I passed a wonderful 2+ weeks in Silencio. Spent my mornings volunteering, first in the chicken farm and then in the wildlife rescue center. Passed the afternoons napping, reading, listening to music, or watching movies. Two nights we went to Londres, a nearby town, to watch the soccer team play. The second time we were surprised to find ourselves climbing into the back of a cattle truck for the 45-50 minute ride, dodging low-hanging palm tree branches for part of the way. I couldn't help thinking, many tourists come to Costa Rica, go only to places like Manuel Antonio, and think they've seen Costa Rica, but for me you haven't seen Costa Rica until you've ridden in the back of a cattle truck with a rowdy soccer team. As if that wasn't adventurous enough, on the way back we disembarked early, crossed the river barefoot, and finished up the trip home on foot in about 20 minutes, actually much faster than it would've been in the cattle truck. Again, you haven't been to Costa Rica until you've crossed the river barefoot in the dark at 10 p.m. with only the light of a small headtorch. Good times . . .
When I first arrived back in Silencio, I knew that the trip would be brief this time. I had received word from my mother that she needed yet another heart surgery, her third. Though I was obviously disheartened to have to leave Silencio so soon after I had returned, not returning to Kentucky for this wasn't an option. My family and friends in Silencio were completely supportive and in the beginning when the news was bleak, all of them remained optimistic (in customary Tico fashion), telling me that all would be fine.
On Monday evening, a rental car at our disposal yet again, we passed time with Diego's brother and his girlfriend at Rafiki, a lodge 10 km past Silencio, very, very remote. I wanted to enjoy the final night there, and I was until we had a flat tire on the way back. The three Ticos took it completely in stride and began changing it; in typical American fashion, I worried, thinking this was a sign that bad things were going to happen. Bad luck continued the next morning in Quepos when we headed to the first place to repair the tire and they wanted $24. I think not, especially not when it isn't even my car. We finally were able to resolve things at the rental car facility and set out for San Jose to the airport for another difficult goodbye.
My flight schedule was less than ideal--a 13-hour layover in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was fortunate enough to be returning with a sleeping bag that I had planned to leave at my parents' house as I've not needed it. I definitely needed it when I bedded down in baggage claim that night. I slept surprisingly well considering the location.
For now, I'm back in Kentucky and sitting at the hospital. My mother is currently in surgery and so far all is going well. I'll be here until Sunday when I head to Connecticut for a week. I need to retrieve my belongings that are in storage. (Currently involved in a discussion about how best to do that, what vehicle will pull the trailer, whether or not it will all fit, etc., etc.) While I'm looking forward to seeing all my friends in CT, I'm definitely not looking forward to an extremely long drive there and back, especially pulling a trailer. After I return to Kentucky, I'll be here until February 20 when I head back for the third time to Silencio to live.
Not enjoying the cold weather here in the States, but passing the time with friends will make it more tolerable. Really want to see all my friends while I'm here. Check on facebook for the status update with my phone number for the next three weeks.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
¨Sometimes you wanna go . . .
. . . where everybody knows your name, and they´re always glad you came.¨
There´s nothing like a homecoming. During a conversation with Diego Tuesday at lunchtime, we decided why not pass the evening in Silencio. So it was that I found myself on the bus that afternoon and of course ran into a Silencio native who told me I was the absolute last person he expected to see in the bus. I saw most of my friends and family that evening after I arrived, and there truly is nothing like a homecoming. Everyone DID know my name and everyone was glad I came, including me.
And then I surprised them all again (except Diego who had some sixth sense) by showing up Thursday to live again even though I had just told them all I´d be back Friday. It was an excellent decision as there was a huge party that night in the albergue. A group of Americans had been there for a couple of days and were leaving Friday. Of course, Silencio knows how to capitalize on the presence of a bunch of young Americans--throw them a party with lots of American music and sell them alcohol!
This trip to Silencio is a brief one, I believe, as I need to return to the States for a brief visit soon. And because of that I want to enjoy it as much as possible. Rented a car yesterday for the weekend, which makes it so much easier to come and go as I please. Diego, his brother and I went to the pool in Santo Domingo. Were the only ones there. And then later he, a friend, and I came to Quepos to spend a little time with his other brother and hang out at a bar where there was some really, really bad Spanish karaoke. Today I´ve popped into Quepos to hopefully pick up my package from Mom (which will finally allow me to download some more pics), and then Diego and I are heading to the beach.
For now I´m simply trying to enjoy every moment that I have and spend it with people who know my name (even if I don´t always know theirs) and are glad I came.
There´s nothing like a homecoming. During a conversation with Diego Tuesday at lunchtime, we decided why not pass the evening in Silencio. So it was that I found myself on the bus that afternoon and of course ran into a Silencio native who told me I was the absolute last person he expected to see in the bus. I saw most of my friends and family that evening after I arrived, and there truly is nothing like a homecoming. Everyone DID know my name and everyone was glad I came, including me.
And then I surprised them all again (except Diego who had some sixth sense) by showing up Thursday to live again even though I had just told them all I´d be back Friday. It was an excellent decision as there was a huge party that night in the albergue. A group of Americans had been there for a couple of days and were leaving Friday. Of course, Silencio knows how to capitalize on the presence of a bunch of young Americans--throw them a party with lots of American music and sell them alcohol!
This trip to Silencio is a brief one, I believe, as I need to return to the States for a brief visit soon. And because of that I want to enjoy it as much as possible. Rented a car yesterday for the weekend, which makes it so much easier to come and go as I please. Diego, his brother and I went to the pool in Santo Domingo. Were the only ones there. And then later he, a friend, and I came to Quepos to spend a little time with his other brother and hang out at a bar where there was some really, really bad Spanish karaoke. Today I´ve popped into Quepos to hopefully pick up my package from Mom (which will finally allow me to download some more pics), and then Diego and I are heading to the beach.
For now I´m simply trying to enjoy every moment that I have and spend it with people who know my name (even if I don´t always know theirs) and are glad I came.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Starting the Follow-up Year of Fabulousness
I always find it incredible when I log back in here and realize it´s been a week since my last blog. Time flies when you´re lying on the beach or swimming in waterfalls. I guess that´s why vacations always seem to go too fast. I know that the majority of my friends head back to work after a nice holiday break and are dreading it. My sympathies are with you.
My days in Montezuma were some of the most relaxing I´ve probably ever had. I usually got a late start after breakfast, around 10 or 11. Monday I had planned to dive, but the divemaster was ill so it was postponed. Instead, I trekked to the first of three Montezuma waterfalls. I missed my good hiking sandals, but I have to give props to my $5 Panamian flip flops for making the almost 40-minute trek. I swam in the waterfall and soaked up the sun and afterwards spent the remainder of the afternoon on the beach in the shade reading.
Tuesday the divemaster continued to be ill, but Project Montezuma, with whom I had booked--more about them later--had booked me in with another company to save another postponement. We headed out to Isla Tortuga, a most gorgeous, gorgeous location. On dive #1 we encountered numerous fish obviously as well as an eel and lobsters. It was a good dive, and it felt good to be back underwater again even if the visibility wasn´t awesome. We took an amazing lunch on the island of fresh fish, vegetables, rice, and fruit before going out for dive #2 which was even better. A shark, lobsters, an eel, a turtle, a puffer fish, which the divemaster held up for us, and a trigger fish, which he also held up for us. Later there was an underwater cave. The ocean surge was quite strong and would literally push us back several feet, so I was wary of entering the cave and hung back. The other divers disappeared and all I could think was, Is the divemaster not worried? I finally decided to follow because if they were gone that long, it had to be cool. Twice the surge grabbed me and threw me backwards and I felt the coral on my right arm and leg, unaware of the actual damage. But I discovered that there was actually a second opening and I swam hard to avoid the third surge. I´m sure I used a lot of air in the 30 seconds or so it took to go through the cave, but as always I was glad I did it. When I climbed in the boat, I surveyed the damage to my body--about 10 cuts on my right forearm, a few on my right hand, and another 20 or so on my right calf. I was really grateful that the divemaster persuaded me to wear the short wetsuit or it would have been much worse. As it is, I´m almost healed.
Every day in Montezuma I would think, maybe tomorrow I´ll leave, and several days I kept saying, oh, one more day. One day I hiked two hours along the beach to El Chorro waterfall where I hung out with a Tico couple, the only other people there. The walk back proved to be slightly more arduous than the getting there, partly because I was tired, and partly because the tide was coming in and shortening the beach. The following day was a good day to do nothing but hang out on the beach and watch the surfers.
Finally on Friday I made the trek out of Montezuma. I opted to splurge for a $40 water taxi, which would shorten my overall travel time by about 3 hours and save me the 1.5 hour rickety bus ride. We saw about three pods of dolphins on the ride to Jaco, which helped make up for the beating that my ass took in that one hour on the ocean. After a shuttle ride, two buses, and two long waits for buses, I arrived in Dominical (just south of Silencio) at about 5 to find the town packed out due to a 12-hour music festival.
A Canadian guy I met on the bus and I headed to Dominical Backpackers, where I knew rooms were cheap. Fortunately, they had beds. The guy on duty asked us if we wanted a double, and I promptly replied, We just met on the bus, we´re not that close yet! We actually took separate dorm rooms and got lucky that no one else checked in, so we actually had private rooms at least for the night. Which was about the only saving grace about this hostel. It´s definitely the worst I´ve stayed in, but as I´ve said before, I can deal with just about anything at this point. I shared my room with three other people last night, two of whom got up early and headed to a different hostel this morning. Wimps! There is one other nice thing about this place: it´s only 100 meters from the beach. I spent all of yesterday on the beach or in the ocean. The waves were cranking yesterday afternoon and the ocean was riddled with awesome surfers. I spent hours watching them, even as the sun went down.
I´ll pass another day on the beach today, and then I´m headed for Quepos tomorrow. Anyone who knows Quepos would wonder why I´d give up Dominical for it, but then they don´t know the hostel the Wide Mouth Frog. In one word: pool. I only have a few more days until I return to my difficult volunteer work in Silencio, and I really want to pass it lying beside a pool.
As for Project Montezuma, here´s the scoop. A 31-year-old American named Kerri Bowers came to Montezuma two years ago on a summer vacation and fell in love with both Montezuma and the guide of one of the companies she had booked a hike with. She decided to stay and ended up marrying him. Together they founded Project Montezuma, which offers free English classes to the local children as well as enrichment classes that volunteers design and it´s all funded from the tours that they sell, like the dive trip I booked. The children receive only about 3 hours of education a day due to a teacher shortage, so the work of the project is greatly needed. Unfortunately, they are always in need of supplies. If you´d like to help out, let me know as I´d like to organize a school supplies drive for them. The link to their website is http://proyectomontezuma.com/.
I´ve dubbed 2010 the follow-up year of fabulousness (since 2009 was the year of fabulousness), and it´s started out strong. Here´s hoping that you have your own year of fabulousness this year.
My days in Montezuma were some of the most relaxing I´ve probably ever had. I usually got a late start after breakfast, around 10 or 11. Monday I had planned to dive, but the divemaster was ill so it was postponed. Instead, I trekked to the first of three Montezuma waterfalls. I missed my good hiking sandals, but I have to give props to my $5 Panamian flip flops for making the almost 40-minute trek. I swam in the waterfall and soaked up the sun and afterwards spent the remainder of the afternoon on the beach in the shade reading.
Tuesday the divemaster continued to be ill, but Project Montezuma, with whom I had booked--more about them later--had booked me in with another company to save another postponement. We headed out to Isla Tortuga, a most gorgeous, gorgeous location. On dive #1 we encountered numerous fish obviously as well as an eel and lobsters. It was a good dive, and it felt good to be back underwater again even if the visibility wasn´t awesome. We took an amazing lunch on the island of fresh fish, vegetables, rice, and fruit before going out for dive #2 which was even better. A shark, lobsters, an eel, a turtle, a puffer fish, which the divemaster held up for us, and a trigger fish, which he also held up for us. Later there was an underwater cave. The ocean surge was quite strong and would literally push us back several feet, so I was wary of entering the cave and hung back. The other divers disappeared and all I could think was, Is the divemaster not worried? I finally decided to follow because if they were gone that long, it had to be cool. Twice the surge grabbed me and threw me backwards and I felt the coral on my right arm and leg, unaware of the actual damage. But I discovered that there was actually a second opening and I swam hard to avoid the third surge. I´m sure I used a lot of air in the 30 seconds or so it took to go through the cave, but as always I was glad I did it. When I climbed in the boat, I surveyed the damage to my body--about 10 cuts on my right forearm, a few on my right hand, and another 20 or so on my right calf. I was really grateful that the divemaster persuaded me to wear the short wetsuit or it would have been much worse. As it is, I´m almost healed.
Every day in Montezuma I would think, maybe tomorrow I´ll leave, and several days I kept saying, oh, one more day. One day I hiked two hours along the beach to El Chorro waterfall where I hung out with a Tico couple, the only other people there. The walk back proved to be slightly more arduous than the getting there, partly because I was tired, and partly because the tide was coming in and shortening the beach. The following day was a good day to do nothing but hang out on the beach and watch the surfers.
Finally on Friday I made the trek out of Montezuma. I opted to splurge for a $40 water taxi, which would shorten my overall travel time by about 3 hours and save me the 1.5 hour rickety bus ride. We saw about three pods of dolphins on the ride to Jaco, which helped make up for the beating that my ass took in that one hour on the ocean. After a shuttle ride, two buses, and two long waits for buses, I arrived in Dominical (just south of Silencio) at about 5 to find the town packed out due to a 12-hour music festival.
A Canadian guy I met on the bus and I headed to Dominical Backpackers, where I knew rooms were cheap. Fortunately, they had beds. The guy on duty asked us if we wanted a double, and I promptly replied, We just met on the bus, we´re not that close yet! We actually took separate dorm rooms and got lucky that no one else checked in, so we actually had private rooms at least for the night. Which was about the only saving grace about this hostel. It´s definitely the worst I´ve stayed in, but as I´ve said before, I can deal with just about anything at this point. I shared my room with three other people last night, two of whom got up early and headed to a different hostel this morning. Wimps! There is one other nice thing about this place: it´s only 100 meters from the beach. I spent all of yesterday on the beach or in the ocean. The waves were cranking yesterday afternoon and the ocean was riddled with awesome surfers. I spent hours watching them, even as the sun went down.
I´ll pass another day on the beach today, and then I´m headed for Quepos tomorrow. Anyone who knows Quepos would wonder why I´d give up Dominical for it, but then they don´t know the hostel the Wide Mouth Frog. In one word: pool. I only have a few more days until I return to my difficult volunteer work in Silencio, and I really want to pass it lying beside a pool.
As for Project Montezuma, here´s the scoop. A 31-year-old American named Kerri Bowers came to Montezuma two years ago on a summer vacation and fell in love with both Montezuma and the guide of one of the companies she had booked a hike with. She decided to stay and ended up marrying him. Together they founded Project Montezuma, which offers free English classes to the local children as well as enrichment classes that volunteers design and it´s all funded from the tours that they sell, like the dive trip I booked. The children receive only about 3 hours of education a day due to a teacher shortage, so the work of the project is greatly needed. Unfortunately, they are always in need of supplies. If you´d like to help out, let me know as I´d like to organize a school supplies drive for them. The link to their website is http://proyectomontezuma.com/.
I´ve dubbed 2010 the follow-up year of fabulousness (since 2009 was the year of fabulousness), and it´s started out strong. Here´s hoping that you have your own year of fabulousness this year.
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