costa rica: pura vida

Or puro dinero is more like it. Not only is everything double or triple the price of Nicaragua, but you can see money in action immediately after crossing the border. Take for example this fancy bus right here, compared to Nicaragua's chicken buses, this is riding in the lap of luxury. Also, after we survived the chaos that is called "the border" it was ironic to see Nicaragua's muddy puddle of a road turn into nice new pavement on the other side.

Let me just vent on the border for a second. Wow. Ok, so after you pay 1 dollar (3 or 4 times) to the community of Penas Blancas on the Nica side, you walk through a gate into a huge lot/road area with buildings, cars, buses, people who will rip you off with exchanging cordobas to colones or vise versa, banks where the ATM is not open, and by the way, without a clue as to where to go or what to do. Good thing I like to read informative guide books before I attempt such an adventure, or we'd have probably ended up in jail. You must get your passport stamped on both sides of the border which sounds easier said then done as the Nica immigration building is like a block away behind what looks like a bus stop and the Costa Rican one is down the road a good football field or two. Also, you have to pay a hefty fee ($4 pp) to leave Nicaragua and an even bigger one ($12 pp) to get in. However, Costa Rica doesn't make you pay a penny. Ok I'm over it.

Needless to say, after our 12 and 1/2 hour bus adventure we made it to Jaco (J sounds like H in Spanish, so phonetically it's Haco), Costa Rica, which honestly looks just like it sounds. It's a visual onomatopoeia. We say this because it's a tourist trap, without a pretty beach. But it was worth it, because we got to see our good friend Sarah Medrano and meet her 30 peace corp buddies as well. They were staying in this killer pad with a sweet swimming pool, which we took quick advantage of. (And also the hot water showers!).



What we learned about peace corp volunteers might sound like common sense: THEY ARE MOTIVATED, AMBITIOUS INDIVIDUALS.. who love to drink! They decided to cook homemade pizza, pancakes, and an entire Thanksgiving feast for almost 3 dozen people. So lucky for us, we got in on a most tasty American tradition. Plus the turkey probably came skinned straight from one or their sites.

Matt and I's new favorite game, we'd like to teach to Andi and other friends back home.

Liar's dice!

So another topic of discussion between us and the Costa Rican peace corp crew, was that of what these 2 silly countries think of each other. And who does the Rio San Juan really belong to? Well of course as you can see here clearly marked on the map, it's 100% NICA! (As they show us daily scrolling along the bottom to local news challenge). But it is a sad typical story when neighborhood countries can't get along, one is rich and one is poor, so the poor immigrate to the richer country in search of jobs to support families back home, and the rich complain about the social services the poor are taking advantage of.... in addition to blaming the poorer countries inhabitants for all the drug and crime related problems, when really they are caused by locals just as much if not more. Sounds familiar.... Besides who invented borders anyways? They are just lines drawn on paper, and as our Native Americans ancestors taught us, land does not belong to anyone.


On a more serious tone, did you know that in Central America, rum and cokes come prepackaged in a can???? Amazing!
P.S. This was just for show, after taking one sip we decided to stick to our original intentions of not condoning the consumption of coca cola products, or sodas in general. Yuck, or Jaco! We'd much rather just stick to drinking Tona!!! In fact, we're drinking one right now! Yum.

So our ride back on the buses began with an alien invasion: ATTACK OF THE GIANT GRASSHOPPER! Seriously, this dude was on the inside of the window to begin with and is literally as big as my hand. If you know me, you know I have big hands! And Matt being the hero he is, gently opened the window and ushered our friend out. While Navi panicked and said, "ahhhhhh get that thing away from me .... but i want a picture!"
Sadly, we do not have pictures of the HUGE crocodiles we saw on the side of the river bank as we drove by, or the majestic red and green parrots flying from a tree into the sky. Which reminds us, Renee - you need to invest in some glasses that double as cameras. That are stylish too.

We stayed the night in Liberia to break to 12 hour trip up coming back home. We were impressed by this newspaper wall. And by our favorite food ever- plantains!

They're like the cottage cheese of the fruit world, you can cook them like 12 different ways and they go with everything! Matt even says you can make a belt out of their skin.

ostional

After 5 days of hanging around in San Juan del Sur, waiting for it to stop raining so we could get more beach time, we decided to head down to little-known Ostional, a pueblo right by the Costa Rican border. And after a very bumpy hour and 45 minutes on the bus, we pulled up to a small, quaint fishing village where people's houses are turned into hospedajes and comedors. We asked around for "Daniel Sanchez" and were led to Hospedaje Dona Alba, where they ushered us into the back yard to watch teenage girls practicing baile folklorico while Maria (the mom, wife, and cook) readied our room. As soon as humanly possible, we asked for directions down to the beach to check out what was in store. It was picturesque with dozens of pelicans, seaguls, and fisherman all after the same thing.

We're pretty sure the mountains you see in this picture are Costa Rican.

Our first night's adventure was checking out Reservacion La Flor for the arribadas of the tortugas paslamas (olive ridley turtles) with our guide: Salvador. It was incredible to see the turtles coming onto the shore in every direction that you looked, and then being up close and personal to watch their magical way of digging their nest and laying their eggs, not minding at all that you are there too. Even more awesome, was heading down to the shore and seeing tiny baby turtles making desperate attempts to sea.

She's laying these eggs in the photo.

Unfortunately, not all stories have happy endings and the plight of the turtle is an extremely difficult one. As you might know, only about 1 percent of hundreds of thousands of turtles actually make it to adulthood due to the many predetors of the land and sea, humans included. And to our dismay, even though Salvador is trying to do his part to spread knowledge about sea turtles and their endangerment and treat them with care, many other guides that come to the park are wreckless, using white and not red light, and walking unnessarily all over the place. Additionally, it is hard to change a culture's ways, and we saw this first hand when a bag of turtle eggs were brought up to the house we were staying at in transport to someone who wanted them in San Juan. But Matt and I agree with the many tshirts and stickers here that say, "YO NO COMO JUEVOS DE TORTUGA," and only hope that more individuals jump on board soon.
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Relaxing on the beach, watching the wildlife, the waves, finding shells and and trying to make change for a sand dollar............. this was Ostional............ Oh and also, eating simple, delicious, very affordable homemade meals. Breakfast for 1 dollar, and fresh fish fillet with rice, platano, and avena (oatmeal milk drink) for 2.50.





And the next day's adventure was to find horses in order to see some monkeys and birds. Success! We crossed rivers and ventured straight into the heart of the jungle. And no one got bucked off.

Mono Congos aka Howler monkeys

URRRRRAAACCCCAAAAS

playa maderas y san juan del sur

We checked out the surf competition at playa maderas and then ventured on to the calmer, prettier, and less inhabited section of the beach.

Starting the day with banana smoothies.

The dog guides.They just joined our walk and showed us the way,
up until the water blocked the passage and we all turned around.

Cangrejo congo! All these little shells are hermit crabs.

After 5 minutes of playing with the frisbee, I went and threw it in the ocean and instantaneously it disappeared! So, our next game included matt making a mermaid outta me.

These waves were fun!

Photos from around San Juan:

El gato negro is a very tastey coffeeshop/bookstore that sneakily puts delicious bacon in your breakfast without you knowing. They have blueberry/banana pancakes that are incomparable and the coffee is extra strong! However, they don't let you read any of the books unless you buy them first! How do I know if I wanna buy it if I don't read some first?

In order to make your money last longer, eating at a local "Soda" is the way to go.

cumpleanos feliz.

wow, what a blessing to be able to celebrate my birthday in this tropical paradise, and surrounded by beautfiul, warm, people.

thursday the day before my birthday, we had quite a full day in that we had to bring a pinata to school for the end of the year. we also decided to bring a nicaraguan spin on red chile chicken enchiladas for the family we work with. so after dropping off the food in the morning, we walked down the road to the school and prepared ourselves for what we knew was surely to be chaos! and that is was. the kids were beside themselves with excitement to open the pinata, and ran around yelling all crazy like for the good 45 minutes wait until we began. we started with the little guys first and each kid took 3 swings. and by the time we got to 2nd grade it was already being broken into pieces and fell off the rope twice. so we decide to rip it open instead of retie it a 3rd time (and also to speed up the overwhelming adventure that it was) and all the sudden kids rushed in from every direction, surrounding me in the middle so that i fell over backwards on them, and then when Matt saw some random 17 year old boys jump in, he realized he´d better get his share too! but really he was trying to help the little guys out because unfortunately the 1st graders didn´t get much of anything as all the older kids were stronger and faster and didn´t want to share. lesson learned: next time bring an extra bag of goodies just for the ones that miss out!

1st graders!

after that hilarious scene, we walked with all our 10 kids to their house and the family busted out the enchiladas and heated them up so that everyone, including ourselves, could have some. and to our great delight, they loved them so much they even asked for the recipe! woohoo. and then somehow the secret leaked out that my birthday was the following day and what ensued was so sweet and precious- all the kids made me birthday cards and two big posters, the mom wrote me thoughtful letters, the kids all sang me "las mananitas," they put on a birthday cd after that, they even painting me a picture on canvas. we shared smiles, laughs, tears of joy, and food! it was indescribable.

oh and also in that one day we got invited to future birthday parties, communions, and christmas with their family. and they insisted that my mom and grandma come meet them when in town! these are the rewards of such an adventure.

communion outfits

friday my actual birthday, was just as splendid. matt didn´t bang pots over my head at 5 am as the family told him to, because i requested that we skip that tradition. but he did make the most delicious birthday breakfast for me of pancakes, eggs, and pitahaya (which we now know is a cactus fruit!). also he gave me a beautiful bracelet and earrings set and my roommate sally made me an extraordinary card with an om mandala on the front. then i got to talk to my mama on the phone, my dad on the internet, and nicole on chat while i opened up the package she sent which had my favorite - larabars - and some awesome fall cards she made.

after that, matt and i packed up our bags and hit the road, stopping by a retired american couple´s house in order to arrange accommodations for the family in december, before getting to the bus stop. 3 and 1/2 hours later, we arrived in the one and only san juan del sur, and just in time for a sunset stroll on the beach! birthday dinner consisted of eating lobster in garlic sauce at the iguana - a restaurant bar right on the shoreline.

26, i think you are going to be a terrific year!

masaya, masaya, masaya, masaya. the volcano that is.

Welcome to the gates of hell on earth, as the Spanish referred to this looming giant just outside the city of Masaya. Interesting how religion explained the inexplicable back when the scientific workings of a volcano were unknown. The indigenous population used to offer human sacrifices to the "god" / volcano, and then when the Spanish came they placed a cross on the top of the Volcano's mouth in order to exercise the "demons" below. They must be working out awfully hard because to this day they are still letting off a lot of gas!

With that said, Matt and I ventured forth to face our fears. Standing at the edge of a very active volcano: CHECK. I guess we can cross that off our list now as not needing to be repeated.

But wow, what a sight it was. Once we finally got to the top, and stood at the edge, watching the smoke and gases rising out in waves, hearing the rumblings below, and smelling the intense sulfur which was strong enough to cause coughing, we decided... hmm, maybe we should go home now.

I mean, much like the warnings of tucking your head between your knees in case of an airplane crash, this sign below shows one some very rational safety measures.

Except- what happens if you don't have a car? And as the case in 2000, what happens if a rock flies out and crushes your car?

But with all those statements made, we can honestly say it was worth the adventure and a beautiful, mysterious sight to see. No angry Gods or Demons ate us alive or chased us away.