Well hey there folks!
I'm sorry it has taken me such a long time to write my final post. For all many of you know, I could have still been in Nicaragua for the past month. Well, no, I am now back on campus in Oberlin, gearing up for senior year (good god!). The rest of my time in Nicaragua was absolutely incredible. I hung out with the Jiquilillo kids all the time (they are indeed adorable), did some science experiments with them (with the 4th volunteer, Ryan--a new high-school science teacher from Oregon), hiked a volcano with a huuuge lagoon, played charades with backpackers from all over the world (including a hilarious New Zealander who did a tour of duty as a field commander in Afghanistan), read a bunch of books in hammocks, surfed a little bit (and got a little cut up), and went with Rancho Esperanza's cooks to the celebration of the anniversary of the Sandinista revolution (where we saw Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega speak). I couldn't have asked for a better summer. I got back to the states on July 24th, had a weekend of waterskiing and wakeboarding with cousins in New Hampshire, and then went back to good ole Readfield, Maine to chill out with the parental units and friends kayaking, swimming, boating, hiking, bonfiring, making smores, mowing the lawn, picking and eating blueberries, playing geetar and piano, eating mom's frenchtoast and local pies, going to the ocean, etc. etc. A nice low-key reintroduction to Amerikuh. I must say the culture shock wasn't as bad as I expected. That's not to say I don't miss Costa Rica and Nicaragua dearly...I plan on going back within a few years. Oh and I have a really hard time being in huge supermarkets and watching mainstream TV. But worse than culture shock has been simply withdrawal from how ridiculously fun the last 6 months were. I mean Maine and Oberlin are fantastic, but down there every single day was a blast, and that just doesn't seem happen here. So, with any luck, I'll graduate and go back to wiling out in the tropics soon! Thanks for reading my blog--I hope you enjoyed it. Oh--I almost forgot. Here's the link to some of the pictures from my time in Costa Rica with CIEE, afterwards, and then up in Nicaragua for when you feel like procrastinating: http://picasaweb.google.com/nfmeyer20
Enjoy!
Hasta luego y pura vida,
Nathaniel/Nata/NatoDos
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Nicaragua...a solid country so far...
Alrighty...so I got back to internet access before I expected. I´m in Nicaragua, and there´s really nothing to be scared of I think--the people are all really nice (today on the bus I met a woman who invited me and some friends to dinner!), I'm still alive and haven't yet gotten robbed! I hope all is well with all of you! So since my last post...
I got a bus at 430am from Monteverde that took me to the Panamerican Highway, where I got onto a nice, overly-airconditioned-but-that´s-better-than-roasting bus that took me through the Nicaragua-CR border (overwhelming with ´coyotes´ who want to change your money for you) to Rivas, where I took a taxi 10 minutes to the a Lake Nicaragua ferry, where I paid 1.50 to go an hour to the island of Omotepe, where I made myself PBJ sandwiches in the square (town of Moyagolpa) and waited for a bus to take me to the bottom half of the island where I found the classic hostel Finca Magdalena (also a quasi-organic farm), which is the base for the 6 hour roundtrip hike up the smaller, nonactive (for the last 3000 years), less dangerous volcano (I know lame right) that has cloud forest at the top and a lagoon in the crater. The next morning (Tuesday), I paid 5 bucks to hike up with a guide, along with two Brits who are on a 2 month surf trip and otherwise work for Oxfam and a middle-aged Californian and his entering-college son. It started raining almost immediately, but was only mist by the time we got to the top. The hike was a very slow/steep 5 km through a trail that by the 2nd km had turned into a small stream. After the hike (where Jack the Brit told me he thought both U.S. political parties were pretty much the same--both controlled by corporations and that the U.S. is headed to the gutter within the next presidential term)... I went down and swam in the lake, walked through the rural island towns, and the next day got a ride with my hikemates to the bus station on the mainland, where I took a bus to Granada, where I wandered around the city looking at churches and cool Spanish architecture (which I know next to nothign about) and really bright colored buildings. Then I had a burger at a sports bar to catch a couple innings of Wakefield and the Sox. Then the next day I took a bunch of boiling hot buses through Northwest Nicaragua and made it to Rancho Esperanza, where I´ll be for the next month (but the phone service got changed and they destroyed the old one before implementing the new one so there´s no phone and no internet...but they have a pickup truck for emergencies...I may not be able to contact you for a week or two). Anyway, Nate and his longtime friend Stephanie weren´t there (because he had to go to the capital to check on a machete wound on his thumb), so I was welcomed by Moises, a Nica in his 20s who is caretaking for a few days, and two cousins (23 Angelina, 25 Michelle) from the Bay Area in California who have been there for 2 weeks and will be there for another month. They showed me around, told me stuff and then we had dinner, where I met don Juan (night security guard--more of a guard against pigs who dig holes in the yard) and Jackie, one of the two cooks. The Rancho is perhaps the most relaxing place I´ve ever been. The town of Jiquillio looks like Kiribati. All the roofs are thatched, very few houses have full walls, everyone has chickens and pigs and dogs, kids are adorable and often walk around in just underwear. The village is almost strictly reliant on fishing, so there´s a bunch of simple (but not wooden and with no outriggers) motorboats. The beach is pretty deserted and stretches for miles (up until the mangrove system--biggest in Central America @ 8800 hectares) which is at the border to Honduras and stretches into nearby El Salvador). So the only sounds are the bus a few times a day honking, the ocassional dog bark (not as much as Steve Downs´), and the chickens and roosters clucking/roostering. The Rancho is less than 2 minutes walk to the beach (you can clearly hear the waves, which are varying size, when I got there a bit smaller than Reid State Park). There is a big lawn, dotted with square, thatched-roofed bamboo-walled sand-floored cabanas (12 ft by 12 ft-ish). I got one of them to myself (with a mosquito-netted double bed, a bunkbed, a fan, a nightstand, and a chair)for the volunteer rate of 7 bucks a night. 3 meals a day prepared for you is 7.50 a day and water is 1.50 a day--so about 15 bucks a day for everything you need. Then there´s a very maneaba-like main hut thingy,with a couple tables, 6 hammocks, a decent-sized library (with a lot of really good books I want to read), a nice surround sound system with a bunch of good CDs, and an upstairs loft with beds as a dormitory for backpackers). There are composting toilets, refreshing showers, and a badminton/volleyball net (I think...it wasnt set up). There´s also a drum and a guitar to use (score!). The only bad thing so far is that my cabana got raided by biting ants for the chip wrapper in my shorts this morning... The kids come each day for 2 hours in the afternoon to color and play kickball or similar activities. I´m going to be playing with them and also helping Nate and Stephanie start a garden (as Nate´s hand is hurt). So yeah, I learned all this, relaxed and read for the afternoon, and then decided, seeing as Nate and STephanie were gone and I didn´t know when they were getting back,to go along with Michele and Angelina on their weekend excursion to Leon, the somewhat less-touristy (than Granada) but c. 1520ish old Spanish colonial town that asked for William Walker´s help to fight a civil war for capitalship against Granada. We got here today (I am now free to wander around without my huge fucking backpack). We went to a museum of¨Myths and Legends¨ with some really creepy displays, then to a huge cathedral that reminded me of Toledo, Spain. Then we looked at a portrait exhibit of people who lost their lives in the REvolution, then we found a hostel, and who should be sitting on one of the couches but Nate and Stepyhanie from Jiquilillo!!! So, we talked to them for a while (Nate is very mellow and they´re both very very cool--childhood friends from Cumberland, ME). Tonight, were going to a fire-dancing thing at the central square and then out to a bar or two. Tomorrow we´re going to the Museum about the Sandinista Revolution, a rooftop tour of the cathedral, and Central America´s best modern art museum, then maybe out for a movie. Sunday, we head back to Jiquilillo to relax, read, play with what are apprently very very cute kids, do some gardening, swim on the beach, and hang out. Apparently another longterm volunteer guy comes tomorrow. Alright--that´s all...again I hope all is well--looking forward to getting back in touch with some of you.
I got a bus at 430am from Monteverde that took me to the Panamerican Highway, where I got onto a nice, overly-airconditioned-but-that´s-better-than-roasting bus that took me through the Nicaragua-CR border (overwhelming with ´coyotes´ who want to change your money for you) to Rivas, where I took a taxi 10 minutes to the a Lake Nicaragua ferry, where I paid 1.50 to go an hour to the island of Omotepe, where I made myself PBJ sandwiches in the square (town of Moyagolpa) and waited for a bus to take me to the bottom half of the island where I found the classic hostel Finca Magdalena (also a quasi-organic farm), which is the base for the 6 hour roundtrip hike up the smaller, nonactive (for the last 3000 years), less dangerous volcano (I know lame right) that has cloud forest at the top and a lagoon in the crater. The next morning (Tuesday), I paid 5 bucks to hike up with a guide, along with two Brits who are on a 2 month surf trip and otherwise work for Oxfam and a middle-aged Californian and his entering-college son. It started raining almost immediately, but was only mist by the time we got to the top. The hike was a very slow/steep 5 km through a trail that by the 2nd km had turned into a small stream. After the hike (where Jack the Brit told me he thought both U.S. political parties were pretty much the same--both controlled by corporations and that the U.S. is headed to the gutter within the next presidential term)... I went down and swam in the lake, walked through the rural island towns, and the next day got a ride with my hikemates to the bus station on the mainland, where I took a bus to Granada, where I wandered around the city looking at churches and cool Spanish architecture (which I know next to nothign about) and really bright colored buildings. Then I had a burger at a sports bar to catch a couple innings of Wakefield and the Sox. Then the next day I took a bunch of boiling hot buses through Northwest Nicaragua and made it to Rancho Esperanza, where I´ll be for the next month (but the phone service got changed and they destroyed the old one before implementing the new one so there´s no phone and no internet...but they have a pickup truck for emergencies...I may not be able to contact you for a week or two). Anyway, Nate and his longtime friend Stephanie weren´t there (because he had to go to the capital to check on a machete wound on his thumb), so I was welcomed by Moises, a Nica in his 20s who is caretaking for a few days, and two cousins (23 Angelina, 25 Michelle) from the Bay Area in California who have been there for 2 weeks and will be there for another month. They showed me around, told me stuff and then we had dinner, where I met don Juan (night security guard--more of a guard against pigs who dig holes in the yard) and Jackie, one of the two cooks. The Rancho is perhaps the most relaxing place I´ve ever been. The town of Jiquillio looks like Kiribati. All the roofs are thatched, very few houses have full walls, everyone has chickens and pigs and dogs, kids are adorable and often walk around in just underwear. The village is almost strictly reliant on fishing, so there´s a bunch of simple (but not wooden and with no outriggers) motorboats. The beach is pretty deserted and stretches for miles (up until the mangrove system--biggest in Central America @ 8800 hectares) which is at the border to Honduras and stretches into nearby El Salvador). So the only sounds are the bus a few times a day honking, the ocassional dog bark (not as much as Steve Downs´), and the chickens and roosters clucking/roostering. The Rancho is less than 2 minutes walk to the beach (you can clearly hear the waves, which are varying size, when I got there a bit smaller than Reid State Park). There is a big lawn, dotted with square, thatched-roofed bamboo-walled sand-floored cabanas (12 ft by 12 ft-ish). I got one of them to myself (with a mosquito-netted double bed, a bunkbed, a fan, a nightstand, and a chair)for the volunteer rate of 7 bucks a night. 3 meals a day prepared for you is 7.50 a day and water is 1.50 a day--so about 15 bucks a day for everything you need. Then there´s a very maneaba-like main hut thingy,with a couple tables, 6 hammocks, a decent-sized library (with a lot of really good books I want to read), a nice surround sound system with a bunch of good CDs, and an upstairs loft with beds as a dormitory for backpackers). There are composting toilets, refreshing showers, and a badminton/volleyball net (I think...it wasnt set up). There´s also a drum and a guitar to use (score!). The only bad thing so far is that my cabana got raided by biting ants for the chip wrapper in my shorts this morning... The kids come each day for 2 hours in the afternoon to color and play kickball or similar activities. I´m going to be playing with them and also helping Nate and Stephanie start a garden (as Nate´s hand is hurt). So yeah, I learned all this, relaxed and read for the afternoon, and then decided, seeing as Nate and STephanie were gone and I didn´t know when they were getting back,to go along with Michele and Angelina on their weekend excursion to Leon, the somewhat less-touristy (than Granada) but c. 1520ish old Spanish colonial town that asked for William Walker´s help to fight a civil war for capitalship against Granada. We got here today (I am now free to wander around without my huge fucking backpack). We went to a museum of¨Myths and Legends¨ with some really creepy displays, then to a huge cathedral that reminded me of Toledo, Spain. Then we looked at a portrait exhibit of people who lost their lives in the REvolution, then we found a hostel, and who should be sitting on one of the couches but Nate and Stepyhanie from Jiquilillo!!! So, we talked to them for a while (Nate is very mellow and they´re both very very cool--childhood friends from Cumberland, ME). Tonight, were going to a fire-dancing thing at the central square and then out to a bar or two. Tomorrow we´re going to the Museum about the Sandinista Revolution, a rooftop tour of the cathedral, and Central America´s best modern art museum, then maybe out for a movie. Sunday, we head back to Jiquilillo to relax, read, play with what are apprently very very cute kids, do some gardening, swim on the beach, and hang out. Apparently another longterm volunteer guy comes tomorrow. Alright--that´s all...again I hope all is well--looking forward to getting back in touch with some of you.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Rural public schools and baby coatis...
Hola amigitos!
All´s well down here still. I made it safely to the Villalobos-Leiton household, who welcomed me again with open arms and delicious arepas (pancake-ish delicoiusness but not really because it tastes delicious without syrup). My little sisters and I quickly began playing cards, and I am now decidedly our 4-month-old dog Boni´s favorite (she can now jump with confidence onto and down from any item of furniture, but still seems to see no problem defacating pretty much anywhere). Last Monday, I went with my host mom Marielos to the local public primary school to see what I could do as a volunteer. The 3rd grade teacher gave me a half-hour to prepare for 40 minutes alone with his class. Um...alrighty then... I did my best with some head-shoulders-etc. and some basics and did ok I think. The school is an absolute madhouse. Kids are constantly running around yelling, teachers have almost zero control, and the miniscule amount of material that gets taught in a 40 minute period makes me cringe. It´s a wonder the kids learn anything. Ideally, I would have been working with a few kids outside the classroom who needed extra help or wanted to learn more English, but either I did not effectively communicate or they simply haven´t gotten around to giving me any kids (I have 2.5 days left). So, I eventually found the English teacher (who hasn´t spoken a word of English to me and says she doesn´t like talking and doesn´t seem to like working too hard) and have pretty much been going around with her making exercises, translating the exercises for the kids, and helping with pronunciation. In the 3rd grade class, we made it through a list of 10 fruit names in 40 minutes...sigh. Needless to say, it´s a little frustrating, but I´ve come to realize I can´t really say or do much as a 2-week volunteer from a privileged background yada yada...but still--the poor kids. Aaaanyway, so I do my best to teach what I can and I´ve managed to make some cute little Tico friends who yell NatanYELL a bunch and the other day the Phys Ed. teacher and I (and our repsective teams of 2nd graders) had a pretty intense ´obstacle´ course relay...
On Saturday Enoc (papá) Sebastian (13yo bro), and I helped redig and expand there vegetable garden, which was fun--Enoc said if money didn´t matter he would just garden all the time (And if we make it to the treasure on Isla del Coco, we´ll do just that). Sunday, we all went down the mountain about twenty minutes to Marielos´neice´s wedding. The bride was gorgeous and her 5yo daughter Jennifer and my 5yo sister Brenda were all dolled up as the bible- and somethingorother-bearers. It was a very Catholic service, from what I could understand of the Father from outside the church entrance (the Leiton family is huge). After the wedding, we went over to this salon-garage thingy (that reminded me of shoddy tin contra-dance barn)for a late lunch and what was supposed to be a big crazy ´cumbia´ dance. The food was good, but I won´t lie--I was disappointed more people didn´t dance. However, I was content to atlernate between watching the cute kids gorge thesmelves with marshmallows (I did the same, along with coke-guaro drinks) and an incredible couple dance alone on the dance floor. After that, at a little after dark, I realized that Marielos must be one of the bride´s favorite aunts, because I got to go to this private family barbeque in the bride´s mom´s house. We toasted marshmellows, delicious beef kabobs, and tortillas on a big gas grill and had chips, beans, and more coke-guaro. The whole time, Jennifer (bride´s 5yo) was either poking me in the stomach, playing footsies, throwing pistachio shells at me, or offering me pistachios (and then pulling them away). Eventually, the bride and groom opened their wedding presents (virtually all kitchen appliances or dishware), and then we took a taxi home at 11 through pouring rain...
The next day, I got sick to my stomach for the first time since I got here...probably too many marshmallows with too many guaro-cokes or too many pokes in the stomach. The next day I felt better and went for a hike through the cloud forest up at the biological station. After about 2 hours, I had found a few frogs, heard some strange noises I´d never heard before (the norm) and the birds had stopped calling pretty much because it was late afternoon. So, on the way down through the elfin rainforest (what the cloud forest at the top of the ridge/continental divide is called), I took outwith my iPod and put on the Lord of the Rings Soundtrack, which is what was always going through our heads throughout the semester as we hiked through rainforesty hills. It was incredible.
The next day, since I´m leaving Monteverde soon and will probably be busy with the fam from now on, I decided to get up at 230 and go up again to the towers in hopes of seeing a good sunrise (and perhaps a view of both oceans--supposedly it´s clearer during the rainy season). The night hike was fantastic, complete with a very close owl-sighting, a miniature sleeping Norops lizard, bat wingbeats centimeters from my ears, soaking wet vegetation (and thus clothes), and a symphony of weird noises that during the daytime aren´t noticed but in the dark are satisfyingly terrifying and adrenaline-inducing. I got to the top at about 530, at which point the towers were completely shrouded in clouds and it was cold. I had some bread, tried to nap, failed because I was cold, and headed back down to try to find quetzals on my own for once. I failed at the quetzals, but I found a bunch of frogs (one literally half the size of my pinky nail) and just before the end of the trail, a whole family of coatis jostled through the brush and across the trail in front of me. I saw one adult and at least 6 little furballs with raccoony noses and long ringed tails. I froze, and the whole family went straight up into sapling-ish trees down to my left and went still. I could see where they were, so I tiptoed down the trail, only to be stopped in my tracks by this ugly growling/hacking sound from up to my right. It was either Papa-Coati telling me to get the hell away from his progeny, or it was the thing that had initially scared the family (I hoped jaguar, like always, but naw). Anyway, so that was exciting. I have the rest of the week at the school, then the family is going to visit grandmother who lives down the in the next valley by a gorgeous waterfall (we went there once before). Monday I leave for Nicaragua. Plan is the same, although I´m going stop and hike one of the volcanoes that´s on the big island in the middle of giant Lake Nicaragua and then spend a day looking at cool architecture in Granada before I head up to Mainer Nate, the beach, and little Nicas. Internet is pretty nonexistent up there, so I may not be in touch for quite a long while. Regardless, I´ll be home by the beginning of August. Hope all´s well everywhere!
Viva la vida pura
P.S. Ha! 3 posts in June--that´s once a week. What now, dad?
All´s well down here still. I made it safely to the Villalobos-Leiton household, who welcomed me again with open arms and delicious arepas (pancake-ish delicoiusness but not really because it tastes delicious without syrup). My little sisters and I quickly began playing cards, and I am now decidedly our 4-month-old dog Boni´s favorite (she can now jump with confidence onto and down from any item of furniture, but still seems to see no problem defacating pretty much anywhere). Last Monday, I went with my host mom Marielos to the local public primary school to see what I could do as a volunteer. The 3rd grade teacher gave me a half-hour to prepare for 40 minutes alone with his class. Um...alrighty then... I did my best with some head-shoulders-etc. and some basics and did ok I think. The school is an absolute madhouse. Kids are constantly running around yelling, teachers have almost zero control, and the miniscule amount of material that gets taught in a 40 minute period makes me cringe. It´s a wonder the kids learn anything. Ideally, I would have been working with a few kids outside the classroom who needed extra help or wanted to learn more English, but either I did not effectively communicate or they simply haven´t gotten around to giving me any kids (I have 2.5 days left). So, I eventually found the English teacher (who hasn´t spoken a word of English to me and says she doesn´t like talking and doesn´t seem to like working too hard) and have pretty much been going around with her making exercises, translating the exercises for the kids, and helping with pronunciation. In the 3rd grade class, we made it through a list of 10 fruit names in 40 minutes...sigh. Needless to say, it´s a little frustrating, but I´ve come to realize I can´t really say or do much as a 2-week volunteer from a privileged background yada yada...but still--the poor kids. Aaaanyway, so I do my best to teach what I can and I´ve managed to make some cute little Tico friends who yell NatanYELL a bunch and the other day the Phys Ed. teacher and I (and our repsective teams of 2nd graders) had a pretty intense ´obstacle´ course relay...
On Saturday Enoc (papá) Sebastian (13yo bro), and I helped redig and expand there vegetable garden, which was fun--Enoc said if money didn´t matter he would just garden all the time (And if we make it to the treasure on Isla del Coco, we´ll do just that). Sunday, we all went down the mountain about twenty minutes to Marielos´neice´s wedding. The bride was gorgeous and her 5yo daughter Jennifer and my 5yo sister Brenda were all dolled up as the bible- and somethingorother-bearers. It was a very Catholic service, from what I could understand of the Father from outside the church entrance (the Leiton family is huge). After the wedding, we went over to this salon-garage thingy (that reminded me of shoddy tin contra-dance barn)for a late lunch and what was supposed to be a big crazy ´cumbia´ dance. The food was good, but I won´t lie--I was disappointed more people didn´t dance. However, I was content to atlernate between watching the cute kids gorge thesmelves with marshmallows (I did the same, along with coke-guaro drinks) and an incredible couple dance alone on the dance floor. After that, at a little after dark, I realized that Marielos must be one of the bride´s favorite aunts, because I got to go to this private family barbeque in the bride´s mom´s house. We toasted marshmellows, delicious beef kabobs, and tortillas on a big gas grill and had chips, beans, and more coke-guaro. The whole time, Jennifer (bride´s 5yo) was either poking me in the stomach, playing footsies, throwing pistachio shells at me, or offering me pistachios (and then pulling them away). Eventually, the bride and groom opened their wedding presents (virtually all kitchen appliances or dishware), and then we took a taxi home at 11 through pouring rain...
The next day, I got sick to my stomach for the first time since I got here...probably too many marshmallows with too many guaro-cokes or too many pokes in the stomach. The next day I felt better and went for a hike through the cloud forest up at the biological station. After about 2 hours, I had found a few frogs, heard some strange noises I´d never heard before (the norm) and the birds had stopped calling pretty much because it was late afternoon. So, on the way down through the elfin rainforest (what the cloud forest at the top of the ridge/continental divide is called), I took outwith my iPod and put on the Lord of the Rings Soundtrack, which is what was always going through our heads throughout the semester as we hiked through rainforesty hills. It was incredible.
The next day, since I´m leaving Monteverde soon and will probably be busy with the fam from now on, I decided to get up at 230 and go up again to the towers in hopes of seeing a good sunrise (and perhaps a view of both oceans--supposedly it´s clearer during the rainy season). The night hike was fantastic, complete with a very close owl-sighting, a miniature sleeping Norops lizard, bat wingbeats centimeters from my ears, soaking wet vegetation (and thus clothes), and a symphony of weird noises that during the daytime aren´t noticed but in the dark are satisfyingly terrifying and adrenaline-inducing. I got to the top at about 530, at which point the towers were completely shrouded in clouds and it was cold. I had some bread, tried to nap, failed because I was cold, and headed back down to try to find quetzals on my own for once. I failed at the quetzals, but I found a bunch of frogs (one literally half the size of my pinky nail) and just before the end of the trail, a whole family of coatis jostled through the brush and across the trail in front of me. I saw one adult and at least 6 little furballs with raccoony noses and long ringed tails. I froze, and the whole family went straight up into sapling-ish trees down to my left and went still. I could see where they were, so I tiptoed down the trail, only to be stopped in my tracks by this ugly growling/hacking sound from up to my right. It was either Papa-Coati telling me to get the hell away from his progeny, or it was the thing that had initially scared the family (I hoped jaguar, like always, but naw). Anyway, so that was exciting. I have the rest of the week at the school, then the family is going to visit grandmother who lives down the in the next valley by a gorgeous waterfall (we went there once before). Monday I leave for Nicaragua. Plan is the same, although I´m going stop and hike one of the volcanoes that´s on the big island in the middle of giant Lake Nicaragua and then spend a day looking at cool architecture in Granada before I head up to Mainer Nate, the beach, and little Nicas. Internet is pretty nonexistent up there, so I may not be in touch for quite a long while. Regardless, I´ll be home by the beginning of August. Hope all´s well everywhere!
Viva la vida pura
P.S. Ha! 3 posts in June--that´s once a week. What now, dad?
Saturday, June 7, 2008
3820 meters up...
Hola, amigos! So...where was I...ah yes--so I stayed in a hotel in San Jose for a night, having planned to meet Garrison in the city of San Isidro to embark on an epic hike to the crown of Costa Rica, Mount Chirripo. However, I had received news from my taxi driver and then from the bellhop that the ginormous tropical storm I previously mentioned had caused a whole bunch of bridge washouts and landslides that had closed the Panamerican highway for more than a week (I think its still closed...). Side note--the storm (Alma), which was at one point classified as a hurricane, originated off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, something that has never happened before (occasionally a storm pops up West of Mexico, but never this far south)...so give it up for global warming, amigos. Anyway, the road was closed, so the next morning, I looked at map, found a roundabout route along the coast and despite the hotels tourist information coordinators claim that that road was also closed, I eventually found out that the buses were indeed running (through Quepos and Dominical, overdeveloped somewhat dumpy beach towns) to San Isidro. I took the two 4-hour buses, which were so packed I stood in the aisle for about 5 hours. When I finally arrived, a Canadian named Steve and I found a hostel, and who should be coming down the stairs but my dear friend and Panamanian adventurer Garrison Loope. Success finally...but...then a random German backpacker mentioned to us that his taxi driver had told us that the bridge connecting San Isidro to the town where the trailhead is had also been washed out. Frankly, having come this far, we decided to ignore this until the morning, when the four of us got up at 530 am to catch the bus. Turned out, the taxi driver had been right, but another taxi driver was waiting at the corner who, after making some calls, offered us an alternate route that ended up getting us to the ranger station in San Gerardo by 630. Once there, we discovered, much to our surprise (the guidebooks say advanced reservations are necessary), we would be able to hike up that very day! So, after briefly despairing at the San Jose hotel and then another scare at the San Isidro hostel, it all worked out. Garrison and I stored some extra stuff at the station, he rented a sleeping bag, we bought 8 meals worth of food to pack, had breakfast, and hiked up starting at 9am. 14.5 km to the base camp Crestones at 3393 meters (a good way above treeline into whats called paramo), which we got to at about 245pm. We played cards and made tuna, tomato, and chips dinner (the store in San Gerardo had had no loaves of bread) while absolutely freazing our asses off. Then to bed at 730 so we could get up at 245 the next morning to summit Cerro Chirripo peak. 5.1 km to the top, got there at 430 just in time for a gorgeous, if bitterly cold, sunset at 3820 meters (well over 11,000 feet). We were surrounded by rocky peaks, small lakes, and scrubby valleys, and in the distance there were sheets of clouds hundreds of meters below us, connecting mountainside to mountainside. We could just barely make out the Pacific Ocean (on a clear day you can see both coasts). After that, we went on a leisurely hike through some alpine valleys to a glacial lake left over from the last ice age, where we had a little pb and j breakfast and took an hour or so nap. The rest of the day we spent lounging and playing cards, and then having another tuna and chips dinner while freezing what was left of our asses off. The next day, we thought about summiting another peak at 4am, but with snuffly noses and not-too-cold cozy sleeping bags we decided to sleep till 6 and then head down the mountain. At the bottom (after a few quetzal sonidos and many cool fungus sightings), we continued walking through San Gerardo, had lunch at the bank of this ginormous swollen mountain river (soaking our tired feet), and then kept walking along the 21 km road back to the big city of San Isidro. We got a couple rides in pickups (one with three little kids and a tiny puppy in the back who were all shy and giggly in the presence of two sweaty, bearded gringos with big backpacks). Once we got out of the rural mountains and into a pretty wealthy little suburb, nobody stopped for us, so we ended up walking 15 km down the road after walking 15 km down the mountain. Needless to say, my feet were a tid bit sore and wrinkly. The next day, we caught a bus to Dominical, where we body surfed until it started thunderstorming--so we ate tacos and I finally beat Garrison at Gin Rummy. Now, we are in a San Jose hostel, just got back from seeing Narnia 2 at the San Pedro mall. He heads back home to Nebraska tomorrow, while I take a bus back to Monteverde. This brings me to my very tentative plan for the rest of the summer, just so yall know...
Ill be living with my host family for two weeks while volunteering at the local primary school (where two of my sisters and my brother go and where my mom works cleaning). After that, I bus it up to a small fishing village on the NW coast of Nicaragua, where Ill be volunteering at Rancho Esperanza, run by a guy named Nate from Maine, working with kids and helping him start an organic garden (oh and beaching it hardcore). I should be home in Maine by the end of July for about 3 weeks to relax and tromp around in the woods with whoever feels like coming up to visit! Then back to long-lost Obieland.
Ill be living with my host family for two weeks while volunteering at the local primary school (where two of my sisters and my brother go and where my mom works cleaning). After that, I bus it up to a small fishing village on the NW coast of Nicaragua, where Ill be volunteering at Rancho Esperanza, run by a guy named Nate from Maine, working with kids and helping him start an organic garden (oh and beaching it hardcore). I should be home in Maine by the end of July for about 3 weeks to relax and tromp around in the woods with whoever feels like coming up to visit! Then back to long-lost Obieland.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Hola otra vez!!!
Howdy folks! Turns out I´m not much of a blogger...obviously. Sorry ´bout that, um, but here I am again/still! The last month (2 months) have been absolutely incredible, such that I´m not going to be able to do them justice here. My homestay turned out to be all that I could have hoped. Let´s see--they hosted a big BBQ for all 31 of us CIEEers which was really fun, complete with a boombox and the neighbors` kids dancing around the two grills we had going. A week or so later, my host dad Enoc took his only son Sebastian (13) and I for an all night river crayfish spearing expedition that was like nothing I´ve ever done before. We took an hour taxi outside of Monteverde, then walked a halfhour down this random dirt road to a river (climbing a fig tree on the way), where, at 600 pm we had a tuna sandwich and beer dinner. Then, we began to walk up the middle of the river (my rubber boots were immediately useless, filling with water every other step) looking with my two headlamps and a crappy flashlight for little crayfish (which, luck would have it, are scared of light). We had two spearthingies (basically a 4 foot metal pole with a jumbo prong-fork attached to the end) and the idea was basically to spear the crap out of any crayfish you saw (and some of them were pretty darn big--like small lobsters). We continued to hike upriver (at one point having to climb the wall of this gorge-type-dealie, during which I dropped my spear and Enoc had to lasso it with his belt). At about 200 we stopped, absolutely exhausted (at least Sebas and me), and had another dinner. Then, we hiked an hour up a very uphill road to the ´main` road, where we passed out in the grass on the side until 500am, when we jumped on the back of a milk truck and rode back to town, picking up milk jugs the whole way. Pretty badass, if I do say so myself. We caught two plastic bags full of crayfish, and that night it was delicious (and I dont even like shellfish). So that was awesome.
Um...lets see, during the month of may, we were all working on our inividual research projects. Mine was really fun--a brief summary-- theres a govt program that pays landowners to protect forest on their land, but its very hard for small farmers to participate and its not clear that it actually results in more forest. So, I interviewed 20 landowners in the MV region about their participation (or not) in this program (Pagos por Servicios Ambientales). Most interviews went really well, and sometimes we would just talk for a while about global warming, how proud they are of CR`s conservation mindset, how stupid the US is for spending so much damn money on weapons, and how big powerful countries need to do their part conserving (this is from them, not me). Anyway, so it was really fun and great for my spanish. The end of the program was a lot of studying, paper writing, test taking, etc. but then we finished the semester off with water slides, and an open bar at a hot springs near Volcan Arenal!!!
So theeen, I went with Garrison Loope and 6 other CIEEers to chill on the beach at Montezuma for a couple days, before I left to pick up my parents and sister in Liberia. So then we went to Moteverde. Now, the roads there are infamously bad, so we took the one recommended to us by my professors. However, we actually didnt take it--instead we drove farth enough in the wrong direction to find a sign pointing to MV that took us on an extra bumpy/muddy/steep back-back road to MV. Even my dad, driving our 4x4 rental SUV was nervous. GAaahhh!! When we finally got there, all in one piece, I gave them a brief tour of the MV cloud forest (proving my nerdbomber status spouting off all the random scientific names and natural history I have in my head from the semester). Then we had a really hectic, cute, fun dinner at my host family`s house (my real family speaks no Spanish), where I ended up accidentally translating English to my tico parents and Spanish to my real parents and it was great. Next we went down to the Guanacaste coast to our rental house in Nosara (when we got there, a bunch of construction workers were swimming in the pool-HA!). We made it there just in time for the biggest freaking tropical storm/almost hurricane to hit CR in 120 years!!! We had no power for 3 days, had rain flying through the windows (making the tile floor a skating rink), and had loads of fun driving around the horrible fallen tree-ridden roads of Nosara, trying to find the elusive town center. Eventually the sun came out and the power came back on and we had 2 fantastic nights on the beach withh incredible sunsets. Oh, and Em and I went ziplining and surfing!
Okay, so then they left and I went to San Jose with a plan to meet Garrison in the south of the country to hike the tallest mountain (Chirripo). More on this later (we made it), but we have to go catch our bus to the beach!
PURA VIDA--sorry I suck at blogging!
Um...lets see, during the month of may, we were all working on our inividual research projects. Mine was really fun--a brief summary-- theres a govt program that pays landowners to protect forest on their land, but its very hard for small farmers to participate and its not clear that it actually results in more forest. So, I interviewed 20 landowners in the MV region about their participation (or not) in this program (Pagos por Servicios Ambientales). Most interviews went really well, and sometimes we would just talk for a while about global warming, how proud they are of CR`s conservation mindset, how stupid the US is for spending so much damn money on weapons, and how big powerful countries need to do their part conserving (this is from them, not me). Anyway, so it was really fun and great for my spanish. The end of the program was a lot of studying, paper writing, test taking, etc. but then we finished the semester off with water slides, and an open bar at a hot springs near Volcan Arenal!!!
So theeen, I went with Garrison Loope and 6 other CIEEers to chill on the beach at Montezuma for a couple days, before I left to pick up my parents and sister in Liberia. So then we went to Moteverde. Now, the roads there are infamously bad, so we took the one recommended to us by my professors. However, we actually didnt take it--instead we drove farth enough in the wrong direction to find a sign pointing to MV that took us on an extra bumpy/muddy/steep back-back road to MV. Even my dad, driving our 4x4 rental SUV was nervous. GAaahhh!! When we finally got there, all in one piece, I gave them a brief tour of the MV cloud forest (proving my nerdbomber status spouting off all the random scientific names and natural history I have in my head from the semester). Then we had a really hectic, cute, fun dinner at my host family`s house (my real family speaks no Spanish), where I ended up accidentally translating English to my tico parents and Spanish to my real parents and it was great. Next we went down to the Guanacaste coast to our rental house in Nosara (when we got there, a bunch of construction workers were swimming in the pool-HA!). We made it there just in time for the biggest freaking tropical storm/almost hurricane to hit CR in 120 years!!! We had no power for 3 days, had rain flying through the windows (making the tile floor a skating rink), and had loads of fun driving around the horrible fallen tree-ridden roads of Nosara, trying to find the elusive town center. Eventually the sun came out and the power came back on and we had 2 fantastic nights on the beach withh incredible sunsets. Oh, and Em and I went ziplining and surfing!
Okay, so then they left and I went to San Jose with a plan to meet Garrison in the south of the country to hike the tallest mountain (Chirripo). More on this later (we made it), but we have to go catch our bus to the beach!
PURA VIDA--sorry I suck at blogging!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Unas vacaciones tropicales increibles y la vida tica...
Okay, so some people (i.e. my dad) are giving me un pedazicto (little bit) of crap for not writing more, so here you are, padre and others. Um...so I´m not even going to try to do justice to the fieldtrip we got back from a week ago...it was absolutely incredible. First, we backpacked 5 hours into El Bosque Eterno de Los Ninos to this little cabina thing (owned by Eladio, who turns out to be the cousin of my host mom...ha!) in the middle of a regenerated wet rainforest. There, we slept in bunks with mosquito nets, which gave me piece of mind until I noticed a decent-sized scorpion chilling out a few feet from my head. I tried to get it into a plastic bag, but failed and it ended up going over into the other room. Gah! No, but I was so tired from tromping through the jungle, scrambling up rivers to hidden waterfalls, and going on nightwalks looking for herps (frogs, lizards, and snakes) that I slept like a log. After 4 nights there, we backpacked out 5 more hours to the a humble bunch of park buildings/cabins at the edge of the reserve by a small, calm lake. We did a whole bunchload of bird watching, and a friend of mine saw the elusive bare-necked umbrellabird that I've been searching for the whole semester. Another girl saw a jaguar, which many Costa Rica field biologists go their entire lives without seeing!!! How do jaguars kill their prey, you might ask? They slap them across the face with a paw the size of my head!!! Bad-ass. After some sing-alongs and a skinny dip with the huge Cane toads (and probably some caimans), we left for La Selva Biological Reserve, which is this huge, incredibly-well funded research mecca on the Eastern slope. There we saw, among a zillion other things, 3 kinds of toucans, a crapload of oropendola birds (ridiculously loud gurgling calls), tiny wrestling 'blue jean' poison dart frogs, and 2-inch long bullet ants, which I was tempted to let bite me, just to see how bad they hurt, but I´m lame an didn´t end up doing it. Then we went for 3 nights to a nearby, less crowded/developed reserve where we looked at some bats, visited a 'sustainable' forestry operation, and found the coolest frog in the entire world: the red-eyed tree frog. Then we went to the East Coast, just below the famous Tortuguero, where we went on a night walk on the beach and found a 6-foot long gigantic leatherback turtle burying her newly laid eggs. We watched it struggle its way over the sand into the waves and then we made two fake turtle nests to throw off poachers. Next, we went into Panama (across a ridiculously sketchy bridge border crossing, just as I´d imagined it would be), and took a boat out to Isla Colon, in Bocas del Toro. There we slept in semi-luxurious cabinas on the beach, chilled out in hammocks, had a CIEE talent show, snorkeled for 3 days straight (seeing all kinds of stuff, including a bunch of parrotfish, a 6-legged 2-foot big starfish, a few nurse sharks, cuddlefish, rays, lobster, a bunch of other fish and stuff that was really colorful and awesome that Anna Santo and Chris Rice probably know all about), and then danced well into the morning to a live Carribean calypso band. Then we returned, sadly, to San Jose and civilization, but went out to this Jazz Bar and heard this amazing DAve Matthews BAnd-esque group play which was quite fun. Then, we had a week to recover at the station in Monteverde, during which we were writing our research proposals. If everything pans out, I´m going to be conducting interviews with local farmers about what obstacles are preventing them from participating in a government program (Pagos por Servicios Ambientales) that pays them to preserve forest on their land.
Okay, so then on Thursday, we moved into our homestays. I´m living in a little town called Canitas, about a half hour walk from downtown Santa Elena and an hour from the station. My host mom (Dona Marielos Leiton) is 40 yrs old and cleans the local primary school 5 days a week and my dad (Don Enoc Villalobos) is in construction. Last night he just invited me to go shrimp harpoon fishing with him at night when the full moon wanes a little bit. Awesome. I have 5 siblings (4 sisters, 1 brother): Lindsay, 20, works long hours in town six days a week. Tairy, 16, has been lounging around the house for two weeks because her public school teachers are on strike for higher pay. Sebastian, 13, is crazy energetic and mischeivous, and keeps asking me to lend him my watch, flashlight, computer, etc. Yeah, okay, Sebas, sure I´ll just give you my valuables. Dinieth, 10, is really nice and talkative, and we´ve been doing a lot of jumprope. She also showed me the duck pond that Enoc built for our neighbor, Don Juan of Don Juan Coffee Tours, who I think is somehow related to us. Brenda, 5, is absolutely adorable, and the other night she told me I was like a brother to her already...then we went and picked wild raspberries. Don Enoc´s uncle that raised him, Don Moncho, also lives with us. He is a cute little 84-yr old man, but has prostate cancer, is wheelchair bound, and is kind of losing his mind, which is really sad. The family can laugh about it sometimes, and sometimes it really is kind of funny, but mostly I feel bad. But then, we also have a really playful 2-month old puppy with curly white hair (Boni). He can climb up onto the armchairs, but can´t jump down yet, so he just gets up there and then looks around for people. Each day when I get home, I roam around the property (Enocs dad´s old finca--he wants to build a synthetic soccer field and reforest it for tourism), and then we all eat dinner together and talk while watching Free Willy in Spanish, the Hisanic billboard music awards, or a nature/history show about Isla del Coco (the last three nights). Enoc and I made a pact that we would go find the pirate treasure of legend that´s still hidden there somewhere, and split it 50-50. I offered him 60-40, but he said we were companeros and should split it even. So, all is well here--sorry I don´t write more often. I'm generally busy wiling with my family, studying occasionally, or watching the blue-crowned motmot I recently encountered on our driveway.
PURA VIDA
Okay, so then on Thursday, we moved into our homestays. I´m living in a little town called Canitas, about a half hour walk from downtown Santa Elena and an hour from the station. My host mom (Dona Marielos Leiton) is 40 yrs old and cleans the local primary school 5 days a week and my dad (Don Enoc Villalobos) is in construction. Last night he just invited me to go shrimp harpoon fishing with him at night when the full moon wanes a little bit. Awesome. I have 5 siblings (4 sisters, 1 brother): Lindsay, 20, works long hours in town six days a week. Tairy, 16, has been lounging around the house for two weeks because her public school teachers are on strike for higher pay. Sebastian, 13, is crazy energetic and mischeivous, and keeps asking me to lend him my watch, flashlight, computer, etc. Yeah, okay, Sebas, sure I´ll just give you my valuables. Dinieth, 10, is really nice and talkative, and we´ve been doing a lot of jumprope. She also showed me the duck pond that Enoc built for our neighbor, Don Juan of Don Juan Coffee Tours, who I think is somehow related to us. Brenda, 5, is absolutely adorable, and the other night she told me I was like a brother to her already...then we went and picked wild raspberries. Don Enoc´s uncle that raised him, Don Moncho, also lives with us. He is a cute little 84-yr old man, but has prostate cancer, is wheelchair bound, and is kind of losing his mind, which is really sad. The family can laugh about it sometimes, and sometimes it really is kind of funny, but mostly I feel bad. But then, we also have a really playful 2-month old puppy with curly white hair (Boni). He can climb up onto the armchairs, but can´t jump down yet, so he just gets up there and then looks around for people. Each day when I get home, I roam around the property (Enocs dad´s old finca--he wants to build a synthetic soccer field and reforest it for tourism), and then we all eat dinner together and talk while watching Free Willy in Spanish, the Hisanic billboard music awards, or a nature/history show about Isla del Coco (the last three nights). Enoc and I made a pact that we would go find the pirate treasure of legend that´s still hidden there somewhere, and split it 50-50. I offered him 60-40, but he said we were companeros and should split it even. So, all is well here--sorry I don´t write more often. I'm generally busy wiling with my family, studying occasionally, or watching the blue-crowned motmot I recently encountered on our driveway.
PURA VIDA
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Peacing out again for a while...
Hola amigos y amigas! ¿Qué hay de nuevo con ustedes? Um...so I thought I would post real quick before we head off for 2.5 weeks on our next field trip. Tomorrow morning, we're backpacking up the mountain, through cloud forest, over the continental divide, and then down the Atlantic-side slope to a place called Peñas Blancas (en "el bosque eterno de los niños" reserve), which is the wettest rainforest in Costa Rica (real hardcore jungle). Then, we make our way towards the coast to south of Tortuguero where we're going to search for nesting sea turtles. Then we go down to Panama (we have to leave Costa Rica to renew our tourist visas, which is a great excuse) to Bocas del Toro to snorkel and chill on beaches. Um...yeah it's an okay life, I guess... Pahahaha! Let's see...today we finished some pretty brutal midterm exams (it's ridiculously hard to concentrate on lecture notes in a place like this)...then I had to talk for 30 mins in spanish about U.S. influence on Latin American cultures--gaaah! Um...oh and then this afternoon a crapload of army ants attacked the station, destroying all the wasp nests, which really pissed them off and they were flying around everywhere, obviously pretty distraught that their larvae were being devoured by hordes of ants whose life strategy is basically to go around with a ginormous army eating everything that moves. So freaking cool! Anyway--I'm probably going to have no internet access until early April (all the supplies for the first place gets there on horses...if they avoid the snakes...muahahaha...we actually still haven't seen a poisonous snake...although they tell us this will be the place...sweet!). I hope all is well and happy spring soon!
P.S. FELIZ CUMPLEANOS, TOUSSAINT!!!
P.S. FELIZ CUMPLEANOS, TOUSSAINT!!!
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