My trip to Costa Rica

list of things to bring

water bottle, shower kit, batteries, charger, computer equipment, camera, card reader, sunblock, hiking boots, mud boots, mosquito net/repellent, towel, sunglasses, rain gear, flashlight,

Thursday, July 14, 2005

My first solo trip out of the country has been amazing so far. Currently I’m sitting on a bright red leather couch in Puerto Viejo. This is my second day in Costa Rica. This trip was funded from various places. For the plane ticket, I used money earned from a freelance web design job that paid $700. The plane ticket was only 600, so it seems like such a great deal in terms of the “work” that I did to earn the money. As far as spending it, I got 3 checks which totaled about 500-600 bucks. One from Rocco, one from Bright Apartments, and one myseterious check that had been waiting for me in the financial office since April. I really have no idea where it came from. Anyway, the plane ride was long and boring. Luckily I had brought an mp3 playet that I bought the day before I left. The flight to phoenix was much shorter than to Costa Rica. Goddamn it was hot in Pheonix. Glad I didn’t have to stay too long. I met this girl and her boyfriend as talked about our plans for Costa Rica. Funny enough, she was on the same bus to Sixaola with me and I didn’t even notice her until she yelled out my name. The first hostel I stayed at was this backpacker’s place with a grumpy old man who didn’t speak any English. He talked at me like I knew Spanish. Not yet! But I’m quickly acquiring new words and phrases. Some key ones: Donde esa el bano? Comida? Donde peudo comprar uno cerveza? That’s a funny one. I didn’t arrive by taxi at the hostel until about 10 or 10:30 PM, so everyone pretty much went to bed before I even got dinner cooked (which happened to be some crappy mac & cheese that I got from el supermarcado, man that place smelled like laundry detergent.) My only other option was a hamburger which didn’t look too appetizing. I went to bed at around midnight, and got uip at 5 AM to catch the bus. Luckily, the other people at the hostel were all going to Puerto Viejo that day, so I went with them. There was Katie, Karin, and Ita. Not sure how to spell that last one. So after a lengthy 4 and a half hour drive on bumpy roads, we finally arrived at the black sand beach of Puerto Viejo. We were greeted by a 40-something Jamaican looking guy who insisted on helping us find a place to stay. Initially, he took me to this place that was a mere $3 per night, but it was really insecure. Later I gave the woman 50 colones and took my bag elsewhere. I ended up finding a place called Rockin’ J’s with Ita where we are currently staying in a tent with sandy sheets. Goody. After looking around the city for a bit, Katie walked off somewhere while Ita, Karin, and I strolled around townl. Eventually it was just Karin and me, walking along the beach and taking photos. I told her she was such a tourist because she was taking pictures every few minutes. There really were some awesome beach shots to be taken, like this one:

She is from Germany, and she has the cutest accent in her English. It’s too bad she couldn’t stay for the night. After walking around the beach for a while, we went to a restaurant that overlooked the beach. I got 2 beers because I could at 750 colones each. Hooray for a low-age limit for drinking! The restaurant was nice, it really made me feel like I was in the tropics for the first time.

Weird. You’d think the palm trees would have done that, but I guess not. Speaking of palm trees, there are coconuts everywhere. Small ones, lumpy big brown ones, green husks and shells. They litter the beach just like all the driftwood. The beach is awesome here. The water temperature is perfect, I’m glad it was overcast today, because the sun’s heat could get unbearable here. The moisture in the air is already thick enough. As I walked through one of the pathways around here, I saw thousands of little red and blue crabs that all scurried into their holes in the ground. It is the land of crabs here. Well, I’m getting pretty tired, so buenes noches for now.

Friday, 7/15/05

Sleeping in this tent last night was not good. I was hot, sticky, and really sandy. I found another place to stay, ambiguously called Hotel Puerto Viejo. This is the farthest thing from a hotel I’ve ever seen. Well, it’s better than the tent, I suppose. The walls are dirty and the place looks cramped and shabby. Oh well, I payed 5 bucks for the night, so I guess I got what I paid for. Today was the worst day ever, and it made me want to cry or go home or something. My bag was stolen at the beach, which had my camera, phone, and mp3 player in it. I stupidly left it under a tree on the beach while I went out to the ocean for a swim. The water was perfect, but when I got back to the beach to find my bag gone, I yelled FUCK at the top of my lungs and threw a coconut as hard as I could. I was near tears, but I tried to calm myself down, knowing that material possessions ultimately are replaceable, if not unnecessary. The title of the latest Shpongle album came to me: “Nothing Lasts but Nothing is Lost” In the end, we all die without any possessions, so ultimately they don’t matter. Still I’m really upset that I won’t be able to document the rest of my trip with photos from my camera. When I get back, I will do some more freelance work, make some money, and get a new camera and phone. So after walking back to my “hotel” with a crappy pair of thong sandals, I had to pay to replace the key to my bike which I left at the beach locked up. The owners of the rental place gave me a bag of keys to try out on the bike lock. After the fifth or sixth one, I got it and had to ride down these really bumpy roads while holding the extra bike. That was such a hassle in the hot sun. The potholes kept bumping the bike around, and I fell over several times and scraped my legs. The rest of the day I spent sulking in my shitty room wishing I hadn’t been so stupid to leave my bag on the beach. I suppose I learned a hard lesson. Sometimes I can’t believe the total ruthlessness of these thieves. I was talking to a guy from California at a bar earlier tonight, and he told me how he was driving through Puerto Limon the other day and two cars pulled up alongside him and stopped him in front of a rocky road block. They smashed his rear window with a rock and told him to go down this sketchy looking road. Of course, he wasn’t going to do that. So he drove over the pile of rocks about a foot high and sped off. He said the insurances was going to cost him about $750. We commiserated, me saying that that’s about the same amount of money I lost with my incident. That launched us into a conversation about how people get to be so inconsiderate that they steal from innocent people. His theory was that tourism in these areas boosts the cost of living and the poorer folks can’t afford to live here, and they are resentful. So they see no harm in stealing from tourists. Bastards. Goodnight.

Sunday, July 17

I've skipped a few days in my journal writing, but it's been an eventful couple of days. Two days ago, I was at the bus stop in Puerto Viejo, chatting with a few french people in french. They had to leave, then I started talking with a few guys from argentina. They also spoke french, and I conversed with them for a bit, albeit a little difficulty understanding them sometimes. I forgot their names, but one of them spoke 4 languages. French, Spanish, Dutch, and English. Pretty impressive. He said when you're in Europe, you have to know a lot of languages because there are so many diverse people there. I told him I was going to Punta Mona, and he said he was going as well. I was happy to hear that, because the boat ride is cheaper with less people. When we got to Manzanillo, I was really happy to have this guy with me, because it didn't look like many people spoke English there. He asked around for this guy named Baco who is the boat captain of Manzanillo. I sat on the beach for several hours with a red-headed dreadlocked girl named Amanda waiting for Baco. Finally he arrived and we set off for the boat ride to Punta Mona. After getting my boots soaking in the ocean water, I loaded my luggage into the boat and we motored away. It was a twenty minute boat ride or so, and it gave a great view of the beautiful coastline of Manzanillo. I was completely awestruck at the beauty of all the green palm trees, the golden beaches, and beautiful clouds and blue sky.

The boat ride was awesome, and we motored around the coast to an island, and landed on the shore of Punta Mona. Immediately I thought of the Swiss Family Robinson movie. Here was a little village made out of all hand-made buildings. Bamboo shoots served as poles everywhere, and all the hut roofs were made of dried palm fronds.

There were many two and three level buildings that housed interns, guests, and permanent residents.

Solar panels are scattered around the village, resting on top of high poles to absorb as much sunlight as possible. Walking through paths shaded with tropical greenery, I was amazed at how cool this place was. I’ve always wanted to go to a jungle, and I’ve always loved the handiwork of jungle resourcefulness in buildings and gadgets. Combine that with my passion for sustainable, environmentally conscious, healthy living, and it’s no surprise that I fell in love with Punta Mona the minute I walked in. One of the most amazing things to me is that there is wireless high speed internet here. So today I sat with my laptop on the second floor of the kitchen building, and watched the humming birds and monkeys in the trees while chatting with Bo online and checking my e-mail. This is paradise.

My first tour covered the “zone 0” and “zone 1” area, which is basically all the garden/living areas. We walked around and looked at a large platform-style pentagonal yoga house. We learned about just a few of the various kinds of plants here. Tropical fruits and plants were growing everywhere. Bananas, coconuts, ylang ylang, patchouli, turmeric, guava, cinnamon, star fruits, lemon grass, citronella, black eyed peas, okra, vanilla, papaya, limes, basil, yucca, mangosteen, biriba, passion fruit, jack fruit, many kinds of hot peppers, miracle fruit, plantains and so much more. Many of the names I don’t remember because I’ve never heard of them. Jack fruit is gigantic, some of the fruits weighing around 80 pounds. It’s kind of gross once you cut into it though. It looks like organs or something inside, all stringy and fleshy and yellow. It smells funny too. Apparently it tastes really good though. Miracle fruit is kind of crazy. You eat this little pellet sized fruit and it makes sour things sweet afterwards. So you can bite into a lime or a sour fruit and it will be sweet. Amazing! The guest house I’m staying in is really well constructed. It’s three stories, the top story being a single room loft. My room is on the bottom, and there are several beds in there. Each bed has its own bug net which protects us from moths and other flying pests. It doesn’t always protect you from the cockroaches however. You just have to learn to live with those. The rainforest that surrounds this area is stunning. Some of the old growth trees are so large and wise looking.

Another crazy kind of tree I saw is called walking palm; its roots sprout out above ground and reach into the soil. It actually can move a meter per year just by sprouting new roots forward and leaving its old roots to decay. Things place is so peaceful, it really makes me want to get in touch with nature at a deep level. I’ve been reading up about deep ecology, and reading about John Seed. I loved this part of an interview with him where he said he sometimes lays down in the earth, covers himself with leaves, and surrenders to the earth. That to me is so respectable. In today’s society, according to John Seed, we are missing ritual, which almost all indigenous cultures have kept for thousands of years as a sacred way to connect with the earth. Something is culminating inside of me, and I’m starting to realize the importance of our connection with the earth that so many people are blind to see today. So I’m very excited to learn about sustainable agriculture and self-sustaining buildings. Let the adventure begin!

Monday July 18:

Today was cloudy, yet I was glad. I got burned from all the sun even though i put sun screen on (albeit very poorly). So now I have a patchy sunburn on my back and stomach. Luckily I found someone with a digital camera here, so I will borrow it and take a bunch of photos before I leave. I don't want to forget this paradise. I've been learning a little about permaculture, which is an ingenious alternative to traditional agriculture. The idea is to use efficient design to create a place to live sustainably with as little as maintenance as possible. Through certain combinations of plants, you can create mini ecosystems which thrive on their own. I started reading this great book, introduction to permaculture, and it’s really great. Here’s one of the best quotes so far: “Harmony with nature is possible only if we abandon the idea of superiority over the natural world.”

Today I helped build a tree house; I’ve made building my focus here. I'm kind of an apprentice for this guy Tom, who is a skilled builder. I had to carry all this wood up a huge hill and into a 30 foot tree. I don’t think I’ve ever sweat that hard before. Boy was it a relief when 12:30 rolled around. I went to the beach for a little while and laid down on a hammock to recover from the hard work. Then I heard the conch blow, which meant lunch was ready. Reminds me of Lord of the Flies. After lunch, everybody just chilled out for a while. I played the guitar and read a little. Then Matt gave a permaculture lesson on the edge effect and layering. He knows so much about gardening, it amazes me.

Tuesday

I finished the tree house with Tom. We carried up the solar panels and fixed them on as a roof.

Thursday

Today’s work was chopping and weeding some pineapple plants with the Spanish-speaking Ricardo. That was an interesting challenge. We didn’t talk most of the time. Luckily he knows a little English. I really don’t know enough Spanish to converse though. I got tired of being poked and cut by the plants, and I decided that I have a whole lot more respect for farmers now. Then I walked around the forest aimlessly, exploring the deep jungle. Vines and roots abound, I felt like I finally got a taste of the jungle that I have yearned for since I was a kid. On my way back I saw a green snake, probably poisonous. I hope I don’t run into one of those things at night when I can’t see.

Later in the night, the moon came out and was amazingly bright. The beach was beautiful, the moonlit sand and ocean was almost as bright as day. All the volunteers and people who live here went up to the hill for a full moon party. We all sat around a fire and sang songs, played guitars and drums, chilled in the treehouse and drank wine. I felt like I was trying to flirt unsuccessfully with some of the girls, which ended up being kind of akward, and maybe all in my head. I tend to be so subtle when it comes to flirting that the recipient of my affection probably has no clue that I have any interest. I think it’s because I’m still shy deep down and hate to be rejected in any form. I really need to work on that, and let down my guard.

Friday, July 22, 2005

It’s been a good few days since my last writing, and I’ve been getting the real feel of the farm here. Groups come and go, all of them have been kids under 18 so far. Mornings are filled with work, although the past few days I’ve been slacking off when possible. Today was very lethargic; I slept in the hammock at the back house and took naps instead of doing work. I was supposed to go clear out some garden area with Matt, but he wasn’t very motivated, nor was I. I really felt for the first time a desire for the comforts of home: a washing machine and dryer, my own shower and comfy bed. My clothes that I washed yesterday still isn’t dry and it smells like mildew. Even the few pieces of clothes that did dry were crusty from sun drying, which never feels good on my skin. And I just have to not think about the cockroaches that rule the room at night. I saw one nibbling on Tabitha’s toothbrush, thinking “I’m glad that’s not mine.” I don’t know how I’m going to take 2-3 more weeks of this. We’ll see how things turn out.

Saturday

Today we had the best breakfast! Homemade chewy naan-style bread with homemade jam. Lunch was awesome too. I think my favorite part about this place is the food. So fucking tasty, healthy, and organic. Right on! Anyway, work today involved cleaning up the tool shed. I had to scrape nails out of a bin and give them to Jamie, who sorted them.. That must’ve been a pain in the ass. There were so many nails. After work, Sierra invited me to “root forest”, a small cove of twisting trees with sprawling roots off the trail to the hill. It was so amazing, it looked like a scene straight out of Lord of the Rings, as Sierra put it. I climbed the tree and tied the knot for a swing we installed. The Cali girls gave me the nickname of “Scout” because I told them I was in the Boy Scouts and I knew a few knots. It’s been years since I’ve practiced my knots, but I do remember the bowline, a good no-slip knot that can untie easily.

The second tree proved to be much more difficult, as I was trying to tie a bowline with one hand while holding on to my life with the other one. In the end I jumped off the tree barefoot and punched my foot through the groundcover in-between the roots. In the evening I got ambitious and opened 6 coconuts with a long, flexible machete. It took me forever, but I eventually got all the milk out and grounded all the meat out and made coconut milk.

Sunday, July 24, 2005

It seems as if this screen is the only light source around, because there are 3 or 4 different types of insects crawling around these words as I type. The warm tropical rain is pounding hard onto this guest house. Complete blackness and deafening rain was all I heard for a while, and I meditated on it. Everybody else is in the kitchen roasting cocao beings to make chocolate.

I really shouldn’t eat any, my skin doesn’t need that sugar. I’ve been bad, I started eating sugar in small amounts. When they made that chocolate the other night, it was so delicious and home made that I couldn’t say no. The French guy made it, it was so airy, sweet, and chewy. Then there was the no-milk version, which was more dense like a brownie. Brownies are my weakness! Anyway, back to remembering my day:

I woke up for coconut granola from last night’s coconut milk project. It was tasty, as usual. Eventually the Cali girls invited me to Mermaid Beach, which was pretty cool. The reef rises out of the water to a point where you can sit just below a gushing flow of ocean water and have your shorts ripped off from all the pressure. Great fun! Below is a picture from mermaid beach.

While walking around the enclosed beach, I saw an old man with curly white hair, and dark, leathery skin. He kind of looked like Padi. Ah, ticos. I’d like to get to know them, but my Spanish is horrible. Today I lost my watch out of my pocket somewhere on the beach. Right now it’s probably getting buried in mud. Speaking of mud, after going to the beach, a bunch of girls and one other guy took me along to the mud bath where there is spa-quality clay right in the river. After everybody got naked and rubbed them selves gray with clay, we all walked primally through the rainforest covered head to toe with mud out to the beach. What strange looks the passerby would give at the sight of us. Ha! We then baked in the sun to dry out the clay, and I rolled around the sand to become a sandman. There was about 6 women and just 2 guys, all naked. I like that ratio! Finally got to see Arpita and the Cali girls naked. It seems the more nudity I see, the less shocking it is. Everybody has the same parts, we’re all humans, born just like this. No biggie. For dinner they made coconut rice with the milk that I made last night. It was so good. Mmmmmm.

Monday, July 25, 2005

Today was the so-called “day off time” where we celebrated by doing personal artistic or musical projects and partying all night. I think it has something to do with the Mayan equivalent of our leap year. It’s the day that doesn’t fit into the calendar. So to start the day, we all carried in some logs from the beach and arranged them on the trail to make trail guides. They look great, and it makes the area much more defined and organized. I carried in logs with Katrin, we waited for each other when the other was busy. She seemed to be interested in me today, which I took for as a sign of her attraction to me. After pondering a scheme for my artistic project, I got out a hand saw and cut through bamboo to make a little container. I tried making a lid as well, but it was much too difficult with my limited equipment. I had a crappy little knife, which only ended up giving me a curved gash on my thumb. Ouch. I swear, I get a new injury on a daily basis here. The rest of the day was fairly laid-back, some people were working, others were just chillin’. Later in the evening, Tabitha guided a Shiatsu workshop, where we pummeled our limbs in an effort to get the energy flowing correctly. It was kind of like yoga massage or something. Afterwards, I helped with dinner by making a banana curry. The others made pineapple rice and salad. The whole thing was too sweet for me, but everybody else loved it and thought I was a great cook. Shannon said it was her best meal yet at Punta Mona. What a compliment! Then after dinner they busted out the blunts and hard alcohol along with chocolate and cookies. What a stimulating array of evening activities. I ate the raw chocolate, which tasted kind of bitter, but good in a way. It’s kind of like eating coffee beans. Except coco-like. The cali girls made coconut bras with the coconuts used for coconut milk. Everybody got a kick out of that. Later on, Tom lit up his trash sculpture on the beach. We started just as it began to rain, and the four heads that he constructed in this trash pile lit up and blew smoke. It felt so good to be standing in the tropical rain dancing around a fire. After the fire grew dim, everybody went back inside to hang out and chat. After a little while we began a “show” of sorts, where a few people expressed their talents in celebration of the day off. There were a few guitar acts, some dancing, and other fun stuff. Then the drumming began, and of course I was there to rock the beat and get people dancing. We all danced and drank and had a great time. Throughout the night, I progressively flirted more with Katrin, touching her whenever I talked to her, etc. She seemed to go along with it, and by the end of all the partying, I was giving her a massage and holding her. After this party, there was another get-together at the yoga house for a talking circle. It was late by this time, because the party went on for a while. We all talked about our experiences here and lessons learned, etc. All that Jake could think about was the hallucinogenic flower that he ate, “reina de la noche”. That crazy dude. It didn’t end up doing much for him. I took a small bite, which did nothing. By the end of this circle, there were 3 guys and 3 girls, and we formed a triangle around several candles surrounded by a swarm of insects. By this time, I was holding hands with Katrin and we walked back to the backhouse together, and I kissed her. I went to bed very happy.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Woke up late today because I was so dead-tired from the bight before. I went to bed at 3 or so. Banana corn cakes were OK, which was somewhat my fault. I was supposed to wake up to help prepare breakfast. Arpita did all the work, and I felt bad so I helped with clean-up. The first part of the morning was spent in the garden, weeding and mulching various beds. I was assigned to this work with Katrin. I was glad to spend some one on one time with her in the garden. I think I came on too strong though, I kept hugging her and touching her. I showed her the Root Garden and took her to the treehouse. It was there that she revealed that she had a boyfriend. I didn’t really know what to say except for “well, you know, that’s how it goes” or something to that extent. Then I felt dumb for coming on so strong. The rest of the day was spent relaxing, smoking some J’s with Ricardo and Katrin, and going to the mud pond to clay my face up. Once the sun set, thousands and thousands of winged termites flew from the sky. They got on everything, they were all over me. And as soon as you flicked one off of you, its 4 wings would fall off. There was nowhere you could get away from them, except for the bug-netted bed, which was no fun to sit in unless you were sleeping.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Today was mostly uneventful, save for dinner and the party in Gandoca. I made a tasty dhal out of leftover lentils and curry powder with tomato sauce. It was a hit. Sierra said that if I keep cooking like that, I’ll get the ladies. I told her, why else would I learn to cook? After dinner, the beach walk to Gondoca was about an hour long, and we had to cross 2 rivers, one of which I got naked for because it was waist-high. Before we walked up the rough dirt road towards this little village, we heard music pumping from overdriven speakers. A bar of sorts was there, and everyone lined up for beer first thing. I ended up drinking 3 beers, which was more than enough to make me feel dehydrated and queasy the next morning. I danced a little, but mostly sat around and talked to people from Punta Mona because I didn’t have the energy to go meet new people. We all walked back at about 12:30 AM, and I crashed.

Friday, July 29, 2005

I've been here at Punta Mona for almost two weeks now, and I'm getting used to the "deluxe camping" as many like to call it. It's primitive compared to the luxuries of modern American living, but at least we have showers and a nice kitchen and flushing

toilets (although we're encouraged to use the composting toilet) I've been cooking meals lately, with mostly success. Except for my burned white bean & yucca soup. Everyone liked all my other concoctions, like the thai banana curry, dhal, and chili from

leftovers. One thing I really do miss is a washer and dryer for clothes. You leave something wet here for a day with no sun, and mildew and mold start to grow. Then everything smells, and if we have several rainy days in a row, our stuff just doesn't dry.

And when it rains here, it really rains. The sound of the rain pounding on the roof is so loud we have to yell over it. Work is hard here most of the time, but it's satisfying in the end. On a more enjoyable note, I've formed a close friendship with an austrian girl here named Katrin. She speaks english with a german accent. I like teaching her new english words. She cracked up when I called something "fluffy" and "poofy". I's disappointing that she'll be leaving this sunday. The one consistent thing here is change. People are coming and going all the time. Just when you get to know someone they leave, most likely to never see them again due to their locations half way around the globe. Oh well.. Anyway, time to go to the beach!

Saturday, July 30, 2005

Today I went kayaking for the first time. Kati and I were supposed to have gone, but some people from Gandoca were at Ricardo’s place, and she ended up staying there. I got a little frustrated with her and finally went on my own. After kayaking for a while, Mike and Caroline came out to join me.

Sunday, July 31, 2005

I decided to go to Bocas del Toro, Panama with 4 other people. It was a sort of last minute decision, based on my lack of money and not having a backpack. Well, Chad lent me a torn up backpack that seemed to work just fine. I quickly packed up and left for a rainy walk to Gondoca. We made it just in time for the rain to last our entire hour long walk. Boy, were we soaked by the end of that walk. After arriving in Gandoca, we realized there was a football game going on (soccer) and the whole village was there. We ended up waiting for 3 hours or so, playing Uno and eating crackers to pass the time. We took a taxi finally after waiting in the rain and walking barefoot on the long gravel road, and we eventually arrived at the border to Panama. We all presented our Passports, etc. and took anther taxi to the boats to Bocas del Toro. Along the way, there was only crappy food, and we were all hungry for some lunch. I ended up getting Pringles, which were entirely dissatisfactory. The boat taxi ride was long and beautiful, it was boating through the jungle and ocean. The arrival in Bocas was at about 6 PM or so, just in time for it to get dark. We decided to get dinner at an Indian restaurant, which was way overpriced for Panama and in too-small portions. I payed 7 or 8 bucks on that dinner. We later found a run down hole in the wall hostel for 6 bucks. I shared a room with Mike and Caroline, and it was all fine except for the itchy sheets and noisy ass rooster that started up at 3 am. The best part about this place was the backside porch on the water. When I woke up the next morning to find the noisy rooster, I went outside to the porch and it was so beautiful as the sun was rising. I picked up this book that was lying there called the seven mysteries of life. It was really fascinating. Later I found a Laundromat soon after because my clothes from Punta Mona were so smelly, and then the rest woke up and we ate a pretty cheap breakfast of omelettes and pancakes. Soon after packing up our stuff from the previous night and finding a new hostel, Megan negotiated a tour deal for us for $10 each. That seemed like a pretty good deal to me, so I agreed. The boat picked us up off the back porch of the first hostel, and we drove off to some island over the Caribbean green translucent water. This was paradise.

The building of Panama were so colorful and joyous looking, it was great. The boat took us to a restaurant first, and they had overpriced barebones pasta at 6 bucks a plate. What a tourist trap! This place seemed to be pretty fun for snorkeling, though. I swam through the poles that supported this place. There were many big fish under there, and lots of schools of tiny fish. It was so awe-inspiring to swim in the middle of a school of small fish. The way that they acted as a whole organism, all moving in unison made me think about how interconnected they all were, and that who’s to say they weren’t technically a collective organism? The next boat stop was a protected forest area that cost a dollar to enter. The trail through the forest was picturesque, but when we got to the beach I stayed out of the sun. It was starting to burn me up. A little later we walked to this wooden walkway that led out to the ocean. This was also beautiful. Below is a photo of the walkway and the ocean view from the end of it.

The final destination was a private island area where there was some good snorkeling. When I got back from the trip, I realized I had left my itinerary in the old hostel, which I needed to exit the country. I looked around but couldn’t find it. I quickly went to the internet café and replaced it with a printed copy from Expedia. I thought I was clever when I used a translation web site to ask if they had a printer. “impresario” I think it is? Now I don’t really remember. Anyway, I went back to the new hostel, Mondao Taitu, and we all had a few beers because they were only 50 cents. I got pretty hungry for dinner by then, so I walked down the street to some cart that sold hot dogs. They didn’t look that good, but I was hungry so I ate one. Later on I had pizza. How terrible of me. I ate so much American food there. Everything in Panama is so Americanized. Coca cola and Pepsi signs are EVERYWHERE. The kids around had spongebob clothes, and other misc. products. It made me realize how much of an Empire America really is. I eventually went back to the hostel after deciding not to go to this party on some island. I was pretty broke. Sleep was difficult once the party came upstairs at one o’clock. Damn those guys were noisy, and the hammock in the room over made the wood squeak like crazy and it kept me up for a while. Eventually I got some sleep.

Monday, August 1, 2005

Today we woke up early to catch the boat taxi back to land. I snatched a banana which was hanging along with a bunch of others in Mondo Taitu, and this held me over for a little while. We finally got going and walked up the main street, which was teeming with life already, at 7 AM. I found a little place to stop for breakfast, and I got two fried bread things that reminded me of the classic carnival treat, elephant ears, without sugar and cinnamon. I asked, “Cuanto Cuesta?” and acted like I knew what the lady said in reply. I have developed this technique whenever I don’t understand the reply to my Spanish questions, at least when dealing with payments. I estimate how much the item will cost, and take out the first dollar or so and hand it over. I continue to look into my moneybelt as if I’m going to take more, and if the attendant looks at me expectingly for more money, I dole it out. Then when they turn away to get change, I know I’ve given enough. It seems to work, although I could probably get ripped off this way. The fried thingies were a quarter a piece, which was pretty awesome. I got two and proceeded to the next store to get some coffee for the rest of the group. I got back to the boat just in time, and it was at least a half hour boat ride through the ocean and jungle river. When we pulled into the little harbor, a Panamanian kid offered to pull my backpack out of the boat. I humored him and let him take it. As soon as I got out of the boat, I insisted he give it back to me because I don’t trust my bags in the hands of anyone but myself or people I know. That happens after you’ve been stolen from. This little boy insisted that he take it, flexing his muscles to show that he was strong enough. I didn’t care, and I took my bag. He followed us out to the car taxi, and he held out his hand saying “money”. I had a few Panamanian cents in my pocket, as well as about 6 packets of Azucar Refinado, refined sugar from the coffees earlier. I gave him the money and the sugar and he seemed happy. I didn’t want the sugar anyway. The taxi ride was long and bumpy, and we arrived at the border. It took a half an hour or so to get through customs, then we took another taxi to Gondoca. Then we walked the final hour to get back to Punta Mona. Megan had the bright idea of getting garbage bags to protect our stuff from the rain. The last 10 minutes of the walk, it began to pour really hard. It almost felt like pellets that struck us from the side. Luckily we had those garbage bags, and we punched holes through to make rain suits. They worked well, except for my shorts got drenched. The rest of the day was a nice change of pace; I got to relax after the hustle and bustle of travel to and from Panama. The rain poured and I read Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy under the cover of the backhouse roof.

Tuesday, August 2, 2005

Good to be back at Punta Mona, and it’s back to work in the mornings. I went out chopping with Ricardo and we cleared out beans. Can’t remember any other noteworthy thing happening this day.

Monday, August 08, 2005

I should probably make this quick, because there’s not much power to go around. It’s been cloudy for days and we’re running low on power. But I want to check my e-mail and write in my journal. Anyway, my days here are coming to a close, and I’ve begun to plan my departure. Can I make it to San Jose in a day? I hope. A lot of time has passed lately and I haven’t been writing. I sat for a half hour or so doodling in my journal and trying to think of things to write about. Let’s see… there was the helicopter that came to visit padi, apparently he has some friends who own the adjacent property. Then there was the unforgettable moment of cuteness when one of the dogs from Gandoca got up on her hind legs to hold hands with the rest of us at the Circle for dinner. That was the best dinner yet. I made my now famous dhal while caroline and mike made fried eggplant in coconut oil with oregano tomato sauce and cheese. It was melt-in your mouth creamy deliciousness. It ate up a shitload of coconut oil though during the frying process. The juice was made with guanabana, starfruit, and orange. Guanabana is the most delicious fruit I’ve ever tasted. The meat of the fruit is part chewy, part slimy. The juice tastes like a laffy taffy or something. I swear there is a candy out there that synthesized the flavor of the guanabana. The food always gets so much better when the large groups leave. We get to cook all our meals, most of the ingredients consisting of whatever grows in the gardens. Today’s lunch was equally amazing. Chipotle chili with yucca, eggplant, and leftover dhal. I actually had a conversation with Sierra about how on these rainy days, one could spend most of our time cooking in the kitchen. She’s right. But we probably should be out harvesting or weeding or mulching. There’s never a day when there’s nothing to do, despite the inevitable lazy day when you feel like doing absolutely nothing but laying in a hammock. This torrential jungle rain is crazy because it comes down so hard. The thunder cracks are like explosions from the sky. Rubber boots are a necessity. It’s too bad I sliced through my left boot when I was weeding the bean hill. No more water proof boot. I will try to fix it again when the sun comes back. And it better come back! It’s been over a week of clouds and rain.

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Today I woke up to a buzzing sound in my ear. I thought there was a bug above me and I covered my head with a sheet. It shouldn’t have been able to get through the bug net, but it did somehow. The buzzing continued, and it took me a minute to realize it was INSIDE MY EAR! I quickly shot out of bed and woke up Andrea to ask for a QTip. No luck, so I went upstairs to wake up Krysta to get some tweezers and Q-Tips. I got it out I think. I couldn’t go back to sleep so I listened to the haunting moans of the howler monkeys until Allyson woke me up so we could prepare breakfast. I made an Italian tomato-basil-oregano egg dish, and it was supremely tasty. There wasn’t much to go around, despite the use of 22 eggs. The next few hours were spent harvesting dirt and mulch. Afterwards, I went for a skinny dip in the ocean with Sierra and Krysta. Then this guy gave a presentation on his fruit farm in Guatemala, which was pretty interesting. There is going to be a party tonight, and Josh is walking to Gandoca to buy Liquor. Woohoo!

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Today I thought was going to be my last day because I was planning on walking out of Punta Mona with Lisa and Diana. That was until they told me they changed their minds and were going to leave early Monday morning. Women! I worked in the greenhouse today, transplanting Arisa (a very sour fruit resembling a peach) out of small pots into larger ones.

After work, I helped out with lunch by preparing a Chaya & Mushroom stir fry, which was OK. Chaya is hard to work with though. It was much better than Josh’s Chaya and Jackfruit stirfry (YUCK!). Jackfruit, when ripe, tastes pretty good, like juicyfruit gum. But there’s so much of it because the fruit is so heavy, that people end up using it in every meal so it doesn’t go bad. The stringy part is used like noodles, the seeds are roasted or fried with other stuff, and the sweet fruit is mixed in with other ingredients. Frankly, I do not like dinner meals that are sweet with jackfruit. Nasty stuff. Generally I’m not a fan of sweet dinners, like the banana curry that I made a while ago, which everyone else liked, but not me. After dinner, I had a bunch of pot left that I was planning on getting rid of since I didn’t want to take it across the border with me. So we all sat around the dining room tables smoking and playing dominoes. Chad’s mission was to smoke himself retarded, which apparently worked for him. There were four of us playing dominoes, 3 of us were stoned, and we all kept forgetting whose turn it was. It was pretty fun though. We played Costa Rican style, which means all you have to do is match the number on the left or right side. There’s none of that multiples crap to deal with in this style of game. Also, Costa Rican style dictates that you must slap down the domino as hard as you can when you play it. And when you win, you get to decide who reshuffles the pile. After you play five games, you get to yell out the loser’s name as loud as possible to humiliate them. For the first few weeks at Punta Mona, I always wondered why people would ring a cowbell and scream “PAAAAAADIIIIIIII” throughout the day. It’s because whenever Padi lost, his opponents would scream out his name and bang the bell as loud as possible.

Friday, August 12, 2005

Stephen left yesterday, so everybody took a breather today. Nearly all of us woke up late and there was no real work meeting. We agreed to do housekeeping maintenance stuff in the name of not being too lazy, but I don’t think anybody actually did any. I didn’t, that’s for sure. The first part of the day was spent in the hammock, reading or sleeping. By the second half of the day, I began to feel very lethargic and thought that maybe I should be spending my last day doing something productive or at least fun. After failing to convince anybody to kayak out to the island with me, I took a kayak out by myself. I hadn’t been out to Punta Mona island yet, and I thought I should check it out at least once before I left. So I headed out into the ocean and through the waves. Occasionally a large swell would come, and I had to turn quickly so that my rear end was the part that caught the wave. The wave lifted me a little and I surfed it for a few seconds before turning around again to get back on course. Luckily the waves weren’t that big today, because they can be fatal if they catch you off guard. It’s a huge adrenaline rush to see a large wave forming, coming straight at you. I try to paddle as fast as I can to get over them before they break, otherwise I’m just a rag doll in its powerful swell. It took me about 15 or 20 minutes to paddle out to the island, and when I finally got there, the cliffs looked much higher than from shore. The foliage on top of the cliffs was dense and lushly green. The outer edge of the trees provided homes for at least twenty cranes. I kayaked around the island, looking for a place to park and climb up the island. On the other side, I found a cove that I paddled into. It looked kind of risky to get close to the rocky edge of the island, as the waves crashed violently onto the steep jagged shoreline. Feeling brave, I decided to wait until there were no big waves and paddle through two rocks onto the edge of the island. I then got out as quickly as I could onto the rough surface and pulled the kayak up as far as I could so it wouldn’t be swept away by waves. My feet were pissed at me for subjecting them to the harsh rocky surface. So I walked very, very slowly, trying to find the flattest surface possible to walk on. I climbed up a grassy hill to a ridge that connected to high points of the island. This was high as I could get without ropes or a ladder. Feeling satisfied, I climbed back down and got back into the kayak. As it is with climbing trees, getting back down & out of the cove was harder than getting in. Each time I tried to back out of the cove and pass through the narrow waterway that I came in through, a big wave would send my flying back into the rocky shore. Thankfully, I was able to recover from the waves because they didn’t turn me sideways. If they had, it would have smashed me into the rocks. After a few futile attempts to exit, I paddled backward hard and my aim was just right so I slid back through the waterway and made my way out of the cove. What an adrenaline rush! After that incident, the rest of the ocean waves on the way back seemed tame. When I got back, I realized I was on dinner prep duty and I took a shower then came back to the kitchen to help out. I started grating cheese for the pizza that the Santa Cruz girls were making, and then they turned the radio on to the Panama radio station. I hate radio, especially in Costa Rica where the reception wasn’t that great and the song selection was superbly cheesy. It was playing a fuzzy version of “we built this city on rock & roll” and I told the girls I had to get away from the cheesy 80’s pop music. So I left with Lisa up the drink tea. When we got there, Lisa made a fire to boil water, but the mosquitoes were so bad we decided to climb up the tree before the water finished. Andrea came after a few minutes. The thunderstorm and lightning was beautiful up in the tree. When the conch blew, we heard it and climbed down, making sure to go quickly as not to get bitten by inch-long bullet ants. I heard they sting for hours and feel like a stingray or something of that caliber. Without a flashlight, I was nervous to go down but just went quickly. Walking back down the muddy hill with no light was interesting, I was glad to have my rubber boots. Dinner was fucking amazing, it was homemade pizza with garden-fresh herbs. It was unreal! I felt kind of bad for skipping out on dinner prep, but the girls had it all under control.

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Today was quite a journey. It began with an early morning bowl of reheated oatmeal at 5:30 AM or so. I waited for Lisa to get ready to walk through the jungle with me, but she was kind of sluggish. Eventually we got going at about 7, and we trekked out over the Ecovillage hill towards Manzanillo. I’m glad I wore my rubber boots, because some of the mud on that path was almost knee-high. It was pretty strenuous, hiking up and down muddy and root-laden hills, but quite beautiful. There was one especially breathtakingly ancient looking tree that I couldn’t help but stare at as I passed by. The path took us through dense forest and through some open fields. Most of the time there was a sweet tropical smell which permeated the jungle. It must have been a combination of the flowers and fruits there. The only bad smell was the noni trees, which never have smelled particularly beautiful. When we got to Manzanillo, I grabbed my bag which I had transported on the boat on Thursday. Thankfully, we made it just in time to catch the bus to Puerto Viejo. I was drenched in sweat and my boots were covered in mud. It was good to be done with that little hike. When we got to Puerto, I went to buy a bus ticket to San Jose, which cost me 3500 colones. But the bus was leaving right at that moment, and I still needed to pick up my money from the nearest Western Union. I tried to get the ticket salesman to change it, but he didn’t speak English, so I didn’t know what to do. I went back to Lisa and she was busy buying groceries for Punta Mona. I walked to the western union and they were closed that day, so then I really started to worry. I ended up catching the next bus to Limon, trying not to worry too much about my wasted money. It was then that I realized I had left my tall rubber steel-toed boots in Diana’s bag back at the market. I figured they had only cost $20, and my luggage was already full of wet, stinky clothes and I couldn’t fit muddy boots in there without hassle. So I left them with Lisa. Hopefully they didn’t burden her too much. When we got to Limon, I was confused because I didn’t know where to buy a ticket for a bus to San Jose. My initial impression of the place was not too good. It looked very shabby and run down, and it was the noisiest city I’ve ever been to. Cars with huge speakers mounted on top blasted what appeared to be some radio station, but I couldn’t be sure because it wasn’t music, just talking. Storefronts were the same, they blasted very loud music and radio stuff, all in Spanish. It hurt my ears just to walk in front of the places. How uninviting! After wandering around dragging my luggage with me in the hot sun, I began to stress out because I couldn’t find anyone who spoke English. Luckily, an English-speaking taxi driver waved me down asking if I needed a ride to Puerto Viejo. I didn’t, but I did say I needed to find the Western Union. He knew where it was and offered to drive me there for free. It turned out to be in a supermarket which also played extremely loud music. I got the money after waiting in line for a while, and the taxi driver took me to the bus station next. I was so grateful for his help, so I gave him 1000 colones. The bus terminal was surprisingly clean and there were all sorts of delicious smelling foods. I ended up getting a few pieces of fried chicken (which came with two floppy corn tortillas) and some water. The bus ticket was pretty cheap, and the bus itself was pretty nice. I read some of my book and slept a little while on the ride there. One of the strangest things about the trip was this guy who came onto the bus halfway to San Jose and began to speak really loudly in Spanish. I think he was selling some sort of “learn English for kids” booklet and CD. He even had a boombox to play the CD, which he walked up and down the aisles with to demonstrate. It was kind of funny. He asked me if I wanted a booklet but I said “No, gracias.” After 3 hours of driving, we arrived to the Coca Cola bus terminal in San Jose, and the first thing I saw on my way out of the bus was yet another taxi driver. I told him I needed to catch the bus to Alajuela, but he said it wasn’t coming for another hour and a half. It began to rain outside, and I decided I didn’t want to wait around for that long. He could have been lying, but oh well. The taxi was kind of expensive, 5000 colones. He took me to a hostel, which is where I am resting now, called Mango Verde. It seems pretty decent. Tomorrow will be another early morning because my flight leaves at 7:30 AM. Until then!

Sunday, August 14, 2005

I woke up periodically throughout the night to check what time it was on my laptop since I don’t own a watch or alarm clock. I had to get up at 5 AM to catch a taxi to the airport. I asked the taxi driver, “Puedo contrar comida al aeropuerto?” He said no, but he said I could get food in Alajuela. So before he turned onto the freeway towards the airport, we stopped by Denny’s for food “para llevar” (to go). They ended up giving me pancakes as well as my omelette dish that I ordered, so I gave them to Ricardo the taxi driver. He seemed appreciative. Once I got to the airport I paid the $26 exit fee and proceeded through the line as they searched my bags and took my knife keychain from me. The flight was long and my ass was sore, and then I arrived in Pheonix, AZ. There was an hour layover, which apparently wasn’t enough for my slow ass because I missed my flight. Well, it wasn’t really because I was slow so much as that I just wasn’t paying attention to the time. I got a cheese enchilada with my last $2.75, and a woman behind me offered to pay the 19 cent tax because I didn’t have it. The cash register lady payed it out of the tip jar and I was set. While I was eating my enchilada, the same woman asked if I had any money and I said no, so she gave me $2. I was really thankful, and I offered her my Bic lighter, which was the only possession I had to give. I ended up walking far back to get a croissant from starbucks. By the time I got to the gate, I had missed my flight and I had no money. Luckily I was able to call Brandon at the service desk and he agreed to pick me up. My flight plan was set back 2 hours or so, which wasn’t so bad.