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!!!

Thanksgiving

Tico Thanksgiving

Costa Rica Fact Check: What day is celebrated the 4th Thursday of November?
Answer: Well this year it was November 26th, very special as it followed November 27th.

In other words, Ticos don't celebrate Thanksgiving. This presented a problem for me, since I enjoy celebrating food, I mean Thanksgiving (really the same thing). So even though I would be celebrating Thanksgiving (and food) with a PCV friend on the day of Thanksgiving (see below), I wanted to introduce my English students to the joys of Thanksgiving - take that PC goal #2!

So after their first test, we had a Tico Thanksgiving! What can one expect to find at a Tico Thanksgiving? Glad you asked! I have the tantalizing menu here:

• Pumpkin Pie (this was my beautiful dish made possible by a can of pumpkin pie mix left by Ryan and one sent by Mom, Mom's pie crust recipe, and Pippa's oven) and since whipped cream isn't exactly easy to come by, for those who wanted, it was topped with condensed milk
• Chicken - deliciously seasoned (turkey's a little more difficult to come by)
• Gravy
• Mashed Potatoes
• Sweet Potatoes topped with melted multi-colored marshmallows (this was my fault for trying to explain that some people put marshmallows on yams)
• Absolutely delicious chocolate/coconut/caramel bars (which she calls slices) made by Pippa
  
• Fruit mold
• Some flan sort of thing
• Rompope (Eggnog, which is actually fashionable year-round here)

It was great time. I tried to explain where the holiday comes from, with mixed results. I think I left them with the impression that is a day that we worship food and has something to do with Native Americans and Pilgrims - I guess not too far from the truth (at least for me). But everyone enjoyed themselves and learned a little bit about the US. We even went around and said something we were thankful for. Quite a few said they were thankful for me as a teacher and for our English class. This was probably due to the previously mentioned first test they had just taken, and the fact that I would soon be grading it, but I take compliments, even bribe ones. ; )


Talamanca Thanksgiving

I was lucky enough to be adopted for a few days my my PCV friend, Katie's mom. So I met them in Tamarindo (or as some call it, Tamagringo) for a few relaxing days at a beautiful resort on the beach. It was a gorgeous place with nice bungalows, a pool, wifi, monkeys (the last two shown to the right, being enjoyed by Katie), a ridiculous breakfast (just ask the beautiful bird to the left, who stalks you til you get up for seconds...or thirds), and endless relaxation two steps from the beach. Tamarindo wasn't as overdeveloped and ugly as I was afraid of (although there is tons of construction going on, so who knows what it will look like in a matter of years), is quite charming, and has an amazing selection of food that is not rice and beans.

I arrived Thanksgiving afternoon, and after a tranquilo evening by the pool and beach, we sat down to a Thanksgiving dinner at the restaurant. Brianna and Jon (awesome PCV married couple) came up to enjoy it with us, since they are unfairly close to the beaches. We enjoyed turkey, gravy, green beans, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie (not as good as mine). It was amazing, and we stuffed ourselves til we felt ill - making those Pilgrims proud.

The next day we went to an amazing beach that is completely covered by shells. It is definitley one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been. Great day in white sand and pristine blue water.

Then that night included the best salsa dancing scene that I have experienced in Costa Rica. There was a live band, no cover, free drinks for ladies, gringos, ticos, great dancers, beginners, a gorgeous beach view, and reggae and hip hop on the band breaks. It's like it was made for me! Suffice it to say that Katie and I had a blast.

The next day, we explored the river that leads to the beach and saw endless mangroves, herons, land crabs, a lizard, cayman, and monkeys.

That afternoon, we swam to the island in front of the hotel (that spec...ok blob in the picture to the right). Though Katie's mom was convinced that we just might not make it back, we made it to swim another day. It was challenging, but pretty amazing.

It was such an amazing vacation. And though I am ashamed to say it was my first trip to the beaches closest to me up here in the north (about 3 hours away), it definitely will not be my last!

Let's Try This Again

So when I said that I would try to update my blog every week, I guess the operative word was ‘try’. So I’ll try this again. I’ll do some catching up on old stuff spread out (so as not to overwhelm you or me) as well as new stuff. Added occasional bonus: Learning Moments.

New Stuff:

English Classes

Learning Moment: Saying “easy as a-b-c” does not apply in English class.

So I am an English teacher! Peace Corps Costa Rica (PCCR) has a partnership with an organization called Centro Cultural Costarricense Norteamericano (CCCN), which aims to develop the relationship between the US and CR (no wonder PCCR partners with them). One of the things CCCN does is some pretty good English courses. So they do a little bit of training for us on teaching English, make the materials (books, workbooks, and teacher’s book) available at a low price to the students, and then give certificates to the students who complete the course. Now, certificates may not sound like a big deal, but Ticos really love their certificates. There are some people who do all sorts of courses and collect certificates as if it were a hobby. So it is a very big de

al that I can offer a certificate at the end of the course, and CCCN is a pretty well known one.

I offered the course mostly to the small business groups first and filled in the rest of the spots with other community members and a few high schoolers for a total of 16 students. My friend Pippa graciously offered her classroom where she also teaches English classes, which is great since she has created a very stimulating English nook with tons of fun resources that I am sure I will make use of. It’s a 3-hour course twice a week and this first beginner’s course lasts about 6 months.

Considering that I had never really been a teacher before, I wasn’t all that sure if this would be the thing for me. But after 2 weeks of classes, I’ve actually had a lot of fun. And the students seem to really like it and are pretty motivated since they see the value in learning English for their own interests. Most classes go pretty great and it’s nice to have a teacher’s book that has things pretty planned out for me, but I sometimes have to add or change things around. Like the first day, we learned the Beatles song “You Say Goodbye and I Say Hello” to practice the greetings we had learned in an entertaining way – my mom would be so proud. And then when the alphabet came up, the teacher’s plan had us go over it briefly then launch right into spelling and listening to spelling at full speed. But since it was really like learning 26 new words for them, we ended up spending more time on the alphabet than planned. Now with the help of the alphabet song and extra practice, they are doing a lot better.

Lots of work, but lots of fun too and I think it will be a project I really enjoy and that the students will get a lot out of.

Lost iPod Shuffle and Ant Invasion

Learning Moment: There are almost always 2 ways of looking at things.

The pessimistic way: I misplaced my iPod shuffle for over a month, leaving m

e without portable music and podcasts for long bus rides and morning runs (which was actually a pretty big bummer). Then I realized that I had had it all along when I had to empty everything out of my backpack when ants infested it, and found the shuffle in a small pocket. So I missed out on a month of comforting music and podcasts (one of the ways I stay sane and somewhat updated on world news) when I had it all along and then had to waste 30 minutes dealing with annoying ants.

The optimistic way: After a month of disappointing shuffle-less bus rides and runs, some ants were kind enough to help me look through my backpack more thoroughly (and realize that I need to wash it perhaps) to find my long lost shuffle! And after this time without a shuffle, I appreciate it so much more and am even more motivated to go on runs since, after all, I have a shuffle to listen to!

I think I like the optimistic way – a lot more constructive, especially for these 2 years.

Old Stuff:

Caño Negro

Learning Moment: Mango pizza is delicious!

Caño Negro is a pretty well known Wildlife Reserve and also happens to be where a PCV friend, Mick, is located. It’s got swamps, heaps of birds, and even prehistoric fish. Caño Negro is an interesting case. Though it is so popular and probably among the top 10 tourist destinations in Costa Rica, it almost exclusively gets tourism booked from outside companies that bring in and take out the tourists, without leaving much benefits for the actual community of Caño Negro behind. (I guess it’s not all that much unlike my own site with Rio Celeste)

But of all that it has to offer, pizza finally got me out there. Another PCV friend, James, is in a sight between Mick and I and happens to count making homemade pizza as one of his many talents. Well Mick and James decided that perhaps teaching some community members how to make pizza might offer a possibility of income for them. So I joined in on the fun.

The pizza workshop went quite well. Not sure if anything will start up, but I was happy to be a part of a few Costa Ricans’ first experience with pizza (yay PC goal #2).

We also got to go on a beautiful tour of the lake. We saw plenty of caimán (alligators), birds, monkeys, and gorgeous vegetation and scenery. It was a very traquilo and beautiful tour (due to technical difficulties, no pictures to show).

Rio Celeste Adventure

Learning Moment: 25km is a very long walk (especially in mud and rain)

So Rio Celeste is that gorgeous tourist destination with the turquoise crystalline waters that I visited with my Tarbaca host family in July. This amazing natural wonder is very close to Bijagua, but it’s not in Bijagua. We took a 4-wheel drive taxi when I went with my host family. Well they are working on another entrance to the park that used to only be accessible by horse, and with the construction, is now even less accessible. This new road begins in Bijagua. It will cut a few km off the trip and most likely have quite an effect on Bijagua. (Really hoping this will not ruin Bijagua and it can still keep it’s real Costa Rica feel, but that’s another issue)

Ryan and I had been talking about making the journey on foot for a while and we finally decided it was now or never (we chose now). Even though we got some crazy looks when we let people know what we were doing, we set out on our adventure early in the morning. The weather started out pretty well behaved, which made the muddy sections a bit more manageable. It was a pretty walk as we crossed through cow fields and across rivers. But by the time we finally arrived to the park entrance, I was already pretty exhausted and my hip felt like it was going to say

“screw you” and jump off my body.

But after a rest, we made our way onto the park trail. We went down to the waterfall (yep, still beautiful) and as it had started to rain a bit, we took the shortcut to the hot springs. The springs weren’t as hot as before since the river level was higher, but it still felt pretty amazing with the rain falling as we sat in the warm water.

It was really hard to talk my body into getting out of the water, but I finally did so we could make our way back. The return trip was more of a challenge, with my body already on strike, rain falling, and the mud much more reluctant to let my feet (sometimes ankles and calves) go.

But despite my doubts, we actually did make it back. We had left 8am, got back 4pm and covered roughly 25km (more than a half marathon covered in a work day). Great adventure, but I think I might wait for dry season before considering another one.

A Good Week

Organic Farmers Market in Upala

Some other PCVs and I went to support the Feria that has started up in the nearby town. Even though it was their first one, it was a pretty exciting success. There were probably about 20 vendors, mostly produce but even a few artisans and a bit of other food. There were plenty of customers, despite the rain it started off with. I was so excited about all of the organic food, although another PCV did remind me that lots of farmers around here are organic by default anyways. And to top it all off, the prices were cheap for produce, let alone for organic produce. I got a head of lettuce, a bunch of spinach, 4 cucumbers, 2 small bags of momones (local yummy fruit), radishes, and mostaza (a spicy leaf) for less than $4, and delicious dark chocolate for $0.20 – all organic and locally produced. It was a very exciting shopping experience, especially since it is a real possibility that we will soon get something similar started up in Bijagua.

Pippa & Donald’s Place

Ryan and I finally visited Pippa and Donald at their place and finca. When we arrived, we had to ‘work’ a bit for our breakfast. We each tried our hands at milking their cows, getting back to my farming roots that I never knew. Definitely wouldn’t call myself an expert, but I was excited to see any milk coming out. The breakfast that Pippa prepared was amazing – homemade tortillas, banana bread, eggs, cheese, fried platano maduro, lots of fresh fruits, and coffee (flavored with fresh milk from their cows).

Loaded with way too much food, we set off to their finca outside of town. We drove until the truck got stuck in the mud. Then it was time to put the rubber boots to use (one of man’s best inventions), walking through the river to get to the finca. Even though it took us 2 hours to go the 2 km, it was a gorgeous walk that I wish could be conveyed by pictures. Then we explored around the finca, seeing lots of beautiful birds, tapir tracks, and noisy monkeys, drinking straight from the spring that was the source for a small stream, and enjoying some beautiful nature all around. The walk back on the road in mid development was the hardest part – for one, the mud was deep and I got temporarily stuck at least a dozen times on the 2km trek back; but the much harder aspect was seeing the deforestation the road was bringing about, which lead to the erosion and horrible mud that we were getting stuck in and was washing straight into the beautiful river we had walked through. It is a project to make a new entrance to Rio Celeste, which cuts through the rainforest and would give much quicker access directly through Bijagua. This would increase tourism traffic in Bijagua, but it is definitely not helping the rainforest it is cutting through. It is also such a fine line as to how much additional tourism I hope for in Bijagua. It is such an amazing community right now, and while I want to see development and additional business, I don’t want to see it ruined by over development, if that makes any sense.

After 6 hours of walking through mud and rain, my first hot shower in 2 months was beyond amazing. Then after a nice dinner, we had a movie night slumber party. It was such a simple evening, but so wonderful to feel like I have a close friend to spend a relaxing night with.

Futbol!

After wasting the majority of the next day, Pippa called to let me know that there would be a soccer game at the indoor field at 830pm. Even though it sounded too late after being
lazy all day long and my bedtime is usually 10pm, I decided to go. It was such a successful turnout! There were 6 girls and 8 guys (a few more showed up later). We split up and subbed on an off. It was such a fun game. It sounds like we are going to try to do it every week, which is really exciting.

Despedida

We had a little get-together of all of the local twenty-somethings since the French volunteer, Justine is leaving, Ryan is leaving and it was the German volunteer, Marjorie’s birthday. It turned out to be a pretty fun night. All of the fun people I have become friends with were there. There was good music, some great food (Marjorie’s pasta, Kim’s pinto, cakes, etc), beer, wine, and great company. I even got a bit of salsa dancing in with my friend Maikol. The porch of a house is just as good as a club dance floor, as long as your partner’s fun. I would love to get some sort of regular latin dance class started up. The evening wasn’t a crazy time, but it was just a great night of hanging out with friends. And it was a great international house – Costa Rica, USA, Germany, France, Australia – with people switching between Spanish, English, French, and German. I loved it.

Project Updates

Ryan and I went out to El Jardin to check on the greenhouse after 3 weeks of school vacations. Surprisingly enough, the only real problems were 2 dead rows of cucumbers that we had planted from seeds, some ants, and some possible fungus on some plants. Other than that, it was an impressive sight, most of the plants had grown so much. I’m really excited about this project and the food that is growing each day including cucumbers, eggplant, lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro, radishes, and peppers. I’m a little less sure about figuring out how to help get the structure of cooperative set up with the kids and parents, but I’m sure it will work out.

The computer lab is great. I have 2 students that I tutor, and other community members use the computers or come in and ask for help occasionally. Not to mention the free internet for me.

We are really trying to get the Farmer’s Market started soon with whatever we have. Even though it may start out small, we can slowly add to it and make it better every week.

There is a lot of work with the ECCs (community banks). We’re working on improving the accounting in Excel to make the treasurer’s life better. It’s great to be able to bury myself in Excel formulas every once in a while. And we are trying to work on the regional meetings to get them some training and make the meetings worthwhile. There is also an idea floating around of a regional work center for those ECCs that don’t have computers as well as for a central training center.

So I definitely have a lot of fun and projects to keep me busy. So much for any fears of not having much to do for 2 years.

Altamira

I got invited to visit the home of one of the members of my counterpart, Edgar, his wife Maritza, and their kids Esmerelda, and Edward in Altamira. The trip up itself was beautiful, though long – 5km outside of (mostly up) town. Looking around, I realized just what a good name Altamira (high view) was for the barrio, especially from Edgar and Maritza’s land. I somehow didn’t think to bring my camera, so you have to picture it until I can return to take some pictures (the picture shown is where I went, as seen from central Bijagua). When the clouds permit, you can see both volcano ranges, and waterfalls flowing off of Miravalles. Though the clouds only permitted me to see one of the many waterfalls, it was absolutely gorgeous. I could sit there all day and stare at it.

But staring wasn’t the only thing the day brought. We had a delicious lunch, made almost exclusively from the produce they grow on their land. I learned a little more about their home during the meal conversations. They first bought the land completely undeveloped. After clearing some land, laying down the concrete for their floor, putting up two walls, and putting up a roof, they moved in to finish it. They put in everything from scratch, including the electricity and water. I really love the idea of being able to choose what you want the view from your window to be. Their home is so amazingly theirs, with all the wood, concrete, electricity, and water put in by them.

Then after lunch, it was time for an adventure. After years of not doing it, and not doing it all that well when I did, I got to ride a horse. It is a good thing that Edward was the guide, otherwise I think this adventure would have had a disastrous outcome. We went on a 30 minute ride with lots of green nature to look at. When we came to a little stream, the horse crossed it with little problem, but then there was a hill where walking alone, I would have had to choose my steps carefully. Now imagine you’re a horse. At one point I remember thinking what an oddly sprawled out position the horse was in and wondering if I could jump off before falling along with the horse into the stream. But somehow, the horse avoided disaster and made it up the hill. Of course Edward didn’t seem to give this all a second thought. After a short trail, we made our way through fences and through muddy non-trail on foot (not so gracefully on my part) to the river. It was definitely pretty, but after a quick break, we headed back. This time, when we got to the hill leading down to the stream, I decided to dismount the horse and take it on my own two feet. I just imagined me and the horse crashing down, my leg getting crushed, putting me on the next plane home to the US, ending my Costa Rican adventure. Even though it most likely would have been fine, as I watched the horse basically jump down the hill, I didn’t feel so ridiculous for worrying with my limited equestrian skills.

By the time we finally got back, I felt really sorry for both the horse and Edward who had done all of the work, neither of which probably would have made the trip if it were up to them. But both of them were very good sports and I was appreciative of the adventure they made possible for me. I didn’t dare mention how after such a short ride, my rear already could feel it. It was a great time.

After a delicious cafecito, Esmerelda took me on a tour of their finca. After just over a year, they have their land producing just about everything they need – cows (milk, cheese – sometime spicy, yogurt), pigs, beans, tomatoes, aracache, corn, platano, banana, cilantro, and lots more. It was impressive walking all their land and all their agriculture, thinking about how only Edgar and Edward care for all of it, and they feed themselves almost entirely from this land.

After my time there, I fell in love with it. It definitely is a harder life, but I would argue it is also more beautiful – the view and the quality.

Tarbaca Family Visits Rio Celeste

My host family from Tarbaca (Jacky, Stephannie, and Melannie) that I lived with for 3 months came to visit me in Bijagua. It was so great of them to drive 5 hours to spend a week of their 2-week school vacation with me. They stayed here with my current host family and me since they had hit it off so well when Jacky dropped me off the first time. It was so nice to catch up with Jacky and spend time with the girls. I didn’t realize how much I missed them until I got to see them again.

We went to Rio Celeste while they were here. Rio Celeste! I can finally answer ‘si’ when everyone asks me if I have been. It is the most famous attraction in the area for good reason. It is called Rio Celeste for the color of river that is an amazing blue due to some chemicals in the water. But on the 7km roundtrip trail, there is a lot more than just the famous waterfall.

First we made it to Mirador. It was beautiful to be able to see the whole range of peaks of Tenorio Volcano, up to 1916m. Then when we arrived at Laguna Azul, we were just about screaming with excitement with our first glimpses of the celest waters. We next visited Teñideros (the Stainers) where the different waters meet up and the celest color (due apparently to colloidal silica) begins. It was impressive to see how there is such a defined line where the color changes. Then we finally arrived at the hot springs. It was very different from the springs in La Fortuna. It was in the middle of the cold celest river, with just a little area set aside from the rest. There were various areas that would get really hot, with the cold water mixing it up – so nice. The smell was so odd, and it made you wonder if the combination of interesting minerals was a good thing or bad thing. But it sure felt great, and we all felt more relaxed as we started the walk back.

But still the walk back was not quite as easy going. The girls really started to get tired and Melannie kept on saying that she wanted to leave now, even though there were still a few km before the exit. But then we got back to the entrance to the waterfall, which we had saved for last. It was only 150m but very steep grade with really tall steps. The trail got a bit much for Jacky to handle with the girls so I left them about halfway to go the rest of the way. And what a beautiful sight! It was amazing to finally see live what I had seen so many times in pictures – which, as expected, just cannot really relate the beauty that you can only fully appreciate by seeing it for yourself. It was completely breathtaking. The waterfall is about 30m high (about 90ft) and it pummels down into the lagoon that is blue as ice. I tried to make sure that I got some good pictures, knowing full well that they would do it no justice.