On the move

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Hey guys, I´m back at Hostel Toruma in San Jose and I have access to free internet so I thought I´d take advantage. I´m staying here over night and then heading to Cartago in the morning. Volunteer Abroad just bought a house for the volunteers to stay in, so we´re going to go there tonight for a barbeque. Meaghan is here at the hostel with me before she leaves for Matapalo tomorrow, so it´s nice to catch up on what each of us has been doing.
Last Sunday I went on a Catamaran tour, which was awesome...at least when I wasn´t feeling queasy. It was this huge boat that holds around 65 people, but there was only about 15 people when I went. We headed out towards the beaches of Manuel Antonio National Park while listening to some great summer classics and enjoying free drinks....well, I enjoyed my orange juice. =) We anchored the boat in a little cove and went snorkeling for about an hour. There was a cluster of rocks in the middle of the bay where we were able to see a bunch of fish. Unfortunately we had a big storm during the night, so the water was pretty foggy. I tried to take some underwater pictures, but I don´t think they turned out that well. Trying to aim the camera with a mask and snorkel is no easy task, and for some reason fish don´t like to hold still when you´re holding a camera right in front of them. Go figure. I saw about 3 or 4 different kinds of fish, and their colouring was amazing. I think one was a type of grouper, but I´m not sure. This one kind of fish swarmed around us in schools. It was incredible how many there were, and how close they would get. You could feel them brushing against you, and if you had your head above water and looked down, all you could see was yellow and blue streaks swimming around you. As much as I loved this experience, it was a little scary sometimes. Because the water was so cloudy, you couldn´t see anything until it was really close to you, including other divers. If a shark´s coming after me, I wanna know before it´s a couple inches from my face. The rocks were pretty scary too. The waves would push you into them so quickly, and they seemed to pop up out of nowhere. On the boat I met a couple from Toronto that was on their honeymoon. The guy´s leg was all cut up and bruised because some waves pushed him into the rocks when he was swimming at the beach the day before. And apparently when they went snorkeling in Florida last year, the girl was pushed into coral, which was burning her skin, and while her then-boyfriend was trying to help her to the boat, she got stung by a jellyfish. So needless to say, she was a little nervous about going on this excursion. And I can´t say that their story reassured me at all...When I was swimming back to the boat, I saw something float past my arm that looked like a detached jellyfish arm/leg/tentacle/whatever, which made me panic because apparently they can still sting you even if they´re not connected to the jellyfish. So I swam like heck to the boat because I didn´t want to push my luck any further. When we returned to the boat, we had lunch and fresh fruit, turned off the engine and set the sail. It was a beautiful sunny day -- perfect for sailing. Unfortunately we didn´t see any dolphins. Maybe another time. We eventually headed back after about 4 hours. It was a really nice trip.
The rest of my week was pretty quiet. I mostly went to the beach after Spanish class so that I wouldin´t look so obviously white. I also wanted to enjoy it as much as possible since I´m moving into the central valley where the climate is a lot cooler....and no beach. I´m really sad to leave Quepos. It´s so nice there, and I love my family and the friends I´ve made. So I tried to appreciate it as much as possible before I had to leave.
Yesterday I went to the Fincas Naturales Wildlife Refuge in Manuel Antonio to see their butterfly gardens, amphibian habitat and reptile lagoons. It was still under some contruction so some parts weren´t very exciting, but it was still gorgeous. I was the only one on the tour, so it was like having a personal guide for 4 hours. The butterflies were absolutely amazing. I didn´t think that part would be too exciting, but they really were incredible. The blue morpho was the prettiest. It´s almost the size of my hand, and is this crazy electric blue. It´s such a crazy experience to be surrounded by thousands of butterflies all at once. And the catterpillars were so weird. They were all different combinations of colours, some hairy, some runnery, or both -- many with spikes. We then walked thru the forest and found a lot of wildlife. Lots of lizards: a green iguana, two Jesus Christ lizards (the ones that run on water...the baby one did), a casque-headed lizard, and some other ones that I can´t remember the names of. Then by chance we found a red-eyed leaf frog (my favourite) and I got to hold him! That made my day. We saw all kinds of frogs, including a black and green poison dart frog, but it was too quick for me to be able to get a picture of it. We saw 2 three-toed sloths too. One of them looked like he was just lounging in a hammock up there. He was so cute. I was able to get some good pix of him because I could put my camera up to the guide´s telescope. We saw lots of birds too, and heard the howler monkeys again....yet to be seen. In the reptile lagoon I saw turtles (that looked like my old pets, only a lot bigger), a caiman, and a crocodile. It was a really nice tour, however very very sticky. The humidity in there is insane. It´s a great refuge though. They really stress the importance of sustainable eco-tourism and work hard to educate the public about conservation of natural flora and fauna.
Then last night I went on a girls night out with Maria and Sharon. We went to a couple of bars/clubs and then went to the Mar y Sombra again, which is the disco on the beach where I reeked up the dance floor a couple weeks ago, haha. We mostly stuck around the beach though and went for a walk along the shore. I think I like the beach better at night. It´s so peaceful. Now I wish I went more often.
So today I headed to San Jose -- about a 4 hour bus ride. Meaghan and I went to Subway for lunch, which was a nice change. It´s amazing how different San Jose is from Quepos and Manuel Antonio. Then sometime tomorrow I´m heading to Cartago. I´m getting a little nervous about my teaching placement though. I still don´t know how many students I´ll have, what the age group is, how long I need to teach each day, and whether or not they know any English....and I start on Monday. So I´m praying that someone can give me some more information before that day comes...otherwise I´ll have to be super super flexible. I guess it´s good practice.
Well, that about wraps it up for now. Almost time for the barbeque. I hope everyone is doing well at home. I miss you all and can´t wait to see you again! Pura Vida!
Love Kristi

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Comments

[erin]

heeey! did i just read that a three toed sloth is cute? who is this and where is kristi? ship her off to costa rica and she becomes a whole new woman. so have you adopted a pet spider?