Costa Rica
Thursday, 2/25/2010
So… this is my first blog.
Seeing as Dennis and I are traveling for six months, this seemed like a good way to share with everyone what we are up to, and a nice way to reflect on our/my experiences.
We have been in Costa Rica now for about a week. I had to really think about that. It’s very easy to lose track of time, as we don’t have any real obligations, or anywhere that we have to be. It’s quite nice. Aside from the week that we spent at Dennis’ parents house over Christmas, I haven’t had this feeling of being able to let go and totally relax for a long time. It still hasn’t totally sunk in yet… I occasionally have this sense of urgency, that there is something that I should be doing, something that I should be worrying about, but there isn’t really. When I wake up in the morning and think about the plan for my day, it’s just a matter of organizing a series of these activities: surfing, walking around and taking photographs, eating, laying on the beach, swimming, reading, or researching things on the internet. Sometimes we have a plan to go surfing in the morning, but then a band of monkeys comes frolicking through the trees in front of the house where we are staying, so we decide to stay and watch them instead and head for the beach break later.
Hard life, right? This is a popular phrase among folks around here.
We are in a small surf town called Malpais. It means “badland”. I read that it got its name because during the dry season all the rivers dry up, and the soil turns to dust, making it impossible to grow anything. The name seems ironic now since the value of the land is apparently worth millions, and is supposedly some of the most expensive property in Costa Rica.
It doesn’t look or feel like an expensive place, as much of the development around here is quite rustic, but the natural beauty around here is really impressive. Although I expected to see wildlife, I assumed it would be reserved for occasions when Dennis and I trekked through national parks or specific wildlife areas. However, we’ve been blessed with seeing all manner of creatures right from the front porch where we are staying: capuchin and howler monkeys, bats, iguanas, geckos, a scorpion, a variety of colorful birds that I don’t know how to identify (a Costa Rican bird book would be really handy), a tarantula? (if not, it was an equally large and thick-legged spider), squirrels the size of possums, 3-inch long grasshoppers and palm sized beetles. The howler monkeys are crazy. They are not that big, but the ‘howl’ they make sounds like a gorilla roar. For several days Dennis and I had no idea what was making such a beastly noise. The Austrian guy, Franz, who is renting the house to us, helped us figure it out…
We have been in Malpais since Saturday, not quite a week, and plan to stay here for at least another week and half before moving on to check out the rest of the country. Malpais itself is pretty quiet. There are “resorts”, but nothing like what usually comes to my mind when I hear the word. For example, most the signs that advertise hotels are hand painted. It’s considered a family area, and is maybe 3 kilometers long. It borders a town called Santa Teresa, and that is where any shops, restaurants, banks and stores are. We are just over a mile from the border of Malpais and Santa Teresa, so to get there we have rented these fixed-gear land cruiser bikes. A mile sounds like nothing, but it’s nearly 100 degrees, and the roads that they have here are brutal. Unpaved, dusty, rocky, and pitted – I feel like a champ if I make the trip ‘into town’ twice in one day, and am a mop of a sweaty mess when I do.
If you would like to see more photos, copy/paste this link into a new window:
http://picasaweb.google.com/106492817349966784988/TripPhotosForFriends?authkey=Gv1sRgCLDtsO7_quXJRA#
