Claire's Adventure

Vic Falls, Zim

claire_agni — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 03:46:00 GMT

I don't have long because this is a borrowed computer, so let's get to it.

Zimbabwe is a beautiful place full of friendly, great people. Everywhere there are people waving to each other, saying hello to you, asking how your day is. Every time I see someone I know, even if it's only been twenty, thirty minutes, it's "Claire! How are you doing?!" The people here are very social and very physical. You always shake hands or hug someone every time you see them, and if you're quiet like me, oh boy, they don't like it. "Claire, what is wrong with you?" "Are you okay?" "Yes, I'm just tired," or "I'm just a quiet person" isn't accepted. If you're not smiling, or are just sitting alone, there's something wrong, and they will find out what and why. The guides, handlers and spotters are great though, and always make a lion walk fun.

So a day at Lion Encounters starts by getting picked up by a truck at 6. Sometimes we have to pick up some of the guys, so we get to the lions around 6:20. From then we have tea and coffee (or just water (what?! Are you sure? No tea?)) and then at 7 we go for our first lion walk. There are 4 lions here: Jalani and Jebari, 11 months, and Monde (Monday) and Mvuthu (voo-two), 4 months. The little ones spend their time pouncing and wrestling with each other, it's quite cute. The J's have been sick since I've been here so they're not their usual selves, but they're still fun to watch and give belly rubs too. The J's are about mid-thigh on me, and the M's are below my knee, with Monde, the girl, considerably smaller than her brother. After the walks we can either have lectures on the bush, the animals, birds, trees, tracking (very interesting), what have you. Or we can just hang out with the cubs and watch them, or play and pet them. There's also meat prep, which involves hacking frozen game meat into 8 and 2 kg pieces with axes and machetes. Since I've been, here it's been buffalo, because 11 of them were killed by lightening a couple of weeks ago so we got the meat. At 12 we head back to Hunters, where we volis stay, and have lunch, then after a quick nap we go back to the lions for the same thing as before: hanging out with the cubs, cleaning, lectures, and then we end the day with the lion walks. Tourists come everyday to meet these guys, so we help with pictures and help to keep the lions in line. They can be naughty. :) The day end at six in the evening when we head back to Hunters for dinner and to sleep, which for me is usually around nine. Sandas, a guide, calls me a lion because I yawn all the time and I sleep a lot.

The first night I got here we went on a night game drive and I saw two giraffes, two elephants, some kudu, waterbuck, and impala. Everyday I see baboons on the side of the road. They're huge! I've also seen some warthogs and have seen two buffalo. So I have 3 out of the Big 5: lion, elephant and buffalo, so I just need leopard and rhino. I got to go on a elephant ride the other day and hang out with the elephants beforehand, which was soooo cool. Also huge, but did you know that elephants make no sound when they walk? They're feet absorb it all, so they walk through the bush in silence. Pretty neat. Although the area I'm in has all the animals, doesn't mean that I get to see much. I see their tracks every day, but still, no sightings. I want to see a hyena so bad and they just taunt me with their tracks in the sand (and, yes, I can tell the difference between a lion and a hyena paw print). I'm still on the lookout of those and my other favorites. We shall see if something comes up.

Carcharodon carcharias

claire_agni — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:56:00 GMT

Last day at White Shark Projects. These past two weeks have just flown by like you wouldn’t believe. I guess that shows how much I enjoyed my time here. Even though sometimes, some people, were impossible to get along with, or I was just so tired I would fall asleep on the futon still in my chum-smelling, fish and salt water incrusted clothes, the sharks always made it up to me.

Case and point: I got puked on yesterday. These past couple of days, the clients have been getting really seasick. I’ve seen more puke in the last week than I have in my whole life. And yesterday I got hit. It wasn’t a direct hit, but the outcome is still the same: puke all over me. I went out again right after that, with no break, and I was tired, and the boat was full of Swedes who wanted to get into the water RIGHT NOW, but the sharks, they must have know I needed a little pick me up, because they did not disappoint. They kept coming out of nowhere and getting the bait, which is something we try to avoid, but of course, is my favorite part. The get that tuna head and they go crazy; thrashing their head, swimming all around the boat, just trying to rip that tuna to pieces. We must have lost at least five baits yesterday, it was great. So even though I was puked on, and worked from 7 in the morning until closing time… which was 3 (but still!), I went back to the house with a smile on my face because of those sharks.

March 11^th was a good day. We had two trips again, and the morning one was good (one puker) and I had my first kid diver. Within five minutes of him being in the cage, a shark came up and slammed into it, scaring the poor kid who wanted to get out right away (his dad was the one who puked). We went out again in the afternoon, and because there weren’t many clients, Kelly and I were asked if we wanted to dive, so we figured why not? We hadn’t taken up the offer in the days before because it was cold out and the underwater visibility was poor, but today it was sunny, the water was alright, and the sharks were good, really curious and had kept coming up to the cage.

Man, they did not disappoint. That was probably the most fun thirty minutes of my life. Other than the fact I was wearing a wetsuit at least two sizes big for me, so I kept floating instead of sinking, there was nothing bad about my time there. I was positioned in the left corner, and I had four sharks come right for me and stick their noses in the cage. Ugh! I wanted to touch them so bad, but there were clients in the cage so I couldn’t! But still, it was amazing. You would hear the dive master say “Down! Down! Down!” And you would jump down underwater and start looking in the direction they said. I would look and look, and sometimes not see anything, but then BAM! There he was: less than a meter a way and coming right towards me. The first two times I screamed and jumped back, because they just startle you coming out of nowhere, but then a second passes and you relax and just take it all in. The first one who came up starting biting the cage, so I got a close up view of his teeth. Awesome. The others just came and ran into the cage, wiggled around a bit, then would take off, finally understanding that they can’t eat this hard, cold thing floating in the water. The only unsightly thing they do is roll their eyes back in the head so they don’t damage them, so all you’re left with is pink and white flesh staring back at you. That’s a little creepy; the only scary thing about a shark.

The day before Kelly and I missed the afternoon trip, and were later regaled with the stories of the four meter shark they saw. He was massive! The biggest one they’ve seen in a year! And we were sad. But then, while sitting in the cage, Julia says, “the big one’s back. Get ready.” So we wait for a few minutes, go down once and don’t see anything, but then we hear a really excited “Down! Down! Down” and we go down and wait. Then, out of the murkiness of the water comes this shark, slowly swimming, and moving off to the side. I only got to see his head to his gills, but let me tell you: holy crap. The thing was huge! Four meters! And they can grow up to be 5, 6 meters, so this one’s not even full grown yet!! It was amazing. The past couple of days we’ve actually seen another 4-meter shark and seeing it from the boat is just as fun. These little 2, 2.5 meter sharks don’t even compare. When Big Mama (or Daddy, I don’t know what its sex is, and that’s only what I call it) comes around, you’re just in awe of how big, and calm this shark is. I saw it go for the bait once, coming from a vertical approach, and it was something else. I would not want to be the one who had to hold onto that rope.

I have one trip today that I’ll go on, and hopefully will see something amazing. Everyday here is amazing, though, because you see sharks in the wild, just doing what they do. Everyday it’s something, or someone, different, and even though the washing and hanging of the countless wetsuits is the same (which gave me a rash, btw), the sharks always make it worth it. Rash and itchiness and all.

Cue The Shark Music!

claire_agni — Tue, 9 Mar 2010 20:14:00 GMT

This morning was the best so far: we were supposed to have an “exclusive” which is for just a certain group of people, but they canceled because their helicopter couldn’t make it out of Cape Town. So it was just the other volunteer, Kelly, the head of the volunteers who day by day gets slightly more annoying and condescending, two crew members Shaun and Maoli and the skipper, Grant. We went out and the sea was a bit bumpy, and the visibility wasn’t too good but we got everything ready like we usually do. Someone starts chumming and another person is on the bait line (which is a rope with tuna heads tied on). Everyday is different out here, you never know when – or if – a shark is going to come. I think we waited about twenty minutes for our first guy and he was a good size for here: about 3 meters. Because of over fishing and poaching, Kleinbaai doesn’t get big sharks anymore, only juveniles ranging mostly from 2 to 3 meters, and when you do see one that’s 3 meters, boy does it make a difference. The thing is huge! It’s very sad, though. People say that just ten years ago they would get the full-sized adults here, but not anymore, and in another ten years there may not be any. South African waters are protected, but all a poacher needs to do is sail out to international waters and he can catch anything he wants. It’s disgusting.

Anyway, back to this morning. We stayed out for about 2.5 hours and we got 8 sharks. It was so cool. Quite a few times we had two or more sharks at the same time. And, there were these two, Mini Notch and #7, who would rotate trying to get the bait. I’ve seen Mini Notch for the past three days, which is unusual, but very cool to keep seeing one certain shark. I feel like I’m getting to know her. We had a couple of feisty ones today. One actually caught the bait and took off with it. Luckily, Maoli kept a grip on it, and got it back, but after the shark swam from one side off the stern to one side off the bow. He was thrashing and splashing water everywhere. It was so much fun to watch. I was hoping we’d get a tooth out of it (stuck in the buoy) but no luck. It does happen sometimes. There was another shark who would swim sideways next to the book each time he missed the bait. The whole time we were there we kept trying to get the sharks close enough so we could pet them, and we got pretty close, but no cigar. I want to pet one so bad! Maybe someday… We also had two little buggers spyhop today, which is when they take their head out of the water to look above the surface. They look pretty funny doing it, but it just shows how smart and curious they are.

So a typical day here in Kleinbaai (outside of Gansbaai) starts pretty early in the morning, usually around 6 or 6:30. Once we had to get up at 5:30, so now 6:30 doesn’t sound so bad. We get up, meet in the garage where all the gear is stored, and pack up the wetsuits, which we cleaned, dried and organized the day before, and put them in the ‘bucky” which is just a tiny little truck. We also have booties, life jackets and the bait (frozen tuna) to put in. Then we drive down to the “lodge” which is where the office for White Shark Projects is (just about a block down the road) and we drop off the life jackets and pick up the towels, food and drinks for the boat. Then we drive down to the boat (about another block down) where it is parked on land with 7 other shark diving boats. We load everything up, clean and dry the surfaces, tie down the cage, and we’re basically ready. Then we get a break for breakfast and to get ready for the day, and then about 15 minutes before the launch we head down to the lodge again and wait for the clients to come out so we can put their life jackets on. Then it’s down to the boat again, where we all get on and a tractor pulls us to the water and we sail away.

On the boat there are many jobs. Us volunteers are usually in charge of wetsuits and getting the clients dressed and ready (goggles, weights). Once that’s done we go on to other jobs. I like to do data, which is collecting information on the sharks we see and writing it down on a form. The one job we’re not supposed to do is the bait line, because the sharks are so fast and so strong, but I got to do it once. Luckily a shark didn’t come so I didn’t have to pull it in so the shark wouldn’t get it. The cage we have is a five-person cage that is attached to the side of the boat. I’ve gotten to go in twice now. The first time I went, the visibility was very poor so I only saw one shark, but it was still amazing. The second time, the visibility was a bit better, and the water was slightly warmer (about 10 degrees Celsius) and I saw a lot more. They didn’t get too close to the cage, but would swim right by it. A lot of the time, I’d just see shadows passing in the distance, but it’s still worth it. I could have gone in again this morning, but didn’t. And who knows, maybe if I did, and we’d put the cage in, we wouldn’t have gotten the amount of sharks, or the action we did get. And I enjoy watching from the top, so I don’t feel too bad about not going in.

The thing that’s surprised me most about this project is how gentle and docile these animals are. I’m not going to lie: I expected Shark Week with sharks jumping out of the water left and right, and banging against the boat, but they’re really not like that. They just swim. They check things out. They’re very curious animals that just want to know what’s going on around them. I think it would surprise you to see them as I have.

The behavior that I’ve seen is very typical for the summer season, where the water is actually colder, and there is less prey around, so the sharks don’t expend too much energy. However, in the winter when the water is warmer, and there are lots of baby seals everywhere, that’s when you get your Shark Week footage with breeching sharks. So, needless to say, I’ll be coming back in the winter. I want to see a flying shark. It seems like the two seasons produce two different sharks, so I’d love to see the other side of them, and see more action. But, being here now is totally worth it.

Where I am is actually pretty cold. It’s very windy which really chills you. Yesterday, though, it was frickin hot. Kelly said it was about 37, which I’ll have to look up (of course) but it was so hot we couldn’t really do anything. We only had one trip in the morning, so for the afternoon, after we cleaned the wetsuits and all that business, we just laid around, trying not to move. Thankfully the house doesn’t get very hot and stays cool enough for us to stay inside. I don’t know what we would have done if it was hot in here, too.

Seen some dolphins (which the sharks eat) and some seals. No penguins, though. L

Everyday here is pretty much the same; with the only thing differing is the sharks. I’ve been lucky enough that I’ve seen some everyday, and that they’ve stayed around the boat for a while. Just another week until I head off to Zimbabwe, but I’m already trying to figure out when I can come back here. And so I can go on a safari. I want to see some zebras!

Funny side note – Jimmy, the Australian, and I were talking about smores, so I said I would make him some. Unbeknownst to me, Jimmy goes out a buys the supplies. He got the mallows right, but he got crackers, like those white crackers you would eat with cheese, and he bought chocolate with nuts. I was in shock. At least he tried, right? I just ate the marshmallows that night.

Hotter Than Africa

claire_agni — Mon, 1 Mar 2010 03:50:00 GMT

It's hot here in Africa. Suprise! Apparently, Cape Town is known for its winds, but I'm not hating on that right know, unlike the locals. The only time I saw the temperature it said it was 47. I hate not knowing celsius. Okay, that's 117. Not sure if that can be right. Wouldn't we sizzle and pop? I sweated though my pants twice today (attractive) and kept buying bottle after bottle of water. Don't feel like I got a lot of sun, but we'll see tomorrow.

Let's start with my trip.

First flight was late, I was practically bouncing up and down, willing to get out and push the plane back myself because I had a rather short connection. Now once I got to Buenos Aires, I received conflicting reports about what to do, and the lady at the South African Airways counter was adament that I had to go through CUSTOMS, go to the ticket counter, get my tickets, go through CUSTOMS AGAIN and all will be fine. "Don't worry," she says, "we won't be boarding until 5:30." It's 5 o'clock. The people at customs and taxes downstairs were very friendly and told me that I didn't have to do this, but I said the lady upstairs said I did, so they said I should do what she says. $131 in taxes. Stupid Argentina. But I can come back for the next 10 years even though I don't plan to. The people at the ticket counter were shocked to see me and said it was too late. I told them what was happening and they made some phone calls and eventually gave me my tickets. So I ran upstairs, or the broken escalator, and went straight through security (love that they don't care about liquids) and customs... again. He didn't seem to notice the date stamp on my passport and ran to the gate with that little bitch lady smiling at me. "You made it!" Yeah, no thanks to you.

Hot and sweaty I sit down on my seat and the plane isn't even half full. Something's broken so the air won't work until we get going, so it's basically a sauna in there. The flight attendants stress that we can move around once the plane is up so we all plan out what we're going to do. The nice man in the seat next to me, who helped fan me, was going to move next to his girlfriend so I stayed put. Dinner was served almost directly and they played two bad movies, one I've already seen. I tried to sleep, and managed about 2 or 3 hours. Was not happy when it was time for breakfast. I saw on the airshow that at one point we were right over Cape Town, and I thought about ringing and asking if we could just stop here.

The most obnoxious and abhorrent man sat in the aisle next to me. He complained non-stop about all the flight attendants who were doing a very nice job. He looked one staight in the eye and told her she should get a new career. He didn't know that SA wasn't a European line, because he would never get treated like this. He spoke to the head woman twice, and was mad that he wasn't served coffee as soon as he woke up. Coffee wasn't served then. He wanted coffee. HOT coffee, and after they brought him some, it wasn't HOT coffee. He was disgusting.

Well, Cape Town. The plan was, of course, to stay up as long as possible and sleep at night. Since I didn't get much sleeps on the flights, I feel asleep at 5 and woke up at 8. Then I went to sleep again around 10 and woke up at 1. I fell asleep again sometime cause when I finally got up it was after 10. I got dressed, made a sketch map on the back of a piece of paper and went out. The plan was to go to the aquarium, which was about 15 minutes away. The wharf is very pretty. All the old fishing building converted and painted into quaint malls and hotels. Lots of old ships, some getting repaired out of water, which was cool. I was a little underwhelmed by the aquarium. I was in and out in probably an hour. Not much to see. Did see a huge turtle and some penguins.

As I walked outside I saw a little booth for the city tour, which is hop on and hop off, so I decided to do it. Got on top of the double decker and saw some sights, learned some history. A lot about apartheid, obviously. Really don't know much about it so that was interesting. There was a stop at Table Mountain so I did that. It was pretty, but not the coolest city I've seen from above on this trip. Had lunch and bought a placemat as art work. Oh - before I got off at Green Street Market and did some bartering for some really cool stuff. The best part was that they didn't hassle you like the South American vendors. They said hello and asked what you were looking for, but that was only if you stopped at their table. And since it was "Sunday and so hot" they all said I would get the best price. I think I did alright. We'll see when I get home.

I feel like I just burned through money today, but then I remind myself that the Rand is 8-1 and all their bills are like ours: 20, 50, 100, 200. So it's very easily to go through a 100 like it's nothing.

Anyway, after Table Mountain the bus went through the coastal area with all the beaches, and where all the celebrities like "Prince Harry, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robby Williams" have been cited. The commentary would always say stuff like that. It was beautiful, though. When I marry my billionaire husband...

After the tour was done, I went through the wharf again and grabbed dinner for later, and breakfast (2 muffins). And now I'm back at the hostel. I'm being picked up at 4 in morning for some reason so I just hope I can get to sleep early tonight. Probably won't.

Sharks this week! Wooo!

Shocking Showers

claire_agni — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 08:09:00 GMT

My shower here in Cusco litterally shocks me everytime I use it. If I get too close to the head (meaning I lift my arms any), or touch the knobs in the wrong place. It's crazy. The first time it I happened, I was like, what the hell was that?! But now I know to be a little more careful, however, needless to say, I may not shower as often here as I have in other places.

Cusco is old and cold. I don't really understand this, because it's supposed to be their summer, right? I've been meaning to look up their weather/climate but keep forgetting. Where I'm working, about 30 minutes over a mountain and outside Cusco, it's sunny and warm, but as soon as you start climbing the mountains you see the black and grey clouds descend. It's discomforting. But it's beautiful. Like Ecuador, everything is green and bushy and the mountains are straight up and down. The city of Cusco is brown, due to the types of bricks and architecture that was chosen. I was expecting a town or pueblo, but Cusco is rather big. I need to get a bird's-eye picture of the city to show people. It's probably bigger than you'd think.

Getting to my work consists of taking a cab, then a bus (which is really a van) that you have to wait to get filled up before you can go. If you need to get off before the final destination (which I do) you just yell at the driver to stop. Again, like in Ecuador, you can also flag down a bus to get on it. That's how I get back to my house. Anyway, the place I work at in a non-profit consisting of taking care of llamas, alpacas, and their wild cousins vincuñas and the other kind which I can´t remember right now. There are tours and tourists, however, because of the damage to a local bridge because of the rain storm, there aren't as many right now as there should be. Awana Kancha, the project, did receive some damage from the rain, and now they're repairing what was hurt and taking some preventative measures as well. Anyway, the llamas. They're cute and funny looking. Skittish. They make the absolute weirdest sounds in the world, especially if you're shearing them with a knife, which I did. I couldn't help but laughing at that poor alpaca. Once the fur, or fiber as they say, is collected, then I think it's cleaned or something, and then it is double-spun into thread. Some projects need triple-spun, so then you have to spin it again. I am not very good at spinning, especially the spinning the first time. You have to pull the hair apart to get it thinner to spin it, and I just can't do it. Spinning it the second time is much easier. Once you have your thread, you dye it using all natural dyes. I helped dye a batch the other day a mustard yellow with "yanale" which is a type of bark. First you boil the bark (or the leaves, or the rocks or whatever) and then you put in the thread and stir for a while. I think certain colors take quite a while, but mine took about 30 minutes of simmering. The day after I dyed the thread, I got to spin it again so it could be used, so I felt helpful.

Once you have the dyed and spun thread, the native people, who speak Quechua, weave with it. They start around the age of 8 and are taught all the patterns, which they keep in their head, and therefore weave from memory. It's quite impressive, and the things they make are amazing and beautiful. And expensive, of course. At Awana Kancha, they have a few people there at all time, who come from their village or town and spend about 10 days and make a piece. They then immediately sell it to the shop, so they get their money right away. Then the shop has to sell it. I haven't seen many purchases, but it again, not as many tourists.

My day consists of doing little tasks that are set out for me. I helped cook these bean things that the natives eat all day long. They're super hard and don't taste good. LOL. They love them, though. The volunteers get some bracelets or anklets made for them, which we're supposed to help with, but I happened to pick a really hard pattern that only one woman knew how to do because it comes from her people, and even she had some trouble with it. Who knew diamonds were so hard to make. I told them I could pick another pattern, that it was no big deal, but oh no, they were making it. Then they scoffed at my color choice. These people have been using the same color schemes with the same patterns for generations, so when somebody decides to use green and blue together it's chaos. They wouldn't have it. But then, when I chose them again for my bracelet, Rosa (the head girl there) said she was surprised at how pretty they were together, and how well it all came out. That's right. Take it. My bracelet is very pretty. And I was able to help make it, since it's a simpler design.

When I get home after being at the project, I usually sleep. The first 4 or 5 days I was sooooooooo tired. It was ridiculous. I was a little surprised, because I think Quito is actually higher than Cusco, so I was expected to be affected by the altitude. Maybe it's the cold with the altitude. I'm slowly getting better. I didn't take a nap yesterday and that seemed to help a lot; I've been a lot more awake today. I tried to take a nap today and couldn't, even after two cups of coca tea.

I'll be taking a couple of tours this weekend, getting to see The Sacred Valley, but still no Macchu Picchu. Just means I'll have to come back. Darn.

Well, my story of Peru actually starts in Lima, pop. 8 mil. Quite large. Warm. Not a very pretty city on the whole, but where my homestay was, in Miraflores, was much prettier with nice architecture and close to the ocean. Not much happened in Lima. Was taken out by the family at 11 at night for a little tour. Mom was right, South Americans stay up late. Mama Peru took us to this big mall that's all underground. They have shops, a movie theather, bowling, bars, restaurants (Tony Roma's anyone?) and clubs. At night you have to be 18 to go in, so Mama Peru talked her way in since we didn't have ID with us. The next night the family took me to see some fountains (they said). Again, Mama Peru talked our way in at the exit so we didn't have to pay. The first fountain had the World Record for highest fountain. It shoots 80 meters into the sky. The next one is colored, and dances to music and movies. Fountains, yeah, there's 24 fountains in this park. All different, and all very cool. Aparently the mayor set out to build it a few years back and everyone scoffed, yet lo and behold: now everyone loves the park. It was pack when we were there. My favorites were the one that made a tunnel so you could walk through, and the one that you walk through and the water suddenly shoots up, soaking you. That was fun. There's a smaller, kid version of that, too. It took us probably 2 hours to go through the whole park and I was pretty tired by the end of it and eyeing the ice cream line. Didn't get any.

Little notes -- the corn here is HUGE. The kernels are like the size of a nickel. They're enormous. People here don't really use salt, so that's a bummer, but it's still really good. One day for lunch the only thing we had was a cob. I've also gained back all the weight I lost in CR and Ecuador because the supplement to every meal is bread and butter. Not even good bread, but I have to eat it cause that's what I get! I may go to MEGA Supermercado tomorrow to get a couple of things to help me out. I got used to so much fruit and rice, this bread thing isn't everything that it's cracked out to be. Especially if that's all you get for breakfast. Llamas do spit, but only at each other in disputes. This I have seen. It isn't pretty.

I think that's it for now. Leave for Africa next Friday. Crazy that that's next week.

Lindo Mindo

claire_agni — Mon, 8 Feb 2010 04:14:00 GMT

I arrived in Quito on Monday after a very nice and short flight from San Jose. Food and drinks were served, but I didn´t take either, I had just eaten a Cinnabon and still had my Pepsi Light to finish. Did some shopping at the airport. Saw something that I wanted to get Phillip but didn´t think I could carry it with me. :( I was all excited, too.

I like Quito. It´s a big city (very long) surrounded by green mountains. On Tuesday, along with fellow volunteers, I got to go to the equator! It was so cool and interesting. We had a guide and a tour that lasted about an hour that taught us about the history of Equador and its native peoples. They had a real shrunken head (two, counting the sloth) but now the practice is outlawed so we don`t need to worry. On the acutal equator they had us perform all these little tasks to show how different things are. The hardest one was to balance an egg on the head of a nail. I couldn´t do it. There were strength and balance tests (you have neither on the actual line) and the had water go down a drain on both hemispheres and on the line. Really cool stuff.

The next day I headed off to Mindo, about 2 hours away. The drive was so beautiful. The mountains are huge and go straight up towards the sky, and are just filllled with bushy trees. I love it. Mindo is a little town with one street and a little center. For some reason it reminds me a little of Girdwood, I guess the whole small town in the middle of nowhere vibe. Yesterday I went to the butterfly house and saw a bunch, but honestly, I was more interested in the Mastiff that lives there.

Anyway, so my project is in Rio Bravo, about an hour´s bumpy and windy drive away. Unbeknownst to be, usually you can drive all the way to the house, but because of some confusion and broken down cars I had no idea about, me and my bag were dropped off and we had to walk the rest of the way. The walk is straight down then straight up, with only a small break in the middle when you cross the river (with the help of a bridge, thank goodness). So my heart was about to explode when I finally reached the house, which looks quite small and shabby from the outside, but inside, thanks to some Harry Potter magic, is really roomy and nice.

This week it rained more than any other week, so we didn´t have to work until after lunch, around 3. I had some horrible Costa Rican flashbacks when I learned (after climbing up a bit of the mountain behind the kitchen, which is separate from the bedrooms) that we were digging up dirt and filling up bags to carry down to the compost. Even though it was still raining and there was dirt and bugs everywhere, it wasn´t that bad. I used a hoe most of the time, and actually kind of enjoyed the action of breaking up land and roots and plants and such.

The next day I hoed again, this time working on the garden. I assume they will be doing something with it, but I have no idea what. The rest of the day, after the rain started to really pour and I finished my two lines, I learned the Ecuadorian card game of Kay Chu. Have no idea how it´s really spelled, and the only way I remember it is to relate it to Pikachu. Anyway, I played for quite sometime with Luis and Sonia´s nieces and nephew (they are the siblings who run the joint). The kids are really fun and nice and speak really good English, Francesco especially.

That afternoon after the rain stopped a bit, we went for a hike. Well, acutally, I was told it was a walk and not a hike, but alas, we proceded all the way down a mountain to see the Rio Mindo, and of course, back up. I had to stop a few times because I couldn´t catch my breath, but I made it! Just totally reminded me that I don´t like hiking (sorry, Diane). I don´t get it at all.

But I survived, and I´m glad I did, cause the next morning was sunny! So we went to La Cascada Esperanza (waterfall, one of two close to the house) and went swimming. The water was amazing. So clean and smooth. And cold, but you got used to that. I think that has been my favorite thing I´ve done so far on my trip. It was just so nice and relaxing. We made it back to the house right before it started to pour again, so for the rest of the day we cleaned the house and just relaxed. At night after dinner, which consisted of cheese empanadas with sugar on top (surprisingly good) we had a little dance party and learned a little salsa thanks to Sonia. She and Luis demonstrated for us and damn were they good. It was fun to watch.

That´s about it for my time in Mindo and Rio Bravo. We´ve been in the town since yesterday afternoon, and then last night there was a car accident where one hit the powerline so the whole town was without power for most of the night. We hung out in the restaurant of a good friend of Sonia and Luis, and they had a generator so it was pretty hopping. Played some cards, ate some pizza and the ginormous, most disgusting bug I´ve ever seen crawled up on my shoulder. It was so gross, I couldn´t even look at it.

I leave for Quito in about an hour. I have 4 days with nothing much planned. I would really like to see the coast, but it´s 5 hours each way so I don´t know if it would be worth it. I definitely will go to Otavallo, which has the big market, and to Old Town and see all the churches and stuff. I really want to see a movie, I can´t even remember the last one I saw, so if I can find a theater and make sure it does subtitles and not dubbing, I will go.

Saw some teeny tiny frogs (about the size of my thumb nail), some birds, but not much else. There a famous bird here, called the Cock of the Rock, which you have to go hiking to see (it lives on cliffs) so I said no after the unfortunate incident the day before, but another volunteer saw one flying around, and she´s really into birds, so she was excited. Oh man, that reminds me: the moths. The moths are gigantic. So are spiders and grasshopers and dragonflies and any insect. But the moths! Oh man. All shapes and sizes and colors and patterns. Some were more beautiful than the butterflies. I didn´t take any pictures cause I don´t really care to see them again, but they were cool.

Well I think that´s about it. I´ll try to check in before I leave for Peru on Friday.

Photos: Costa Rica

claire_agni — Mon, 1 Feb 2010 03:59:00 GMT

Chirping Ceiling Lizards

claire_agni — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 02:40:00 GMT

Lizards are abundant here. At night they all gather together on the ceiling, and while you´re doing your haterchy night watch between the hours of 6 and 6, you can lay down and watch them run around. They also chirp, or make a sound like chirping. I´ve never heard a lizard make any kind of noise so that´s fun.

Talk about what´s not fun: howler monkeys late at night, when you´re alone in the dark and don´t know what the hell that roaring sound it. I´ve gotten used to it, but it´s still a little disturbing. There´s also a monkey that kind of makes like a growling noise. So between the two of them, I get a little freaked at night.

Crocodiles in the ocean while we swim. Sarah, a nice Canadian, and I were swimming while Roy and Arnold were body surfing and all the sudden they high tail it out of there. Once they´re practically on the beach do they tell us the crocodile is out. Great, thanks a lot. Roy almost ran into him, so that was good enough incentive to get out. We knew he was out there, but wasn´t too worried about them.

We finally saw a mama turtle! I am told by the other girls at the camp that I summoned it with my dancing by the fire. I´ll take it. It was a Verde, and she didn´t lay any eggs, but Roy said we were really lucky to see her because this isn´t her normal time for coming ashore. We couldn´t take pictures because it was night and turtles are really sensitive to light, so no flash, but it was still amazing. She was probably a meter long and had bright white barnacles along her right side.

Mom - the sandbags are for the hatcheries, so all the sand doesn´t fall out, if that makes sense. The hatcheries (there are 2) are a little higher than the camp, closer to the beach, and so to keep all the sand in, there are walls made of sandbags. I´ve taken some pictures, I tried to put them up, but this computer went all crazy so I stopped.

Some bad news: because of the mudslides in Peru, I might not be able to go to Machu Picchu, which is so disappointing. Hopefully it will subside a little so I can see a little of it, but I won´t know for sure until I get there.

Off back to Alajuela tomorrow, where I´ll be for a day and half. I´m really looking forward to doing a real load of laundry, everything here is by hand, and I don´t do too well doing that. But I try. I´ll try to go to San Jose on Sunday to go to a market and see the town. Everyone I´ve talked to doesn´t like San Jose, but I wouldn´t mind going for half a day.

I think that´s all. Hope all is well wherever you are.

Claire - actually, my name here, according to Arnold is ¨Clear¨ so that´s what I´ve been going by. Ciao.

Depends on the river

claire_agni — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:00:00 GMT

¨Depends on the river.´´ We hear that a lot. It means that we may not be able to leave our camp because the river is too high (remember the part where we have to wade through to get to the other side?) It hasn´t been too bad the few times I've done it, today was the largest it´s been that I've seen it. Anyway, this has become kind of a mantra for our group (right now it´s only girls. Predominately German, then we have some Canadians, an Australian and another American). Roy and Arnold run the camp. They´re interesting. I called Roy a curmudgeon last night and I think that pretty much sums him up. Arnold is a tiny little thing with a crazy tooth that sticks out sideways. He doesn´t speak much English but he was very encouraging when he was teaching me how to surf. That´s not going too well, btw. I´ve only stood up maybe 3 times and I´m pretty sure I´m a disappointment to Roy. The looks he gives me....

Anyway, the bus trip went fine. Slept most of the way. We first went to Nicoya which was very pretty and then we went on the Samara. It´s sooo hot here, but it´s weird cause it doesn´t feel as hot as it shold. If that makes sense. It gets into the 90´s by 9 in the morning. We start working around 8 and are usually done by 11 or 12 with a break inbetween. Oh man, the best thing about this place: pineapple. Now, I´ve never been a lover of pineapple, but oh my freaking god is this stuff good. It´s by far the biggest treat we get. For either lunch and dinner, odds are we´re going to have rice and red beans, which isn´t bad, but gets old pretty fast.

Turtles! We had a nest hatch this week. I helped release four of them. Out of the whole nest there was probably around 15 that died, and maybe 25 that made it to the water. It was sad seeing those little buggers run (and I mean run) to the ocean. They´re on their own now, and I wish them the best. I haven´t seen an adult yet, and there´s no garuntee, so I´m really glad I got to see some babies. I got to take pictures cause it was daytime (can´t use flash at night), but I forgot my camera cord today, so no pictures now.

Let´s see... work consists of moving and repairing sandbags which are seriouslly heavy. It´s hard and boring, but we´re doing it for the turtles.

Saw a monkey today! And something called a pizote, I just found out. It´s like a giant possum. I´m sure I´ve left a million things out, but of course right now it all escapes me. I go swimming everyday which is so nice. The beach we´re on is really shallow all the way out so you can just stand there for a bit and have the waves crash on you. I'm litterally being eaten alive by bugs, it's disgusting. Bites everywhere, plus I have heat rash so I'm itching all over. I reaply sunscreen and bug spray every chance I get, alas, the sweat (which just pours off you) washes it all away. It made me feel better today, though, to see the locals sweating as much as I am. Let's me know I´m not a freak.

I think that´s all for today. I'll try to remember more interesting stuff next time... which will probably be in a week. Hope all is going well for you and I´ll talk to you soon.

Claire

Y despues...

claire_agni — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:24:00 GMT

Had a long day. Super tired, and tomorrow´s going to be even rougher. Have to be at the bus station at 6 for 5 hours of driving. Then when we get there, we have to wade a river and walk a mile, and it´s going to be hotter than hell. I just really hope I don´t pass out.

Today I went with two other people (a guy from Australia and a girl from Seattle) to see Volcan Poas, which has the second biggest crater in the world (about 1 km). It was pretty neat. Then we went to this zoo type thing, but it was kind of classy and really well put together. We saw all sorts of birds (toucans and parrots and macaws), butterflies, frogs, snakes (big snakes), sloths (!!!) they were sleeping and cuddling together, ocelots, janguars, pumas and some other stuff. Everything there is native to Costa Rica so that was cool. A big part of going there is to see the waterfall, but we ran out of time so we didn´t get to see it. We heard it though. I guess it´s actually kind of a hard hike to get there and back so I´m kinda glad we didn´t go.

After dinner we were able to go out dancing and to a casino but I am so g.d. tired I couldn´t do it. That, and I´m getting up at 5 and it´s a definite no. I got my fill of gambling from the cruise so I´m fine with it.

I honestly don´t know when I´ll be able to get back on. Could be quite a while. And when I do I´m sure I´ll be as red as a lobster.

Claire

Day Uno

claire_agni — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:31:00 GMT

In Alajuela, Costa Rica which is just outside San Jose. Haven´t seen much of it yet; got in around seven last night and then had to wait at the airport for another bloke (I saw that cause he´s from London) to get in. We ate dinner, which was spaghetti, and I did eat it. Well, about half of it anyway, but I wasn´t really that hungry anyway.

Didn´t get any sleep. Maybe two or three hours max. It was super noisy outside, and then two girls in my room had to get up and leave really early. Hopefully I won´t die of exhaustion and heat today. We´re doing some walking around. Later we´re going to a bar where Monday is Ladies Night apparently, so we´ll see how that goes.

FYI - this keyboard is all weird. The punctuation keys are all off and there´s a key for just "ñ" makes sense.

I don´t know if I´ll have time to get on tomorrow before I go to Playa Buena Vista, so if I don´t I guess I´ll chat with you later.

Peace,

Claire