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Yoohooo *waves* … I’m back on line but this time under the guise of http://www.wegosolo.world

I would be delighted if you could join me!

There are some new blogs and also come, join, ‘like’, discuss, debate, contribute – oh my goodness the list goes on … to my world and I hope yours too at https://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Go-Solo-World/1610681882488394

Go on … you know you want to …

Jacqueline

xx

Continuing caribbean stylie in Puerto Viejo, decided to check out rave reviews Stashu’s Con Fusion for some yummy grub.  Walk in and hot guy singing.  So far so good.  Only table is right in front of him – ah not good.  Decision time.  Sit directly facing him or sit side on to him. Decided I couldn’t cope with full on frontal as I would have been twitching all over the place, so went for my side peripheral. Bum! Now he has side view of my upturned nose and also have to hold my tum in – great.  On the food front, it was amazing and lived up to said rave reviews.  Anyway matey boy continued to warble away (actually he did have a good voice) and half way thru my meal finished his set.  Having exchanged a few smiles and clapping appropriately, he breathed ‘have a beautiful night’ as he ambled past.  I gave him a sultry gaze and purred ‘you too’.  Oh sorry, earth to JB … I squeaked minnie mouse stylie ‘you have a lovely voice’ and got whiplash looking back down at my food #musttryharder.  Let breath out and tum was back on my knees. 😀

Then it was off exploring via pedal power – yay.  As I wobbled off a random stranger shouted ‘you’ll be a pro by the end of the day’ … hope he was referring to the pedal power and not adding to my tally of twice being mistaken for a hooker. By chance I had chatted to some canadians when I was coming back from the beach the previous day and happened to bump into them part way thru sleuth – also on bikes so joined forces.  Ended up doing about 40km – had to turn back when my botty started to twitch on ‘highway’ with juggernaults – ok not exactly M25 but enough for wee Buts who didn’t want to end her days splattered on the tarmac.

So the lovely canadians – Mafalda, Martin and Tom, had another set of wheels … aah luxury, a car and invited me to the Sloth Sanctuary with them … yay diddy yay!  By fluke we arrived in time for the 11.00am tour which was guided by the educating and entertaining Ben.  The sanctuary whose mission it to is rescue, rehabilitate, protect and educate regarding these beyond cute creatures was born when ‘Buttercup’ an orphaned three-toed baby sloth came into their care.  Buttercup is now 21 and is in the last pic shown here.  I dare you not to aaaah.

As well as said cuties, a one-hour guided canoe ride through the Estrella River Delta was included in the entry price.  Fab is all I can say  and what a visually stimulating way to spend an hour.  Spot the camouflage of the super cool lizard in the first pic, iguana (close up included to help you out), another chilling sloth and stunning scenary.  Clicking on any pic enlarges it to enhance your enjoyment – or maybe that’s just me!

Nick and some newbie volunteers, come on down Julian, Natasha and Freddie, did hmmm come on down for a weekend visit.  With yet another good fluke they timed it for happy hour at my favourite bar – Koki Beach Bar.  Have to admit that I spent a fair few nights here, in situ within the funky wire rocking chairs, due to said happy hour providing 2 x Cuba Libra for 3000 colones aka $6, plus having a view of watching the world go by.  I had to laugh when they who will remain nameless, in pursuit of a certain substance, asked a dreadlocked bod ‘do you like Bob Marley?’. Classic.  Yes there was the smell of said substance but I was far to busy going red in the face, holding my breath for fear of just secondary breathing it in would have me keeling over with my legs in the air.

During said weekend Nick, Julian and I went off on a 4hr hiking tour in Manzanillo complete with guide.  Now to be fair, the original plan of action was dolphin watching, but as the dolphin tour was kinda combined with a farm visit and swimming, we were concerned that watching said dolphins might be a tad sparse.  There had been a heavy downpour during the night and for our 07.00hrs meetup it was hmmm still raining.  Nick looked resplendent in his moccasin type shoes with no tread as did Julian in his sandals. The mission, as far as Nick and I were concerned was Toucans and more Toucans and in addition for moi, red frogs. Off we set and our first sightings were wonderfully colourful, tweeting birds.  I wish I could name them all but the best I can do is … Woody Woodpecker – the little red headed one here who is hmmm pecking the wood.  Then, brace yourself, poisonous viper snakes – a brown one and white one.  Goodness Attenborough eat your heart out with my evocative descriptive powers. Should you be unfortunate enough to get bitten you have 3 hours to get anti-venom prior to meeting your maker … eek.  Numerous butterflies of varying sizes and colours, spiders with their 3D webs, red frogs, OH YEAH BABY, RED FROGS!!!  These are teeny weeny weeny and are also, cue back to eek, poisonous.  Check out my howler monkey action pic. Oh and that there Toucan.

The hike took us through varying terrain which was not assisted by the rain earlier, cue one stage JB laughing out loud to the rapid sounds of slip sliding behind me – can you believe Nick told me to foxtrot oscar?! 😀 Hey I had already taken a fall with a gracious yelp and side slide on my left buttock.  Ha no one saw thou.  Anyway I digress, back to the hike which was made more special by the opposing sound of the crashing waves from the adjoining beach.  On the beach side, below are some images of the juxtapose and once outside the locals, for a Sunday, were enjoying the beach as they would anywhere else in the world.

Costa Rica is an amazing country with spectacular scenery and is indeed a tropical playland.  The sun is super hot, I mean laser beam.  Every local I met was extremely helpful and lovely.  Yes you do need to be a bit savvy with regards to petty theft, for example on bus travel but even the driver tells you to keep your belongings at your feet (if you doze off leaving it on the overhead luggage rack you might wake minus said goodies).  Yes it is more expensive then I and indeed others I met, thought with some things (particularly supermarket shopping) being cheaper back home – 8000 colones aka $16 for some cheddar anyone?  Eating out varies but on average you are looking at 5000-8000 colones for lunch though at Sodas (CR name for local cafes) you can pick something up for 3500 colones.  Alcohol – well happy hour is good and beers are on average 1000 colones aka $2 for a bottle.

To sum up,I have had a wonderful time and enjoyed every experience from the Intercultura Language School in Samara, the fabulous homestays with my lovely tica mamas, Xinia and Grace, the humbling fulfilling muscle aching volunteering and the soul enriching travelling.  A special thanks also to smilie John @ A Safe Passage http://www.costaricabustickets.com/ who provided an excellent TLC service, making sure I was safe and sound from airport pick up to drop off along with other local knowledge and helpful services. To end, here are some sunsets with love from Costa Rica PURA VIDA. Jxxx p.s. now it’s Buts the Business! 😀

So back at Jungle Hostel it was time to have a nose at them there trails. Teeny though they were, the night walk previously had seen 2 poisonous viper snakes – eek – apparently eye level so I would have been ok 😀  First though a few ‘on site residents.  Now I would add that bugette number 2 was near enough the size of a loo roll … not andrex puppy roll out length I hasten to add – blimey there would have been no pic then as I would have kneeled over with fright.  Rather height thereof – strange analogy I know but it was on the loo wall at the time.

Once out and about ‘Buts Butterfly Attenborough’ captured the following. Now I have to say that hmmm during said sleuth about my hair did tickle my arm a few times and as for when the leaf fell on me …  Let’s just say if I had done the 3 day Corcovado I think I would have spent a lot of time squealing and twitching.

The first butterfly had lovely blue wings when opened but getting that shot you need to have the quickest reflexes in the world – infact I have seen the huge Blue-Mopho butterfly, that has wings that can span up to 20cm, on 5-6 separate occasions cue an image to show you that beauty.

Next day and it was off to Panama.  Bit of a whizz trip as our plan of action was to nip straight up to Bocas Del Toro – bit of a party town with access to fab islands, in one day.  Result as Louchi happened to be travelling same day as us so we were guided on first section and got lift down to port at Puerto Jimenez.  Here we jumped on to a boat to Gofito – Julius a tad nervous as his humungous suitcase was attached by a little piece of rope on the roof whilst we whizzed across the bay bouncing away.  This was followed by a mini bus to Paso Canoas border.  Here we went our separate ways and bade farewell to Louchi and to be honest it was super quick to get across and more a case of hmmm are we now in Panama?!

Julius and I jumped on another mini bus with air con, hip hop FM and more space than our normal mode of travel.  The first thing I noticed was that the roads were better and the houses were jail free.  This took us to David – pronounced Da-vid and within 15mins we were in the next mini bus – as was the world and his wife, with pick ups squeezing more in enroute.   I swear at one stage I nearly had a winkie on my knee – well actually I would rather have had my legs round me neck rather than have a strangers winkie on my knee.  Look mate take your winkie over there, I’m already carrying missus boob on my right shoulder.  The scenary was fab from David to Almarente – excluding winkie and boob.

So from start to finish – pickup, boat, taxi, minibus x 2, boat, we did it in around 11hrs for the bargain sum of $31.  Arriving into Bocas you are met by pastal coloured restaurants, bars and accommodation on stilts on the waters edge. Alas for our budget we weren’t in such accommodation – goodness is that the sound of a softly strung violin? Cue a hostel with a concave bed where I was bitten to pieces the first night due to a large window with mossie net flapping in the breeze.  14 bites anyone? Oh and a hand like the pillsbury dough boy. That was just the next morning.  Not that I was bitter and twisted counting them all you understand.  Very tempted to change óstels but as last few nights with Julius thought I would hang on in there and give them the benefit of the doubt with change of room.   To take my mind off of scratching and hmmm more scratching a boat trip was called for.  Off we headed to see the dolphins in dolphine bay – along with another 10 odd boats.  An idea of what the dolphins would have seen when they popped up.  Then onto the rather fabulous Cayos Zapatilla  – check out that water.

Another day, another island as I went off and checked out Carenero, a 30 sec boat ride away.  Here I was, if I’m really honest, saddened to see how the real locals live.  I have seen this contrast many times before and it never sits well with me.  The locals themselves were so friendly, smiley and happy and to them I suppose that is what they are used to and seemed happy with their lot as opposed to the need more/must have more ethos back home.   There was also a school there and as previously witnessed, children were spick and span in a sea of white and blue with polished shoes.

My initial mission was to check out the beach here but could only get so far before it started to rain.  I had seen many holes in the sand and these red blurs where zooming in and out.  At such stage my feet were also a blur running over said óles as I wasn’t sure of the occupants. Later found out that they were the one claw fiddler crabs.  On the subject of crabs, from the rain I had to take refuge.  Cue to the Cosmic Crab where I was a happy bunny looking at the starfish, meandering crab and watching the world go by inbetween reading my book and hmmm a beer or 2.  Avoided any of the “nuts” combos – the last one making me feel particularly queasy.

Panama is a LOT cheaper than CR – the latter apparently the most expensive place in Central America.  Certainly for the former, beer, tuna and biscuits were half the price.  Eeek I think I might have given away my oh so balanced travellers diet. 😀  Peter at said jungle hostel makes trips to Panama to stock up and purchase all sorts of goods due to the price saving.

Time to head off from Bocas and back to CR.  Although I would have liked to check out the Panama Canal, we were on a time limit and yes I could have gone there on my own but decided it was too much of a faff as I also wanted to cut back into a different part of CR so would have had to come back on myself.  Anyway back to exiting via Bocas – this was easy peasy with a boat, minibus organised combo for the sum of $28 and as Julius was heading off to the airport, easier for me to travel back this way.  Now I have to say the bridge (which apparently was 100yrs old – no shite sherlock) was a tad scarey as can be witnessed in the images below.

My final destination in CR was on the caribbean side – come on down Puerto Viejo! Very different from the Pacific side with fab afros, dreadlocks and Bob Marley blaring.  Shown into my dorm room only the top bunk was free.  I would have needed a trampette to get into it.  Decided to treat myself to a private room – check out my bed – ha!!

Sooo bye bye volunteering, hola more exploring – yay diddy yay! 😀 Julius asked if he could join me for his remaining 2wks which was all good as hey he is good company and let’s not forget that precision german organisation – (saves me faffing about). Another plus is that it can be a pain in the bum at times travelling on your own – it’s the little things – needing a tinkle and having to take all your bags with you, arriving somewhere hank marvin and needing the supermarket with all your bags as you search for that cold bar of chocolate – oh sorry I just saw a pink pig flying by.  Gawd what I would give for some Galaxy *removes dribble from keyboard*

It was also farewell to Nick who was taking it for the team and had another 6-7wks volunteering on the build.  Julius and I on the other hand headed off to Parque Nacional Chirripo in hiking mode.  Chirripo being the highest mountain in CR at 3820m and home to amazing flora and fauna whilst at the same time providing spectacular views of the Caribbean and Pacific coast.  The plan of action was to get to Crestones Base Camp where you spend 1 night and then resume the next day.  Therefore a 2 day hike or if you wanna explore more 3 days.  I was kinda thinking that at 1.91m and 1.50m respectively that I was kinda gonna be jogging on this.  As it turned out tickets for said event – yes you had to get tickets for both park entrance $15 each day but more importantly the accommodation was the willy wonka gold ticket.   Bods had either booked months in advance or were queuing up the night before the night before – yes you read that correctly.  So for 3 guys in our dorm, there were only 5 tickets available for the day they wanted to hike, said tickets up for grabs by bods in other accommodation as well.  So men on a mission, they were queuing Wednesday night for the 06.30 Thursday opening at the rangers station and their tickets were for hiking on the Friday.  They went prepared with wine, beer and chocolate (did someone say chocolate?!?) – plus one of them was a hottie … hold fire I’m coming with you! In reality I must confess I wasn’t too keen to be out all night being bitten to pieces but would have gotten there for the 04:00am shift.  As it turns out the combo of the ticket saga along with Julius chest infection oh and hearing that the basecamp accommodation was known as ‘Le Refrig’ due to you freezing your bits off, put the mockers on said hike. That kinda thing I’m not too keen to do on my own as there weren’t masses of bods hiking there and I didn’t want to trip and be lying part way down a mountain hallucinating choc and flying pigs.  However, what we did check out and hike (around 6hrs) was Cloudbridge Nature Reserve, a reforestation project born in 2002 comprising 700 acres and run on a donation basis, which as well as being beautiful, was also an amazing achievement.  http://www.cloudbridge.org/the-project/

Our hostel accommodation this time was Casa Mariposa situated in San Gerardo, which was kinda funky with it’s rock and wood construction.

Next stop another 04:15 alarm special for the 05:15hrs bus – make that plural – to get us to Uvita.  I was kinda dreading this bit as aside from a couple of lights, the rest was pitch black down hill, probably 30mins with backpack on rocky uneven ground to the bus stop – yay.  I was hoping that someone might just happen to be passing with wheels – cue back to yay for the law of attraction cos we hadn’t been walking for more than a min then a pick up stopped and we were on board – oh yeah baby! Uvita was home to my favourite hostel so far as well … the rather fabulously named ‘Flutterby House’. Now it was run by 2 American sisters and was a tad ‘high five, slam dunk’ cue Julius ”zay are very loud’ but fun, super friendly, helpful and of course great customer service.  I would like to say that our accommodation was in pic 1 or 2 … but I would get a pimple on my tongue.  Pic 3 it is … up the steep ladder making sure you were none too squiffy.

The nearby beach, literally 5mins, was part of Marino Ballena National Park and stunningly beautiful.  The ´Whales Tail´is a walk you can do at low tide, the name due to the fact that from the air it hmmm looks like a whales tail and I have included a snapshot as exhibit A (not from me  – budget doesn’t include private aircharter even for my loyal readers). The guys were on a mission to crack open the coconuts and after mucho grunting, groaning and generally wacking against a concrete post – hmmm this is starting to sound a tad rude … am still on the coconut ok? Anyway they peeled the layers back to reveal drum roll … the little hairy thing you see at the fairground – we are still on coconuts.  Back to Marino Ballena National Park itself – guy came running past looking a tad frantic ‘has anyone run past?  They’ve taken our cameras and everything!!”.  Alas there were signs everywhere plus both the ranger on entry and our hostel said to not leave anything unattended as thieves were operating.  Sad state of affairs with a tiny minority and their thoughtless actions as the local people we spoke to were lovely and very helpful.

Another day and another 04:15am alarm, oh goody goody.  This time a couple of buses to get us to Puerto Jimenez down on the Ösa Peninsula of CR.   We were hoping to check out Corcovado National Park cited by National Geographic as ‘the most biologically intense place on the planet’ however I didn’t realise that 3 days were required to hike in and out.  So plan B check out local trails and fishing.  Our accommodation this time was the Jungle Hostel – bunks complete with mossie nets – run by the very lovely Peter and Louchi.  Peter had a boat ‘Watermelon Sugar’ and provided fishing trips.  Now I was a tad dubious re this excursion as although I eat fish I didn’t want to be their murderer!!  Yes it is a little rectangular thing I see on my plate not a full figure body with beady eyes looking at me, but I did rather want to go out on the boat.  So as you can see it was a stunning day with calm waters aside from the shoal of fish who were our guide for catchment.   Cue first catch to JB – it was a macarella – heyyyyy macarella … dum diddy dum, diddy dum diddy dee dee … (what do you mean that’s the macarena?! It’s my song and I’ll sing it how I like) … oh yeah here we go, left arm, right arm, left palm, right palm, left shoulder, right shoulder, hip, hip, gyrate and jump … woohoo.  Whoops I’ve digressed.  Peter deemed it was too small so it then went back in said water (yay!).  Next up was JK … who caught a bonito … this was also deemed too small and once more went back in (yay!).  A Jack fish was the next one which Peter passed verdict on ‘not good for eating’ – back in it went (yay diddy yay!).  The rest of the day yielded no more fish, which apparently was unusual and I think that JK was a tad miffed that the smaller ones had gone back in but I was a happy bunny :-D.  Locals also showing us how they fish and we finished our day with a bit of swimming around the Mogos Islands … aaah.

New to this home stay lark, I must confess to having had a bit of a result.  First off we had mama tica Xinia in Samara – super duper cook and lovely bod followed by mama tica Grace in San Ramon – super duper creative and lovely bod.  The former was with Jim and the latter with Tati – Grace’s lovely daughter.  Julius/Julios on the other hand shared with a family of 5 on his first shout and family of 7 on his next – must admit both of those would have driven me a tad bonkers.

So, Grace is the queen of cleaning … her home is super sparkly and my washing is presented back to me as if it was going to be a Design Museum exhibit (would show you a pic but hmmm my clothes are just about hanging on in there).  The smell of said washing as well … cue butterflies, flowers popping up and loads of pastel colours.

So a working day in the life of ‘Buts the Builder’ … alarm goes off @ 7am, brekkie on the table @ 7.30am (enough to feed 2) … head out of the door @ 8.30am (yep I know if I was at home I would be getting up @ 8.00 and running out the door @ 8.30 minus brekkie).  Stroll out clutching my prepared lunch.  20 min walk to the bus station – 9am bus, 450 colones aka just under a $ bus fare.  30 odd mins later in La Balsa.  10 min walk to site.  Kisses on arrival (yay) and kisses on departure (yay).  15.00hrs bus back (as next one 18.00hrs and that’s when it’s dark and the witching hour).  Grab a helado aka ice cream once back in town.   19.30hrs dins prepared on the table.

A reminder of Xinia and Jim below along with some photo shoots with yours truly and Grace (followed by her great creative before and after work), Tati and a rather fab and wacky Cecilia (who was sis-in-law to Grace).  I loved that the latter called me ‘honey’ and was transfixed to a rather dodgy soap opera called Noleen with busty heaving pouting beauties, dodgy tash guys and dramatic music … hmmm well at least she told me it was a soap opera … My final week of ‘there there looking after’ also ended with ‘Tinkerbell’ bedspread – shucks.

It was a sad week all round … saying goodbye to this fab family and the final week of volunteering on the house build.  A few snippets of our build progress that week (including the building inspector’s 30sec visit – ‘is this the house of xxx – tick’).  There was also an on site chicken duly named ‘Henrietta’ by Nick, who had visions of an escape plan ‘chicken run’ stylie having seen feathers and a slaughter table up the top of the garden!  Fortunately I did not venture up there but did add that he best not keep feeding her otherwise she would be on there rolly polly stylie pretty rapido.  So after our 90cm (3ft) deep trench which was about 6-7 metres long we awaited instructions for our next task.  Drum roll … a hueco aka ‘ole about 1.5m square and hmmm 1.9m deep! Yay. We made a start but then the decision was made for us to shovel/cut back the (more clay than earth) wall at the back of the house.  This wee task took the 3 of us 2 days … now had dishy mr digger stayed on site on day 1 for another 5 mins it would have been done and dusted.  Think of your waist Jacqueline!!  Nick who is learning Spanish as he goes along (nowt wrong with that and conversation the way to go) said he would check something with one of the local guys.   JB watches in amazement as he speaks english oh-s-o-o-o  s-l-o-w-l-y #britabroad – cracked me up.  So to recap I now hold a masters in shoveling and wheelbarrowing (lost count after 30 barrows shovelled aka mucho clay and wheeled on the last day) can handle a pick axe n a hammer.  ‘Buts the builder’ it is 😀 … So goodbye to the building crew -including the ever happy Jason and the oh so lovely lovely resident family of Tulio (who did back breaking work at the local sugar cane plant) and Teba who were the grandparents together with their daughter and Jenny their grand daughter who we were assisting with the house build for. The latter were so grateful for our work and I in turn felt very humbled by their heartfelt thanks and genuine warmth.  They (and their neighbours – with the fresh oh so sweet watermelon) were so good to us, going to the trouble of providing us with freshly made afternoon subsidence after mucho shoveling and graft.   Included below last day photo shoots (touching that they were snapping away as well … aah) and their temporary abode whilst the build takes place – should be another 3-4 wks and then they will be in (cue back to yay!).

Next day Nick and I headed off to La Fortuna (Julius/Julios having been before) – home of hot springs and Volcan Arenal.  Decided to (rather than having the faff of trying to keep an eye on our stuff whilst we were ‘out with nature in the hot springs’)  instead go to a resort hotel.  Cue Baldi Hot Springs Hot Resort and Spa – I thank you.  $35 for the use of 25 thermal mineral pools of different temperatures, depths and yay swim up bars!  Oh and it also included an eat as much as you want buffet including a CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN!!  Cue backflips and flick flacks … bliss.  Would have some pics but was advised due to humidity not to take camera so imagination time or google).  Next day we checked out the La Fortuna waterfalls … sooo not hot springs – did look VERY sweaty betty at the end of 4km hike in searing hot uphill heat to get to there and hey the super cold water was good for my feet as they were on fire.  Fab cloud formations en route.  We were on a bit of time limit with our viewing (call me shallow but hot springs for my aching muscles and a massage were my top priority) so Volcan Arenal (1670m) or observatory thereof was not included, however, below is a shot of the stunning backdrop it provides to the town.  It activity has decreased (last splutters 2010) but has a near perfect conical shape.

Saturday night we were back in Alajeula hooking up with Julios once more, who was looking kinda pleased with himself.  Drum roll … it turned out the sneaky beaky had just been on a date.  The last day on site, as we made our way to the bus stop after said graft, one of the neighbours daughter´s suddenly appeared and was walking beside him.  Nick and I trundling along behind – the former humming the theme to ´’Love Story´ whilst yours truely was thinking ´blimey that´s confidence ‘ go girl!´.   At the time he shrugged it off  but then after said revelation of this date, Nick looked on with ´fatherly´pride and I think a bit of back slapping might have occured as well with this male ´get on in there my son´ritual.  Sunday and it was time for us to check out Volcan Poas (2704m).  How fab was that place?!  The eruption in 1953 formed the enormous crater measuring 1.3km across and 300m deep.  In fact,  earlier in the week there had been another eruption that hit the news  – apparently 300m in the air (though you couldn’t see any sign of that I must confess).  Stunning place with lake and rain/cloud forest as well.  The former of which was non swimmable/accessible due to the water content.  Ok ok OK … I confess that one of my pic’s here looks like I was auditioning for the cover of ‘Volcano Weekly’ but in fact it just happened to be the angle I was standing and was holding my hair back to the wind!! Honest guv … Any of the pics you can click on to enlarge them – check out point 5 in the event of an eruption … Ha.

Sooo a new week saw us with a new volunteer – come on down Nick from Kent!  Now Nick got asked if he was Julios dad (thank gawd no one has asked me if I am his mum!!).  Cue Nick saying he was papa, however, depending on how you pronounce ‘papa’ it can either be a papa aka daddy, the pope or potato.  Go figure.  Cue english accent and him saying potato.   This father/son thing has got them doey eyed and is kinda cute to watch with their banter, boy humour and laughter.

Back on site the build is progressing (as is my waist – yay!).  Below some shots of progress along with ‘Buts the Builder’ in action … ok ok ‘Buts the Shoveller’ doesn’t quite have the same ring ok?  The drainage ditch has to be 90cm deep and on this particular day I worked on it alone (the guys were assisting with the concrete panels of the house).  It was rewarding to be told that I was a good ‘companera’ and ‘superwoman’ whilst Jason backed that up with the muscleman pose – I would have mirrored said pose but could barely lift my arms let alone flex them …

I mentioned before that La Balsa is a very poor area and as well as our scenic walk to work (after said bus ride) some of the houses are shown here.  It’s good to hear music coming from the abodes and receive smiles from the occupants as well.  Oh along with a tad fair bit of dog barking!   The last couple of shots are from the opposite side of the ‘road’.

Soon the long weekend came round and this time we headed off to Playa El Carmen, Santa Theresa (home of beautiful beaches and surfing) and Montezuma (ditto re beaches/surfing and apparently wacky backy) via the ferry ex Puntarenas.  A nice early start of 05:15 saw us all looking like zombies as we were worried our respective alarms wouldn’t go off (even though I had 2 on the go!).  09:00 ferry and I kinda figured that as I had been up since 04:20 it was infact middayish in the hot hot sun and hmmm beer o’clock ,o).  In the order shown Puntarenas, bit of view ex ferry across the exquisite Golfo de Nicoya , rather pretty teeny weeny port of Paquera, sunset/surfing combo at Playa El Carmen end of day 1.

Now don´t get me wrong … I love the beach … but … can get a tad bored so for days 2 and 3 (extra extended weekend this time) Nick and I decided to hire a quad bike – $30 each a day plus $2.50 each a day for fuel (whoop!).  This proved to be a great investment and we set off to explore other areas … some shots of beaches enroute at Playa Hermosa and Playa Manzanillo (where we did some whizzing up and down the beach on said quad (rebels as not allowed but hey we´d seen a convoy go by – guvnor).  That evening saw us check out Pizza Tomate as there is only so much rice n beans one can take.

Next day it was checking out the graveyard at Isla Cabuya (to the right of the boat in the first pic) which you could walk across to at low tide.   Stunning location and only a graveyard on there  (oh and vultures?) and onwards to Montezuma where we managed to take a wrong turn coming home and hmmm ended up back at Montezuma.  Take 2 … a wee bit of rush hour in the dark and ‘eat my dust’ most definitely apt when you are on a quad on dusty roads with cars whizzing by … Nick looked like a bank robber with strategically placed bandana, whilst I used him as a shield along with my sunnies 😀 however was definitely dusty the sandman when I got off.

Travelling back to Puntarenas was reminiscent of being in Brighton … had my knickers on pre these cars and post they were jigged off with the boom boom BOOM bass.   We had also stumbled across a bikers convention.  Now I am soooo NOT a biker however I can appreciate the aesthetics of such mean machines.  A bit of Queen and Van Halen blaring completed the scene.

Well after the first 4-5 days of mucho shovelling I looked in the mirror, no can’t be … peered closer, squints … it’s … it’s … a WAIST!!  Being naturally blessed with the figure of SpongeBob SquarePants, as opposed to hour glass, this caused much excitement this end. Note to oneself to invest in a shovel and find a big plot of land when I get back …

Let’s talk pavements … here’s the thing, fortunately for me that generally my want is to walk sniffer dog stylie with my head down and arse in the air.  That has come in pretty handy here with various random holes in the pavement ready for you to break your ankle.  Me being average height and all (refer to previous post), the way the gutters are it is a ‘hop, skip n a jump’ to cross the road as well.    Have never seen gutters like it, random ‘ramps’ are there for those that are not so flexible but the oldies here must also be on the cod liver oil to facilitate the box spilts that are required at times to enter the bus.

Below are snapshots of our last day at La Paz … the lovely family with edible Dillon and builders Christophe and Esteban.  Christophe reminded me of someone and fortunately I remembered who it was post departure (the baddie who cuts his hand off in Prison Break …eeek!!).  Another bit of our work re earth removal and of course let’s not forget Brutus the dog eh (shown above).

The last day however was marred by the fact that Julius (aka Julios) got his phone kernicked … smart phones mucho sort after for tea leaves.  Although obviously very sad for Julios I was kinda relieved that the b**tard App that provided static maps that sent us on a 3.2 km hike to a hostel in searing heat 95% of the way on a steep incline with me arriving like tommy the tomato, looking like I was about to spontaneously combust – along with that there ‘walk’ to the beach, cue 15mins of torture in grass higher then me with pot holes … was no longer with us.

So it was time to move to a new site … this time in La Balsa.  Frio … Frio … yelped Grace when I told her.  Now frio aka cold certainly has a different interpretation here then back home.  Yep the first day was overcast but after that the sun was peaking thru (yay!).  Time wise it is also around 40mins on the bus but in another direction to another lush rolling hills location.  This site was also much more what I expected to see and fab as arriving on day 1 of a new build.  Dishy Mr Digger was on site and my oh my was he skillful with his digger  … however alas he went with said digger on the first day and bum diddy bum I didn’t have my camera with me that day.  Our task for the day was pulling (lots and lots of) nails from the wood of the previous house that had been demolished.  The next day Julios brought me his spare gloves as splinters and a few callouses are not a good look.  Below our loo hut, Julios with said gloves ready for handover, Jason and Listhanu,  cup of coffee anyone? (costa rica after all), me with my jazz hands and a few stages of the build.  This is a very poor área and the people are beyond lovely which makes it feel even more so that you are doing something so worthwhile.  The new house itself is still going to be tiny (42 square metres) for 4 people.  I am not sure how it works here if it has to be like for like.

No sooner had we finished mucho shovelling then it was time to head off for another long weekend’s travel (cue back to yay!).  This time it was just Julios and I as Takuya was moving on to Nicaragua.  Monteverde was the destination, home of cloud forests and mucho adrenaline adventures.  Bus travel here is cheap with 2 buses costing a combined total of around 3000 colones ($6) for a journey that took us around 5 hours.  Following a bonding sess at Monteverde Backpackers, the following day 4 of us set off for the ‘100% Adventura’ experience.  12 ziplines, 1 hanging bridge, the longest zipline in Latin America @ 1590 metres, 2 superman cables (you go face down superman stylie) and a tarzan swing with a 45 metre free fall all for the faberooney sum of $45.  YEEEHHHAAAAAAAAAA!!!! do I love, love, LOVE ZIP LINES!  My first experience thereof and I was WHEEEEEIINNNNNGGGGG all the way thru it as you whizz along at mucho speed.  You go on a wee zip line first to practice ‘braking’ and then you build up pretty quickly to the bigger ones.  They give you hand signals when to brake – time to worry if they start flapping like someone demented.  For the superman however they brake for you (otherwise you’d leave your arm behind as your braked) :-D.  Now as much as I loved the zip lines … the tarzan swing well hmmm.  You walk a long walk.  The guy is there at the end, checks your harness etc, tells you to hold the rope … I look at him and say ‘where here?’.  He replies ‘yes, bend your knees’ whilst at the same time kneeing me behind said knees and opening the gate … f**ker!!  I didn’t even have time to scream.  The fear as you free fall and your clothes are still on the platform … blimey I just shut my eyes and fell aaarrrgggghhhhh.  You basically free fall the first half of the tarzan swing and then it kicks in (thank gawd) … was glad that one was over but hey me being me, I had to do it!  You did have the option to opt out of this bit …  A few shots below of the prep and then others in the pose re Superman (did I say that bit was brilliant and I LOVED it?) oh and the last lady in the pic was a tad scared – sign of the cross and all.  If you want to see more with a vid clip of the Superman then check out http://www.aventuracanopytour.com/

That night we checked out the night walk for any residents as per below … tarantula anyone? Birdies sleeping (very cute balls), ants working, spot the (humungous) stick insect, fire fly.  There was also a sloth that was subjected to 4000 torchlights … good thing it was a ‘bum’ angle and they alledgedly can’t see well!  Oh and a couple of snakes but hmmm they were green … up high in green trees … I gave up saying I ‘couldn’t see them’ and just opted for ‘yes’ save more laser light show in the sky.  There were also amazing fig trees you could venture inside the following day.

Staying at a hostel, no matter what the reviews say, is always a bit hit and miss on who is there at the time.  We hit the jackpot at Monteverde with 5 other single travellers (although obviously for this trip Julios and I were travelling together).  Representing England we had Tom and Charlie, step forward Miss Holland, Nicki, doing his stuff for NZ was Nick and finally a German who didn’t sound German but the name was a bit of a give away, Henrik.  Two nights drinking into the wee wee hours at La Taberna watching the locals strut their stuff whilst we hmmm drank beer, rum and discussed the merits of lingo amongst other things.  There was a bit of action going on in the corner of the bar to which Charlie remarked in his fab scouse accent ‘bleedin hell, it’s like Emmerdale’.  Always feel a tad sad when you have such a brilliant time with people and then 9 times out of 10 never see them again but that’s the nature of life whether you are travelling or not.  Of course, there are always the exceptions and yay for being blessed with fab friends around the world.  So Tom and Charlie hooked up together (in the travel buddies sense as opposed to get your kit off sense) and headed off to Tamarindo aka ‘ere we go Tamagringo’ by the locals, Nicki went back to San Jose to complete week 6 of her spanish language course (tad envious moi?), Nick after already volunteering for 2 wks turtle conservation, 1 wk in a school, also headed off to San Jose for 1 wk in an orphanage, Henrik took the jeep-boat-jeep option (which rather fabulously does not contain jeeps) and headed off to La Fortuna.  As for Julios and I … back on the bus for work the next day.  Wanted to take Bob the dog with me (snoozing below and keeping Tom company) but the hostel owner wouldn’t let me – meanie.

So hugs, kisses and farewells to mama tica Xinia, Jim and diddy Dolly.  Back on the bus to an overnight in Alajuela.  Election day for El Presidente equals mucho flags, cars with speakers blaring, horns tooting,  t shirt and flyer handing out … alas on this occasion to no avail as no clear winner so it’s the same again for April.  Met some other volunteers – turtle conservation appears to be the most popular but a fluke encounter in OZ had me see about 20 of them bobbing in the sea and coming into nest.  For me I fancied a bit of manual labour and opted for the construction project building homes for local families.  Induction time includes … directions – 100m is a block, whether the block is a small block or humungous block 10 times that; don’t get the buses at night as there have been instances of being held up at gunpoint; keep your belongings in front of you as they cut through your bags behind you (petty theft pretty high here) reference was made to San Jose, oh and location … there is no ‘address’ per se – the pink house 2000m from the garage sign (even if the garage is no longer there and ditto for the sign).

So the next day Takuya from Japan and I head off with Carlos (our volunteering co-ordinator) to San Ramon to meet our respective homestay families.  ‘Here’s your mum!’ said Carlos as this smiley lady (Grace) with her daughter (Tati aka Tatiana) and niece (Carolina) come bounding up … Gulp my mum!! Ok ok I admit that I did well up, she was my mum ok?!  That evening we also meet Julius (know as Julios here) who already had 2 wks under his belt on the project.

The day after my arrival, it is Tati’s 17th birthday complete with pinata, cake and the works.  It has to be said that as well as the english/german lineage methinks that I must have a bit of costa rican thrown in as well.  Here I am kinda average height and yay I’m a dab hand and do the kissy hello/goodbye … aaah got loads of kisses that night :-D.

First day of volunteering and the location of our site is La Paz … route to work along with local ice cream parlour shown below.

The house is for the grandparents and the construction project was initially set up by the Canadian government but it now comes under the CR government.  Takuya and I are joining towards the end of this build but there was still mucho shovelling for which I am now a master in.  Our task was the septic tank hole (oh the glamour).  Now at the time said ‘ole was 1m deep and needed to be 1.5m deep.  Hmmm as the latter is my height it made more sense to leave the guys to that bit whilst I was the chief earth mover on top.  It doesn’t look much but there was mucho earth moved in the pic below – the far side was 4 times that height!  Fell in love with Dillon (age 6) who was soooooo cute.

Roberto – not sure if he was the son or son in law but anyway he was a very nice man!  He showed us around his land, which included sugar cane, pineapples, yuca and coffee plants.  It was my first time tasting sugar straight from the cane … basically you just bite into it several times to get the juice out … cue JB as a woman possessed with mucho sugar juice going everywhere. Aaah sooooo happy.

The weekend arrives and it appears to be the norm for volunteers to do Mon-Thurs with Fri off for exploring (yay).  Takuya, Julios and I head off to Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio which was stunning for both it’s residents and amazing beaches.  Here we did a guided tour to make the most of spotting said residents – howler monkeys, white-faced capuchin monkeys, gladiator tree frogs, mating crabs, spiders that créate 3D webs, well camouflaged lizards, mini bats, iguanas, pelicans and yes yes YES sloths!!!!  After a few bum shots (literally) I actually got some with their smiley face.  Think Sid from Ice Age.  They were beyond cute and I WANT ONE!

Julios planned our final day with military precisión … 7:00hrs get up, 7:30hrs go to the beach, 8:00hrs get to the beach – literally verbatim … cracks me up … that guy is so German! ;o)