Vulcan Tenorio Volunteering


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Published: August 29th 2008
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Sorry it has been a while but been away from the computers and da internet.....it is a slow old pace over here and the internet is proof positive of that. Well i will begin here i guess we have done a lot. We spent 2 weeks working our r***s out at Tenorio which is a low level active volcano but the only activity there is the steam vents and the hot springs and as i mentioned in our previous blog the only time you get hot water here is when you check in to a better quality hotel which is rare as we are on a tight budget. The first day in the station was fun because they did not speak a word of English and the cook thought that because Lynne has boobs she can cook...(over here the women do all the kitchen and cleaning stuff and the guys do the other stuff ... like lie around and sleep etc...or well it works for them) so the cook said in basic sign language '' you cook for 2 days and i'll be back monday'' .... Then began to explain how to cook rice and beans, eggs and where all the ingredients were before leaving....funny huh! Oh! i forgot in between this we were told what we were to do for work. This included rebuilding the kitchen and renovating the laundry!

Saturday,
We woke and made a fresh pot of coffee... you remember the scene from Bruce Almighty where he is sitting at the computer and decides he wants coffee and the guy with the donkey appears... well it was that good! Making breakfast was fun then into the work. I think they expected less from us as they seemed surprised with the amount completed.

Sunday,
We went into the forest and up the trail it is some beautiful land here the ground is so fertile and the animals are HUGE! the insects are big and the spiders which eat them are bigger. At night time there are no less than 4 different bugs which suck your blood even though we were covered in a repellent which was 80% DEET (this amount is almost poisonous to humans but the bugs found any patch which is not covered and made a hole to draw blood from!. So we walked and looked at several different birds and a huge variety of bugs and flowers, fungi, etc you know the stuff you find when you go camping. Then we came to main attraction of the National Park a waterfall and a lagoon of blue made this way because of the copper sulphate which comes out of the volcano. Not dark blue but ice blue even lighter but so beautiful. We walked on after multiple shots which will be on the blog site and found the hot springs this was bliss we had not had a good hot shower for days and to sit in a natural bath of hot water only cooled by the surrounding river slightly leeching in through the cracks in the wall which had been built to make a pond. the only down side was the water turned my silver chain to brown colour but it washed off after a few days.

Monday Back to work...
We had an extra set of hands on Monday another volunteer arrived an 18yo from Germany, the cook returned and set about teaching Lynne the finer points of rice and beans... the first round of work was complete on Saturday and Like i said Sunday was my day of rest. The joy was short lived Monday came too soon and it was hard yakka, moving blocks from 1 point to another 100m up the track. In preparation for repair later that week. This work filled in the rest of the week we were fed well and had most afternoons off because by 2.30 most days the rains set in not much else could be done...even as i type this the rain is pouring down out side.

A note to mention that Costa Rican women love soap operas. The advertising states hombres prohibido which means not for men. Now soap operas are on the tv all the time. Olympics only come around once every 4 years. Lynne was in constant battle with the the ticos over what channel to watch. Mind you, the olympics were always in spanish and only showed events of the spanish speaking nations. But she got up early in the morning to watch the full opening ceremony and didnĀ“t budge until it was over. (which was after start work time). No one was aloud to touch the telly. She proudly hung the flag in the dining hall for the whole time at the station.

Friday we left and headed for the beach but that is another story.



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Bioling springsBioling springs
Bioling springs

volcanic bioling springs! fenced off for obvious reasons!


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