Hello friends! SO sorry it has been so long since I updated, but you can take it as a sign that I am really enjoying my trip! So much has happened that I will apologize in advance for all the gaping holes in the tale. Hopefully I will be able to write enough that you get the gist of how much ground we have covered.
I believe I left off in Panama, which now seems ages ago. It was such a beautiful city, I recommend a trip to anyone just to see casca antigua, the old part of town. It will be changing so rapidly in the next few years that I feel really special to have been able to see its current condition. From Panama we made our way to Bocas del Toro. The first night was spent on Bostimentos which is the smaller, less touristy island. We were tired of the city, and wanted to enjoy some quiet. We took an overnight bus and I was shocked awake by Kristen telling me we had to get off the bus because we had arrived. It was still in the dark of morning and we stumbled off the bus, fought to find our bags among everyone else's from under the bus, then were herded into a pickup truck taxi with 7 other people to get to the coast. when we got to the water we paid and loaded into a water taxi that held about 12 people and their luggage. It was much chillier than it had been in the city, and we were all a bit asleep still, which made it worse. Then the boat started out across the water, and we hugged out bags for warmth on the 10min taxi to the island. About 5min into the trip the sky in front of us started to lighten, and by the time we took our 2nd taxi from Colon to Bostimentos it was sunrise. We arrived on the island and my two travel companions knew where they were going to stay, but I wanted somewhere cheaper so I followed the directions I had gotten from a friend in Panama City and walked til I found the islands Hostel Bostimentos. It was a crazy looking place up on a hill with wild colors and totem poles greeting you in the front. The boy who ran the place that early not only didnt speak english, but he was a terrible mumbler so I just got a room for myself in the dorm and crashed for about 2hours. When I woke up the other 2 beds in the room had already been filled, so I decided to venture out and check out the island. I knew I wouldnt be able to find my friends yet this early, so I just walked through the town taking in the sights. Chickens dogs and kids scattered as I walked down the street. People were on their porches or in their yards listening to music, chatting, shouting out hello. I walked until their was no street and turned and went up the hill where I found an old graveyard. The graves here are actually like individual vaults above ground, so it almost looks like a bunch of refrigerators lying on the ground. On the other side of the graveyard there was a tiny trail and I followed it into the jungle. Immediately I noticed little brightly colored frogs hopping away from me on the ground, and there was this big crazy sounding bird in the trees ahead of me. The bird turned out to be all over the island, and you could constantly hear its robotic sounding call coming from somewhere near. The only other more common bird that you heard was the grackle with its screaming call. I followed the trail in the jungle for a while, but finally decided I wanted something other than the water I had in my pack and so I headed back into town. I followed the signs up a huge hill for about 20min until I arrived at an organic farm that supposedly had iced teas and brownies, both of which I then indulged in. :) The brownie was made from cocao that they grew right there along with coconut oil and soy. It was delicious but unlike any US brownie! The tea was lemongrass tea and had a really light, refreshing flavor. It was completely worth the uphill hike to get to that little piece of shady heaven! After I had rested, I went back to the hostel and changed into my bathing suit and headed down the 25min trail to the beach. It was a beautiful hike, but I was so happy when I could hear the waves hitting the beach! When I arrived I took off my shoes and walked the length of it along the edge before settling in my things and playing in the water for the first time. I spent the rest of the day soaking in the sun and listening to the waves crash, then found my friends on the other end of the beach and we went to dinner. The next day we woke up and it was pouring rain. It continued to do so for the whole morning, so Chris and Kristen decided we should move on to the next destination. Luckily it was just across the water and so we arrived in the main town in Bocas. We met a couple old friends of Chris´s for lunch and then wandered around trying to find a hostel that wasnt already full. We finally found one, and I ended up in a 2 bunk room with 3 guys; two Aussies and a German. I showered and then met the german guy at the bus turned cafe outside the hostel for a snack. We ended up eating on the roof of the bus with a lovely couple we found up there. The guys went to the corner store and bought some cheap beer, and we all split a pizza from the woodfire oven that was right below us. Paul (the german) and I then went back to the hostel for happy hour and joined all our friends in the lounge. I ended up chatting with a couple young Israeli girls, and going out to ladies night at another place with them for a while before returning to the hostel with my 2 Aussie friends. The next day Kristen Chris and I took a tour that went from 10-5 and included seeing dolphins, some awesome snorkling, and visiting a beautiful beach call Red Frog. When we got back the sun was starting to go down, so we changed and Paul joined us for a nice dinner out on the water before heading back to the hostels happy hour. (Our hostel had $.50 beers from 7-8 every night so it was the most popular place in town.) We then played some fooseball and hung out until we were all too tired to stay up. The next morning we were packed to move on to the next destination, but I was a bit reticent. Bocas had been the most fun, and I had met the most people of our entire trip so far and I was sad to leave my new friends. After a water taxi and a bus ride we arrived at the border where were profoundly confused the border guards with our lack of Panamanian stamps in our passports. They finally waved us along after a bit of a discussion in broken spanish, and we were back in Costa Rica.
We arrived in Puerto Viejo and had a pretty long hike with our big bags until we found the hostel we were looking for. Its name was Rocking Js and it was the most massive hostel I had ever seen! The entrance was a bar and restaurant then when you got to the main desk there was just color everywhere. Every single surface was mosaic unless it was a door, then it had a mural on it. There was a line of about 6 huge tables for eating or gathering and they had all kinds of random objects shellacked onto the surface. Everything from photo ids to shells, to lighters and coins. Behind these tables was a large space to set up your own tent if you brought it. To the right there were two huge rooms hung with hammocks to rent separated by a courtyard with a covered common area. The kitchen was in the back with 2 more long tables near it and from there you could look up to the 2nd floor which was like tent world. These were all the tents they had available for rent. The rest of the 2nd floor had private rooms spread around in various places. It was an overwhelming place! We rented hammocks because it was the cheapest, and packed our things into lockers before heading back to town to wander around and find some food. We ended up getting some things at the grocery after taking in the sights and spent the rest of the evening at the hostel eating, drinking and talking among the 3 of us. It was amazingly different vibe at this hostel than the previous one at Bocas. The other was so much smaller, but so much more alive and social. We had a chill evening, and crashed comfortably in our hammocks. The next morning I walked a little bit on the beach out behind the hostel then we met up with our French friends who were Wwoofing near the town. We hung out with them all day, and went out to hear a live band that night and it was really good to see them. The next morning after a slow breakfast, we rented bikes and went out to see a different beach and to tour the Jaguar Rescue Center. We ended up with only an hour to wander the beach, but it was very different than the ones we had been on before so we just enjoyed exploring and playing a bit before heading to our tour. The Jaguar Rescue was actually named in honor of a cat that had died when they were first starting up, so there were no actual jaguars there. There were however a bunch of baby howler monkeys, sloths, snakes, and a few birds. We got to go into the cage with the monkeys and they jumped all over us using us a furniture and toys, and it was so cool to feel their little tails and hands grabbing onto you! We then moved onto the sloths and got about a million pictures because they were such strange, adorable creatures you couldnt stop. I got to pet both a two toed and three toed sloth and it made the whole trip worthwhile for me! After the tour we went back to gather our things because it was time to head back to San Jose and the farm.
After a few bus rides, we walked in the dark up to the farm and surprised everyone with our arrival at around 11pm. We had forgotten to email Robert our return date, oops! After catching up a bit with the few people who were still awake, we settled in and slept. The next morning we met all the new people (pair of sisters and a boy from colorado, and a french guy)and caught up with our old friends from before. We then dove into the domestic side of things and it seemed to continue as the theme for the week. We organized the warehouse to be a more functional, comfortable dorm area and moved the work area to the other side of the pool near the garden. While we were gone the rest of the kitchen had gotten cleaned out (hallelujah!) so that area was much more functional already, and had a nice little area to hang out as well. We spent this week cleaning, painting and building instead of gardening but it felt awesome to make such progress. As you can all see from the pictures we managed to have a bit of fun along the way as well! For example one afternoon Paul (american) and Yoan (french) and I took a hike down to the local waterfall and took a swim. It was beautiful and we arrived just in time because we finished swimming and were sitting on the rocks to dry when all of the green parrots were returning home for the evening. We sat and watched as about fifty of them flew in with their partners and found their individual homes in the dirt walls surrounding us. They floated in on the current then would dive sharply and pull up into some invisible hole and disappear in pairs. We enjoyed that for a while before hopping the rocks in the river all the way back to the farm. Well, you hop on rocks until you get to the hill, then the steep climb back is really the challenge! We got back in time for a shower and dinner though so it worked out perfectly. Saturday was market day as usual, so we gathered supplies for the Superbowl party we were planning on having the next day then went and enjoyed smoothies at Organica. The plan after that was to ride home in Roberts truck, but several of us decided to go stay in town and have pizza then walk back which turned out to be really nice. Sunday we spent the morning collecting as many ripe tangerines as we could (by the wheelbarrow!) and juice them before they went bad. That was several hours of collecting, juicing, cleaning out jars for storage, and then cleanup. We then had lunch and started making snacks for the party later that night. In the afternoon we walked down to the neighbors house and borrowed their field to play a game of american football. The ticos who lived there either joined or watched, and after a while we switched to playing futbol (soccer) instead. It was a ton of fun, and it put us all in a good mood. The food at our Superbowl party was good but we couldnt get the station that broadcast the US version, so it was in spanish and we didnt get the good commercials. Needless to say most of us didnt last past the 1st quarter because of our lack of interest in football. But we all came outside and had a good time anyway. The night ended with us dancing and then laying on the driveway while our resident Rastafarian played guitar and sang some beautiful words to us. I really enjoyed the message in the music along with the way his voice sounded under the moonlight. I actually spent the night on the trampoline because the wind was finally calm that night and it was too beautiful to go inside.
And that has you mostly caught up! These last few days have been full of talk about what to do next, and our current plan is to go see Arenal (volcano national park) then the beach at Tamarindo, then head up to Nicaragua and Guatamala for some other wwoofing opportunities. I will keep you caught up as I can get internet, but until then I love you all! Stay warm in Ohio! :)
Erin
