Tom´s central-american adventure

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.

The thing is to always keep on finding new adventures, even if your in the same place for a long time

Go explore – at the end of the day, it´s worth it!

I leave you with a poem i wrote from a hammock

Your paradise

As the sun gently falls down into the ocean
Animals of the night begin to move
An orcherstra of cry´s and whispers fill the air

Around a table, new faces sit and talk
They share pictures and stories of paradise
But i have found it
It´s a simple matter

When words just don´t find their way out
But your eyes smile in the dark
And you heart is filled with tranquillity

You have found your paradise

I finally dragged myself out of Boquete & headed towards Bocas Del Toro.
Last time i went there was with the voulenteer crew from spanish school in San jose.
This time i went to meet a friend i worked with in Cabo Blanco national park and her friends.

By luck i bumped into her on the main street & 5 minutes later was booked in the same place they were staying in.
Bocas is the main party place to go for backpackers. Not too expensive & with plenty going on.
Panama city was different.
The main party street called Calle Uruguay was home to most of the clubs in the town.
All of them had a cover fee and you had to be smartly dressed to get in.
It reminded me of a typical saturday night out in Oslo.
Expensive, false and boring.
The only exiting thing i saw was a white Lamborghini and a hooters sign!

Bocas was better, allthough im not a party animal & not only did i find it difficult to adjust to the constant heat it felt more like brits going wild in Ibiza or nowegians in Greece getting foolishly drunk.
I did however find a solution.
While the girls were interested in getting a tan i walked around the main island with my camera and getting to see what it´s really like behind the main street.. fun indeed!
I find walking around much more satisfying than lying on a beach getting brown

I stayed in Bocas for 3 days happy to leave for San jose.
7 hours later i arrived in the capital and realised just why i wanted to leave for the city.
Hardly any museums or other tourist attractions it´s just a place to stop for a night before heading north or south to explore the rest of the country.
After a relaxing weekend at hostel pangea i went by Otec´s office on monday morning to check if they had any families i could stay with before i leave for Cuba.
The following morning i recieved a message that a family had been found and that i would be picked up in 30 minutes.
Packed all my stuff, checked out and was driven to the family by my new hostdad.
His name i s Humberto and he works for Otec in the sales department.
He lives 20 minutes outside the city center in a quiet neighbourhood.
HUmberto lives in a beautifull house with his boyfriend Jorge
It´s a nice change from all the hostels ive stayed in so far.
They both speak good english, but i try my best to make sentences in spanish.

Since i dont work at the moment i help out around the house and basically just chillout.
So far i´ve been to Escazu the posh area just outside town to eat lunch with Humbertos family.
We ate typicall costa rican food consisting of pork soup with rice and salad.
Dessert was a sticky horrible thing traditionally served during semana santa ( Easter)
I wasnt a huge fan but the family was so nice to me i forgot all about the dessert.
I´m fortunate to be learning spanish in Costa Rica because they speak slowly and if you struggle to understand what they are saying they will try really hard to make you understand.

I´ve learnt that spanish spoken in the different countries of central and south america is not the same.
Sometimes it will only be the pronounciation of words, other times you could find yourself saying straw in Costa Rica and muttering the same word in Mexico without being understood.

Puerto Ricans have a problem pronouncing their R´s so when they say " im from Puerto Rico" ( it´s an island in the carribean) it comes out like this - Puellto Llico!

Nicaraguans cut the last s in sentences. This is crazy as the last letter in the sentences often is the most important one !

Argentina is notorious for their south american sloppyness.
They pronounce Ella (She) as Ejsha..

Ok.. enough with the lecture... you get the point

Moving on, homelife with Humberto and Jorge is alot of fun.
Yesterday Humberto arranged a surprise birthday party for Jorge.
All his co workers came to the house and they had hired a band with dancers in colorful outfits ( some were abit short though..)
When Jorge came home the lights went on, the band fired up a saucy show of samba rythms and the dancers danced like it was the carnival in Rio de Janairo!
The living room exploded into a mix of tropical colours, bouncing around. It was amazing to watch!

Costa Rican food was served and the spiderman cake made the day!

I never wrote about my final week in Boquete.
The climax must have been on monday when all the voulenteers showed up for a day of filming.
Paul and Jenny have wanted to make a dvd they can sell on the internet for some time.
Their american friend Jim was the camera man helped by his panamanian girlfriend doing all the lighting.

When i showed up at around noon the place was full of people.
Filming had started at 8 in the morning so by the time i arrived they were almost finished.
I did however make my on screen apperance a cuople of days earlier (with Neimis and Sean)
so maybe my face will pop up on the final dvd.

The previous week was just as eventfull.
Paul took Sean and me to the Lost&found resort an hours drive from Boquete towards Bocas del toro.
Joining us was a good friend of Paul called Steve, originally from South-Africa, but has lived all over the world it seems.
I´ll get back to Steve later.

L&F is run by a nice canadian called Andrew.
He sometimes visits Paradise Garden with visitors.
The L&F is a eco friendly resort 10min from the main road, but you feel like your deep in the jungle.
Everything is pretty basic and it works as people want to experience a new environment and not just stay in boring hostels.
We watched a lovely sunset from the observation deck and later ate shepards pie with chicken and salad.
It was so good!
The beds in our room were crazy.
We had to leave the following morning but i would have liked to stay longer.
The primitive feel to the place was nice and it beats all hostels ive stayed at so far.

Back to Steve:

Steve owns some land in Chorcha, 45 min away and has built a sanctuary where their baby howler monkey, Yahoo now lives before being released into the wild.
Im not 100% sure but i think Yahoo shares the same kind of storie as Maisie at Paradise.
Groups of howlers and white faced monkeys live nearby and the goal has always been to release both Yahoo and Maisie down there.

First to be released however was Hanny a white faced monkey (Capuchin).
He started to attack female voulenteers as well as Neimis, Jenny and Paul.
The plan was to put him in an enclosure with another older cappuchin called Ringo.
Ringo´s previous owner was an alcoholic that used to abuse him when drunk.
Sadly this is a common story in the Panama.
When Paul took off Hanny´s lead to put him in with Ringo he managed to escape!
When i first started at Paradise Garden, i never thought id be chasing monkeys running about, climbing trees, but there you have it
Makes for a good storie though.

Hanny back in his cage again, it was decided that he was to be released down at the sanctuary.
I was told later ut went well and that he dissepeared amongst the trees to find some new friends.

Neimis, Sean and me had planned to go camping, spending the night in the sanctuary , but when Neimis heard that Hanny might be around we decided to go the hotsprings instead.
Craig joined us too and after managing to get the tents up we went to relax in the hotsprings.
Afterwards we lay down on some blanquete´s and watched the stars above.
There must have been millions of them!
We even saw a shooting star
The rest of the night was however less perfect..
Somehow everyone exept me, managed to go to sleep with a blancuete.
During the day its hot, but when the sun goes down and the evening turns into night it gets really cold!
Cold and tired i woke up next morning with a terrible pain in my back.
It was worth it though

The last adventure in Boquete was not a happy one.
Driving back from town in her truck, Neimis was stopped by a local who wanted her to take an injuried animal back to Paradise.
It turned out to be a baby sloth, probably driven over when trying to cross the road.
By the time Neimis got back, the sloth had died in the back of the truck.
With two badly broken legs and probably other serious injuriesit never stod a chance - a reminder of the constant struggle that occurse when humans and animals live side by side.
I helped put the sloth in a bag that would eventually go into a freezer in the basement.
Jenny has a passion for stuffing dead animals and the sloth would be added to the collection of other dead animals such as snakes, lizards and small rodents.
The dead sloth was not a nice sight, but at paradise you dont get to pick the day, it picks you.

Well thats roughly how my final week in Boquete looked like.
Im sad i had to leave but 5 weeks spent in Boquete gave me alot more in terms of experience and also understanding the culture in the country.
I made alot of good friends there and i hope i one day can return to see how Paradise Garden is holding up.

Since i started to write this blog i´ve already been to Havana, Cuba so i´ll update you asap (when the computer is finished uploading some new pictures)

Here are the links for the pictures

Bocas Del Toro

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35805&l=09bf6&id=509299407

Havana

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=35811&l=062f4&id=509299407

Hello again
Im online for a short time and will keep this blog short as i still have more to tell you about and not much time to do it in!

Last week i went on a long weekend trip with the rest of the voulenteer crew in the northern parts of Costa Rica.

We left San Jose earlie morning and arrived in Monteverde midday.
Still missing two other voulenteers we checked in to our hostel, arranged all our hostels/hotels including a jeep-water taxi-jeep to La Fortuna, hostel in La Fortuna a posh hotel in Arenal close to the volcano and basically were set for a fun weekend.. allthough it was abit expensive it was worth it.

The first group in Monteverde including me, went after lunch to the reptile park.
Friendly staff eager to explain and answer questions helped us around.
Snakes, frogs, toads and turtoises were all on display including the famous Bushmaster and Fer-de lance, both highly venemous and not something you´d want to meet upclose!

The highlight was a 2 year old boa constrictor we all got to hold!
It was amazing, scary and fun all at the same time!

Moving on we met up with the swedish voulenteer as the norwegian would join us the following morning.
The evening was spent relaxing, making hotdogs and discussing what to do to fill in our weekend.

Woke up early the next day, and we went to the cloud forrest reserve hiking around.
Not really anything special i must admitt after a week working in the forrest of Cabo Blanco, however its nice to do these things as a group

In the afternoon we got our very own minivan and headed over mountains finally getting a glimpse of the famous Arenal volcano.
A quick boatride left us in La Fortuna before we were rushed away, this time in a small van with way too many other people and baggage in, and finally dropped off at our new hostel.

The volcano naturally heats up water and some smart guy took advantage of this anmd opened Tabacon hotsprings costing $60 dollars per person!?!
I didnt go as you can imagine and had dinner instead with the norwegian that finally had made it, and the other swedish girl.
I did the same thing in the colca-valley in the higlands of Peru two years ago and well, over half the price and half the people so i had no regrets.

Next day we travelled to the local waterfall, beautiful
Most of us got in to have swim only to find it abit on the cold side!

Afterwards we wnet back to our hostel, packed and got a taxi to the fancy Arenal Hotel.
I haven´t stayed in a hotel since i´ve been here so naturally i was looking forward.
Check in finished we hiked down the same road we drove up ( really steep!) and found to our amazment a huge room with a large table b eing a dining room and several doors leading into doublerooms and huge room with 6 rooms dorm style.

Didn´t stay long as 3 of us joined the nightwalk to see the volcano.
Arenal Volcano had its last major erruption in 2001 but actually in 68´ killed over 80 people and did damage to the nature around as well as houses etc.
Ironically, volcanic ash is really good for regrowing plants and grass and today you couldt really see any difference

As it got darker we witnessed red-orange stones bouncing down the mountain but nothing huge as scientist´s think Arenal is starting to shut down.

Travelling back in the dark with only headlights on we got back in time for a quick relax in the jacuzzi before dinner was served.

A nice weekend, i´ll get pictures uploaded asap ( i always say this.. however im in a place that has good internet access)

Hello! ( Thursday, time: 01.38, date: feb 21st, current location San Jose and been up since 05.45 this morning )

I managed to steal a few minutes on the computer in the hostel, thought it would be only right to
fill you in on my week so far.

Wednesday i left busy San Jose for the quiet Cabo blanco national park.
2 hours bus, 1 hour ferry and 2 more hours driving if you count the waiting for 2 more buses.

The Cabo Blanco Nature Reserve is situated at the extreme southern tip of the Nicoya Peninsula.
With its unique combination of climate and geographical location, it ranks among the most beautiful nature reserves in Costa Rica.
Cabo Blanco also holds a special place in the history of National Parks in Costa Rica. It was the first protected area of the country, established in 1963 by a swedish-danish couple.
Sadly the husband was murded after taking action against hunters sneeking in to the park to kill exotic animals.
The widow continued her work until she died in 1994.

Sweden has a project called " amigos de Cabo Blanco (Friends of C.B) collecting money to still keep the park running and also teach young swedish school kids about the rainforrest and how they can help making a greener planet. I was lucky to meet the current chairman of the organisation, a nice man just retired and had been living in the park for 2 months before returning back home to Stockholm next week.

I arrived in a minibus with a " postman-Pat"- vibe, as this is the only bus connecting the small village of cabuya, the tourist place Montezuma ( not so nice) and the national park with the "main-village", Cobano.
Also on the other side of the coast is a place called Malpais, a surfers paradise and very laid back.
It's name derives from the Chorotega Indians who inhabited the area, they discovered a very smooth stone with wich they could draw, "mah pah" was the name they called it, hence the name according to one version.
In spanish i think Malpais is translated to "badcountry"not sure why this is...

The heat was intense,but it was worthwhile as i was escorted to the voulenteer house by an englishman from Wigan.
My room was shared with him and a german called, Tilo.
The rest of the voulenteer area was basically showers,toilets and two hammock overlooking the ocean.

For all the voulenteers we had 3 different duties.

1:

Trek to the beach ( 2hours each way), wait until 2 o´clock,then get all the tourists on there way back as the park closed at 4 o´clock.
I did this the first day,as it is a tradition for all the newcomers.

2:

Stay at the casetta and sell tickets, cold drinks (no alcohol) and open/close the front gates.
I never did this, dont really feel i missed out on anything

3:

Work on the trail, cutting plants and other things that had grown to big, collect logs that would be used to make "steps" so the tourists didnt wonder off tracks and ruin the natural fauna.

06.30, breakfast was served.

08.00, work started

13.00, lunch for the people coming back from work on the trail

18.30, dinner for everyone.

All meals included the traditional rice and beans and especially the breakfast took some time getting used to.

The rangers were really nice if not abit cold and macho in the beginning.
Also staying in the main house were two guardacosta´s ( Costa rica coast guard)
They have an important job checking the marine area around the park every night for illegal fishing or any other kind of criminal act, often recieving telephone calls if somebody hears or sees anything abnormal.
All around Costa Rica they have stations that are manned 24/7 and are highly respected by the locals.

Including all of these people were howler monkeys waking us up 4-5 in the morning, white faced monkeys climbing in family groups,birds,bats, coatimundi (called pizote locally), Iguanas, Geccos Lizards and racoons.

One day i was walking on the path to the main building when i stood face to face with a white-tailed deer!
and on the trail we spotted a snake,very little and not dangerous to humans so i really wanted to pick it up,however it was gone by the time i had made up my mind what to do

The first day i had beach dutie.
The rest of the time i was on the trail working so hard i´d come back soaked in sweat!
How´s that for hard work
I helped clean a part of the trail, cutting everything green in the way.
This ofcourse was against anything i´ve ever been taught, but had to be done for the "tourist´s sake".
The rest of the time (exept sunday,my day off) the days were pretty much carrying logs up the trail, hard enough as most parts of the trails only go up or slightly down.
Knees were shaking to say the least
The last day was really hard as it had stopped raining only hours before we started work.
Muddy and tired we managed some how though.
I stopped ever so often to take in the scenery, sounds and smells the park has to offer.

How lucky did i feel? VERY lucky
This is something you see on tv or read about in National Geographics.
You dont acctualy think its you telling the story to others,exciting stuff!

The climate is also well worth the mention.
Hot, humid and at times abit too much, but the last days it was cloudy and we even saw lightning without the thunder,how is that possible? To tell you the truth.. i have no clue !

Voulenteers staying at the park were mostly germans, one dutch girl,one englishman,one belgian girl, an icelandic student and three costa rican girls from Limon,who actually were considering sandals the day it had rained.They ended up in converse all stars,nike and puma,topped by jeans or very small shorts. Im sure they also scared every living creature in the forrest for miles, screaming"dios mio"(oh my god) every hundred feet! Never knew girls could be so annoying

And there you have it, another week down here.

This evening i went with one of the germans from Cabo Blanco to see the new Tim Burton movie, Sweeney Todd with Johnny Depp.
Brilliant, if you like Depp and Burton movies
A special bonus tonight was the moon eclipse.
Didn´t see anything other than the moon looking more like Mars,but still nice

Tomorrow im off with the gang from spanish school on a trip leaving san jose 6:30am (!)

Thursday night stay at Monteverde Backpackers hostel
friday night at el castillo in cabineros with view of lava (hopefully)
saturday La Fortuna ( hotsprings)
Sunday or monday home.
A busy end to the week you might say!

Hope you are all doing well and to all that will be a year older during february, Happy Birthday!

I seem to forget dates in this country so please dont think bad of me if i forget you, its just old age or the lack of a computer!

Pictures will come whenever time allows it!

Dont have anything major to write about, however yesterday is worth a mention!

Met my norwegian friend, Anja in Curridabat ( where i use to live with my homestay family) and headed over to Terramall.
We were told that the place had a vip-cinema and we ofcourse had to check it out.
Bought tickets and wondered around the mall for a couple of ours.

5 o'clock came and we were joined by a german girl.
Made are way to the vip entrance. A big sofa group met us as were different food stands and a bar.
The clue however to the whole vip-thing is that you go inside of the cinema grab a meny and once seated a waiter comes to take your order! They had everything from sushi to baileys

The seats were huge! and reclined like i would imagine a business class seat on American Arlines to do!
The best part was the fact that i was sitting in a cinema and had i nice cold Heineken and it was okay!?
Glad it's not common with vip-cinema's..
I felt bad just sitting on my bum and have someone bring my beer when i could just as easy get it myself! but its once in a life time and im glad i went to see how the rich play here in Costa Rica, to make sure i never end up like them

The movie was " American Gangster" or " Ganster Americano". Subtitles in spanish.
Really liked the movie, only one thing abit annoying, Denzel Washington has the same face in every movie!
Happy, sad, angry or just thinking over something its the same face!

Tonight if all goes well im off to see the Super Bowl with an american friend at a local sportsbar. Looking forward to it though i never learnt the rules, Think Charlie is going to try and teach me.. but i think you have to be american to understand the game!

Last week i had a haircut at a local barbershop. 20 kroners, not bad.
So now im going for the Will Champion-Live 8-look. ( Champion is the drummer in Coldplay)
Short on top and a nice beard that the locals seem to like as 3/4 of costa ricans can't grow any facial hair!
I'll try to upload a picture soon!

Thats everything from San Jose for now, have a nice evening and a nice monday at work.

hasta luego

a quick note to say that despite my hospital visit to clinica biblica earlier this week i am now fine with just a slight cold.

Other news is that my room mate has left me for the beach in Jaco and the other norwegian girl in the group has moved to her new homestay family so im all alone.

Might go get a bite to eat with my canadian friend later but must admit i've been a good boy today and instead of buying food her at the hostel i bought all my food at a local supermarket.
The only unusual thing at the shop being that they have people at every till putting all your food etc in bags, service i think you call it and i spotted some Cadbury's chocolate!
Went to the cinema a couple of nights ago with Cole. We saw " I am legend", not a bad movie but no real wow-factor as simon cowell would have said.
Afterwards we went to Taco Bell before we headed home to the hostel.

Went over to the office today, seems like everything is going to plan and that i can head on over to my next project in Cabo Blanco, situated 5 hours from San Jose on the Pacific coast. As far as i know the work consists of cutting weeds, help repair signs, cleaning teh beach and guarding the national park.
Monday i have a meeting with the zoo and hopefully i'll start work later in the day or tuesday.
Glad i've choosen to get out of the city as it is very noisy and busy!
The trip to Cabo won't be easy.
First a bus ride, then i get on a ferry then another bus and then i dont know
Think i'll have to get an earlie bus so i dont end up trying to find my way in the dark!

Thats about it from Costa Rica, just wishing you all a nice weekend and i'll write some more news sometime next week.

Bye!

Days turn into weeks and suddenly im a veteran of San Jose.
It's been a while since i've managed to update the blog and i have so much to tell you all!

First of all, i've moved from my homestay family in the suburbs and now live at the local hostel Pangea in the city center as the plan was that i would start in the zoo 5 minutes away from the hostel this tuesday.

The plans got changed as 2 other girls also going to work with me in the zoo were told they werent wanted and had to find another project instead.
I show up 08.00 to locked doors.
A brown, old car drives up to the front gate and a man gets out.
Turns out he's the "boss" and after some broken spanish we establish the fact that im a volounteer.
We move through rough vegetation ( still hold in mind this is the zoo) and pass spidermonkeys looking at me probably knowing this was a newbie

A phone call later in the "bosses" run down office im told to come back in an hour and just wonder around the zoo if i want.
I pass a stressed lion. Toucans, jaguar,jagarundi, ocelot, porkypine.. snakes, frogs and constantly dodge objects falling from trees over my head.
I go back to the office and im told i dont need to meet up until thursday!
Im taking the liberty to get thursday off so my great experience in the zoo will only be one week long and i kinda feel dissapointed that the organisation in norway and here are telling all these great stories and nothing really is true.

Communication is poor. i wait for mailes to arrive with info on new projects. turns out the computer is too old so i have to come by and get a black and white print out.
I dont really know what to think, but im not coming home, thats for sure!

There is a possibility that i can work as a ranger doing night patrols in a national park.. just my kinda thing

Last week the school went on a trip to a volcano. Didnt see anything as the fog was too thick. still, fun to be outside of the classroom doing other stuff.
All the teachers came with thick jackets, hats and gloves! It wasnt even cold for englishmen!

Friday i moved me and all my things to Pangea and had a good nights sleep before i next morning headed to the coca cola busstation.
The cab driver looked 100% like Benicio Del Toro and even had the same broken english accent! Gave him a little tip, it made his day and as he drove away he gave me a big smile and waved like mad

Met two girls from the school and we borded the bus for Jaco.
My seat # 45 did not exist. Turns out seats 45 and 46 are missing on most buses!
So i sat on the bus floor for most of the trip, this is backpacking the right way i made myself belive.

The plan was that we checked in to hotel de haan and the rest of the norwegian girls + an australian would meet upduring the day.
One thing i've noticed is that without a mobile either you make a good plan that no one can get wrong and stick to it or you plan it bad and the last party sit around and dont understand a thing making up several scenarios such as " did the bus crash" " did they party too hard last night and missed their bus" and the ultimate scenario " Have they forgotten us?!"

we all managed to meet up alltough later than expected and checked out Jaco's nightlife.
Jaco is basically a tiny version of Las Vegas.
One strip,where everything happens!
During the night i was bitten and my back and arms were full of minibites.
Didnt think too much about this and enjoyed the rest of the day and sunset before we left Jaco and headed back to San Jose.

This leads me to today.
The bites on my back and arms are swollen and i feel abit sick too.. what to do?

I hopped in a cab with an american named, Cole, and told the driver to head over to Hospital Clinica Biblica.
Cole's been bad for over a week and has already been to the Biblica several times to take blood tests.
I headed over to the emergency room and only sat down for 5 minutes before a speaker shouted my name and i was taken back. Did a quick check up and was asked to stepp outside and waited 5 more minutes.
A doctor shouts my name, Kongsgaard being tricky once again showed me in to a room.

Does another fact check and finds time to ask me if Norway is cold, home of the vikings and gets Copenhagen's marihuana district mixed up with Oslo! It's not until the doctor sees my back and arms his voice changes.
Writes a prescripton for some tablets and an antibiotics-cream.
Tells me to come back in 3 days if the situation gets worse and that its.
Pay the bill ( very cheap allthough privat hospital)

And there you have it. Another week for T in Costa Rica.
Cant say i get bored here.. too much drama for that

Hope everyone is fine.
Hear the storm Tuva is moving towards Norway, England being affected at all?

Pictures will take some time to upload.. very bad internett .. so i guess they will come when they come!

p.s.

Erik M :

Håper du får en knall tur til Frankrike, kos deg masse og nyt litt ferie!
Kjør hardt, kjør stil

A few pictures i managed to upload.
I dont have anymore space so i have to wait until february before i can add more pics!

The gang having a break at the Palmares festival

The house i lived in at the homestay.
Everyone has fences to keep criminals outside!
Not a very good picture but at least you get a brief view of a typical ( middleclass9 costa rican home

Me, trekking in Manuel Antonio.
The bandana is incase things drop on my head from monkeys etc!

Hola hola!

Sorry for keeping you waiting so long.
I´ve been very busy and when i finally had time on saturday and was finished uploading pictures to the blog, some man from an electrical company came and turned off the power and all was lost!
Really bad timing you might say so here i am straight after school blogging like mad

Well, last week, thursday, all the students went on a day trip to Guapiles 1,5 hours out of San Jose on the carribean side but nowhere close to the actual coast.
It was our spanish teacher that suggested it allthough it meant getting up at 06.00!
We all managed to get downtown on time and headed over to the bus station in san jose central.
Stepping out of the bus, a heat wave hit us and we were again reminded of how cold it is in the capital compared to all the other towns and city´s in this country.
The whole day was fun, 12 people in the back of an old pickup and later in a mini-van!
We visited a plantation, tasting a fruit or two and basically just hanging around.
Afterwards we went and relaxed next to a river and took some group pictures.
Lunch was eaten at a local family serving loads of food.

We eventually were picked up by a mini van and taken to the local bus station before heading home to San Jose.

Friday evening Anja and i went into town and met her friend. We stayed at the hostel for the night.
Alot of talking, drinking ( not too much ofcourse ) and basically being abit social.
The next day i wondered around the town with some friends before Anja and me got a cab back here.
20-30 minute cab ride cost's us about 25 kroners so i feel we can afford it sometimes.
Saturday evening was ment to be blogg time but as you know the stupid man shut us down and i lost all i had written. Very boring to say the least.

Sunday was supposed to be a balance between blogging and homework, i ended up doing neither.
Earlie in the morning the plan got changed and Anja and two americans she lives with and me decided to go to Palmares. It's a local festival that all Costa ricans know of and try to attend if they can.
Even people from other central american country's come.
The place was packed with local ticos and ticas.
Bad latin music, loads of beer and a hot sun made the day unforgetable!

We arrived home late but it was a good weekend all in all!
Today i've been to school.. have loads of homework! but i feel im learning little by little, but now i have to get back to the house so i can finish my homework so goodbye and good night from Curridabat, San Jose!

I hope everyone at home are fine.
Please send me some news if you can!
And enjoy the pictures i finally managed to upload!

Pura Vida!

Here are some pictures so far from the trip, enjoy!

Xiting from China, Morten from Bergen and Eirik from Trondheim

Terminal 3, Heathrow (by night)

Friendly americans at Miami International after some beers and shots!

Trip to Guapiles with the spanish school:

Crowded mini-van!

Anja by the river

No place for long legs!

Paradise ?

Manuel Antonio National Park

Manuel Antonio National Park

Manuel Antonio Nationnal Park