Karen's journey into the unknown

Last day

2006-12-19T20:46:03Z

My last day in Costa Rica today. I can´t believe it, thought this was my life there for a moment. Getting back is going to be a big big shock. The border crossing back to Costa Rica was hot, long and tiring, and quite frustrating because they don´t make it very clear where you have to go to get your exit stamps. Quite relieved to have that out of the way, but so so sorry to say goodbye to Nicaragua. I had the most wonderful wonderful time there. It is a country so rich in culture and history. Costa Rica seems tame in comparison. Nicaragua has such depth to it´s beauty. I stayed a week on a volcanic island. Five days at this really friendly hostel, where I took Spanish classes with a 21 year old called Leonel. He has really helped me to get a better grasp on the past tense, we spent about 13 hours practising it. He was so patient and so lovely to talk to, and like no 21 year old I have ever met before. He has lots of poems memorised in his mind, and he was wrting them down for me and we were translating them and talking about them. So not only was it a lesson in Spanish but also in the art and culture and history of Nicaragua. We had such a good laugh too. Especially when he was teaching me nicañol, which is the spanish used by nicaraguans. So I feel great that I have had a look into Spanish from Spain, Costa Rica and now Nicaragua. It is such an amazingly rich language. I finally feel as if I´m staring to understand things much more. Although my sentences are still really clumsy when I´m trying to have a conversation, but I feel like I´m communicating on such a higher level than I was before. I couldn´t have talked about the history of Nicaragua in Spanish when I first came to Central America. I feel so so sad to leave. I´m dreading only hearing English. The world is going to seem so flat and dull without the Spanish. Like a major part of my life will vanish. Trying to be positive about my return though and not dwell too much on these thoughts.

The photo is me with some kids from Ometepe, they all wanted me to take their photos so they could see themselves on the screen. They took me into the church especially for the photo.

It was big day in Ompetepe because it was the high school graduation. It is a really huge thing to graduate in Nicaragua. There was parties going on everywhere. Leonel invited me to the party. First we went to his auntie´s house, where we had rice and beans and coca cola (a big big treat in Nicaragua, only for very special occassions). Then there was a party at the local school, they had a massive sound system and they really know how to party on that island. It was wonderful dancing and celebrating the high school graduation with all the lovely people. Leonel was introducing me to everyone, quite proud introducing me as his student (i was his first one). Felt a bit bad though when people would talk to me and I struggled to understand what they said. It made him look like a rubbish teacher! I was nervous though meeting all these new people. The brain doesn´t work as quick in that state.

So all in all this truly has been a non stop collection of the most amazing experiences of my life. I´m so happy I took the plunge and came. It feels good to face my fear and find there´s nothing to be scared of after all. In fact life here feels safer than in Britain. I have a looming dread of the metro and all the sadness on it. I´m going to so much miss saying hello to strangers in the street, and looking at the warmth and smiles of the people here. All the fun little encounters and conversations, and having my brain working overtime everyday trying to work out what everyone´s talking about.

I´m intrigued to see how England will look after 4 months away. Hopefully a bit better than the way I saw it when I left. Dreading the cold. A bit scared of all the xmas frenzy, xmas things are so gentle here. No huge plastic santas in the gardens. I keep forgetting it´s xmas in fact, then i look at a xmas tree in the sunshine and it looks very odd.

Thanks for reading my blog. It´s been fun writing it. Happy Christmas everyone, see you when i get back. Looking forward to lots of nice chats with you all when i get back.

Last day remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Nearing the end of the adventure....

2006-12-13T14:37:05Z

It"s been difficult to put into words my experience of Nicaragua. It has been a completely different experience to Costa Rica. Wonderul to visit the cities of Granada and Leon. So much life and vibrancy and a real feeling of hope and excitement. It was a 7 day festival where the people carry the staute of the Virgin Mary around the streets and set off firecrakers and sparklers everywhere. In Leon all these little boys were running around constantly banging drums. They had such an amazing sense of rhythm. I loved the parks and all the people hanging out talking, spending time together, not drinking or shopping, just spending time enjoying life. I wish we had that more in England. The buildings of those two cities were beautiful. The restaurants had huge high ceilings and lots of wooden chairs and tables, but never anyone in them really. As if the party had ended and Id missed it.

I went to some beach towns too. A couple where there wasn't any other tourists really. Had a wonderful experience with lots of kids. They were all selling necklaces and things on the beach. I was chatting with them and we ended up playing a game. It was a drawing game where you had clues and then everyone would guess the word, and then write it. So they had really basic reading and writing skills so it was good because they were learning how to write new words and they were teaching me spanish words at the same time. It was so wonderful, when I left they were all laughing and playing and having lots of fun. It was lovely to see them acting as children, rather than just working.

Now I'm on a volcanic island. Had another wonderful experience where I had a drink with some locals. One was an artist and he was showing me all these beautiful paintings he had done, all relating to the history of Nicaragua. They were talking to me all about the revolution and one of them was reciting some poems of Ruben Dario. I wished so much my Spanish was better because I was only grasping it on such a basic level and would have loved to have understood completely. But they were so eager to hear my experiences, and were so interested to hear how it is living in a Capitalist country. One of them said i was "muy valiente" very brave, to come to a country with such different politics to my own country. I said it was the whole reason I needed to come here, and that it was an honour to be here.

Well I've had so many wonderful little encounters like this, i could write all day about it. There is so so much to say about Nicaragua. I don't feel like I have the right words to express it really. I'm staying at another town on the volcanic island at the moment. In a brilliant friendly hostel with lots of communal meals, and I'm meeting lots of nice people. It's fun to share lots of stories of travels when I come to the end of my trip. I'll write again before I leave.

Nearing the end of the adventure.... remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

NICARAGUA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-11-27T23:00:39Z

Have no time but i made it to Nicaragua and it is like being in a different world.......

Pigs grazing everywhere, horses, everyone selling something, hot hot hot, and lovely warmth in the eyes ad smiles of the people.

Red black flags flying everywhere.

My head is in spin spin.............

NICARAGUA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

I felt the earth move

2006-11-19T00:39:31Z

I was sitting in a cafe today. Feeling happy because they had soya milk and i was drinking my first cup of tea in 2 months. The table started to shake and I wondered why someone was shaking the table so hard, and then it built up and felt like there was a train hurtling through the ground right under my feet. I didn't know what was going on. It was very strange. Then some people (North Americans) started wooping and cheering saying it was an earthquake. Not sure why they were so happy. I suppose they didn't think a really big earthquake would happen when they'd paid to come on holiday. Or maybe it was just because they are used to tremors. And it was quite exhilirating. But i was shaking at the same time! and sort of waiting for the ground to start splitting open........It was the strangest thing. Like the earth growling, reminding us all that there's bigger things at work here.
So it's been a good few hours and there hasn't been anymore. Apparently it's perfectly normal at this time of year, because the rainy season is ending and the summer is here.
I think it will be on my mind, for a while though.........

I felt the earth move remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Tropical wonderland

2006-11-16T04:08:48Z

Corcovado, the tropical paradise was my best experience yet in Costa Rica. You have to go on this really exciting boat ride to get there in a speed boat. You go past crocodiles on the river and then you go on to the sea and you get thrown all over the place and it was raining really heavy the day I went. Then you land on the beach and you have to wade through the sea to get there. So the place I stayed was a little bay with no roads, no shops, no electricity at night, just rain forest and these beautiful little secret beaches. The place I stayed was gorgeous, run by a Costa Rican family and really friendly. I slept in a beautiful cabin on stilts and you could hear the waves all around. At night there was lots of fireflies outside the window. There was coconuts and almonds growing on the beach, and all these beautiful scarlet macaws flying around. Seeing the scarlet macaws in the wild felt so so special. The colours are so vibrant, and they have these huge long, ornate tails. Such a difference to the macaws you see in cages, where they look all sad and their colours have faded. In the wild they are colour that I just can't describe with words, and the red and blue and yellow is even brighter against the green of the trees and the speed of the flight. I wonder how long they can last for. They just look too beautiful for this world. Corcovado has one the biggest populations left in the world. They're still there because it's still hardly inhabited by humans. It is a completely untouched natural landscape, just changed by time and the rain and the waves rather than by humans and their destructiveness. The beach has huge big ornate shells, like treasure. I have a few in my bag. I was so tempted to swop some of my clothes for some more shells! But just can't carry a heavier bag. So at night the electricity would go off, and it would make that sound that electricity makes when it cuts out, like that whirring down sound. Then the place would just pulse and vibrate with insect sounds and all these electronic beeps and buzzes, sometimes made by frogs or other animals that I have no idea what they could possibly be. Using flashlights and candles just gave such a deeper understanding and feel for the place. The darkness felt so soothing and tranquil and so much a part of the place. And so alive with animal life. I wanted to stay there forever. When I had to get on the boat to leave I felt like my heart would break, because I wanted to just stay in that world. Other places in Costa Rica feel natural, but that place was truly wild. Well there's lots more good experiences to be had. Yesterday I swam in a waterfall, and that was so exhilirating and was the full force of nature all around me again. I kept looking at it feeling like it must be made of plastic or some other manmade material. My brain is so detached from something so spectacular. The leaves and twigs I kept finding on my legs though, made it clear that it was really natural and not something created by Disney.
I'm feeling quite exhilirated. On my way up the Pacific coast on my way to Nicaragua........

Tropical wonderland remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Beep beep

2006-11-09T17:10:53Z

Buses in Panama are lots of fun. All the luggage goes on the roof, so 3 men work the buses, one to drive, one to go on the roof and tie up the bags and one to stand at the door shouting the destination to everyone. They blast out the music all the way, so it depends who you get to what type of music you get. The first journey was 4 hours so we got the reggaeton all the way. Seems it is big in Panama too. Then when people get on the bus they greet everyone with a buenas dias. It is so brilliant. It was a big fiesta in Panama. A three day bank holiday for the independence from Colombia and the Day of the Dead. So exciting to be in Latin America for Day of the Dead. I wish we had it in England. I think it is a wonderful concept. I followed a marching band around on the night, lots of people held candles. All the way round I thought of my dad and grandad. Then I had a rum and coke and thought of them some more. That{s what it{s all about.

Back in Costa Rica. Im waiting to get a boat to go to a bay where there is no electricity, a huge poplualtion of scarlet macaws and lots of tropical rain forest. Sounds exciting.

Beep beep remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Borderland

2006-11-02T00:07:51Z

I decided to come to Panama. Not somewhere I´ve thought too much about, I´m a little bit ashamed to say. I was so close though it seemed a shame not to have a look. So I´ve come to these islands, called Bocas del Toro. I came by speedboat! It was exciting crossing the border. Not too much officialdom, we all had to wait in the sweltering heat while the lady had her lunch break. She is famous for her lunch break apparently. The Costa Rican side have a lunch break too, and there is a time difference of one hour, so for 2 hours the border closes for lunch. Much more relaxed way of going about things than all that nonsense at Heathrow and LA when I left. A man with one leg accompanied me and some spanish girls across the bridge, making sure we got our taxi to the docks and to the boat. Didn´t really need his help but he was really friendly and welcoming. Lots of children stared at us when we came across the bridge. I met a canny english couple too and had a drink with them while we waited for the lunch break to end. They live on a boat in Panama.

The journey took about 5 hours. Nearly all the way here, there were only banana plantations, owned by Chiquita. It seems Chiquita own practically all of the southern tip of Costa Rica and the north of Panama. I feel so far from home here, it really makes me realise exactly how far that banana travels to get to South Gosforth Fruiters. Life looks hard for the people who live in those endless strips of banana plants.

Panama is bright. Lots of lovely, bright sunlight. The roads are really wide and made of tarmac. Didn´t realise, but what a nice break from tarmac I´ve had. Most of the roads in Costa Rica, except in San Jose, are just dirt or gravel . So these big, wide roads look strangely alien.

So I´m coming to Panama with a completely open mind. Don´t really know anything about it, or the people. So let´s see what it holds...........

Borderland remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

I saw a sloth crossing the road yesterday!!

2006-10-31T00:53:07Z

That was a wonderful experience. It looked hard for it to walk, really painful on these long claws. At times i thought it was just going to give up and have a lie down instead. I didn´t have my camera.

So the Caribbean is full of lots of nice little encounters like that. People give you words of encouragement in the streets. A wise man told me to keep my head up and not look at the ground. He said for real, keep my head up high.

Today a lady braided the front bits of my hair. She put this nice gel on it too. My hair was so dry and horrible it felt nice and fresh just like she said it would.

I´ve toured the whole Caribbean coast now. Went to an amazing place that was only accessible by boat. The boat ride was magical just as i imagine the amazon to be. Caimans basking at the sides of the river and lots of birds. I had a brilliant guided walk on the beach at night too to watch a turtle laying her eggs. But while I watched i felt like i was intruding on a private momnet. I felt a bit guilty about it. But loved the beach walk. The turtle was huge.

Then I stayed at a seaside lodge in another town, I could hear the waves crashing against the rocks when i went to sleep. It was owned by all these young boys who sat around in rocking chairs, and hammocks listening to reggae. I love the pace here. That´s my kind of pace. The people have been friendly too. The Caribbean is like a different world to other parts of Costa Rica. San Jose feels a million miles away, not just a 5 hour bus ride.

I went swimming in the sea too. the beaches here have flowers on them, and lots of little crabs running around.

things are going well..................

I saw a sloth crossing the road yesterday!! remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Running away from butterflies

2006-10-23T17:47:37Z

The butterfly garden was making me sad and giving me an upset stomach, so I left. It rained constantly and was always covered completely in cloud. I found the dark, damp nights alone a little claustrophobic. I didn´t like looking at the insects in the little glass boxes either. I wanted to let them all go, but I was supposed to catch more from the garden. So I decided that that wasn´t what I wanted to do for a month. There feels like so much I want to see here that there isn´t a month spare to do something I´m not happy with. After all, I may never get back to Central America in my life so have to make the most of it.
So I got up really early friday morning and got the 6am bus to La Fortuna, a touristy town with a massive active volcano overlooking it. It was very beautiful, but everyone kept speaking english to me and there were lots of North Americans everywhere. I stayed in a little cabin attached to a Costa Rican family´s house. The lady was really friendly and cooked me vegan breakfasts and called me isabelle (she liked my middle name, elizabeth more than karen).
So now I´ve had a rethink, and I have the travelling bug. I´m now in a jungle border town called Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, where I stayed last night. I´m waiting to get a bus into the proper Caribbean. So my new plan is to travel on the local buses right down the Caribbean coast. It´s lovely and warm and dry (well, less dry) on this side. Something I craved a little after the wetness of Monteverde. So I´m just going to take it as it comes.....I like the idea of being able to go and do whatever I feel like doing. The butterfly garden experience made me really appreciate the freedom I have on this trip. There´s plenty of time later for restrictions and routines. But for the moment, I have 8 weeks left to learn how to speak some Spanish in the past tense and see some life in this beautiful country.

Running away from butterflies remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

My brain is going to explode

2006-10-18T02:12:32Z

I'm at the butterfly garden now. My head is hurting.....this morning I felt completely overwhelmed, and packed my bag and was ready to leave. Luckily the lovely girl in charge of the garden persuaded me to stay. There is so much to learn! All the insect names and their life cycles and relating it to Costa Rica and the whole animal kingdom and then on top of that trying to speak Spanish to the local people who work here. So this morning I woke up with no confidence and thought I could never give the tours and never be heard with my stupid quiet voice that cracks all the time. and my ear problem came back with avengence, making it even more hard to speak.

deep breath though......

this is really good experience for me. I could conquer my fear of public speaking if I can pull this off.

and i'm staying at the garden alone at night for the first week. which is quite an experience. massive spiders crawling up the walls right beside my head and crazy insect noises all around me. but this is why i came here.

so i'm trying not to run away and once again face my fears (not the spiders the speaking!).

the day got better though and i listened to lots of tours and tried to take in the information and chatted to the tica girls who work there, and then we all went out for a drink tonight.

so tomorrow i will give my first tour of the garden. unless i run away in the night......which i won't be doing...

My brain is going to explode remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

el carnaval de limon

2006-10-15T23:12:00Z

Spent the weekend in Puerto Limon, on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. It was the carnival. What a fantastic experience that was! The main parade is next weekend, but there was still lots going on. Lots of stalls and soundsystems in the streets. Mucho mucho divertido to be had! The music was lots of bass heavy stuff with dirty macho lyrics, salsa and cumbian. Oh yeah and the big Costa Rica favourite, Reggaeton. Reggaeton is Puerto Rican, so all the lyrics are Spanish. I think it´s probably for the best I can´t understand all of the lyrics. There was teenage boys in the crowd, lighting up aerosols too, just like I´ve seen in the videos!

In the day time there was a children´s parade. We weren´t sure what was going on at first becuse all these boys were running so fast down the street with such a huge sense of urgency, it was quite frightening. Wondering what it was they were running from. But then when you watched for longer, there were older boys with these big papier mache heads on, and they would wack the other boys with the heads and then they´d all chase after each other down the street. Apparently it is a ¨´community joke´ and something which happens every year. It was fun to watch.

Then at night the streets just came alive with music and dancing. The people were so nice again, and I got to have some lovely chats in spanish with some limoneses, as the locals call themselves. So I didn´t want to leave, as the carnival goes on all week. I´m not usually one to leave the party when it´s in full swing, but I didn´t think it would be so safe to stay alone. Also I have the next stage of my journey....so i have commitments.

So tomorrow is Monteverde and the butterlies.....feeling quite nervous wondering what is in store for me. But excited too...

el carnaval de limon remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

My last week in San Jose

2006-10-11T21:55:51Z

I felt like my Spanish was coming along really well until today. In class we started to learn the past tense today and I realised what an absolutely huge task this whole language learning business is. So I feel like I have a good grasp of the present tense now. But that took 3 weeks. It feels really sad to be leaving the school, when I am learning so much everyday. But I can´t really stay here for the whole time. I need to use the language I´ve learned to talk to people and build on it from there. The school and staying with Felicia gives me such confidence, I hope that I have the nerve to keep talking when I leave that security net.

So my last class tomorrow, and then at the weekend I´m going with some North American girls to the carnival at Puerto Limon. I wasn´t sure wether to go, because the big weekend is the following weekend. I´ve heard it´s dangerous too....well I´m drawn there anyway...I´ll be with other people. People say Notting Hill carnival is dangerous but I managed to stay safe and have fun there. So I´ll give it a go anyway...

I was feeling sad about the bird project not working out, so have been going all out to contact them, but there´s no reply. The phone line is disconnected, the emails bounce back, the website has gone. Well at least I tried all possibilities. So I´m off to the butterfly garden in Monteverde to be an english speaking guide on Monday. I have my own room in this really beautiful, remote area so am looking forward to that. I´m a little nervous about giving the tours, but just keep thinking that I´ve been speaking almost completely in Spanish for the last 3 weeks so how hard can giving tours in English really be? I might have to pick up tarantulas too! Wonder if I´ll be able to do that.....I´m looking forward to being in such a lovely, peaceful location after all the traffic and craziness of San Jose.

The photo is a typical scene of my life from the last few weeks. I sit at the table with Felicia and we chat and often she paints and I try to learn verb endings, but often get distracted by the amazingly tacky soap operas you get on Latin American TV. I think watching tele is a better learning style anyway, writing and rewriting verb endings doesn´t really stick in your head for too long...Haha that´s my excuse anyway....

Tonight I´m going out for dinner with some North Americans. They´re nice people but one of them seems to constantly talk about the price of things. He keeps announcing in a really loud voice how "that´s absolutley nothing" to him. I just cringe in my chair and hope that noone around can speak English. But of course they probably all can, and can understand every word of his arrogance.

My last week in San Jose remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Rain and buses

2006-10-06T20:15:35Z

Just waiting for the rain to stop. First day I´ve come out the house without my rain coat, and of course there is a torrential downpour. I´ll give it 10 minutos. Am going to go out and explore some of San Jose this afternoon. Looking forward to seeing it as I´ve only really seen the school, the mall (there´s a big Nort American influence here) and Felicia´s house (and the bus route). I´m starting to feel more at ease here now. I have a nice routine which I´d like to keep going for longer. I love the school, and learning all this spanish every day. I feel like it is opening up a whole new world to me. And Felicia is so amazing. I love our chats, and the way she has welcomed me into her home with such kindness. I hope we stay in touch when I leave. This morning she made me soya ham tacos for breakfast! I can´t believe you can get soya ham here! Felicia quite likes the soya mince, especially the way it has less fat than real mince (I think she might even buy it when I leave!)

Costa Rica has a lovely gentle pace. I love the way each day the rain interrupts everything and brings a big sense of tranquility.

Every day when I get the bus back to Felicia´s, it is always really jammed with people, but people seem to work together in a way which I´m not used to. For example, the people standing (I´m always one of them), move down the bus in a line to make space for the new people getting on the bus. There is not a big fight for space, every piece of space is used and it is done so in a very respectful style. Also if a man is sitting and an older woman is standing, always the man will get up. I noticed this in the hispanic areas of LA too. Often the man and the woman will talk to each other too, and it will look like they are friends. But it is just the gesture which has brought on a conversation. So it feels really sad that I actually find this kind of behaviour unusual. I often wonder "what would these people think if they were on the metro?" Often too when the buses are quieter, someone will get on and tell a big story, which unfortunately I can´t understand , and then come round selling chocolate bars. Again, the reactions of the people suprise me. Instead of everyone turning away and pretending the person is invisible, people listen to the story and then quite a few people buy the chocolate. I´m sure lots more things go on on the buses of San Jose but I´ve still to see them.

Rain and buses remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Reggaeton meltdown

2006-10-04T22:36:15Z

Hola! Been away from computerland for awhile. A good sign, I think. Went to some paradise type beaches in Manuel Antonio with a load of students from the Spanish School. It was fun, the first night there were little geckoes running up the walls of the cabin. It was hot even when we arrived late at night! It was the kind of humidity I'd expected the whole of Costa Rica to be. Lucky for me though, San Jose, isn't that hot.

We went on lots of walks and saw lots of secret beaches, with palm trees and flowers lying in the sand. The shells were like coral, and there was lizards wandering around. Very different to Tynemouth beach!

One of the days we went on a guided walk and saw sloths (the photo), and iguanas, and lots of monkeys. Wildlife galore, and actually a lot easier to see than the dense forest canopy of Monteverde.

Went out in the local town, Quepos, and chatted to some of the locals which was fun. We even went to a nightclub! Very strange experience here in Costa Rica. Everyone seems to dance in couples. Doing all the salsa moves. Haha it was fun to watch. Then the other music I heard everywhere was reggaeton. Seems very popular in Quepos. Pretty cheesy but from now on it will only make me smile........

Reggaeton meltdown remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

My muchacha chat

2006-09-27T23:25:26Z

Can't really believe that I'm managing to have conversations completely in Spanish. It really is quite amazing. Especially as I only know the present tense, and obviously not all of it. But all the classes here in the school are completely in Spanish, and then at night I sit with Felicia and we actually have conversations in Spanish. Although she speaks very slowly for me and chooses her words carefully so that I will understand. My teacher Paoulo, does too, and it leads me into a false world of believing that I can actually speak Spanish. Then Felicia's family come round and they all speak as they would normally, and of course I realise that I can only follow tiny sections! But it's all progress....

One of the days in the class there was just me and Paoulo because Petter, the Norweigan man, went somewhere else. We spent the whole afternoon talking about our lives, relationships with los hombres, feelings about having children, our families....I even managed to tell her about the completely naked man I saw on Sunday in the bushes playing with his man parts, calling out buenas dias to me. It was okay though I was too busy carrying heavy bags in the boiling hot to be too concerned about that. Although I was really pleased not to be on the same side of the road as him. I'll just keep away from those bushes....So anyway, that was quite an achievement to explain all that to Paoulo. Much further on than my first night with Felicia when I just didn't have the words to desrcibe it, or to describe anything really....

Felicia is so kind and makes me all this amazing food with no animal products in, it is so lovely of her. Especially as vegetarianism is not something which she's ever given any thought to. Although she makes me feel terrible that she won't let me help, although I've fought a good battle in Spanish and managed to get an arrangement where I do the washing up. Some students though stay with huge families and the mother does everything, so I'm quite glad to have the one on one contact with Felicia. It's definitely helped my Spanish lots more as I don't think I'd be speaking as much if I was with a huge family.

Oh dear think the college is closing, better go. I'll write more soon. Hope everybody's well. I'm not getting too much chance to write emails so sorry for that.

My muchacha chat remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

At the Spanish School

2006-09-26T14:51:36Z

Here I am, staying with an amazing, lovely Costa Rican lady called Felicia, and her funny little dog, Jack and 2 cats, Pepe and Luca. I can say with complete honesty that this is by far the craziest thing I have ever done in my whole life. I never ever thought it would be possible for me to do something like this.

The first night I got here, Felicia had all her family come over. They are lovely people, and I felt quite frustrated that I couldn't communicate with them through language only with smiles and gestures. Her daughter works at the mini golf, so we all went to play mini golf. That was a wonderful way of communicating without language. Bit nerve wracking at first because I was so nervous I was taking 7 and 8 shots to pot the ball, but my mini golf skills improved and i even got a huyo in uno! They are such a loving family and welcome me so whole heartedly, it is quite amazing, to witness. Especially for my reserved British self. There was no winner or loser in the mini golf too, I was interested to note, something which I think sums something up about the Costa Rican people and their attitude to the world.

I'm only getting odd little snatches on computers at the minute, as things are so busy and it's quite hard to get to computers as I don't want to be rude to Felicia, and not really to keen to go out in the dark by myself in San Jose. Have absolutely no bearings at all yet. Although I did get to the school alone on the bus this morning so that feels like another small achievement.

The Spanish school is really well organised, they are very patient and kind, and constantly making sure we are fine and have no problems. The entire class is in Spanish and I learnt so much on the first day, they have pitched it at the perfect level for me. I'm quite plesed because I am a little bit higher than the very first level so my spanish classes must have paid off! Met some really nice people here too, so nice to have interesting chats, although they are in english! My class consists of me and a really fun Norweigan man called Peter who likes sailing and has been to Newcastle lots of times on the ferry! Oh there's the bell for the start of class the bells are funny, like being back at school! Better go, I'll try and write more later, still so much to tell you all......

At the Spanish School remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Bus ride was fine....

2006-09-24T19:38:32Z

Just a really quick one to say I made it to San JOse. The bus ride was fine, amazing views and passed all these brilliant little places with people selling hammocks and dried fruit, and other things that I´ve never seen before. The Coca Cola bus terminal is supposed to be the dodgiest part of San Jose, but it looked like nothing compared to LA! So now I´m just waiting for Leonel to pick me up to take me to Felicia´s house, my ama de casa. I have a few phrases ready, about my barrio and my likes and dislikes...but will probably get nervous and say all the wrong words! oh well, at least I´ve done the thing I was most worried about and that was the bus journey. Can´t believe I found an internet cafe just round the corner from the Spanish School! So I´m sure it´s going to be hand gestures and facial expressions a plenty for the next 3 weeks!

Bus ride was fine.... remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Walking through the forest canopy

2006-10-11T21:57:53Z

Yesterday I went on a guided walk on these suspension bridges through the forest canopy. It's a completely different ecosystem up there to the ground and so is really interesting. I felt completely and utterly overwhelmed by it actually. I had to go to the back to hide my emotion, it was all a bit much for me. So amazing to be up there just like the birds and all the sloths and other creatures. The guide was brilliant, he was from the Caribbean side of Costa Rica and told us lots of lovely stories about the plants and their uses. The forest is just full of medicines and foods and amazing uses. So the photo is of the tallest fern in the world (very likely anyway). The ferns here are massive trees, I didn't even know that ferns grow so high.
Last night I couldn't sleep thinking there was a hurricane. Huge gusts of wind all around. But it was okay, just a bit windy and me being paranoid.....
So taking it easy today, no guided walks today. I need to have a rest and learn some spanish because i go to San Jose on the bus tomorrow, to start the Spanish school. Really nervous about the journey and experiencing Central American buslife....I've bought my ticket though so don't have to worry about that part. Then have to make a phonecall in Spanish today to Spanish school driver and that is also making me very nervous. So in general today I'm feeling nervous and tired and have a stomach in knots. But still feeling good, and enjoying the challenges and wondering what tomorrow will bring. You never quite know here.

Walking through the forest canopy remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

My dramatic walk through the rainforest at night

2006-09-22T01:37:48Z

I went on the most amazing guided walk last night. Monteverde is not a cloud forest for nothing, the rain can be torrential and it is every day at least once, normally more than that. So I went through the forest in the dark, with a guide called Sergio, he has lived in MOnteverde all his life and seemed to know every little nook and cranny of the forest and made it all seem perfectly safe. Even when he was joking to the man from LA in our group that the jaguars always eat the last person in the line! So the rain was pounding all around us, but I was okay because I had my waterproof poncho and my hiking boots. There was lightning striking all around us it was so dramatic! There was a wonderful moment when he made us all turn off our torches and we stood there for ages in the dark listening to the sounds and he said "this is how it is being an animal in the forest". So we saw nectar eating bats, a hole made by a tarantuala (he said it was there last night but must have been eaten), walking sticks (big green stick insects), loads of crickets. Then the most exciting part.....a snake eating a lizard!!!!! my first ever view of a snake in the wild! in the costa rican rainforest at night eating a lizard! how exciting is that???!! this is what i came all this way for! and it was particularly exciting because these snakes live in trees and rarely come to the ground so we were very lucky to see it. We stood for ages watching this snake eating a lizard. No photos, I didn't even bother trying in the dark and with all the rain.
Looks like the bird project has folded....my big reason for coming to Costa Rica! maybe just the catalyst though....all the emails are bouncing back and the website has gone down. So I was wondering about that...then today, i visited a wonderful butterfly garden. I chatted to these two english girls who are volunteering, they leave next week and said that they are looking for volunteers! so it is free and they provide all food and lodging. I stayed there about 5 hours chatting with them and met the biologist, Zac, a really nice man from Utah and he said they'd love to have me there! So you give guided walks and look after the plants and he is an insect specialist so imagine how much i will learn about insects from him. There are two tica girls too so i'll get to speak spanish too! so that all feels like a very exciting possibility. I have the email and he said they will expect me in 3 weeks after my spanish school otherwise contact him to let him know I can't do it. So maybe I shouldn't feel so bad about the birds.....after birds my big love is butterflies, so maybe it happened like that for a reason? well let's see what happens.....

My dramatic walk through the rainforest at night remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Costa Rica is unimaginably beautiful!!!!!!!!!

2006-09-20T03:14:09Z

I made it to Costa Rica!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!here i am, like a dream in the cloud forest, Monteverde!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have had the most amazing journey since I last wrote. LA was so wonderful and I felt so sad to leave Andrew and Lenny and the Californian fun and sunshine. I had such butterflies in my stomach, getting on the plane. I went through Dallas and American airlines hate vegetarians but at least I´d stocked up on vegan delights in LA, I didn´t need their food anyway..... and Dallas just made me think of that horrible programme from my childhood and the way it tried to implant the capitalist mentality into me....(and I probably shouldn´t talk about that on here, because i guess that´s how I´ve got to Costa Rica?)
anyway, i´m diverting......
I suppose what I´m trying to say is that when I got on the plane I felt like I was going to another planet almost. My first view of the Costa Rican people was one of complete warmth. I had such a good feeling as soon as I got on that plane at Dallas. I sat next to a lovely warm hearted Costa Rican lady and we smiled at each other lots and both probably looked quite nervous to the outside world.
So I arrived in San Jose, expecting a complete scary hustle and bustle of taxi drivers grabbing my bag. Instead I had very polite men welcoming me to their country and asking if I´d like a taxi....I´d booked this shuttle which never turned up and one man did get quite persistant, although in a quite unthreatening way, but his taxi was in the parking lot (and I wasn´t walking across a parking lot with anyone), so in the end I just took a red one that looked official to get away from him. So arrived at Casa Hilda, where the owner, Luis made me feel very welcome. My room was a little bit like a windowless cell, but in the morning I had a lovely (much welcome) breakfast of tropical fruits and toast, and had nice chats with 2 couples, Spanish and German. They all seemed impressed I was alone and gave me lots of support and good wishes.
Then the best part.... I got this touristy shuttle I´d booked online to Monteverde. The photo above is of the driver, Pedro. There was just the two of us so we had the most amazing drive and chatted all the way. I apologised (in Spanish) for my Spanish and he was so laid back just saying "we practise". His English was about on the same level as my Spanish (very basic) so we had this most amazing 6 hour drive where he showed me all the sites, and taught me lots of words and phrases and made me feel so welcome and so much more confident about speaking Spanish. I showed him my postcards of North Shields, he thought it looked beautiful! Haha wonder what he´d think if he got the metro......unfortunately I didn´t have the vocabulary to explain so I just agreed that yes it was beautiful.
He took me round all the sites of Monteverde and kept getting out to pick fruit off the trees for us to eat in the car, and stopping to show me howler monkeys in the trees and to look at all the best views. He gave me a Costa Rican flag because he has two, la bandera. Everyone seems to have flags on their car windows, the people seem very proud of their country and it is so so beautiful I can see why. It seems different to the Union Jacks in North Shields. So when I took his photo he had his flag in his hand, and he picked a lovely flower for me to hold and took my photo (but i look awful in it so you probably won´t see that one!) Then when we got to Monteverde, the hotel I reserved forgot about me so Pedro helped me find another room. He gave me his guide book to Central America and said I must contact him if I have any problems in Costa Rica. He was so kind, and wouldn´t take a tip just wanted a coca cola but then a massive storm started and it all went a bit crazy with a torrential downpour and thunder and lightning and he accepted money instead of a coca cola...
Sorry this is really long, I won´t be offended if you are asleep now.
I´ll just say quick about where I´m staying. A lovely cabina with a really nice costa rican family. The man is called Eddy and he is so kind too. and I have my own bathroom and they have a kitchen so I went to the supermarket and cooked myself a lovely meal, so don´t have to worry about the chicken stock and lard for now. Eddy can book me tours so I have big plans for my time in Monteverde, I´m going to see so much crazy wildlife. I already have. Thousands of butterflies flying all round the car with Pedro and vultures flying overhead. I have seen the famous blue morpho butterfly already (blue similar to a kingfisher)and I´ve only been here one day!
So just to let you all know, Costa Rica is 100 times more beautiful than I imagined, I can tell already. I feel completely safe (although obviously totally watching my back and being careful still). The people are amazing and I feel so so unbelievably lucky and honoured to be here.......

Costa Rica is unimaginably beautiful!!!!!!!!! remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

In a big Costa Rica rush

2006-09-18T08:33:12Z

Typical me. It's 1am and i have to be up at 6am to get my flight to Costa Rica. I had all these big plans to write on here and download photos or upload them whatever the terms are. But here I am still packing my bag after faffing around all day.....
Oh well, I'm still feeling good. It's to be expected, it's what I do most of the time I go anywhere. At least Andrew is driving me to the airport and will make sure I don't faff to the point of missing my flight.
He's so lovely and such a wonderful, inspirational friend and I'm going to miss him loads. Got used to this LA lifestyle. Definitely won't leave it 5 years to come back.
I have so much to write and so many photos to share but there's just not time. Have to do it in Costa Rica.
Costa Rica tomorrow, I can't believe it.....
LA has given me such confidence though. The fear has turned to solid excitement now. I'm so so intrigued to see what's in store. I've dealt with lots of annoying crazy men on the streets and I've found my way round on buses, and had so much fun here. The beautiful abundant plantlife here has just made me think if a car heavy metropolis like this can be so beautiful what on earth is it going to be like in a tropical land? I'm actually going to find out....I can't quite believe it.
So I wanted to share more but will have to leave it at that as my bag needs to be packed. Costa Rica here I come.......................

In a big Costa Rica rush remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Los Angeles city of angels

2006-09-13T17:41:43Z

Feeling quite tired today. It's quite tricky getting around this carland on public transport. Although the buses are fun and you see some amazing characters on them. There is a massive class divide here, which is really represented on the buses. Every journey takes quite a lot of planning.

Went to the Natural History Museum yesterday, and spent hours looking at all the amazing things. They have one of the world's largest ever quartz crystal balls. I looked into it but couldn't see my future. I also liked the meteorite from Mars which landed in LA county in 1999.

At night we went out downtown (in Andrew's car, which means you can go to areas that are no-go for someone like me on foot, like a voyeur). Downtown turns into a complete shanty town at night (parts of it are by day too). There are hundreds of tents on the streets and people just lying on the paths. By day you see lots of people pushing trolleys full of plastic bottles they have collected. I think you get money from the recycling plant. You also see a lot of people with limbs missing sleeping rough (often with US flags on their wheelchairs if they have them), and people holding up signs explaining in great detail about an operation they need to have. It will be interesting comparing Costa Rica, "a third world country" (apparently), to this.

Los Angeles city of angels remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Sitting in LA

2006-09-12T02:40:37Z

Well here I am sitting in LA, drinking some Costa Rican beer. Been here a week now. I'd like to add a photo but the mouse on this computer has mysteriously vanished and I'm having to do it MS DOS stylee, so think I'll wait to add a photo. September 11th today. I was going to go and see an anti-war play at a theatre but it looks as if it's only on at the weekend. I went for a nice walk around this amazing park called Elysian Park today. When I got back to Andrew's I watched some of the news and saw that Arnold Schwarzenegger was in there at the same time as me doing some propaganda stuff. Thanks goodness I didn't bump into him.
Instead I saw some amazing birds of prey circling over my head, maybe they were some kind of kites? I'm not sure.
The other night me and Andrew were sat watching the sun go down and there was a hummingbird only an arm's length from us. That was definitely my hilight of the trip so far. It was a magical moment.
We went to the Salvadorean area too and it was just as I imagine Central America to be. Lots of street vendors selling cut up mango and watermelon and a real buzz in the air.
LA is a land of contrasts......

Sitting in LA remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

1st night in LA

2006-09-07T18:41:42Z

The flight to LA went by really quick. It was good except for feeling a little bit stuck between two people and not wanting to keep asking them to get up. Watched 'Secuestro Express' but the plane landed before I saw the end. Got here to Andrew at the hospital because a C02 bottle had stuck to his hand. eek, it was all blistered like frost bite. He's okay though. Got a good prescription.....We sat outside and ate a nice dinner, and walked around smelling all the herbs in their garden. And i got to have a steam bath! Such unbelievable luxury.

1st night in LA remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs

Last night in London

2006-09-07T17:47:46Z

So this is my last night in London. Feels strange that I will miss out on the Autumn, but think I will cope....had such fun being a London resident. I feel sad to leave, but looking forward to the next exciting stage....

Last night in London remains copyright of the author kael, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

Comment on this entry | Tweet this | Your own free travel blog | More Travellerspoint blogs