Pura Vida Mae

Pura Vida is the best way to sum up Costa Rica. Pura vida means pure life or super great, chill, and/or happy. It is what people respond when you ask how they are or when you just say hi.

Montezuma Sunrise

It has been great returning to Costa Rica. Costa Rica was the first country I traveled to outside of Canada and the US. I studied abroad here for a short month and was able to visit Guanacaste, Puerto Viejo, and Volcan Arenal for some beach, zip-line, and rafting adventures. Now finding myself here again is super comfortable and leaves me more doors open to see some of the things I missed the first time around.

I headed to Costa Rica (unknown to me) on their independence day. As soon as we walked across the bridge making the border crossing with Panama- yes we literally got to experience crossing the border by walking the bridge- we were greeted with song, dance, and parade sporting the Costa Rican flag. It was a great welcome back for my first time returning to a foreign country.To start off Costa Rica I ended up in a place I loved the first time around: Puerto Viejo. Puerto Viejo is a town with a lot of Jamaican influence on the Carribean coast of Costa Rica. Needless to say it is a great place to sit back and relax. Something I needed very much. So I rented a hammock for a few nights and was able to decompress. I spent the nights playing cards, sitting by a camp fire near the beach, and making dinner with people I met in the trip our in the giant room of hammocks. I spent the days getting out for a run and renting a bike to get some fresh air and listen to the awesome sounds of the birds and monkeys (I think) hiding in the trees. Just the refresher I needed before moving forward to San Jose.
I was fortunate enough to have a home base in San Jose. My mom's classrooms aide's cousin lives in San Jose with his family. He also happens to be the cousin of someone from my graduating class. Small world. The Convery family was kind enough to take me in and feed me some of the best food I have had on this trip. Keith's mother just moved down to Costa Rica and caught wind of my love for coconut so on my last day there we combined our language power to prepare a sweet shrimp and rice dish to be followed up by chocolate coconut bars. DELUXE! It was great to be integrated into this bilingual household. The highlight: helping the youngest son with his Spanish homework (which he speaks fluently...just a tid jealous) and had far too much fun for it to go unnoticed for me.

Keith and I solved the bus system to get me off for an early departure to Montezuma on Friday. My good friend Jackie studied abroad here for a year and spent a good chunk of her free time in Montezuma dancing so I knew it was the place for me with my intense desire to go dancing since I left the DR.

Montezuma is on the pacific peninsula of Costa Rica so to get there is a few buses and a beautiful ferry ride. On the ferry I knew I was headed to the right place thy were blasting Latin tunes and the garbage man kept us all entertained with his interpretive dance.

Upon getting to Montezuma I quickly met a quirky Danish girl who was ready to hike the waterfalls there. With a short break to drop my bag and get a passion fruit smoothie we were off. A group of is hiked along the river and weaved up and over trees to reach the first of three waterfalls. There we met a local Tico (term here for Costa Rican) who showed us how to get in under the falls and climb up a bit to sit and enjoy the spray- after my last experience I was a bit nervous of slipping and sliding, but he took good care of me. Since we befriended the Tico he decided to show is the way to the falls that were higher up. To get there we had to use a rope to stable part if a climb and again maneuvering around lots of tree roots and rocks. A total adventure! After getting there the Tico immediately ditched his backpack and took a jump of the fall. It seemed totally crazy to me because he jumped right through a bush! Yet, after seeing him do it I couldn't resist. So once everyone wasn't looking and he jumped off a part directly on the water fall I followed suit--44 feet later I made a splash. It was WILD! We were then able to see over the first fall and hide in the cave under this fall too. When I got to the top no one could believe that I did it- but were super impressed with my tenacity. The hike out was again complicated, but a great adventure. I was glad we had an experienced person to show is the way.

When we got back we grabbed dinner made a few rum and cokes and head out for the only bar in town. I had told everyone my main goal in Montezuma was to dance so they introduced me to a few of the locals who danced super well. I was utterly impressed by the Tico merengue skills. Merengue is a dance originally from the DR, but when they mix all their salsa turns and spins WOW! I have never had so much fun being thrown around a dance floor. Not to forget they played a good half hour of just bachata and with my excitement and evident love for it some started calling me bachatera. So perfect!

While dancing I met a Tico who lives in the states and was heading back soon so as a celebration he was going to Tortuga Island and could get me in for Tico prices. Needless to say they next day I was on my way to la Isla Tortuga not knowing anything about the tour. I was nothing but impressed for a tour free to me. We stopped at the island to let them prepare lunch while we got to snorkel around for an hour. The highlight... A massive blue star fish. After we headed to the island for some fresh fish and rice while my new friend struck up a deal to get some fresh oysters. We spent the afternoon eating and preparing the biggest oysters I had ever seen and the tiny lobsters that were doing some cleaning inside of it...totally fresh and still kicking as we bit/cut into it. Que Rico!! On the ride back I was excited to see hump back whales jumping around and giving us some "ooooohhhh ahhhhh" entertainment.

I spent that night dancing and talking in the street until I got sent back to my room by the storms that rainy season never fails to bring. Rain lasted the good chunk of the next day and allowed for a perfect movie night.

The next day I finally made it to explore the beaches around Monteverde and enjoy some local ceviche after a solid match of soccer with gringos and Ticos alike. It made me happy to play with men who didn't mind pushing you around. I left Montezuma beaming, doing nearly all of the things that give me that natural high. So many times that weekend I made sure to give thanks to how fortunate I was for that experience. 

My Costa Rica experience as far from over. I heard to Monteverde for the cloud forest. The bus ride here was longer than expected so I made sure to head to get on my feet the next day in the Santa Elena Reserve. I spent my first morning exploring through the clouds on my own and finding an exciting 14 new settings on my camera and lots of colorful flowers. Uh oh! In a nerd moment I was likening waking through the cloud forest to swimming in the SAV of the Chesapeake because of all the biodiversity that lives there. Any who,

my timing was  great, I found the lookout tower to climb and enjoy the sandwich I packed myself to dine with a clear view of Volcan Arenal- which was cloudy on my last visit.   Lindisimo! The afternoon I returned to my room to find I had a roommate-the first one after five days of sleeping alone in a dorm (one benefit of traveling in low season), but I was lucky because he was off to a great adventure. In the forest near town is a tree that was hollowed out by another tree that you are able to climb in the middle of. The locals we met there called it Fincus Extrangulador- or Strangler. It was a super neat experience literally being IN a tree to pop out the top of it.

My last day in Costa Rica was spent doing what those who come to Monteverde come to do: zip-line. Having already done a canopy tour in Costa Rica I was hesitant to come out here for it, but man was it worth it! I signed up for a tour that included 13 lines, a repel, and a Tarzan swing. After working at EHOS I thought I was totally prepared, but this way way more exiting than what we have on the Eastern Shore. With this zip-line you are in control of stopping yourself and the view is absolutely breathtaking. The tour takes you through some shorter lines and on some that you ride double with a friend (I found a group of Spanish girls to tag along with.) The last of the lines is 1 km long and you ride it superman style with all parts of your body attached to the line and your arms outstretched airplane style. This was breathtaking going over the valley as the clouds set in, the scariest part was not knowing how we were stopping at the end. The pictures of my face at the end are priceless. Yet, I have to say the best part was the Tarzan swing. Since I decided to stick with the Spanish speakers for the tour I ended up at the end of the line. While they were hooking me in the told me to turn around, so naturally I obliged only to be tossed off facing backwards with the most authentic scream I have ever produced. It was so much fun and such a thrill to be added to something already full of adrenaline rushes. Overall worth it and something anyone who makes the bumpy ride to Monteverde shouldn't think twice about doing.

After the tour I decided to get a good cup of coffee and some high quality chocolate to relax for the afternoon. The tour guaranteeing me the same wasn't worth the extra $25 dollars I would pay- but the chocolate was totally worth the food splurge.
I am off to Nicaragua in the early morning for a volunteer project after climbing the hill to the office three times to bus ticket. I am excited to be working with some Spanish speaking kids in a school setting and testing out how that shoe fits for me.

Before I can log off I must give a big thanks to Jackie. Upon getting here I was hammering her with questions about what I should do, how I should do it, and how to get there. Jackie's second home is here in Costa Rica and she really knows a lot about it. Ever since I starting traveling Jackie has been there to answer all questions and give some of the best advice I have ever received. Because of her talent and experience with travel she has started a website and just got a book published. If you are interested in learning how to travel on a budget and live it up while abroad you should totally check it out! There is a link on the middle right side of my blog about The Budget-Minded Traveler and how to buy it (right about the photos you should check out.) Don't miss this chance-believe me I wouldn't be able to do all my travels without having this guardian angel and reference at my finger tips. In supporting Jackie you would be supporting me as well, as I am an affiliate of her budget-minded travels and can benefit from your purchase as well. Thanks Jackie for always being there for me!
PURA VIDA!

Pondering Panama

I traveled to Panama with a few things in mind and quickly everything changed for me there.In making plans to go to Panama with AB back in March we were dead set on teaching English. Since then AB spent her summer on Europe and I spent my summer in the Dominican Republic. Each of us in that time decided we wanted to achieve different goals in the next few months than thought previously. For me, after being in Santo Domingo and completely immersed in the Spanish language I realized how important it is to me to continue improving my Spanish. Something, shown my my experience in Guate, that can be very slow if you are required to speak English during the whole working day. So we decided to dabble in the world of vacation and work away...
On landing in Panama AB's dad, Dale, joined us for a week of vacation and touring. With him we found a friendly, and now much richer, cab driver who toured us around the city. I acted translator while he showed us all the hot spots for Canal history. He took us to see the Maraflores locks on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal. It turns out we were really fortunate for our timing; we got to see a handful of boats cross and the gates open and close for the water to rise. We later found out from our work away experience that the boats only cross at certain hours of the day so timing is fairly critical (not exactly what our hotel or our taxi driver told us, so that fact with a grain of salt). After the famous locks we made our way to Cerro Ancon which has an extraordinary view of the quick growth the Panama Canal created as well as the Panamanian flag where once stood the American flag. It was in this moment that all of us realized we were ready to leave the city. Sky scrapers can be beautiful, but the water and hills behind were far too tempting. In our day's adventures we also managed to visit a hight way constructed from the earth removed to make the canal and stop for local cevichel. No matter what Lima, Peru says I say the ceviche up here is way better. Even though AB's dad didn't like how it "grew in your mouth" he came to like it by the end of his stay.
We spent one day more day in the city getting some souvenirs for Dale to take home, enjoy the pool our hotel had, and eat some Dominican food (yes, con con) and sushi. Something we did learn (or Dale did) even though your taxi driver is nice and helpful don't invite him to join you at your hotel pool-because he will.  But more importantly we saw and experienced how such quick growth and clash of culture could change a place. All of us found that the city had quickly sprouted up with little consideration for environmental and health impact resulting in icky water everywhere. We were also able to see the huge income gap. Panama has a 30% unemployment rate, but all the cars we rode in were 2013 with the plastic still on the seat. I also found it one of the least Latin minded places I have been. People were very business and money oriented, they were less likely to greet you on the street with a kind hello than most places I have visited in the US. I even experienced my own kind of culture shock being in a nice hotel and in a city that was what I expected, but so far from what I expected at the same time. That wasn't what I was expecting going from one side of the Caribbean to the other, but it was still good to see.From the city we headed to Isla Toboga. An island off the pacific coast of Panama with a view of all the ships looking to cross with the buildings making up the skyline. Super representative of Panama in as of itself. On Toboga we stayed in a hotel with the dining room hanging over the rocks that became good areas to snorkel at high tide. Although the accommodations and service was less than extraordinary it was super nice to be able to see some colorful fish right off of the hotels steps. We experienced a lot of rain while staying on the island. That didn't stop us from seeing the second oldest church in Central America, hiking to a cross on a hill (with three stories as to why and  how it got there), spending a good chunk of time at the beach, and talking a boat around the eight mile circumference of the island.  It refreshed me to get some slope under my shoes, it excited AB to some snorkeling in, and Dale was thrilled to get a chance to try and catch a barracuda. When vacation came to a close we headed back to the city to take Dale to the airport and to be picked up by our work away job we had set up before arriving.
From the get go it looked like a pretty sweet gig. We would be selling tours and first had to take a few o the tours in order to know the material. We started off by visiting Casco Viejo. The old town of Panama City with churches and monuments to honor the French and specific individuals for starting the Panama Canal. We stayed that night in the city at a hostel paid for by out work away dude, Manuel, and headed to the area we would be working the next morning. The afternoon was spent with Manuel and his little girls visiting the Anton Vally where we saw a few waterfalls, a zoo with animals in far too small cages, and a petroglyph with a fabricated history of the Anton Valle explained by a local boy.Although I wouldn't have chosen the tour myself and we spent most of the time in the car it was a nice intro to a new place. The day we visited the beaches we were going to sell the tours at. Since all the beaches in Panama are public we walked the water line of some big all-inclusive resorts. This time of year there are never many people so we were really pulling to even talk to people who weren't just visiting from the city. The afternoon was spent in a long car ride to see a pretty awesome waterfall. There was a small hike in and we were able to swim and explore a bit. This was wild! We climbed along the rocks below the actual falling water and I was blown away by the pressure. I am pretty sure I got everything I missed out of my last month of bucket showers in a mere few seconds. Upon getting down from the fall I so gracefully slipped and bruised my tailbone-which proved to be an issue the next day. Although all the small experiences we had seeing the bits and pieces of tours were fun AB and I had a hard time with the big picture. We spent most of the day in the car and if we weren't in the car we were waiting hours (literally) for Manuel to get started or we ere getting back late and not able to leave the fenced house if needed. Beyond that we weren't excited about interrupting the handful of people as they were sleeping and relaxing on the beach. So the next day when AB and I were allowed to hit the beach alone we talked about shortening our stay. By the time we reached the end of the beach after getting a lot of "we are leaving today's from customers" and "this isn't worth it for you girls you should travel" we decided to pack up that afternoon and make plans from there. Mind you, this is my birthday and Manuel is treating is to lunch when we break the news. He was clearly not happy with or decision because he had put a lot into our short visit, but his loss seemed minimal to how miserable and trapped we felt. That afternoon we packed our bags, AB moved her flight home, and I got overwhelmed with the pace of the decisions I would have to be making in the next few days.After having a good Thai birthday dinner to officially start my birthday (we decided it had a delay due to too many emotions and being somewhere where time is a much less strict concept) we were on an overnight bus to they archipelago of islands on the Caribbean known as Bocas del Torro  (extremely painful with a bruised tail bone). When we landed ( or floated for our final leg) we found that the main island, Isla Colon, was an environmental awareness festival which made it a little harder to find a hostel, but still doable. AB and I immediately dropped our bags and went to the nearest beach before walking the souvenir shops, fried food, stages, ad booths that made up the festival. We signed a petition raising awareness for the Panamanian government about the dolphins and turtles that are unique to this region and later that night enjoyed a beach side performance of some good ol' Latin times.
The next day I was thrilled to finally have the time and freedom to go for a run and then later go on about tour of the islands. We picked a tour with a mix of everything. Our first stop was to Dolphin Bay where I was captivated by the grace and serenity of their swimming. From there we headed to snorkel and explore at Coral Caye. We saw all sorts of colorful fish and AB picked up a sea cucumber for me to test out. It was totally what we were looking for. From there we headed to paradise... Literally this is what every person wishes they had when they go to a beach. Zapatilla Island is a national park so it is literally untouched white sand beaches with crystal clear lukewarm water. We got to explore and circle the island for two hours. In that time we found another awesome reef with schools of fish, map-like coral, and loads of sea enchants. From Zaptilla we had a break for lunch which we opted out of to save room for sushi and headed (unsuccessfully) to spot sloths. You'd think they'd be able to find them doing these tours everyday seeing how their name is Spanish translates to lazy bear, but that's ok. Our final stop was a place called Hollywood. At Hollywood there are an uncountable number of Star Fish... Another first sighting for me. Super neat! From our tour we made great timing for half off Sushi, got my phone back working since I would now be solo, a packed up to split ways in the morning. AB headed home and I made my way to Costa Rica.

Although Panama wasn't what we expected and I probably won't go back, unless I get a guaranteed sighting of a Quetzal, we learned a lot... Mostly (as always) about ourselves. After getting some time to sort things out I am excited about what is coming next for me. Although  I haven't picked exactly what yet I have a few options and plans that all seem like great fits for me, my interests, and my future goals.

DR: Touring turistas

Through the eyes of a tourist in the Dominican Republic... Touring the DR on the tourist belt was really interesting for me to see. The areas that we went were packed full of people vacationing in the DR for a week or few and those people from Europe who decided to up and leave home to start a hotel or tourist agency of sorts. Needless to say I was blown away with how different the overall feeling of this part of the island was in comparison to Sabana Perdida and those areas we visited with our participants.
We started off our trip on the Zona Colonial. This is a part of Santo Domingo that I have spent a lot of time in on days off or with the kids. It is a hot spot for those who get off the cruise ships to get a peek at colonial life of the Dominican Republic. The streets are lined with your typical tourist gear and paintings while all around town are ruins and old churches in which they now hold a number of dance nights or wedding photography. Alec really enjoyed getting to walk around the ruins and getting bits of the history behind everything that lines the little sector or Santo Domingo.
From Santo Domingo we headed north, bypassing the mountains because of the rain that tends to get stuck there. I decided this because of a past day off when I had my hopes set high to hike Manabao with a friend of Alberto and it poured all morning and stayed sunny with intermittent down pours through the rest of the weekend,  I wasn't ready for heart break again. Thus, we trekked north to the beach town of Sosua which huge draw is snorkeling and, forgotten by me at the time, the ladies of the night. We scored big with our hostel, which I picked merely because if its name: Coco Hotel. What we didn't know was it had private beach access that led to an uninhabited beach where all the scuba instructors bring their groups to dive.  So after getting setting out to get Alec a taste of some Dominican food and waking up in the morning only to find four "ladies of the night" in their short dresses prancing out of the hotel we decided it was a good idea to hide away on our easy beach access. While we were out there we enjoyed the clarity of the water, buoyancy,  and got to use my snorkel gear to follow the scuba boats marking the reef so we could see massive schools of bright fish I couldn't even start to identify. This was pretty wild and super lucky- I felt like we were part of some secret club. Despite or awesome location we decided to head over to the next beach town, Cabarete. Sosua during the day was only filled with old men sitting at the bar around noon with a pretty obvious objective for their evening.We found a much better fit for our company at the surf hostel we found in Cabarete. This town has a huge draw for kite surfers and surfers alone. Meaning the energy level and thrill for new things with palpable through the air. Although we didn't surf or kite surf during our stay, we enjoyed walking the beach with the sky painted with eating at our hostel (which apparently had the best dinner in town), and experiencing the night life that also is part of Cabarete's claim to fame. It was wild to me seeing so many restaurants and tourist agencies run my retired Europeans and experiencing the night life felt like I had landed myself back in the states. Bachata and merengue could only be found at one discoteca and only for the start of the night. It was definitely the tourists lens of the DR. I had a small debate with a guy from Spain that the DR was loosing its culture because of all the tourists. Which it was easy to agree with in the north, but I could not make him believe how different life was in Santo Domingo. I suppose the longer the tourists don't try to see outside of the Zona Colonial the longer I will be right about that.
Upon leaving Cabarete we booked a trip to see the 27 waterfalls in Puerto Plata and visit a Dominican farm, taste some good coffee, see how Domican cigars are made and taste, and of course go up and down the first 7 of the 27 waterfalls. I finally got some great use out of my waterproof camera- which was enjoyed by everyone in out tour group.
After this trip Alec and I headed back to Santo Domingo. We stayed the night in the Zona Colonial and took off in the morning to Elio Franco. It was really important to me for him to see the DR I know and love and not that that was described by the Spaniard. We toured the neighborhood  and visited some of the kids and friends before sending Alec off to the airport.
Being unemployed with nothing to do in Elio Franco turned out to be just what I needed to top off this summer. My friend Yeiron's family was so great to me. His Grandma is a great cook and his brother is a riot. I had lots of fun with him and their neighbor Yessl washing clothes/having a nice impromptu bath, making all sorts of jugo, batidas, and OH! and ending up on a national TV program promoting a new Dominican Artist (I ended up being a kind of back up dancer with Yessl and her family that was there. As a thank you to Yessl's mom helped me make dulce de coco for people in the neighborhood and to send to my parents as a recruero (sorry Mom an Dad... We didn't have a fridge so it may not make it.) It was also great to spend some time with our director Alberto and the family when he wasn't crunching numbers for Visions. He even got up at 3 this morning to give me a hug goodbye which made my day :)Don't you worry I didn't leave without a lot of Bachata. A neighbor had a birthday party this weekend and Bachata dominated the radio... Along with some to retry intensive dembo dancing. They just didn't want to hear no when I wouldn't dance with them.
Now I find myself landed in Panama with another tourist lense, but extremely thankful and grateful for everything at happened in DR and the perspective it has given me.