos, pork rinds, plaintains with cheese, fried yucca, fried cheese, and probably some stuff I'm not even remembering, and still had an almost full plate when we were done. Leftovers!

Yesterday was 4th of July. There was a rumor going around that we could get free hot dogs at the American Embassy, but without street names, we weren't sure exactly where that might be. We took it easy most of the day, although Liberty and I did walk to Mas x Menos to get food and charcoal for a cookout. Right before we cooked out, I saw my first and so far only San Jose sunset. Heather and I made barbeque lime chicken, and I made corn. We had a feast with mashed potatoes, chimichurri, cayenne corn, and grilled fruits and veggies. Sometimes I feel like half of what I do here is eat, but I'm always walking, so I think it's ok!

Today, a couple of us headed up to Volcan Irazu. It wasn't far, so it was a short trip, but the only bus left at 8 am, so we woke up extremely early. The bus ride was bumpy, and people were crammed into the aisle for most of the trip - I was so glad we got seats! People were wearing heavy jackets and ski hats, and I thought they were crazy til we got to the volcano. It was freezing! The volcano itself was gorgeous though, with bright green water in the crater, and we were able to do some hiking as well. We even got to see a coatamundi, and some people fed it.

Extremely exhausted, but still having an amazing time!