Lizards and volcanos

Hi everyone,

Once again thanks for all the messages, especially the kind words about my photography. It makes lugging my heavy camera around seem worthwhile after all. I will reply as and when I can, but carry on writing even if I can´t reply.

Last time I wrote, I was in Cahuita, on the Carribean coast of Costa Rica. On Tuesday we had a trip to a local Indian reserve, called Bri Bri, which is the name of the town, the tribe and their language. Our guide was an eccentric little grey-haired German guy called Willie, who swore like a trouper!

We visited a native family, whose ages ranged from 18 months to 107! The house was very basic, hardly any furniture, and certainly no microwave oven in the kitchen. Most of what they eat they grow and rear themselves. They even make their own chocolate from the cocoa plants they grow. When I visit these places, I can´t help feeling that we´re intruding, but they seem happy to see us, especially the kids, and they get money from us so maybe it´s not a bad thing.

Then we went to another native house where Willie and an Indian girl showed us the uses for many of the plants that grow in their garden. It reminded me of the bush tucker tours I did with the aboriginals in Australia. They have plants that they use for paint and dying clothes, for getting rid of headaches, for rubbing on cuts, aiding digestion. They even had one that apparently acts like natural viagra! But it would have been embarrassing to try too much of that as I was on a 4 hour tour, although it would have given me somewhere to hang my camera.

We then went on a bit of a hike through the rainforest to a waterfall. It was a beautiful setting, I get really nervous when walking on wet rocks as they can be very slippery and I´m quite unsteady on my feet in these circumstances. I did slip once, but not badly, and made it to the falls and back in one piece! We saw a snake on the walk back, although I didn't catch what snake it was. Judging by the state of my arms later that day, the mozzies saw me.

After lunch (rice and beans, can´t get enough of them!), we went to a farm where they rear iguanas and release them to the wild. Apparently, the population is dwindling as too many people are eating them. This was a great place to practise my photography, although I think it´s cheating a bit as they weren't in the wild.

We took a bus to a nearby town called Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, which was another laid-back town, a bit bigger than Cahuita but with less old blokes walking around stoned out of their head. We had some Thai food overlooking the beach, until it started pissing down and we hurried inside for some cocktails. It´s rained every day so far but it´s been refreshing and hasn´t really prevented us from doing anything.

On Wednesday we took the bus back to San Jose, where I picked up my backpack and changed hotels to meet up with my new tour which started the same day. I arranged to meet up with the original crowd after dinner so I could say my goodbyes, and in fact both groups ended up in the same pub. I had bonded pretty well with them despite only being with them for a week, and being the new boy, so it was quite sad to say goodbye, but I´ve got to get used to that! The only bummer was, I forgot to tip our guide and only remembered in the morning when it was too late. He was a good guide too, and told me that once I´ve done the 142-day tour of South America with the same tour company, I´d stand a good chance of getting a job as a tour guide. Now there´s food for thought.

The new tour is cosy. There are 6 of us, 4 guys (3 Brits and an Aussie) and 2 girls, both Canadians, both best friends, one married and one with a long-term boyfriend, so there won´t be any romances for the next 4 weeks! We left San Jose yesterday at 11am (which seemed a bit late to me) and, after a 3 hour ride through some amazing mountainous rainforest scenery, arrived at our destination of Arenal, where we´ll be staying for 2 nights. The attraction here is an active volcano, and as we approached the village, we could see plumes of white smoke rising from the top, and then some black smoke, so there´s clearly some activity going on at the moment. Unfortunately, as soon as we got out the van, it clouded over and the heavens opened, and I haven´t seen the top of the volcano since! So it looks like our late start in San Jose has prevented some decent photo opportunities. My first impressions of our new tour guide, Chimi, aren´t great but I´ll reserve judgement for the moment! He´s a nice guy, born in Iran, raised in Belgium, educated in the USA, but I think he´s only doing this job to shag his way around the world free of charge! Still, nice work if you can get it!

Last night we went to some hot springs. When I saw this on the itinerary I was really looking forward to it, as I imagined sitting in some rock pools at the foot of the volcano with water bubbling around me. The reality was somewhat different! It was like a 5 star resort, with over 20 pools of differing temperatures, some of which had bars attached. It was a good laugh though, although the water slide was scary as there was a drop of a few feet before landing with a thud in the water!

This afternoon we´re doing a short hike up the volcano to a viewing spot where we may be able to see lava flowing out. I hope the weather holds, as that will be a highlight of the whole year for me.

OK I´m off to phone my mum now as I haven´t spoken to her yet.

Enjoy the pics and speak soon
David

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