My days in Uvita were strikingly similar most of the time. Work, movie, shower, dinner, reading. And the puppies or their mom usually fit in there. Lucy, the mother, took to finding me in the hammock and jumping in my lap where she would sleep until usually the puppies would find her. It was a lazy life, and I enjoyed it for the most part.
The last two days in Uvita were fun-filled. Monday two volunteers, a fellow traveler, and I hiked up the river to the waterfall where I jumped off the rope swing into a swimming hole. The impact left my body stinging and out of breath, and it wasn´t something I wanted to repeat. Nonetheless, I was glad I did it. Better was sliding down the waterfall. It´s about 25-30 feet high. You climb to the top, sit in it, and then push yourself off and slide down. Quite exhilirating. Alle said I came up out of the water with the same expression on my face as before, so she thought I dídn´t like it, but then I burst out with, That was awesome. It was well worth it, and I´d do it again in a heartbeat. OK, well maybe not a heartbeat. It takes me a little time to work up the courage to push off, but I´d still do it and enjoy it.
Tuesday was different because it was Independence Day here in Costa Rica so all the staff had the day off. Alle, Kevin, and I were the housekeeping crew for the day, which was a nice change. We cleaned a few rooms and I washed enough sheets, towels, and rugs that Tra actually let me use the dryer as long as I promised not to tell the staff. He doesn´t let them use it because it´s too expensive. Alle and I also managed to sneak in some of our clothes in the last load for free.
In the afternoon we walked to the river where we found Ticos (locals) swimming in what we had designated as our spot. They were spearfishing and swimming, and I was shocked at the size of the fish that came out of the spot where we were swimming, and I tried not to think about it when we got in.
Tuesday night several of us decided to volunteer on a turtle project doing a night patrol. We crowded into a taxi and made a short journey to Ojochal. We were to meet a man named Alex where the road ended. (Sound like a drug deal? It felt like it.) We arrived early and stalled the taxi driver so we wouldn´t have to get out in the middle of nowhere where we were sure there could be crocodiles.
Alex finally showed and he put us in a boat for a short ride across the river, where, yes, there are crocodiles, to the beach. He explained the project and what we would do, and then we spent a couple of hours walking the beach looking for turtles laying eggs. We only saw one, and she was injured. It was her fourth trip on the beach, and she still hasn´t lain her eggs. They believe she won´t be able to make a nest with her flippers, that she´ll eventually just drop the eggs on the beach. I hope that they are there when she does so that the poachers don´t get them. It was a nice night, and I carried on a good conversation in espanol with one of the workers.
Wednesday I made the journey to Silencio, which was adventure-filled. I explained to the bus driver where I wanted to go, asked him if he knew it, and if he would tell me when we got there. A bit later I asked him again and he said 20 minutes. An hour later (and the bus was too crowded to ask again) we arrived in Quepos, past my destination. I finally determined that the next bus directly to Silencio wasn´t for two more days, that I could take a bus that would drop me off 6 kilometers away. Or I could take a $26 taxi. I didn´t want to spend the night in Quepos for two nights, and I decided $26 was a small price to pay for not walking 6 km with a 45-pound backpack. Good thing as it was pouring rain when we got there.
I was introduced to my new family at Arianna´s, which is right in the center of town (virtually everything is in the center of town since only 500 people live there), and my room. The home is modest like all the others there, but it´s comfortable as long as I keep the fan going in my room and there is water. Sometimes there´s no water and I have to wait to shower. And having to use the kitchen sink or the sink outside to brush my teeth is inconvenient, but there´s no sink in the bathroom.
Arianna is part of a big family; she has 10 brothers and sisters. Almost always there are a lot of people there: brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, grandparents, etc. Plenty of people to communicate with, although there are only a few who make an attempt to speak with me really. Arianna is wonderful with me, speaking more slowly to me than her family so that I understand. And Danny, who I think is her brother and who sometimes lives there, is also great. He speaks a little English and wants to learn more.
I started work on Thursday, and the work was minimal. Friday was more. We have to be ready at 6 a.m. and we cut fruit and veggies for the monkeys, birds, and the lone fawn they rescued who they aptly named Bambi. Then we go back to our homes for breakfast and a break. Around 8:30 we go back for more work until about 12. Yesterday was rough work--shoveling rocks and mud. I was quite filthy when I finished and wouldn´t you know it, this was one of the days I had to wait to shower because there was no water.
In the afternoon one of the workers, a local who befriended me named Christopher, took me on a tour of the rest of their projects--lecheria (where they milk cows), orchard (where they get papayas and bananas), and a chicken farm. I have the opportunity to work in all of them, and I guess over the three weeks I´ll do just that. I want to try the lecheria next, just to make my Uncle Kenneth proud. I´m sure he´d tell me if I want to milk cows, I´m welcome to come out there. But here I´ll be hand milking. A little scary.
Work ends at about 12 each day and then we´re free until the next day. There isn´t anything to do in town. There is one store, one little soda shop, and a bar. I usually go to the bar late afternoon and hang out with a bunch of the guys who work for the project where I´m volunteering. I´m really working on my Spanish with them and am improving, and one of them wants to work on his English so we trade words. He asks me how to say something in English, and I ask him how to say things in Spanish and to correct me when I say something incorrectly.
I´m free on weekends. Today, Saturday, I got up at 4:30 this morning to catch the bus into town. It´s the only bus of the day or I definitely would´ve slept in (though it would be difficult because the entire town wakes up at 5 every morning). This morning I went to the beach at Manuel Antonio National Park. It´s absolutely stunning, and there are lots of restaurants and places to buy souvenirs. I splurged on a silk dress that I can wear three different ways. I´m considering it a birthday present to myself, and I plan to wear it tonight to sink karaoke at the bar in town.
Tomorrow the guys play soccer mid-day and then we may go to one of the two waterfalls where we can swim. Two of the other volunteers went to it yesterday and said it was wonderful, very clear water. It´s a fair walk, about 5 km, but it´s not as if I have anything else to do.
I´m enjoying Silencio so far even if it´s really remote and connections with the rest of the world limited. I can think of worse places to be.
I hope to be back in Quepos next Saturday, and I´ll try to download some photos.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Settled in Uvita
I definitely feel settled in Uvita and have fallen into a routine. I work from about 10-3 give or take an hour or so, check my e-mail, shower, and then lay back in the hammock to catch the 4 o'clock flick, dinner after that and then some reading before bed. I'm making this place into a temporary home.
Yesterday I woke up early to walk to the beach to be there at low tide. At low tide a piece of land called the whale's tail emerges, jutting out from the beach, and I arrived at a good time, about 8:00 after a 45-minute walk to get there. The beach is gorgeous and at that time of the morning, the only people there were a few boat captains readying their boats for the whale and dolphin seeing trips. By the time I left the beach an hour later, the little town of Punta Uvita was buzzing with tourists, and I made the 45-minute walk back to the hotel trying to ignore the blisters that were emerging on my feet. Oh, and carrying a piece of driftwood that I plan to use for some kind of decoration.
I started into work right away on my lamp shade. Over the hammocks in the "theater," there is only a naked bulb, and Tra said if nothing else happens from my stay but one thing he'd like a lamp shade for it. Four hours later, he had his wish. I've yet to take a picture because it needs to be hanging in order to get a good pic, and he believes, and I agree, that hanging it is a little more than I can handle, especially given that I'm a little height-challenged. He'll ask one of his employees to do the honors. I decided to give the lamp shade a movie theme since it will hang in the theater, so I chose 10 of my favorite movies and selected a quote from each, which I then wrote on a CD that hangs from the wire frame. See if you can identify each of these movies without cheating:
#1: I will find you, and I will kill you.
#2: I want the fairy tale.
#3: You didn't think I knew about that, did you?
#4: In the end all you have is your story. I intend to make it a good one.
#5: That's all you got, lady, two left feet and ugly shoes.
#6: How you like them apples?
#7: I'm having an old friend for dinner.
#8: I'll never let go.
#9: You take the red pill . . . I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
#10: Attitude reflects leadership, Captain.
This morning I decided to tackle accessorizing a piece of metal that can be used as two hooks for one of the rooms. I ended up making two origami toucans and some paper palm leaves that I affixed to it. It looks pretty cool if I do say so myself. I tried to work on another decorative piece after that, but the creative juices had subsided, and I figured I should take the opportunity to use a computer while all the guests are out and about. Tra had a full house last night and will again tonight, which is surprising given that it's the off season.
Work is done for the day, and my Saturday afternoon and evening will be much like the last two: movie and reading. There aren't really any single travelers here, and those that travel together tend to stick together, but I'm content to be on my own. Most of them only stay two nights anyway.
Pics being loaded to facebook right now.
Yesterday I woke up early to walk to the beach to be there at low tide. At low tide a piece of land called the whale's tail emerges, jutting out from the beach, and I arrived at a good time, about 8:00 after a 45-minute walk to get there. The beach is gorgeous and at that time of the morning, the only people there were a few boat captains readying their boats for the whale and dolphin seeing trips. By the time I left the beach an hour later, the little town of Punta Uvita was buzzing with tourists, and I made the 45-minute walk back to the hotel trying to ignore the blisters that were emerging on my feet. Oh, and carrying a piece of driftwood that I plan to use for some kind of decoration.
I started into work right away on my lamp shade. Over the hammocks in the "theater," there is only a naked bulb, and Tra said if nothing else happens from my stay but one thing he'd like a lamp shade for it. Four hours later, he had his wish. I've yet to take a picture because it needs to be hanging in order to get a good pic, and he believes, and I agree, that hanging it is a little more than I can handle, especially given that I'm a little height-challenged. He'll ask one of his employees to do the honors. I decided to give the lamp shade a movie theme since it will hang in the theater, so I chose 10 of my favorite movies and selected a quote from each, which I then wrote on a CD that hangs from the wire frame. See if you can identify each of these movies without cheating:
#1: I will find you, and I will kill you.
#2: I want the fairy tale.
#3: You didn't think I knew about that, did you?
#4: In the end all you have is your story. I intend to make it a good one.
#5: That's all you got, lady, two left feet and ugly shoes.
#6: How you like them apples?
#7: I'm having an old friend for dinner.
#8: I'll never let go.
#9: You take the red pill . . . I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.
#10: Attitude reflects leadership, Captain.
This morning I decided to tackle accessorizing a piece of metal that can be used as two hooks for one of the rooms. I ended up making two origami toucans and some paper palm leaves that I affixed to it. It looks pretty cool if I do say so myself. I tried to work on another decorative piece after that, but the creative juices had subsided, and I figured I should take the opportunity to use a computer while all the guests are out and about. Tra had a full house last night and will again tonight, which is surprising given that it's the off season.
Work is done for the day, and my Saturday afternoon and evening will be much like the last two: movie and reading. There aren't really any single travelers here, and those that travel together tend to stick together, but I'm content to be on my own. Most of them only stay two nights anyway.
Pics being loaded to facebook right now.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
This is Cheesa Mann reporting live from Uvita . . .
. . . and dedicating this post to her good mate Cat to whom she was talking as she was penning this entry.
So San Jose was totally forgettable. The hostel was nice enough, but the city, well, it was either raining or nighttime. And shall we not talk about the roach that crawled across the table in the restaurant where I had lunch on Monday? It crawled to the underside of the table and I cringed thinking it might turn up on my side. It at least gave me proper etiquette as I quickly pulled my elbows off the table. We probably also don't want to talk about the big roach I killed in my room this morning or the one in the shower this afternoon.
The 6 plus hours on the bus from San Jose to Uvita could've been better. Incredibly hot, people standing in the aisle much of the way, lots of stops for locals to get on and off, and then like a gigantic moron I missed my stop, mistakenly thinking it would be announced like the previous stop was. I realized fairly quickly and only had to make a 12-minute walk back to the hotel, which wouldn't have been bad if it hadn't been at least 90 degrees and I wasn't carrying 50 pounds. Can you say sweat?
The Tucan Hotel, www.tucanhotel.com, is amazingly cool, though. Pics to come on facebook. They have five hammocks hanging in front of a TV with a DVD player hooked to it and they show a different movie each day at around 4. The room is nice with a mattress as thick as my hand is long. Now I know those of you at home are thinking, that's nice? But given that it's twice as thick as any that I've slept on since I got here and that my hip doesn't bruise from feeling the boards underneath, this is a sweet sleep. Plus, nice sheets and a fan right over my bed to keep me cool. Since I'll be volunteering here for a couple of weeks, the owner said he'd try to keep my room as private as possible even though there are three other beds in there.
After my arrival yesterday, I took a quick cold shower to cool down and immediately headed up the road to a waterfall. Didn't stay long, but long enough to take a quick dip in the pool there. I definitely plan to go back. Haven't been to the beach yet because you have to go at low tide, so I'll have to time it just right, otherwise you get stranded.
Today I was up at 6 for the dive trip. It was a 45-minute drive to Sierpe with stories from the guide along the way. In Sierpe we had an awesome breakfast--eggs, bacon, and a pancake which I slathered with peanut butter and syrup--YUM! The boat ride was a long one. Thirty minutes down the Sierpe River to the ocean and then another 45 to Isla de Cano. Along the way we saw one crocodile and a pod of dolphins, and I captured some of the dolphins, who were quite playful, on video.
After pushing the snorkelers out of the boat, the divemaster, another diver, and I rolled off the boat into the water and did a 49-minute dive where we saw several reef sharks, some southern stingrays, and loads and loads of fish, more than I've ever seen on a dive probably. At times it felt like I was actually swimming in a school of fish.
We had lunch on the island and then headed right back into the water for dive number 2. As soon as we dropped into the water we could hear whales: a mama and her baby talking back and forth. You could hear a distinct difference between the two, with the baby having a much higher pitch. For the entire dive we could hear them communicating and I kept expecting to turn around at any moment and see one of them--no such luck. Divemaster said they could've been up to a half mile away. On this dive, more sharks, lots of fish again. One fish quickly made my favorite list as he looks like he just joined the US Army with his camouflage exterior. A couple of time fish swam right in front of my face as if I wasn't even there.
Upon picking up the snorkelers I was really glad I was a diver. Several of them were stung by jellyfish, little ones mind you, but they were stinging nonetheless, so they got a little dose of vinegar to the skin.
On the way back we saw the mama and baby whales that we had heard underwater, and I shot some video luckily. The baby was only 4-5 days old according to our guide, Cesar. We watched for a while before losing sight of them.
All in all, it was an unforgettable day, the complete opposite of San Jose thankfully. And tomorrow I start work here at the hotel doing I don't know what. I'll try to go to bed early and hope that the thief doesn't come poking around again in the wee hours of the morning. Yep, at 4:30 this morning there was a flashlight being shined into my room. Fortunately I had a towel hanging over the end of the bed so he didn't see me, and luckily the door was deadbolted since he tried the door as well! Just a Tico (local) who has been thieving from here lately according to the owner. Good to know as last night when I would go to the bathroom, I left my door partially open so I wouldn't have to use the key. Not so tonight buddy!
Until next time, this is Cheesa Mann reporting live from a computer that she just knocked a grasshopper off of and watched an ant crawl across!
So San Jose was totally forgettable. The hostel was nice enough, but the city, well, it was either raining or nighttime. And shall we not talk about the roach that crawled across the table in the restaurant where I had lunch on Monday? It crawled to the underside of the table and I cringed thinking it might turn up on my side. It at least gave me proper etiquette as I quickly pulled my elbows off the table. We probably also don't want to talk about the big roach I killed in my room this morning or the one in the shower this afternoon.
The 6 plus hours on the bus from San Jose to Uvita could've been better. Incredibly hot, people standing in the aisle much of the way, lots of stops for locals to get on and off, and then like a gigantic moron I missed my stop, mistakenly thinking it would be announced like the previous stop was. I realized fairly quickly and only had to make a 12-minute walk back to the hotel, which wouldn't have been bad if it hadn't been at least 90 degrees and I wasn't carrying 50 pounds. Can you say sweat?
The Tucan Hotel, www.tucanhotel.com, is amazingly cool, though. Pics to come on facebook. They have five hammocks hanging in front of a TV with a DVD player hooked to it and they show a different movie each day at around 4. The room is nice with a mattress as thick as my hand is long. Now I know those of you at home are thinking, that's nice? But given that it's twice as thick as any that I've slept on since I got here and that my hip doesn't bruise from feeling the boards underneath, this is a sweet sleep. Plus, nice sheets and a fan right over my bed to keep me cool. Since I'll be volunteering here for a couple of weeks, the owner said he'd try to keep my room as private as possible even though there are three other beds in there.
After my arrival yesterday, I took a quick cold shower to cool down and immediately headed up the road to a waterfall. Didn't stay long, but long enough to take a quick dip in the pool there. I definitely plan to go back. Haven't been to the beach yet because you have to go at low tide, so I'll have to time it just right, otherwise you get stranded.
Today I was up at 6 for the dive trip. It was a 45-minute drive to Sierpe with stories from the guide along the way. In Sierpe we had an awesome breakfast--eggs, bacon, and a pancake which I slathered with peanut butter and syrup--YUM! The boat ride was a long one. Thirty minutes down the Sierpe River to the ocean and then another 45 to Isla de Cano. Along the way we saw one crocodile and a pod of dolphins, and I captured some of the dolphins, who were quite playful, on video.
After pushing the snorkelers out of the boat, the divemaster, another diver, and I rolled off the boat into the water and did a 49-minute dive where we saw several reef sharks, some southern stingrays, and loads and loads of fish, more than I've ever seen on a dive probably. At times it felt like I was actually swimming in a school of fish.
We had lunch on the island and then headed right back into the water for dive number 2. As soon as we dropped into the water we could hear whales: a mama and her baby talking back and forth. You could hear a distinct difference between the two, with the baby having a much higher pitch. For the entire dive we could hear them communicating and I kept expecting to turn around at any moment and see one of them--no such luck. Divemaster said they could've been up to a half mile away. On this dive, more sharks, lots of fish again. One fish quickly made my favorite list as he looks like he just joined the US Army with his camouflage exterior. A couple of time fish swam right in front of my face as if I wasn't even there.
Upon picking up the snorkelers I was really glad I was a diver. Several of them were stung by jellyfish, little ones mind you, but they were stinging nonetheless, so they got a little dose of vinegar to the skin.
On the way back we saw the mama and baby whales that we had heard underwater, and I shot some video luckily. The baby was only 4-5 days old according to our guide, Cesar. We watched for a while before losing sight of them.
All in all, it was an unforgettable day, the complete opposite of San Jose thankfully. And tomorrow I start work here at the hotel doing I don't know what. I'll try to go to bed early and hope that the thief doesn't come poking around again in the wee hours of the morning. Yep, at 4:30 this morning there was a flashlight being shined into my room. Fortunately I had a towel hanging over the end of the bed so he didn't see me, and luckily the door was deadbolted since he tried the door as well! Just a Tico (local) who has been thieving from here lately according to the owner. Good to know as last night when I would go to the bathroom, I left my door partially open so I wouldn't have to use the key. Not so tonight buddy!
Until next time, this is Cheesa Mann reporting live from a computer that she just knocked a grasshopper off of and watched an ant crawl across!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
