We all called home recently to say hello to our parents, and Susannah’s Dad asked her what it is that we do all day. We all thought that this as an excellent question, and laughed about how vague our collective responses were. Really, some of every day is spent in the quest for sustenance – less time on the days where we feel rice, beans and chicken with a side of fried bananas to be an adequate answer. The rest of the day passes in finding a place to stay if we are in a new town which is usually done in tandem with visiting the tourism office to find out about what is going on in town (hiking trails – where do they begin; where might one find the post office – as you may have noticed by the lack of mail we don’t always find it...etc.) All in all, the consensus is that we feel very occupied even if we really cannot account for how.
We wrote our last update from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and from there went on a cross border bus to Managua, Nicaragua. We stayed one night in Managua and had a rollicking time at the Shannon Bar (yup, Guinness is Goodness). Our next two days were in Granada, a lovely colonial town that with the sweltering heat, beautiful and colorful (but deteriorating) buildings, and old style US cars made us feel like we were in Cuba. From Granada we took a boat ride to Isla Omotepe, an island in Lake Nicaragua comprised of two volcanos with a narrow isthmus in between them. We all climbed the smaller of the two volcanoes, and returned mired in mud and sore as heck. I don’t think I am cut out for climbing volcanos, but can at least claim one now conquered.
Our first stop in Costa Rica was Playa Tamarindo, a laid back surfing town on the Pacific Coast. Craig and Scott learned to surf last week at Playa Tamarindo, leading to a whole new trip lexicon. Craig now wants to be called Sharky, so you can imagine that it takes up some of my time everyday to try to remember to call him the correct name.
amped - charged up - stoked – fired
brah - from bruddah, Hawaiian pidgin for brother
noodle - exhausted, overall condition or specific as in noodle armed
pucker factor - the effect an intimidating wave has on ones ability to remain relaxed
We bid Scott and Susannah farewell at Playa Tamarindo as they are flying out of Panama City on the same day that we leave from San Jose. We also rented a car in Playa Tamarindo and commenced our all out Costa Rican national park blitz. Our first stop was Rincon de la Vieja where the mountain is covered in mud fumaroles (boiling sulphur mud pots). The vegetation was also incredibly lush and beautiful. National Park number two was Arenal, home of the lava spitting volcano over a lake. We spent two nights there in awe of the mountain, and enjoyed the hot water that the mountain sends down through natural springs for us to sit in while enjoying nature´s show.
Today finds us in Santa Elena, a small town close to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. We will go on a hike tomorrow with an American biologist / former DEA agent who knows a lot about the plants here from her days searching the area for drugs. It is the best time of the year to see the quetzal bird, and the cloud forest has toucans, parrots, sloths, monkies, etc. As well so with the help of a trained eye we should be able to see even more than we have already run into on our own. So far, we have had a sloth and an anteater run out in front of our car, and seen loads of monkies on our hikes – but we can hear a hundred other animals and don’t really know what to look for (speculation on what is making the sounds also takes up some time every day). This area also has platforms built above the canopy, which will give us a view of the jungle that I have never seen before, and we plan to visit a coffee plantation as well as the Quaker Center for Cheese (I bet you thought I was going to say Peace).
We have been able to keep up with world news pretty well through internet use as well as the interest that people in Costa Rica have in the war. CNN en Español is on every television. It is reported that 55% of Costa Ricans are against the military action, and 45% for it. Costa Ricans seem to mistrust Bush on economic issues, and hope that the result of the war will lead to lower gas prices here in country. The basis of the economy in Costa Rica is: Number One revenue source – Intel, Number Two revenue source – tourism; Number Three revenue source – agriculture (coffee & bananas being high producers). Costa Rica is incredibly developed with the highest literacy rate in Latin America, but the living wage remains very low so every import tax, raise in gas prices, etc hurts a lot.
In both Nicaragua and Costa Rica we have found the people to live life with half smiles on their faces, which erupt into full scale grins with even the slightest provocation. They are some of the happiest people I have ever encountered. In the case of Nicaragua, it is the poorest country I have ever been in, but the quality of life seems to be high based on the way they see themselves – happy. We read an article in the Atlantic Monthly while we were traveling that charts happiness worldwide, and it certainly does not follow a pattern of economic well being. I could not find that same article online to share, but this one looks like it explains the same research:
Search World Happiness Readers Digest if you do not see the link -
www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2003/01/happy.html
Check it out if you have a moment; I find it to be a pretty powerful thing to think about.
With that thought, please join me in sending good thoughts and prayers to the troops. Regardless of anyone’s individual opinion on the subject, it is the direction our democracy chose, and I hope that our citizens can send the right message to the men and women in uniform; that we support them fully. Craig’s brother is among them, so of course, it is very personal for us.
Hopefully we will see peace soon, best wishes to each of you,
Erin
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