Off and Away

so quick update on my status

I´m alive, left for the ranch last saturday… or maybe the saturday for that.. i´m alive.. its amazing at the ranch… i mean amazing… like i poop looking into the rainforest.. lol… for real.. I´m staying in the hankey house which is this house that is over hanging a cliff-hill into the jungle and is basically open to the elements… everything is green and the food is amazing.. all vegetarian but man i think i´n going to be 300lbs by the time i come home… its a good thing that i decided to come to the ranch because i found out the my atm card doesnt work and i barely had enough money for my bus fare to the ranch… haha… all is good… verything happens for a reason.  Happy birthday jon, carrie, and george.. I can´t get the the internet again until junish… i really don´t want to leave the ranch… lol… two of the volunteers here bought land on the east coast of costa rica and both plan to live here… o yeah there are like 16 students from university of washington at the ranch… they are pretty chill but to bad for them becasue they have a whole bunch of work to do all the time while i lounge around reading books in hammocks and listening to the rain.  it rains basically every afternoon but the thunder is amazing.  its loud.. like i can feel it loud.. i´m glad to be at the ranch and hope to be able to come back soon.  i miss you guys tho… i cant wait to see you guys in september.

so the croc didn´t eat me… but i havent played with jack yet… you practicing_;:_Ѩ_(question mark can´t me found)

yeah for activities coordinators.. i want to have a field day… like relay races ect.  we´re having one with the community on sunday…

jess you really must have alot of time on your hands because your planning my schedule 2 months ahead of time… lol… thanks sooo much..

samantha get a sister yet

am I homeless when i return

kris feel better.. i´m keeping you in my thought… it all works out in the end… where the hell is jacque

peace out your guys

dont expect another update until junish…. 4 hours on a bus for 7 hours in town is only worth it if i have a craving

miss you guys muchos

kris… I´m going to be in san jose june 28 and july 4, we can get dinner or lunch.. i´m staying in costa rica backpackers .

I decided that I would chill and let myself sleep in today but do you know what time I woke up? 7;15am! How depressing but it is all good because then I have time to upload the but load of pictures I´ve taken of Tortuguero. Oh. but more on last night. I went to a cafe and watched a band play. It was pretty sweet and I enjoyed watching at the people ¨skank¨which is what I´m going to asuming they would do the reggee music. This kid outside just ate like three cup of noodle. I think he´s on a stricter budget then I am. Maybe I should have the plato de dia again today or the pinto gallo. I can at least tell that rice and beans are going to be eaten. YAY! Is rice suppose to be crunchy in costa rica? Al Dente? because all the rice I´ve had so far was “al dente”

Back to Tortuguero

So the bus picks me up and we go around town to pick up everyone else for the tour. I end up sitting next to this lady that grew up in new york but moved to mexico after college. She´s lived in mexico for 35 years and was a university english teacher. Well she kept talking and talking and the only thing that was interesting about her talks was food. Is it strange that I have a craving for something that is so out there? I haven´t even had it… haha… you want to know what it is? well it´ll gross some of you out for sure. There grasshoppers and ant larvae. They are first blanched to remove the bitterness, then dried of excess water, then they are fried in a out pan of oil, and then are seasoned with limon, salt, garlic powder, and chili powder. They turn out to be these crunchy little bits of goodness. man, i wants some now. She says that they HAVE to be CRUNCHY or else they aren´t that good. Something else I remember her saying is that if you rub so garlic on a ant or spider bite the reacton will significantly be reduced. I´ll try that next time I´m at home.

So were driving in the bus… la da da…. we stop for breakfast… eggs and toast and some nasty yellow fruit drink that is grainy and thick and things get stuck in between my teeth… yum….

drive somemore and we stop at this tropical garden where we see monkeys, flowers, birds, and a frog. But they weren´t in the wild so it wasn´t as inpressing as Tortuguero. The flowers were pretty bad ass though. how come I can´t get away from the train anywhere? its honking its horn as it passes by… i think if you can hear the train you deserved to be hit… I´m just kidding– well back to my story which really isn´t a story but a list of things I did and saw.

After driving some more we pass through a banana plantation (we the tourist think that dole, del monte, and chaquita are the main rulers of the land) The companies pay the workers $300 a month and provide the workers homes and schools for their children.

We stopped off at a processing plant to see how they process the bananas. unlike other countries, this plantation hang there bananas on line and the pull the banana to the plant.

There were these HUGE beetles at the plant. I meant HUGE.

So we get to the dock where they pick us up for part of our boat tour which is really nice. We ride through the canals to get to Torguguero. Eventually I start drifting off because it is so nice and we are going so fast that I have to squint my eyes. Why should I squint when I can just close them? hence the dosing off aspect of the trip.

I get dropped off in the city of Tortuguero which is a poor city but my room is amazing because I get a double bed and my own shower. But I later found out the my bed smells. It smells like when you wash your cloths and leave them in the washer too long and they get that mildewy smell. yea.. i think this smell is because this place is alot more humid than the city and the stuff takes longer to dry… whatever makes me feel better.. right?

we then I meet up with the rest of the group at 3pm and we go to the turtle musem. Looked around and learned. Quite interesting stuff.

Went back to the town and watched the towns soccer game and got dinner. casada con pollo de caribeno. it was very good and was less than $4. YAY

Next day, we sort of go on a 2 hour jungle safari where we try to find creatures of the jungle. We saw croc, caimen, sloths (two toed, three toed), spider monkey, howler monkey, white face monkey, jesus crist lizard, lizards, iguana, birds, and alot more.turtle

The day ended with a trek through the jungle where cows were roaming on the beach. Fun times

The bus ride was a long bumpy ride because half of the way back was a gravel road.

I´m tired but I just got back from Tortuguero.  It was amazing, more about that later.  I get free interent at the hostel I´m staying at in San Jose.  My ¨homebase¨ as I´m calling it right now.  Jess if you don´t approve ... [Continue reading this entry]

So its like 5:45am right now and I´m waiting for my pick up for Tortuguero national park which is ¨rainforest at its best¨ I´m hungry but breakfast will be served at 7am.. i think i´m going to get m&ms to get ... [Continue reading this entry]

So... I was looking at the ticket I reserved at ticabus and found out that is wasn´t what I wanted at all because it left at like 2am and dropped me off in cities that I´m not familiar with at ... [Continue reading this entry]

So, I haven´t slept in like 48 hours and my head is killing me.  LAX and Houston were amazingly easy for me to navigate and I even made a friend during the lay over of the two flights. I arrive in ... [Continue reading this entry]

"He who would travel happily must travel light."  -Antoine de Saint Exupéry So with that said, I will be traveling moderately happy because I'm traveling quite light.

My packing list includes Guide book Book Documents Cash Credit cards

Cloths kit 2x bra 2x bandanas 2x sarong   2x ... [Continue reading this entry]

San Francisco and New Mexico were great learning experiences. I learned that I need to pay attention to the little important details on the tickets and in the terminals. On my flight to San Francisco, I entered the wrong ... [Continue reading this entry]

So, this is my new blog because I forgot the user name to my old one. Roughly one month until I depart for San Jose, Costa Rica and I'm really excited. During that time, a trip to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Hepatitis A Shot $30.00 Tetanus Shot $47.00 Typhoid pills ... [Continue reading this entry]