Here are a few more of my favorite pictures - of the roads around Monteverde, more scenery and more team pictures. If you look closely at the tree picture, you should see iguanas - there were probably 20 in the trees. The biggest challenge, and probably the one that can't be overcome, is getting the beauty of the country and of the people in a snapshot -

Follow up pics of Costa Rican trip

As promised, here are some pictures from my trip. I am definitely going back and I have already bought (and am reading) some Spanish language books. Next time, I hope to be more prepared.

Last day in Costa Rica

We are back in San Jose and everyone is leaving for the airport for the trip back to reality. Last night it took approximately 4 hours to get from Monte Verde to here - about 1 1'2 hours on unpaved road and the rest in traffic on paved road. Gina said that the road we were on goes all the way through S America to Canada so there were lots of trucks in front of us. I could have used my hand signals from my comedy routine if I was driving - luckily I wasn´t !
Our hotel here is so beautiful and is a great way to start and end this adventure.
I plan to post some pictures within a week or so. Most people had digital cameras so there should be good pictures soon - and then there are my 4 clunky disposable cameras that will need to be processed. If I didn´t have that many cameras I could have bought a few more souveniers :)
My plan is now to come back after taking a Spanish lesson or two. I don´t think I´m doing well on my own with my CD´s and books. Or maybe do the Spanish emersion that Gwen and Gary did - now I need to hear more about that.
Until later - adios
S-

Sky Trek

A quick update - I just got back from the Sky Trek adventure and it was an adventure. I must say that there was a chance to turn back at about the 3-4th zip and I thought of doing it. The hardest part for me was climbing the towers and being so high. At least one of the zips was over 10 stories high and I do have a fear of heights but I made it and continued through the 11 zips. It was exciting, scary and my heart was racing but it was worth it. I recommend it.

We are getting ready for lunch and will be leaving for San Juan in an hour. The adventure is almost over but the memories and the talking about it (sorry Shan and Chris) will continue for a long time!
S

Friday morning - pre Zip Line

Last night we had a great celebration with the families in Los Tornos. Mario, the community leader for our project brought us all a cervaza = Imperiel = very good beer. We were all seated at the front table, the men who worked with us were seated at a side table and the rest of the community were in chairs facing us. It feels a bit strange to be set apart from everyone but I think that is what they feel is appropriate. Many made speeched about the friendships and work done onver the past 2 weeks. David, Marios brother said, sincerely that if we ever needed any help, they would help us. It brings tears to my eyes just typing that because I know how little they have. We were all given little wooden puzzle boxes with our names on the bottom. Mine was a dolphin and it will be treasured.
On the way home, Gina spotted a sloth = so we all scrambled out of the van to watch it crawl along the phone line. I was really hoping to see one on this trip, and I finally did.
This morning Christine and I got up at our usual time = about 5:30 am and walked into town for some cafe con leche and do a little more shopping. The rest of the team, except for Eric = who is always an early riser = still has not stirred. We have to pack this morning before the zip line adventure, come back to the hotel for lunch and take the taxi in to San Juan for our last night here.
I hope I can keep some of these memories alive. I do not think I will ever see such a beautiful place. The different shades of green on the hill and mountains, the lush vegetation, the smiles of the Ticas = I really feel lucky to have done this trip.
S=

Thursday evening - we're done working!

I am in an internet cafe in Santa Elena getting ready to be picked up by a taxi to take us to our closing celebration with the village of Los Tornos tonight. This is going to be a very emotional time since this afternoon I was already getting tears in my eyes. One of the men said that they really appreciated all of the teams who have come and worked with them but it was sad when they didn't know if they were ever going to see us again. There is already a closeness with the people here, even with the language barrier. It will be sad to leave them.

But on to a lighter note - I was just told that a phrase I have been saying for the past week or so is not quite right. I've been saying "I'm caliente" when I should have been saying "I'm calor". It seems that the first phrase means I'm horny, not I'm hot due to the hot weather. I was wondering why no one responded in kind to me!

Today at the community center, we had to leave after lunch since the twice monthly visit from the catholic priest was happening at 3 pm today and everyone had to prepare to go to church. Then they will come back to the community center to prepare us a meal and have music. Busy people.

At lunch we had a new simple treat I'm going to do at home. They had pealed whole bananas with honey and seseme seeds on top - very tasty. Have I mentioned that weight loss has not been part of this trip - even with all of the manual labor. They feed us too well.

I hope to post a couple more blogs before I leave for home on Saturday. I will want to give an update on the Sky Trek adventure tomorrow morning. Then we will be leaving for San Jose to stay at our first hotel on our last night. It will be exciting to have a hotel with a reading light and TV.

S-

Wed - Sod and Sun

Wednesday was bright and sunny - another rare day this time of year here. Although some rain would have been helpful after lunch, none came. It did cloud over a bit just to give us false hope, I think. I did sod and digging again today. The good part was that I didn´t have to walk up and down the hill to the cemetery. The school is right next to the community center where we meet each morning. We were all getting bit by who knows what today. After work, some people went on a night walk and the rest of us went into town to get some gifts for the bus driver (who hasn´t been charging us to ride everyday - it´s his bus) and the man who gave us the tour of the coffee farm and plant. We also got a new soccer ball for the community center. Thursday night is the community celebration for us.
Wed night we went to our team leader Gina´s house. It´s really far on a road that most taxis will not go down so we had to walk part of the way. Gina lives in a really cool house owned by a woman who retired from Berkley (sp?) when she turned 50 to raise her two sons here. She came to the dinner so I grilled her on why she choose Costa Rica and what is was like living there. She is a permanent resident and has been here for 6 years. She said that she only needed to prove she had a lifetime income of $600 a month to be here - even with 2 children! She said she knows people who do live on that amount. I plan to keep writing to her when I get back.
I think many of us are ready to end the labor part of our work here - none of us work with our hands for a living so it´s been hard - good and fullfilling but hard. I am sleeping better most nights and we all talk about having lots of dreams - not sure what that means.
Interesting tidbits -

I saw an HEB truck tractor here.

Most people have dogs but I hear there are cats - they just stay hidden because the dogs all run loose. I have not seen one dog on a leash since I´ve been here

Today is our last workday and it´s almost breakfast so I´ll close for now. Tomorrow is finally the Zip Line - I hope to be less sore by then!
Happy Birthday Shannon!!
S-

A day of sun

The weather has changed for the better - we had a bright sunny day for working. In fact it hasn´t rained much for the last couple of days. Of course after working in sod (I´m helping to put sod in the school yard - the same sod we dug up from the cemetery) by lunchtime some of us were hoping for that afternoon rain. It didn´t come so more sod until we took our trusty bus back to Santa Elena for an early evening of horse back riding.

I don´t remember the last time I was on a horse and it showed. I was riding Superman and I was really hoping he wouldn´t fly - that he would be back in his Clark Kent persona and he met my expectations. The rest of the group had various levels of experience and were loving the galloping and running. I was hanging on for dear life - the only thing that really hurts this morning is my left hand so you can imagine how hard I was holding on. My butt isn´t sore but I´ve had many days of bouncing on a bus to help toughen that up. The rest of the wild west riders did a number of runs around a field, exhileration showing in their faces while I sat still on Superman, very content. When I had the chance to look up from my horses head (I wasn´t sure what to do when he kept putting his head down and then looking around at my feet), the scenery was beautiful.
When we got back to our hotel room, my room mate Christine was napping. I sat on my single bed and out from under her bed came a scorpion - big and black - bigger than Texas scorpions. Now I can kill small bugs but when it gets close to the size of my shoe, it gets to live. I got this one on a newspaper and just as it´s tail went up and it started towards me, I threw it out the door. I will be a bit cautious with my clothes on the floor for the rest of the trip since I noticed the big gap under our door.
The good news is that we had our favorite meal tonight at the hotel - pizza and guacamole - and a home made donut. Yep, dieting isn´t on the agenda this trip.
Today after work we are going to our leader Gina´s house to eat and see her great view. We are winding down and it´s a bit hard to think that this trip will soon be coming to an end.
But I still have the Zip line on Friday so stay tuned.
S

Monday came quickly

This will be a short entry - not much to tell. Our alarm didn´t go off but we managed to get up by 5:45 am and were dressed and ready for breakfast in plenty of time. I really enjoy my morning coffee here but of course I enjoy my morning coffee anywhere! It is especially good here, though.
We headed off to the worksite again and today I helped throw sod that had been dug to a pick up truck, then did my concrete mixing, my concrete block carrying and some shoveling. It was extra hard going up that hill at lunch today, I think I´m starting to tire out a bit. It started raining after lunch, as usualy but quit right after we all decided to cancel the zip line until Friday. I sure hope Friday will be a good day since that will be our last chance to do it.
Tomorrow many of us are going horse back riding after work. I have not done this in about 10 years so it should be an experience. I don´t think it will be any bumpier that our daily ride to and from the worksite.
We hoped to see the sloth today as were were walking to lunch. We were told that a sloth only comes down from the tree once a week - to go to the bathroom! One person in our group, actually my funny room mate Christine said ¨didn´t they ever hear of gravity?¨ It would save them a trip! But no luck today.
Tonight some are going in to town to shop and I´´m getting ready to take a hot shower and read - sounds like heaven to me tonight.
Hopefully I´ll have something more interesting to talk about tomorrow.
S-

Sunday - our last day of rest

It´s 9;42 am Sunday morning (thanks to my atomic watch) and I´m walking around the town enjoying the music coming from the churches. I stopped at one church with particularly interesting music - much of it seems to be modern and the singer has a drummer and then a karoke-type machine that makes the rest of the instruments. People were clapping after each song and swaying to the music. I stood outside looking in when a man at the door came over to introduce himself. He said that it was a Methodist church - very surprising to me. Costa Rica was pretty much founded by the Quakers and then there is also a large Catholic influence. To me, the music is the international voice of people and no matter where you are music brings out the feelings of unity - that the people of the world really aren´t very different.
OK, enough of my Sunday morning spiritualism -

The 2 people who Canyoneered yesterday came back and said it was the most difficult and scary thing they have ever done. One would need to be exceptionally physically fit to do it - so I´m glad I didn´t even consider it. Unfortunately since they were mostly in waist deep water or flailing themselves over the sides of mountains, they couldn´t bring their cameras. I would have loved to have seen that.

We were going to go to the hot springs last night but it seems a bit crazy since we were all very hot in the open air. It is hot and very muggy here. I have sweat dripping off of my face most of the time. I found a fan that I am now carrying everywhere I go. We ate at an open air restaurant near our hotel - most of the restaurants have open air areas and none have electric fans. I am really enjoying the Costa Rican food - mostly rice, beans, chopped veggies (I´m not sure what they are) and some kind of salad. There are so many veggies and fruits here that I have never seen before - I finally had a margarita and the fruit they had on the side of the glass wasn´t a lemon or a lime - it was very tart and tasty but I have no idea what it is called. The only thing I have not eaten so far were the red beans - kidney beans to me - not my favorite.

Three in our group went white water rafting today and the rest of us are shopping, reading and touring the town. We leave a 4 pm to go back to Monteverde and another week of 5;30 am wake-ups. I´m ready for everything except that walk up the hill. I´ll try to take a picture to share on this blog when I get home, so you can see that I´m not a total sissy ;) By the way, in case you haven´t noticed, I can´t find some of the symbols on the keyboard so I do with what I find.
S-