Wednesday 19 December 2012

My first tortugita!- 11th September


I am the happiest girl in the world!


I saw my first baby tortugita this afternoon! WOWOWOWOW! I held it and set it free!

I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in my life! I was beside myself with joy. I felt like a little kid meeting their favourite person in the world.

AMAZING!!!!!:)))))))

I’ve waitied so long and I’M HERE RIGHT NOW

Tears are streaming down my face

When I came back to the house after the turtle training I sat on the bed and sobbed and sobbed and when I had a shower I sobbed some more!

Muy Muy Muy feliz! Oh my god I’m so happy!

I want to share this with someone, all that I feel right now. It's the realisation that now I can do anything.  I would so love to do this again one day- and I’m only on day 2!



Imagine what else is in store for me! Wonders exist that I’ve never imagined!

To sleep now for my shift at 8pm. You did it Jaimie! Xxxxxxoooooooo


Friday 14 December 2012

10th September- The road to dreams


La Fortuna to Siquirres

Thank god I packed last night! Woke with 10 mins before my shuttle bus was due to collect me.

Feeling dazed I handed in my key at reception and sat for a few minutes before I spotted the driver walking down the path to get me.


 phew!

I travelled to Siquirres with a lovely couple from California . It was Steve’s birthday. Costa Rica was his birthday treat. We waited a while at the bus station in Gaupiles for change overs, and met another American couple on their way to Puerto Viejo.

Siquirres to cano blanco
I was a little uncertain as I was dropped off at a restaurant at the side of the road outside Siquirres. Helpfully, the shuttle bus driver asked the owner of the restaurant to call a taxi for me. I waited maybe around 10 minutes and the taxi driver took me to the bank – where I was to get enough money to last me my time in Parismina, as there are no ATMs in Parismina and last night i'd realised my bank was refusing to let me take out any money. I was very happy that my quick cry for help text  last night worked!  
I jumped back into the taxi and off to the bus station.


Oh my! I’m so happy I could cry! (written on the bus)

I’m bumping along on the bus to Cano Blanco, the only 'gringo' on the bus and the only 'gringo' at the bus station in Siquirres. 
I'm very pleased with myself, I got by with speaking some Spanish. I asked where to buy tickets, bought the tickets, ordered and ate lunch, asked where to buy phonecards, bought phone cards, asked where the bus queue was, asked people in the queue if it was the correct queue, smiled at a friendly girl and said ‘hola’ to her little boy. The most spanish i've spoken in one day since i got here

I love how bumpy this road is! I don’t want to stop feeling like this. I can’t believe I’m here and only 5 days into my trip! TURTLES HERE I COME! OH MY GOD I’M HERE! I just overcame some of my biggest fears, I DID IT, I DID IT, I DID IT! :)

Cano Blanco to Parismina

I heard a man on the bus him telling someone that he was on his way to Parismina. So when i got off the bus I said 'Hola', and we waited at the side of the river for the boat. 

Haltingly we started saying a few things to each other in spanish/english, asking where each other were from, why we were going to parismina etc, the boat was a little late in arriving but when it did he was very kind and told me which one it was and when to get on. 

3 of us wobbled onto the boat, the driver and money collector doing what they needed to. I wedged my rucksack in front of me, trying to keep the weight from rocking the boat. I sat feeling a little stunned but buzzing that I was almost there. Only 10 minutes to go!

Soon we were zipping along the river when the rain started, getting wet, quickly remedied by the money collector rolling down the plastic sides of the boat.
When i arrived it was just like the photos on the website, but looking at the directions I had no idea where I was meant to be going. I asked a few people, 2 girls from Holland and then a local couple who kindly handed my lostness on to a local high school girl. 

She walked me to the project hut where Randy, the co-ordinator met me with a welcoming smile, lots of information to read about the project and some forms to fill in. 
I had a wander around the village with Randy, where he pointed out the major sites in this 500 people village, before going back to get my bag and getting settled into my new home.
 
I live in the little orange house
4 hours later…
'Parismina is gorgeous! Right now I am lying on my bed in Jean's house, my house mother. Very loud reggaeton music is playing at the pulperia (corner shop) next door. I'm about to have a wee snooze before my first patrol.'


First patrol 8-12pm
Really didn’t feel hard at all, unfortunately no turtles but some really great conversations with one of the other volunteers. Real conversations about people, nature, death, science, the oceans, living life to its fullest, fears, religion, families. It was what I had been longing for, a real conversation. Backpacking in the hostels hadn’t really given me that in the last 5 days.

Richie asked me, 'so what is it about turtles?' 

Well, it’s like I can see their souls, like they have all the secrets, they have wisdom, that they see that we might have wisdom too but aren't using it quite like we could be.
The stars were so clear. I was looking up as we sat in watch for a while, waiting for the turtles to come ashore. I saw falling stars, I saw a few constellations I knew as we are still in the northern hemisphere, but there were millions more twinkling. The Milky Way was visible. I was in awe! I had to pinch myself and I smiled so much that my smile muscles hurt.

x

 


Wednesday 12 December 2012

oh la fortuna!


Making my way north the next day, hopping on a shuttle bus outside Holiday Inn Express as the radio played  'i feel the earth move' by Carole King. We tourist zipped our way through...


Grecia - The place that has the cool metal church with the apparently once moveable walls and once voted cleanest town in Latin America.

Sarchi
With the world's largest ox cart- painted by the ox cart drivers to attract the ladies, despite the smell of rotting coffee beans. and the huge tourist warehouse co-op gift shop with sticker for each of the tourists!

 We stopped at La Iguana restaurant for lunch where I tried my first Gallo pinto and fried plantains- 'yeah quite nice' I thought, aware of how much of it I might end up eating during my stay, as I watched an enormous Iguana being fed fruit as it sat on a table outside the restaurant.

La Fortuna
The volcano was covered in clouds as I arrived with the group. They all got out to take pictures and then dropped me off outside the hostel, before they headed back to Alajuela.The hostel was almost outside of town and I'd decided to stay for 4 nights. It was up until that point the nicest hostel i'd stayed in. It had a pool, comfy beds,ensuite dorms, and generally chilled out atmosphere. ahhhhh!

Settling in over the next few days I met my roommates, as they came and went. moving on to places anew, enjoying sociable meals and bottles of rum together into the wee small hours, sharing stories of where we were going, where we had been and the people we met along the way. People from USA, Oz, Germany, Switzerland,Spain and Israel to name a few.

I quickly realised that i was being SO touristy, spending money on tours and trips to places near and far, but I was enjoying the chance to get used to my new surroundings with little pressure and some guiding hands.

I took wildlife river tours where I saw my first toucans and sloths from afar, caymans and many river birds, as well as my first leaf cutter ant line! A volcano hike to see old lava flows and rocks, a night time visit to a very relaxing hot spring and a long walk home from a local waterfall. Well, after cheating and getting a taxi there! My taxi driver was very friendly and asked me lots of questions in Spanish and was very patient with me as I tried to reply.

I tried my first Ceviche -yum!- and though i didn't realise it at the time I felt an aftershock of the earthquake while I was sitting in the restaurant eating my Ceviche!

My mum told me about it the day after...of course!

 'oh yeah...I thought it was just the light fitting being blown by the air conditioner' oops! :)

x




Saturday 1 December 2012

5th september part 2 - choosing to be happy can be hard

I decided to move hostels

I wanted to be around someone who could speak English so I knew what was going on with the earthquake. I was feeling a bit uneasy.

I packed my stuff and headed round the corner to a bigger hostel called Alajuela backpackers.

I'd spent ages looking at the map and figuring out where it was before i left, even though I knew from the map it was only about 2 blocks away on the corner, it still felt a little nervous stepping outside for the first time.


Outside looked like this!
When i arrived they were very friendly and their website hadn't lied, they spoke English! phew!

I booked a room in a dorm, put my bag in storage and while waiting for the room to be ready buried myself in the familiarity of the Internet.

Around 2:30pm I'd taken my stuff to my room and went back downstairs to re-bury myself in researching where i was going next. After around 30 minutes there I was just finishing up when a loud girl disturbed the isolated lobby, by pouncing on the computer next to me and asking no one in particular- how do you work this thing?

Hearing that she spoke English and had an English accent I said hello, longing for some more easy breezy human interaction. Niceties were exchanged, we got talking, but gradually it became a monologue! By her! On her terrible experiences of volunteering in Costa Rica. building homes, conservation work, school work she'd tried them all, hated them all and complained about the injustice of having to reflect- at the request of the volunteer project- on her impact and what she'd learnt.

I shared that I was going to turtle project and lo and behold, she's been on one and hated it.

 'I'm sure you're experience will be wonderful though' she said- 'if you like nature...i hate nature! I had no idea there was so much nature in Costa Rica! I don't see the point in volunteering really, if i didn't do it someone else would'

I stood gobsmacked!

What had i just witnessed? Was this some kind of unthinking traveller who just rocks up to places and launches themselves into...into what? Trying to prove something but in the process making themselves miserable? I didn't know, but I felt sad for her.

Over the following days, her words followed me, her apparent dislike of nature, I guess i could deal with, not everyone likes nature. But the statement 'if i didn't do it someone else would'.
That niggled me.

What a huge assumption to make!

I realised it ripped at the core of one of the reasons I was there, what I hoped to gain, achieve and give to this country that I'd been dreaming about for so long.

Once I got over the shock,I felt glad for her existence too. I'm glad she reminded me that I was there for something real and meaningful to me. Something that made my heart happy and piqued my curiosity about the world some more.

I hope she found something in the end she to feel happy about.

Tuesday 30 October 2012

5th September- 1st day shakes!




A slight rumble...

 ‘oh it must be the underground’ I thought and merrily carried on eating.

Not so!       (there is no underground in Alajuela)

I sat at the table in disbelief as my plate started rattling and my coffee sloshed out of my mug onto the floor. I looked up to see if anyone was around, for some sign, some point of reference. I heard the housekeeper shouting, panicked. I stood and staggered round the corner where I found the housekeeper praying and holding onto the walls! All I could do was watch her and wonder if I was doing the right thing by taking her cue in being where I was in that moment. I was lost. My brain shut down all of it’s common sense and order as we stood there with the walls swaying around us, plates and cups flying of shelves and smashing to the floor. 30 seconds to 1 minute later I was still standing there, my thoughts racing when it stopped, the housekeeper crossed herself, came over to me and gave me a hug. 

'It's ok, it’s normal to have earthquakes in Costa Rica!'

Back in the kitchen I sat with a guy from California and chatted while finishing my breakfast, and everything seemed to go back to normal around us.  15 mins later, I saw the news and went on the internet, with my friends emailing me to find out if I was ok that I started to realise that perhaps it was a big deal. 7.6 on the richter scale!!! That sounded serious!
The world already knew that it had happened. I called mum and cried and cried with a mix of relief and tiredness. After I calmed down and put my phone away my eyes came to rest on this and I smiled.