Lazy???
Trip Start
Apr 04, 2005
1
18
43
Trip End
Jul 18, 2005
Manuel Antonio, Santa Elena, Monteverde Cloud Forest,
Costa Rica
Tuesday, May 3, 2005
So, anyway, back to Manuel Antonio.. I woke up at 6 am or so to a sweltering 90 degrees in my hotel room. I decided it would be a perfect time to check out the park. It was a 3 or 4 hour hike through the most dense forest I have ever seen. Vines connected all of the trees and the morning sun cut through them making bright little shapes that danced on the tree trunks. The birds were singing the songs of Mother Nature. Old man's beard dripped off just about everything stagnant and emerald velvet quilt was spread across the ground in the form of every shape and size of plant you could imagine. There were ferns on steroids and florescent lime green frogs with red toes hopping from leaf to leaf. Families of monkeys played with one another high up in the canopy. I could see them well with my binoculars- thank you Troy!- and there was a mommy with a baby on her back who was really cute. I did see a sloth but my camera ran out of batteries so I got no pics worth sending. There were butterflies, hummingbirds and insects of every variety whizzing all around me. I was so overcome by the quantity of life there that I find it hard to explain. I think this one will take some time to sink in. I will be going back to the forest in Monteverde to do the Canopy Tour on Friday so I will stare more at it then. The flowers were just amazing. Absolutely incredible. The beaches in the park were pristine and for the most part really lonely and unspoiled. The dense jungle flows right out onto the beach and at high tide many trees are dipping in the ocean.
I left the park and met up with a couple of friends from the town. Had some lunch and walked the main beach. Floated in the pool for a bit then caught the bus to Monteverde to meet my new host family. The road was of course very hazardous and I was the only person on the charter bus headed to the mountains. It took about 2 hours to go 27 kilometers if that says anything about the condition of the road.
I am staying in Santa Elena, which is about 15 km from Monteverde. Here the majority of the rain forest is preserved by the government so of course it is a major tourist attraction. Parts of the forest are private but for the most part controlled access is granted. There are many shops and it is fairly crowded inSanta Elena.
I am staying just up the street from the bank that was robbed. I guess it was back in March, not last week as I had understood. Regardless, I am staying with Marlon, Anabel, Paola-13, Karen-11, and Marlon Jr.-3. They are a wonderful family with an extremely modest and lived in little home. Very accommodating and close to where the bus picks me up for school. There are 3 small rooms and one bath for all of us. My room is very small but I share it with a couple of large beetles similar to June Bugs, but they eat mosquitoes so are welcome there. The toilet does not flush and so it is necessary to bring water in to fill up the tank when you use it but then it seems to work ok. Funny how things are put into perspective isn't it? My accommodations in San Joaquin were luxury 5 star in comparison but this will do just fine.
School is going ok and the campus is beautiful. My instructors are very nice and there is a girl in my class who has been in school for one week less than me but speaks better Spanish by far. She is 23 and from Iran and very interesting. I always thought I was a smart cookie but I think I am not as smart as I thought! Haha! Maybe that is one of the lessons I am supposed to learn! It is very humbling for certain. It makes me study a little more but I cannot help but get frustrated with the whole thing. Partly because I am so animated I have to force myself to not use charades to communicate a point. I have realized I am really good at charades, though.... Practice makes perfect. I will try that more the next few weeks in school.
So this morning I wake up at 6:30 and came out stretching, only to find Marlon Sr in the kitchen grabbing a bite before work. Well, I think there is a possibility they might actually be robots because I have yet to see them sleep. Any of them. By 10 pm I am exhausted and ready for bed. Last night, for example, Anabel, who is 36, was up making underwear for the family on the new sewing machine. Marlon was talking with her and the kids were finishing homework and putzing around.
When I woke up they had all been up for awhile and had already showered etc. Marlon Sr. made the comment in Spanish, with a smile, of course, that I was perezosa. I asked the girls what that meant and they said Lazy.... Hmmmm.. I am like, dear God, it is 6:30 in the morning, what should I be doing right now but getting out of bed? I didn't know quite how to take that because I have been mentally exhausted and working really hard at school and studying and writing and learning the culture so I feel like every day is full from morning till night. Not to mention all of the playing on the weekends. That really tires a person out.... :)
I tried not to take offense and spent some time thinking about this today. I think to him I am probably lazy. He is a police officer that commutes almost 4 hours a day for work. Anabel gets up at 4:30 am, walks for an hour then starts to clean and cook for her family. She never sits down other than to sew or eat. I think of other people in my life who are similar and have decided that, ok, by their standards I guess I am a little lazy. I am going to work on that. Which, you know, really hurts me because it means I'm going to have to try to get up early every day...OUCH!! haha!!
I am going to try to download some pics of the past few weekends but this place is having probs with their internet so I will see. If not then tomorrow.
