Pura Vida

Zip Zip

2008-03-18T22:49:00.003-05:00

Two Yalies who happened to be in our zip lining group took these for us. Pictures from our disposable camera forthcoming. Too bad Mom's left-handedness blocked her face! We got to do 15 lines plus the "Tarzan Swing" in the cloud forest near Santa Elena! Fun fun fun!

2008-03-16T23:52:00.001-05:00

Check back soon for captions and added info, but enjoy the pictures now! : )

(click to enlarge)

UPeace, Sarchi, and Zarcero

2008-03-16T23:46:00.002-05:00

La Fortuna (Arenal Volcano and Hot Springs)

2008-03-16T23:42:00.003-05:00

Monteverde (Cloud Forest)

2008-03-16T23:20:00.003-05:00

Manuel Antonio (Rainforest and Beach)

2008-03-16T20:52:00.008-05:00

Cruising into Manuel Antonio with the gas gage tettering on the red mark, there were no petro stations to be found...my bad. Keith suggested getting it earlier, but I was sure there'd be some there. Opps. Luckily, after some difficulty finding our way out of the nearby town of Quepos, we rolled into the gas station and the gage still hadn't made it into the red yet!

Two classic Dad moments there---nearly running out of gas and circling... : )

We hung out on the beach, had some shrimp and fresh fish, watched white-faced monkeys play on the roof of our room, went for a night stroll on the beach, were bored senseless by Bob from New Jersey who only talked to hear himself and never asked about you ("there's a new disease called 'dengee' from mosquitos that'll kill you if you get it a second time"), and heard howler monkeys as we fell asleep. In the morning, we kicked off our shoes to wade across an estuary (there was a boat you could walk across instead but had to pay $2 pp!) and entered the second smallest national park in Costa Rica. We saw sloths, howler monkeys sleeping, a boa constricter crowded by at least 15 people with cameras as it slithered near the path, and several agoutis (see picture below).

Our early morning walk was better for taking the steeper and therefore less traveled path. As we were leaving, the park was certainly starting to feel a bit crowded, even though they limit the number of people admitted in a day.

And then, suddenly, it was time to head home. We stopped at a roadside soda for a casado (literally this means 'married,' but is the name for a hearty workman's lunch of rice, beans, salad, fried plantain and meat) and some guanabana and cas juice. The toothless waiter man was nice, if a little hard to understand. He was an Obama fan---though surprisingly this fact was not extracted by my mom.

We took the scenic route home via Puriscal, which took oodles longer because--just after we switched and Keith started to drive--we encountered heavy fog, rain and traffic backed up for over an hour due to a road accident. Somehow he always managed to drive the least desirable bits!

Lots of pictures added----scroll down! (Click on image to see it bigger)

2007-11-25T17:40:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving!

2007-11-25T17:36:00.000-06:00

On campus (paz=peace); at the fruit store; in front of my apartment (upstairs, stairs to the left of us); preparing Thanksgiving; chicken we feasted on since I wasn't sure about locating a turkey

2007-11-25T17:32:00.001-06:00

Butterfly garden (for mom!), in the National Theater, Coffee plantation, Erika enjoying the painted walls of National Theater, on campus (cafeteria in background)

2007-11-25T17:30:00.000-06:00

Coffee plantation, Poas Volcano (2), the Central Valley (2)

2007-11-25T17:28:00.000-06:00

Slack lining (like tightrope walking--I haven't even managed to get up on it and stand!), me, students jumping

2007-11-25T17:26:00.000-06:00

Two dinners, Kathrin's birthday, on campus, view from campus

Casa Awesome +

2007-11-25T17:05:00.000-06:00

Elf Yourself

2007-11-24T22:47:00.000-06:00

Watch my family shake a hot dog:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9592539499

Courtesy of my sister: http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9592807375.

I could watch this all day. An instant mood enhancer!

Burkina Faso and Mali

2007-10-14T19:23:00.000-05:00

Check out photos from February 2007 that I'm FINALLY posting.

3 weeks trekking around Burkina Faso and Mali...including Timbuktu, Segou, and a 3 day float down the Niger River!

Settling In

2007-10-06T18:49:00.001-05:00

I've been negligent. Look for pictures soon from our house party last weekend. And from Cahuita from a few weeks ago.

Meanwhile, I have fallen into habit. Class in the morning, reading (sometimes napping...is it more excused if I call it a siesta?!) in the afternoon, gym at night, repeat. I have been attempting to make good on my CR resolutions (gym-ing regularly, studying Spanish), not least of which is cooking! I made some vegetarian enchiladas last week, baked pancakes with strawberries this morning and am having a Nepalese friend come over momentarily to teach me to cook curry tonight!

Have I mentioned that there's a Taco Bell in the mall, an Outback steakhouse not far, and...a Hooters!?! No, I have not and will not be going to any of the above!

More Tortuguero

2007-09-10T18:59:00.000-05:00

This is Sarah. The picture of the house on the water really makes me think of Malaysia. That's a banana plantation (the blue plastic has pesticides in it and helps the bananas to mature faster, but causes environmental problems).

NOTE: Almost all these pictures from Tortuguero were taken by Sarah! Also, if you want to see them bigger, just click on the picture image.

Tortuguero Photos

2007-09-10T18:56:00.000-05:00

Tortuguero

2007-09-10T18:17:00.001-05:00

Last weekend I traveled with Kathrin and Sarah (future roommate from Norway) to Tortuguero on the northern part of the Carribean coast. We left on Friday afternoon, got to the bus station and were on a bus within 20 minutes, and spent the night in Cariari (which Lonely Planet essentially called po-dunk, but they must not have been coming from Ciudad Colon cuz we thought it was pretty big!). The next morning we took an hour long bus ride at 6am and then an hour long boat ride to get to Tortuguero. The travel aspect throughout the trip was SO easy. All the estimates for how long something would take were actually less than what we experienced (apparently we had very good luck).

We went for a hike in the National Park there---and were required to rent rubber boots. We saw two different kinds of monkeys and a weird super-big rooster looking peacock thing. At night we went with a guide in a group of 10 to see the green sea turtles nesting (photos not allowed). It's the middle of egg laying season, so I was expecting the beach to be covered with turtles, but there were only four in our vicinity. The National Park regulates how many people can go on the beach at a time, but our group was with about 3 other groups to see the four turtles...We were within about 4 feet of the turtle laying eggs (one guy about 1 ft away, laying on the ground!?). A park official (?) was actually holding the back flipper of the turtle to the side so we could see the eggs drop into the hole she had dug in the sand...seemed a bit invasive. The turtles don't reach maturity until they are about 25-30 years old and they return back to the same beach where they were born to lay eggs. They lay about 100 eggs every two weeks for about two months, though not that many actually survive because of predators. The Costa Ricans used to eat turtles and harvest the eggs and they are now permitted a specified number/season to control but not eliminate the cultural practice.

School Days

2007-09-10T18:07:00.000-05:00

Here's that obligatory "First Day of School" picture for you, Mom!

We just started our third week of class, but are still not on campus. The road is supposedly done, but heavy rains make it a little bit of a safety concern while the road is still 'settling.'

I wrote my first academic paper in five years last week! It's amazing how different my study habits are compared to undergrad---I've done (virtually) all the reading, done it EARLY on occassion, and got a full night's sleep before the paper was due (too old for an all nighter!).

I was most excited when a prof from my department (international law) gave a lecture---it was the best one yet and totally got me excited for our course to start. (We're all taking a Foundation in Peace and Conflict Studies course right now.) We have 75 min of lecture, 30 min break, 75 min small seminar (so only actually busy from 9-12 everyday). This course is over at the end of this week.

The Road to Campus

2007-08-26T11:21:00.000-05:00

Some students hiked up to campus yesterday, but I didn't know about it until too late. I stole

these pictures off another student who went. Last night I heard that the mayor claimed the road washed away because it was built on top of ancient anthills...

Terracotta

2007-08-25T20:31:00.000-05:00

1. My bedroom window is the upper right one. Our landlords' house is just behind ours, with their garage to the right. 2. The view from our street away from town. 3. Kathrin in our kitchen. 4. The living room (with lots of cable channels, many in English--first time in 3 years I've had a TV---going to try to avoid it as much as possible). For the last two pictures I essentially took them after just walking into the house, turning left, then turning right---it's all one big room. You go up the stairs to get to the second floor. Pictures of that coming eventually!

Orientation

2007-08-24T00:01:00.000-05:00

Most students, myself included, live in Ciudad Colon, a small town (about 22,000 people) 7 km from the UPeace campus. We all gathered at the school bus stop by the football field in the middle of the town on Wednesday morning for the first of three days of orientation. I got on the second bus headed to campus, but before we even made it out of town, we saw the students from the first bus trekking down the middle of the road back towards town.

The road to campus broke. (I love the wording of that---it reminds me of Ghana!)

The heavy rain the night before washed away part of the road and it was impassable. This has never happened before, though Costa Rica's roads are notoriously bad. The university staff managed to coordinate a swift shift to a local gymnasium (with dreadfully uncomfortable bleachers and a hot tin roof that cooked us). I still haven't made it to campus yet and our classes next week are being held at another university until the road can be repaired (which I imagine would be difficult given that it's rained every afternoon except yesterday!).

Most conversations began with a run down of three main questions: name, country, program. There are only about 150 of us in 8 different masters programs, so it shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks to know everyone. One of the ice breaker games was a version of Speed Dating, where we'd speak to one person for 4 minutes before shifting to another--quite fun. There are so many amazing people here---one of the main things that drew me to this university.

There are 15 Japanese students I can try to remember Japanese with. There is one Egyptian student and his wife (and other Arabic speakers, too). There are two Indonesian students with whom I could practice my Bahasa Melayu if only I had known more of it and still remembered it! Then there's Spanish. My brain is spinning! I'm hoping Spanish is a language I can actually master, as opposed to Japanese, Arabic and Malay.

Wednesday night there was a community orchestra concert with a dance performance by high school students. About 20 of us that attended went out for drinks afterwards. The dynamics were funny in terms of who was going to take the initiative of where to head---we stood around, talking in various groups, with every intention of relocating, but no one leading the way....Surprisingly to myself, it ended up being me that moved the crowd to a nearby bar. Everyone was in sheep mode. Thursday night was a French girl's birthday, so we meet up in the main square and someone led about 35 of us to a big bar a 15 min walk away to celebrate (we all knew it was her birthday because of Facebook!).

Our welcome party was held at the same location last night. Host families, landlords and profs were all invited. When I spotted our landlords, Juan Jose and Maribel, I found my roommate Kathrin and we went to sit with them. The live music saved us from having to talk too much, but made it a lot more difficult when we tried because we couldn't hear them well. But we managed. Lots of smiling and saying "Me gusta." Babysteps. I realized I don't know the future tense at all yet...

When a few students started to dance, Juan Jose jumped up and dragged the three of us to the dance floor. Later, when the music turned to salsa, Maribel asked if I wanted Juan Jose to teach me and I agreed. I went salsa dancing two or three times in Ghana (where there is a group of hardcore salsa-ers who are really good), but Juan Jose's dancing didn't match my understanding of the basic step, but I made do. The more I thought about it, the worst I'd do, so eventually I stopped thinking about it too much. I hear there are salsa classes every Friday at the local cultural center! The party's music shifted between techno, hip hop, more salsa and eventually reggae. A dance and drumming group performed, decked out in big feather costumes and shaking their hips faster than I thought possible. They dragged students into a congo line, had hula hips and a limbo stick.

Throughout the night I noticed everyone's carefree spirit and intense desire to have fun. Most people were dancing and it was fun to see everyone's various styles. It's great to be surrounded by people who are so positive and full of life.

Juan Jose told us that they would wait for us and take us home, which worried us a bit, but they reassured us that they weren't ready to go yet and when they periodically got up on the dance floor, I felt relieved. By about 9:30pm it felt a lot later than that and so we headed out just as an Arabic song came on and our Vice Rector, who is Egyptian, got on the dance floor. Our landlords were among the few host families that I saw and I love them for coming, for dancing, for their smiles, even if the words fly through my uncomprehending ears. There was an Italian alum there who said she lived here for the year she was a student and one of the professors also lived here---I'm wondering if they might have had hotter water....

I ate the national dish, gallo pinto ("painted rooster"), yesterday for lunch--rice and beans. The day before I had a "casado," which means "husband" and is a combination plate with rice, beans, chicken, fried plantain (just like Ghana style!), salad and juice. There are some interesting juices here from fruits I've never heard of before. Yummy! Also good since Coke seems to be extra expensive here compared to West Africa, where it would generally be about $0.30 a bottle. There really isn't street food here like in Ghana and so far the cheapest meal (gallo pinto) was about $2. Not a lot, but more than I'm used to!

This is the first country I've been to where you can get US$ out of the ATM...the bad news is that it's also very difficult to get a cell phone chip because telecommunciations is run by the government and you have to have a residency permit. I'm hopeful that my old roommate's former boss (who is Costa Rican and a UPeace alum) can hook me up once he's back in town (and I just found out he's also our prof for the refugee law course in the spring!). But at least I've got Skype!

I was excited to be in Central Time Zone for the first time in 10 years, but it turns out that I'm in Mountain Time until Daylights Saving.

Today I'm off to the Multiplaza, a mall about 15 min away by bus on the way to San Jose. Tomorrow---reading for class Monday! Time for that academic part of this master's thing that I usually conveniently forget...

Bring It On

2007-08-21T20:18:00.001-05:00

I surprised myself with how well I handled this transition. I'm recording it here now for future reference: there was no nausea, stomach butterflies, lack of appetite, sleeplessness, racing heartbeat. Nothing. Nada, as they say in Spanish. : )

Looking back at the Ghana move, I think it went smoothly, but there were still minute elements of the forementioned symptoms. This time? Going to a new country, new continent, new language, where I don't know a soul---didn't even phase me. And we've got the added stress of doing long distance to boot! I kept waiting for Distress to find me, peering around the next corner, checking behind my back, sure that He was coming to grab hold of me. I guess it's a realization, an acceptance: I choose this path, this detour. Que sara, sara.

When I was asked if I was excited about coming, I had to pause in answer. I always associate excitement with an actual physical feeling (dictionary definition speaks of cheerful joy, emotional arousal, being worked up or agitated). Mentally, I was looking forward to coming, but I didn't feel any of those things. I've worried before that I'd lost the capacity to feel excitement in relationship to travel, but really I think I just confused it with anxiety.

Costa Rica is a time-limited location for me---I'm out of here in 9-10 months. Ghana was open-ended and that chapter went on far too long. I felt compelled to extend my Malaysian 10 months to a year. Will this one feel too short?

I slept soundly last night, another first for a new location. I remembered two things from my dream when I woke up and the dream dictionary interpretation seemed like it could certainly apply to me as I face an unfamiliar situation: "To dream that you suddenly discover your nudity and are trying to cover up, signifies your vulnerability to a situation" and "To dream that you are cutting your hair, suggests that you are experiencing a loss in strength. You may feel that someone is trying to censor you. Alternatively, you may be reshaping your thinking or ambitions and eliminating unwanted thoughts/habits" (I'm going with this latter part of the hair bit).

I used to look forward to new locations as places where I could recreate myself, be whoever I wanted to be. The people I would meet had no concept of who Jill was and I could start out fresh. But this time is different. I don't want to be new, I want to get back some of my old self. The old Jill that I caught glimpses of when I had the chance to meet up with old friends I hadn't seen in years this summer. I don't know what happened to her, where she got to. The sillier, more carefree, peppy, sparkling side of me. Did Africa drain it out of me? Possibly. I had become a bit of a recluse the latter part of my time in Accra. Cycles of friends had left ahead of me and I just didn't have it in me to fill the void they left. I started to feel a little like I did after my hair grew out of its spikes---blah.

New location, renewed energy. New adventures of a recovered Jill.

Here or There

2007-08-20T20:46:00.000-05:00

The rain started at precisely 3:00pm this afternoon--sudden and strong--and four+ hours later it hasn't let up (photo: view from my bedroom). The low lying clouds and grey skies against the green hills remind me of Malaysia during its rainy season. But the papaya is a Ghanaian memory. And the arroz con pollo was not the white-rice-and-fried-chicken-leg of Accra, but a bland version of chicken-fried-rice KL-style.

I always compare new places to ones I've been to before---and it's something I hope to curtail...just not in this post! As my plane landed yesterday the landscape also reminded me a bit of Sierra Leone for the colorful tin roofs, but here is not nearly as impoverished nor am I on the coast. I had the general feeling the scenery was also like Laos, but in a way I can't quite pinpoint since my memory is always failing me.

I'm reminded vaguely of Bywel's, my Accra home. The walls of my bedroom here are slightly more green than a tennis ball is or maybe it's the color of a yellow highlighter...I remember the Ghana living room green fondly after this! I was forced to resort to my Ghana suck-in-your-breath-at-the-moment-you-enter-the-cold-stream-of-shower-water tactic. At least the water was flowing, which is more than could be said of Bywel's a lot of the time. But our apartment advert had said we'd have hot water, so this afternoon I inquired ("Tenemos agua caliente para la ducha?" For those of you who speak Spanish and can tell me just how wrong that sentence is, save it! I'll know myself in 10 months' time when I look back at this!) and the landlord fixed it up...though I think our concept of what constitutes hot water differs considerably. The stairs leading up to the bedrooms are a bit precarious, but not nearly as bad as the spiral staircase in Ghana. There's no bar outside our backyard, but there are two yappy neighbor dogs and maybe a couple of birds (?). We've got cable, a washing machine, a microwave and internet, though no oven or screens on the windows (but also no malaria). Overall, it's a cute little place. And the landlords are super nice--the woman brought us a hot snack yesterday after I arrived---flat fried egg on a thin tortilla, coffee for my German roommate Kathrin and "fresca" for me (turns out it's a bottled soft drink).

At lunch I managed to communicate that my roommate doesn't eat meat or chicken (ella no come carne o pollo, tiene algo sin carne o pollo?) and this evening figured out how the washing machine works from the landlord, though that was largely demonstrative. That month of self-study seems to have given me some useful phrases and I'm hopeful about how much I can learn while I'm here. Now it's just a matter of putting my ego aside and being willing to make mistakes! It dawned on me hours after the fact that I think I asked how much something cost...in French! I certainly said "merci" to numerous people yesterday before I could stop it from popping out of my mouth---and I don't even speak French!