Buenas!
Okay so I know that I'm running a touch late on this post, but with the program ending this week it's been pretty busy here. Not to mention the fact that my "H" key broke, so I am tapping the hole where it used to be in order to produce said letter. So I'm gonna keep this brief.
I'll be heading to Corcovado National Park this week, and from there I fly out to Mexico to spend some time with mom. I think that'll be where I close out the trip from here, and finish up this blog/ROE thing. So if you'll bear with me, you'll have the conclusion sometime mid-april.
Hope to see you all soon!
Thanks for reading!
Friday, April 4, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Another week, another country.
Shalom!
After a brief hiatus, I am back to regale you all with stories of adventure and deception, of success and defeat, of Panama and Chirripo. Well, maybe not so much Chirripo, more like San Gerardo de Rivas. Which is maybe one of the nicest little towns I have had the pleasure of visiting.
Anyhow, as most of you know, this past week was Easter week. In Central America, it is known as Semana Santa (holy week). So all the people down here pretty much shut down and hit up vacation, and all the beaches and such are full of not only gringos, but Ticos as well. It makes it a great time to leave the country, since school is also out. In addition, the visa that I am traveling on down here is only good for 90 days, so I had to leave the country for 72 hours in order to get it renewed on reentry. ISA was good enough to help us schedule a trip to Bocas del Toro in Panama for 4 days. So off we went!
ISA has 52 students in the program, and 36 or so of us decided to do this trip to Panama. So for the first time in several weeks, it was going to be a gringo central kinda event. Which actually wasn't all that bad, since I hadn't hung out with quite a few of these folks in some time. The bus ride was decent, 8 hours or so with a 1.5 hour break in the middle which was generously provided by the Costa Rican border patrol. I guess we looked too cold from the air conditioned bus, so they let us stand in the sun and bake for 90 minutes while they took their time stamping our passports for exit from the country. Mighty nice of 'em, I'd say.
As we walked across the bridge from Costa Rica to Panama, we found ourselves in a kind of limbo... stuck between 2 countries, between 2 time zones. To be honest, I felt like an immigrant crossing the Rio Grande. Except that I had an iPod. Hahaha
Well we made it to the ocean, got off the bus, and hopped on a passenger ferry to head out to the island of Colon. Where they don't accept colones. Which struck me as funny, but maybe it's just me.
That first night was cool, a bunch of us found our way to a little bar called Barco Hundido. It looked like it was straight out of one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The bar had these walkways that extended out over the water, in big arcs that created pools that were lit at nighttime to showcase the shipwreck underneath. Not to mention that it's all good if you care to swim amongst the pillars, just remember to heed the sign that says "Swim at own risk. Everything cut you." Which proved to be a true statement, grammatically correct or not.
Well we had a few at Hundido, and then caught a small water taxi across to another island, which housed among other things the Aqua Lounge. This bar also had a system of docks that created a little lagoon, except this bar also had a diving board off of it's roof. Apparently Panama hasn't heard that drinking and swimming don't mix. But nobody was seriously injured the entire time that I was there, and there was no shortage of people partaking in the random water events, so maybe there's a small lesson there too. I won't dwell.
The next day couldn't have gone any better for me. I woke up briefly at 8:30 when I heard a bunch of people walking around and planning their days. Please recall that up until this point, I still hadn't slept past 9 or so. Those who know me should know what happened next... I rolled over, and slept peacefully until noon. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Much better. I followed that up with a 30 minute shower with high pressure and hot water, the first of it's kind since I left Canada. Next, I sat in a chair on the balcony of the hotel and read a book for 2 and a half hours. The only reason I stopped was because I was really hungry. So I went and got some pizza and a beer.
Seriously, I'm tempted to stop writing. This was the best day I've had yet.
But it was still good after that. Ran into some friends at the pizza place, and we decided to venture down the island to a beach. We found a nice one, played in the water for awhile, then went back to town for some delicious dinner of a caesar salad (I'd been craving one for weeks) and some pasta. Then we went down to a little hole-in-the-wall with 50cent happy hour. After a few of those I let myself be talked into drinking a "Flaming Amnesia" - similar to a Flaming Lamborghini, for those who are familiar. For those who aren't, your livers are better for it. Essentially it's 7 ounces or so in a martini glass, lit on fire and chugged fast through a straw. Deeeeeeeelicious!
The rest of the night saw us back at Hundido, this time swimming around the shipwreck, the majority of us being cut somewhere by that jagged reef (I took it on the arm). We also started walking around and throwing people in (mostly just people we knew, so no worries).
Next morning a bunch of us signed up for a tour that promised dolphins, 2 snorkeling times, and a visit to red frog beach to look at some little red poisonous frogs indigenous to that area only. Well the trip was alright, it was a whole lot of just sitting around getting sunburned. But we did see some dolphins, we did snorkel (only once, and they didn't have enough gear for everyone so we had to rotate), and we went to the beach (just didn't happen to see any frogs). But despite it all, it was still a pretty decent day on the water. Tough to have a bad day in Bocas del Toro, I reckon!
We came back on Tuesday, the trip back across the border went wayyy faster for some reason (I guess Costa Rica likes people coming in, but not leaving). T'was Pescadito Tuesday night, and a good nights sleep. Wednesday morning we got up early, hit the grocery stores for some supplies, and headed out to try to climb Costa Rica's highest peak - Chirripo.
The attraction for me is that it is said to be a tough hike; 8 hours is the average to make it up to the hostel on the mountain. They need a hostel, because it's still another 2 hours to the summit from there. Most people do the trip in 3 days: 1 day up to the hostel, next day to the summit and to hike around and look at stuff, and the last day to climb back down. Probably the coolest thing about it, however, is that on a clear day from the summit it is possible to see both oceans. That's right, Pacific and Atlantic at the same time. It's rare, since most of the time it's too cloudy. But it is possible.
Trouble is, the hostel isn't all that big. And you can make reservations (it is always booked a couple months in advance) but they leave 10 spots open every day for the first people that make it to the ranger station in San Gerardo de Rivas. Or so we were told.
We got out to San Gerardo on Wednesday night, and got a hotel room right up the street from the ranger station. Figuring that it was Semana Santa and a popular spot, we decided to get up bright and early to be first in line Thursday morning for the 6:30 opening. Kinda like camping out for concert tickets, y'know? Well I guess nobody does that in Costa Rica... we got out front of the ranger station at 3am. Yep. Care to guess when the next eager climbers arrived? A nice British couple sauntered up at 6:15. By that point, we were laughing at ourselves. But better to be too early than to be too late, right? Turns out it wouldn't have mattered either way.
The ranger came out at 6:30 and said without preamble "no hay acampar, no hay espacio." Basically, "there is no camping. There is no space." He went on to tell us that 10 people had come in the day before and reserved it all for the next 2 days. Forget the 10 spots per day thing, they changed their minds or something. All that mattered to us was that we weren't going to be able to climb until Saturday, which was way too tight to make it back Sunday evening for classes Monday. And we didn't really have it in our budget to last that long anyway.
So we spent Thursday and Friday at the nice little hotel in San Gerardo, playing in the river, and hiking around the area. It was still a lot of fun; as I said in an earlier post when we were there to hike Cloudbridge, it is likely my favorite place in Costa Rica. It's so rural, backcountry, jungle style that you can't help but feel relaxed.
We made it back on Saturday night, after spending 3 hours in McDonald's in San Isidro while waiting for a bus. It's the longest amount of time I've ever spent in a Macka's (Aussie slang, always loved that nickname for it).
All said and done, it was a heck of a week. Not much time left now, we are heading to Manuel Antonio with ISA next weekend (supposed to be a ton of monkeys there... I'm stoked). After that, school ends, program ends, and I head back to the sleepy little town of San Gerardo de Rivas in hopes of climbing that elusive mountain. Wish me luck!
Thanks for reading!
After a brief hiatus, I am back to regale you all with stories of adventure and deception, of success and defeat, of Panama and Chirripo. Well, maybe not so much Chirripo, more like San Gerardo de Rivas. Which is maybe one of the nicest little towns I have had the pleasure of visiting.
Anyhow, as most of you know, this past week was Easter week. In Central America, it is known as Semana Santa (holy week). So all the people down here pretty much shut down and hit up vacation, and all the beaches and such are full of not only gringos, but Ticos as well. It makes it a great time to leave the country, since school is also out. In addition, the visa that I am traveling on down here is only good for 90 days, so I had to leave the country for 72 hours in order to get it renewed on reentry. ISA was good enough to help us schedule a trip to Bocas del Toro in Panama for 4 days. So off we went!
ISA has 52 students in the program, and 36 or so of us decided to do this trip to Panama. So for the first time in several weeks, it was going to be a gringo central kinda event. Which actually wasn't all that bad, since I hadn't hung out with quite a few of these folks in some time. The bus ride was decent, 8 hours or so with a 1.5 hour break in the middle which was generously provided by the Costa Rican border patrol. I guess we looked too cold from the air conditioned bus, so they let us stand in the sun and bake for 90 minutes while they took their time stamping our passports for exit from the country. Mighty nice of 'em, I'd say.
As we walked across the bridge from Costa Rica to Panama, we found ourselves in a kind of limbo... stuck between 2 countries, between 2 time zones. To be honest, I felt like an immigrant crossing the Rio Grande. Except that I had an iPod. Hahaha
Well we made it to the ocean, got off the bus, and hopped on a passenger ferry to head out to the island of Colon. Where they don't accept colones. Which struck me as funny, but maybe it's just me.
That first night was cool, a bunch of us found our way to a little bar called Barco Hundido. It looked like it was straight out of one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. The bar had these walkways that extended out over the water, in big arcs that created pools that were lit at nighttime to showcase the shipwreck underneath. Not to mention that it's all good if you care to swim amongst the pillars, just remember to heed the sign that says "Swim at own risk. Everything cut you." Which proved to be a true statement, grammatically correct or not.
Well we had a few at Hundido, and then caught a small water taxi across to another island, which housed among other things the Aqua Lounge. This bar also had a system of docks that created a little lagoon, except this bar also had a diving board off of it's roof. Apparently Panama hasn't heard that drinking and swimming don't mix. But nobody was seriously injured the entire time that I was there, and there was no shortage of people partaking in the random water events, so maybe there's a small lesson there too. I won't dwell.
The next day couldn't have gone any better for me. I woke up briefly at 8:30 when I heard a bunch of people walking around and planning their days. Please recall that up until this point, I still hadn't slept past 9 or so. Those who know me should know what happened next... I rolled over, and slept peacefully until noon. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Much better. I followed that up with a 30 minute shower with high pressure and hot water, the first of it's kind since I left Canada. Next, I sat in a chair on the balcony of the hotel and read a book for 2 and a half hours. The only reason I stopped was because I was really hungry. So I went and got some pizza and a beer.
Seriously, I'm tempted to stop writing. This was the best day I've had yet.
But it was still good after that. Ran into some friends at the pizza place, and we decided to venture down the island to a beach. We found a nice one, played in the water for awhile, then went back to town for some delicious dinner of a caesar salad (I'd been craving one for weeks) and some pasta. Then we went down to a little hole-in-the-wall with 50cent happy hour. After a few of those I let myself be talked into drinking a "Flaming Amnesia" - similar to a Flaming Lamborghini, for those who are familiar. For those who aren't, your livers are better for it. Essentially it's 7 ounces or so in a martini glass, lit on fire and chugged fast through a straw. Deeeeeeeelicious!
The rest of the night saw us back at Hundido, this time swimming around the shipwreck, the majority of us being cut somewhere by that jagged reef (I took it on the arm). We also started walking around and throwing people in (mostly just people we knew, so no worries).
Next morning a bunch of us signed up for a tour that promised dolphins, 2 snorkeling times, and a visit to red frog beach to look at some little red poisonous frogs indigenous to that area only. Well the trip was alright, it was a whole lot of just sitting around getting sunburned. But we did see some dolphins, we did snorkel (only once, and they didn't have enough gear for everyone so we had to rotate), and we went to the beach (just didn't happen to see any frogs). But despite it all, it was still a pretty decent day on the water. Tough to have a bad day in Bocas del Toro, I reckon!
We came back on Tuesday, the trip back across the border went wayyy faster for some reason (I guess Costa Rica likes people coming in, but not leaving). T'was Pescadito Tuesday night, and a good nights sleep. Wednesday morning we got up early, hit the grocery stores for some supplies, and headed out to try to climb Costa Rica's highest peak - Chirripo.
The attraction for me is that it is said to be a tough hike; 8 hours is the average to make it up to the hostel on the mountain. They need a hostel, because it's still another 2 hours to the summit from there. Most people do the trip in 3 days: 1 day up to the hostel, next day to the summit and to hike around and look at stuff, and the last day to climb back down. Probably the coolest thing about it, however, is that on a clear day from the summit it is possible to see both oceans. That's right, Pacific and Atlantic at the same time. It's rare, since most of the time it's too cloudy. But it is possible.
Trouble is, the hostel isn't all that big. And you can make reservations (it is always booked a couple months in advance) but they leave 10 spots open every day for the first people that make it to the ranger station in San Gerardo de Rivas. Or so we were told.
We got out to San Gerardo on Wednesday night, and got a hotel room right up the street from the ranger station. Figuring that it was Semana Santa and a popular spot, we decided to get up bright and early to be first in line Thursday morning for the 6:30 opening. Kinda like camping out for concert tickets, y'know? Well I guess nobody does that in Costa Rica... we got out front of the ranger station at 3am. Yep. Care to guess when the next eager climbers arrived? A nice British couple sauntered up at 6:15. By that point, we were laughing at ourselves. But better to be too early than to be too late, right? Turns out it wouldn't have mattered either way.
The ranger came out at 6:30 and said without preamble "no hay acampar, no hay espacio." Basically, "there is no camping. There is no space." He went on to tell us that 10 people had come in the day before and reserved it all for the next 2 days. Forget the 10 spots per day thing, they changed their minds or something. All that mattered to us was that we weren't going to be able to climb until Saturday, which was way too tight to make it back Sunday evening for classes Monday. And we didn't really have it in our budget to last that long anyway.
So we spent Thursday and Friday at the nice little hotel in San Gerardo, playing in the river, and hiking around the area. It was still a lot of fun; as I said in an earlier post when we were there to hike Cloudbridge, it is likely my favorite place in Costa Rica. It's so rural, backcountry, jungle style that you can't help but feel relaxed.
We made it back on Saturday night, after spending 3 hours in McDonald's in San Isidro while waiting for a bus. It's the longest amount of time I've ever spent in a Macka's (Aussie slang, always loved that nickname for it).
All said and done, it was a heck of a week. Not much time left now, we are heading to Manuel Antonio with ISA next weekend (supposed to be a ton of monkeys there... I'm stoked). After that, school ends, program ends, and I head back to the sleepy little town of San Gerardo de Rivas in hopes of climbing that elusive mountain. Wish me luck!
Thanks for reading!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Kopeks and Rubles
Buuuuenas!
It's that time again. Seems to me that less and less time is passing between these entries... time is really starting to move quickly now that I have less than a month left here. Que lastima. But I am, however, still learning every day and partaking in great adventures! This past week I became accustomed with another aspect of the culture down here - ladrones.
I know that people love stories of suspense and intrigue, but I'm not really gonna dwell too much on what happened since I don't want to robbery to be what I remember about this weekend. But it does indeed deserve a spot here, no?
So anyhow, I wasn't sure what to do for the weekend, and on Thursday my friend Trevor asked if I wanted to climb up and active volcano, and maybe camp on it too. It's hard to turn down an offer like that, I'll tell ya! So I was in, and on Friday we packed up our stuff and headed up there with a girl named Sadie and her friend Kayra (who ended up going home early cuz she wasn't feeling well). Well on the bus out there, a 5 hour venture, I was sitting there listening to my music and watchin the world go by outside. My backpack was above me on one of those racks, and I had a strap kinda hangin over the edge so I could look up and see whether it was still there or not. After about 3 hours, we were coming up to a gas station/bus stop in the middle of nowhere. I noticed a guy pushing his way towards the back of the bus, and he stopped near me for a bit, but the strap was still there so all was well. The bus started moving again after stopping for a minute, and I got a bad feeling. I looked up, no strap. Crap. So I stood up, bag was gone, and some guy tapped my shoulder and kinda pointed towards the back door of the bus. So I yelled at the driver to stop, and pushed to the front of the bus and jumped off. I saw the guy walking away from a car, and wandering down the highway. I ran up to him and he turned around saying "no tengo nada!" (I don't have anything). So it was pretty obvious he had it, but not anymore. Someone called the cops, and me and Trevor made sure he didn't go anywhere. He tried to flag a cab, but we told the driver that buddy just robbed us, not to take him anywhere. So he drove off.
When the cops got there, we were lucky enough to have a couple witnesses who stuck around to help us out. They told the cops that the guy had got off the bus, and thrown my bag into a car which promptly took off. These guys are slick, you gotta give them that. So buddy got cuffed and taken away, I had to fill out a report stating what happened and what I lost, all that. The nice thing is, normally they don't catch the people who do this stuff since they're pretty well organized. But this guy at least had a couple miserable nights thanks to me, I hope.
Well after that, we made our way up the road to the next town to have a couple beer and figure out what to do the next day. I still had some money on me, since I keep some in my shoe and some in my hat whenever I travel (they did get my wallet, but Fazha helped me cancel my credit card that was in there so they didn't get to use it. Thanks again, dad!). I had kinda figured on just going back to San Jose for the rest of the weekend... but then I just sorta realized that even though they took all my stuff, I still had clothes and shoes and there was a volcano close by just waiting to be climbed! Trevor and Sadie were really helpful throughout the rest of the weekend, while we adjusted to me not having any stuff.
Saturday we headed up to the national park, Volcan Rincon de la Vieja. Translated it means "the old lady's nook." Not that we saw an old lady or anything, just random information for ya. It was 8km to the summit, most of that distance through the jungle followed by a steep ascent up the rocky side near the end. We were warned earlier that there can be really thick fog and fast wind, and we were not disappointed. The view was spectacular before we got inside the clouds! But as we ascended the steep side, we could see the clouds billowing towards us, kinda like when the ghost army flies out of the ships in the 3rd Lord of the Rings (which was playing in one of the restaurants we ate at, maybe that's why it reminded me of that). It was pretty surreal! We got caught in the rain for a bit, and had to huddle near a bush under Sadie's poncho (which conveniently unfolds to make a small tarp! Brilliant!). At the top, it was a whole other world.
Visibility up there was somewhere around 10 or 15 feet, so you could see the trail falling away on both sides but you had no bearings of where you were in relation to the rest of the mountain. Every so often, the fog would clear for a few seconds and you'd see a huge valley off to your right, or a volcanic crater off to your left. It was a really weird feeling, knowing all that stuff was there but rarely being able to see it! But it made for some kinda neat pictures. At one point on the trail, there was a sign telling you not to stay for more than 15 minutes there because the fumes can make you sick. Nice, eh?
The wind was insane too, the kinda wind that puts Lethbridge to shame! At times, you could lean into it and have it support you. Most of the time, it just pushed you around and tried to knock you off your feet. It succeeded a couple times with Sadie, but she was awesome up there and just kept pushing through. It was tough to follow the trail at times through the fog, but along the path they had little piles of stones to guide you. Entonces, I had found inukshuks in Costa Rica! How cool is that? They worked just like the ones in the North, and appeared through the murk to show you the way home. I thought it was pretty cool.
We made it out of the fog around 4:30, and stopped to grab a snack of fresh kiwis and ramen noodles. Then we realized we had 6km to walk down, and the sun was on it's way to the ocean. So off we went, and damn if we didn't cover that distance quick! Well, 5km of it anyways. The last kilometer or so saw us walking slowly through the jungle by the light of a cell phone (I'd brought a headlamp, but it was in my backpack... haha damn eh!).
Well we walked out of the trees at around 7:30 or so, in the pitch black, and started down the road since we weren't allowed to camp in the park. After walking for about an hour, we found a lodge that let us sleep on their grounds for 5 bucks a night. So we sat in the yard and made some peanut butter sandwiches, then hit the bar for some victory brews. They were the coldest, tastiest beers I have had since I got here, and as we sit there recapping the day, I realized that I hadn't thought about my bag since we started hiking. Funny how it just really doesn't matter about your things when you're having an experience like that.
Sunday was a nice ride back, I still had my iPod since I was listening to it when my back got jacked which was a huge relief. All said and done, it was a fantastic weekend with a small glitch at the start.
Thanks for reading!
*This next week is Semana Santa (holy week) so I am going to Panama for a few days, and after that, I'm going to try to climb the tallest mountain in Costa Rica. So it might be a little while before the next entry... but I'll do my best to get it done as soon as possible!
It's that time again. Seems to me that less and less time is passing between these entries... time is really starting to move quickly now that I have less than a month left here. Que lastima. But I am, however, still learning every day and partaking in great adventures! This past week I became accustomed with another aspect of the culture down here - ladrones.
I know that people love stories of suspense and intrigue, but I'm not really gonna dwell too much on what happened since I don't want to robbery to be what I remember about this weekend. But it does indeed deserve a spot here, no?
So anyhow, I wasn't sure what to do for the weekend, and on Thursday my friend Trevor asked if I wanted to climb up and active volcano, and maybe camp on it too. It's hard to turn down an offer like that, I'll tell ya! So I was in, and on Friday we packed up our stuff and headed up there with a girl named Sadie and her friend Kayra (who ended up going home early cuz she wasn't feeling well). Well on the bus out there, a 5 hour venture, I was sitting there listening to my music and watchin the world go by outside. My backpack was above me on one of those racks, and I had a strap kinda hangin over the edge so I could look up and see whether it was still there or not. After about 3 hours, we were coming up to a gas station/bus stop in the middle of nowhere. I noticed a guy pushing his way towards the back of the bus, and he stopped near me for a bit, but the strap was still there so all was well. The bus started moving again after stopping for a minute, and I got a bad feeling. I looked up, no strap. Crap. So I stood up, bag was gone, and some guy tapped my shoulder and kinda pointed towards the back door of the bus. So I yelled at the driver to stop, and pushed to the front of the bus and jumped off. I saw the guy walking away from a car, and wandering down the highway. I ran up to him and he turned around saying "no tengo nada!" (I don't have anything). So it was pretty obvious he had it, but not anymore. Someone called the cops, and me and Trevor made sure he didn't go anywhere. He tried to flag a cab, but we told the driver that buddy just robbed us, not to take him anywhere. So he drove off.
When the cops got there, we were lucky enough to have a couple witnesses who stuck around to help us out. They told the cops that the guy had got off the bus, and thrown my bag into a car which promptly took off. These guys are slick, you gotta give them that. So buddy got cuffed and taken away, I had to fill out a report stating what happened and what I lost, all that. The nice thing is, normally they don't catch the people who do this stuff since they're pretty well organized. But this guy at least had a couple miserable nights thanks to me, I hope.
Well after that, we made our way up the road to the next town to have a couple beer and figure out what to do the next day. I still had some money on me, since I keep some in my shoe and some in my hat whenever I travel (they did get my wallet, but Fazha helped me cancel my credit card that was in there so they didn't get to use it. Thanks again, dad!). I had kinda figured on just going back to San Jose for the rest of the weekend... but then I just sorta realized that even though they took all my stuff, I still had clothes and shoes and there was a volcano close by just waiting to be climbed! Trevor and Sadie were really helpful throughout the rest of the weekend, while we adjusted to me not having any stuff.
Saturday we headed up to the national park, Volcan Rincon de la Vieja. Translated it means "the old lady's nook." Not that we saw an old lady or anything, just random information for ya. It was 8km to the summit, most of that distance through the jungle followed by a steep ascent up the rocky side near the end. We were warned earlier that there can be really thick fog and fast wind, and we were not disappointed. The view was spectacular before we got inside the clouds! But as we ascended the steep side, we could see the clouds billowing towards us, kinda like when the ghost army flies out of the ships in the 3rd Lord of the Rings (which was playing in one of the restaurants we ate at, maybe that's why it reminded me of that). It was pretty surreal! We got caught in the rain for a bit, and had to huddle near a bush under Sadie's poncho (which conveniently unfolds to make a small tarp! Brilliant!). At the top, it was a whole other world.
Visibility up there was somewhere around 10 or 15 feet, so you could see the trail falling away on both sides but you had no bearings of where you were in relation to the rest of the mountain. Every so often, the fog would clear for a few seconds and you'd see a huge valley off to your right, or a volcanic crater off to your left. It was a really weird feeling, knowing all that stuff was there but rarely being able to see it! But it made for some kinda neat pictures. At one point on the trail, there was a sign telling you not to stay for more than 15 minutes there because the fumes can make you sick. Nice, eh?
The wind was insane too, the kinda wind that puts Lethbridge to shame! At times, you could lean into it and have it support you. Most of the time, it just pushed you around and tried to knock you off your feet. It succeeded a couple times with Sadie, but she was awesome up there and just kept pushing through. It was tough to follow the trail at times through the fog, but along the path they had little piles of stones to guide you. Entonces, I had found inukshuks in Costa Rica! How cool is that? They worked just like the ones in the North, and appeared through the murk to show you the way home. I thought it was pretty cool.
We made it out of the fog around 4:30, and stopped to grab a snack of fresh kiwis and ramen noodles. Then we realized we had 6km to walk down, and the sun was on it's way to the ocean. So off we went, and damn if we didn't cover that distance quick! Well, 5km of it anyways. The last kilometer or so saw us walking slowly through the jungle by the light of a cell phone (I'd brought a headlamp, but it was in my backpack... haha damn eh!).
Well we walked out of the trees at around 7:30 or so, in the pitch black, and started down the road since we weren't allowed to camp in the park. After walking for about an hour, we found a lodge that let us sleep on their grounds for 5 bucks a night. So we sat in the yard and made some peanut butter sandwiches, then hit the bar for some victory brews. They were the coldest, tastiest beers I have had since I got here, and as we sit there recapping the day, I realized that I hadn't thought about my bag since we started hiking. Funny how it just really doesn't matter about your things when you're having an experience like that.
Sunday was a nice ride back, I still had my iPod since I was listening to it when my back got jacked which was a huge relief. All said and done, it was a fantastic weekend with a small glitch at the start.
Thanks for reading!
*This next week is Semana Santa (holy week) so I am going to Panama for a few days, and after that, I'm going to try to climb the tallest mountain in Costa Rica. So it might be a little while before the next entry... but I'll do my best to get it done as soon as possible!
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Golf!
Good day!
To start things off, I’ll just mention that there were 2 main things that contributed to the tardiness of this posting. First, it was a long weekend for me, between Spanish levels. Remember, if you will, that this caused me to be late with my entries back in early February. The second thing that hampered my progress is the sudden lack of internet in my house. It’s funny now without it how much of an annoyance it is to check mail and get these entries up. But it should be back by next week (I hope).
Speaking of next week, I have come to the startling realization that I only have just over a month left in Costa Rica. Que lastima! The time has flown, as always happens on trips like these. But it is also nice realization, in the sense that I think of how much can be accomplished in a month. But you’ll hear all about that month after it happens.
As for last weekend, t’was fantastic! I knew coming up to it that it was a long weekend, which kinda opens up your options as to where to go, since you have a full extra day for the travels home. I decided that I’d spent enough time in a warm country without golf, so I headed out to the Nicoya Peninsula to a place called Los Delfines.
To start out, I was heading up there with my friend John, since he was the only one who wanted to golf as badly as I did. He is with another program, CEA, and when I stopped by his residencia to meet him, he informed me that his director had just told him that our plans to head to Playa Tambor and golf were flawed. Originally, we had planned to head to Tambor and stay in the hotel there, in order to use the course at Los Delfines since the latter doesn’t have accommodations for people in our price range (neither really does Tambor, but it was golf, so we were gonna splurge for a night). But Lisa, the CEA helper-person, told us that we would need a reservation in order to stay at Tambor. Whoops. So she told us to talk to a travel advisor at Veritas, Luis, who could maybe work something out for us.
On our way to talk to Luis, John told me that this guy knows people everywhere, and John has found a knowing nod in several places upon saying “I’m with Luis from Veritas.” As it would turn out, we got lucky using it this time too.
After we told him our plans, he firstly told us we were idiots for waiting this long. Then he told us that Tambor was all-inclusive, which was nice, but didn’t include the golf, which was not. Wouldn’t have mattered anyway. He told us about a place down the road from Los Delfines, Paquera, which has a small hotel with a pool and a nice lady named Dona Maria. He couldn’t promise us a room, but said that we would have better luck there and would certainly be spending less money. Especially if we told her we were with Luis from Veritas.
So off we went. We hit Puntarenas at 4, and saw that the next ferry wasn’t till 5:30. Fine by us, there was a nice little bar that overlooked the bay, and we needed some beer. It was bloody hot that day. So we grabbed a couple cool ones, and talked about how sweet it was that we were golfing in less than 24 hours.
We made it across on the ferry without incident (well, aside from the Spanish karaoke that was pretty funny. They love that stuff down here!). On the other side, it was 6km to the town of Paquera. We decided to take a cab. Our cab driver turned out to be a cool guy named Eduardo, who was real friendly and helped us find the hotel even after we gave him brutal directions. He gave us his number and told us he’d take us to the golf course in the morning, to just give him a call when we want to go and he’d be at our hotel in 10 minutes. Nice, eh?
So we went in, and asked for Dona Maria. First problem – she wasn’t there. Ok then, that’s cool, can we just have a room then? Second problem – no rooms available. Whoops. Well as we tried to explain that we were with Luis from Veritas, they got Dona Maria on the phone and just happened to find a room that was cancelled that afternoon. Haha sometimes it’s better to be lucky than to be good, I reckon! He said it was all good, but that we wouldn’t be able to stay the next night since they were for sure booked solid. We figured it would have been nicer to stay 2 nights, so that we wouldn’t have to take all our stuff to the course with us the next day, but we had planned on heading up the Peninsula to another town later that weekend anyways, so it was no big deal.
Next morning we were up and in the restaurant by 7:30, ready for some food and some golf. While we were eating, we heard a couple talking to a lady that we immediately knew just HAD to be Dona Maria. This lady was ballin! She looked like the typical, I-run-this-town kinda lady, but in a motherly kinda way. She topped it off with those huge European-style sunglasses that, I don’t know how, are so popular these days. So anyways, this couple just finished telling her that they had originally booked for 2 nights, but didn’t want to stay for a second (what was that I was saying last post about when something needs to happen, it will? This weekend was full of that). So we went up, introduced ourselves, and asked if we could have the now-vacant room. No hay problemas!
So we went to the golf course sin bolsas, which was nice. The course was beautiful, right in the jungle, and nice and lush. The director there talked to us before we went out, and when we told him we were students, he informed us that should we want to come back, he would throw in the rentals for free. Which would drop the price to 60 bucks… you’re hard pressed to find a decent course in Calgary for that price, especially when a power cart is included.
We played 18, of course. The golf course was just a 9-hole layout, but it was a challenging track with narrow fairways and a lot of doglegs. It also had a giant cage on the second hole, where they were in the process of releasing a bunch of scarlet macaws back into the area. 35 had been released so far, and I’m pretty sure we saw most of them! It was incredible; you’d be lining up your shot and 3 gorgeous, fiery red birds would be gliding across the fairway. Or watching you line up your putt from the shade of one of the towering trees that were all over the course (without a left-oriented drive, hole 5 had you stuck behind a massive tree that completely blocks the green. And I slice right).
So golf was great, and getting back to that pool was even better. This whole weekend, I think the temperature had to have been around 30. It was scorching. We were sitting there sipping some icy Imperials (the national beer), watching the neighborhood kids playing in the pool. This was kinda neat, Dona Maria lets the kids in the area come and swim in the pool, since the town is tiny and there wouldn’t be much else for them to do. Well, there would, but nothing as sweet as playing in a pool on a hot day, right?
A guy walked out of the restaurant, holding a beer, and wearing a Molson Canadian t-shirt. How could I not say hello? Turns out his name was Derek, and he was down for a few more days with his significant other, Nadine. It also turns out that we had just met half of one of the most interesting couples I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. Nadine joined us after not too long, and the four of us spent the rest of the afternoon (and well into the night) sitting at the same table, chatting about everything. Seriously, everything. It was great! We covered everything from religion, to sports, to Costa Rica, to spirituality, to anything else that one might want to ponder about their lives. In fact, Nadine had just finished self-publishing a book about all that great stuff, and had some very open-minded and fresh outlooks on all of it (sidenote to my family – she kinda reminded me in some ways of Auntie Judith. Which, as you know, is a pretty high complement). The book is called “In a Nutshell”, and we bought a copy.
We had such a good time in Paquera that we decided not to head up the coast as was originally planned. So we booked up our room again for Sunday night, and spent all Sunday relaxing by the pool. It was so nice - just reading a book, swimming, and enjoying the sun. Then came round 2 with Derek and Nadine! They wandered up after a day of checking out the park close by, and we invited them to join us for a couple again. And again, it turned out to be more than a few, with the night devoted to some of the best conversation I’ve found in a long time. You know that feeling, when you just instantly click with some people? It was like that big-time for all of us, and when it happens, you just sit back and enjoy the ride.
The last real nice thing that happened to us was the realization that by staying, we were able to take advantage of the offer of free golf club rentals. So Monday morning, we made our way back to the golf course and played another round. I couldn’t help but think about what the weather must be like back in Calgary… which obviously caused me to smile, and sink a 15 foot birdie putt on 7.
Anyhow, we got done that round at about 1:30. We caught a local bus back to Paquera (80 cents each, instead of 8 dollars), and went to pay for our room. Well the power of Luis came into play, and we got off real easy. In fact, we’re thinking about a return trip in 2 weeks.
The return trip was no worries, and we made it back by 8:30 or so. I was asleep by 9, and I had one of the best sleeps I’ve had in Costa Rica thus far.
All said and done – just a great freakin weekend.
Thanks for reading!
Couple quick things:
- Gotta give a shout out to Derek and Nadine. You guys really made this weekend awesome, and I hope I get another chance to shoot the shit with ya sometime in the future. In a nutshell, you’re great people.
- Like I said, I’m leaving here in about a month. I miss all of you back home, and it will be nice to see you again. Driveway night April 21st.
- I’m currently reading a book called “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson. It’s about hiking the Appalachian Trail in the US, and it’s a great read. If you’ve never read any of his stuff before, you should. The guy is hilarious.
- Aaron can’t think of anything clever to say. But he wishes he could.
To start things off, I’ll just mention that there were 2 main things that contributed to the tardiness of this posting. First, it was a long weekend for me, between Spanish levels. Remember, if you will, that this caused me to be late with my entries back in early February. The second thing that hampered my progress is the sudden lack of internet in my house. It’s funny now without it how much of an annoyance it is to check mail and get these entries up. But it should be back by next week (I hope).
Speaking of next week, I have come to the startling realization that I only have just over a month left in Costa Rica. Que lastima! The time has flown, as always happens on trips like these. But it is also nice realization, in the sense that I think of how much can be accomplished in a month. But you’ll hear all about that month after it happens.
As for last weekend, t’was fantastic! I knew coming up to it that it was a long weekend, which kinda opens up your options as to where to go, since you have a full extra day for the travels home. I decided that I’d spent enough time in a warm country without golf, so I headed out to the Nicoya Peninsula to a place called Los Delfines.
To start out, I was heading up there with my friend John, since he was the only one who wanted to golf as badly as I did. He is with another program, CEA, and when I stopped by his residencia to meet him, he informed me that his director had just told him that our plans to head to Playa Tambor and golf were flawed. Originally, we had planned to head to Tambor and stay in the hotel there, in order to use the course at Los Delfines since the latter doesn’t have accommodations for people in our price range (neither really does Tambor, but it was golf, so we were gonna splurge for a night). But Lisa, the CEA helper-person, told us that we would need a reservation in order to stay at Tambor. Whoops. So she told us to talk to a travel advisor at Veritas, Luis, who could maybe work something out for us.
On our way to talk to Luis, John told me that this guy knows people everywhere, and John has found a knowing nod in several places upon saying “I’m with Luis from Veritas.” As it would turn out, we got lucky using it this time too.
After we told him our plans, he firstly told us we were idiots for waiting this long. Then he told us that Tambor was all-inclusive, which was nice, but didn’t include the golf, which was not. Wouldn’t have mattered anyway. He told us about a place down the road from Los Delfines, Paquera, which has a small hotel with a pool and a nice lady named Dona Maria. He couldn’t promise us a room, but said that we would have better luck there and would certainly be spending less money. Especially if we told her we were with Luis from Veritas.
So off we went. We hit Puntarenas at 4, and saw that the next ferry wasn’t till 5:30. Fine by us, there was a nice little bar that overlooked the bay, and we needed some beer. It was bloody hot that day. So we grabbed a couple cool ones, and talked about how sweet it was that we were golfing in less than 24 hours.
We made it across on the ferry without incident (well, aside from the Spanish karaoke that was pretty funny. They love that stuff down here!). On the other side, it was 6km to the town of Paquera. We decided to take a cab. Our cab driver turned out to be a cool guy named Eduardo, who was real friendly and helped us find the hotel even after we gave him brutal directions. He gave us his number and told us he’d take us to the golf course in the morning, to just give him a call when we want to go and he’d be at our hotel in 10 minutes. Nice, eh?
So we went in, and asked for Dona Maria. First problem – she wasn’t there. Ok then, that’s cool, can we just have a room then? Second problem – no rooms available. Whoops. Well as we tried to explain that we were with Luis from Veritas, they got Dona Maria on the phone and just happened to find a room that was cancelled that afternoon. Haha sometimes it’s better to be lucky than to be good, I reckon! He said it was all good, but that we wouldn’t be able to stay the next night since they were for sure booked solid. We figured it would have been nicer to stay 2 nights, so that we wouldn’t have to take all our stuff to the course with us the next day, but we had planned on heading up the Peninsula to another town later that weekend anyways, so it was no big deal.
Next morning we were up and in the restaurant by 7:30, ready for some food and some golf. While we were eating, we heard a couple talking to a lady that we immediately knew just HAD to be Dona Maria. This lady was ballin! She looked like the typical, I-run-this-town kinda lady, but in a motherly kinda way. She topped it off with those huge European-style sunglasses that, I don’t know how, are so popular these days. So anyways, this couple just finished telling her that they had originally booked for 2 nights, but didn’t want to stay for a second (what was that I was saying last post about when something needs to happen, it will? This weekend was full of that). So we went up, introduced ourselves, and asked if we could have the now-vacant room. No hay problemas!
So we went to the golf course sin bolsas, which was nice. The course was beautiful, right in the jungle, and nice and lush. The director there talked to us before we went out, and when we told him we were students, he informed us that should we want to come back, he would throw in the rentals for free. Which would drop the price to 60 bucks… you’re hard pressed to find a decent course in Calgary for that price, especially when a power cart is included.
We played 18, of course. The golf course was just a 9-hole layout, but it was a challenging track with narrow fairways and a lot of doglegs. It also had a giant cage on the second hole, where they were in the process of releasing a bunch of scarlet macaws back into the area. 35 had been released so far, and I’m pretty sure we saw most of them! It was incredible; you’d be lining up your shot and 3 gorgeous, fiery red birds would be gliding across the fairway. Or watching you line up your putt from the shade of one of the towering trees that were all over the course (without a left-oriented drive, hole 5 had you stuck behind a massive tree that completely blocks the green. And I slice right).
So golf was great, and getting back to that pool was even better. This whole weekend, I think the temperature had to have been around 30. It was scorching. We were sitting there sipping some icy Imperials (the national beer), watching the neighborhood kids playing in the pool. This was kinda neat, Dona Maria lets the kids in the area come and swim in the pool, since the town is tiny and there wouldn’t be much else for them to do. Well, there would, but nothing as sweet as playing in a pool on a hot day, right?
A guy walked out of the restaurant, holding a beer, and wearing a Molson Canadian t-shirt. How could I not say hello? Turns out his name was Derek, and he was down for a few more days with his significant other, Nadine. It also turns out that we had just met half of one of the most interesting couples I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. Nadine joined us after not too long, and the four of us spent the rest of the afternoon (and well into the night) sitting at the same table, chatting about everything. Seriously, everything. It was great! We covered everything from religion, to sports, to Costa Rica, to spirituality, to anything else that one might want to ponder about their lives. In fact, Nadine had just finished self-publishing a book about all that great stuff, and had some very open-minded and fresh outlooks on all of it (sidenote to my family – she kinda reminded me in some ways of Auntie Judith. Which, as you know, is a pretty high complement). The book is called “In a Nutshell”, and we bought a copy.
We had such a good time in Paquera that we decided not to head up the coast as was originally planned. So we booked up our room again for Sunday night, and spent all Sunday relaxing by the pool. It was so nice - just reading a book, swimming, and enjoying the sun. Then came round 2 with Derek and Nadine! They wandered up after a day of checking out the park close by, and we invited them to join us for a couple again. And again, it turned out to be more than a few, with the night devoted to some of the best conversation I’ve found in a long time. You know that feeling, when you just instantly click with some people? It was like that big-time for all of us, and when it happens, you just sit back and enjoy the ride.
The last real nice thing that happened to us was the realization that by staying, we were able to take advantage of the offer of free golf club rentals. So Monday morning, we made our way back to the golf course and played another round. I couldn’t help but think about what the weather must be like back in Calgary… which obviously caused me to smile, and sink a 15 foot birdie putt on 7.
Anyhow, we got done that round at about 1:30. We caught a local bus back to Paquera (80 cents each, instead of 8 dollars), and went to pay for our room. Well the power of Luis came into play, and we got off real easy. In fact, we’re thinking about a return trip in 2 weeks.
The return trip was no worries, and we made it back by 8:30 or so. I was asleep by 9, and I had one of the best sleeps I’ve had in Costa Rica thus far.
All said and done – just a great freakin weekend.
Thanks for reading!
Couple quick things:
- Gotta give a shout out to Derek and Nadine. You guys really made this weekend awesome, and I hope I get another chance to shoot the shit with ya sometime in the future. In a nutshell, you’re great people.
- Like I said, I’m leaving here in about a month. I miss all of you back home, and it will be nice to see you again. Driveway night April 21st.
- I’m currently reading a book called “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson. It’s about hiking the Appalachian Trail in the US, and it’s a great read. If you’ve never read any of his stuff before, you should. The guy is hilarious.
- Aaron can’t think of anything clever to say. But he wishes he could.
Monday, February 25, 2008
A Hitchhiker's Guide to Tenorio National Park
Don't let the title fool you, it's just a title.
Last week saw me working away, learning how to further decipher the code of the locals, in an attempt to be able to communicate with the savages and learn their ways. I have already been accepted into one of the families here, by skinning a local and wearing it's hide. The mother treats me like one of her own.
Hahaha I hope none of them read that...
Anyhow, I had no plans for the weekend as of Thursday morning. I recently worked out a budget for myself for the remainder of my trip here, and was thinking that a weekend in San Jose would probably be pretty easy on the wallet. Especially since the long weekend is next week, and will probably be an expensive one.
But my buddy Trevor came up and asked me if I wanted to go camping on the side of a volcano instead. That kind of invitation doesn't really come along in one's life all that often, so I felt obliged to accept. Not to mention the crazy river that is present in that park that he described to me. More on that in due time.
He told me that he's got a 2-man tent, that could probably squish 3 if we could find someone else to come along. Our friend Leigh was soon talked into it as well, even though (or perhaps because the fact) she'd never been camping before. So we went on down to pequeno mundo (small world) to pick up some supplies, hit the grocery store to pick up some food for the weekend, and got everything packed up and ready to roll. I found a sweet Spider-Man sleeping bag for like 6 bucks, so I had my sleeping arrangements!
We caught the bus on Friday afternoon. We hopped on a bus bound for Upala, knowing that we need to get off in a town before that called Bijagua. Pretty uneventful ride up, but we played a game that involves coming up with random things to bring to a picnic. You have to come up with one thing for every letter of the alphabet, and repeat them in "12-days-of-Christmas" style. We had an Axe-Murderer, Barack Obama, Coombiyah Music, etc... The Ticos that knew english were giving us some really strange looks, but it sure passed the time!
We got off in the proper town, one of those "we have a main street... that's about it" kinda places. But we were able to find a cabina for the 3 of us, plus some fried chicken to eat! Next, we followed the sound of music to a bar up the street that seemed to be the only rockin joint in Bijagua. We wandered in and it was just like in the movies where the record scratches to a halt and the whole bar is sitting there staring at you. It was eerie. So we wandered up to the bar and grabbed some beer, and watched our first evening of spanish karaoke! It was freakin awesome! I was reading the screen and laughing because I could actually tell what the lyrics were saying. It's weird, but my spanish seems to get better every time I have a couple beer (I first realized this talking to Jose Alberto, the owner of Pescadito, our neighborhood watering hole).
We headed to bed early that night, since we knew we were gettin up early the next morning. Apparently, if you want to catch a taxi in Bijagua, you have to be on the street and looking by 7am. And since the park is 18km away, most of the locals definitely recommend taking a cab. So we ended up rounding one up, but he told us the trip would cost 15,000 colones (30 bucks). *Just a sidenote, this is really expensive. San Jose is a big city, but you can get around most of it for 10 bucks or so. So 30 was ridiculous.
Well we told the guy thanks, but we were gonna walk. He just smiled and kinda shook his head, and we were off. We wandered down the highway, with the knowledge that it was 6km to the dirt road, and another 12km up some sketchy roads to the actual entrance. We walked about 4 of the 6, throwing out the thumb every time a truck went by. Then one picked us up and took us to the dirt road! That was a nice little start of good luck. We then proceeded up the dirt road, and didn't get far, when that cab happened upon us. He couldn't believe we'd gotten that far that fast, so he said he'd take us the rest of the way for 5,000 colones (10 bucks). We'd done our bit to save money, so we were all over it now!
We got up to a little restaurant, and got dropped off. They told us it was another kilometer to the actual entrance, but you can't camp in the National Park so this place had a field that they let people camp in. We said thanks and told them we'd be back that afternoon. While walking along the road, we saw a calf gettin some milk from it's mother. Just thought I'd throw that in.
We signed into the park and got a little map. It showed a catarata (waterfall), a mirador (lookout point), laguna azul (blue lagoon), and some aguas termales (hot springs). Now I must tell you what is cool about this river.
It is called Rio Celeste, and it is one of the coolest natural things I've ever seen. The river starts as 2 rivers that join up in the park. Thing is, these 2 rivers have some different chemicals in them from the volcano. So when they join up, a reaction takes place and the water turns into a crazy turquoise blue! It turns from 2 clear water rivers into 1 opaque blue river. It's really wild. Just a stripe of intense blue twisting through the jungle! What can you really say to describe a place like that? The waterfall was cool, the mirador was cool, the blue lagoon was cool. The hot springs were... well, hot! Which was cool. Haha
In the middle of the park we stopped and made some peanut butter banana sandwiches, which were delicious. We also packed in some cheez-its, chocolate, dried ramen noodles, and assorted cookies and crackers. Healthy, eh? Good hiking food.
The park itself was great, there weren't many other people in there. It got busier in the afternoon at the hot springs where we spent a bunch of time, but we were the only gringos. Leigh and Trevor had a solid 2 hour nap, while I sat by the blue river in the middle of a jungle and read Animal Farm. Haha sometimes you get these moments down here where you realize where you are and what you're doing and all you can really do is just kinda smile to yourself...
We wandered back out of the park and got back to that farm/restaurant, and grabbed some brewskies. What a way to end a day like that! We set up our tent, and I noticed ominously that there was no rain leaf and if it did indeed rain, we would likely get soaked. By the way, you never start a story like that if it isn't followed with the persons involved getting soaked. And who am I to disobey unwritten (or is it written? or maybe writing) laws like that. So rest assured, we got soaked. Luckily for us, it wasn't until 6am. And they'd given us a key to one of the hostel rooms, so that we could use the bathroom there if we wanted. So after being rudely awakened by water, we holed up in the hostel room for a bit to organize all our stuff. We wandered to the restaurant, had some delicious coffee, and bundled up for the long walk back to Bijagua. I say long walk because we were down to 9,800 colones left between the 3 of us, and we were pretty sure that the bus back to San Jose cost something like 3,000 apiece. Cheers to planning!
We walked about 10km of it, the rain having died off after about a half hour of walking. At this point, we were thinking about how nice it would be to hitchhike and get back to town in time to catch the 10am bus, instead of having to wait until 3pm. Lo and behold, around the corner came a little truck! He happily took us to Bijagua, and we made it there at like 9:30. I love small town folks!
Well the bus came, and 3 tickets cost... 9,400 colones. We made it back to San Jose with 80 cents between the 3 of us. How's that for cuttin 'er close?
All in all, it was a great weekend. When we got to San Jose we hit an ATM, and made our way to Wendy's! How's that for a great end? A classic double for my classic story.
- Just a little note, because what would a ROE be without a kernel of wisdom? This weekend saw us doing a lot of improvisation. But we were pretty relaxed, and just sorta trusted that things would work out. And every time we really needed something to work out, it did. So I guess I would just say that if you find yourself in a stressful situation, just try to take a step back, and trust that everything happens for a reason. If something needs to happen, it will. (And yeah, I know as well as anyone that this is wayy easier said than done. But it's worth a shot, y'know?).
Thanks for reading!
Last week saw me working away, learning how to further decipher the code of the locals, in an attempt to be able to communicate with the savages and learn their ways. I have already been accepted into one of the families here, by skinning a local and wearing it's hide. The mother treats me like one of her own.
Hahaha I hope none of them read that...
Anyhow, I had no plans for the weekend as of Thursday morning. I recently worked out a budget for myself for the remainder of my trip here, and was thinking that a weekend in San Jose would probably be pretty easy on the wallet. Especially since the long weekend is next week, and will probably be an expensive one.
But my buddy Trevor came up and asked me if I wanted to go camping on the side of a volcano instead. That kind of invitation doesn't really come along in one's life all that often, so I felt obliged to accept. Not to mention the crazy river that is present in that park that he described to me. More on that in due time.
He told me that he's got a 2-man tent, that could probably squish 3 if we could find someone else to come along. Our friend Leigh was soon talked into it as well, even though (or perhaps because the fact) she'd never been camping before. So we went on down to pequeno mundo (small world) to pick up some supplies, hit the grocery store to pick up some food for the weekend, and got everything packed up and ready to roll. I found a sweet Spider-Man sleeping bag for like 6 bucks, so I had my sleeping arrangements!
We caught the bus on Friday afternoon. We hopped on a bus bound for Upala, knowing that we need to get off in a town before that called Bijagua. Pretty uneventful ride up, but we played a game that involves coming up with random things to bring to a picnic. You have to come up with one thing for every letter of the alphabet, and repeat them in "12-days-of-Christmas" style. We had an Axe-Murderer, Barack Obama, Coombiyah Music, etc... The Ticos that knew english were giving us some really strange looks, but it sure passed the time!
We got off in the proper town, one of those "we have a main street... that's about it" kinda places. But we were able to find a cabina for the 3 of us, plus some fried chicken to eat! Next, we followed the sound of music to a bar up the street that seemed to be the only rockin joint in Bijagua. We wandered in and it was just like in the movies where the record scratches to a halt and the whole bar is sitting there staring at you. It was eerie. So we wandered up to the bar and grabbed some beer, and watched our first evening of spanish karaoke! It was freakin awesome! I was reading the screen and laughing because I could actually tell what the lyrics were saying. It's weird, but my spanish seems to get better every time I have a couple beer (I first realized this talking to Jose Alberto, the owner of Pescadito, our neighborhood watering hole).
We headed to bed early that night, since we knew we were gettin up early the next morning. Apparently, if you want to catch a taxi in Bijagua, you have to be on the street and looking by 7am. And since the park is 18km away, most of the locals definitely recommend taking a cab. So we ended up rounding one up, but he told us the trip would cost 15,000 colones (30 bucks). *Just a sidenote, this is really expensive. San Jose is a big city, but you can get around most of it for 10 bucks or so. So 30 was ridiculous.
Well we told the guy thanks, but we were gonna walk. He just smiled and kinda shook his head, and we were off. We wandered down the highway, with the knowledge that it was 6km to the dirt road, and another 12km up some sketchy roads to the actual entrance. We walked about 4 of the 6, throwing out the thumb every time a truck went by. Then one picked us up and took us to the dirt road! That was a nice little start of good luck. We then proceeded up the dirt road, and didn't get far, when that cab happened upon us. He couldn't believe we'd gotten that far that fast, so he said he'd take us the rest of the way for 5,000 colones (10 bucks). We'd done our bit to save money, so we were all over it now!
We got up to a little restaurant, and got dropped off. They told us it was another kilometer to the actual entrance, but you can't camp in the National Park so this place had a field that they let people camp in. We said thanks and told them we'd be back that afternoon. While walking along the road, we saw a calf gettin some milk from it's mother. Just thought I'd throw that in.
We signed into the park and got a little map. It showed a catarata (waterfall), a mirador (lookout point), laguna azul (blue lagoon), and some aguas termales (hot springs). Now I must tell you what is cool about this river.
It is called Rio Celeste, and it is one of the coolest natural things I've ever seen. The river starts as 2 rivers that join up in the park. Thing is, these 2 rivers have some different chemicals in them from the volcano. So when they join up, a reaction takes place and the water turns into a crazy turquoise blue! It turns from 2 clear water rivers into 1 opaque blue river. It's really wild. Just a stripe of intense blue twisting through the jungle! What can you really say to describe a place like that? The waterfall was cool, the mirador was cool, the blue lagoon was cool. The hot springs were... well, hot! Which was cool. Haha
In the middle of the park we stopped and made some peanut butter banana sandwiches, which were delicious. We also packed in some cheez-its, chocolate, dried ramen noodles, and assorted cookies and crackers. Healthy, eh? Good hiking food.
The park itself was great, there weren't many other people in there. It got busier in the afternoon at the hot springs where we spent a bunch of time, but we were the only gringos. Leigh and Trevor had a solid 2 hour nap, while I sat by the blue river in the middle of a jungle and read Animal Farm. Haha sometimes you get these moments down here where you realize where you are and what you're doing and all you can really do is just kinda smile to yourself...
We wandered back out of the park and got back to that farm/restaurant, and grabbed some brewskies. What a way to end a day like that! We set up our tent, and I noticed ominously that there was no rain leaf and if it did indeed rain, we would likely get soaked. By the way, you never start a story like that if it isn't followed with the persons involved getting soaked. And who am I to disobey unwritten (or is it written? or maybe writing) laws like that. So rest assured, we got soaked. Luckily for us, it wasn't until 6am. And they'd given us a key to one of the hostel rooms, so that we could use the bathroom there if we wanted. So after being rudely awakened by water, we holed up in the hostel room for a bit to organize all our stuff. We wandered to the restaurant, had some delicious coffee, and bundled up for the long walk back to Bijagua. I say long walk because we were down to 9,800 colones left between the 3 of us, and we were pretty sure that the bus back to San Jose cost something like 3,000 apiece. Cheers to planning!
We walked about 10km of it, the rain having died off after about a half hour of walking. At this point, we were thinking about how nice it would be to hitchhike and get back to town in time to catch the 10am bus, instead of having to wait until 3pm. Lo and behold, around the corner came a little truck! He happily took us to Bijagua, and we made it there at like 9:30. I love small town folks!
Well the bus came, and 3 tickets cost... 9,400 colones. We made it back to San Jose with 80 cents between the 3 of us. How's that for cuttin 'er close?
All in all, it was a great weekend. When we got to San Jose we hit an ATM, and made our way to Wendy's! How's that for a great end? A classic double for my classic story.
- Just a little note, because what would a ROE be without a kernel of wisdom? This weekend saw us doing a lot of improvisation. But we were pretty relaxed, and just sorta trusted that things would work out. And every time we really needed something to work out, it did. So I guess I would just say that if you find yourself in a stressful situation, just try to take a step back, and trust that everything happens for a reason. If something needs to happen, it will. (And yeah, I know as well as anyone that this is wayy easier said than done. But it's worth a shot, y'know?).
Thanks for reading!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Doce chicas y yo
Buenos dias!
Another week, another trip. Getting to be a predictable formula, but I don't think I need to say that I'm not getting bored of it! Costa Rica may be a small country, but there is no end to the amount of things that you can do here. And each trip is better than the last! (but only if you do them in that order... haha).
This weekend saw me returning to Puerto Viejo. We learned last time we were there that it was fairly easy to do whitewater rafting from Rockin J's, but we didn't have the time or the organization to get it done then. We planned ahead this time so we could be sure to get 'er done!
We left on Friday afternoon after our midterm (got my mark back today, apparently I'm gettin this spanish stuff down! go figure) and made it down the Puerto Viejo around 8. Grabbed a 6er for the walk to the hostel. We got there, and as usual, Rockin J's was awesome. They had live music going again and a bonfire on the beach. Difference was, they didn't have tents this time so I spent both nights in a hammock! If you ever have the opportunity, here's a tip - drink a few before you go to bed. You sleep much sounder by not being aware of the sounds around ya.
I suppose I should elaborate on the title of the post: somehow, in the planning of this trip, it ended up being me and 12 girls going. Don't ask me how. No se.
Anyways, a few of us were sitting around listening to the live band. They were great - a guitar, a ukelele, a bass (not the fish, the stringed instrument), and some bongos. Well they'd played a few, and I sorta knew the guy on the bongos (just a dude that works at the hostel), when they started into "wonderwall." I couldn't resist, I was lovin the music and everything at that point. So I wandered up and asked if I could play for that song. Well good 'ol John, he was all for it. So I joined the band for a song, just kinda sat in the middle and played the bongos. Check that one off the list, I guess!
Through the course of the night I met a girl from Ireland (I love that accent), some people from Argentina and Brazil, and a girl from Calgary! Us Calgarians are everywhere! It was fun talking in spanish to the people from South America, and it seems to be a lot easier when you just relax (see: drink) and just let the conversation flow. That's the thing with learning a new language, I think: you just need to take it step by step, poco a poco.
Saturday was cool, went back to The Beach Hut for some eggs benny, then we rented some bikes and headed down like 8km to a beach called Punta Uva (Grape Point). Didn't see any grapes, but we heard some howler monkeys and saw a sloth. The water was crystal clear and the waves were good for bodysurfing. Rest of the day saw me in a hammock, reading, takin er easy, that sort of thing that people don't seem to do enough of. Que lastima. That night we went to a restaurant called Chile Rojo, and I ordered a salad. That's right mom, I actually voluntarily ordered a salad. There's hope for me yet.
We woke up bright and early on Sunday morning to catch the bus at 7:10. It was a 2 hour ride to Siquierres, where the bus picked us up for rafting. We went down to the river, and the guide explained that we'd be seeing class 3 rapids, since it's the dry season so the river isn't running as high as it normally would be. So it wasn't the death-defying adventure that I'd kinda hoped for, but it was still a lot of fun. The valley that the river ran through was beautiful, straight-up jungle on both sides as far up as you could see. It was pretty tranquilo for the most part, but we did hit some good rapids that threw us around and got the boat rockin. I almost bailed at one point, but managed to hook my foot under a seat and held on. Which is actually kindof a shame, since the rules of the river say that the first person to fall out gets a free beer at the end. Haha maybe next time.
The one thing I noticed, that I really want to try next, is that there was a fair amount of river kayaks in the water. These guys were awesome, jukin and jivin and dippin and divin all over the place (now picture Bill Cosby saying that). You have to take lessons beforehand, so you can learn how to roll in case you get flipped over on the way down. I think the element of danger is definitely higher in these little crafts, and you get way more independence in the parts of the river that you can hit. So maybe that's next...
Random thoughts, etc:
- Shout out to all the keys on my keyboard except the "H" key, which is broken and is a consistent annoyance.
- I like the way they drive in Costa Rica. Everyone is aggressive, but extremely aware of what is going on around them. Not to mention they all have balls of steel when passing in the twisty mountain roads. And, the horn means everything from "hi there" to "watch out" to "what a nice sunny day we have here."
- Shout out to your face.
- It doesn't rain much here, but the day I come back with wet shoes that I set out to dry, it rains.
- Shout out to mother freakin nature.
- It's cool that people from all over the world can travel to random countries and make friends.
- Shout out to MAPS for the chat, Jessie for laughing at almost all of my jokes, and Chelsi for the sweet-ass dreds.
- I want to go golfing. So I think I will. Hahaha I love this place!
- Shout out to: Rhawn. (you owe me a beer for that when I get back, aight?)
- Shout out to Maman y Fazha for the valentine's gift, I had a blast!
- Shout out to "she who shall not be smart"
Thanks for reading!
Another week, another trip. Getting to be a predictable formula, but I don't think I need to say that I'm not getting bored of it! Costa Rica may be a small country, but there is no end to the amount of things that you can do here. And each trip is better than the last! (but only if you do them in that order... haha).
This weekend saw me returning to Puerto Viejo. We learned last time we were there that it was fairly easy to do whitewater rafting from Rockin J's, but we didn't have the time or the organization to get it done then. We planned ahead this time so we could be sure to get 'er done!
We left on Friday afternoon after our midterm (got my mark back today, apparently I'm gettin this spanish stuff down! go figure) and made it down the Puerto Viejo around 8. Grabbed a 6er for the walk to the hostel. We got there, and as usual, Rockin J's was awesome. They had live music going again and a bonfire on the beach. Difference was, they didn't have tents this time so I spent both nights in a hammock! If you ever have the opportunity, here's a tip - drink a few before you go to bed. You sleep much sounder by not being aware of the sounds around ya.
I suppose I should elaborate on the title of the post: somehow, in the planning of this trip, it ended up being me and 12 girls going. Don't ask me how. No se.
Anyways, a few of us were sitting around listening to the live band. They were great - a guitar, a ukelele, a bass (not the fish, the stringed instrument), and some bongos. Well they'd played a few, and I sorta knew the guy on the bongos (just a dude that works at the hostel), when they started into "wonderwall." I couldn't resist, I was lovin the music and everything at that point. So I wandered up and asked if I could play for that song. Well good 'ol John, he was all for it. So I joined the band for a song, just kinda sat in the middle and played the bongos. Check that one off the list, I guess!
Through the course of the night I met a girl from Ireland (I love that accent), some people from Argentina and Brazil, and a girl from Calgary! Us Calgarians are everywhere! It was fun talking in spanish to the people from South America, and it seems to be a lot easier when you just relax (see: drink) and just let the conversation flow. That's the thing with learning a new language, I think: you just need to take it step by step, poco a poco.
Saturday was cool, went back to The Beach Hut for some eggs benny, then we rented some bikes and headed down like 8km to a beach called Punta Uva (Grape Point). Didn't see any grapes, but we heard some howler monkeys and saw a sloth. The water was crystal clear and the waves were good for bodysurfing. Rest of the day saw me in a hammock, reading, takin er easy, that sort of thing that people don't seem to do enough of. Que lastima. That night we went to a restaurant called Chile Rojo, and I ordered a salad. That's right mom, I actually voluntarily ordered a salad. There's hope for me yet.
We woke up bright and early on Sunday morning to catch the bus at 7:10. It was a 2 hour ride to Siquierres, where the bus picked us up for rafting. We went down to the river, and the guide explained that we'd be seeing class 3 rapids, since it's the dry season so the river isn't running as high as it normally would be. So it wasn't the death-defying adventure that I'd kinda hoped for, but it was still a lot of fun. The valley that the river ran through was beautiful, straight-up jungle on both sides as far up as you could see. It was pretty tranquilo for the most part, but we did hit some good rapids that threw us around and got the boat rockin. I almost bailed at one point, but managed to hook my foot under a seat and held on. Which is actually kindof a shame, since the rules of the river say that the first person to fall out gets a free beer at the end. Haha maybe next time.
The one thing I noticed, that I really want to try next, is that there was a fair amount of river kayaks in the water. These guys were awesome, jukin and jivin and dippin and divin all over the place (now picture Bill Cosby saying that). You have to take lessons beforehand, so you can learn how to roll in case you get flipped over on the way down. I think the element of danger is definitely higher in these little crafts, and you get way more independence in the parts of the river that you can hit. So maybe that's next...
Random thoughts, etc:
- Shout out to all the keys on my keyboard except the "H" key, which is broken and is a consistent annoyance.
- I like the way they drive in Costa Rica. Everyone is aggressive, but extremely aware of what is going on around them. Not to mention they all have balls of steel when passing in the twisty mountain roads. And, the horn means everything from "hi there" to "watch out" to "what a nice sunny day we have here."
- Shout out to your face.
- It doesn't rain much here, but the day I come back with wet shoes that I set out to dry, it rains.
- Shout out to mother freakin nature.
- It's cool that people from all over the world can travel to random countries and make friends.
- Shout out to MAPS for the chat, Jessie for laughing at almost all of my jokes, and Chelsi for the sweet-ass dreds.
- I want to go golfing. So I think I will. Hahaha I love this place!
- Shout out to: Rhawn. (you owe me a beer for that when I get back, aight?)
- Shout out to Maman y Fazha for the valentine's gift, I had a blast!
- Shout out to "she who shall not be smart"
Thanks for reading!
Monday, February 11, 2008
Back on Top o Things
Baclava!
A Greek dessert, in case you’re wondering.
This weekend happened to be one of my best in
Up to this point, I had spent every weekend with a group of gringos no less than 15 or so. It’s a lot of fun to do it that way, since there’s always someone around to hang out with or talk to. Problem is, there’s always someone around. And in a group that large, we’re a bit of a pasty eyesore. So this time we endeavored to travel in a smaller group.
It ended up being me, Aaron, Meghan, and Katherine. Me and A-Ron hadn’t really hung out with them before, but when everyone is cool, what does it matter who you hang out with? We all wanted to do a weekend away from gringos, and we all wanted to do some hiking.
We found a place near
Anyway, we left
The drive out there was incredible. The town soon melted away into mountains and valleys, with tiny villages and random farms. This was the kind of
We got to the little town and got our hotel room, the lady just walked us to a room and said “come down and check in and pay sometime later on”. And I thought Puerto Viejo was relaxed! This place makes Trochu look like a metropolis! (I hope Jason reads that sometime, cuz that amused me greatly).
The hotel was perched right above the river, so it was easy to just wander down and sit by the water and watch the world go by. We did that the first night, just laid on some rocks by the river and stared at the stars.
We woke up at 5:50 Saturday morning, and made some sandwiches with bread and Goober (do you know goober? It’s peanut butter and jelly mixed in a jar. Phenomenal stuff). With that, we headed up towards the reserve.
We started our hike in there not much after 7. It was a really cool reserve, founded by a couple from
The trail starts and right away leads to a beautiful waterfall. It was great to just stand there and watch the early morning sun crest the top of the falls, really serene. It was off to a great start, to be sure! Oh, and we didn’t actually leave them sandwiches. We ate the sandwiches and left them a donation. Cookies. Hahaha
The next part of the hike was a little meditation garden, complete with a labyrinth. I had never head of one of those before, it’s basically a bunch of rocks laid out in a large spiral pattern with room to walk in the spirals. The idea is to just walk around and around until you reach the middle, then turn around and walk out the way you came in. I think that this is the sort of thing that people with zen gardens would enjoy. I kinda liked it, but I didn’t reach enlightenment or anything. Maybe next time.
Well what else can I say about the hike? I think the reality of it is that you had to be there to really enjoy it, and if you are a person who likes to hike then cloudbridge is certainly for you. It’s hard to describe what was so good about it… the trees were tightly packed and abundant, the views were incredible, the waterfalls and crystal clear water were beautiful and inviting… I’ve always felt really comfortable and at home in the mountains, and this time was no exception. There’s just something about the views when you break out of the canopies that makes you feel like a part of something bigger than yourself. Like I say, hard to describe, but it’s one of the best feelings in the world.
We saw some neat things, a cool suspension bridge, lots of birds, not too much for wildlife tho. That afternoon we stopped at one of the big pools on the way back and went for a swim. It was bloody well freezing, but it felt great!
The entire time we were in the park, we only saw 2 other people. We ended up hiking till about 3:30; all said and done we figured it was about 12km. It felt great to get that kind of exertion going, as anyone who has done similar can tell you. We wandered back to town and we each scarfed down a medium pizza, since we hadn’t really eaten anything other than snacks since that morning. We followed that up with a 2 hour nap, a dinner at Rocka Dura (the Costa Rican equivalent of the Hard Rock Café, someone definitely has a sense of humor there), and another night laying by the river staring at the sky and solving all the world’s problems. If you’re unfamiliar with that last bit, it just means we had some liquor.
Sunday morning we got up around 7, had some breakfast, had a good hour or so hack sesh until I roofed it on the restaurant… thought it was gone for good until the owner brought out a ladder so I could climb up and get it. Nice guy, eh?
The return trip was likewise uneventful, just got to sit and relax and soak in the memories from another great weekend.
Random thoughts and shout-outs:
- Hi Grams and Gramps!
- I love Lizano. May you all be graced with this divine flavor at some point in your lives.
- Shout out to Scizames and the Indy’s for a great time in Puerto Viejo. Thanks for the invite guys!
- Hacky sack is now our official event, daily at 10am. Startin to get the legs back again!
- Shout out to Jason, thanks for having a funny hometown.
- Spanish is a cool language.
- Shout out to the flashlight crew, and our honorary member, Meghan.
- Go Canucks Go! (that one will likely elicit a response. Suck it, Rhawn! Hahaha)
- Shout out to the couple from
- I can’t wait to see what’s gonna happen next down here.
- Shout out to anyone who is reading this, thanks for all the positive feedback. I started writing this just to save time keeping people updated on what’s going on down here, but it’s actually fun to write! And it definitely makes it worthwhile when I hear about you enjoying the read.
I reckon that’s about it for now.
Thanks for reading!
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