Saturday in Fortuna

We finally finished up the work week in Los Tornos and 2 from ¨the office¨were getting ready to head home. Six of us came to Fortuna which is at the base of the Arenal volcano. One, my room mate decided to go to the beach by herself - and she doesn´t speak spanish so she should have some good stories to tell when we all get back Sunday. The other 2 decided to stay where they were since they have friends in the area.
The trip here was probably the most spectactular scenery I have ever experienced. We had to take a taxi-boat-taxi (they say that as if it is one word). The first taxi part was again on unpaved road for about 1 1|2 hours. For those who understand - the roads in this area are much worse than Gold´s road - but the views are amazing, almost spiritual. Then we took the small boat which took us toward the volcano. Lastly, we got out of the boat, climbed up a dirt hill and got into another taxi - this time on paved roads- to our hotel. I guess you can tell this is a tourist area since the roads are paved and the downtown is a real downtown - not just a couple of buildings.
Our hotel is very nice - my room has a balcony overlooking the main street - which is good during the day and very noisy at night. We finally have a TV and reading light - I feel like I´m in heaven. My new trusty timex alarm clock is with me at all times and I really like how easy it is to use - there are no wake up calls here!
This morning part of our group went on a river tour to see animals and many kinds of birds. The tour was very near the Nicaraguan border and we even got our pictures taken at the border sign. We saw and heard howling monkeys - one of which was a rare albino. The best thing we saw was a tree full of iguanas - I hope my pictures turned out. We didn´t get to see the sloth but many of our group saw one on the way from the Los Tornos community to our in progress work at the cemetery. Unfortunately I missed it but saw the pics.
Some of the things I´ve been thinking about Ticos (people from Costa Rica) include:
1. There are some of the friendliest and kindest people I have ever met.
2. They would never tell anyone they did something wrong - and we have done plenty of things wrong on the building site.
3. They take great care of what they have - and it isn´t much.
4. They have learned to be very imaginatie - making what they need from what they have or things they find. What a lesson that is.
5. They all seem content - at least the poorer people in the towns we have been working. The bigger city here - Furtuno - is getting a bit more like us and that is sad.
6. When they beep their horn it is either in greeting or to let someone know they are getting ready to pass them. They don´t seem to follow rules of the road - double yellow line means nothing, alto doesn´t necessarily mean stop, but no one has shown road rage.
7. There is a calmness here - things are slower ¨Tico time¨and it isn´t taking much effort to get right in to their groove.
I am already dreading this trip to end. But enough of that talk - I have lots more adventures to complete and share.
Wish you were all here.
S-