Volcanos, Earthquakes, and Blackouts...oh my!

---

Showering with Pigs.

Happy Valentine's Day from Costa Rica!!! So far I have had porcupines, an anteater and a one armed monkey crawling on me. I've also been attacked by a coati and had a shower with a pig. We are volunteering at the Rainsong Wildlife Refuge, run by a large texan woman reminiscent of Adam Sandler's mom in waterboy. She just orders us about and is surprisingly stressed about living in Paradise. The reserve itself is very small, with the aforementioned animals as well as a skunk, turtles, tapirs, birds, and an owl. We have been working on the grounds (Derek), and taking care of the animals (me). Derek is chopping plants and carrying heavy things while I have been cuddling with anteaters (the aptly named Anty). Anty has a long tongue which he will try to stick into your ear or any other crevice at any opportunity, hoping for ants. The monkey took a nap in my lap, and the porcupine likes to eat out of my hands. We live in the frame of a farmhouse that didn't get built any further. There are fields and cows and horses outside our door, and an outdoor shower which resulted in the pig rolling around in the mud I created while using it. We will be here for a few weeks, and further updates are to follow.

Man vs. Bug

We came to Costa Rica from Nicaragua, where we rented a small apartment in the beach town of San Juan Del Sur. I don't know what to say about Nicaragua...the men liked to hoot, howl, whistle, hiss and yell at me, and if we walked into a store the proprieters generally looked as if they hated us. We did visit a beautiful, almost deserted beach on our first day there (where we got taken at the suggestion of our cab driver when we first got there, and where we found only a small shack selling chicken), and we stayed there for a night after walking for a while and finding actual accomodation. Being too rich for our blood, however, we headed back into town, where we practiced the fine art of generally doing nothing...unless you count tanning, swimming, playing cards, drinking margaritas and cheap rum (6 bucks for two litres!) playing monopoly (still the champ!!) and trivial pursuit, eating chicken, and hitting on machissmos at the beach (a charge to which I plead innocent, although there were a number of small boys in love with me). We tried to explain to some fellow backpackers what we had been doing, and they really weren't able to comprehend it. What can I say, we've got skills. The most excitement came in the form of the large, ugly, hairy bugs that inhabited our apartment and would terrorize us while we were trying to sleep. Derek became The Bug Man, and would sit up with a flashlight in the dark waiting for the bugs to emerge so he could kill them...it was pretty funny, but he killed many a disgusting bug that I would've run away from. Spiders several inches across, cockroaches, and the worst was some sort of flying cricket-locust thing that would come out at night, buzz in your ear, smash into a body part, and then hide for half an hour and do it again.

Volcanos, Earthquakes and Blackouts...oh my!

We came to Nicaragua from Guatemala, crossing through El Salvador and Honduras (a very long trip!) where we spent New Year's at my friend's house on Lago De Atitlan, eating steaks, drinking champagne, and making 12 wishes on 12 grapes at midnight and inhaling some sort of herbal steam from a pot at the suggestion of my friend's mother. Afterwards, we went downtown to a bar where we danced to Reggaeton and Derek tried to hold his liquor. Everyone sets off massive amounts of fireworks/noisemakers out on the street, most of which sounded like machine gun fire and made me jump on a fairly regular basis; this went on pretty much ceaselessly until late the next day. Shortly thereafter, we left for the town of Antigua, another big tourist spot in Guatemala. When we got there, it was in the middle of a blackout, and our shuttle driver didn't know where our hotel was so he just dropped us off at random, gesturing vaguely as to the direction of the hotel. Everything was pitch black and all the buildings were gated and locked. Luckily, we found a hotel nearby, at the end of a dark alley, then we set off to search for food and had a candlelit dinner. Throughout our six day stay, the power was barely on half the time. There was also a (small) earthquake that made everything tremble, but that's about it (I was mildly dissapointed). We also came within a foot of molten lava (on purpose). We hiked to the top of a volcano, climbing over volcanic rock - sparkly grey, sometimes with rainbow reflections, and very sharp - that spilled into a field of cows (some of which was still warm) and watched the lava flowing down the side. Derek was startled by one of the bulls, and he shoved me out of the way as he ran out the gate. (Note to self: do no trust Derek with life). It was definitely a very cool experience, being so close to molten lava. Best wishes to all at home!! Love, Nicole and Derek

---