Volcan Irazu

My host dad warned me not to climb down the sides of the volcano because I might fall in and burn my eyes in the bright green sulfur water when Zoe and I went on a day trip to visit this famous volcano. Haha, very funny.

This is a funny little animal that was casi tame. It was eating out of peoples hands and stuff. Then some stupid american tried to touch it and got clawed. Why would you try to touch it? Dumbass. Anyway, we asked what it was called and the security guard dude gave us like two colloquial names and the technical name and the genus name and the group name and . . . too many words and we forgot them all. So, we have no idea what it was. If you have a clue, let me know.

Climbing in Santa Ana

Santa Ana, about 30 minutes from San Jose, is reputed to have some pretty decent climbing. Although it surprisingly has a sunnier weather pattern than San Jose and can be sunny while San Jose is pouring, the climbing is still rather . . . wet. Muddy wet holds that would be scrubbed to hell with alcohol and wire brushes in the US are all the more challenge to the Costa Rican climbers. We had fun, but I have to admit I was frustrated by the sheer muddiness of everything. Here is Eduardo on a proj there.

Halloween

My little Costa Rican brother, Luisca, decided to scare us on Halloween. He got Zoe (my new roommate from England) pretty bad; she said she screamed and jumped out of her skin. He waited for me on the couch for hours and, unfortunately, had to go to bed before I got home from the climbing gym. That's what happens when you live so far away! Carlos, the dad, was joking about how it was probably for the best because I might have punched him, seeing what happened when I almost got robbed. Its been great having a roommate from England especially because it makes me realize how often I really do have to ask what the heck she's talking about because even though we both speak English, we say quite a few things very differently. It makes me feel better about the amout of times I have to ask for clarification in Spanish and that it doesn't always mean that its just because of the language.

Aventura en Bicicleta de Terror

Here we are, ready to start our bike tour. Well, El Bob on the left isn´t going he just drove us up there, to the top of the mountains near Cerro de la Muerte. Its raining and its already dark, so we figured, what better time to start biking down a very steeply inclined mountain with large rocks and loose gravel and parts of the road washed out? Especially since two of us were sin headlamp. I almost backed out at this point. But, hey. I can handle 70 kilometers of biking downhill, right? I´m tough.

Other than it being dark, the first night of biking was relatively uneventful. I did skid out and fell on some loose gravel, so Pupi felt bad for me and gave me his headlamp. And I used the hell out of my brakes so that my lumbricals were killing me. But, we only had to bike 14km straight down to Providencia, where there was more bouldering. If it hadn´t been raining and dark, it might have been more useful to plan the trip around where the bouldering areas were located. As it lies, however, I would have picked a more direct route that didn´t involve going straight down and then hiking straight up and over 3 mountains the next morning. I would dare any super fit biker dude to try to bike up this unending saga of steepness. Here, we´ve got Pupi early in the trip when he still has a smile on his face. I would have hitched if anyone had been stupid enough to drive up this crazy road.

Already dripping in sweat, we climbed into the clouds where we drearily found ourselves still able to appreciate the beauty. Although I´ve never felt more like Sisyphus, the Greek dude doomed to push a rock up an endless hill. I tried to keep optimism; I was sure it was around the next corner for at least three hours.

We finally reached a downhill, the first of the day. So much for ALL DOWNHILL, as I was told. It also turned out to be 135 km instead of 70. Certainly tested the limits of my toughness. And, unfortunately, it didn´t last. After this, it became more as I might have pictured the whole trip. Some downs that you could milk for all their worth on the ups.

More beauty. They are probably waiting for me, as I turned out to be the weakest link on the downs. I was never the slowest on the ups, I´ll have you know, though. The thing is, they say my bike had shocks. But I´m willing to bet money and all the mud I accumulated on my body during this trip that they didn´t work. Plus, my hands hurt too bad after the first while to break properly, which scared the hell out of me, considering the unexpected obstacles we frequently faced. Next time, I will get a bike with better shocks.

Covered in mud and slish-sliding around down the road, we are exhaustedly pedaling like mad to get down the damn mountain before dark. Other than the mud in the eyes, this part was pretty much pura vida.

gabriel looking just a bit tired after pedaling for 13 hours. we finally arrived at . . . some bar in the middle of nowhere. we were informed that we should hike back uphill to the turn that we missed in the dark or to ford a river about 60 feet across in the night and try to find some dirt road to a dirt road to a dirt road that would lead us back to where we were supposed to be. my vote was, as it had been since it had gotten dark, to stop and camp at the random bar. I finally won, and we camped in the backyard of the people that owned to bar. we got good food, some ice cold cerveza and some old drunk dudes trying to hit on me even though i was covered in mud. ahhh.

the next day was a beautiful sunny day and we awoke in good spirits, though i was still too worn out to speak good spanish. its kind of funny how much my level of spanish goes down when i'm tired. anyway, we forded the river, made it to quepos, hung out on the beach for the day and took the bus back to san jose. all in all a fun adventure.

Tortuguero

When Joel came to visit, we set off for Tortuguero. Its a quaint little village only accessible by boat located in the middle of dense jungle that is known for being the breeding grounds of monster sea turtles. We took a boat from Limon that traveled through the extensive canal system and allowed us to see a lot of the wildlife without getting eaten alive by mosquitos. Or crocodiles.

Some pelicans.












A cocodrilo, de terror!! Damn, those things are monstrous and creepy and camo- flauged and . . .






This little monkey is hiding. And all you can see is his enormous package, in stark contrast to his leafy surroundings.














Mapaches!! Or racoons. Aren´t their little curious eyes cute? Not as cute as the monkeys, of course. But pretty darn cute.




Here´s a little playful cutie pie monkey watching us with his little curious white face. I´m not really to sure if I could fit any more adjectives in that previous sentence. Anyway, as most of you know, I´m obsessed with monkeys and I frequently try to be like them, only I unfortunately don´t have a tail to use for balance and grabbing branches when jumping from tree to tree. Also, I can´t howl like those hella loud howler monkeys, though I definitely tried hard.

Fuzzy sloth, think he has three toes or something but who knows? He doesn´t move. Supposedly, they come down about once every 8 days. This was in Cahuita, a beautiful Caribbean beach where we went after Tortuguero. We really wanted to try surfing and we figured it didn´t really matter if the waves were small because we´re beginners and all, but they were really nonexistent. We did, however, go snorkeling and saw an 8 foot nurse shark and two four foot barracudas. De terror. I like the little sparkly neon ones better. The Nemo fish and the black ones with blue polka dots.

This little possum looks stuffed. But, alas, he´s not. And, as you can see, I didn´t actually take any pictures of me or Joel, just the animals. I´ll have to get some others from Joel.

Bocas del Toro

I have three Spanish friends now, residents in pediatrics, who I met at the hospital. They are really nice and have been wonderful to work with. Also, I think their Spanish is easier to understand than Costa Rican Spanish. Which disputes the theory that it is only that I'm not used to the accent. I think its the mumbling and the mountains of slang. I printed out like 10 pages of words that are specific to Costa Rica. I know a lot of them already, because every other word from my friends at the climbing gym is mae (dude).
This is them, Nuria, Sylvia and Constanza. Here we are in the bus on the way to Bocas del Toro, some beautiful islands of the coast of Panama. We got to the station too late and had to sit on the floor for the entire 4.5 hour trip along with 14 others. It was jam packed sardine time. Very hot, very uncomfortable. And unfortunately, there is no floor discount.

What a cute little ramshackle house in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. We stayed here overnight on the way to Bocas del Toro. The Caribbean coast is beautiful and it rains MUCH less here in October than in does in San Jose, where it has been raining nonstop. It used to be that you could plan around the rain, but not so much these days.

This chubby cutie held up his arms for us to hold him, so his mom let us pass him around. Aw.







I have never seen dolphins in the wild and I have to admit, I was definitely touristily gleeful. They are so playful; they were jumping and playing in the wake behind our boat. I didn't get a pic of them jumping, its so hard to time it right! But, you get the idea.

Snorkeling in the amazing reefs of the coast of Panama. So many fluorescent fish! I think my favorite are the black ones with glowing blue polka dots. Or the Nemo fish, of course. The jellyfish and the swordfish are too shallow for comfort; I was a little scared of them. We got a perfect, wonderful sunny day and didn't regret it even with the sunburns after. Sigh.

And you, too, could own your own island in Panama. Have your own private quiet beach with water taxis to take you where you want to go. You, too, could have Kayla at your disposal. SHE is is the assistant to the First Lady of Panama, and we have her card and were invited to call her with any needs we might have. She said we should stay and practice medicine right there in paradise. We thought maybe she should use her power to change the very rowdy fiesta at our hostel to another night, as we were too tired to listen to bad music and dance with hot French surfers. All of this for only $225,000. Really, tempting. I'm telling you. If only I had that much money in the positive instead of in the negative (loans). Kayla, can you help me with that one?

Another view of island paradise. I didn't even think I was that beachy of a person. I think if I take up surfing, I could live on a beachy paradise forever. I'm too sporty to live somewhere without a sport, though. Too much relaxation. Need exercise. Although I did get to do some yoga on the beach and run around the island we stayed on.

A cute hut, unfor- tunately above our price range. I guess I didn't take a picture of the lovely Aqua Lounge where we stayed. It had a water trampoline, hammocks and dominos. About all I would have wanted was them to stop blasting loud bad American pop, especially at 7AM. I also didn't take a picture of the beach from Survivor that we went to. Beautiful, white sand beaches and some red poison froggies. We ran into Ella Baila Sola, an Israeli chick we nicknamed on the bus because she and her sidekick were belting out music for half the trip. She was chain smoking to keep up her sultry tone. We really should have gone to see the show . . . But we still had a great trip.

Playa Dominical

Holy crazy bug! Its a flying rhinoceros. I can't believe I actually held it in my hand. It grabs onto you with its little suction cup feet, so I was more scared when I couldn't get it off of me than I was holding it. This is at Playa Dominical, where we went after we got rained out bouldering. It is a gorgeous beach that is a little off the beaten track, so it less touristy than some of the other beaches.

Some really cool folk we met in Playa Dominical, these are some ex pro snow- boarders from Whistler area who are living here now and raising their babe.

Eduardo, me and David at the hostel in Playa Dominical.








This is the cut little wimpy car that I talked about a few entries back. I have to admit, I never really thought power mattered at all to me. Have a little economical car, save the planet. But, seriously. What a pain in the butt to go so slow and have no power. Never. Unless I live in Iowa.

Me with a stick at Playa Dominical. Not really the best of pictures, but I didn't take any other ones. Somehow, however, I did manage to get sand in the shutter so its stuck open. Even though I left my camera at home when we were swimming and such. Argh.

Cerro de la Muerte

Supuesta- mente, this is a very good place to do some bouldering. Here is the warm up boulder, which doesn't really give you a very good flavor for the place. I rented a car for the adventure, so that we could get up there with all the crash pads, etc.
It was a cute little Peugeot, which has absolutely no power. I basically couldn't pass unless I was in second gear and going downhill. And flooring it. I think everyone thought that I was a slow driver even though I kept telling them it was the car, until we turned off onto a semi-steep dirt road and the car stopped going when I was in first gear. Everyone had to get out and push while I floored it and it smelled like some burning rubber. Oh, well, that's what they get for renting me a car with a puny motor.
So, we arrived and started climbing at maybe 9AM. And it started pouring at 10. Got to love the rainy season in Costa Rica. Hopefully get to go back and try again.

Leaf Cutter Ants

These little prodigious hormigas carry leaves for far distances, like miles and miles in ant extra- polation. Supposedly, they cover the leaves with their saliva while they're going and this allows the leaf to ferment and become food for the tribe. I don't know how accurate that source is. Also, I tried moonshine with a tomato chaser. It was disgusting, but at least I'm not blind yet.

Bouldering Comp

I won (for women) in a Costa Rican climbing comp! Which isn't really saying much because women don't really climb in Costa Rica. There are a few and now I know them both. Women here are, however, very good at walking in high heels, a sport I will never master. i don't know if you can even tell in the pic, but this guy has rubber shards for back hair, which I found amusing. There are quite a few men here that are really really impressive rock climbers, though. They're really fun to climb with. This weekend, we're going to Cerro de la Muerte, a bouldering area up in the mountains that is in a cloud forest. I rented a car today, and had a CRAZY time driving home during rush hour. I've never driven on round-abouts, especially not with people seriously 6 inches from me trying to merge into the side of me if I don't let them in and people behind me honking so I won't let anyone in. But, I made it in my cute little rental Peugeot (only $10/day)! Most other things, though, are really not so different in price from the US. No one ever said Costa Rica was cheap.

The Almost Robbery

I almost got robbed! How's this for an epic:
I felt my backback slightly lighter, whirled around and saw that some muchacho had my camera in his hands. I whacked him in the arm as he tried to pass it off to his partner in crime. My camera flew about 5 feet away and I got it back without losing anything.
It was quite exciting, really, for a few reasons. First, I didn't actually lose anything. Granted, I wasn't being as careful as I should have been because my camera shouldn't have been there in the first place. Secondly, because you never really know how you're going to react when something like that happens and I reacted really well. So, that's kind of nice to know. Thirdly, I am proud of myself because I reacted in Spanish!

TLC

All the No's for the TLC (the free trade agreement with the US) gathered last Sunday to demonstrate. I guess I agree with those who say that Costa Rica will probably get screwed either way. Because at this point, they are the only country that hasn't agreed. So, clearly the manipulative US will just trade with everyone else and leave poor little Costa Rica high and dry (well, it will probably still be wet here) until they agree to be manipulated, too.

ATM Lines

One thing that confuses me is how there is ALWAYS lines for all the ATMs. Its not as if there are a dearth of ATMs, either. They are really all over, but no matter what time or where you are, you can expect a line. This picture doesn't really capture the essence of the issue. But allow me to explain: there is a line of about 50 people and it is pouring rain. People are waiting to use an ATM in the pouring rain for at least half an hour. Do you see why I'm confused?

Cachi

Me with Hayley and Kate, my bestest friends in all of Costa Rica. They are pretty darn "good sh--" (censored for my mom), an expression that you really can't translate into Spanish. Excithitching a ride with some truckers; Cachi for the weekend.

Walking, just walking and beauty abounding. Picking the fruits that you've never seen before off the trees and eating them. Water apples, mandarins, green thingys, lemons . . . Garden of Eden. But, with no sign of snakes disguised as temptation. O algo asi.

More beauty
















and more beauty, albeit a muddy river.

















In the midst of all the beauty, we came upon some cute little furry pie cows!













But wait a second. These are not cows. They are bulls. With very large wrinkly testicles. And the brown fuzzy one did not like having his picture taken. I hid behind a tree and stared it down. For even a bull sin horns shalt make a human pancake.

Our campsite, though in the bullpen with 7 or so bulls, did have some barbed wire in between. They did, however, make out with a loaf of bread and a tiki torch. Hayley on top and Eduardo on the bottom, showing off the succulent wild fruit.

The climbing was great! The rock was good with good friction and even though it looks like there are holds everywhere, they are all eslopers, como se dice aqui. It miraculously didn't downpour here, like it does every other day right when I get off of work. Sunny, sunny, sunny, monsoon.






Pupi (what a nickname) leading Caca Vaca.
















This is the very refreshing spring fed pool for our after-climbing pleasure. All in all, a wonderful weekend!

El Rocodromo

This is my new playground. It is sweaty and lovely-smelling in the rainy hot humidity. But, this is where I have met the other half of my friends so far, the ones I didn't meet on the bus. There is Eduardo, who works there and is taking us climbing outside of Cartago this weekend. And Fabian, who is in the picture and likes the liqui-chalk. And Hayley and Kate, my American friends who are coming this weekend, also. And German Matias who is doing his master's thesis on the TLC (Tratado Libre Commercio, creo), which is the free trade agreement between the US and Central America, all of which have signed except for Costa Rica. And my 11-year-old friend who is about my level of climbing. And the guy who never climbs but sits in the hammock; I forgot his name.
Well folks, I am psyched to get toasty and camp next to a volcano with my new friends. I hope I have more stories to tell you then.