Friday, June 29, 2018
Computer died
My computer seems to have died completely. I’ve had it since before Hackbright - about five years. So I won’t really be able to post updates until after we get back, and we will be super busy when we get back. Might be a little while. ❤️
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Boat Tour, Sanctuary, and Chocolate Tour
We went for a boat tour around the Gulfo Dulce (sweet gulf), during which we saw flying fish, manta rays, giant sea turtles, bottle-nosed dolphins, and spoonbills. The boat was really nice and had "special seats" up front where you could sit up high and feel like you were flying. It wasn't really possible to take photos of the animals because we only saw them for very short periods.
Weird fruit we ate on the boat
The highlight of the boat tour was stopping at the Santuario Silvestre de Osa (wildlife sancuary of Osa peninsula), where there are a number of animals being rehabilitated to be released back into the wild. We couldn't see those animals because they need to avoid human contact, but there were a number of animals that we could see because they were not going to be releasable. We got to see sloths, a kinkaju, some interesting birds, and best of all: a spider monkey who loves people. It's very important that we not post ANY photos of the animals at the sanctuary because if the government finds those photos then they will consider the sanctuary to be profiting off of the animals for tourism, and will take them away. They have a very good life in their extremely remote part of the jungle (you can only get there by boat), so we don't want to jeopardize that. But if you text me and ask for a photo of Sweetie the spider monkey, I'll text you a photo.
Sweetie was such a ham, crawling into our laps and demanding scratches. She pointed to where she wanted you to scratch her and if you didn't do it fast enough or didn't get the right spot she would grab your hand and move it. She also feels strongly that if you have two working hands there is no reason one of them should be idle at any time. You'd better scratch her with both in the different places she asked for, or she'll grab your hand as if to say, "Ug, why are you so stupid? Get it right!" There is also another spider monkey that came down to get some food, and although we can't touch this one, she has a baby right now and we got to see it really closely! They have very long tails and the baby's was double wrapped around the base of her mom's tail. It was super cute.
This was followed by what was supposed to be a day of rest, but ended up being quite trying. We had a large crab in our cabina, then a millipede, then later an enormous cockroach. Then our air conditioning died around 9pm and we had to spend the whole night without ac. Keep in mind the humidity is well above 90%, and my bug bites take on a mind of their own when it's hot. This was a low point. But the next morning we switched rooms and now not only do we have "aire" but we are also right next to the pool. Last night there was a toad the size of a large mango hanging out next to our fridge. He likes to hang out behind it apparently. We got massages outside in the shade and relaxed in the pool all afternoon. Our masseuse works at the hotel and she is very good at helping people practice their Spanish because she speaks slowly and clearly and pauses when you look confused. We had a wonderful two-hour conversation with her about history, family, wildlife, and all sorts of things. It was like paying for a massage and getting free tutoring as a bonus.
Today we did a tour of a chocolate farm owned by an incredibly sweet family. It was a beautiful tour and everything was very personalized. It was just us and one other couple on the tour, and the dad and two sisters took us around and showed us all the fruits they grow and the medicinal plants that have been used by the indigenous people for hundreds of years. Then we made chocolate! They gave us chocolate frío (cold chocolate drink) and chocolate liqueur and they made us the most fabulous meal we have had so far. Succulent and tender smoked chicken, fresh white banana and papaya in cream sauce, squash slow roasted with herbs, plantains, and something like mashed potatoes but made of a different kind of tuber that only grows here. We practically licked our plates. It was unreal. And then of course more chocolate and fresh fruit. Everything they made for us was grown on their farm. They gave us a white pineapple as a gift, which takes two years to grow and you can only find it in tropical places.
Drinking a coconut with bamboo straws
Don't look a gift pineapple in the mouth
Sucking on cacao fruit
The greenhouse where they dry the beans
An old clothes iron
Cold chocolate liqueur, anyone?
Wood from different species of trees indigenous to Costa Rica. Most forests have 3-7 species of trees but in Costa Rica there are over 200 species.
I bought this beautiful handmade necklace so we can put it on our wall.
This mortar and pestle are 600 years old. They use the same tools now for crushing the beans that were used for many generations.
Crank through the grinder twice, mix in a little powdered sugar and powdered milk, grind it through again. After this point it looked like brownie mix.
The bakery with a bibular quote: "Jesus says, 'I am the bread of life'"
Costa Rican My Little Pony!!!
Weird fruit we ate on the boat
The highlight of the boat tour was stopping at the Santuario Silvestre de Osa (wildlife sancuary of Osa peninsula), where there are a number of animals being rehabilitated to be released back into the wild. We couldn't see those animals because they need to avoid human contact, but there were a number of animals that we could see because they were not going to be releasable. We got to see sloths, a kinkaju, some interesting birds, and best of all: a spider monkey who loves people. It's very important that we not post ANY photos of the animals at the sanctuary because if the government finds those photos then they will consider the sanctuary to be profiting off of the animals for tourism, and will take them away. They have a very good life in their extremely remote part of the jungle (you can only get there by boat), so we don't want to jeopardize that. But if you text me and ask for a photo of Sweetie the spider monkey, I'll text you a photo.
Sweetie was such a ham, crawling into our laps and demanding scratches. She pointed to where she wanted you to scratch her and if you didn't do it fast enough or didn't get the right spot she would grab your hand and move it. She also feels strongly that if you have two working hands there is no reason one of them should be idle at any time. You'd better scratch her with both in the different places she asked for, or she'll grab your hand as if to say, "Ug, why are you so stupid? Get it right!" There is also another spider monkey that came down to get some food, and although we can't touch this one, she has a baby right now and we got to see it really closely! They have very long tails and the baby's was double wrapped around the base of her mom's tail. It was super cute.
This was followed by what was supposed to be a day of rest, but ended up being quite trying. We had a large crab in our cabina, then a millipede, then later an enormous cockroach. Then our air conditioning died around 9pm and we had to spend the whole night without ac. Keep in mind the humidity is well above 90%, and my bug bites take on a mind of their own when it's hot. This was a low point. But the next morning we switched rooms and now not only do we have "aire" but we are also right next to the pool. Last night there was a toad the size of a large mango hanging out next to our fridge. He likes to hang out behind it apparently. We got massages outside in the shade and relaxed in the pool all afternoon. Our masseuse works at the hotel and she is very good at helping people practice their Spanish because she speaks slowly and clearly and pauses when you look confused. We had a wonderful two-hour conversation with her about history, family, wildlife, and all sorts of things. It was like paying for a massage and getting free tutoring as a bonus.
Today we did a tour of a chocolate farm owned by an incredibly sweet family. It was a beautiful tour and everything was very personalized. It was just us and one other couple on the tour, and the dad and two sisters took us around and showed us all the fruits they grow and the medicinal plants that have been used by the indigenous people for hundreds of years. Then we made chocolate! They gave us chocolate frío (cold chocolate drink) and chocolate liqueur and they made us the most fabulous meal we have had so far. Succulent and tender smoked chicken, fresh white banana and papaya in cream sauce, squash slow roasted with herbs, plantains, and something like mashed potatoes but made of a different kind of tuber that only grows here. We practically licked our plates. It was unreal. And then of course more chocolate and fresh fruit. Everything they made for us was grown on their farm. They gave us a white pineapple as a gift, which takes two years to grow and you can only find it in tropical places.
Drinking a coconut with bamboo straws
Don't look a gift pineapple in the mouth
Here, try the cacao fruit! Just don't bite down or it will get really bitter.
Sucking on cacao fruit
The greenhouse where they dry the beans
Look out! He's got a machete!
At El Rancho after the tour to relax, make chocolate, and eat lunch
An old clothes iron
Cold chocolate liqueur, anyone?
I bought this beautiful handmade necklace so we can put it on our wall.
This mortar and pestle are 600 years old. They use the same tools now for crushing the beans that were used for many generations.
Crush the beans to get the shells off
Shake them up to get rid of the shells
Crank through the grinder twice, mix in a little powdered sugar and powdered milk, grind it through again. After this point it looked like brownie mix.
Pack it into a mold and then just shake the mold and it makes the chocolate lay flat.
After all that manual labor, our absolutely incredible lunch
Fruits of our labor
With the whole family! They do everything together - tours, planting, harvesting, cooking, etc.
We had a wonderful time with that family, and now I'm really glad to have an AC break, as I'm discovering is important for my sanity in this humidity.
Other interesting things about town!
Everyone puts their garbage in cages above ground to keep away various animals that would tear it open
Toilet paper in our hotel. I'm guessing here dogs pee on stop signs instead of hydrants?
The bakery with a bibular quote: "Jesus says, 'I am the bread of life'"
Costa Rican My Little Pony!!!
Tonight we are going to a fancy dinner that is supposed to have incredible views, so stay tuned for our next post! Pura vida!
Saturday, June 23, 2018
Corcovado Hike: In search of monkeys
The hike to, through, and from Corcovado National Park was both fruitful and brutal. Our guide was awesome. He basically knows everything ever, including how to spot each animal, how to get each animal to turn and look at the camera, and the answers to all our questions about every animal. We met him at 5:30 at the local bakery to buy breakfast and lunch. Then we walked to the colectivo, the truck that takes you to Carate, the starting point for the hike. He (accurately) described the two hour journey as "like riding a bull." It was super bumpy and deafening, but fun nonetheless.
Air plants stuck to the telephone wires
Luxury Ride
Obviously we stopped halfway through the ride to see what was happening in La Copa Mundial
On the ride in the colectivo, we saw a number of animals passing by: a coati, spider monkeys, an agouti, and massive blue butterflies (there was no way to take photos because we were driving too fast).
At Carate we got out and started our hike. Here are some highlights:
Some poisonous caterpillars. Our guide warned us that touching them would bring extreme pain for about an hour.
Some less poisonous caterpillars. This one waved its head back and forth, at which point our guide said "I'm a snake, I'm a snake" in a heavy Costa Rican accent.
Some rad trees
This one is a strangler
Some lizards and birds
Bonus bat! This one is called a tent-making bat because it chews the leaf along the stem to make either side of the leaf fold downward, making a tent for it to hang out in.
Other mammals we saw included a bunch of Coatis
And a Tayra, a cousin of the wolverine. Very hard to get a clear shot of these because they were super fast
And of course, the whole reason we went to Corcovado, the whole reason we came to Osa Peninsula, the whole reason we came to Costa Rica: the monkeys!!
Squirrel monkeys!! These were the hardest to find and also quite hard to photograph because they are so fast. There was a teeny tiny baby that came to check us out before the mom called to him from above being like "don't talk to strangers!" and it ran up to jump on her back.
Spider monkeys were also hard to capture on camera because they don't sit still for long. We did get to see babies, so that was awesome. This one sat still for like 30 seconds munching on a banana.
Howler mom and baby!
See if you can spot the one part of the howler monkey that isn't black or brown.
The capuchins were, of course, hamming it up for the cameras. They are so smart and fun to watch. I have like 10 photos I wanted to post of them, but I refrained for your sake.
Long grooming session was going on up here. Looka da behbeh!!!
By the end of the hike, I had a migraine and we both had blisters and rashes and were sore all over. We had gone probably 10 kilometers through sand, stream, ups and downs, under and over logs, weaving through enormous leaves. Even the guide said that the day was hotter and more humid than most. Wonderful. This was our "look, we survived" photo
But we didn't realize that we still had a loooong way to go. Some nice tourists who had rented a car took us as far as Mata Palo so we could avoid riding the colectivo all the way back (nothing like riding a bull when you have a migraine). We planned to rest in Mata Palo and catch the collectivo from there, but then about an hour later we saw the colectivo driver riding by on the back of a motorcycle holding a large plastic container. Guess they ran out of gas! Glad we caught that ride from the tourists. But now we were still an hour away from our hotel and not sure how to get back. Apparently hitchhiking in this area is extremely common and very safe. We watched some local kids playing fútbol for a while and then were lucky enough to hitch a ride with some locals back to Puerto Jimenez. We got home around 7:30, fourteen hours after we started.
We showered in the "suicide shower" in our hotel - a common type of shower in many parts of the world. Then went out for the best local pizza (even locals say this is the best spot) and some passionfruit and basil smoothies to cool down.
We slept hard, through the noises of the bumpin disco down the beach from us, the screaming parrots, chirping geckos, and our iguana friend stomping all over our tin roof. We crashed without remembering to take our food outside, and awoke to a parade of ants swarming in and out of my backpack. They are ravenous and they bite, as John found out when he was attempting to empty our backpack outside. This morning I'm just trying to calm my migraine in preparation for tomorrow's adventure. Today is our day of rest and air conditioning. Pura vida!
Air plants stuck to the telephone wires
Luxury Ride
This was the least blurry photo I managed to take from inside the colectivo
Obviously we stopped halfway through the ride to see what was happening in La Copa Mundial
On the ride in the colectivo, we saw a number of animals passing by: a coati, spider monkeys, an agouti, and massive blue butterflies (there was no way to take photos because we were driving too fast).
At Carate we got out and started our hike. Here are some highlights:
Some poisonous caterpillars. Our guide warned us that touching them would bring extreme pain for about an hour.
Some less poisonous caterpillars. This one waved its head back and forth, at which point our guide said "I'm a snake, I'm a snake" in a heavy Costa Rican accent.
Some rad trees
A real-life plant wall! Just like at the MOMA and every bougie start-up office
Some lizards and birds
Bonus bat! This one is called a tent-making bat because it chews the leaf along the stem to make either side of the leaf fold downward, making a tent for it to hang out in.
Other mammals we saw included a bunch of Coatis
You can see the baby coatis in this one
And a Tayra, a cousin of the wolverine. Very hard to get a clear shot of these because they were super fast
And of course, the whole reason we went to Corcovado, the whole reason we came to Osa Peninsula, the whole reason we came to Costa Rica: the monkeys!!
Squirrel monkeys!! These were the hardest to find and also quite hard to photograph because they are so fast. There was a teeny tiny baby that came to check us out before the mom called to him from above being like "don't talk to strangers!" and it ran up to jump on her back.
Spider monkeys were also hard to capture on camera because they don't sit still for long. We did get to see babies, so that was awesome. This one sat still for like 30 seconds munching on a banana.
Howler mom and baby!
See if you can spot the one part of the howler monkey that isn't black or brown.
The capuchins were, of course, hamming it up for the cameras. They are so smart and fun to watch. I have like 10 photos I wanted to post of them, but I refrained for your sake.
Long grooming session was going on up here. Looka da behbeh!!!
By the end of the hike, I had a migraine and we both had blisters and rashes and were sore all over. We had gone probably 10 kilometers through sand, stream, ups and downs, under and over logs, weaving through enormous leaves. Even the guide said that the day was hotter and more humid than most. Wonderful. This was our "look, we survived" photo
But we didn't realize that we still had a loooong way to go. Some nice tourists who had rented a car took us as far as Mata Palo so we could avoid riding the colectivo all the way back (nothing like riding a bull when you have a migraine). We planned to rest in Mata Palo and catch the collectivo from there, but then about an hour later we saw the colectivo driver riding by on the back of a motorcycle holding a large plastic container. Guess they ran out of gas! Glad we caught that ride from the tourists. But now we were still an hour away from our hotel and not sure how to get back. Apparently hitchhiking in this area is extremely common and very safe. We watched some local kids playing fútbol for a while and then were lucky enough to hitch a ride with some locals back to Puerto Jimenez. We got home around 7:30, fourteen hours after we started.
We showered in the "suicide shower" in our hotel - a common type of shower in many parts of the world. Then went out for the best local pizza (even locals say this is the best spot) and some passionfruit and basil smoothies to cool down.
We slept hard, through the noises of the bumpin disco down the beach from us, the screaming parrots, chirping geckos, and our iguana friend stomping all over our tin roof. We crashed without remembering to take our food outside, and awoke to a parade of ants swarming in and out of my backpack. They are ravenous and they bite, as John found out when he was attempting to empty our backpack outside. This morning I'm just trying to calm my migraine in preparation for tomorrow's adventure. Today is our day of rest and air conditioning. Pura vida!
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