Thursday, March 26, 2009
Goodbye Monteverde and HELLO Tamarindo
After a solid 7 weeks of manual labor, we headed to the beach to relax a little. Saying goodbye to our families and to the people at the school was hard. We spent most of our last day hanging around the school and talking with friends at our little goodbye party. Then we took our last bus home. On the bus the kids were playing the music from Titanic (or at least trying to) on the new recorders they had all been given, making the ride truly feel like our last one. We met a group of amazing people at the school and although we were excited to travel and get home it was also sad leaving it all behind. There were two funny interns that rachel and I liked a lot. They invited us into their traditional mac and cheese thursday for lunch at school during the last two weeks.
The next morning we woke up at 5 to take the morning bus to liberia and then to tamarindo. Before leaving our families woke up with us to say goodbye. After a long day on 3 different buses we finally made it to tamarindo and crashed in the hotel Cabinas Tsunami. The hotel is a great find in Tamarindo because the rooms are cheap and right across the street from the beach. At night we hang out in the hammocks and chairs that hang from the mango trees all around the hotel. The beach here is beautiful and for the most part empty. Some days the water is calm and green and clear and others there is a small surf with all the amateur surfers trying hopelessly to stand up. On one side of the beach is a small estuary through which we sometimes swim or walk to find shells on the other beach called Playa Grande. Mostly we find Puka shells but there are also these beautiful white spiralling shells that are all over the beach. For meals we eat out by shopping at the Mega super for rice and platanos with the ocasional Mac and Cheese or Pancake dinner. Other than that, life is pretty relaxed although now that the college letters are arriving back home it feels like our break from school and stress is coming to an end.
Lou
The next morning we woke up at 5 to take the morning bus to liberia and then to tamarindo. Before leaving our families woke up with us to say goodbye. After a long day on 3 different buses we finally made it to tamarindo and crashed in the hotel Cabinas Tsunami. The hotel is a great find in Tamarindo because the rooms are cheap and right across the street from the beach. At night we hang out in the hammocks and chairs that hang from the mango trees all around the hotel. The beach here is beautiful and for the most part empty. Some days the water is calm and green and clear and others there is a small surf with all the amateur surfers trying hopelessly to stand up. On one side of the beach is a small estuary through which we sometimes swim or walk to find shells on the other beach called Playa Grande. Mostly we find Puka shells but there are also these beautiful white spiralling shells that are all over the beach. For meals we eat out by shopping at the Mega super for rice and platanos with the ocasional Mac and Cheese or Pancake dinner. Other than that, life is pretty relaxed although now that the college letters are arriving back home it feels like our break from school and stress is coming to an end.
Lou
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Happy Happy Birthday Mom
Halo Mama, I hope you have a nice birthday. I miss you a lot and and am looking forward to coming home now more and more everyday. I know that I didnt call nearly as much as I should have and I am really sorry about this. I know how hard it is for you to let me go for so long. It has been hard for me too. I miss you soo much and love you even more. I made you a card for your Birthday which is at the bottom of the blog. I hope you like it. It has all the things we have seen and done in costa rica.
Love, Lou
PS- HAPPY BIRTHDAY SILVIA! from rachel :) I miss you a lot too!
Love, Lou
PS- HAPPY BIRTHDAY SILVIA! from rachel :) I miss you a lot too!
TRUCK MAN
On the day Lou and I walked to San Louis to see the waterfalls we met 2 ticos with whom I momentarily fell in love. One of them was just a passerby with a car full of people. He stopped his car next to us, honked at us, waved to us, smiled at us, and yelled "HOLA". I looked right at Lou and laughed. The other man was a toothless truckdriver who had already passed us once or twice working at a nearby construction site. He stopped his huge OLD Mack truck and gave us a lift the last kilometer or 2 to Milton´s farm. Love Costa Rica.
rach
rach
Return to Life in Monteverde
Life in monteverde, where to begin?? Well, after Rachel´s birthday time has started to fly by and we are now in the panicked stage of our trip in which we are trying to do and see as much as possible (while spending as little as possible). We made it through our first week back without spending a scent and found that life was still pretty amazing. There are so many fun things to do that really we are hardly ever bored. One day we decided to try and walk to the waterfalls in the small town of san luis which consists of a few small fincas (farms). Our friend Milton who is our boss/leader/amazing friend at the school lives on a farm out there and he invited us to his house for a visit and lunch. Milton has made our trip so so much more exciting and makes everyday of work fun with his crazy jokes (bromas) and hilarious pronunciation of english words like Wheelbarrow. His friend Eduardo is my neighbor and favorite Tico. He dances and signs while he works and always makes sure we are not working too hard. He says its best to work with Despacio and take our time to enjoy life in costa rica. We enjoy taking this advice every day. With Eduardo Coffee break is always ten minutes longer and work never feels like work at all. Today, I discoverd a tarantula crawling around on the ground and eduardo decided to pick it up. Then, to my complete amazement rachel held out her hand and said she wanted to hold it too. I grabbed the camera and made sure to get a picture of rachel and her first tarantula. Then the tarantula worked its way up rachels arm and started pulling out its huge red fangs. While rachel was standing there with the tarantula, Eduardo told me quietly that tarantula bites hurt at least ten times as much as a wasp sting. This one was only a baby but im sure its bite would have hurt a ton. Anways back to the story: just as it was about to bite rachel on the arm (tarantulas move slow) Eduardo stepped in and gently knocked it off without hurting rachel or the tarantula.
Anyways, back to the visit to Miltons farm. After walking for about 12 kilometers we reached Miltons farm only to find out that he was at work at the school. Sad that we had missed him, we looked around and then headed to the waterfalls that were rumored to be about 2 kilometers down some road. Later we found out that Milton had arrived at home only 10 minutes after we had left. After wandering down the road we found a river that supposedly could be followed for a couple of kilometers in order to reach the waterfalls. The real entrance to the waterfalls was a small farm up the road that charged 8 dollars a person. Too poor to pay, we bravely treked down a trail to the base of the river. A few interns had told us that if we just followed the river all the way to the waterfall we could make it in about an hour for free. (rivers in costa rica are public property so it was ok to walk up). The interns however had done this hike weeks before when the weather had been a bit dryer and so we found ourselves at the base of a massive river that would not have been safe to hike. Sadly, we walked home.
The next day, a group of new volunteers arrived from a private school in the states called Mercersburg. After working for the school for about a month, Milton and Eduardo got us to help lead the new volunteers in their work. This turned out to be not so much fun at all because the volunteers talk constantly about school and colllege. Two things rachel and I do not want to talk about on our trip.....
Rachel got a new volunteer from the group of 16 mercersburg sophomores and juniors called James. He doesnt speak a word of spanish but is getting along well with the family. Since his arrival, Rachel has felt like things with the family have definitely gotten better. She can´t tell if it´s his lack of spanish, or the fact that he´s only here for one week so the family wants him to experience family life here as quick as possible, but her family has been doing more together and opening up much more to rachel. and they play spoons here!
OH! and we made the final decision to leave a bit early. Our final day of work at the school is going to be next Thursday. We chose this date because although everyday of work is fun and exciting we have too many places that we want to go on opposite sides of the country. Really we are only missing 3 days of school because friday is a holiday. This gives us the whole weekend which is really needed to get from one side of the country to the other. Our time has really been the perfect amount because we are going to be sad about leaving but excited about traveling and going home.
ciao ciao
Lou
(with a little bit of rach)
Anyways, back to the visit to Miltons farm. After walking for about 12 kilometers we reached Miltons farm only to find out that he was at work at the school. Sad that we had missed him, we looked around and then headed to the waterfalls that were rumored to be about 2 kilometers down some road. Later we found out that Milton had arrived at home only 10 minutes after we had left. After wandering down the road we found a river that supposedly could be followed for a couple of kilometers in order to reach the waterfalls. The real entrance to the waterfalls was a small farm up the road that charged 8 dollars a person. Too poor to pay, we bravely treked down a trail to the base of the river. A few interns had told us that if we just followed the river all the way to the waterfall we could make it in about an hour for free. (rivers in costa rica are public property so it was ok to walk up). The interns however had done this hike weeks before when the weather had been a bit dryer and so we found ourselves at the base of a massive river that would not have been safe to hike. Sadly, we walked home.
The next day, a group of new volunteers arrived from a private school in the states called Mercersburg. After working for the school for about a month, Milton and Eduardo got us to help lead the new volunteers in their work. This turned out to be not so much fun at all because the volunteers talk constantly about school and colllege. Two things rachel and I do not want to talk about on our trip.....
Rachel got a new volunteer from the group of 16 mercersburg sophomores and juniors called James. He doesnt speak a word of spanish but is getting along well with the family. Since his arrival, Rachel has felt like things with the family have definitely gotten better. She can´t tell if it´s his lack of spanish, or the fact that he´s only here for one week so the family wants him to experience family life here as quick as possible, but her family has been doing more together and opening up much more to rachel. and they play spoons here!
OH! and we made the final decision to leave a bit early. Our final day of work at the school is going to be next Thursday. We chose this date because although everyday of work is fun and exciting we have too many places that we want to go on opposite sides of the country. Really we are only missing 3 days of school because friday is a holiday. This gives us the whole weekend which is really needed to get from one side of the country to the other. Our time has really been the perfect amount because we are going to be sad about leaving but excited about traveling and going home.
ciao ciao
Lou
(with a little bit of rach)
MY BIRTHDAY!
Lucky me, I got to celebrate my birthday on about 3 or 4 different days here and I will again once I get home. Day #1 was Friday before my birthday with Lou at the beach. We spent all day in the sun and reading at the hotel before getting all dressed up and going out to get pizza. But at dinner, poor Louie got sick so we rushed back to the hotel right after dinner and came out later to get coke for his belly. It ended up being a better night (other than his actual pain) because we just sat together and talked about the week, and I tried to make sure he was doing okay. Day #2 was my real birthday (Sunday the 1st) at my homestay back in Monteverde. I woke to a huge breakfast, as usual on Sunday mornings at my house, and two giant cakes on the table. I share my birthday with my brother, Alonso, so there was a cake for each of us. Immediately after breakfast (awesome-- dessert at 9 in the morning...) my family sang to us and we ate chocolate cake (Alonso´s) and MANGO CAKE (mine). It was forreal the most delicious cake I have ever eaten in my life. Lou agreed. I also got to cut a huge chunk of it and claim it as mine, like my family here usually does, to eat throughout the rest of the week. After breakfast, Lou came over to show me a surprise outside. I followed him to his house and he gave me a beautiful, sparkling birthday card. It is probably most definitely (or as lou would say probs mos def) the best birthday card I have ever recieved (thanks louie). Later that day, after a very nice 2 or 3 hour walk with Lou around our neighborhood, Lou´s mom gave me one of my favorite birthday presents ever. She handed me a little gift bag decorated with travel type pictures of shells, stamps, photos, bags... and inside it had a perfect-sized-for-me tote bag with a native Costa Rican bird called a quetzal sitting on a branch embroidered on the front. I had the perfect day--until I got homesick... Day#3 Package! On Monday I got a package at school from home! I loved reading all the cards from my sisters and parents, and I felt like I was home for a moment or two. (PS- thanks for the extra pants and birthday phone calls.) Day#4 was yesterday. I got another package. Carly, Annie, Piper, and Sarah put together notes with candy, snacks, and a magazine into a birthday package for me. The notes made Lou and I really realize how much we do miss home. I think we will be ready to come home by the end of our trip. It was like my birthday all over again because I was so excitedd to open the package and read your notes and it still hasn´t faded. Thank you so so so so sosososososososo much for all the birthday notes and wishes and messages and the update notes. Lou and I both are so happy to hear from you. I really had the most amazing birthday. Mostly because of you guys.
Love,
Rachel
(The last post was Lou by the way)
Love,
Rachel
(The last post was Lou by the way)
Montezuma
It has been a while since our last post so we now have tons to talk about. During our unexpected but wonderful break from school we traveled to Montezuma a small town on the Nicoya Peninsula. After a long busride to Puntarenas we took a beautiful ferry ride to the peninsula and then another exhausting bus that seemed more like a suana to the small town of Montezuma. Montezuma was a tiny town right on the beach filled with chilled out ticos (costa ricans) and a small gathering of hippie backpackers. (I think im starting to sound a lot like the writers of my travel book maybe because Ive been reading up about a bunch about places we hope to go..) After crashing in a hotel with tiny dark rooms and unbearable beds we quickly decided to change hotels and found a nice little spot right on the beach called Hotel Lucy that had canopies over the beds that rachel was crazy about. The first two days we ate out but after realizing that this was no longer an economically sound practice we quickly took to the kitchen. A kilo of rice costing about 2 or 3 dollars ended up being enough food for the two of us for the remainder of the week. We also took our chances with a couple dozen eggs fried and scrambled. (The eggs in costa rica are never refridgerated which seems a little odd to me.) Then, we fried our first platanos which turned out to be the cheapest, easiest and most delicious meal of all. Pretty much we just spent the week lounging around the beach and cooking in the kitchen at night. (Kitchen and fridge space were difficult to get due to the high number of french canadian and german tourists who had the same idea as us (and cooked meals that smelled quite a bit better than ours)).
One night we attempted to hang out on the beach but quickly discoverd that as soon as the sun set the beach became alive with thousands of hermit crabs that had been still all day. We also saw our first tarantula crawling along. After running home to our hotel we decided the beach belonged to the insects and animals at night, we could look at the stars from the hammocks outside our hotel.
Montezuma was definetly a change of climate after spending nearly a month in the mountains were it is always a bit chilly and tends to rain every single day. A quick sunburn quickly made us realize that the sun was definetly a bit stronger than anywhere either of us had been in a while and so we spent the hottest part of the day reading in the hammocks and chairs on the porch of our hotel. Together we have probably read a dozen or more books and are almost completely out.
We also saw our first scorpion in Montezuma! It was crawling on the leg of one of the jewelery venders all over town before he threw it off before it could bite him. We also had our first pizza in almost a month in a nice small italian pizzeria. On the night of rachels birthday dinner we went out to the pizzeria but after having a piece of shrimp I quickly became sick and spent the night awake.
After a nice long break we sadly packed our bags and made the long trek back to the mountains. On the ride home the bus broke down an hour from home and we spent an hour on the side of the road watching the bus driver remove a wheel and take the rock that was jammed there out.
One night we attempted to hang out on the beach but quickly discoverd that as soon as the sun set the beach became alive with thousands of hermit crabs that had been still all day. We also saw our first tarantula crawling along. After running home to our hotel we decided the beach belonged to the insects and animals at night, we could look at the stars from the hammocks outside our hotel.
Montezuma was definetly a change of climate after spending nearly a month in the mountains were it is always a bit chilly and tends to rain every single day. A quick sunburn quickly made us realize that the sun was definetly a bit stronger than anywhere either of us had been in a while and so we spent the hottest part of the day reading in the hammocks and chairs on the porch of our hotel. Together we have probably read a dozen or more books and are almost completely out.
We also saw our first scorpion in Montezuma! It was crawling on the leg of one of the jewelery venders all over town before he threw it off before it could bite him. We also had our first pizza in almost a month in a nice small italian pizzeria. On the night of rachels birthday dinner we went out to the pizzeria but after having a piece of shrimp I quickly became sick and spent the night awake.
After a nice long break we sadly packed our bags and made the long trek back to the mountains. On the ride home the bus broke down an hour from home and we spent an hour on the side of the road watching the bus driver remove a wheel and take the rock that was jammed there out.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
costa rican life
HELLLO! everythings been going really well here. in the past week, lou and i have made a better effort to see the town and become a part of life at the school and in monteverde. we have pretty much come to the ultimatum that we would rather spend our time with the ticos than the interns at the school. the other 2 volunteers that we love are leaving after this week... so we will be lonely, but apparently we are getting in groups of 20 kids at a time for a couple weeks straight.
last saturday (on valentine´s day) was a fundraiser race for the school at which lou and i volunteered as street guards. we met the cutest puppy at our stand that we named miel (honey in spanish). lou got to be a crossing guard again, but the traffic was only about 2 cars, 10 runners, a 4-wheeler, some motorcycles, and about 100 dogs. the street dogs are precious, but half of them are pregnant, and the other half follows us around.
the ice cream is really good. and so are the mangos. and we are both getting pretty tan!
lou finished all 3 of his books but has his little brother axel to keep him occupied. all. the. time. i get lonely because my family is so used to volunteer´s doing their own thing. and i miss the family life of the croitoru house. and actually the gemunden house as well.
MY favorite experience so far was riding HORSES down a mountainside. our boss at school named milton had a friend who let us ride horses on his farm about a half hour away from town. we rode on a rocky path about 2 feet wide on horseback with absolutely no instruction. and a guide who did not say a word to us and only made kissing noises to the horses to make them move. lous horse would constantly stop in front of mine teasing my horse (named imperial... the most beautiful one hehe) to get ahead. as soon as mine would get close, lou´s would start up again. poor vanessa cried because her horse was crazy and almost threw her off... but the four of us had a great time. we rode down to natural hotsprings in the forest where we got to spend the afternoon.
we love you and miss you. next week we will be at the BEACH! school is on vacation... so we will try to find an internet place closeby, otherwise you will hear from us in a little over a week.
last saturday (on valentine´s day) was a fundraiser race for the school at which lou and i volunteered as street guards. we met the cutest puppy at our stand that we named miel (honey in spanish). lou got to be a crossing guard again, but the traffic was only about 2 cars, 10 runners, a 4-wheeler, some motorcycles, and about 100 dogs. the street dogs are precious, but half of them are pregnant, and the other half follows us around.
the ice cream is really good. and so are the mangos. and we are both getting pretty tan!
lou finished all 3 of his books but has his little brother axel to keep him occupied. all. the. time. i get lonely because my family is so used to volunteer´s doing their own thing. and i miss the family life of the croitoru house. and actually the gemunden house as well.
MY favorite experience so far was riding HORSES down a mountainside. our boss at school named milton had a friend who let us ride horses on his farm about a half hour away from town. we rode on a rocky path about 2 feet wide on horseback with absolutely no instruction. and a guide who did not say a word to us and only made kissing noises to the horses to make them move. lous horse would constantly stop in front of mine teasing my horse (named imperial... the most beautiful one hehe) to get ahead. as soon as mine would get close, lou´s would start up again. poor vanessa cried because her horse was crazy and almost threw her off... but the four of us had a great time. we rode down to natural hotsprings in the forest where we got to spend the afternoon.
we love you and miss you. next week we will be at the BEACH! school is on vacation... so we will try to find an internet place closeby, otherwise you will hear from us in a little over a week.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
More Family
It has surprised me how similar my new family in Costa Rica is to mine at home. I have a mother and father (Esperanza and Melvin) who married each other after previously being divorced with 2 kids from Melvin and 3 from Espe. So now, there are 5 kids (Natalie, Melany, Beatriz, Eduardo, Alonso) and me. And actually, both of the boys have the same name, but when the parents got married, they had to call one of them by their middle name... It is a cozy house, but everyone has their own room (about the size of Stine´s room) in a two story house right across from Lou. I can see everything that goes on in Lou´s house right from my window. And I watch. All day. All night... when he is not around. just kidding... All of the kids go to school with me except Melany who attends public school. Esperanza also joins us on the bus and is a kindergarden teacher at CEC. Melvin is a carpenter/ construction worker. TOBY is my favorite part of my new home. He is the little puppy who lives right outside and occasionally gets brought in to chew up the furniture and snap at our ankles. Today he tried to eat my book. and both my legs. So I am finally getting comfortable, and learning to use my excellent Spanish skills (thank you señora)... But it is much more difficult than I would have hoped, especially with English speaking kids in the house.
Miss you all! We will try to update once a week at least.
love,
rachel
Miss you all! We will try to update once a week at least.
love,
rachel
Family
My family has a small house across the street from Rachel´s and a nice dog named Uvenall. The dad´s name is Rafa and is a quiet hardworking man who works at the Hotel in Monteverde most of the day and then again for the nightshift. Today I went with Rafa and my brother Erol (20ish) to go play soccer at the turf pitch up the mountain. Rafa is 50 and still absolutely incredible. He scored the most goals on our team with Erol coming in at close second. All the guys there were very nice and we ended up playing for most of the morning. My sister Adreina (16) was still asleep when we left in the mornign. She had been skating at the local disco the night before. My other sister, Hannia (17) is usually the one who spends the night out, but last night she was home for the first night since I arrived and we both had dinner together. The oldest sister, La M, has a little boy named Axel who has made me his new older brother. She is a chef at one of the hotels as well. Axel and I usually spend the day playing soccer but because of the rain and the fact that the ball got stuck in the sewer, we have been playing a lot inside. The mom is just called Mama by everyone and is hilarious. She laughs at everything and keeps everyone in line. Every meal I have about 3 times a human portion of rice and beans and something else on the side. She is teaching me how to make all the amazing fruit juices of Costa Rica. Yesterday, I saw my first cockroach in our house, which kept me up most of the night, but our house is clean and small so I am not tooo worried. Every morning Axel and I walk to the bus stop together, with Rachel always barely catching the bus with her sister. My family here is wonderful and has adopted me into their home but I still find myself missing my family at home and all the comforts I didnt realize I enjoyed so much. The shower here is a bit mean but I am learning how to deal with cold water. Next month is mango season so I plan on eating only mangos for a month straigth. The family says they have an Aunt who has a field of trees and I can get a huge sack full of mangos to keep in my room.
lou
lou
the first REAL post
So Lou forgot his password to the other blog :)
We have been here for a good week now, after months looking forward to this trip. More than 24 hours of travelling... and Lou sitting with microscopes on his lap covered with my blankey for the majority of our time in the air. But the science teacher and volunteer coordinator just about fell over when they saw that we had brought them. Go Hanover.
The first week of work has been hard but enjoyable and the two of us now have our fair share of blisters, sunburn, and sore muscles. We are currently in a little period of rain that should be over by tomorrow. Most of the first week it was raining a bit but it didnt bother us much. The school here that we are working at is called the Cloud Forest School and is probably the greatest school in the world, even though the kids all act like they would at any other school. The school is located at the top of the hill and from the front porch that we eat lunch on everyday you can see the Pacific Ocean. There are two other nice volunteers that we spend our days working with named Vanessa and Connor(both about 25). They met at a Shins concert so obviously we like them alot. Vanessa is a massage therapist and Connor used to work for an environmental engineering firm but quit his job. Together they are working with us for the month, raking trails in the rainforest, painting houses, teaching environmental edudation classes, and ruining all our clothes.
We have been here for a good week now, after months looking forward to this trip. More than 24 hours of travelling... and Lou sitting with microscopes on his lap covered with my blankey for the majority of our time in the air. But the science teacher and volunteer coordinator just about fell over when they saw that we had brought them. Go Hanover.
The first week of work has been hard but enjoyable and the two of us now have our fair share of blisters, sunburn, and sore muscles. We are currently in a little period of rain that should be over by tomorrow. Most of the first week it was raining a bit but it didnt bother us much. The school here that we are working at is called the Cloud Forest School and is probably the greatest school in the world, even though the kids all act like they would at any other school. The school is located at the top of the hill and from the front porch that we eat lunch on everyday you can see the Pacific Ocean. There are two other nice volunteers that we spend our days working with named Vanessa and Connor(both about 25). They met at a Shins concert so obviously we like them alot. Vanessa is a massage therapist and Connor used to work for an environmental engineering firm but quit his job. Together they are working with us for the month, raking trails in the rainforest, painting houses, teaching environmental edudation classes, and ruining all our clothes.
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