tortuguero---the land of the turtles

this weekend katie, chris, kristy, deanna and i did a girls weekend in tortuguero, which is actually an island that is off the northern caribbean coast. the word "tortuga" is actually spanish for turtle and this is one of the major places for turtle sightings but turtle season doesn't start until late march so it was a bummer that we missed out on the turtles! but from the start i had a feeling we'd have a fun trip together-- when the 5 of us took over the back row of both buses we went on and couldn't stop chatting and laughing (and probably annoying most of the people around us) the entire ride. the trip took about 5 hours, including 2 buses (in the pouring rain and through flooded dirt roads) and a "shuttle boat" down the rivers of the rainforest to bring us to the actual island. just the sight of the boat and our hour ride to tortuguero made me realize that we were basically leaving true civilization for 48 hours and traveling to a different world....quite adventurous for 5 girls, right?!

we finally arrived at our hotel, casa marbella, and were greeted by the receptionist and shown to our room, which worked out perfectly--we only had a reservation for 3 people but the room had a double bed, a twin bed, and a trundle bed so all 5 of us could stay together. once we ditched our bags, we wondered through the little town which is literally a few restaurants, a few hotels and a handful of shops. there are no cars on tortuguero so the "roads" are just dirt walking paths. there seemed to be a good number of houses on the island, which amazed me because how do people survive? you are so stranded in the middle of nowhere here, with few resources and ways to make a living. it's a fun little place to visit but i don't know how people could live there full time! dinner brought us to a little caribbean-cuisine restaurant then we checked out the two local bars in the village--returning back to our slumber party shortly after, disappointed and creeped out by some of the local men.

saturday morning came early, with a 5:30am wake up call for our boat tour of the national park with the nature expert (and our hotel's owner), daryl loth. as tired as we were, it was definately worth the early wakeup! we saw all kinds of animals--lots of different birds, 3 different types of monkeys and some beautiful scenery. unfortunately the majority of our tour was spent under the protection of our lovely army green ponchos because it was pouring rain! :( but after our 3 hour tour through the little canals of the rainforest, the boat brought us back to the hotel where a delicious pancake breakfast was served. and once our our bellies were full, we escaped back into room #5 and all enjoyed a lovely 3-hour siesta :)

once we all felt completely rested, we set out for our next adventure---exploring the park on foot. now this is no "normal" walk, as tortuguero is an island completley surrounded by water and in the past week they got an unusually large amount of rain so the entire place is flooded. with this being said and with the "safety" rules of the park, you are required to wear rubber rain boots to enter the park. let me tell you---they are extremely attractive and thoroughly enhanced the bystanders' comments and whistling we got while walking through the village to the park entrance! the trails were beautiful with lots of cool trees and plants. we didn't see much wildlife, only a handful of spider monkeys. the mosquitos weren't too bad but unfortunately they were all attacking poor deanna, to the point that she wanted to jump in the water. so what do we do? we find the closest path to the beach, all toss off our boots and sweaty t-shirts and jump into the ocean like little kids! the beach is incredible here...dark, dark sand that was almost black, mucky brown water, and huge waves. for this reason, they recommend not swimming in it because it can be really dangerous but sometimes you have to break the "rules" just a little bit :)

our weekend wound down with a delicious dinner at the buddha cafe---this hip little italian restaurant right on the water. you would think we were feeding an army with all the food we ordered but somehow the 5 of us managed to eat most of it, even polishing off a brownie sundae for dessert! sunday was another 5:30am wakeup and we had a lovely morning adventure back to san jose. the 5 of us had a great time on our little island getaway, lots of fun memories and way too many laughs :)

chris and katie, enjoying the rain

the 5 of us in our lovely ponchos

katie found a coconut!

katie and i in our sexy rain boats

playing in the ocean

at the bus station on the way back to san jose

change of scenery

after the ups and downs i'd been going through at my other project and 6 weeks of working at the same place, i decided i wanted a change so this week i have been going to a different project with a few of the girls here. the project is at a daycare center and it is in a similar area to where i was working before but there are buses that go there so instead of a taxi, we take a bus into the city of san jose then out to the "ghetto"/"slums" if you will, to the project. some days we're lucky and other days we end up having to wait awhile but when all is said and done, it takes roughly 60-90 minutes to get there each way. this project is a lot different from the soup kitchen where i had been working. the oldest kids there are probably about 7 years old, but the majority of the little ones are between 3-5 years old. so that alone makes it much different---lots of fun and running around, less conversations and attitudes with/from the kids, but also more difficult to do any kind of teaching or activities that require a lot of paying attention. yesterday we attempted to teach them the basics of handwashing, which kind of turned into playing in buckets of water but it was fun and something that we can continue to practice daily. i've enjoyed the past few days though, running around outside with them, coloring, laying in the grass---truly bringing me back to the life of a kid. there are 3 women that work at the daycare. every day, when they see deanna, who has been volunteering here for over a month, they give her a big hug and kisses on the cheek, treating her like a good friend. and even with me coming in as a complete stranger this week, they are very so warm and friendly and they seem truly grateful that we are there to help. the daycare center seems very close-knit and family-oriented... these women take all these children under their wings, as if they were their own children. it's nice to see this because at my other project, the 3 people that worked there seemed to just be there to prepare and serve the food and they didn't really have any connections with the kids besides the small talk conversation that occurs in the "cafeteria" setting. there seems to be more structure here, as many of the kids are here with the women all day and others just come in the afternoon after school. but for the most part, the kids are very loving and well-mannered so it's been a nice change.

on a lighter, more "social" note, my friends here and i decided to treat ourselves last night and finally take advantage of half price wednesdays at the movies. there's always a mix of movies in english with spanish subtitles or movies dubbed in spanish. most of them take at least a month to get here after their release date in the u.s. (i.e. the lovely bones came out mid-january at home and we saw last night that it comes out here march 26th!) but then there are some that come out at the same time so its bizarre and theres no logic to it, as i have come to realize is the case with many things here in costa rica. but anywho, we made it a girls night last night and went and saw "el dia de enamorados" (valentine's day)....and only paid $1000 colones which is a little less than $2!! jealous?! :) the only difference from seeing it at home was that there were spanish subtitles on the bottom of the screen. it was really cute though and we all enjoyed it---i mean, what girl doesn't enjoy a good chick flick every now and then?!

and one more random sidenote that i thought some of you may enjoy----yesterday morning, maria gave us the most bizarre breakfast: little grilled turkey and cheese sandwiches, these thin little sugar cookies and what i believe to be cantelope juice. maria makes all her juices in the blender with fresh or frozen fruit, ice, and water...but juice from cantelopes is a new one! the whole combination was a little odd ...or at least "yo pienso que si!" (i think so!)

...and this brings me to another little story---i hear this phrase "yo pienso que si" on average of 5-10 times daily, usually coming from the mouth of my friend katie. it's funny how little phrases become very helpful, especially when attempting to speak a foreign language. but it's even more enjoyable how we throw these phrases into conversations when we are amongst ourselves, speaking in english. some others are: "a mi tambien" (me too), "no se" (i don't know), "chiste" (a joke), "si, yo entiendo" (yes, i understand), and "es verdad" (that's true). we usually get a good luagh out of our attempts to speak spanish but what's probably equally as funny is for the costa ricans that overhear our conversations with these phrases thrown in at random!

i consider myself very lucky being here when i am...there are 4 girls that i've become good friends with and we hang out a lot during the week and have been traveling together on weekends so it's made my time here not only filled with lots of laughs, but also it's made the time feel like it's flying by! is it really almost march?!

wise words

yesterday was one of those days where i was thinking about things all day long----am i really here? why is the time flying by so quickly? am i really making a difference? am i helping these kids? will they even remember me or what i teach them? it's this constant stream of thoughts running through my mind, making my head spin and making me feel slightly uneasy about life down here but i tried to put it all in the back of my mind, not worry, and just sleep on it...then i signed into my email this morning to find an email from one of my best friends with the most fitting message:

its so cliche but time seems to be going by faster as we get older..some advice I'd give you for the remainder of your time in Costa Rica..slow down and take it all in..any way you can. go for a walk somewhere youve never been..it is so wonderful that you have taken this opportunity to go somewhere youve never been and are meeting people you never would have otherwise..I truly believe that we only get out of life what we put into it. the fact that you have removed yourself from your comfort zone and are creating your own memories is such an awesome feeling. If you ever get lonely or homesick please remember how momentous this experience is, the things you have seen and the connections you will make to Costa Rica is something you will carry with you for the rest of your life!

reading this made me feel better and made me realize how lucky i am to have such wonderful friends, even if they are thousands of miles away from me right now <3

arenal adventures

this weekend took us to northern costa rica, to the town of la fortuna---home of volcan arenal. it's difficult and somewhat frustrating visiting here because it is so "hit or miss" seeing the volcano. i traveled there with 5 friends from maximo nivel---kristy & adam (who i was working with), deanna (their other housemate), and newly arrived brother and sister, cameron and madi. luckily, when we arrived saturday afternoon it was really clear and sunny so we could see the volcano. of course by 4pm, it completely clouded over and then was cloudy and/or raining the rest of our stay so we missed out on seeing the volcano up close or going on the night tour, trying to catch a glimpse of the lava.

but the weather didn't stop us from a good time! saturday afternoon we went on a canopy tour of the rainforest! these canopy tours are kind of a big hype in costa rica and they have them all over so it's one of those "must do things" while you're here. reality didn't really set in as to what exactly this whole "canopy tour" consisted of until we arrived at the starting point. here is where we were equipped with helmets, harnesses, ropes and clips that would eventually attach us to these cable lines that we would zip across the trees on. so then my nerves set in a bit! it took me a few cables to get the hang of it and get comfortable flying through the sky but after a few times twisting sideways, stopping short of the next platform, and going so fast that i almost knocked the guy catching us in the face, i figured it out and had a blast! it was such an amazing feeling being on those cables, flying high above the ground, racing through the trees. the tour lasted about 2 hours, including about 10 ziplines---and then the big finish....a repelling wall! i was so scared and really did not want to do it, once i saw that it was basically me, tied into a rope and then having to shimmy myself down, kicking my feet off the rock "wall" as i go. oh, and to start--you basically have to free fall backwards to get off the platform and get your feet against the rocks. AH! i was shaking the entire time, so scared that i refused to look down, holding on to the rope so tightly that i gave myself a rope burn! needless to say, i was VERY happy once my feet hit the ground! :) our tour ended with a horseback ride back to the start, which was a lot of fun with 6 of us... the horses all wanted to race to be the leader of the pack so it made for a fun little 15 minute ride!

the rest of the time in fortuna, we spent lounging at arenal backpackers, which was the hostel we stayed at....considered one of the few "5 start hostels in costa rica". it was really nice---really clean, a beautiful pool, yummy little restaurant. we enjoyed it! sunday morning, we spent some time wandering around the little town, in and out of souvenir shops, until it was time to board our bus back to san jose. despite the bad weather, we managed to make the most of it and have a fun weekend at arenal!

adam, madi, and kristy on one of the platforms

the repelling wall---ahh! so high! ready for the horseback ride!

our hostel---view from our "dorm" room

downtown la fortuna

feliz dia de amor/san valentin

...and another week has flown by! this week has been hectic, as the kids started back to school wednesday. most of them come right to the soup kitchen from school so they are still dressed in their white polos and navy pants---they're all so cute in their little uniforms! but they also come filled with energy from sitting in a classroom all morning! lucky us! :) we've tried to make it a fun week, doing some valentine activities with them each day. one day we made a big "happy valentine's day" banner, another day we made valentine cards, and today we had a little "fiesta" for them, where we decorated cookies and did some coloring. the attendance has been really inconsistent in the afternoons, especially now since school has started, but the kids that come seem to enjoy themselves. it seems like school takes a lot out of them because after lunch, many of them just want to go home and rest and don't want to even hang around outside and play with us. it's hard for me to see them leave so quickly, but i can completely understand where they're coming from! of course today was a different story---when they heard we were having a party, no joke there was approximately 40 kids that stayed to decorate cookies! somehow it was a success and every kid went home happy with a frosted cookie and a valentine lollipop! i feel its the little things like this that make the difference and that stand out in their minds so it made ME happy to see so many kids walking out of the soup kitchen with big smiles across their faces today :)

yesterday, we also got the chance to go "down the hill" and into the "neighborhood" with a few of the kids. there were only a few playing outside so they got this idea to show us where they live and see where some of the other kids were. i wasn't sure it was a great idea but i'm definately glad we went. it was a little uncomfortable, with the looks we were getting from some of the adults and people that had no idea who we were. of course, it helped that the kids were all holding our hands and constantly saying "profe! profe! mira!" (teacher! teacher! look!) to show us around. there is a concrete pathway that goes down the center and then the houses line both sides, all made of a tin-type of material and all connected along both sides. surprisingly, they have electricity that runs down to the houses and we noticed a lot of the houses had tv's and stereos playing. but from what we could see, many of the houses looked like they were just one big open room that the entire family lives in. (mind you, most of these families have 3 or 4 kids plus the parents...all in one room!) definately an eye-opening sight to see....

so excited for the valentine fiesta!

adam with lucia & the cutiepie
some of the kids, after returning from school

2 of my favorites--- luis (who the kids think is my boyfriend) and his little sister, yoleni

luis & yoleni's chunky little brother

yoleni & i

adam & joseph, doing acrobats

playing with mellanie
walking around the "neighborhood"

playa santa teresa

this weekend my friend katie and i ventured to santa teresa, which is this small surf town on the nicoya peninsula near mal pais. i don't know if "ventured" even describes it---not only was it a whirlwind trip to get there and back but we crossed path with a few too many "interesting" travelers that made for quite a few laughs along the way! getting to the beach itself, we had to go on a bus for 2 hours to puntarenas, where our bus boarded a 1 hour ferry to paquera and then continued on land for 2 more hours to mal pais/santa teresa. the area with these towns are just one long road that runs parallel to the beach and stretches for probably 3-4 miles. i don't know if it's just because it's the dry season but the roads are incredibly dusty so walking, you get blasted with dirt from the cars and atv's so you constantly feel dirty and just coated with dust. and of course there are no buses that run in the area!

the more we saw of the town, we realized this was surf central of costa rica. everyone was there strictly to surf. once we reached our hostel, we were confirmed of this by the owner who said it was true---everyone goes to bed early, gets up early and heads to the waves. the hostel scene is definately different--you realize it's a lot of people traveling on their own, doing their own thing and are joined together in this shared space to live for a few days- or weeks in some people's cases. we met some interesting people from all over the world...and people traveling for months at a time--a few people up to a year of traveling! imagine the expenses of a YEAR traveling?!

after getting settled, we walked a few minutes down one of the paths off the road and through a very jungle-esqe area and found a little piece of heaven :) the beach was absolutely beautiful---it's so secluded from everything, it stretches for miles and it is completely surrounded by nature- no restaurants or hotels really right on the beach, no vendors, no nothing- just beach. and because so many people go there just to surf, there are barely any sunbathers either so you feel like you have the beach to yourself. i guess that is a good thing, as my bathing suit top completely broke and fell to the ground one afternoon, revealing my top half to the beach for about 15 seconds---so embarassng but luckily not too many people were around to witness any of it!

we spent our weekend laying on the beach or occupying the hammocks hanging in the shaded trees at the hostel and really just relaxed. all this time i've spent traveling and laying on beaches, i've already read 6 books while i've been here! the beach was great and was the perfect place to "people watch"---one morning i was down there by 9am and the water was already packed with at least 80-100 people hoping to catch a few waves.

after spending the morning in the sun sunday, we walked down the beach in serach of a bar--and a tv for the super bowl. after 2 different bars and no luck, we were finally led to the bar "good vibrations"--which i think had every american in a 10 mile radius squeezed into the bar, watching 1 of the 3 flat screens for the game. it was kind of fun being in this kind of scene... sitting on a beer crate in the outdoor patio area, surrounded by shirtless surfers and everyone in bathing suits--definately different from any other super bowl experience in massachusetts! it was kind of funny because all of us were so consumed by the football game that everyone failed to pay attention to the fact that it was an important day in costa rica as well---election day. on a sunday too, which i still find to be odd, but its been a big to do this past month with all kinds of campaigning and whatnot. but the day made history for the country, as the people elected their first woman president.

we decided to leave the beach early monday morning and i guess it was a good thing we chose the 6am bus, rather than waiting around for the 2pm bus because we woke up to rain! rain?! what is this?! this was the first rain i'd seen since i've been in costa rica, how weird is that?

overall, a good weekend---still no surf lessons but it was a fun getaway to the beach!