Saturday

hola mis amigos y familia,

it´s only been 2 weeks? that seems impossible to me . . . i feel like we moved here. our spanish has improved so much that we move to level 4 monday. i still don´t feel like we actually speak spanish, but i guess we do. we ran into two friends who´d met each other at the waterfalls. neither spoke the other's language. how they have become bosom buddies is beyond me. the english speaking guy asked if we´d interpret, so they could get to know each other better. an hour later they were even better friends because they´d found out how much they had in common. the kid from panama had already been shot while fighting (gorilla warfare) alongside his father. he´d been riding bulls since he was a child. the canadian was raised on a ranch, breaking wild horses. we helped them arrange a visit to the panamanian´s dad´s ranch (nearby) to go riding. i hope they had fun.



in the morning joe and i wake up to the crowing of a very obnoxious rooster. it struts through the surrounding vegetation, up the hill, takes his place outside our window, ruffles his feathers and jolts us awake . . . every morning. we then walk to a nearby hotel/restaurant and have fruit and yogurt covered in granola. we have class at 8:00 for 2 hours, then we have lab. as you know lab can be quite the experience (trivial pursuit on the beach, scrabble at a pond, verb drills at the waterfalls). afterward we throw together lunch in the kitchen cage and head into town (10 minute walk) in our bathing suits. we decide on which beach or falls we want to go to, and settle down for several hours.
our favorites are the falls by our house which are over a hundred feet high, the beach south of montezuma ´cause the waves are huge, and the colorado river because it´s shady and cold. in the evening we come back for a cold shower and a siesta. our hotel has about 10 hammocks on the upper patio in the shade. it has it´s own gravitational force, especially in the evening. all the students sort of coalesce here to talk about their aches and pains. our school has yoga, fire dancing, scuba, surfing, and spanish. our pain is mental:) we head back into town for the pre-dinner street stroll, settle on one of the many excellent places to eat and then we are home by 10:00.

there are very few paved roads here. they´re mostly sand, shells, and dirt. when it rains it can be pretty yucky. 80% of the people get around on motorcycles and quad runners. you´d be amazed at how many people fit on a quad runner. crabs, geckos, iguanas, and dogs share the road. crabs have no road crossing skills at all.


at any given time you can randomly see snakes, monkeys, anteaters, bats, and a kazillion birds. we were at ´puggos´ the other night for dinner when a young group of four europeans came in and sat down. one guy, three girls. they were feeling pretty elegant and cool in their clean cloths when suddenly the guy screamed like a girl and leaped up, the girls all screamed and jumped away from the boy. the boy scrambled backwards and fell on his back while flinging his arms about. suddenly it all stopped and he jumped back up. the entire restaurant had stopped to stare. the boy laughed sheepishly and said in broken english . . .¨it´s our first day here . . . they don´t have bugs where we come from¨. joe smiled and said ¨beinvenidos a costa rica!¨ (welcome to costa rica!)

time is out

no class today!

howdy ya'll,

our teacher didn't show up today, so we sat around and studied on our own for a couple of hours 'til we got bored. now i sit here and joe has gone running. today is overcast and cooler. this means that sweat isn't trickling down my back while standing in the shade.


joe, olesia, and i went up to the waterfalls on monday for a swim in fresh water. our dog came with us. we've named him 'spot'. he is white with two big black spots on his back. his first love is olesia, but he's become attached to us since she left. he follows us around and sits at our feet at the restaurants, ever hopeful. at the waterfall pool he spends the entire time hunting for fish. it's entertaining to watch.


yesterday we had our spanish lab in the kitchen. we learned how to make gallopinto. black beans and rice, which was accompanied by eggs and fried plantain bananas. afterwards went to our favorite beach with the bigger waves and joe played alone because i was sick of being tossed around and covered with sand (in my bathing suit, my ears, my nose, everywhere!). afterwards we walked along the beach trying to find the elusive ylang-ylang resort. the road doesn't go all the way to this resort, so the guests check in at sano banano cafe and a giant land rover comes and gets them. we saw the ylang-ylang SUV go by several times while on the beach. curiosity got the best of us and we followed the tracks for 15 minutes to the next beach.


i finally got a good glass of wine! a malbec from argentina. the view was amazing and the service equal to the setting. joe tried a costa rican beer 'bavaria dark' . . . okay, two beers. he had to be sure they were good. this will come as a shock to you, but i got into an in depth conversation with the manager about american wine. the owner wants to import american wine to the restaurant. he was a little stunned when i told him i'd brought 6 bottles of wine from home:)

we finally walked back to montezuma and waited in vain for the fire dancing show to begin in the streets. there is a big self awareness festival here for the week. this town excels in self awareness. the people in general are divided into 3 groups . . . the tourists (mostly beach bums), the working class (Argentinians, italians, nicaraguans), and the reggae-hippie crowd. the reggae group consider themselves to be artists. they makes jewelry and pipes. they have little signs implying that they want to save the planet and increase self awareness. apparently this is done by staying as stoned as possible and leaving your trash everywhere while the working class cleans up after them.

gotta go, time is over.

lots of love and hugs, heidi

Our First Weekend

hola amigos,

i think i may have to post more often. i don´t have enough time for everything i want to write in a 2x/week format. so much is happening here that i want to capture for future reference. i don´t even have time to proof read my work.

friday we came into town for our spanish lab and stopped to get an ice cold cerveza with our teacher. not such a good idea . . . his spanish is definitely
easier to understand without beer. his attention span goes out the window whenever a pretty woman walks by, which is often in this town. we will be keeping him away from beer from now on. we had pizza that night at our favorite italian restaurant (gorgonzola, salami, tomatoes).


saturday we got a taxi (4-wheel drive, a must here) and went to a fishing marina up the coast. there we boarded a scuba boat with our friend, olesia, and another american couple. after our first dive (where we saw an octopus out in the open and three more hidden, three different types of eel, plus a myriad of fishies). paulo, the captain, took us to a uninhabited island with a small silky white sand beach.
we got to swim to the island to explore while our tanks were refilled. the second dive was more of the same with the addition of porcupine fish and puffer fish. paulo has the unique talent of being able to gently capture these fish and scaring them into puff balls. i was horrible and mean, and yes i pet them. extremely cool experience. then he let go and they deflated while swimming away. everyone got stung by jellyfish. our friend olesia is apparently allergic . . . blisters everywhere. my friend at work says urine helps diminish the octupi sting . . . kinda gross, but whatever helps!

some things cannot be replicated because of their spontaneity. the night of our dive turned into a comedy. we were standing at our favorite spot chatting with locals when i heard the clippity-clop of horses. not an unusual sound, as the horseback tours go through the middle of town.
it took a second for it to sink in that these horses didn´t have people on them, with them, nor did they have halters or saddles. they looked like kids trying to sneak out . . . trying to look innocent . . . walking in formation. i said ¨hey those horses got out¨, and all hell broke loose. all in all about 8 horses came down to the corner when a dog started barking and trying to turn them back. half the people in town grabbed their cell phones to call the owner. one man started waving his arm, yelling YA! YA! while talking to someone on his cell. the last horses caught up with the first ones, and they all started trotting in circles around the rickety jewelry tables. people scrambled every which way, dogs barked, horses scidded on the pavement. i prepared to climb up on the bar stool. finally the horses turned around and went back up the street, but they cut through an alley to make a break for the park. 10 guys ran every which way and disappeared into the darkness. 30 minutes later 3 horses went trotting past our restaurant, trying to look cool and collected as they squeezed past cars to freedom.


sunday would have been better if we could have gone to church. unfortunately the one church in town is only open for funerals! we ate a late breakfast and wandered up the beach to play in the waves. i met a darling nicaraguan girl, 18 years old. she sat with me in the sand, and taught me spanish while i taught her english. last night we went back to our italian restaurant.

the howler monkeys are everywhere, or they just sound like it. it´s rare to see them. joe and i saw one . . . it was a black blob hanging from a tree top. the sound is bizarre. imagine a basset hound barking like a toad croaking. sorry, that´s the best i can do. sometimes it sounds like a basset, other times like a giant frog, and other times like a combination. the sound of the howler monkey and exotic birds woke me up this morning.

gotta go!!

heidi

PURA VIDA!

the favorite saying here is pura vida . . . the pure life. it translates to 'this is the good life'. everyone is extremely friendly and always willing to strike up a conversation. this town reminds me of lahaina, hawaii, 30 years ago.


yesterday our teacher took us up to the famous montezuma waterfalls. on the trail we came across a clan of white faced monkeys. they played like kittens on the rocks and trees in the river. i got some great photos . . . and then the alpha male came up to me and yelled at me while shaking his tree limb with his hands, so i took his picture too! after that we scurried away. (post script comment . . . after i was able to view these photos on my pc at home i realized the alpha male had a mommie with an infant on her neck. look closely at the monkey on the right)
then we swam in the pool under the waterfall, and joe scrambled up under the falls and jumped off through the water with edgar. boys will be boys.

last night we had a romantic dinner at 'la restaurante de artistas'. we sat on big pillows on the sand and ate at a low table. the theme is mediterranean, with beautiful candles everywhere . . . and a few bugs. we split the fillet mignon, hummus, brochettes, a glass of wine, and a beer, all for 30 dollars. as you can see it's not so cheap here, but considering the excellent quality (grass fed beef) and the romantic atmosphere on the beach it was a good deal.


today we headed back up the waterfall again but this time we walked up the road and went to the top waterfall (there are three) and boy was that spectacular. this time joe and i both jumped off a 20 foot rock into the deep pool. there is simply nothing like hiking through a humid jungle toward the sound of cascading water, and then jumping in cool fresh water. i hope this waterfall is in heaven. afterwards we climbed straight up a wall using roots as hand-holds and foot-holds . . . joe was not impressed. we emerged on top of the cliffs overlooking the end of the peninsula. there is a mango farm there and we tried to snatch a mango, but none were ripe.
back at our hotel is a fresh water pond which spills out to the ocean. it is so incredibly refreshing to dip into right before we head up to our room.

hugs and kisses, heidi and joe

arrival in montezuma

hola mis amigos y mi familia tambien,

we made it! joe says to say he is alive and well. he is sitting across the street at his favorite bar having a costa rican beer ¨rock con limon¨. actually i like it too, and i don´t like beer. it tastes like lemonade.


it was your typical red-eye flight. we slept on the floor at the airport in houston. the arrival in costa rica was a bit of a shock. the airport was very nice with awesome shops. a taxi took us to our cute, but dumpy little hotel. it had a clean tiny pool and not so clean tiny room. i folded my blankets over and over again until i could make the bed soft enough, and then i slept on top of them. we walked all over town and ate delicious food.


the drive over the mountains was a scenic four hour trip. we then boarded a ferry to cross the nicoya gulf (an hour and half). very pretty ride with our new friends from the taxi-bus ride over. after another hour and half we arrived in montezuma.

montezuma . . . hmmm. it´s hard to describe this town. it is a hippie town. the locals are not costa ricans for the most part. the common language is spanish but english is almost equal. the town consists of expatriates from everywhere. surprisingly the biggest groups are the italans and the argentinians. in every store and restaurant you hear french, german, italian, english and of course spanish.


at night the heat dies down, and the people come out of the woodwork. tables magically appear with crafts and jewelry. the crafts consist of woodwork and marijuana pipes. the pipes are actually the most interesting. they are all either hand carved from wood or stone, or they are blown glass. the nick-name for this town is montefuma. if you like the ´grateful dead´ and ´bob marley´ you´ll love it here. most of the visitors are here to learn yoga, surfing, fire dancing (poi), or spanish, or just to veg out on the beach.

joe and i are here for the spanish classes, and we lucked out this time. we have our own instructor, edgar. he is actually a tico (name for costa ricans).
yesterday, after 2 hours of class work we did our ´lab´ by walking to a big surfing beach, stopping along the way to cool off in a natural fresh water pool. unfortunately i got heat exhaustion anyway and was sick for the rest of the day. but today is a new day and i feel great. today we went the opposite direction and hung out in the shade on the beach and played trivial pursuit in spanish. i won.


our room at our hotel is an adventure in and of itself. no airconditioning. its over 90 degrees Fahrenheit and close to a 100 % humidity. with two fans directed at our bed and sleeping on top of the sheets (no blankets provided), we made it through the night. almost no stores or restaurants have airconditioning . . . except the internet cafes:) our shower is cold or boiling depending on how many people in the school are taking a shower (at least it's not the dreaded widow-maker type). the kitchen is actually a space on the upper patio that is fenced in by chicken wire to keep the monkeys and other critters out.


i´m running out of time so i will say good bye for now. we love you mom and mom. we are safe and having a wonderful time.

hugs and kisses to all.