WANTED: 10 Amigos

Well, I went to look at a couple of farms today with a friend that we work with at the Reserve. Needless to say, I was hooked immediately. I went to the farms just to get a better view and in hopes that I could help them sell the property to an American who wanted a beautiful, unspoiled vacation spot. I had no intentions for said American to be me. The farms were both 60-70 acres in size and had the perfect mixture of views, and valleys, forest, and pasture – and the rivers, oh the rivers. Both properties have three rivers and we walked the perimeter of one of the properties (where the river creates the boundry on two sides). I took a swim in the river while surrounded by the unique butterflies they call blue morphos. They are about four times the size of a normal (aka North American) butterfly and are beautiful in the wild. Today was my first day seeing them.

The internet cafe was closed last night when we came to visit so there is no post for yesterday. On Friday night we were having coffee at a local store and were approached by a Frenchman who is working for a local cooperative of coffee growers. He asked us to do a survey that will eventually help the cooperative build a tour through one of the local coffee plantations to help with conservation in the area. After the survey we were talking and we found out that he was from Normandy, France and he started talking about the D-Day anniversary visits that so many WWII vets make to Normandy each year. He said the sights of all those men walking down the beach is very moving. He then went on to say that it is good for him to see them because he normally doesn’t like Americans but he realizes that when he looks at the stones in the WWII graveyards that stretch as far as the eyes can see he sees very few French names. He understands and appreciates the sacrifices that were made in those days.

I want to talk about our meeting the Frenchman in the future but I’m running out of time and have more to talk about. Yesterday at breakfast we were talking to Ana (our host mother) about the happenings in town over the weekend. She told us that the soccer championship was to be held here this weekend and that teams from a Pacific beach town called Jaco would be here to play on Sunday. At about that time, a small Tico boy (who wasn’t the son of Ana) ran through the house in his soccer uniform and yelled, in perfect English, JACO IS COMING HERE! We loved it. Next to religion, soccer is number one here.

A few people have asked for addresses while we are here but because postage is so very slow and customs fees are so very high it is likely that we would never even get a letter or package. Thanks – but if you were going to send a package use the money for something pretty for yourself and if you were going to send a letter, go ahead and treat yourself to the sprinkles on your next ice cream cone.

Hasta Mañana . . .

A Change of Pace

Today the ticos decided to change things up on us a bit. Instead of carrying bags full of dirt, we carried concrete blocks all day. Although it may not sound like it, doing this was much better than carrying the bags. Two additional volunteers joined us today which made things even more fun. We are talking in Spanish more and more each day. We are always learning something new.

Ryan is a machine when it comes to his Spanish. He is learning SO fast! I have been so impressed with him. A tica who works at the reserva told Ryan that he speaks a lot of Spanish and very well. And to think its only been four days since we arrived.

Since the ticos are getting used to us being around, they are also getting much more laid back with us. They have begun to teach us Spanish slang and joke with us a bit which makes for a very fun day. Hermedia, the cook at the reserva, recommended that we visit Cano Negro later in our visit. Its a town and lake in Northern Costa Rica. We are getting some good recommendations from the locals and some of those we work with even agreed to accompany us to Panama when we go. Im sure thats a relief for our families!

We forgot to mention on the first day that there is a side striped pit viper that stays near the trail we are working on. It stays very still while it digests its food and we get to see it every time we walk by. So far we have seen 3 snakes. Cool.

Thanks for all the comments. We look forward to reading them each night. Its wonderful to know that people are thinking of us and sharing our adventure. We will definately be eager to share our pictures when we return.

Today was un buen dia

Today was a good day altogether. We did more of the same work at the reserve – carrying 50lb bags of sand and dirt to the trails but the occasional rain showers gave us much needed breaks. I think the guys we’re working with were trying to make us crack yesterday too because they didn’t seem to work as hard today. We went to bed last night at 7:30pm (BG, I feel you now). We aren’t nearly as tired today.

After work we made a quick trip to the bookstore for a Spanish/English – English/Spanish dictionary. We’ve only had it for 2 hours and can already tell that it was money well spent. The cheap little phrasebook that we bought in the States belongs en la basura (in the trash).

Our dinner with Ana and her family was awesome once again. Her youngest son, Alejandro was hiding between the cabinets and the refrigerator when we arrived. He was just sitting there, quiet as a mouse, eating papaya all by himself. We never even saw him. He is seven.

He finally came to the table to eat and I asked him if he played the drums (many children in town are practicing the drums for a carnival in September). He replied yes and then disappeared to the next room where he promptly began playing them with all his might. Ana his mother told him to stop and we all got a laugh because I got him in trouble – and, in a roundabout way, gave his mom a headache.

Today was fun.

If you could see us now…

you’d all be thinking we’ve completely lost our minds. Today was our first day volunteering at the Reserva Santa Elena. We worked with three Costa Ricans, Edwin, Memo and Jeirta, who showed us the ropes…or dirt bags, I should say. Yes, you got that right…dirt bags. Ryan and I walked 1/2 mile each way (about 8 times) with potato sacks filled with dirt to the trails that we are working on building. I was chuckeling to myself several times today thinking about what everyone would think when they saw pictures of us participating in the “chain gang”. I felt like a member of a prison reform camp, but it is definately a good experience. The three Costa Ricans we worked with were very helpful with our Spanish. Also, we got a great workout, probably much more of a workout that I was expecting or hoping for. At the end of the day it was all worth it though.

Ana, our host “mother” is an excellent cook. For breakfast we had pancakes and watermelon with some of the best coffee I’ve ever had. Lunch we ate at the Reserva which was gallo pinto or as Americans would say “rice and beans”. We just finished an awesome dinner of more rice & beans, pico de something (meat, potatos and vegetables) and the usual, fried bananas. Ryan and I are beginning to take a liking to fried bananas.

Our Spanish is coming along. Someone at the Reserve said “good morning” to me and I promptly replied with “fine, thanks”. Anyway, it’s all about learning and we’re definately doing just that.

We Made It!

As if there was any doubt. We arrived without any problems yesterday (Monday) and are now in our home for the next month. We have learned very quickly that our Spanish is lacking but are making noticable strides all the time. We are already challenged a lot but are enjoying every minute of it. For this month we will be working on the Reserve Santa Elena probably doing both trail maintenance and office work.

Our occomodations are wonderful. Because it’s the low season around here, there are many empty rooms and we lucked out and are able to stay in a bed and breakfast for this month. The owner of the B y B is the administrator of the Reserve Santa Elena and his wife is taking care of us already. She is committed to helping us learn the language and is a wonderful cook!

We spent a large part of our morning at the Colegio de Santa Elena (Santa Elena School) listening to the students as they presented their science fair projects to the judges. We will have pictures of this fun time. The students, and the curriculum of the school, are very focused on conservation, recycling, and sustainable development.

After settling into our home away from home this afternoon we went to the doctoral thesis presentation of Nicole Blum of Sussex University in Brighton, England. The lecture was held at the Monteverde Conservation League. Because Nicole is an anthropoligist, her year long study focused on some of the steps the people of this area could take to ensure the sustainable development and conservation that they desire.

Forgive me for my simple English. The combination of paying for every minute we are online and the fact that my mind is jumping back and forth between English and Spanish makes for what could be boring reading. I’ll do my best to improve. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers. If you want to send us a message, please click on ‘comments’ below any of these entries. This will save us time and money as we will be able to read all of our messages at once.

Meme, the keyboard is a bit different here and I haven’t been able to find the asterisk yet so here is your secret sign ;) – sorry it’s not a secret anymore.

Hasta Luego.