Kerry and Mike are here once again, updating this time from a new country--Costa Rica! We arrived in Monteverde, a rain- and cloud- forest area this afternoon, and plan on spending the next few days here.
Mike says: It was a swell trip here, as we patched together about 5 buses to make it from Granada to a small town, Tilaran, outside of the Monteverde area. We, in all modesty, are quite good at finding our way, and trying out some very rudimentary Spanish along the way. We navigated a very haphazard and lax border patrol between the two countries, making it to Tilaran ready for a drink. This morning, we went to the church service after booking our bus ticket, and it was very cool. Tomorrow will include 14 zip lines in the canopies of the rainforest, a tarzan swing, and other dicey adventurous stuff. Pictures should be cool, happy 4th, missed being with the family, but know you all had a great celebration anyway. later
Kerry says: We spent an extra day in Granada because Mike woke up with a splitting sinus headache, giving me the chance to practice my pharmacutical vocab in Span (which is, of course, nonexistent). No worries, he's feeling much better now.
Yesterday we spent the day on chicken (local) buses, starting from our first one at 7:30 and arriving in Tilaran around dinnertime. As Mike said, the border was crazy! There were lines everywhere and no one to give directions or provide explanations of who was doing what or where we should be. We miraculously figured it out and passed through in only an hour or so.
Church this morning in Tilaran was interesting--not only do I know nothing about Spanish, but I know nothing about religion and was basically clueless as to what was going on. And I saw a dead dog (the roads are full of stray animals running about, but this was the first time in all my travels I've ever seen a dead dog like that).
At 12:30, we got on our bus to where we are now, Monteverde. We were, as usual, squished into seats too small for us, and a bus holding too many people. The roads were horrible! The route we took is supposedly one of the worst in Costa Rica, and I can see why. There was no pavement but rather rocks flying everywhere, curvy and windy roads--all while we were driving up and down the hills, even going above the cloud level--at what I considered to be an unsafe speed. Mike loved it.
Our 3 hour bus ride was saved, however, by a cute little toddler squished in between the 3 people sharing an American school bus seat next to us. Mike and I got a kick out of showing her pictures in our guidebook, watching her point excitedly to them, and then hearing her scream out the names in little kid Spanish. Mike and I have vastly improved our Spanish animal vocabulary.
Once we arrived here, we found it much easer to navigate the town than a lot of other places. For one, it's much more touristy, which means that more people speak English--in fact, we have found in only a day here that more people in Costa Rica speack English than in Nicaragua. This also means that Costa Rica, with the tourism, is more expensive. It is great to see my money converted into colones, which means I have thousands more due to the exchange rate!
Mike and I are both looking very tan. He has managed to only lose one thing so far (though of course it was within the first 24 hours of the trip), and this was his water bottle so it was easily replaced. His hair is rather sandy, as he still finds bits of sand or dirt in it. Neither of us have had a warm shower in at least...well, since we've been here. Our fingernails are always dirty.
Despite all of this, we are both learning a lot and discovering new things about different countries, different people, and ourselves. Hope everyone is well back in the States!
|
