Granada: Towers, volcanoes, outreach

Immediately we were spoiled. Air conditioning, hot showers, big beds, cable tv and food money. If all this was not enough, the colonial city of Granada greeted us with delicious restaurants, beautiful views and refreshing nightlife. One of my favorite times of day was again the sunset, but this time instead of watching it swimming on a dock, we were a top an old church tower looking over the city. Here is a brief synopsis of our stay in Granada.

Day one: bumpy roads and sweaty buses are no good for the sickTraveling, upset stomachs and sick people still quarantined, room assignments as we arrived at La Posada Del Sol, a night out in the empty streets of La Calzada.

Day two: A few hours is all you need in ManaguaOff to Managua to conduct more climate change surveys and have a tour of the National Palace and a lecture on tourism in Nicaragua. Dougie-fresh and I patrolled the mall asking shoppers to complete surveys and people were very willing to do so, despite full bags and rushed attitudes. Once back in Granada we went to Carita Feliz, a great center that educates and feeds poverty-stricken children of all ages, and performed a talent show with dinner. This is also the day that we discovered the best pizza ever – palmito. YUM.

Day three: The5,400 stairs of Volcán MombachoViews of craters, Granada, steam vents, wild orchids and cloud forests as we hiked around the top of the volcano up and down stair after stair. Whenever I felt sorry for myself and my calves, I thought of the workers who had to put this trail together!

Day four: Nueva Esperanza

Without question, this is the best outreach we have done this semester. We went to Nueva Esperanza, which is part of a group of nine public schools on the outskirts of Granada that teach children who’s families suffer from extreme poverty. We taught the 5^th graders English, worked construction and played soccer with the kids. We built them a drainage system for their water tank and a new garden with a wall wo that their water use can be more sustainable. It was hard and hot work, but worth every minute. After teaching English to Mabél, we were given a snack. She asked for watermelon, and as I ate my orange I watched as she took her untouched watermelon slice and passed it through the school fence to a little boy on the other side. Despite her own situation, she was still thinking of others. Suddenly, the sticky orange juice on my own fingers reeked of my selfishness.

Without a doubt, I will come back to Nueva Esperanza.

Day Five: Masaya artisan market and a taste of home

Our last day in Nicaragua we went to nearby Masaya. We spent hours in the artisan market, many buying cheap hammocks and personally I took care of all my souvenir shopping. Then it was up to Masaya Volcano to see the intense craters and breath in the sulfur. We hiked through some old lava caves where pre-Columbian ceremonies took place and walked around the craters where the sacrifices fell. We watched the sunset behind the cross above the crater and took excessive photographs while our professors turned up the salsa music from the bus and had their own dance party.

That night was our last in Granada, so we decided we should finally take advantage of our extended curfew and not go to bed by 10 like we had all the previous nights. True to our word, we enjoyed a Mexican dinner on La Calzada with a local street boy (whom Dan had befriended during the week), and then headed to Zoom Bar to watch some college basketball. My distracted eyes quickly strayed from the tv with basketball to the one playing the Sounders soccer game, completely ignoring the two gringo boys at the corner table. After about 5 minutes in the bar, I finally heard the calls “Kelly, Kellyyyyyy” and looked over. The world could not be smaller, as I turned to see Jon and Kyle, my sister’s boyfriend and close friend, who are both good friends of mine. So to say the least, for the first time in Granada, it was hard for me to keep to curfew because I wanted to stay out all night talking and catching up with my first personal connection to home in months.

Ironically, this week in Nicaragua was the best time I’ve had since studying abroad in Costa Rica. In Costa Rica’s defense, much of that was because of the awesome accommodations, amazing views and previously unheard of free time. But still, Nicaragua is definitely a country I will visit again.

Now, we must focus on finals, but then I’m off to Panama to hike Volcán Barú with the SJF crew for our spring break during Semana Santa!

Isla de Ometepe: Beautiful, for some

Our adventure to Nicaragua started on the largest freshwater island in the world, the Island of Ometepe. It is in the middle of Lake Nicaragua and is home to one of the world’s most perfectly conic volcanoes, Concepción, and a volcano boasting physical evidence of its destructive power, Maderas. While we were on Ometepe we hiked Maderas, toured coffee plantations and saw ancient petroglifs telling of eternity. With all of our newly given free time, our hectic lives seemed to peacefully slow down on Ometepe as we experienced the spiral of eternity for ourselves.

The hostel we stayed at here, Hacienda Merida, was nothing short of picture perfect beautiful. It was located right on the lake with a view of both volcanoes and many sunsets, it was also a prime location for swimming, kayaking, stargazing and banano coco batidos. While many of us were blessed enough to enjoy every moment of beauty that Ometepe had to offer, the majority of our group was not so lucky. After the ferry ride on day one, a virus attacked its first of many victims. We are a close bunch, living and traveling together, but also sharing much food and water. This is great most of the time, until the germs take off like dominoes.

In total, over 20 students came down with the virus, one professor, one administrator and our intern. It was like a game of Mafia, each morning we’d discuss who else had been “lost” in the night. I was lucky to be apart of the third that made it out virus free, though the fear for your health and concern for the others still had quite an effect. Finally, after the vomiting and nausea surpassed and the hospital trips and quarantine were no more, we were all united again - just in time for a long travel day north to Granada.

Sticky, Sunburned and Snorkeling

Friday began a much needed laid-back weekend. The center hosted a fiesta for our homestay families that had disco lights, salsa music and tasty food that rivaled any party I've ever been too. Even better was the company. Ana and Edwin, my mother and brother here in Atenas, came to the dinner, and they were carrying the largest basket of exotic tropical flowers I'd seen. Apparently my effort at Spanish and politeness, despite the different customs, had come across. Dinner was accompanied with a talent show in which I partook in a Stomp dance led by Meredith who is a proud (white) member of her college stomp team. Our final shouts of "pura vida!" were followed by Kurt, Pedro, Frodo (Peter), Colin (Culo) and Doug singing and dancing away their dignity, with much pleasure for the audience, to "I Want it That Way" by the Backstreet Boys. The night ended with some superb salsa dancing (thanks to our lesson the night before) under the disco lights. After most of the families had left SFS students took over the dance floor until we were told to stop and clean up the remnants of an amazing night.

As for the rest of the weekend, it had yet to begin. The early morning on Saturday greeted us with multiple bus rides, first into San Jose and then to Cahuita. We ended up spending more time than planned in San Jose because the first bus was sold out. No matter, we had a great breakfast and visited the only English bookstore in the city. The only downside was that my goal of eating ZERO beans on the weekend was foiled in t-1 hour.

Finally arriving in Cahuita, we were greeted by a small colorful town and a sticky film of sweat and humidity covering our skin. This was a moot point when we caught sight of the pristine beaches along the national park and the cool blue water. Surprisingly, it was much cooler than the water at Manuel Antonio, though still bath water warm. After checking into our hostel and visiting la playa negra, we set off to do what we had really come to do. Eat Caribbean food, and lots of it. After a delicious dinner of Patacones (which Maisie asked for "sin carne" even though they are fried plantains), pescado and Rice and Beans (yes, more beans) we settled in next door at Coco's. After some coconut drinks we were all feeling extremely tired after a long day's travel so we played some cards and went to bed. The first weekend we have free and don't have a midnight curfew, we go to bed at 10:30 - the irony kills me.

Well rested for a full day in the water, we went snorkeling with King at 9. He took us out in his little boat and gave us gear and showed us where the good fish and corals were. We were in Cahuita National Park waters just a ways off the shore of the point. For me, the snorkeling was amazing. For some Turks and Caicos alums (coughMaisiecough) it was nothing new. I however, was fasincated by the many different types of neon and colorful fish, the equally impressive coral and the sea urchins. One of my favorite things about this snorkeling, besides the freedom and the warm water, was the massive schools of fish that you could dive down and swim between. This must be similar to what Cahuitan kids do for fun in place of running and chasing down flocks of geese at the park like I used to (still) do.

After our snorkeling adventure and some bathing in conch shells, we ate lunch at a crepe place. I must say I have never had sadía (watermelon) in a crepe before and though it was good, it had nothing on Artopolis. We walked through the national park for a while, attempting to burn off the lunch so we could get in our second lunch before we had to load up the bus. After being frightened by the howler monkeys, we enjoyed another dose of Caribbean food and then headed back to the dry side of the country with our full bellies and salty and sunburned skin. Needless to say, once we arrived back at the center and joined our compañeros, we were certainly no longer the gringo sunburned anomaly.

Homestay, mae!

This weekend we all had our homestays with various families in Atenas. I lucked out and got to stay with a good friend of ours we'd seen a time or two down at Don Yayo's, Edwin. Expecting some kind of culture shock, it was different, sure, but in no way shocking.

It was practical. It was relaxing. It made sense.

Time was passed peacefully en el corredor (the porch), chatting with passerby's, 90% of whom were cousins. Life here is lived simply, but that is all that is needed for happiness. The afternoon was filled with lunch and then family time. Nieces, nephews, sisters and brothers filled the tiny green house. They were all very warm and accepting of me, letting the strange gringa muchacha hold the 10 day old Kimbley who was at Grandma's house for the first time. It was the youngest baby I've ever held, and with the most cameras on me in the process.

The evening included a trip to the horse parade, in which there is a rodeo, bar, dance floor, games and food. All of this is centered around the "parade" which entails a walk or march of los caballos por la calle. Horeses trot through the streets, cars still weaving through them and then back again, most of their owners drunk on their backs. All in all, great for people watching, seeing friends, and passing the time.

The night was flashy, full of neon lights and loud music, the discoteque in San Ramon called our names. We met up with Ronulfo and Allison and danced the night away. The best part about this discoteque? Soccer was on every tv, both games, Saprissa and La Liga, back to back. Costa Ricans know what's important.

Sunday included a nice sleep in after a long night. The morning was filled with spanglish and soccer with the neighbors. Then at 12:30 we headed to San Jose with some friends to catch a movie. The bus takes an hour but costs $1 each way. New York subways should take note. With no English Alice in Wonderland, we tried a different movie, "desde mi cielo" despite not knowing what it was about. It ended up being "The Lovely Bones" and it was a harsh lesson in language barriers, to say the least.

Returning to Edwin's house, I gave my parting gifts from home (Seattle Sounders gear) to his family. His mother said goodbye and gave me a long and warm hug, as if I was welcome any time, for the rest of my life.

Despite the heavy movie, the weekend ended with me comforted, knowing I had made a friend for life here in Costa Rica, and a family I can always come back to.

Continentally Divided in Monteverde

After a long week of midterms and research papers, it was a welcomed but silent four hour bus ride to the cloud forest of Monteverde. Excited for the overnight trip along the continental divide and relieved that the heavy workload was over (at least for a few days), we chugged our way up the mountain. The fascination with the continental divide was prominent as we witnessed the beautiful but dry Pacific side of the divide and then the wet and siempreverde Caribbean side. Once finally to the top where the cloud forest reserve was located, we set off in our three hiking groups.

Many plant, insect, flower, tree and climate facts later, we made it to the lookout along sendero de la ventana. It is called the window trail because it follows the ridge along the mountain top so you can see both directions, including the ocean and lake Arenal. However, being a cloud forest, we were up in the clouds with no view, the wet and wind welcomed after a hot week in Atenas. After consuming our much needed emergency sandwiches and chiky cookies, we journeyed back to the reserve, crossing over a sturdy but wobbly bridge above dense forest.

That night we were graced with a pizza dinner at a local restaurant and then the evening off to explore Monteverde and Santa Elena. After a tough week, about half of us took advantage of the opportunity, myself included. Time is flying here in Costa Rica, and so we have to take advantage of every moment to have some fun!

The next day it was an early morning (as always) and we were off towards lake Arenal and Tilaran to see the molinos. The wind turbines were owned by a private company who gave us a tour of the turbines as well as the control room. Costa Rica uses about 85% renewable energy, and this percentage is continuing to grow. The wind was whipping up there, but instead of hidding from the cold and wet, for some reason the wind was like a drug. Cameras out, each one of us, professors included, ran and jumped against the wind, as if testing the strength of each gust.

A long bus ride to the center put us back just in time for a briefing on our homestays that would take place the next two days. All of us were headed to different homes, every experience unique but each one full of culture.