A Beginning and an End

So when we left you last in Santa Elena, we were making our way to the airport to pick up Dustin so that he could begin his adventure in Costa Rica. (quick tangent....first we have to answer a question we keep hearing, how are we able to make so many posts while we are suppossedly on vacation, and to that i have to say that Costa RIca is insanely connected! Free internet abounds and is way too tempting!) Ok back to Dustin.... His flight landed on time and in no time we were making our way to haggle with the taxi drivers to try to get to Poas Volcano for under $40 dollars. We succeeded for $35 and started our 45 minute ride up to the volcano. We decided to stay at Lagunillas Lodge as it boasted a beautiful view, rustic rooms and a welcome family atmosphere.

The taxi driver dropped us off at the driveway to the lodge where we then had to walk 1 KM down a crazy steep terribly gravel road...about half way down, my legs flew out from under me and i landed face down in the dirt! After many pictures were taken, i finally got back up to continue the hike. :)

When we saw the lodge, we were blown away. It was this adorable little house made of trees and logs overlooking the forest, the cities and man what a view! We ended up eating all of our meals here, where Rosa cooked us huge meals of rice, potatoes, chicken, beef, beans, etc. Then on our first dinner, we went out back to the pond to catch our dinner! We didnt have much luck as the bait kept falling off, so Enrique took us down to the hatchery (dont laugh) and we caught our dinner there. It was delicious!

The next morning we hiked about 6KM to go to see Poas Volcano and another crater which has a lake inside it. It was fantastic and we met a wicked cool couple from Montreal...they were awesome, and we talked about Quebec, travels, medicine and many things in between. After exchanging contacts and getting a ride back to our lodge, we enjoyed our last meal and caught a jeep back to town.

We took the bus to Alejuela and that is where Jenny, Dustin and I parted ways. :( It was a sad affair, but departure always is and I began my walk to find a hostel and they went to catch their bus to the beach!

So now it is Thursday, and I leave in a few hours to fly to Atlanta and I have to say that this has been the perfect vacation for the perfect time. The biggest thing it made me think about is how beautiful life is and how you should live EVERYDAY to the fullest and NEVER ever settle for something you dont love or you are not happy with.

I cant wait to see Izaz and my family in Atlanta and to begin the next month of vacation going to a beautiful wedding, going to the beach and hiking the Georgia portion of the Appalachian Trail.

To new beginnings!!

Missy

Santa Elena/Monteverde

We woke up on Friday happy to be making the trek across Lake Arenal to the cloud forest. We decided to do the trek in style and take the ¨jeep-boat-jeep¨ option which cut off 3 hours of the journey. The jeep boat jeep ended up being taxi-boat-taxi but it still was pretty beautiful. All the hills and greenery and the water was so peaceful.

We arrived in Santa Elena around noon and although everyone in the taxi got off at the more popular hostel, we decided to go to one off the beaten path. The taxi took us up a long gravel road and let us out. At the first hostel we asked for a room, but they were booked in the type of room we wanted so i walked up the road to look for another one. The one we found was called Vista del Golfo and we fell in love with it. It was pretty small, up on the hill overlooking the hills, the cloud forest and pieces of the gulf on a clear day. There is wooden furniture on an overlook, a little cute kitchen and hammocks on the patio. Our room is great, private and with real mattresses! And the best part, it is only $7 a night!!! So needless to say, our 2 nights has turned into 4 and we are just hanging out relaxing in our little hideway in the forest.

We have spent our days exploring the Childrens Eternal Rainforest, hiking, shopping and cooking. We decided to buy all of our groceries for these four days and it has been amazing, eating all fresh healthy foods. Every day, the clouds come in and you cant even see like 5 feet in front of you, it is so beautiful.

Yesterday we saw lot of toucans, Agouti which look just like the picture on Fruit Loops! It was awesome!

On Wednesday we will be leaving here to go to go pick up Dustin! Yeah!!! and trek out to see Poas Volcano and a Waterfall Garden...

Time is flying, so I guess we better get back to relaxing! Talk to you all soon!

Missy and Jenny

Waterfall and realities....of our trip

Waterfall - man this place is so touristy (La Fortuna) and no one walks around here and taxis to everywhere are expensive. so we hiked 3 miles from our hotel to this beautiful waterfall, La Catarata, which you had to pay $6 to get in (lame) but it WAS amazing. Then hiked 3 back, we're getting some great exercise out here...we are loving it! Missy will be in good condition for her hike back in GA.

Volcano - the night before we went to Volcan Arenal for a $30 taxi at night and got to see it spurt out lava once from kinda far away, it was cloudy though and not too great.

Dessert - Missy and I have been eating totally healthy, fresh stuff and avoiding sweets for the most part. Everytime we talk about getting something sweet, the want dies down after dinner and we just don't get it...it's been pretty cool. We've only had a few sweets out here (quite an accomplishment for both who are used to sweets every night, thank you very much!)

Where to next? - in a hour (8:30am) we're heading out in a Jeep to do some offroading to get to a boat that will take us across a lake to another waiting Jeep that will take us to Monteverde, where the cloud forest is. This is where we will probably spend the last leg with Missy and Dustin will meet us. It is kind of weird because we saved the most traveled/touristy areas for last, so Missy and I are trying to find remoteness in all of it...I think we will...

So we just didn't want you thinking that this was a flawlessly perfect trip, just wanted to let you in on the subtleties of traveling I suppose...here are some not-so-American inconveniences...look, we're not complaining ok....this is just...different here.... haha, here we go:

~natural temp water, which at night is pretty "refreshing" if you will, but for the most part very nice
~buses: can be very crowded, when all the seats fill up, people just stand in the aisles and lean all over you...this is just accepted conduct
~buses: Missy's legs are TOO LONG, she has to literally wedge her knees behind the seat in front of her to sit straight in...you should see when they lean their seat back, pretty miserable
~sand fleas: the first night on turtle night-patrol we weren't aware of the tenacity of the sand fleas...I laid in the sand and allowed, literally, at least 30 bites to happen on my bum before this lady told us that light pinching we were feeling were sand fleas...Missy's legs as well were feasted upon
~mosquitoes: Missy was their favorite meal in all of Parismina, we walked down this jungle path with stagnant air (a very BAD sign) and she was wearing a tanktop (aka easy access to her delicious back) and she got like 50 bites on her back, and probably about 100+ bites all over her between the two insects
~beds/mattresses/pillows: horrible...we have had back issues this whole trip due to these beds...no support whatsoever, it is like sleeping on cardboard...and the stuffing in ALL the pillows have collected into clumps of stuffing and are probably 10 yrs old and your head just falls right through to the cardboard bed...I was soooo stiff every morning. It has been a relief to be here at this ritzy hostel though, the mattresses are EXCELLENT and my back is 100% again!!! hooray!

Las Tortugas

Where to begin!!! So last time we posted we had just hiked down from the indiginous tribe....it was an unbelievable experience being there and just sitting for hours and listening to all the sounds in the jungle kept us more than occupied.,...it was such a meditative experience...looking back now and reflecting on that has been really cool to see how people can live such a simple life and have the hugest smiles you have ever seen...no running water, no electricity, no walls in their homes, hiking 45 min every day to work and they were beautifully amazingly happy people.

Anyways, so we left Puerto Viaje and traveled north to a TINY island called Parismina. To get there we had to take 2 buses and then a tiny boat to the island. On the boat we met a local named Joshua who happened to be the son of the president of ASTOP, the organization we were going to be volunteering with. He took us straight to his mom and we were able to get all of our things situated for the night. We stayed in a great hostel the first night and had very good casada with all the usual fixings (rice, beans, meet, salsa)...

so time out for some details on Parismina...it is TINY...400 inhabitants...there are a few little villages, and lots of jungle and 5 km of beaches...with lots of little lagoons....it is surounded on one side by the Caribbean Sea and on the other by a river....there are lots of animals...crocodiles, monkeys, caymens, birds, iguanas, etc...and lots of bugs!! The town is very very primitive...there are a few restaurants...5 little tiendas....a police station, a hair place and little bity homes....the kids run around all day long and the parents are very chill...

so back to our story, so we decided to volunteer for 4 nights to help ASTOP with their turtle rescue program...basically you can volunteer to patrol the beaches at night looking for Leatherback turtles that are coming up on land to lay their eggs...there are many things that are making these animals endangered, one of which is poaches, who steal their eggs, another is global warming which is making more eggs female than male, etc.

We signed up to stay in a homestay with a Tico family and we moved in to their home on day 2. Our home consisted of 3 rooms, a tiny bathroom and a very pretty yard....the mom was named Leoni and she had 2 children Daikol and Suleika. We mostly spent our time with them as the father was working during the day. Basically our days consisted of waking up super early, doing absolutely nothing...reading, checking internet for a bit (one computer on the island)....and walking around....it was an unbelievable experience....the family took us in as part of their own, they made us different meals every day, we spoke for hours in spanish and we really felt like we were integrated into their way of life, even for only a few days...

then at night we patrolled the beaches... so basically we would start at either 8 pm or 12 pm and patrol for 4 hours with a guide or two, looking for turtle tracks...no lights, walking in sand, gazing at the stars and searching for crocodiles in each lagoon.....it was paradise...

3 days went by and we had not seen a turtle which was very very unusual!!! people had seen turtles on the other shifts but we always missed them...so it kind of became a joke that we hadnt seen one...so last night they decided no matter what, we would be called if a turtle was spotted....

we walked for 2 hours, and nothing....then all of the sudden our guide said wait and ran ahead and through the dark we could see something moving...(we used the red light which we are able to use as turtles cant see it) and it was a HUGE leatherback turtle laying eggs in the sand....like we are talking 5 food long by 3 feet wide....crazy!!!

so the guides marked the hole and the mother works for about an hour covering the eggs up before she leaves and goes back into the water...jenny and i got to walk behind her as she made her way back into the ocean under the most beautiful star filled sky you have every seen...it was undescribable....

then we jumped to our knees, instructed by our guide and started digging....after about 15 min of digging our guide found the nest and we were able to dig them up....60 in total! the process is that once they are dug up, they are taken to safe place called a hatchery, where they are monitored as they take 2 months to hatch...the temperature has to stay just right etc....we walked the eggs there and on our way we saw another one!!!!

Jenny and I were on like little kids as jumped up and down trying not to scare the turtles....they were the most beautiful creatures...jsut the whole process was absolutely amazing!

THere were of other highlights like our guide grabbing a 3 foot long caymen and holding it for us to see, and walking for 16 hours over 4 nights for a total of about 15 miles in teh sand! and eating chocolate covered bananas...and swimming in a lagoon with caymens....and sitting on the beach, etc....

this morning, it was totally hard to leave....the family awoke to say goodbye and we walked to the boat and jetted away for our 8 hour bus rides to La Fortuna....

I would definitely say, seeing that turtle and the stars and staying with our family and chatting for hours about life in spanish and sometimes spanglish, was perfect. so perfect.

now we are off to see the lava shoot out of Volcan Arenal and have dinner before we explore La Fortuna tomorrow....

We miss you all alot and we hope you are enjoying our little story of adventures in Costa Rica...

talk to you soon!

Missy and Jenny

The Indigenous Way

So, we are back today. Hiked out in some light rain and then it started pouring just as we got to shelter. This place was totally cool. A 30 min hike inland from the road where there were bungalows and homes made by the Bribri tribe. We had a personal guide, Orlando, who spoke no English but very clear Spanish. We asked him many questions and he gave us and excellent inside perspective into Bribri life. I really enjoyed it because he spoke very deliberate Spanish and I could understand 70% of what he said. The other 30 I'd look at Missy and äsk. I'm using Missy as my Spanish dictionary and she is being very patient with me. I've been able to get down the basic traveling key phrases needed and Missy Spanish is becoming more natural to her again. ANYWAYS, during the day we soaked in the river (really low because it's the end of the dry season) and read under this large bungalow and just lounged around, then we learned to make some baskets with Orlando. That night we only had some bananas and peanuts because there was confusion as to who was feeding us dinner. We slept in hammocks - I woke up in pain with a small hole in my hammock while Missy ended up on the floor (her hammock stretched). There are these howler monkies that make a horrible noise (look it up) and they were right outside our bungalow at like 4am waking/scaring us - they sound HUGE. The next day we woke at sunrise (5:30am) and putzed around until Orlando brought us rice/beans and a boiled egg for breakfast. Then he took us on this special hike through the jungle to find the monkies. It was so special, very unique, we were the only ones there. It was a cool experience with ORlando becaus he wanted to learned English too so we were teaching him a bit. He also had this wonderful child named Diego who was so much fun to interact with. Later that day we finished our baskets, learned to make this amazing fresh organic soup with coconut milk and all these amazing roots and vegetables, it was WONDERFUL. That night they had a celebration for the coming baby and the girls first period. We hung around for a bit but then went to our bungalow were we slept with a mosquito net and a mattress, MUCH BETTER.

So we're leaving RIGHT NOW for Puerto Limon, final destination Parismina where we will do the turtles for 3 nights and homestays in locals home where they will cook us food too! Until then, miss you guys!

Indigenous people to Turtle Rescue...

Well a lot has happened already. This is going to be a quick update. We woke up 5:30am (light) here and headed to Manuel Antonio, a park with beautiful beaches and lively wildlife. We were the 2nd ones to enter the park because we got there when it open so it was like we were explorers (just the way I like). We saw this huge white rat thing, monkey's, crazy dinosaur-like lizards, beautiful floating butterfly with brown underneath but ELECTRIC blue on top, and also the elusive SLOTH. Cool pics. Then headed out and rode buses the rest of the day to the other side of the country, final destination: Puerto Viejo. Today we rented bikes and trekked about 17 miles on half-paved bumpy roads to this other part of town (Punta Uva and Manzania); it's funny how quickly you meld with the ways of traffic here...driving here is CRAZY. Anyways, our legs were totally burnt out by the end of the day. We also saw some amazing beaches: white sands with jutting rocks and jungle growing off of them. We were exhausted all day though because we awoke at 4:30am to complete our travels to Puerto Viejo (stayed in a town along the way last night).
Our itinerary has completely changed though. Tomorrow we are doing 8:30am yoga and then trekking into the backwoods (30mins from town) into an area where an indigenous people live. THere we will swim in the river, weave baskets, and help them with whatever they need help with ! Friday they are having a unique celebration that we hope to partake in/witness. We will spend the night in some hammocks by the fire (and if that gets too mosquioty, then they have a thatched bungalow we can stay in). No running water or electricity, what I've been DYING to experience (though this is barely enough time). We have a day of play, but plan on getting to this Island near Siquierres where we are going to meet up with these people who track turtle activity. We will be partroling the beaches at night, finding turtles laying there eggs, tagging, measuring, etc. SO COOL! We also get to stay in a locals home while we're there and they will cook us 3 meals a day. A staple here is rice and beans so I'm sure we'll be having plenty of that while we're here. SO don't be surprised if you don't hear from us for a few days...but we'll try to check in on Sat.
Side Story: The other night at the hostel, Missy and I got ready for bed and all of the sudden this huge roach scurried up the wall and hid behind the curtain. I made up some excuse as to why it was Missy's turn to get it and after much arguing agreed. Long story short, much screaming and slamming into things persisted. After almost peeing in my pants with laughter (because it was after 10pm so QUIET TIME - u know that just gives you the automatic giggles) and Missy leaving me alone to battle it out (with no success), a team effort of knocking the roach off the bed and Missy crunching the juices out it with her shoe proved successful. We laughed so much.

There was also MUCH laughing on the bike ride today, not very cooridinated and crappy $3 bikes leads to much amusement.

Times up! Love you guys, lovin it!

Quepos, a tiny town in the middle of almost nowhere

So, Jenny and I are sitting here on the computer when we should be laying in the hammock...but oh well...

today we woke up bright and early and went to the beach, a picturesque sight, with beautiful rocks and bright green fauna :) then we headed back to the tiny town to swim and eat yummy food and explore a tiny bookstore and then we were off to the hammocks to get lost in the Lonely Planetś guide to Costa Rica.

The sunset was breathtaking over the bay (got lots of pictures to show you later) and then we had a dinner of appetizers: mahi mahi ceviche, calamari and plantaines with guacamole and mango salsa. yum. Oh, and Jenny and I have given up deserts. I realized i have gone a little overboard with the deserts lately, so its time to kiss those chocolate cakes goodbye :( well at least for a few days.

anyways, tomorrow we are off to Manuel Antonio to see lots of wildlife, fingers crossed and then to take the trek by bus back to San Jose to head to the Caribbean side of the country and hopefully into Panama

im sure there will be more to come. I hope you all are enjoying your days and we are missing you here in Costa Rica!! - Missy (and Jenny)

Hola chicos y chicas! Well last night we landed in Quepos which is on the south coast after a 4 hr busride which seemed like an eternity! We were planning on taking a 15hr busride to Panama City but are now RECALCULATING. So far things have seemed pretty safe but we don't really go out at night (to keep it that way). By the way, it's light at 5:30am and dark at 6:30pm. It's two hrs earlier here and so far we've been waking at 6am... Today we were going to go to the Park Manuel Antonio where there is supposed to be much wildlife: tapirs, crocs, monkeys, quetzals (native bird), but it was closed. So instead we met this girl name, Yaara, 23 yo and traveling alone for 6 months! She took us in her car to the beach and we hung out there for several hrs this morning. It was so GOOD to get in the ocean. The girl was really interesting and I enjoyed talking to her about her beliefs (she's Jewish and currently living in Israel). She left today though.
So we're staying at the Wide Mouth Frog recommended by Lee and others we have encountered so far. It is very nice for $12/night, free internet, a pool, free DVDs, and common area and kitchen...super cool. The drawback we've found to Quepos is that the park is the only thing you can do that is NOT a tour, it is very touristy here. :( So we plan on leaving tomorrow but we;re still trying to decide where to go because of the bus rides... We really want to go to San Blas because the indigenous tribe there is supposed to be very kind and we just wanted to see that culture in action. But it is very far. So I'll let you know when we decide... :P

Random: So yesterday morning Missy was humming the Adam's Family theme song and I was ragging her about it and then it got stuck in my head.... So later we were at the bus stop waiting for the 2pm bus since we missed the 12pm one and the guy there selling stuff started humming the Adam's Family song!!! We were laughing, it was so random! We also met some Canadians there that I talked to about horses and stuff. I love the culture of backpackers through here, I definitely prefer this over hotels and car travel because you just don't interact enough. But on buses and in hostels there are plentiful opportunities.

Thank you for you comments, we are very much enjoying them! And Missy will be making posts on here as well.

Jenny (and Missy)

Arrived!

Well we arrived safe and sound. Missy´s flight was delayed 2 hrs so I waited in Customs for her with two other people who had been there longer than me and were also waiting on their friends. One was a retired federal policeman and the other was med student doing residency in Philly. Good convos...
I finally got EXCITED when we exited the airport and tried to speak in broken Spanish to people to ask where the bus station was. Upon Lee Gross´ recommendation, we bused just outside of San Jose (called Alajuela) and stayed at the Hostel Mango Verde in a room for 4 (but only 2 of us) for $12 per person - not bad. Traveling by bus is CRAZY cheap. We had dinner last night which consisted of yucca root and a bit of shredded carne (meat) and a water, $2 per person.
My pack is already proving to be cumbersome (I have a hikers backpack) so I´m considering downsizing. Missy has a normal sized school backpack but is also missing a few items...but the smaller is definitely nicer...especially for crowded bus travel. We met this man named Sy last night at the hostel and picked his brain for all the places we needed to go to. He has been here since NOVEMBER and has traveled to 144 countries! He´s 78 yrs old! And he looks about 60...COOL guy.
So due to his influences and Missy´s and I´s friends and fam´s influence, here´s our current very tenative itinerary: in Panama go to Panama City (canal), San Blas (islands with beaches and cool indeginous tribe), Boquette (cool mountain town), and Bocas del Toros (N. beach, beautiful); in Costa Rica go to Quepos, Manuel Antonio (beautiful forest park area).
So this morning Missy awoke at 5:45 am and started chatting it up (Izaz you know what I´m talking about...) and we got reprimanded by the sleeping Sy (thin walls). I slept like a ROCK due to lack of sleep the night before and was definitely charged up for the day. So we went back to sleep and got up at 8am. The days are interesting here because it gets light about 5:30 and dark around 8pm.
So this morning we showered up and headed to this internet cafe to look into taking some Spanish courses at some different locations. Also looking into homestays with some families for a couple nights. All very reasonable prices. There´s also this volunteer organic farm just outside of San Jose that we´re looking at spending a couple nights at helping out at...we´ll see. Very tenative. So, we´re about to head out and get some more cemented plans and I´ll update you more then! Lovin´it and wish you all were here to experience with me. I probably won´t be uploading photos, but we´ll see.... :P

LOVE YOU GUYS!
Jenny (and Missy)