Volcanoes, Waterfalls, and Hotsprings, Oh My!

This past weekend I went with Tim and Lauren to La Fortuna, a town in Northeastern Costa Rica that couldn’t possibly avoid being a tourist destination; it boasts a national park, Arenal Volcano, hot springs, waterfalls, and caves nearby.  We decided to embrace being tourists for a weekend, and we had a great time. 

One wonderful advantage to traveling in Costa Rica is its public transportation system; you can take a bus to almost anywhere in the country for very cheap… if you’re willing to be patient.  Pueblo Nuevo, where I’m living right now, is pretty remote, so I spent many hours on buses this weekend.  Luckily, Costa Rica is a beautiful country, so the views from the window were always nice.  I left on Friday afternoon to catch a bus to Guácimo, then another bus to Guápiles where I met Tim, then another bus to Puerto Viejo, then another bus to Venecia, where Lauren lives.  We enjoyed meeting Lauren’s sweet host family and checking out the town fair.  Early the next morning we headed out to La Fortuna, and arrived at 10 am, in enough time for a day of adventure.

As soon as we stepped off of the bus, we were hounded by tour companies speaking to us in English and trying to get us to sign up for a tour.  It’s kind of annoying how in tourist destinations people just assume we prefer to speak  in English, when we’ve been working for two months now to improve our Spanish… but we just try to respond in Spanish and most people get the hint.  We did end up deciding to sign up for a tour, after realizing that park entry fees and transportation would be pretty expensive even if we went on our own.  

While waiting for our tour to start, we packed up peanut butter sandwiches, carrots and bananas for lunch, and walked to a swimming hole in a river close to our hostel.  The sun was shining (something I hadn’t seen in a while!) and the river was beautiful, with a waterfall, a rope swing, and big rocks to sit on and eat our lunch.  It looked like the rivers I’ve explored with my family in the UP, only, you know, tropical.  We happily ate our sandwiches and swam in the river before heading back to get ready for our tour.

Lunch spot

We swam underneath the waterfall on the right, and it would suck us under and shoot us out downstream!

We had told the tour company that we spoke Spanish, so for our tour we were grouped with a tico family from San José.  It was really fun to meet the family, but also to get to know the other, English-speaking half of the group.  We were quite an eclectic group of people, from the San José family to study abroad students (us) to vacationers from Finland, Australia and Canada.  

For the tour, we first drove to the Arenal Observatory Lodge, a beautiful hotel with a stunning vista of the volcano and nearby Lake Arenal, and many miles of forest trails.  We all decided that if we had a bit more money to spend, we would definitely stay there instead of our hostel!  We headed off for a two-hour hike on the trails of the observatory.  The highlight of the hike was playing in a waterfall, jumping off the rocks into the water and standing underneath the falls.  We were also pleasantly surprised to end up walking through a pine forest for the last part of our hike.  Lauren, Tim and I remarked to our tour guide that the pine trees reminded us of home, although I’ve never seen a toucan in a pine tree before!  

Volcan Arenal

Jumping off the waterfall!  This picture makes it look way more impressive than it actually was; I probably jumped from five feet above the water

After watching the sunset from the deck of the Observatory Lodge, we headed off to the last stop of our tour, swimming in a thermal river!  We stopped along the way to see some amazing glow-in-the-dark beetles.  They look like fireflies from a distance, but their lights are much stronger and don’t flicker on and off like fireflies.  Very cool.  We then arrived at the thermal river, with 100 degree F water.  It wasn’t too hot, just warm enough to be able to hang out comfortably for a while, and warm up after being cold and wet in the chilly night air.  We got volcanic mud masks on our faces, which apparently would cost $200 at a spa in the US.  Whether or not that’s true, it was fun and my face did feel a little smoother afterwards!  

Overall, the tour was definitely the most tourist-y thing I’ve done so far in Costa Rica, but I really enjoyed it.  I had a great time, and it was cool to meet and chat with other young people traveling in the country.

We arrived back to our hostel in time to take advantage of the free shared kitchen and make a FEAST for dinner!  We’ve been missing fresh veggies and vegetarian food, so we made falafel!  They were kind of improvised tico-Mediterranean fusion falafel, because we didn’t have flour so we used corn masa to hold them together, and we ate them in tortillas with bell peppers, tomatoes and avocado… but they were delicious!  

Dinner feast

The next morning, we woke up early to try and hike Cerro Chato, a much older, inactive volcano near Arenal that has a beautiful lagoon in its crater.  We ran the 4 km to the trail head, where we were told it would take 2.5 hours to hike up and down… well, we only had 1.5 hours before we had to leave to catch the bus!  We decided to risk it and try to hike really really fast up.  The hike was beautiful, starting in pasture lands and transitioning into forest as we climbed.  However, the deceptively short 3 kilometers were really challenging!  Lauren and Tim are super strong cross country runners, but I was struggling to make it up quickly enough.  I did manage to make it up to the top in time, though!  We saw the gorgeous turquoise waters of Lago Cerro Chato before hurrying back down the mountain.  

And… nine hours and six bus rides later, I was back in Pueblo Nuevo!  Many hours of travel, but the weekend was worth it. 

Back to San Jose

I'm back in San Jose so I had good enough internet to add pictures to my previous posts from the field!

This week, all of the ACM students headed back to San José for a midterm report on the progress of our projects.  As much as I love my host family and my earthworms in Pueblo Nuevo, it was nice to see my friends and my San José host family again for a few days, and stock up on some necessities that I can’t get in Pueblo Nuevo, like bug spray and gum ;)
 

When I arrived late on Saturday morning, preparations were in full swing for a party to celebrate my host sister María José’s upcoming wedding.  The party was called a “Despedida de Solteros;” sort of like a bachelor/bachelorette party but for both María José and her fiancé Daniel.  It was held at Vicky (my host mom)’s house, and was mainly just for family… but Vicky has a huge family so even so there were fifty guests expected!  I helped Vicky run some last-minute errands, and then to prepare the potato salad for the feast.  The guests started to arrive around 6:30, and María José looked gorgeous in her blue dress and so happy.  We enjoyed appetizers of vegetables with homemade garlic dip and hummus while waiting for Vicky’s brother to grill meat for the main meal.  And for dessert, delicious coconut flan!  Everyone passed the evening eating, chatting, drinking red wine, and playing various games for prizes (I even managed to win one!).  Having a large extended family myself, I felt right at home among the festivities.   

The sign that my host sister Laura made for the party

My San Jose host family: Dani, host sister Maria Jose, me, host niece Maria Ines, host nephew Julian Andres, host sister Laura, host mom Vicky, and host brother Juan Pablo

The next morning, I helped clean up after the party before heading downtown to San José with some friends.  This week is the Festival Internacional de las Artes (International Art Festival) in San José, so there are lots of free events all week long.  We headed to La Sabana and had a great time checking out the work of local and international artisans, a butterfly garden, and a concert by two hilarious Russian accordion players.  I wish I got a better picture of them because they were a riot… very emotive.  

These men were making really cool custom leather shoes

Butterfly at the mariposario (butterfly garden)

An art installation in the lake at Parque La Sabana, where the fair was being held

Russian accordion players

On Monday we headed back to school at the ACM building, to check in with our advisors and put the finishing touches on the presentations we will be giving tomorrow.  It was great to see everyone again, and to hear about the vastly different experiences we are all having with our rural stays; every location and host family is unique, which makes for lots of great stories to share!  I was also happy to have my running buddies back, and to stop at our favorite panadería afterwards for a bean and cheese croissant for lunch.  We got fancy today and bought some avocados to serve on top of our croissants… delish.

Lauren, Tim and I finished our presentations early in the afternoon, so we decided to take the bus downtown and explore a bit.  We walked down Avenida Central, which is a pedestrian avenue that reminds me a lot of State Street in Madison.  It was fun to walk around in the bustling downtown area of San José, and of course we made the requisite stop for ice cream (pistachio… yum!)  We also happened to run into another event that was part of the Festival de las Artes, a group of Spanish artists from Catalonia who danced with giant horse puppets.  It was cool, if not a little scary!

The horse dancers. Soon after this they started running through the crowd!

On Tuesday everyone gave midterm presentations to describe what we’ve been working on for the first three weeks in the field, and give some preliminary analysis of our data.  It was really cool to hear about the ups and downs of everyone’s projects, and comforting to know that I’m not the only one who’s experienced some of the frustrating and unexpected changes that are characteristic of research!  Everyone has unique and interesting projects, studying everything from soil (me) to sloths to happiness to health care.  Of course, we needed tons of food to fuel us through seventeen presentations, and Iveth (the wonderful building manager and fantastic cook) hooked us up with galllos de queso (corn tortillas with melted cheese), chips and salsa, and ice cream… and this was all before lunch!  We had a delicious sandwich spread for lunch, and then worked on planning some weekend trips while we were all together.  It was stressful, but now I’m looking forward to seeing Arenal volcano this weekend, backpacking in Osa Peninsula for Semana Santa (Holy week), going to my host sister’s wedding on the beach in Guanacaste in April, and hiking Chirripó mountain towards the end of the program in May! Whew!  Hopefully I’ll still have enough energy to work on my research project and blog about all of my adventures.  

Oh, and PS I’m pretty sure it’s colder in San José than it is in the Midwest right now…crazy.

Tortuguero National Park

This weekend, I went with some other ACM students to Tortuguero National Park, a location that has been described as Costa Rica’s “mini Amazon.”  We were joined by Jasmin, a German student who was working with the sloths on the cacao farm, and Geovanny, a biologist on the farm who has been helping Joe (the other ACM student doing research here) and me with our projects.  The journey to the park was an adventure in itself, involving three buses and a boat ride on the river to arrive at Tortuguero.  The park and the tiny village next to it are only accessible by boat or airplane!  On our way back, there were several people on the boat who live in Tortuguero Village, and who were traveling to buy groceries and other supplies for the week.  I thought it was hard enough that my host mom here takes the hour-long bus ride into Guapiles to buy groceries; these people were living an even more rustic life!

Hard to see, but the boat on the left is named the "Hakuna Mattata"

The boat ride was beautiful, and it was nice to catch up with Lauren and Tim who I haven’t seen since we left for our field sites two weeks ago.  We arrived in Tortuguero and checked in to our hotel (only $8 each!) and headed out to find a late lunch/early dinner.  Unfortunately, this isn’t the high season for tourists (that starts when the turtles come to nest on the beaches in June or July) and almost every restaurant was closed in between lunch and dinner.  We finally found a place to eat, and sat on the patio with a beautiful view of the ocean to order our casados (a typical Costa Rican meal consisting of rice, beans, fried plantains, salad, and meat or fish… of course we ordered fish in a town that’s right on the ocean where we saw fishermen walking right past us with the day’s catch!).  The weather had been overcast and drizzly all day, but our hearts sank when the sky opened up and it started pouring in the middle of our meal.  We sat and waited for hours for it to pass, but had no luck.  While we were waiting for the rain, we did see an anteater run right past us which was really cool!  I’ve never seen one before; it looked like a little bear with a long snout.  

The rainclouds did make for some beautiful views!

We took advantage of a short break in the rain to head back to the hotel, but were disappointed that we weren’t able to explore the national park that day.  The rain finally let up and the clouds cleared for a few hours after it got dark, and we went out to the beach to look at the stars.  I think that was the part that made the whole trip worthwhile, as wet and soggy as the rest of our time was.  We were literally in the middle of nowhere, with no big sources of city lights nearby, and the stars were spectacular.  Added to the sound of the waves crashing on the beach, and their crests that seemed to glow in the dark as they broke, it was a pretty magical place.

In the morning, we headed out at 5:30 am to eat breakfast because we wanted to get in a canoe tour before we had to catch the boat back at 10:30 (Tortuguero National Park consists mostly of wetlands and is best explored by a boat ride through its canals rather than on foot).  I ordered a giant bowl of fresh fruit with yogurt and granola… delicious.  The sky seemed to be threatening rain, but we wanted to see something before we had to go back, so we decided to risk it.  Unfortunately, a few minutes after we left it started to pour again.  It alternated between pouring rain and sunshine throughout our whole three hour tour, so we were pretty soaked by the time we got back.  BUT, the tour only cost 8,000 colones ($16) including our entrance fee into the national park and we did see some cool animals… Several caimans (like small crocodiles); many different species and colors of herons; dozens of howler monkeys; a bird called a Great Currassow (Pavon Grande in Spanish); toucans; and an adorable family of white-faced capuchin monkeys including several females with tiny babies clinging to their backs that crossed the river in the trees above us.  Geovanny told us that we would have seen more if it hadn’t been raining, but it was still a cool experience.

Not wet yet...

Me and Jasmin

Herons on the river

There's an iguana on the horizontal tree branch - click on the photo to enlarge it

The boat ride back to the bus station was pretty wet and cold, and I’ve never been so happy to get onto a bus just to be dry!  But even if the rain put a damper on our trip, it was great to see some of my friends that I haven’t seen in a couple weeks and talk about our projects.  I have many memories of vacations with miserable weather (being holed up in the tent with Sarah in the Boundary Waters and spending the whole day eating trail mix and doing crossword puzzles comes to mind, or my Sylvania Wilderness camping trip with Kate and Gabby when the campstove broke and we had to build a fire with wet wood to make “pancake pudding”), and I think they make for some of the best bonding experiences.  If nothing else, those of us on the trip will have something to look back on and laugh about in the future!

Rain, Rain Go Away

Sorry that it’s been a while since I last posted; life here in Pueblo Nuevo has settled into a normal daily routine and I haven’t felt like there was much exciting news to share.  But I know that “normal” here is nothing like life in the States, so it’s still probably worthwhile to keep the updates coming.

I have now been at my field site for a little over two weeks, and I can’t believe how fast the time has flown.  It’s actually kind of scary, because my project has been difficult to get off the ground and I already feel like my time is running out!  All of the ACM students are returning to San José this weekend to give midterm reports on our progress and begin preliminary data analysis, and I’m worried I won’t have much of anything to share by then. 

Something I have done: take pictures of the soil profiles at each of my study sites.  You can see the darker topsoil layer in this picture pretty well.

My project consists of several parts: collecting soil samples to send to a laboratory for chemical and microbiological analysis; on-farm tests for bulk density, earthworm abundance, infiltration, and leaf litter accumulation; and soil chromatography (an interesting method for qualitative analysis of the overall health of the soil).  The on-farm tests have proven difficult, because I’m realizing that without access to a laboratory, it’s extremely difficult to find the materials that I need to carry out the tests.  For example, I need a scale to weigh the soil for bulk density tests and earthworms, but there is no scale on the farm that measures as precise as I need.  I’m worried that my results will end up not being precise enough to be scientifically valid.  I haven’t been able to collect the samples for the laboratory analysis yet either, because I have been waiting to hear how many samples I will have the funding to collect.  I’m hoping to start on that tomorrow when my advisor comes to help.  I’ll be staying in San José for an extra day after the mid-term report to learn how to perform soil chromatography, so I haven’t been able to start on that yet either.

However, I really can’t complain because I’ve been able to spend my days walking around in the beautiful cacao farm, seeing birds, butterflies and lizards and admiring the huge paths that the leaf-cutter ants keep meticulously clean (they’re big enough for a human to walk on!)  And I do have to admit that digging through the dirt and counting worms is kind of fun and oddly therapeutic, except when it’s rainy.

Giant spider - I wish I had something in the picture for a size comparison, because this thing was HUGE!

A butterfly decided to perch on my backpack while I was sitting and counting earthworms.

Leaf cutter ant trail, big enough for me to walk on

Leaf cutter ants crossing a bridge

That’s another thing: I’ve realized here how much the weather affects my mood.  It has been extremely rainy for the last two weeks, which has made working in the field difficult.  I’m amazed at how on a rainy day, huddled in my poncho under the leaves of a banana plant, I feel so frustrated with my project and can’t wait to get back to San José; while when the sun comes out I’m perfectly content to sit counting earthworms for six hours.  Paige and Ben, I’m sure you guys would love it here, but I’ve realized that I probably couldn’t live in Portland! ;)

Even with the rain, one thing I have been able to enjoy is spending time with my host family.  I have really come to appreciate the value of just sitting and talking.  In the US, when I’m with my family and friends, I always feel like we need to be doing something, whether that be eating out at a restaurant, watching a movie, baking cookies, or going for a bike ride.  Here, life is simpler, and most people pass the afternoon sitting on the patio with family or friends and chatting.  I especially love talking with my host grandparents, who live next door, and hearing stories about their past.  I also feel like I know more about the local and family gossip than I ever knew in the US! 

Hanging out with Anyell, 6, and Yeimy, 10, eating coconuts on the porch

My host grandfather, Manuel.

 Stay tuned for a summary of our rainy visit to Tortuguero National Park!

Day in the Life: A Comparison

Now that I’ve started my field research period, I’ve gotten to experience two very different lifestyles here in Costa Rica.  I thought I’d share a typical day in my life in San José and in Pueblo Nuevo to show how different they really are!

San José:

5:30 am: wake up to my traveler’s alarm clock

6:00 am: eat breakfast with my host mom Vicky.  Gallo pinto, omelette or oatmeal… always with fresh fruit and a homemade glass of fruit juice

6:25 am: say goodbye to Vicky and head out walking two blocks down the street to catch the bus to school

7:00 am: arrive in San Pedro at the University of Costa Rica, and walk five minutes to the ACM building.  The San Pedro neighborhood is a typical college-student hangout, with lots of cheap cafes and bars.  Every day, I (along with a bustling crowd of other people… it’s always incredibly busy here in the mornings) pass the university, the Catholic church, the park, fruit vendors selling three pints of strawberries for $2, and an elementary school before arriving at the ACM building

the ACM building

7:30 am-8:30 am: Spanish grammar class.  The seventeen of us in the ACM program are divided into two groups for this class, and my instructor Mario Morera is so energetic that the hour passes by quickly.

8:45 am-11:00 am: Spanish conversation groups.  We are split into four conversation groups that rotate among four different instructors every two weeks.  During this time, we revise our homework and do various other activities to improve our Spanish speaking as well as our knowledge of Costa Rican culture.  Some activities include sharing summaries of articles from local newspapers, asking our host parents for information about Costa Rican institutions, one day during which each person had to cook a Costa Rican recipe (my favorite day by far), and presenting skits.

11:00 am-12:00 pm: Run with Lauren and Tim around the UCR campus.  The college campus is absolutely beautiful, with many trees and colorful murals, and we’ve found a favorite running route that takes us around the trails in the “Centro Deportivo” (athletic fields).  We often stop at our favorite “panadería” (bakery) on our way back from our run to pick up something for lunch.  My favorite item is the “cangrejo de frijoles y queso,” a warm croissant filled with refried beans and melted cheese (funny thing: cangrejo can mean either crab or croissant).  It costs 375 colones, which is about 75 cents.  

The selection at La Canela, our favorite panaderia

12:00 pm-1:00 pm: Shower at the ACM building and eat lunch.   The other ACM students and I are all pretty cheap, so we’ll either make our own sandwiches or supplement bakery purchases with fruits and vegetables we’ve bought at the grocery store.  One time Lauren and I asked Ivette, the building manager and an excellent cook, to help us prepare lunch.  We made a delicious picadillo (basically just cooked chopped vegetables) of chayote and carrots, to serve with brown rice.

1:00 pm-4:00 pm: Often we have another class in the afternoon, about research methods, safety in the field, dance class, etc.  If we don’t have another class, we usually stick around to work on our research proposals anyway because we’re on a tight schedule to revise our rough drafts and come up with a polished proposal by the end of the month.

4:00 pm: Catch the bus home to my neighborhood, Moravia.

4:30 pm: “Cafecito.”  This is a great Costa Rican tradition that involves drinking a cup of coffee or tea in the afternoon and eating a snack, usually bread or pastries.  I love the idea of cafecito as a time to catch up with your family after a day of work or school.  Vicky is self-employed as an interior decorator and often has to see clients in the afternoon, but when she’s free we always partake in cafecito.

4:45 pm-7 pm: Work on homework, or hang out with Vicky and my host-niece and nephew, María Inés and Julián Andrés.  María and Julián’s mom, Laura, is a single working mom and often doesn’t get home from work until 6 or 7 pm.  Vicky picks the kids up from school and brings them back to her house to watch them until she can bring them home after Laura gets back from work.  

7 pm: Eat dinner.  Sometimes it is just Vicky and me eating, but usually María and Julián join us, and often other aunts, uncles or cousins as well.  Vicky is known as a good and generous cook, and she knows well enough to always have extra food prepared in case of the inevitable unexpected guest.  

7pm – 9:30 pm: Shower, continue to work on homework or talk to family on Skype (if it’s working), and get ready for bed.  

9:45 pm: If all goes well with my homework, sleep! 

Life in San José was exciting, and I’ve absolutely fallen in love with my host family.  It was, however, very crowded and there were endless traffic jams, so I felt like a huge chunk of my day was occupied by waiting for or riding on a bus.  It was also surprisingly stressful: spending ten hours of my day either traveling to or in school meant that there was very little time to finish all of the homework I had to do. 

Pueblo Nuevo:

5:15-5:30 am: Wake up to the sound of my host mom, Ester, cooking breakfast; and to bird calls, rooster crows and howler monkey shouts.  If I’m feeling ambitious, go out for a quick run while the temperature is still bearable.  I don’t feel quite as comfortable running here, not because it’s not safe (I actually feel much safer here in the country than in the big city of San José), but because the concept of running for exercise isn’t really present here.  People get their exercise by working in the field, or by walking to and from the pulpería(a small grocery and convenience store where you ask at the counter for the item you want, instead of locating it yourself).

My house in Pueblo Nuevo

5:45 am: Get dressed and eat breakfast, usually bread or fried plantains with natilla (similar to sour cream)

6:45 am: Bike to the cacao farm where I do my research.  

Geovanny, the biologist who works on the farm, has a pet toucan named Pascual.  He hangs out with us while we're sitting waiting for the rain to pass, and sometimes rides on the handlebars of Geovanny's motorcycle!

7:00 am-11:00 am: Walk amongst the cacao trees to my different sampling sites, and either take soil samples or do other analysis like counting earthworms.

11:30 am-12:30 pm: Return home to eat lunch: chicken, cheese or eggs with rice and beans and the occasional salad, all washed down with a fresco (drink), usually made of oatmeal and sugar dissolved in water.

This was one pretty lunch: rice, beans, and "ensalada rusa" - beets and potatoes mixed with mayonnaise.

12:30 pm-3:30 pm: Either return to the field or work at home on the computer.

3:45 pm: Marcos, my host father, returns home from work at the cacao farm.  Liliana, my host mom, prepares cafecito: coffee with cookies, or crackers with guava jam, or bread and cheese.

Sometimes, instead of the traditional crackers for cafecito, my host dad chops down pipas (unripe coconuts) from the tree in my grandparents' yard.  He cuts a hole in the top for us to drink the coconut water, then chops them open for us to eat out the meat after we're done.  This is one of my favorite treats here!

4:00 pm-7:00 pm: Hang out with my host family.  Life here is simple and very tranquila.  I draw pictures with my host sisters, Yeimy (10) and Anyel (6), sit on the porch with other women from the town who come to have Liliana paint their nails or cut their hair (Liliana studied in beauty school for five months before quitting to take care of her daughters), or we all head next door to Marcos’ parents’ house to hear stories of their youth from Abuela Miriam and Abuelo Manuel.

My host grandma Carmen, host mom Liliana, host sister Anyell and host sister Yeimy

Me and Anyell, 6

7:00 pm: Liliana serves dinner.  Dinner is a very relaxed affair, usually eaten in front of the tv, with everyone eating what and when they feel like.  It usually consists of leftovers from lunch (always rice and beans) filled out with some extra cheese or meat.

Combate participants

7:00 pm-9:00 pm: We watch telenovelas (soap operas) or movies on tv until it’s time to get ready for bed.  One family favorite is “Combate,” a uniquely tico show that consists of two teams of attractive air heads dressed in skimpy uniforms, competing in various obstacle course-like challenges (for example, one challenge involved riding a Razor scooter through a tunnel, scrambling under a gate, and then running on a tightrope over a pool of water) and generally making fools of themselves.  It’s absolutely ridiculous, but strangely entertaining at the same time.

9:30 pm: I tuck in my mosquito net, write in my journal for a few minutes, and fall asleep.

It has taken some time to adjust to the very different lifestyle here.  There are of course some inconveniences of living in a tiny pueblo, and I miss my ACM friends, but overall the experience is very positive.  I continue to be impressed and inspired by the closeness of family here, and by the ability to pass a lazy afternoon simply sitting with family members, chatting and laughing at the antics of the kids running around.  I think it’s really good for me to slow down and experience a simpler life even if only for two short months.