Leaving Puntarenas - ¡Hola, San Ramon! (7/1/10)

Whew!...(even more to catch up on...!). So, continuing chronologically, the day I left the 'all-inclusive' hotel in Puntarenas, the first of July 2010, we had some time in the morning, after saying goodbye to the sweet, happy newlyweds and everyone else we had met.








We took some pictures of lizards, said goodbye to the bouquet I caught, finished up some things around the hotel...and finally had the chance to go and see the monkeys up the road (I'd been wanting to do that ever since I heard about it the first day!).









Now, I know that it may not be the smartest conservation strategy, and I accept that I may have participated in a kind of tourism that is not ideal... but still, speaking for myself personally, it was pretty cool to be driven to this private land, where you pay a few colones to the people who live there, and the taxi driver calls out 'Monkey Man!' - and (relatively) wild monkeys come out of the trees and take banana bits out of your hands, in their monkey-like way. (And off your head, and your shoulder...we found out :-).

I'm going to try to upload a video or two, but in the meantime, here are some photos to give you an idea. Terribly cute. 'Mono cara blanca' (white-faced monkey) is the Spanish name for them. In short, it felt a lot more fun and even authentic an experience for the last day there than sitting by the pool would have been. Our taxi driver/ guide for the

experience, Alberto, seemed genuinely impressed by our antics (and enthusiasm) with the monkeys, although I'm sure he's done it many, many times.

After that, we got our stuff together and met up with the driver, I (being the sap that I am, and knowing it was goodbye to my friend and the time there getting to know everyone better - that I was striking out on my own and the rest was a bit less certain!) got a little teary, and then we were off: me to San Ramón to continue my adventures, and Ann to the airport to fly home.

As fun as that had all been... I was craving a more authentic experience in Costa Rica. I knew that what we had experienced at the hotel was a bit sheltered, a bit more touristy than everyday life for most people in the country. I was looking forward to practicing more Spanish, and really feeling more immersed in the culture.

As San Ramón was on the way to the airport, I got dropped off first. I said goodbye, got my stuff settled a little bit in my hotel room, and was able to call my contact there and let him know that I had arrived, as per our arrangements. The Katy-on-her-own-in-Costa-Rica adventure was about to begin...!

I had been in email contact with (Dr.) Miguel Karian, who runs an experiential, interdisciplinary study abroad program focused on teaching 'sustainable global leadership' (Earth Education International), and who has been active in the developing interest group promoting sustainable practices in the profession of international education. It sounded, from what I had learned, like the kind of program that I wanted to learn more about, and help to promote - and I was very interested in talking to him about his perspective on what's happening in sustainability within the field of study abroad (yes, here you can say to yourself - 'Katy, you are such a nerd!' ...and I cannot argue :-).

I met up with him for dinner that night, and it was fun to put a face and real person with the emails. As it happens, there was a good project that I was able to help him with, we are fellow leapers of faith toward what we are passionate about - and he was an excellent guide and resource. My time in San Ramón was well spent! More on that next...

Catching up....! Part 1: 6/30/10....

Hello everyone reading this (whoever you are!...?). I have not been so good about posting in a timely manner....but a lot has been going on! So, in an attempt to remedy that, I will try to catch you all up, and then maybe go back and 'people' my words with good images later. There is so much to describe, so much I've seen, and done... it is a little hard to know where to begin.

So, I'll start chronologically... but there is some musing and cultural thoughts and insights that will want to find their way in here somewhere, too.

Tuesday (6/30) I went on a zipline 'canopy tour' with some of the people in my group (from the wedding). This is now a pretty popular kind of tour in Costa Rica, I've learned, and I have to say - it was pretty fun (and in our case, a little more exciting than you might hope for!). We began on horseback, then ziplined down above the river, and got to stop for a swim at one of the (many) waterfalls along the way. For me, especially - having facilitated adventure-based learning programs and rock-climbing, and ridden on horses when I was younger - it was great to have the opportunity to do something like that in such a beautiful, lush place - and to talk to the people facilitating it here. They were very friendly, and professional, and it was nice to have that human/cultural connection.

On the way to the top of the zipline course, we rode on horseback. We made it to the top of the ridge, and had a wonderful view all around. Donald, the guide that took up the rear, told me that the mountains were called 'Montes de Oro' - because there was gold in them, and a mine, but not in this area, a little ways away. It used to be that anyone could go in the mountains and look for (and possibly find) gold, but now it's all regulated. We passed the oldest horse, now out to pasture, and saw the working dogs come up, that help out with the horses. My horse's name was 'Blanco'. Blanco liked to zigzag on the steep downhills, and trot when it got too slow on the even parts. At the end of the riding, the horses just turned around, and started walking back (with the dogs). I was glad that I had taken the opportunity to chat with Donald on the way.

One of the best parts about the zipline down was watching my friends' 8-year old twin girls (who had been afraid to do other things we'd done around the water the day before) step right up and show the rest of us how it was done! Rose, one of the two, just went right up and got hooked in - first! And zip!... off she went. Others (adults) were a little scared, but after that happened, felt that they had no excuse not to do it!

The thing that was the scariest, however, came later. We were stopped at one point, waiting for all of the facilitators to show up, and the (usual) afternoon rain began, just a little at first. Then, it became a truly heavy rain... and then, a thunderstorm. The facilitators were trying to get us out as quickly as possible, but it was a different kind of experience in the rain (the gloves that you use to 'break' were not behaving the same when wet, and we were heavier with soaked clothes, etc.). It added an element of real adventure, to be zipping through the rain, and over the river, now swollen a muddy red, and gushing even faster. We had six ziplines left when the rain started - and I just about got the hang of it (after having to be pulled in on one) when I flew down the last one.

Then I waited. My friend Ann was supposed to be right behind me. And I waited. Thankfully, I was able to wait inside a van...but it was a while before we knew what was going on. Then, one of the people from the tour came over and talked in Spanish with my van driver, Miguel. Miguel, who spoke only a little English, was motioning with his hands - and one of them looked like it was describing something dropping vertically - my heart skipped a beat - but then he looked like everything was okay... so I asked - 'mi amiga - está bien?' Oh, yes, okay, was the answer...but still, that didn't look good!...

She eventually came down off the zipline, and came over, but was visibly shaken up. She told me the story, and her heart was beating very, very fast. Lightning had struck the zipline cable, as she was getting hooked in for the run. She had been shocked through her gloves, and the guide helping her, too. He said that he'd been working there a year, and had never experienced anything like that. We were all relieved that she was okay, and I decided that as much fun as the day was overall - that was the most excitement (of that kind) that I wanted on this trip!

(For anyone doing something like this in Costa Rica - especially, but anywhere, really! - I would recommend that you NOT do it in a thunderstorm(!), and that you take the opportunity to talk to the people facilitating it, too. They are likely to be friendly, appreciate your interest, and can add a lot to the experience, in terms of a sense of place, and a human/cultural connection. I will always remember those guys, and that place, with gratitude.)

Isla Tortuga 6/28/10

Monday we went to an island off the Nicoya Peninsula called 'Isla Tortuga' (or 'Turtle Island').






I saw some amazing island veiws, experienced a big catamaran (complete with bar, and fruit snacks served on deck), ...


























































(Tortuga beach on the left in photo below >)




... went snorkeling (saw some cool fish), pet a sleeping peccary, met a parrot, met some great people from San Jose, got to know the folks in our group a little better, basked in the sun, and swam in the blue-green salt waters in the rain.






The deck hands on the boat that brought us there also served us lunch (which was delicious!) on the island under tarp and tent. Next to the 'peligroso!' (danger!) un-culled coconut grove (they could fall on your head) - where we were serenaded while we ate by a two-person wooden xylophone, and drum.

Then, on the return trip, we averted the afternoon storms that we could see ahead on the coast, and rolling through the distant mountains. Here are some pictures to give you an idea...

...ah, what a great day.

Wedding Day 6/27/09

The day began in the business center of the hotel, posting my blog - and learning many secrets to making the most of our time here at the hotel (while I was typing and uploading pictures, my traveling companion Ann was busy making friends with other people there and getting valuable information).

The wedding was laid back and simply beautiful (seems inadequately common this word...but I can't seem to stop saying it since I arrived in Costa Rica...!) - the rain (normally every day this time of year between 3-5pm) held off, but the sun didn't beat down on us in our wedding finery, either. There was enough light, however, to be noticed and attract more than a few onlookers (including an iguana on the roof).

Unfortunately, in discovering - as I was walking away from the ceremony towards the after-wedding drinks on the pier - the trick of formatting my memory card to access it again...I erased the pictures I'd taken leading up to that moment (including one of the iguana). I'm sure I lost a few that no one else had taken. One or two that I thought were really quite nice... but the ones that I had left, of the pier and the sunset, well... I think they're enough to give an idea. And I'll let them speak for themselves in the meantime, until I can upload some that others have taken.

(There was an old couple on the pier when Michelle - the bride - was walking out, who said that they were celebrating their anniversary. They congratulated her, and exchanged kisses.)


The groom (Eric) with his father and two of his daughters.







(The obligatory glorious sunset... :-)

Day 1 6/26 - Coffee tour and Puntarenas

While working on my post this morning, my travel companion (Ann) for the first part of my trip was chatting with other people in the hotel (people started waking up as I was working on my post). As it happens, she met the owner of the hotel who was sitting in the computer room and talking to people that were there. He was very gracious and personable, and had the cutest little 11-month old boy named Ben, who took an instant liking to my camera case. The owner Vincent is from France, and his wife is Scottish, so Ben will grow up speaking French, English, and Spanish.

We took a taxi to a hotel nearby where we met Joe, who drove us (and a few other people we picked up along the way) on a tour to the Café Britt headquarters in Heredia. Joe told us that we would like Heredia, it was much more beautiful than San Jose. Then he told us that he was from there, and we laughed. We had to

admit that he was right - it is a beautiful area, with gardens

and flowers, less crowds, and more relaxed.

The grounds of the coffee plantation were beautiful - lush and very well maintained. There were coffee plants and mangoes and bananas.









There is a display there explaining a tradition unique to Heredia, involving puppet-like figures and humor to tell subversive local stories of power struggles between landowners and workers.

Here I must say something about the tour... Our tour guides were bilingual, seamlessly moving between Spanish and English, joking in both languages. It became evident that it was somewhat rehearsed, a routine that they played out for the benefit of the visitors - but it was done so intelligently, and playfully, and with such obvious love for the traditions that they came from, what they were doing, and for the coffee that is their livelihood - that I left feeling very impressed. The tour guides included the owner himself and his niece (a living example of how independence - the government gave coffee plants to the people! - gave economic opportunity to those formerly disadvantaged), and toward the end involved them dressing up in costumes, using something of their comedic theatrical tradition on a stage, to play out some of the history of coffee for us themselves. This could have been terribly cheesy and a little off-putting in an overdone way (they were unabashed capitalists, as well) - but they were such consummate performers, so practiced at it while still having a lot of fun, that it was thoroughly enjoyable - and gave us a taste of more than just the coffee.

Oh, yeah... and lunch! Delicious... mostly typical Costa Rican fare.




As foreseen, the free coffee samples kicked in and I was talking fast all afternoon! We got a transfer from the hotel in San Jose here to the Doubletree Hilton in Puntarenas. We made use of the phrasebook to ask about the landscape, and find out the latest on the US soccer team on the trip. Through mountains and clouds - past hidden volcanos and lush valleys - along the Interamerican Highway. It turns out we have to be careful about what is included in our 'All-inclusive!' hotel (I'm in the lobby of the hotel to use the 'free' wi-fi)... but it is a beautiful spot, and we look forward to relaxing and making the most of it. The evening ended with dinner with our friends and their parents, and a visit to the hot tub, before the day's activity caught up with us (and the coffee buzz wore off) and we succumbed to the call of the comfortable beds.