Off to Nicaragua!

So I didn´t write last week and I´m only psuedo writing this week just to say that I´m going to Nicaragua tomorrow! It´s a two-week trip with the lovely ladies Katie, Jen, Adrienne, and Chamisa. We´ll be hitting León, Granada, Isla de Ometepe, and San Juan del Sur. I´m not sure what my internet connection will be, but I´ll take lots of pics and journal to update everyone when I get back home (the Costa Rican one). But in the mean time, Feliz Navidad and Prospero Año Nuevo!!! Miss and love everyone! Enjoy the holidays!

Why I suck at blogging

Since I haven’t posted since March 22, I guess I don’t have to point out that it has been a while since I updated my blog (well I guess I just did point that out). This isn’t so much an update, but rather a declaration of my intention to update. :)

So why do I suck so much at this thing (besides it being difficult to find the time)? I wouldn’t say that I’m a horrible writer, but no matter the words I use to describe my experience here, they always fall short. I feel that what I am able to express in words doesn’t come close to the real essence of it.

But, on the other hand, I know that 1) I don’t have a great memory and sometimes these entries are the only things that keep all the details safe, 2) writing (as hard as it seems to me sometimes) helps me work through things, and 3) I really want to stay connected to everyone and share my experience. So I will now try to start once again (who needs the New Year for a resolution?). I’m aiming for weekly communication. Please pester me if I don’t. And please send me updates about you as well! I miss everyone (almost as much as froyo).

So at least for now, I will wet your palette with a picture of the best dog in the world (aka Bavaria), me and my boyfriend, Dani.

Milestones and Kilometer Markings (Meterocks?)

I know there’s lots more to catch up on, but I want to make sure to get out two exciting things that happened very recently.

Milestone: As of March 11, I have been in Costa Rica for one year! Time is a very weird thing here. I know that the passage of time is relative to one’s rate of movement, but I think it also has something to do with life experience. There are definitely some days (and lots of meetings) where I feel like I may go crazy before the minute hand makes any kind of progression. But overall, the time here is volando like it’s got some emergency to attend to. I’ve made friends that I am confident will remain important throughout the rest of my life, learned much more Spanish than I ever could in a classroom, participated in projects that have impacted people’s lives, but I think more than anything else, I have been forced to get to know myself more than ever before.

Attempting to process the last year, I am surprised at how little and how much has changed. I still love my family and friends, never feel like I am working hard enough, and still have dinner and movie dates with friends (granted with food only as exotic as the local super allows and usually on laptop screens instead of theaters). But the changes take much more contemplation. I am in a completely different culture and language, but that’s just geography and semantics. The kind of experiences I am having, aren’t necessarily exclusive to Peace Corps, rather anyone that has started life over with new friends, a new home, new rules, new daily routine, and most importantly, realizes that they have no one to blame or thank but themselves for their sense of accomplishment and general happiness, can relate to how I feel. Sometimes I think PC has made me bipolar - feeling so joyous and complete one day and useless and depressed the next. But I am coming to realize how much my personal decisions determine those feelings.

Not that I ever doubted that really, but when I had so many more people and ‘norms’ telling me what to do, it allowed me to shift responsibility and blame a bit more. And though it doesn’t give me an easy out for explaining my craziness, it is empowering (though sometimes daunting) to know that it’s all on me. I don’t have a perfect summary conclusion, but I guess I have another 1.25 years to figure it out. :)

Kilometer Markings: On the day of our March 11 milestone, two of my closest PCV friends (Katie and Adrienne), Katie’s dad (Jim), and I made arrangements to climb to the top of Chirripo. Standing at 3,800 meters (almost 12,500 ft or 2.36 milestones) the summit is the highest point in Costa Rica and would represent the highest I had ever been (without a seatbelt). But before we could get to that altitude, 14.5 km of hiking had to be dealt with just to get to the albergue, then another 2 hr hike the following morning to get to the summit.

When we had originally discussed the possibility of Chirripo, I thought to myself, “I’ll definitely train before we do that!” One guess as to whether I actually did train at all (I’ll give you a hint, the answer’s the same in English and Spanish). You would have guessed my lack of training by the gasps of air that I sucked in as I struggled up the mountain. But the view was amazing, so my out of shape body gave my eyes extra opportunity to take it in. We passed from cloud forests to high altitude shrubbery, so I started taking pictures of each of the kilometer markings (more pics on facebook) and the scenery in between. Each km was named pretty appropriately.

We saw the white-faced monkeys on Los Monos km, a female quetzal (not quite as resplendent as the male but still awesome) on the Resplendent Quetzal km, the burned trees on Los Quemados km, and I was repenting (though I wasn’t sure what I did wrong) on Los Arrepentidos km. But we finally arrived at the albergue after 7 hours of climbing (which accordingto my guide book is on the low end, so there!).

The albergue was very simple where you have to provide your own food and linens and the cold showers don’t help with the freezing temperatures. Though it did not drop below freezing during our stay (it does occasionally there), I was happy to have all the warm clothes that I felt crazy for packing as I sweated in the heat below.

The next morning, we set out early to hike to the summit. The view was amazing, even as we set out, looking across the valleys that were set thousands of meters above sea level, and looking down on the clouds that were forming. The hike was much less challenging than the day before (not just because it was less than 1/3 of the time) but the last 100m of straight up climbing at the altitude we were at, left me gasping once again. But as we reached the top, it took my breath away for a very different reason. Standing at the highest point in Costa Rica, one year into my service, the beauty and sense of accomplishment was incredible. On clear days, you can apparently see to both oceans. Though we didn’t have such luck, it was amazing to look out over the sea of clouds, the smoking volcano poking out, and the half dozen glacial lagoons around us. We all signed our names in the book and left a haiku that would make our 5^th grade teachers proud:

Mountains, lakes, and clouds

Tired, hungry, breathless, cold

This is Chirripo

On the way down, we went to one of the lagoons, then headed back to the albergue to prepare for the descent. The trip down was grueling in a very different way. My breathing definitely wasn’t a problem, but my knees, and the rest of my body, for that matter, wasn’t very happy with me. But after 5 hours, we reached the bottom, all ready for the hot shower and sleep that was in our very near future. Jim treated us to one of the most delicious dinner’s I’ve had in Costa Rica – perfect ending.

Though the 12 hours of traveling back home to Bijagua on bus after bus wasn’t the best for my aching body, it was a great time to contemplate the two significant events of the week – very substantial accomplishments, challenging steps to get there, pushing myself to do more than I had before, and trying to enjoy the journey and sights along the way to the ultimate goal, all flying by faster than ever expected.

Un Poquito Mucho Demasiado Fun!

So it has been forever since I last wrote. I think I’m getting worse at this. Since I don’t know where to start, I’ll start with the most recent event and try to work my way back in (hopefully soon to come) future posts. So let’s start with…Kari’s visit to Costa Rica!

I have to say that as I talk to any friends or family about coming to visit me, I do so secretly (or sometimes not so secretly) never expecting to see them here. So let’s just say I was more than pleasantly surprised when Kari sent me her officially booked itinerary a few months ago. I met Kari while we worked together in the Industrial Engineering Department at Disneyland a few years ago. We’ve kept in touch and hung out since then, but I never expected her to be able to make it down here (especially with all her crazy school schedules). And she was probably the best person to host as the first visitor here. She has traveled in South America, speaks great Spanish, she’s adventurous, fun, and was more interested in a ‘real’ Costa Rican experience, instead of the pampered and expensive itineraries some might be looking for.I was actually in a PC workshop when Kari’s flight arrived. But she found her way through customs, caught the bus to downtown San Jose, and hopped in a cab to my hostel, waiting for me as I returned from the training – so awesome! It was nice to be able to introduce her to some of my PCV friends, even though we weren’t able to spend much time with them. Then that night (after traveling all day and being sick), she still came with me to see a live salsa band! Good night with a good band and some good dancing – great start to an awesome visit.

The next day we headed straight to Manuel Antonio (after a 3 hour delay at the bus station – things can’t go too smoothly here). The hostel was beautiful, and after a quick dip inthe ocean, we high-tailed it back to the hostel to catch an amazing sunset with a liter of Bavaria each – Pura Vida.

The next day was definitely the highlight, though. We headed down early to get some breakfast and head into the national park. Kari had told me that the one thing she wanted to see when she came to visit me was a sloth. So it was a good thing that I had ordered a baby sloth to be climbing down a tree, almost within reach of the trail, within our first 10 steps into the park! It was pretty awesome (and definitely took the sloth pressure off of me). But the best part was the beach we found with the help of a friend we met in the hostel. He said that some of the scenes from the movie The Beach had been filmed here. And I believe it. Even though it was a pretty busy day, it was probably one of the most beautiful beaches I had seen. The water was amazing and pretty salty, so it was even more relaxing than usual to just float there.

The only minor problem we had was when the monkeys stole our bananas. That’s right. I couldn’t make that up. We literally had a bag of bananas and before we even knew they were there, the bag was up in the palm tree, being devoured. I felt sooo bad. After having a whole conversation about how bad it is that people feed the monkeys and how bad bananas are for their digestive system, the little buggers grabbed our bag full of digestive problems. But I have to admit it was pretty cool to see them up close.

The next phase of the trip was some quality time in Bijagua. I was so happy that Kari was able (and excited) to spend quite a fewdays in my community. She got to stay in Casa Brigitte (pics on facebook), met my friends, saw some of my projects, helped mewith my English class, climbed a 30m high hollow tree, played apples to apples with my friends, saw the beautiful Rio Celeste, met my host family, and really got a good glimpse into my life here.

It was actually somewhat surprising how well Kari fit into things here – she appreciated the endless breathtaking views, got along a little too well with my friends, did great in my English class, and was enjoying my lifestyle, when others might be uncomfortable.

We then decided to spend a few days at Playas Brasalito and Conchal. We were able to talk my friend Kim into coming with us. So it was the 3 of us jumping in the ocean, having a romantic candlelit dinner right on the beach, and enjoying some beers as we danced on the sand and took some night time dips in the ocean. Then the next day we went to the crushed-shell, turquoise-water Playa Conchal. So beautiful. John, Brianna, and Chris (PCV friends) met up with us and the 6 of us faced some tough decisions all day long – jump in the blue water, sunbathe (or sunbake in my case), enjoy our cold beers (that were actually delivered to us at one point), chat with friends, or just enjoy the ridiculous view. So we just decided to do them all. We finished up the day with a fun night at Brianna and John’s place. Then, after spending one more day in Bijagua, Kari was off early the next morning. : [

It was truly an amazing trip! We had such a great time. And it is so great that Kari seemed to enjoy and understand a bit better the life I have here. I can’t thank her enough for finding a way to make it down here to experience the Pura Vida with me! Love you Kari!!!