October 31,
2005
Everything in
Costa Rica is going great. Lots of rain though.This past
weekend I went to Manuel Antonio on the Pacific Coast. I was
planning to go to the Atlantic coast, but decided it wasn't
a good idea with the tropical storm. Manuel Antonio was
gorgeous. We stayed in this really cute (and cheap) hostel
with an awesome view of the ocean. The first day we found
this really secluded, beautiful white sand beach. I saw my
first sloth! The next day we went into the national park,
hiked around for a while, then hung out on the beach. We
were so lucky with the weather, and it basically only rained
at night. We found the best restaurant with the best banana
pancakes you will find anywhere in the world. So, life is
good in Costa Rica. Pura vida.
October 18,
2005
Hi all. Just
writing to tell everyone hi from Costa Rica and that I miss
you and to tell you all about my rural stay in Ostional
(whether you want to hear about it or not, I'm really
excited about it).
It was
definitely rural. To get there we took a bus for about five
hours, then switched to another bus that was crammed full of
people and I had to stand for so long with my huge backpack.
But as we got further and further out into the middle of
nowhere the bus slowly emptied. When we got close to the
river a car stopped us and told us that the river was
impassable. So, most people got off the bus and only a few
of us stayed. We got to the river and were able to walk
across, it was up to mid thigh.
On the other
side we hitched a ride in the back of a pick up to Ostional.
So I showed up at my host family's door half drowned. It was
a good two weeks. A lot of rain though. We had about 3 days
of sunshine. Every morning we woke up at 5 or 5:30 to walk
the beach to record data and to help the baby turtles. The
baby turtles were sooo cute, I got to hold them and
everything. So by 9 am I'd already walked about 5 miles.
Then, I was done for the day. So I spent some time walking
the beach, walking in the countryside, checking out the
town. It was a tiny town with only one road, nothing to buy.
Most of the
time that I was there, there were no fruits or veggies
because the trucks couldn't get past the rivers. The kids
didn't have school for two weeks because the teachers
couldn't get to town. Generally a doctor comes to town every
Tuesday, but not when its raining. One night the power went
out and someone had to come from four hours away to fix it.
I spent a lot
of time hanging out with the other volunteers. It was really
boring sometimes, especially when it rained. For my last
four days there it rained...and this made things difficult.
We were planning to leave Saturday but the bus wasn't
running. So we were going to take a couple of motorcycles to
Nosara to catch the bus, but the rivers were way too high.
So we thought we were stranded, and probably for awhile
since they were predicting five more days of rain. But by
mid-morning the rain let up for a few hours, and by noon the
rivers were low enough that we could walk.
So we took off
walking for Nosara. We had to walk through three rivers,
waist deep. The rivers had really left their banks. Where
there wasn't river there was mud that had the consistency of
chocolate pudding. Once we got past the third river, about 4
miles, we got a ride in a truck for awhile, then walked the
rest of the way to Nosara, then hitched a ride in the back
of a truck to where the bus would come.
Finally, we
were on the bus and everything seemed great......and then a
section of the road was out so we had to walk across it and
get another bus. This bus couldn't turn around to face the
right direction because the road was so narrow so we were
driving backwards for the longest time. When we finally
turned around it was really dark and I was so confused that
the driver wasn't turning on the headlights...and then I
realized they weren't working. It was fairly terrifying. But
then it got worse - the bus died. I knew it was bad because
the bus driver just slammed his head down on to the steering
wheel and cried ´¡Dios Mio!´ (oh my God). So he tried to fix
the bus. We sat there in the dark in the middle of nowhere
for about 20 minutes. Then, by some miracle of bus
scheduling, another bus going to Nosara came by and we took
it. What should have been a 2 hour trip turned into 5 hours.
So, I spent the night in Nosara and took a bus to San Jose
(home, sweet home)...then it broke down. So, we got onto
another bus and finally arrived home yesterday afternoon.
I´m so
thrilled to be back in San Jose. I loved Ostional, but I
love civilization too. So, now its back to classes for two
months. Now I'm taking a Spanish literature course, a
conservation course, and a Costa Rica course.
Have now seen
two volcanoes (one erupting, one inactive), the rainforest,
and the beach. My family is great and life is good. Pura
vida.
Terri
