Well, I haven't updated because I've not had anything to write about!
Real Update: Still to come SOON!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Dear Amy:
[This is just for you.]
Well, I haven't updated because I've not had anything to write about!
Real Update: Still to come SOON!
Well, I haven't updated because I've not had anything to write about!
Real Update: Still to come SOON!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Climb a Volcano: Check.
The Island of Ometepe was formed by two volcanoes rising from Lake Nicaragua. Its name comes from the Nahuatl words "ome" (two) and "tepetli" (mountain) obviously to mean "two mountains" (IMAGINE THAT!) Anyways, over the years, the two volcanoes, Concepción and Maderas came to be joined by a low isthmus to form an hourglass-shaped island, which has now become a home for over 42,000 people.
---End History lesson. ---
After finally arriving to the island, we stayed in a hostel called "Ortiz" in the town of Altagracia, for a price of [GUESS]
A: $8 a night
B: $12 a night
C: $3 a night
D: $18 a night
|
|
|
|
|
If you selected D, I will assume you have never traveled to Latin America and stayed in a hostel before.
If you selected B, You must have been traveling to Costa Rica, and no where else.
If you selected A, You're on the right track.
But if you selected choice "C" you are CORRECT!
^Nicaragua is QUITE inexpensive, for the most part, though hostels do range from $5-$15, I don't believe you can get any better than this offer of $3 !!! Though, as in most situations, you get what you pay for.
Our walls had pictures of strawberry shortcake, and winnie the pooh. They were rather dirty, and at night we had to brush a good amount of dead/alive gnats off the blankets and pillows. But no matter, we had a place to sleep, shower, and use the bathroom, with a fan to keep us cool in the evenings. We could also order breakfast, lunch, or dinner if we needed. So, all in all, it was quite alright.
We dropped our stuff off, and went to find food. First stop: fruit stand. Where I proceeded to buy a pineapple and an avacado for $0.75 each, and 4 mandarins (or what i swear were more like clemintines!) for $0.05 each. [Talk about inexpensive HEALTHY food!!] Next stop: To a pharmacy/grocery story for some OJ [Everyone knows I gotta have my OJ!!!] Followed by what would end up being 3 hours at a pizza restaurant accompanied by a small glass of red wine for me, and a few beers for the others. (I prefer the drinks of a smaller calorie count ;) )
After my pizza, a rather long social gathering, lots of stories told, and many laughs later, we all went back to the hostel, (it was almost 11 by this time!) showered, chatted a bit more, and around 12:15 hit the sack-in order to prevent intense suffering when the 530 alarms sound in the morning, calling for us to wake up and prepare ourselves for the days 8 hour hike up and down "Maderas" the "smaller" of the two volcanoes. - In total, it was about a 6km hike. [WHAT did i get myself into?!]
Well, so the alarms went off, long after the roosters (who roamed the grounds of the hostel and beyond) had already woken us up, we got up, dug into some of the fruit we had bought the night before, and hopped into the taxi with our guide headed to the other side of the island, to where we would climb the mountain. When we arrived, we sat down to eat a good breakfast at this one hostel before beginning to climb. We all ate well, knowing it would once again be our only meal until late in the evening, and also knew we would need plenty of water and nutrients to provide the energy for our climb!
[BEFORE]
We set off climbing around 8:50. We climbed rocks, dirt paths, leaves, tree roots, and muddy hills. Almost 100% of the hike was completely uphill - kind of like climbing stairs for four hours straight. One of the girls we were with only brought flip-flops, and we all EASILY agreed to who was the reigning champ of that climb! Considering halfway UP she ended up having to take them off - having to finish climbinb barefoot AND still to have to climb DOWN with us. Sarah Han is DEFINITELY Ometepe's champ. People would pass us and look at her and cringe - just as we all did everytime we thought of how many rocks WE struggled to climb over, on, and through, and then imagined it barefoot. OUCH!! I did that briefly in Montezuma and felt like my feet were on fire after the first 20 minutes...8 hours, is a bit ridiculous. haha
Anyways, when we got to the top, we then climbed down about 100 meters allowing us to arrive at the lagoon. The mud-lagoon. When we asked the guide at first if we could swim and he told me no because the water was muddy, I just laughed that he doesn't know me so well that i wont mind muddy water. BUT, turns out I misunderstood what he meant by muddy....He meant, that you cant even walk to the edge of the water before sinking in a foot and a half of mud. If you try to walk into the lagoon, someone of my height, would be shoulder deep in mud. It's true. I watched a gringo man try and prove them wrong. He got stuck. Waste deep. Slowly worked his way out, and tried again. Ultimately succeeding after watching a local run and jump in - demonstrating the need for quickness and strong leg muscles to escape sinking at every step. I considered following in their footsteps, until I decided it better NOT to have to hike 4 hours down, smelling like mud. Which, I ended up smelling like anyways after the mud-fight I started with one of the guys! haha
[Me at the Lagoon - with war paint on my face!]
[This is from the "view point" not even halfway up the volcano. It was really the only point in the climb you could see anything. The rest was only trees trees and more trees everywhere]
[The Lagoon]
The hike down was a lot less trying and less exhausting. Though at one point, I was almost sure we were never going to reach the bottom. When we finally did, it was the most wonderful feeling ever! hahaha. We all went to the showers of the hostel at the bottom of the mountain and rinsed off, and then climbed back in the taxi for what would be about a 45 minute drive back to our hostel. Where we all ordered food, drinks, took real showers, and then I collapsed in bed around 8:30pm. [830?!! yes. ..but then woke up around 1130 and hung with the othersfor a good 45 minutes or so]
And that would be the end of the 3rd day in Nicaragua.
The next morning would bring a 45 minute taxi ride to a 2 hour ferry ride to a 20 minute drive to the city of recife followed by an hour atm/food stop followed by an hour taxi ride to the city of Masaya.
In Masaya, we went to the market for about 2 hours, then hopped in another taxi to Managua, where we would stay the night, only to wake up in the morning and leave for the 12-hour ride back to San Jose.
[Concepción - viewed from the Ferry on our way out. The cloud cover was really neat the way it went through the mountain and covered the top like that.]
[Sunset behind Concepción, which was SMOKING!!!! ahhhh!!! haha]
---End History lesson. ---
After finally arriving to the island, we stayed in a hostel called "Ortiz" in the town of Altagracia, for a price of [GUESS]
A: $8 a night
B: $12 a night
C: $3 a night
D: $18 a night
|
|
|
|
|
If you selected D, I will assume you have never traveled to Latin America and stayed in a hostel before.
If you selected B, You must have been traveling to Costa Rica, and no where else.
If you selected A, You're on the right track.
But if you selected choice "C" you are CORRECT!
^Nicaragua is QUITE inexpensive, for the most part, though hostels do range from $5-$15, I don't believe you can get any better than this offer of $3 !!! Though, as in most situations, you get what you pay for.
Our walls had pictures of strawberry shortcake, and winnie the pooh. They were rather dirty, and at night we had to brush a good amount of dead/alive gnats off the blankets and pillows. But no matter, we had a place to sleep, shower, and use the bathroom, with a fan to keep us cool in the evenings. We could also order breakfast, lunch, or dinner if we needed. So, all in all, it was quite alright.
We dropped our stuff off, and went to find food. First stop: fruit stand. Where I proceeded to buy a pineapple and an avacado for $0.75 each, and 4 mandarins (or what i swear were more like clemintines!) for $0.05 each. [Talk about inexpensive HEALTHY food!!] Next stop: To a pharmacy/grocery story for some OJ [Everyone knows I gotta have my OJ!!!] Followed by what would end up being 3 hours at a pizza restaurant accompanied by a small glass of red wine for me, and a few beers for the others. (I prefer the drinks of a smaller calorie count ;) )
After my pizza, a rather long social gathering, lots of stories told, and many laughs later, we all went back to the hostel, (it was almost 11 by this time!) showered, chatted a bit more, and around 12:15 hit the sack-in order to prevent intense suffering when the 530 alarms sound in the morning, calling for us to wake up and prepare ourselves for the days 8 hour hike up and down "Maderas" the "smaller" of the two volcanoes. - In total, it was about a 6km hike. [WHAT did i get myself into?!]
Well, so the alarms went off, long after the roosters (who roamed the grounds of the hostel and beyond) had already woken us up, we got up, dug into some of the fruit we had bought the night before, and hopped into the taxi with our guide headed to the other side of the island, to where we would climb the mountain. When we arrived, we sat down to eat a good breakfast at this one hostel before beginning to climb. We all ate well, knowing it would once again be our only meal until late in the evening, and also knew we would need plenty of water and nutrients to provide the energy for our climb!
[BEFORE]
We set off climbing around 8:50. We climbed rocks, dirt paths, leaves, tree roots, and muddy hills. Almost 100% of the hike was completely uphill - kind of like climbing stairs for four hours straight. One of the girls we were with only brought flip-flops, and we all EASILY agreed to who was the reigning champ of that climb! Considering halfway UP she ended up having to take them off - having to finish climbinb barefoot AND still to have to climb DOWN with us. Sarah Han is DEFINITELY Ometepe's champ. People would pass us and look at her and cringe - just as we all did everytime we thought of how many rocks WE struggled to climb over, on, and through, and then imagined it barefoot. OUCH!! I did that briefly in Montezuma and felt like my feet were on fire after the first 20 minutes...8 hours, is a bit ridiculous. haha
Anyways, when we got to the top, we then climbed down about 100 meters allowing us to arrive at the lagoon. The mud-lagoon. When we asked the guide at first if we could swim and he told me no because the water was muddy, I just laughed that he doesn't know me so well that i wont mind muddy water. BUT, turns out I misunderstood what he meant by muddy....He meant, that you cant even walk to the edge of the water before sinking in a foot and a half of mud. If you try to walk into the lagoon, someone of my height, would be shoulder deep in mud. It's true. I watched a gringo man try and prove them wrong. He got stuck. Waste deep. Slowly worked his way out, and tried again. Ultimately succeeding after watching a local run and jump in - demonstrating the need for quickness and strong leg muscles to escape sinking at every step. I considered following in their footsteps, until I decided it better NOT to have to hike 4 hours down, smelling like mud. Which, I ended up smelling like anyways after the mud-fight I started with one of the guys! haha
[Me at the Lagoon - with war paint on my face!]
[This is from the "view point" not even halfway up the volcano. It was really the only point in the climb you could see anything. The rest was only trees trees and more trees everywhere]
[The Lagoon]
The hike down was a lot less trying and less exhausting. Though at one point, I was almost sure we were never going to reach the bottom. When we finally did, it was the most wonderful feeling ever! hahaha. We all went to the showers of the hostel at the bottom of the mountain and rinsed off, and then climbed back in the taxi for what would be about a 45 minute drive back to our hostel. Where we all ordered food, drinks, took real showers, and then I collapsed in bed around 8:30pm. [830?!! yes. ..but then woke up around 1130 and hung with the othersfor a good 45 minutes or so]
And that would be the end of the 3rd day in Nicaragua.
The next morning would bring a 45 minute taxi ride to a 2 hour ferry ride to a 20 minute drive to the city of recife followed by an hour atm/food stop followed by an hour taxi ride to the city of Masaya.
In Masaya, we went to the market for about 2 hours, then hopped in another taxi to Managua, where we would stay the night, only to wake up in the morning and leave for the 12-hour ride back to San Jose.
[Concepción - viewed from the Ferry on our way out. The cloud cover was really neat the way it went through the mountain and covered the top like that.]
[Sunset behind Concepción, which was SMOKING!!!! ahhhh!!! haha]
Friday, April 2, 2010
Day 1.5 in Nicaragua
I woke up Sunday morning at 615am to get ready for what would be about a 12 hour journey to Granada, Nicaragua. We were told to arrive an hour early for our bus, meaning 8am for Sara Han and me. We arrived right at 8, boarded the bus at about 9, and departed very soon after.
Adventure confusion #1: our ticket said the bus was going to Managua. We were supposed to meet the others in Granada! Oh dear. (sigh of mishap acceptance) but shortly after, the problem was solved when we were informed that the bus will stop in Granada first. (sigh of relief)
About 4 hours into the bus ride, we pulled over to the side of the road, with a few other buses from our same company. After letting us sit for about half an hour trying to figure out on our own, the reason for having stopped, we were all told to get off the bus. (GASP!) ((suspense music)) ....... so that the police could check us and our passports. (okay, suspense music NOT necessary, but, did it have you on edge for a quick second? haha) So after all that, we got back on for another few hours of driving, until we arrived at the border station, at a time I would guess to be about 230/300pm. This is where Sara and I would run into the other people we were planning to meet in Granada, briefly, which consisted of 3 people who took the 645AM BUSS!!!!! and 3 who took the 8:15 bus. (That just tells you how long people really sit and wait there!) because we also ran into this man we had met in the morning, who took the 9:45 bus! haha
We didn't have to check anything at the border station, because we all only brough backpacks. BUT we had to wait for everyone else on the bus to check their stuff and for whoever else to do whatever else it was they were required to do.
In the meantime, Sara and I played cards for a while, met and played with this little 3 year old boy (of course) named Justin or Dustin or Jusie or Jessie or something along those lines.. haha. (he was adorable and had on a yellow shirt that had a soccer ball on it and said soccer, and little black and grey TOTAL 90 tennis shoes!!! [PRECIOUS.]
After the border station we got back on the bus (around 6pm) only to arrive in Granada around 8pm. 12 hours after first arriving to the bus station in San Jose, and almost 14 hours after waking up that morning.
We arrived, took a cab to an ATIM, and then to Oasis. The INCREDIBLY nice hostel that we were staying in for the night. It was HUGE. Had a shower big enough for like 10 people at a time (not that we put ten people in it, i'm just sayin, you know. haha) There was an indoor pool, a nice little kitchen (the cleanest in any of the hostels ive seen so far) , comfortable beds, several fans in the room instead of just one! A DVD library, tv w DVD player, and about 6 desktop computers that were free to use. Something else interesting that was included was a free 10 minute phone call to anywhere in the world (oddly excluding like belgium and some other random country) - which I was actually going to surprise Ryan (brother Ryan) with the phone call, but the power was out when I asked to do it - meaning I couldn't - and this was right before leaving for what would be considered our... second set of adventures.
Adventure #2: Boat ride to Island of Ometepe - which I am currently typing this on.
We left at 11:15am to head to the boat ticket office. We waited in line for about 45 minutes. (and NO, the line wasn't THAT long, it was just the lady working was THAT slow. It was like WORSE than tico-time!!! haha.)
After finally getting ticket, we thought we had a good half hour to relax. So Nicole and I went off to find some water and possibly some food. We successfully got the water, but as the food was half-dished for us at this little stand outside the boat place, the boys called us back telling us we were told to board the boat now. (Woohoo! Were gonna leave a little earlier than expected! What a treat!) so we boarded and waited as other people boarded, causing me to fall asleep and wake up an hour later to find we hadn't infact even began to move. (I knew it was too good to be true..) so around 230ish we departed the dock in Granada on what would be a 4-hour boat ride to the Island of Ometepe - an island formed by two volcanoes - one of which is still active (cool!!!) haha. I am currently on the boat tryin typing this with my itouch. Hoping to find wireless somewhere so I can connect and upload instead of havin to type all of it all over again and upload it all at once when I return. (which is what i'm doing at the moment actually) haha
It is currently 6:08pm. We should be arriving to the island in anywhere between 22 and 52 minutes. In order to pass the time, I spent approximately 7 minutes reading, 35 minutes playing what we thought might have been a never-ending game of "War" , the next hour playing Egyptian-Rat-Screw" , slap-Jack, and speed. Then aproximately 11 minutes eating some fried chicken, rice and fried plantains, and so far about 20 minutes doing this.
Our plans for after arrival are to find a nearby hostel, some food, maybe a cerveza or two (oops!) to quench our thirst over a nice game of spoons before bed. Only to awake before 7am , to take a bus to the other side of the island, find a new hostel by 8am , and then begin what will be about a 6 hour hike up the volcano. (YUP. Gooooodluuuck to me. haha)
I hope I can upload this tonight sometime or in the morning!
The rest of the weeks plans are to visit MAsaya, Managua, and then leave from there on Thursday morning for the final Nicaraguan adventure: The 12+ hour journey back to San Jose.
This is a picture from the border station - where we just sat, starving, and waiting, until we could re-board the bus for the rest of our journey.
Stay tuned!
:)
Adventure confusion #1: our ticket said the bus was going to Managua. We were supposed to meet the others in Granada! Oh dear. (sigh of mishap acceptance) but shortly after, the problem was solved when we were informed that the bus will stop in Granada first. (sigh of relief)
About 4 hours into the bus ride, we pulled over to the side of the road, with a few other buses from our same company. After letting us sit for about half an hour trying to figure out on our own, the reason for having stopped, we were all told to get off the bus. (GASP!) ((suspense music)) ....... so that the police could check us and our passports. (okay, suspense music NOT necessary, but, did it have you on edge for a quick second? haha) So after all that, we got back on for another few hours of driving, until we arrived at the border station, at a time I would guess to be about 230/300pm. This is where Sara and I would run into the other people we were planning to meet in Granada, briefly, which consisted of 3 people who took the 645AM BUSS!!!!! and 3 who took the 8:15 bus. (That just tells you how long people really sit and wait there!) because we also ran into this man we had met in the morning, who took the 9:45 bus! haha
We didn't have to check anything at the border station, because we all only brough backpacks. BUT we had to wait for everyone else on the bus to check their stuff and for whoever else to do whatever else it was they were required to do.
In the meantime, Sara and I played cards for a while, met and played with this little 3 year old boy (of course) named Justin or Dustin or Jusie or Jessie or something along those lines.. haha. (he was adorable and had on a yellow shirt that had a soccer ball on it and said soccer, and little black and grey TOTAL 90 tennis shoes!!! [PRECIOUS.]
After the border station we got back on the bus (around 6pm) only to arrive in Granada around 8pm. 12 hours after first arriving to the bus station in San Jose, and almost 14 hours after waking up that morning.
We arrived, took a cab to an ATIM, and then to Oasis. The INCREDIBLY nice hostel that we were staying in for the night. It was HUGE. Had a shower big enough for like 10 people at a time (not that we put ten people in it, i'm just sayin, you know. haha) There was an indoor pool, a nice little kitchen (the cleanest in any of the hostels ive seen so far) , comfortable beds, several fans in the room instead of just one! A DVD library, tv w DVD player, and about 6 desktop computers that were free to use. Something else interesting that was included was a free 10 minute phone call to anywhere in the world (oddly excluding like belgium and some other random country) - which I was actually going to surprise Ryan (brother Ryan) with the phone call, but the power was out when I asked to do it - meaning I couldn't - and this was right before leaving for what would be considered our... second set of adventures.
Adventure #2: Boat ride to Island of Ometepe - which I am currently typing this on.
We left at 11:15am to head to the boat ticket office. We waited in line for about 45 minutes. (and NO, the line wasn't THAT long, it was just the lady working was THAT slow. It was like WORSE than tico-time!!! haha.)
After finally getting ticket, we thought we had a good half hour to relax. So Nicole and I went off to find some water and possibly some food. We successfully got the water, but as the food was half-dished for us at this little stand outside the boat place, the boys called us back telling us we were told to board the boat now. (Woohoo! Were gonna leave a little earlier than expected! What a treat!) so we boarded and waited as other people boarded, causing me to fall asleep and wake up an hour later to find we hadn't infact even began to move. (I knew it was too good to be true..) so around 230ish we departed the dock in Granada on what would be a 4-hour boat ride to the Island of Ometepe - an island formed by two volcanoes - one of which is still active (cool!!!) haha. I am currently on the boat tryin typing this with my itouch. Hoping to find wireless somewhere so I can connect and upload instead of havin to type all of it all over again and upload it all at once when I return. (which is what i'm doing at the moment actually) haha
It is currently 6:08pm. We should be arriving to the island in anywhere between 22 and 52 minutes. In order to pass the time, I spent approximately 7 minutes reading, 35 minutes playing what we thought might have been a never-ending game of "War" , the next hour playing Egyptian-Rat-Screw" , slap-Jack, and speed. Then aproximately 11 minutes eating some fried chicken, rice and fried plantains, and so far about 20 minutes doing this.
Our plans for after arrival are to find a nearby hostel, some food, maybe a cerveza or two (oops!) to quench our thirst over a nice game of spoons before bed. Only to awake before 7am , to take a bus to the other side of the island, find a new hostel by 8am , and then begin what will be about a 6 hour hike up the volcano. (YUP. Gooooodluuuck to me. haha)
I hope I can upload this tonight sometime or in the morning!
The rest of the weeks plans are to visit MAsaya, Managua, and then leave from there on Thursday morning for the final Nicaraguan adventure: The 12+ hour journey back to San Jose.
This is a picture from the border station - where we just sat, starving, and waiting, until we could re-board the bus for the rest of our journey.
Stay tuned!
:)
Friday, March 26, 2010
"Ticolandia" - Cuanto te voy extrañar! [Tico Land, How Much I am Going To Miss You! ]
You know, as people start to leave, or rather, have already left. And hearing them talk about going home, and the things they're going to miss and saying our goodbyes, i couldn't help but to think about leaving as well. And the thoughts of leaving a place so wonderful as this really really makes my heart ache.
[ISA Winter 2 and 3 students. Many of them are leaving this weekend - only about 6 of us are staying through april/may I believe]
For me, this place is wonderful for so many more things other than its gorgeous beaches, wonderful weather, beautiful mountains, volcanoes, waterfalls, and all of the reasons everyone comes to vacation here. i find this place wonderful because of its crowded plazas, constant honking of horns, blazing hot humid weather at the beaches and a variation of weather here in Zapote, San Jose. I find this place absolutely amazing because of its people, and the culture that surrounds me. It is fun because I get to speak spanish every single day, which is something I have dreamed of for a long long time. It is a land of adventures, that has allowed me to create a list half a mile long of mishaps, misfortunes, and wild weekend trips that BECAME adventures due to all of the mishaps!
[me in 'front' of the city lights.]
My dream, since I was 15 years old was to study abroad in another country. It was to go somewhere and experience their culture, learn of a different place and it's people, and to be able to speak SPANISH every single day. If you ask me why I love Spanish so much, I couldn't tell you, not even to save my life. Could it be because i feel it is something I am good at? That i have mastered? That i love it because not everyone can do it? Maybe. But there's also so many more things to it.
My other dream, since I entered college, and a little time before, was to minor in TOFL and teach English in another country - again, allowing me to speak Spanish every day, and live with the latino people among their culture, and live their 'wild' life. That dream of mine, left me by the end of my freshman year for a few reasons, and this semester abroad, has brought it back to me - and i DO believe I will be able to realize this dream soon after graduation, if I work hard enough and do my research.
I have fallen in love with Costa Rica. But as I have always said before, "it doesn't really matter where I go, I'll love and adapt to any country that I end up in and i'll be okay, as long as im in a latino country and speaking spanish every day, because THAT is really all I desire." I fell in love with Brazil, for almost the same reasons. Costa Rica is now added to that list. Who knows which country will be added after graduation, but I have no doubts that wherever I end up, it WILL end up on that list.
The culture of Latin America has always fascinated and inspired me. Ever since my first trip to Brazil in 2005 I have talked of how i want to in Latin America for the rest of my life. Something no one really understand when I talk of it. For what reasons could it be? SOOO many! Could it possibly be for the culture? That might be one thing. Because as I have realized over the past years of learning, traveling, and observing, the United States of America is a country of ALL cultures. We are not 'united' in the sense of culture in any which way. We have holidays of ALL religions, basic celebrations that have nothing to DO with any historical event (Halloween, Valentine's Day, etc.) holidays that some people celebrate and other people don't. But in Latin America, in the individual countries [which YES each country is different, and each country has their OWN culture: They are in MANY MANY ways very different and unique from each other] they celebrate the same holidays across the country. They all get vacation from work almost on the same holidays (I believe). They all celebrate in some sort of way, either with family, friends, or big town festivals. Culture can be a hard thing to define, but it is also something that my home country lacks - its OWN - which is obviously due to the fact that the country was created and filled with people from all over the world - that helped to make it what it is today. BUT that, is one reason I love Latin America.
The other thing, the people, are so relaxed, laid back, friendly (for the most part) and just all around FUN. In the states, as they say "Time = Money" and we are always so rushed, and pressed for time, in hurries, and doing so much at one time. Here, we run on "tico time" where arriving late, is expected. I feel that here you dont see so many people worried and stressed, and rushed. Not to say they're never stressed! BUT it's just so different.
Anyways, this has gone completely off path of where I was aiming to go when I started! I was MEANING to write about the things I will miss about Costa Rica (which I guess I did, just went a little more broad. well, here are some specifics.)
Walking EVERYWHERE: is my most favorite thing. Some days, when I have 'nothing' to do, I will go walking around the city, and just take turns as I feel, not knowing where i'm going, in hopes of getting lost, to allow me to explore the city in a new way. I love walking to school, to the stores, to friends houses, and wherever else it may be. Walking to the city and watching the children chase the pidgeons round and round in ciricle - i think that day might have been my favorite walk. I've got a blog entry for that on my ipod - lets see if i can't upload it next time im at school connected to the wireless with it.
Weekend trips: The beaches here are not ALL close, but rather close. And though each trip does take quite some time depending on the route the bus takes, traffic, or whatever other problems we have come across - it is wonderful to be able to leave on a Friday morning to the beach, stay for the weekend to see new places, the beautiful ocean, (which comes along w scorching hot and humid weather) and OH the SUNSETS, are beyond phenomenal.
My Tica Family: My family here is absolutely wonderful. They have been NOTHING LESS than great to me. They have provided me with FABULOUS meals in the evenings and delicious fruit, and other foods in the mornings for breakfast. Since day-- well the 2nd day, after I was over my 2 hours of homesickness... I have felt at home here. My host mother does my laundry several times a week, and puts my clothes back in my closet for me. (I try to get them sometimes before she does because I feel horrible that she does stuff I am capable of doing) She also organizes my room a few times a week and makes my bed - not every day, but many days. And we ALL KNOW how unorganized i am ... which on some days, i tell her to make sure she doesn't come to organize it because it is just TOO much of a disaster - and I will need to do it on my own later. They have taken me to their beach house, and helped me when I have questions. My favorite part of the day has ALWAYS been dinner - where we sit and talk - well I talk alot i think the most! and sometimes since school started the girls dont eat with us (You know how that is - back in high school we would come home, snack, nap if we were exhausted, and wake up around 10 to eat 'dinner') Its the same. ....***I think i need to write a separate entry about my host family too or this one will never end!***
Cheap Drinks: Okay i'm sorry family, but I just HAVE to mention - When we go out for our "social evenings" and have a *drink or two* it is just so inexpensive! I feel like the prices in most places here , are the Happy Hour prices there. Though it is true that on our weekend vacations to the beaches we find the prices a little higher due to the high rate or tourism, but if you go to the right places at the right times, you'll find perfect prices AND did you know that "LADIES NIGHT" here means FREE DRINKS - UNLIMITED for the ladies until a certain hour?!?!! Thats insane!!!
gosh gosh gosh there's so many things i love here - and what a terrible way to end this note by having the last thing be "cheap drinks" BUUUT my "mama tica" is brewing up something DELICIOUS in the kitchen reminding me I need to do a few more things before dinner, causing me to finish on that *horrible* note.
Plus, I could really ramble on and on about how much I love this place, this city, this house, these people, this LIFE, and how much Id love to stay AT LEAST 2 more months if not a whole other semester if that were even possible (WHICH i have already looked into and is NOT due to one *STUPID* gen-ed credit requirement I have left that must be fulfilled at GMU) haha Anyways, gotta get runnin and stop this ramblin.
We'll see when I get to writin again.
[our goodbye dinner was at this restaurant looking over the city lights. Obviously, it was quite a beautiful view.]
[we guessed that the field on the right is Saprissa stadium, but we're not sure. haha]
[ISA Winter 2 and 3 students. Many of them are leaving this weekend - only about 6 of us are staying through april/may I believe]
For me, this place is wonderful for so many more things other than its gorgeous beaches, wonderful weather, beautiful mountains, volcanoes, waterfalls, and all of the reasons everyone comes to vacation here. i find this place wonderful because of its crowded plazas, constant honking of horns, blazing hot humid weather at the beaches and a variation of weather here in Zapote, San Jose. I find this place absolutely amazing because of its people, and the culture that surrounds me. It is fun because I get to speak spanish every single day, which is something I have dreamed of for a long long time. It is a land of adventures, that has allowed me to create a list half a mile long of mishaps, misfortunes, and wild weekend trips that BECAME adventures due to all of the mishaps!
[me in 'front' of the city lights.]
My dream, since I was 15 years old was to study abroad in another country. It was to go somewhere and experience their culture, learn of a different place and it's people, and to be able to speak SPANISH every single day. If you ask me why I love Spanish so much, I couldn't tell you, not even to save my life. Could it be because i feel it is something I am good at? That i have mastered? That i love it because not everyone can do it? Maybe. But there's also so many more things to it.
My other dream, since I entered college, and a little time before, was to minor in TOFL and teach English in another country - again, allowing me to speak Spanish every day, and live with the latino people among their culture, and live their 'wild' life. That dream of mine, left me by the end of my freshman year for a few reasons, and this semester abroad, has brought it back to me - and i DO believe I will be able to realize this dream soon after graduation, if I work hard enough and do my research.
I have fallen in love with Costa Rica. But as I have always said before, "it doesn't really matter where I go, I'll love and adapt to any country that I end up in and i'll be okay, as long as im in a latino country and speaking spanish every day, because THAT is really all I desire." I fell in love with Brazil, for almost the same reasons. Costa Rica is now added to that list. Who knows which country will be added after graduation, but I have no doubts that wherever I end up, it WILL end up on that list.
The culture of Latin America has always fascinated and inspired me. Ever since my first trip to Brazil in 2005 I have talked of how i want to in Latin America for the rest of my life. Something no one really understand when I talk of it. For what reasons could it be? SOOO many! Could it possibly be for the culture? That might be one thing. Because as I have realized over the past years of learning, traveling, and observing, the United States of America is a country of ALL cultures. We are not 'united' in the sense of culture in any which way. We have holidays of ALL religions, basic celebrations that have nothing to DO with any historical event (Halloween, Valentine's Day, etc.) holidays that some people celebrate and other people don't. But in Latin America, in the individual countries [which YES each country is different, and each country has their OWN culture: They are in MANY MANY ways very different and unique from each other] they celebrate the same holidays across the country. They all get vacation from work almost on the same holidays (I believe). They all celebrate in some sort of way, either with family, friends, or big town festivals. Culture can be a hard thing to define, but it is also something that my home country lacks - its OWN - which is obviously due to the fact that the country was created and filled with people from all over the world - that helped to make it what it is today. BUT that, is one reason I love Latin America.
The other thing, the people, are so relaxed, laid back, friendly (for the most part) and just all around FUN. In the states, as they say "Time = Money" and we are always so rushed, and pressed for time, in hurries, and doing so much at one time. Here, we run on "tico time" where arriving late, is expected. I feel that here you dont see so many people worried and stressed, and rushed. Not to say they're never stressed! BUT it's just so different.
Anyways, this has gone completely off path of where I was aiming to go when I started! I was MEANING to write about the things I will miss about Costa Rica (which I guess I did, just went a little more broad. well, here are some specifics.)
Walking EVERYWHERE: is my most favorite thing. Some days, when I have 'nothing' to do, I will go walking around the city, and just take turns as I feel, not knowing where i'm going, in hopes of getting lost, to allow me to explore the city in a new way. I love walking to school, to the stores, to friends houses, and wherever else it may be. Walking to the city and watching the children chase the pidgeons round and round in ciricle - i think that day might have been my favorite walk. I've got a blog entry for that on my ipod - lets see if i can't upload it next time im at school connected to the wireless with it.
Weekend trips: The beaches here are not ALL close, but rather close. And though each trip does take quite some time depending on the route the bus takes, traffic, or whatever other problems we have come across - it is wonderful to be able to leave on a Friday morning to the beach, stay for the weekend to see new places, the beautiful ocean, (which comes along w scorching hot and humid weather) and OH the SUNSETS, are beyond phenomenal.
My Tica Family: My family here is absolutely wonderful. They have been NOTHING LESS than great to me. They have provided me with FABULOUS meals in the evenings and delicious fruit, and other foods in the mornings for breakfast. Since day-- well the 2nd day, after I was over my 2 hours of homesickness... I have felt at home here. My host mother does my laundry several times a week, and puts my clothes back in my closet for me. (I try to get them sometimes before she does because I feel horrible that she does stuff I am capable of doing) She also organizes my room a few times a week and makes my bed - not every day, but many days. And we ALL KNOW how unorganized i am ... which on some days, i tell her to make sure she doesn't come to organize it because it is just TOO much of a disaster - and I will need to do it on my own later. They have taken me to their beach house, and helped me when I have questions. My favorite part of the day has ALWAYS been dinner - where we sit and talk - well I talk alot i think the most! and sometimes since school started the girls dont eat with us (You know how that is - back in high school we would come home, snack, nap if we were exhausted, and wake up around 10 to eat 'dinner') Its the same. ....***I think i need to write a separate entry about my host family too or this one will never end!***
Cheap Drinks: Okay i'm sorry family, but I just HAVE to mention - When we go out for our "social evenings" and have a *drink or two* it is just so inexpensive! I feel like the prices in most places here , are the Happy Hour prices there. Though it is true that on our weekend vacations to the beaches we find the prices a little higher due to the high rate or tourism, but if you go to the right places at the right times, you'll find perfect prices AND did you know that "LADIES NIGHT" here means FREE DRINKS - UNLIMITED for the ladies until a certain hour?!?!! Thats insane!!!
gosh gosh gosh there's so many things i love here - and what a terrible way to end this note by having the last thing be "cheap drinks" BUUUT my "mama tica" is brewing up something DELICIOUS in the kitchen reminding me I need to do a few more things before dinner, causing me to finish on that *horrible* note.
Plus, I could really ramble on and on about how much I love this place, this city, this house, these people, this LIFE, and how much Id love to stay AT LEAST 2 more months if not a whole other semester if that were even possible (WHICH i have already looked into and is NOT due to one *STUPID* gen-ed credit requirement I have left that must be fulfilled at GMU) haha Anyways, gotta get runnin and stop this ramblin.
We'll see when I get to writin again.
[our goodbye dinner was at this restaurant looking over the city lights. Obviously, it was quite a beautiful view.]
[we guessed that the field on the right is Saprissa stadium, but we're not sure. haha]
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Peligro - Varias Personas Han Muerto Aqui, No escalar o Saltar"" (Danger - Various people have died here, Don't Climb or Jump)
I knooow this is super late, considering I got back from this trip Sunday afternoon and it is now Thursday! I wish I could say it's because I have been SO super busy with school and stuff but really, i just haven't found time or been full-of-thought enough to get to it. (Don't wanna force an entry right? Or else it'll just come out horribly written!) =D
Right, so last weekend began on Thursday for me. (Not that every day here isn't almost the same as any fun weekend day anyway ;) ) This trip began for me at 3:55am when my alarm went off, waking me up from the night before's "nap" (due to mind full of a million things, preventing me from sleeping, NOT due to being out all night with friends, promise!) and (wonderful, i've got a long trip ahead of me, including at least 3 transportation changes and my body chooses the night BEFORE to not let me sleep?! Thanks alot!) =P
Anyways, thanks to a friend, I was able to call a taxi in the morning to take me to the meeting place where i would find the others who i was to be traveling with. Meeting time was 4:30. I, thinking it would take 15minutes or so for the taxi to arrive, since i had never called one before and didnt really know how it worked, called the cab around 4:00, just before putting a bowl of oatmeal in the microwave. Well wouldn't you know, as much as nothing else in this country is very 'fast', the taxi arrives 30 seconds after the microwave 'dings' telling me its ready. Well that's wonderful, I wonder if my Tica mom would like a cold bowl of oatmeal, cuz that's what I had to leave on the counter since he came so quickly!!
Let's see how short we can make the beginning of this story so that I don't go on and on forever! Hmm. Left in a taxi for the bus station around 4:45 , after all the others had arrived. Got on the bus, slept the whole way (first 1.5 hours of sleep I got since Tuesday night!) Got off the bus and onto a ferry. (This one had AC!! woohoo!!!! =D) [The ferry was the next 45 minutes of sleep I got to add for the night/day) After the ferry, we got onto another bus in Paquera/Tambor , not sure where exactly the ferry stops. Took the bus to Santa Teresa or something I believe? (next 30 minutes of sleep.) Then switched buses AGAIN, for a 15/20 minute ride to Montezuma. [These weekend trips really provide QUITE the adventure!]
After we got off the bus, we found pretty much the first hostel we could find and put our stuff there. It was uhm....well HOT! and humid! and the rooms had 1 tiny little fan! It was 3 of us in a little room - which we were only ever in just to sleep. There was a kitchen downstairs that we could use (its a pretty common thing) which even came with free flies, ants, and cockroaches! The refrigerator was one-of-a-kind. Kept closed by placed the round part of a stool in front of the door in a special position to keep it from opening. We found a cockroach 'chillin' inside the door of it, first time we opened it. And gosh, what a lucky guy, at least HE was gettin some cool air , while we're all stuck outside in the hot and humid air! haha. Anyways, the kitchen was nice to make dinner so we didn't have to eat out for every mean (as i said, extra protein was included via: a few ants here n there crawlin' around)
Once we put our stuff down, and checked out the place, we changed into our suits and went to the beach for a little bit. I laid out on the beach and fell asleep immediately! (which, i guess i dont mind that i didnt sleep much the night before because it allowed me to fall asleep on the beach rather quickly, allowing me to tan sightly without being aware of the wicked heat and humity that surrounded us! Normally, I can't stand more than 20 minutes "soaking up the sun" without having to get up and into the water to cool off.)
Afterwards, we just walked around a big, grabbed some food from the store, I cooked some pasta (sea shell pasta with some PREGO SAUCE!!!) it was incredible. annd then we met up with some of the other ISA kids who had come the day before, to make a bonfire on the beach. And I must say, the fellas did a mighty fine job makin the fire! (Though, needless to say,it was quite hot sitting around it , so we weren't really out there for long.)
Afterwards, we went back to the room, I read a little bit, then crashed for the night, only to wake up again at 8:00am to grab some breakfast and get ready with the other two for our snorkeling/boat trip to Tortuga Island.
I was slightly disappointed with this trip, that cost $40 (really not too expensive) but the boat had a "roof" you know, that makes shade, so i didnt get to tan on the boat rides! And well, i think they definitely tried to make as much money as possible cuz the boat was FULL as can be with people. It was a small boat, i feel i should mention. Anyway, so we had about a 40 minute boat ride out to Tortuga Island - which im not even sure which part it was , I really think it was just these giant rocks in the water...that they call Tortuga Island. hmm. Oh, and did I mention they advertised that we would see a "beautifully amazing" waterfall on the way? Well, this is a little bit of what it looked like, I even believe I had zoomed in slightly for this picture!
Okay got, this is getting to be super long. So we snorkeled, and I was a little unimpressed, but even still, just chillin in the middle of the ocean among a bunch of random fish was kinda cool of course. I saw a few neat looking fish, but one thing I noticed about snorkeling here is that the "reefs" are like....rocks....where as in the Caribbean, its like actual coral reefs with more cool stuff to see.
After snorkeling, the boat guys (this was a tour company, not random boat guys, don't worry - they come later ;) KIDDING!!! kidding kidding and KIDDING about that 2nd part!) hehehehe. As I was saying, they grilled on the beach for us , and it was quite delicious I must say as well, and the fruit, even more so! Check it out :
Afterwards, played a little beach volleyball (very briefly - the sand was wicked hot. Almost as hot as that one year at sand soccer a few years back! (mom n dad you know what im talkin bout) Went swimming a bit, and hung out. We only had about an hour on the beach there before leaving for our 2nd snorkeling spot. Which was another beautiful giant ROCK in the middle of the ocean! That was literally like 100 yards from our first spot (ooh and as i'm typing this there is a mesquito flying around me plotting how its going to suck my blood in my sleep i think! oh dear.) But as I was saying, talk about false advertising!!!!
During lunch - this one guy found a wild pig looking animal (called a packera..or peckera...or something like that..) chillin in the shade and decided to hang out and pet it for a bit. He thought it'd be cool to put a Pilsen in front of it as well, you know, to add a little humor to the pictures we were taking ;)
This is still getting so super long! Gosh! I'm trying to make it short! okay, so after we got back we hung out, went to dinner, hung out a bit more and I was in bed Id say around 11ish. Woke up the next morning around 8 again to start hiking to the waterfalls. WHICH , that's to adapting way too much to Tico time, didn't start until 10am - an hour after we had planned to start hiking originally! haha. It was a group of like 8 of us gringos that went. There were 3 waterfalls. The first was quite simple to get to. The 2nd, required almost literal mountain climbing - like climbing a slightly slanted WALL - by using the oddly grown tree roots to hold onto and help us up! Surely if any one of us had fallen we would have either died or been severely injured. I LOVED IT! Here's a picture - not the best to allow you to feel the same we were feeling while climbing, but still might show a little bit.
Okay so , like i said the first waterfall was nice , we jumped off of a giant rock a few times , climbed up the waterfall a little and chilled behind it , letting the water fall in our faces - what a wonderful feeling. haha. then climbed that mountain, and a few rocks, and a few more things, then down this steep path that had a rope to help us climb down because it was so steep. THEN [here comes the best part!!!!] WE ARRIVED AT THE 2nd WATERFALL!!!! THE JUUMMMPPP!!!! There was a spot , where you could jump from, into the pool at the bottom of the 2nd waterfall - about 50 ft high is what the rumors are saying it is. I , for sure can't believe I did it! But it was wonderful! and I'm SO glad I did it! Check me out:
Then we all just hung out there for a good while - there was a pool and some tiny falls behind us - tiny like trickles that cant really be considered falls. Then there was a roap swing on the side - which i would consider a rock wall because it felt like a vertical wall when we were climbing past it to the third waterfall! Well, I spent a good amount of time with the rope swing while the boys continued to jump from the top of the waterfall over and over again. OH! and to get back up from the fall after jumping, you got to do MORE rock climbing. [Gosh, how much I wanted to do rock and mountain climbing in Costa Rica! This wasn't exactly it, but mighty close, and probably one of the best things Ive done here!!!!] Well, I was lovin the rope swing, reminded me of Beachmont for a minute actually! When the counselors would sit in a chair - like a lifeguard chair and swing from there into the disgusting algae filled pond, and all us campers thought it was SOOOO cool!!! haha.
Annny then heres just a random picture of the beach. There's plenty more, and this is DEFINITELY NOT the most beautiful of them, but the first one I grabbed.
As I said, sorry for the delay of the entry! I actually started typing this around 1pm this afternoon - it is now midnight, and I almost forgot about it! Can you imagine how much there would be to read if i forgot about it until next week? Then i'd have TWO weekend adventures to write about!
OH NO! I almost forgot to type about the ADVENTURE BACK HOME!!!!! I'll try to make it quick! But it definitely reminded us to be appreciative of the many HIGHWAYS and easy access roads we have back in the states...BRIDGES and such as well! Our journey home began at 6:30am. on the first bus, right outside our hostel in Montezume. Stopping 20 minutes later to pick up people getting off the 7am bus in Santa Teresa or whatever town we were in. 8am came around and the other bus still hadn't come. (That was the first hour of waiting, in the NON AIR CONDITIONED bus, and outside in the ridiculously humid hot weather.) After that, we drove about 45 minutes to the ferry - almost couldnt get there due to road paving. (OF ALL THE TIMES THEY DECIDE TO PAVE THE STUPID BROKEN ROADS THEY DECIDE THAT SUNDAY - THE DAY WE NEEDED TO GO HOME!!! WHO EVEN WORKS ON SUNDAYS IN COSTA RICA ANYWAYS?!?!?!) Right, so we got to the ferry, bought our tickets, and got onto the ferry. This one was not the same as the one we came on - it was NOT AIR CONDITIONED. Great. An hour on that, then - our bus driver had told us the bus to San Jose might be full - so we needed to hurry to it. SO to ensure a quick exit from the Ferry to the bus, we decided to stand near the exit when we thought we were 10 minutes away. Well we did, and we were. but we didn't know it would take another 20 minutes to dock the stupid thing! 30 minutes waiting , in a croweded, non-ACd area, only to exit the ferry and find the bus was not only already FULL but OVER-PACKED! So, we took the public bus to the central bus station in Puntarenas. There was a man in front of me on the bus, with a bucket of fish. He obviously sold fish on the streets or something, or even if he didn't i dont know, but it STUNK SO BAD! We rode with our HEADS OUT THE WINDOW (Still sweating, on yet ANOTHER , NON-AIR CONDITIONED bus. Then, missed the bus stop, and had to walk about 6 blocks to the station. (EVERYONE was quite irritable by this time for sure - if not already hours ago! - this heat and humidity was almost unbarable! We pretty much bathed in our own sweat. LOVELY.) Okay so around 12pm we finally got on a bus to San Jose. and Hey! GUESS WHAT!...SURPRIISSEEE! It was NOT AIR CONDITIONED either! 2 hours on this one-and arrived in San Jose around 3 to grab a taxi and FINALLY make it home. exhausted.
The end.
Phew. that was a loooooooot of things to type!
Going back to the beach at Jaco tomorrow morning -
wonder what kind of adventures this trip is going to bring us!!!
Costa Rica never seems to fail at providing us with many, always. hahaha
Will be writing again sometime next week!
Adios!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Adventure of all adventures, Panama, 2010.
I know this entry is well over-due. This week has flown by quite too quickly. It is Thursday, yet it feels only like Monday. Normally, that would be a good thing, but being that I'm in Costa Rica i'd prefer for the days to NOT fly by so quickly.
I've got so many things to say right now, but have no idea where I should start. I guess we'll just start at the beginning, as it's usually excepted for a story to begin.
Friday, February 26th, 2010, I arrived at our University just before 10am. Which was the originally planned time of departure. Only to find out the time was changed to 10:30 which in Tico-time really means 11am, which is about the time we left. In two vehicles, a mini van/bus of 10, and a 4-runner with 4. About 25 minutes into the ride, the 4-runner had pulled over, which of course the van I was in pulled over as well. I think the car was burning rubber/about to lose a tire. SO after a few minutes delay, the van (I was in the front seat of the van) continued its drive while the others waited for a vehicle replacement. At this point, all is still well with our van.
We stopped twice for a bathroom/snack break, within the first 4 hours (time is definitely an estimate because my exhausted self was asleep in the front passenger seat, as expected) The 2nd break we were told to hurry, because we were on a time schedule to arrive before a certain hour to cross the border or else we would not be able to cross because it would close - and we wouldn´t be able to get our visas stamped. So, after about a half hour drive through the soaking wet and floaded areas of Limon (the houses and fields were flooded, not so much the roads...YET)
We get towards the end of Limon, only to find a break in the road, and that it is flooded, so our vehicles would not be able to make it across. (So much for the time schedule) At this point, we all got out of the vehicles, (Our group was 14 girls. The drivers were associated with our school and travel agency) 14 girls, GRINGA girls, with suitcases/backpacks in hand. We crossed the broken road, only to leave our drivers and the vans on the other side. (At this point we were on our own-there was another man associated with the agency on the other side waiting to help guide us on our way...slightly) We hopped into 2 taxis and went on our way again. Crossed the border, and got into a van - with this man who was apart of the agency. The driver of this van, seemed quite determined to get back on schedule, because our ride to the Ferry was at a speed of about 100mph, so it felt. Which, is alot more scary when you´re the passenger, not the driver I might add.
To cut this part of the story short, we arrived late to the Ferry and were told to wait at this restaurant on the edge of the ocean. The Hostel we were staying at was sending a 'ferry' to come get us. We would have to pay extra for this. We were told 20 minutes, and ended up waiting an hour. It was dark, late, and a little humid, yet chilly at the same time. We were exhausted, cranky, and starving. This trip was starting to take a tole on us. After about an hour of waiting, a boat, similar to the size of Poppop (my grandfather)´s old crabbing boat - slightly larger in order to have a capacity of holding at least 16 people. So we crammed into this boat, suitcases and all, and went on our way to cross the ocean to the Island of Bocas del torro.
Boat rides are nice. They're almost always nice and fun. I love running through giant waves as the boat crashes down to the regular water level-splashing all the passengers while its happening. I love speeding and jumping with the boat. I love putting my hands in the water to feel the cool saltiness of it, and the taste of the salt when I have been splashed in the face. BUT. I LIKE IT WHEN ITS WARM. and when I am in a BAITHING SUIT and NOT holding a purse with an ipod nor when we have a boat full of suitcases that are getting soaked as well. This ride, was horrible. the first 10 minutes was fine, then we hit the rough waters and EVERY SINGLE ONE of us got off the boat soaking wet. It was cold. The wind hitting our face was NOT the same pleasant feeling as when it happens on a warm-sunny day. I was sick already, and I'm positive this made me more sick.
We arrived at the hostel, where I immediately tore through my suitcase to change clothes, for a moment. We were given our bed assignments - in my case, i was given my hammock assignment. Which was located OUTSIDE the room with the other 14 girls, where all the bugs were licking their lips and waiting for it to be my bedtime. Thankfully one of the girls was willing to switch with me, but the one who switched with me was assigned to SHARE a bed with one of the other girls. Let me remind you we were staying in a HOSTEL. These beds barely fit one person. We had to fit two. Why did I have to share a bed if I paid the same price as everyone else? I have no clue.
Skip the boring parts, and I'll tell you the bathroom in one of the other rooms, where I was going to stay the first night orignally, I entered in the evening, to find a 'Fiesta de Cucarachas' or in other words...a Cockroach party. Needless to say, I chose to find the other bathroom to use at that moment. The bathroom in our room, was not much better, but 100% acceptable because it was empty of cockroaches, but full of little newts. (Which i didnt even mind at all.) The floor of our shower however, was missing some pieces. And there was a decent 6x6 sized hole, leading to the ocean. Wait, what? leading to the ocean? Oh yes, little fishes were visible and swimming under our shower, in all of the dirty run-off water.
Ooh - we also discovered that our hostel (called 'Aqua Lounge')was situated on a little island OPPOSITE of the one which had restaurants, clubs, shops, grocery stores, and everything else. When we got off the boat, we were expected to pay. $4. I had no money with me, because i had not had the chance to go to downtown San Jose to get American Dollars and ASSUMED (silly me for assuming) there would be an ATM nearby our place, to take money out. SO we had to cross islands, indebting me of more $1 for the taxi boat ride across, to find a restaurant and an ATM. So immediately after getting my bed assigment, i showered and caught up with the group before we left to the otherside. My friend Meira and I sat with a couple others at this DELICIOUS place called .. well I forgot the name. And after a day like that, I accompanied my delicious Alfredo with a wonderful smoothie-like mixed Blue Hawaiian. (DELICIOUS) The day ended after dinner there. We crashed. early. I never knew a day could feel like it had more than 24 hours in it - and as if I had been awake for that many and more.
Saturday, I woke up and Meira and I crossed to go shopping. Bought a few things, then went back across to our place to layout a little bit, attempt to read/study a little bit, and also attempt to tan. Well, I found my cozy spot on the wooden floor of the place, with my reading packet in hand. (In the middle of the deck, was a circle opening like a swimming pool-but the water was the ocean. And there was a wooden-made plank to act as a diving board) Just as I oiled up and opened my reading package, two boys climb the steps to jump. Without giving me time enough to even move, they cannon-balled into the water, soaking my reading packet and everything else I had by my side. How considerate of them.
We relaxed a bit. It rained a bit. We ate a bit. Then we dressed up for ladies night at our hostel. (Oh, did I mention that this place played NON-STOP music, TERRIBLE music, starting at 9am and ending around 2am. All day, all night. No wonder I didnt get much reading done that weekend.) After the party, we crashed, woke up the next morning to pouring rain. Slept and relaxed all of that day. blah blah blah slept and woke up monday to start our journey home.
This entry is a bit ridiculously long. I need to learn to not ramble so much about stupid things.
Monday, we got on a ferry boat again - it was pouring rain. THANK GOODNESS this boat had a tarp on all sides so we did NOT get wet. We arrived to the mainland, and boarded a van which would take us to the boarder. After crossing the boarder, we arrived to the office to get our passports stamped with a new Visa. The man told us he would not stamp our visas/we could not cross to head back to San Jose because we did not bring any travel information. Thanks alot man from travel agency at school for NOT telling us we needed that! After a long discussion and arguing from 14 girls, and after the fat man who refused to let us across got up for a minute, his co-worker stamped us and let us cross.
We crossed, and were told that because of a problem with the roads -the highway being closed-the vans coming to get us were going to be an hour and a half late. We were a half hour early. Great. 2 hours of nothing to do.
We passed the time by sitting in the tiny restaurant right across the boarder. We buoght playing cards for $.85 and played cards for a good while, grabbed something to eat, and after about 1 hour 45 minutes, the first van arrived. Cool. but where's the other? 'We didnt drive together, so im not sure where he is, he should be here in about 20 minutes' we were told by the first driver. Great. It started pouring. Even more fantastic! Finally the 2nd bus arrived and we boarded for what would be a 5 and a half hour drive back to San Jose.
We arrived in the evening, I ate a delicious dinner, and proceeded to stay up all night studying for this big midterm I had the next afternoon.
This week has been exhausting.
There, you have the story including almost all of the mis-haps we came across in our journey to, and through, Bocas del Torro, Panama.
-Britt
I've got so many things to say right now, but have no idea where I should start. I guess we'll just start at the beginning, as it's usually excepted for a story to begin.
Friday, February 26th, 2010, I arrived at our University just before 10am. Which was the originally planned time of departure. Only to find out the time was changed to 10:30 which in Tico-time really means 11am, which is about the time we left. In two vehicles, a mini van/bus of 10, and a 4-runner with 4. About 25 minutes into the ride, the 4-runner had pulled over, which of course the van I was in pulled over as well. I think the car was burning rubber/about to lose a tire. SO after a few minutes delay, the van (I was in the front seat of the van) continued its drive while the others waited for a vehicle replacement. At this point, all is still well with our van.
We stopped twice for a bathroom/snack break, within the first 4 hours (time is definitely an estimate because my exhausted self was asleep in the front passenger seat, as expected) The 2nd break we were told to hurry, because we were on a time schedule to arrive before a certain hour to cross the border or else we would not be able to cross because it would close - and we wouldn´t be able to get our visas stamped. So, after about a half hour drive through the soaking wet and floaded areas of Limon (the houses and fields were flooded, not so much the roads...YET)
We get towards the end of Limon, only to find a break in the road, and that it is flooded, so our vehicles would not be able to make it across. (So much for the time schedule) At this point, we all got out of the vehicles, (Our group was 14 girls. The drivers were associated with our school and travel agency) 14 girls, GRINGA girls, with suitcases/backpacks in hand. We crossed the broken road, only to leave our drivers and the vans on the other side. (At this point we were on our own-there was another man associated with the agency on the other side waiting to help guide us on our way...slightly) We hopped into 2 taxis and went on our way again. Crossed the border, and got into a van - with this man who was apart of the agency. The driver of this van, seemed quite determined to get back on schedule, because our ride to the Ferry was at a speed of about 100mph, so it felt. Which, is alot more scary when you´re the passenger, not the driver I might add.
To cut this part of the story short, we arrived late to the Ferry and were told to wait at this restaurant on the edge of the ocean. The Hostel we were staying at was sending a 'ferry' to come get us. We would have to pay extra for this. We were told 20 minutes, and ended up waiting an hour. It was dark, late, and a little humid, yet chilly at the same time. We were exhausted, cranky, and starving. This trip was starting to take a tole on us. After about an hour of waiting, a boat, similar to the size of Poppop (my grandfather)´s old crabbing boat - slightly larger in order to have a capacity of holding at least 16 people. So we crammed into this boat, suitcases and all, and went on our way to cross the ocean to the Island of Bocas del torro.
Boat rides are nice. They're almost always nice and fun. I love running through giant waves as the boat crashes down to the regular water level-splashing all the passengers while its happening. I love speeding and jumping with the boat. I love putting my hands in the water to feel the cool saltiness of it, and the taste of the salt when I have been splashed in the face. BUT. I LIKE IT WHEN ITS WARM. and when I am in a BAITHING SUIT and NOT holding a purse with an ipod nor when we have a boat full of suitcases that are getting soaked as well. This ride, was horrible. the first 10 minutes was fine, then we hit the rough waters and EVERY SINGLE ONE of us got off the boat soaking wet. It was cold. The wind hitting our face was NOT the same pleasant feeling as when it happens on a warm-sunny day. I was sick already, and I'm positive this made me more sick.
We arrived at the hostel, where I immediately tore through my suitcase to change clothes, for a moment. We were given our bed assignments - in my case, i was given my hammock assignment. Which was located OUTSIDE the room with the other 14 girls, where all the bugs were licking their lips and waiting for it to be my bedtime. Thankfully one of the girls was willing to switch with me, but the one who switched with me was assigned to SHARE a bed with one of the other girls. Let me remind you we were staying in a HOSTEL. These beds barely fit one person. We had to fit two. Why did I have to share a bed if I paid the same price as everyone else? I have no clue.
Skip the boring parts, and I'll tell you the bathroom in one of the other rooms, where I was going to stay the first night orignally, I entered in the evening, to find a 'Fiesta de Cucarachas' or in other words...a Cockroach party. Needless to say, I chose to find the other bathroom to use at that moment. The bathroom in our room, was not much better, but 100% acceptable because it was empty of cockroaches, but full of little newts. (Which i didnt even mind at all.) The floor of our shower however, was missing some pieces. And there was a decent 6x6 sized hole, leading to the ocean. Wait, what? leading to the ocean? Oh yes, little fishes were visible and swimming under our shower, in all of the dirty run-off water.
Ooh - we also discovered that our hostel (called 'Aqua Lounge')was situated on a little island OPPOSITE of the one which had restaurants, clubs, shops, grocery stores, and everything else. When we got off the boat, we were expected to pay. $4. I had no money with me, because i had not had the chance to go to downtown San Jose to get American Dollars and ASSUMED (silly me for assuming) there would be an ATM nearby our place, to take money out. SO we had to cross islands, indebting me of more $1 for the taxi boat ride across, to find a restaurant and an ATM. So immediately after getting my bed assigment, i showered and caught up with the group before we left to the otherside. My friend Meira and I sat with a couple others at this DELICIOUS place called .. well I forgot the name. And after a day like that, I accompanied my delicious Alfredo with a wonderful smoothie-like mixed Blue Hawaiian. (DELICIOUS) The day ended after dinner there. We crashed. early. I never knew a day could feel like it had more than 24 hours in it - and as if I had been awake for that many and more.
Saturday, I woke up and Meira and I crossed to go shopping. Bought a few things, then went back across to our place to layout a little bit, attempt to read/study a little bit, and also attempt to tan. Well, I found my cozy spot on the wooden floor of the place, with my reading packet in hand. (In the middle of the deck, was a circle opening like a swimming pool-but the water was the ocean. And there was a wooden-made plank to act as a diving board) Just as I oiled up and opened my reading package, two boys climb the steps to jump. Without giving me time enough to even move, they cannon-balled into the water, soaking my reading packet and everything else I had by my side. How considerate of them.
We relaxed a bit. It rained a bit. We ate a bit. Then we dressed up for ladies night at our hostel. (Oh, did I mention that this place played NON-STOP music, TERRIBLE music, starting at 9am and ending around 2am. All day, all night. No wonder I didnt get much reading done that weekend.) After the party, we crashed, woke up the next morning to pouring rain. Slept and relaxed all of that day. blah blah blah slept and woke up monday to start our journey home.
This entry is a bit ridiculously long. I need to learn to not ramble so much about stupid things.
Monday, we got on a ferry boat again - it was pouring rain. THANK GOODNESS this boat had a tarp on all sides so we did NOT get wet. We arrived to the mainland, and boarded a van which would take us to the boarder. After crossing the boarder, we arrived to the office to get our passports stamped with a new Visa. The man told us he would not stamp our visas/we could not cross to head back to San Jose because we did not bring any travel information. Thanks alot man from travel agency at school for NOT telling us we needed that! After a long discussion and arguing from 14 girls, and after the fat man who refused to let us across got up for a minute, his co-worker stamped us and let us cross.
We crossed, and were told that because of a problem with the roads -the highway being closed-the vans coming to get us were going to be an hour and a half late. We were a half hour early. Great. 2 hours of nothing to do.
We passed the time by sitting in the tiny restaurant right across the boarder. We buoght playing cards for $.85 and played cards for a good while, grabbed something to eat, and after about 1 hour 45 minutes, the first van arrived. Cool. but where's the other? 'We didnt drive together, so im not sure where he is, he should be here in about 20 minutes' we were told by the first driver. Great. It started pouring. Even more fantastic! Finally the 2nd bus arrived and we boarded for what would be a 5 and a half hour drive back to San Jose.
We arrived in the evening, I ate a delicious dinner, and proceeded to stay up all night studying for this big midterm I had the next afternoon.
This week has been exhausting.
There, you have the story including almost all of the mis-haps we came across in our journey to, and through, Bocas del Torro, Panama.
-Britt
Thursday, February 25, 2010
"The Beauty that Surrounds Me"
I'm sitting on the floor of our garage, staring through the black iron gates that separates the house from the street - It is (well, was) pouring outside. In front of me, through these gates I see this house, old, beaten, maybe even a little rusty. The little bit of sky that I can see is foggy and cloudy. Three birds just flew down onto the sidewalk and grabbed some crumbs to eat. What I see here in San Jose, outside of my house, on my walk to and from school, even the old rusty house in front of 'mine' is a beauty that is taken for granted. A beauty the many people don't notice. Why is this rusty house beautiful? This red and white rusty house is beautiful because it is different. It is different from all the houses in America, at least any of the ones I have seen. Different, has always been beautiful to me. I think my thoughts have just taken me into a new direction with this. Maybe I'll hit on that later, for now, I'll keep typing about the beauty.
My city, Zapote, in San Jose is surrounded by mountains. I can't say if it is small or large because I am not sure if I have even seen half of it. Because there are so many parts that I have yet to explore. You might even be surprised to know I have yet to go to downtown San Jose - where the outdoor open market is. That, has just been due to lack of time, laziness, and lack of someone to go with. This is a task I hope to complete within the next week! (Although I have been saying that for the past two.)
Everyday I walk to school. I walk down this long street of my neighborhood. Walk past a bread bakery, a small childcare center where (on days when it is not rainy) the children are out playing. Past some key making place and this little "fast food" restaurant ("El Lobo") which has become a favorite for several of my gringo friends. Then take a left onto another street in the neighborhood, where the houses are located in a different direction, allowing me to see the mountains behind us. In the evenings, on a semi-cloudy day, this view is one of the most beautiful things I feel I get to look at here. The sun sets behind the clouds, with its rays shining through. The reflection of whatever it is that causes the gorgeous colors, lights up the sky with colors of orange, red, and pink. And in the background of these clouds and the setting sunlight, are the mountains. If I were to take a picture, mountains would only look like, boring mountains. Which they are (maybe not so boring if we were to know whats up there, but definitely simple and plain) But with the rest of nature's beauty adding to the mountains, whether it be the sun, the clouds, or the old rusty red house, this city is beautiful. This country is beautiful. And I am very blessed to be able to live in an area such as this.
(Oh the many other things I have in mind to type, BUT my friend just called me and we are to meet up at the school so we can go shopping. Good thing this was not a paper for school, for if it was, I would fail it, because the conclusion was terrible! No matter, the conclusion sitting in my head is better, and suits me just fine. Unfortunately, you all do not get the oportunity to read that conclusion. Not today at least.)
Many hugs and kisses from me to you all.
Believe it or not, I do think about you all daily.
Hope you all are taking good care of yourselves, your friends, and your family!
See you in a few months.
Britt
My city, Zapote, in San Jose is surrounded by mountains. I can't say if it is small or large because I am not sure if I have even seen half of it. Because there are so many parts that I have yet to explore. You might even be surprised to know I have yet to go to downtown San Jose - where the outdoor open market is. That, has just been due to lack of time, laziness, and lack of someone to go with. This is a task I hope to complete within the next week! (Although I have been saying that for the past two.)
Everyday I walk to school. I walk down this long street of my neighborhood. Walk past a bread bakery, a small childcare center where (on days when it is not rainy) the children are out playing. Past some key making place and this little "fast food" restaurant ("El Lobo") which has become a favorite for several of my gringo friends. Then take a left onto another street in the neighborhood, where the houses are located in a different direction, allowing me to see the mountains behind us. In the evenings, on a semi-cloudy day, this view is one of the most beautiful things I feel I get to look at here. The sun sets behind the clouds, with its rays shining through. The reflection of whatever it is that causes the gorgeous colors, lights up the sky with colors of orange, red, and pink. And in the background of these clouds and the setting sunlight, are the mountains. If I were to take a picture, mountains would only look like, boring mountains. Which they are (maybe not so boring if we were to know whats up there, but definitely simple and plain) But with the rest of nature's beauty adding to the mountains, whether it be the sun, the clouds, or the old rusty red house, this city is beautiful. This country is beautiful. And I am very blessed to be able to live in an area such as this.
(Oh the many other things I have in mind to type, BUT my friend just called me and we are to meet up at the school so we can go shopping. Good thing this was not a paper for school, for if it was, I would fail it, because the conclusion was terrible! No matter, the conclusion sitting in my head is better, and suits me just fine. Unfortunately, you all do not get the oportunity to read that conclusion. Not today at least.)
Many hugs and kisses from me to you all.
Believe it or not, I do think about you all daily.
Hope you all are taking good care of yourselves, your friends, and your family!
See you in a few months.
Britt
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