Tom´s central-american adventure : 2008-05-01

mai 08

Final summary

05.05.2008 26 °C

These four months have gone so fast.
I feel it was only yesterday i landed in a new country hungry to learn of a new culture and also maybe learn something about myself.
Not only am i thankfull to be in one piece, i´m happy to have met new people, seen wonderful nature and take some time out to just explore and leave everything confortable back home.

So with James Taylor playing in the background and an incredible view of the Pacific ocean from the hostel veranda, here comes my final summary of how life has been as a voulenteer and backpacker.

It started out in San Jose.
The smelly capital became my home with my first month spent in the city.
I worked for a short time in the local zoo after finishing 2 weeks of spanish school.
I should have stayed longer in the zoo before i made up my mind to leave, but voulenteer work for me is far from sweeping leaves.
I wanted to feel like they wanted help and that my skills were needed.
Thats why i packed my bags and headed to Cabo Blanco nacional park on the Península de Nicoya.
It was wonderfull! Finally i was doing something!
Working side by side with other voulenteers, deep in the rainforrest.
No mobile phones, no Internet, no tv, no nothing.
I think this is something we all long for but very seldom find – peace.
Leaving Cabo Blanco i had found that peace.
Returning to San Jose was an instant culture shock.
Back to cars, buses, people running everywhere, constant noise and i didn´t like it at all.
So my next stop on the voulenteer path took me to Panama.

5 weeks in Boquete gave me so much more than i had thought it World.
A small mountain town far from San Jose ( in every way)
I started on a very hands-on type of work that put the animals first and was just what i wanted to do.
Not only did the work go well, the american voulenteers working at Paradise garden welcomed me right from the start.
Semana santa ( easter week) was a reminder of just how nice they were.
Easter Sunday breakfast tasted brilliant!
Far from home, yet spent with new friends and possibly the most memorable breakfeast ever as i found myself eating next to the baby howler monkey (Maisie)
Perfect, just perfect
I will probable remember my time in Boquete the most for all it thought me.
The animals, allthough not 100% wild non the less don´t under estimate them!
Some will bite you!
But they truly are magnificant
I am very happy my help was needed when two new cages had to be put up.
To be part of the workforce and see it finally come into use just before i left was an incredible feeling.
Finally the Major Mitchells had a place of their own.
Feeding the different animals was also something i am happy i did.

The Tamarins or mono titi as they are called in spanish jumped all around me but in the end i managed to get their food in and get out without any nasty bites.
Also how can i forget playing with the two capuchin monkeys alter feeding time.
When something so human-like sits on your shoulders and looks you in the eyes the same way i would do to a good friend , well you can´t help feeling a little sentimental.

The guiding part was interesting to say the least. Alot of different people came in every day with new questions i had to answer.
One american lady asked the most ridiculos question – “ Why does that baby monkey have a diper on, can´t she be potty-trained”
I couldn´t belive it!
This was however the worst example i can think of right now, im sure there are more to come

To want to work for free is not exactly common these days.
Voulenteering is an exotic way of traveling, but maybe you don´t have to go so far to help.
It seems everyone is too busy. Working, family, life in general, but is it really too much to ask for a couple of hours a week, to help someone who needs it?
Can we use our time more efficient…?

Finally my trip to Cuba had come.
A country that still after 50 odd years, runs the same show.
We know it as the home of Fidel, Che Guevara, the cold war, cigars, old chevy´s, beautiful architecture and it´s just like that.
The one thing i wasn´t prepared for was all the tourist´s and how the locals without a steady income, constantly try to sell or show you things to make som extra money.
I was a rich tourist in their eyes and they try´d to get as much Money out of me as posible – bad luck
I was after all a poor voulenteer/backpacker!
Havana was far more expensive then i had thought it to be.
Locals and tourists use different currencies – the tourist one being obviously more expensive.
I felt there was a big gap between us because of the money issues the country has.
Little by little Cuba is changing though. Now, locals are allowed to stay in hotels, they can buy mobile phones and who knows whats next.
Cuba is changing, but not too quick.
Cigar smoke will still rise over Havana tonight and old cars will still be parked next to old buildings.

Coming back from Havana i headed to my hostfamily in San Jose.
Living with a family and getting to know the costa rican culture has been very interesting.
I have learnt a great deal from them and also try´d to help them understand the culture we have back home in Norway/England.
It will be very sad to leave them on Saturday because through them i realised alot more about the country. How close the family´s are. Tradicional food. History and geography throughout central america. Costa rican life is complicated.
I could go on for ever about what i´ve learnt, but that would take another hour, so i´ll leave it for the small talk when im back home again.

After some days in San Jose i got on a bus and headed down to Manuel Antonio on the Pacific coast.
My first weekend in Costa Rica, i came down to Manuel so i thought it would be nice to Finish my trip down here too.
Back to hostel life one last time.
Every morning i came out on the veranda overlooking the ocean , every evening looking at the sunset with other backpackers.
I went for the cheap option and cooked my beloved spaghetti with some local ingrediences. Ofcourse not every evening.
All the people i´ve met, all the places i´ve stayed during these months on the road – nothing came close to the hostel in Manuel Antonio.
A nice mix of nature, people and different cultures made this the ultimate place i´d stayed at.
We hiked down to a privat beach, it didn´t have the white sand but that was okay.
The adventure in it´s self was more than enough.
Sipped Piña coladas sitting on bar chairs in a swimming pool, watched movies in the evening with the rest of the gang, ate tasty ribs and sweetcorn made on the barbeque and managed to get a big group together and go out dancing salsa or trying toa t least

I am happy i came.
Not only to Manuel Antonio, but Costa Rica, Panama and Cuba.
You learn so much from other backpackers, the different places you visit and stay, different cultures and alot about yourself.