New Town, New Friends

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.