The 4 hour line & the Current Escorpion Count

¡Prospero Año Nuevo a Todos! I have arrived in Grenada, Nicaragua} after spending nearly four hours in a line to get my passport stamped to leave Costa Rica, and another hour on the Nicaraguan side to get bags inspected. Since I'm not a die-hard fan of any music or movie I would say it was the longest wait in my life. In line, I met a woman in the Peace Corp from Colorado, so we spent much of the time discussing that experience and stuff from back home. About two days ago, I really roughed it and went all out Peace Corp when I went back to Playa de Flamingo without a reservation, and unsuccessfully searched for a room less than one-hundred dollars (the problem is that it is the vacation season in C.R.). I had a headache and wasn´t thinking straight, and after way to much in cab fare I ended up in the worst place I´ve stayed in my life. Instead of a roach motel, I got a wasp-spider motel, with literally wasp nests on the sky light, and a ceiling covered in cob webs. I was thinking to try to get a bus to a major city far away from the beach that very night, but the problem was that I was in a lugrejo, a po-dunk town, and I didn´t know exactly where I was. The elderly lady who owned the house seemed a bit senile, and the lovely outhouse and outdoor sink only added to the charm. The Gallo or Rooster directly outside my window was but an added ammenity. Today, when I was opening my backpack to get my laundry together, I found scorpion number #3 hiding out in my jeans, no doubt a stowaway from the wasp motel. It´s made me a bit nervous to reach into my bags. But otherwise, my first experiences of Nicaragua have been wonderful. Grenada is a town with beautiful colonial architecture, and what I saw of Lake Managua from the road was magnificent with volcanos lining the shores across from the road we were on. Updates forthcoming...

River Rafting Redux -- El Rio Pacuare

My trip to San Jose and thereafter the suburb of Heredia has gone well. I´ve given in to “tentacion” and gone to McDonalds thrice, BK once, and Taco Bell (more for irony and the fact it was the only restaurant open late than anything else). They are about the only places that taste exactly the same or better than the versions in the states, every other hamburger I´ve had with one exception has tasted off somehow.

I haven´t done much here but visit my first host family, which was fun and it showed me that I´ve made a lot of progress in my comprehension and speaking ability. And I went to see “El Expreso Polar” on Navidad, which I recommend for its amazing animation if unescapably hackneyed and sappy plot (more tolerable when you are practicing Spanish). The theater is in Heredia, where they have a brand new American-style mall called Paseo de las Flores, but it showed me how spoiled I´ve been because the multiplex plays only four movies at a time. “Bob Esponja“ the movie comes out on New Year´s Eve here, so I´m waiting with “anticipacion.”
By coincidence, everything fell in place on the night before La Nochebuena (X-mas eve) and two of my friends came to the same hotel where I was staying although we hadn´t discussed it over email yet. (It has been very difficult to arrange meetings by email.)

On La Nochebuena we went rafting on 18 kilometers of the River Picuare, which flows into the Caribbean side of the country. What a rush! Each river is a new natural roller coaster. Pacuare is particularly scenic, which plenty of waterfalls and birds that we spotted on the way down the river.

I fell backwards out of the raft on about the first rapids run because the position of my feet was off a bit. I was able to keep hold of my paddle and grab the grip line on the perimeter of the raft. One of my friends was to my left and she some how plucked me up out of the water, so her new nickname is “la heroina” (heroine in Spanish, also heroin). The guide said the rapid was only a class 2 or class 1, but I told him there´s no law saying we can´t pretend it was a class 4 or 5 to spare my ego and make for a more deft-defying story. So, yes, “And all the sudden we were in the midst of a class 4 whirlpool that ejected me from the raft, as I struggled flailing, missing rocks by the barest margins.” This story add twenty years.

We did get some good class 4 rapids, however, and we ended up having to use every technique in the book, because on the very last part of the trip we had hit the side of the river in a river bend under a bridge, and the raft was about to flip so we had to rush towards that side to prevent that.

This year, I´m going to have a Nicaraguan New Year´s, I´m going to visit for a few days in the Southwestern city of Granada, and perhaps tour part of Lake Managua and who knows what. Tenga un prospero año nuevo!

El Tiempo de Feliz Navidad en Costa Rica

Tomorrow I head back to San Jose after a brief stay in Quepos near Manuel Antonio. I had fun in Jaco boogie boarding, but I left before trying out surfing - but there´s still time on the Carribean side.

This has been a pretty uneventful week, I´ve been taking it easy, reading the paper, watching dubbed movies, and reviewing my spigyspanol. Manuel Antonio has great hotel views if you have the dollars (I just enjoyed it for a while from a hotel restaurant called the Anaconda), and the national park was pretty neat even if you have to elbow tourists to get a good view of the carablanca white-faced monkeys. I should be posting photos of a eel I spotted in a tide pool if it came out.

I´m going to visit with my first host family in Heredia, and see some other people I´ve met in my travels. So there´ll be a respite from my deft-defying aventuras for a time... Hasta Leugo and Happy Holidays to everyone. I expect to be very late with my greetings...

Jaco -- Un Pedazo de California en Costa Rica

After an entire day in the bus, and after navigating the labrynthine transport system, I arrived at Jaco in the early evening. And it feels like I've left Costa Rica and entered California. Subway Restaurants. Surfing. Hippies. I guess I expected it a bit from what I had heard of the place, but I didn't realize the extent.

One good aspect to this state of affairs is that I was able to find Falafel, Pita, & Hummus about thirty minutes after arriving at an Israeli joint. It was nearly the best I've ever had. I needed to replenish the hummus in my blood, since I last ate it about three weeks ago in Monte Verde. A bad aspect, is most of the prices are pretty high, but I guess “no problem-o dude. Livin' for the next wave.” The Spanish surfing lingo should be interesting.

On Tuesday, I went on a “kayak-snorkeling” expedition off of Playa Azucar. In actuality, “canoeing-snorkeling”, but it was still pretty neat. I basically saw some of the same creatures from scuba diving, with the difference of accidentally inhaling salt water every few minutes since I'm used to a larger angle of vision from scuba diving. But I'd recommend it if you want to see a different world without investing a lot in training and equipment.

Close Encounters of the Escorpion Kind & Why not to Shout "Hi Ho Silver" to a Horse.

¡Saludos!

Today is my last day in Playa de Flamingo, next stop is the surfing beach of Jaco. In an omen, I had just walked out the front door of my hotel room when I noticed a big brown spot on my right shorts. I looked for a second, and then I recognized it was a brown scorpion, an inch and a half in size, resting on my thigh (I think he must have been hiding in a pile of my clothes). In a sign of how I think my stress response has been altered by this trip, I didn't, uh, add a second spot, but rather calmly got the Nat. Geo., lifted up the exposed part of my leg, and flicked my arachnoid friend off with the magazine. At which he promptly took refuge in my black colored sandals, so I had to flick him off again.

Since my quadraciclo aventura of last, I have since moved on to riding quadrapeds. On Sunday, I went horse back riding for the first time, and let's just say I still have bruises on my “rompa.” The guide taught more by the do it and try to survive method. He showed the basic way to handle the reins, and get on the horse, brake the horse, and the rest I had to ask some of my amigos.

At one point, galloping on the beach, I decided to floor the accelerator on my grayish-white horse Condor, shouting something like “Geddy-up” at the top of my lungs. Geddy-up, indeed, my right foot was about to fall out the stirups as I passed everybody elses' horses with a cloud of dust. I had to brake pretty quick. The guide had told some of my friends that point worriedly, “Digale a su amigo, ¡despacio! ¡despacio!” It was a lot of fun, but next time I got to make sure the saddle sits right...

Demonio de Velocidad: La Aventura del Cuadraciclo

I'm speed writing this, because I need to leave in five minutes, but on Thursday I went on an ATV trip across the beaches and dirt roads of Playa Flamingo. At first I was driving like una abuela, but about fifteen minutes later I was full-throttle down the beaches, chasing my Norwegian pal (she is a biker, and was running circles around the guide). Muy peligroso, but very fun, especially when you drive through a stream or get to see a great view from atop a hill of the ocean. One thing unexpected is that the stray dogs want to chase you on the beach, and I had to swerve, which was about the only time I was close to wiping out. Kids, don't try this at home.

I'm done with my school here, and not sure what I'm going to do next yet, probably be a vagibundo de la playa for a few more days and then roll with the wind.

Mi nadada con los tiburones

I spent my cumpleaños on Saturday 60 feet deep swimming with four 12-foot long sharks three meters away. (Which I hasten to point out to every Señorita I meet - no need to mention the pesky “science” that white-tipped sharks are mostly harmless to humans. “Unless they bite your arm clear off!“) In my second dive, we saw a feeding frenzy on the ocean bottom where there were schools of parrot fish and others chowing down on the eggs of another species of fish. I also saw two eels for the first time. Ugly 'fe-os.

I still have this addiction to air that I need to curb a bit in the deep. It was a bit of a comical birthday because before my first dive I got knocked in the head by another diver's tank (among other things comical), but luckily not hard enough to forget the profusion of Spanish curse words that followed (I'm at least learning something). I had an enjoyable dinner with some friends (and found pumpkin pie!) and went to bed early because I had woken up at 4:30 to go diving.

I've spent every day this week on the beach, and it definitely lightens the mood. My favorite so far has been playa conchal. There is a part where you walk over millions of sea shells, and it is unspoiled. At Playa La Penca, an amiga and I swam to an Island about 800 meters out, which was neat. Pelican Island, read Bird crap island. We saw the left overs of a crab buffet, the birds don't seem to like to eat the pincers.

I can float easily without moving, so I've been using the ocean as one great water bed -when it isn't just one great aquarium. It's a great feeling to stare up at the sky and do -- well, absolutamente nada. Hasta luego.

Air Hoggery & Inducement to Exercise

I've made the plunge. Into the “deep” -- uh 35 feet below the surface. I did a one-tank resort dive in the Bahía Flamingo this Tuesday to refresh my memory of proper diving techniques in preparation for a two-tank dive this Saturday in the Islas de Catalinas. It went great, except for the fact that I used up my air in about 26 minutes, which is about half/third of the time it should take. I wasn't nervous, I actually find it really relaxing to be weightless in a 3-D world, but I've got to breathe a lot less deeply but still slow if I don't want a repeat tomorrow (probably have to consciously think about it). Instead of the giant stride off the side of the boat, it was cool diving backwards James Bond style twice.

We didn't come across any big animals (at least while I was down there) but it was cool seeing rays, scorpion fish, puffer fish, star fish, sea urchins, and clams on the volcanic ocean bottom. There aren't really much coral in these parts, but when I go to the Carribean there is supposed to be much more, along with better visibility (although anything is better than a muddy Colorado lake). When I'm going tomorrow I hope to swim with the tiburones, which will give me something to brag about when I go to the local hangout in Portrero, Las Brisas on Saturday night. Assuming the sharks don't eat me.

Also, I've been walking the beach for a hour every day, and for those who say exercise isn't rewarding, I have this to say. Who knows, maybe every other day in your walk you'll find una Señorita bella who for whatever reason likes to sunbathe European style. Oh, ya, I forgot I'm on the beach, and it's snowing in the US. Okay that was too cruel.