OsoCurioso

For the past week, I've been volunteering at a small non-profit in Nicaragua called Estación Biológica, or GAIA Nicaragua on Laguna de Apoyo, outside the town of Masaya. I've been helping with the reforestation program. This place is quite the place, especially during Semana Santa. There's a lot of Nicaraguans vacationing so the beach is really busy and there have even been a couple drownings--Lucia the cook told me yesterday. One boy was 15. The lake is really neat. I've been swimming multiple times everyday since I've been here, including night swims. The full moon was so great to swim under! My workload is relatively light, but its so hot. In the morning I water saplings, then breakfast is: cereal, usually granola, with fruit AND THEN gallo pinto with eggs. Then I've been collecting seeds, yesterday ... read more

Greetings from Boquete! We stayed on a few extra days at Lost and Found pushing our departure to Sunday. Kendrick has been feeling feverish so we stayed an extra night to help him recover. We got a ride to David from Andrew and said our goodbyes to Duncan. A lot of goodbyes in the last week... Our time at Lost and Found was well spent. We didn't plan the ne treasure hunt, but we certainly helped out. We spent a lot of time around the hostel, basically running the place, it was a lot of fun. The location was stellar. Clouds literally swept through the place. We had some parties and some very mellow times. The cooking and creativity were off the charts. We ate a lot. I made bread for the first time, and it ... read more

I gotta stay away from falafel because I don't think it quite sat well with me. So that's how my day started. Sleep was great last night. In the morning a kid came in from the night and we discovered that we were at UCC at the same time, with the same major only his was there as an Irish student. Poor guy had his backpack stolen which had his passport in it. I left the hostel and checked out Parque La Sabana, San Jose's largest park, it was very nice. The national stadium is there and it is currently being renovated, or something. Then I went to the central market and that was really cool--had lunch, arroz con pollo. Didn't find a hammock I wanted so I went to the artisanal market and bartered with ... read more

My bags are packed and my stomach's a flutter. Time to travel again. This time I'm heading to Costa Rica. There I will meet up with Kendrick at La Tortuga Feliz on the Carribean coast and spend a week there volunteering to help the turtles. We'll be patroling the beaches in the madrugada in an effort to keep the eggs out of the hands of the poachers. From there we're heading down the coast towards Panama, staying in a town or two in CR before we cross into Panama. In Panama we'll spend some time in Bocas del Toro. From there a 2-week volunteer stint at Lost and Found Lodge Eco Resort in the cloud forest will bring us into mid-March. The plan is to summit Volcan Baru (the highest point in Panama), finish our ... read more