Feb 2006

So for the past week, I've been traveling on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica and gleefully frolicking south of the border in Panama. I know that working 9-2pm may not necessitate 7 days off every month, but I think they're onto something here. Life is good - I have found the oft-repeated "Pura Vida" the locals sound as greeting and farewell...really they say "Pura Vida" to any/everthing. Food is pura vida, a sunny day is pura vida, a spilled beer is pura vida if it was at least half empty. Pure life - good life abounds here.

So, as for my debatedly much "needed", but assuredly much enjoyed vacation: A word of advice: BOCAS DEL TORO...go! It's the most amazing little island off the coast of Panama. Devoid of paved roads and actually lacking roads of any sort in a lot of places, it has lush jungle, pristine beaches, and such a deserted and undiscovered island vibe. Because many parts of the island can't be reached by car, we took water taxis around the island and often hiked through or "around" (for the coordinated ones in the group) knee high water to get into town. I don't think I've ever seen more stars at night. You'll be happy to know that I took daily naps in hammocks for all of you. Every morning I ate breakfast on a deck that extended out over the water, past the beach. If I looked to the right or left of my cereal bowl into the slats on the floor, I saw sparkling blue water. I almost applied for the vacant manager position at the hotel, but alas Biostats at BU will be as fun as eating pineapple on the beach and playing ultimate frisbee in the sand all day, right??

Anyways, I refrained from moving yet further south for an indefinite period of time and boarded the water taxi back to the mainland and crossed the border (slowly and thoughtfully) back into Costa Rica three days later, but as I've promised before, I'll be back. I spent a few days in Puerto Viejo; a small, surf-crazed, marajuana-dazed beach town in southern Costa Rica. Then headed to Cahuita, an equally burnt out, but less touristy (i.e. less hungover Americans passed out on the beach who came to visit over a year ago and never quite found there way home) beach town. The Caribbean coast has a distinctly different feel than the Pacific side, perhaps grittier or maybe it just seems dirtier and less safe. I tried to find things to love in the lazy, unshowered, and unmotivated beach-bum cloud that hovered close to every town I visited en el Caribe, but I seem to prefer the hilly walks, jungle hikes and crashing cold waves I've found on the Pacific Coast. I did have some damn good grilled Caribbean fish dinners during my Caribe travels and walked around in board shorts and unwashed hair for four days, almost passing as a surfer. Of course Monteverde, nestled in the north central/western part of the country has a mountain-heart distinct to itself and I seem to be falling in love with this green mountain town.

All in all, vacation was a blast. Unfortunatley, lots of time spent on hot, crowded buses, but also much time with new friends who are proving to be a great group of people. Admittedly, I giggle when reading weather reports from the DC and Boston areas. I sit in the internet cafe in my tank top and tan lines and think about all of you. More than the sun though, I wish you could enjoy this town with me. Monteverde; the people, the mountains, the wind which tears up and down the hills at night, the music and dancing, it's so amazing to feel at home here. I can 't believe I've already been here a month...both my sluggish and jumbled Spanish and the fact that this means I only have two months left leave me more than a little distraught. I can't wait for my family to visit. I was talking to the teachers after school one day about how wonderful it is to share a special place with people who are special to you. I am so excited to share this country with the people I love...so as much as April 28th looms dark as my last day working here, there is a glittering lining surrounding that day because I'll be awaiting a very special cargo from the San Jose airport (book those flights Mom, Dad and Karyn!!) And I have a very special nephew to meet upon my return home. So (Tony), you're right, I've fallen in love with this life and this place, but I'm coming home...until then, however, visitors recommended. I will recieve you with open arms and show you everything close to my heart here; the trails I have found to run free from falling in ditches, the place I enjoy my favorite cup of te con leche, my slightly improved salsa skills (courtesy of spending every Friday and Sunday night stumbling and sometimes twirling to Monteverde's finest band, Taco Laco at Bar Amigos). I'll introduce you to my Costa Rican "brothers" who succeeded in worming there way into my heart almost as quickly as they felt comfortable snuggling into a warm space in my bed, the school, the reserve, the hikes, the sunset. The very post-card-scene nature of most days here.

...so much to hold dear. Ok, that's all for now. Pura vida.

To access the photos without subscribing to the site: http://www.travellerspoint.com/photos/gallery/users/CRKat/

About the photos, apparently I'm pasting huge files into my blog which is why I used up all of my space with 4 photos. Once I figure out how to reformat the photos, I'll have more up.

I had a great weekend in Samara, but have sinced returned to rainy and windy Monteverde with a terrible ear infection. I visited the local clinic today and spent over an hour with the doctor going over my medical history (from mono to jaw surgery, he took a comprehensive history and just stared in awe at me from behind his desk). Anyways, after missing most of the school day, he prescribed some ear drops and pain meds, but I´m heading back tomorrow to pick up some antibiotics. I returned home from the clinic to find the front wall of the house missing. Yuri had mentioned something about ¨la pared¨ before I left this morning, but my limited spanish coupled with my comprimised hearing left me slightly confused. I didn´t realize, la pared (the wall) of the house was being torn down today. Apparently, we´re having an addition put on the house. Thankfully, the pain meds made me sleepy and I was able to take a nap despite constant jackhammering.
A new student will be staying with us for a few weeks starting Wednesday. I actually think the addition on the house will be her bedroom. I hope...otherwise, I´ll be having nightly shared-bed-sleepovers with strangers again.
Anyways, Samara was beautiful. It´s a relatively small and quaint beach town with a good mix of tourists and locals. We found good restaurants and a memorable dance club, Tuti Fruity, at which to spend our evenings. About 20 of us rented two houses for $5/night which sounded great until the ¨landlord¨ suggested that we bring our backpacks with us where ever we go, because the house tends to get robbed almost every weekend. Though I appreciated his candidness, I wasn´t so excited about carrying all of my belongings with me to the beach, restaurants, club, etc. In the end, we left our things (minus ipods, cameras, epipens, etc) in the house and they remained undisturbed the entire weekend. I spent most of the day on the beach and ate fruit and ice cream sundaes for lunch everyday...all in all, a great weekend.
Heading to the Caribbean coast on Saturday and then to Panama on Monday. I may pass as a Tica after all of this beach time.

Hola ola (¨Hello wave¨...that´s all we´ve been saying since the beach...) Hope you too find some sun soon.

Kat

A word about viewing the photos; I think you have to ¨subscribe¨to the site to have access to the album. I haven´t loaded any new ones, but I hope to after I return from Panama. It takes about 8 minutes/photo so I have to be in a patient mood. Salud.

We have happily glided into the dry season here in Monteverde. That means that there are only intermittent rain showers throughout the day (not torrential downpours)and a refreshing, but constant mist looms in the air. I´ve learned not to leave my graham crackers out of their ziplock bags at night, because I wake up to a pile of mush by my bed. We´ve had a few heavy rains since I´ve been here, one during which I naively wore flip flops and a skirt down to town, only to end up falling down part of the hill and arriving to ¨the discoteque¨ completely covered in mud. I´m not exactly sure how people stay clean around here, but I´m not good at it. Apparently, I´m also not so great at staying on my feet, because during our hike to San Luis on Sunday, I fell into the river, bruising my arm and back. The retelling (and retelling, and retelling) of the mishap has provided endless entertainment to the boys. Speaking of walking, I´ve begun to train for La Caminata, a fundraising walk from Monteverde -- Tilaran, 100K!! One other intern and two of the employees at the school have signed up to tackle the entire walk. Other people will be forming relay teams. It´s supposed to be a great turn out. The walk is held each year to raise scholarship money for the school. It takes place in the middle of March...I´m supposed to brace myself to walk for 24 hours straight. (Send Gu).

As for yesterday. It was quite a day. Stitch, the family cat died, and Juan Pablo jabbed himself with my EpiPen, and consequently spent the majority of the evening in the local clinic. He came home teary and tired with a mound of gauze wrapped around his little hand. Today, however, he was bouncing around the house and proudly showing his injection wound. So, lethal encounter of poison to Stitch and adult dosage of Epinephrin in Pablito´s hand/arm left the house a little shaken last night. Nevertheless, the boys and I headed back to the Synthetica to watch another soccer match. Again, we walked the 30 minutes home together with our trusty flashlights and talked about things like the bandits who lurk in the woods and the gang of men who held up the bank last year. They also tried to convince me to visit the bull pasture, but I thought we had experienced enough misadventure for one day.

The school day is going well today. It´s a beautiful day in Monteverde; sunny and in the 70s. I had my first Spanish lesson on Monday and my first salsa class is next week. Looking forward to spending this weekend in Samara, a small beachtown on the Nicoya peninsula about five hours west of here. About 12 of us are renting a house there.

I´ll write more later and will try to post more pictures soon.

Chau.

This Sunday is Costa Rica´s national elections. This entails, not only that countless vans with loud speakers and music are parading up and down the neighborhood streets at all hours of the day and night, but also that no alcohol will be served from midnight last night until the election results are announced Sunday evening. I guess this became national policy not too long ago (within the past ten years), after riots ensued during the elections. Anyways, it was interesting at Bar Amigos last night. Around 11:30pm, the bartenders were pulling the bottles off the shelves and out from under the bar, both full and already opened, and selling them to bar patrons. Then at midnight, about 10 police officers came in to empty the bar and lock the area.
In other news, I tried to upload some photos onto the site. Not sure how you can access them, because I don´t see a link to ¨Photo Gallery¨ on this page, but I¨ll look into it more. Unfortunately, after loading five pictures, it claims I´ve exceeded my upload limit, but I´ll check into that too.
Tomorrow, I´m going hiking in San Luis about an hour and half north of here. It´s a four hour hike down to one of the bigger waterfalls in Costa Rica - I´m looking forward to it.
That´s all from here for now. Stay warm!

Kathryn

So, my first week is almost over. It´s been great and I´m finally starting to feel comfortable in my routine here. I took the boys to a night soccer match a la synthetica (an indoor lighted soccer arena). We took a cab there and at the end of the game, attempted to get a ride home from one of the other teachers. Unfortunately, his car broke down in the pouring rain, which we then pushed down a hill (Marlon, the 8 year old was fully pushing the car while Roy directed him with a flashlight). We then walked about 40 minutes home at 10pm. Roy wanted to walk without the flashlight on, but Marlon and I were afraid of the dark. Luckily, Yuri didn´t seem upset that her boys came home soaking wet, about two hours past there bedtime. Later, Marlon came into my room and asked if we could do that every night.

In other news, I´ve attempted to go running twice; fell once and got chased by a dog the other time. It´s impossible here. One of the other teachers trains for ultra-marathons and gave me some ¨relatively flat¨ trails. I guess they´re ¨flat¨for an ultra-marthoner, because about fifteen minutes into my run, I was slumped on the curb outside una soda drinking gatorade.

Going salsa dancing tonight a la Taberna (Karyn, you know it well!). Hoping to post pictures on the site this weekend. More later.

Ciao,
Kat