Volcan Barva

Volcan Barva from the street I live on

Volcan Barva is north of San Jose, at the southern tip of the Parque Nacional Braulio Carillo. I read somewhere that it is the third highest volcano in Costa Rica, which is kinda sweet. (No, I don´t actually remember how high it is). Its in cloud forest, which is sweet, but does mean that after about 11am, it is difficult to see anything beyond whats in front of your nose.

Road Sign - I passed at least 3

I got up at 5 am to catch a bus to downtown San Jose. Because I was worried about timing (and it turns out I didn´t need to be), I caught a taxi to Heredia. I then took another bus to Barva, which is a small municipality immediately north of Heredia (it took not even 10 minutes). The bus stops at the central plaza, which, like all plazas, is in front of the Catholic church. There was an early morning mass going on, which I could hear bits and pieces of as I waited for the bus outside the church. I stopped at a bread store and had a donut for breakfast, and also bought a small baugette to eat later. At the UBL, the majority of the students are ¨christian¨, aka protestant. I forget that Costa Rica is a mostly Catholic country, but it was brought home to me by the men who biked past the church - of the 13 I saw, 11 crossed themselves. The third bus I caught took me about halfway up the mountain, to a very small town called Sacramento, which is the end of the line.

view of the central valley -aka San Jose - from the road

At that point, I began to walk. Having looked it up before starting, I knew that it was a 10 km walk up to the park, and the last 3.5 km were not paved. Thats about 6 miles of walking - I figured it´d take me about an hour and a half. Well. Try three hours. It was a beautiful morning, luckily! I walked up the side of the mountain, through big farms, mostly cattle  ranches. I had, for much of the morning, views of the central valley, and therefore of San Jose. I saw tons of cows, birds, and butterflies. I got to watch the morning clouds roll in, and cover the valley, and then the road. I passed through small towns, and by farms where the families all smiled at me, and asked if I was headed to the volcan. I watched as the vegetation changed as I got higher and higher. Several cars passed me, and I considered asking for a ride, but I decided that it wouldn´t be very safe, and that I was enjoying my walk. I had no watch, and the only way I could tell time was passing was from the sun and the clouds, which crept across the road and into the hills the later it got.

View down the road once the fog rolled in

Finally, I reached the unpaved portion of the road. As I continued on, I ran into a group of young ticos, who were walking home after a long night of drinking. They all called to me, and told the one english speaker in the group what he should say to me - although I understood everything they were saying. One of the young men decided he wanted to accompany me up to the volcano, and another of his friends came along to keep him out of trouble. After about half a kilometer, the first young man decided he was done with walking up a hill unneccesarily, and they both turned back. I reached the park at about 10 am, and checked in with the ranger, and arranged for a taxi for the way down.

Trees along the trail

The hike to the volcan was pretty short, considering the walk I´d had to get there. I walked on a smaller trail that caught the main trail at the start of the steep climb up to the volcano.

Poor Man's Umbrella - the purple thing is my winter hat

On that trail, I passed (among other things) a thistle that was taller than I was, and grasses that came up to my shoulders. When I reached the summit, there was a lookout platform over the crater lake, which is about 70m in diameter.

Laguna Barva

 I sat down at the top and opened my backpack to get out the snacks I had packed, to discover that I had not, in fact, packed them. So I ate my bread, and the nuts that have lived in my backpack since leaving home, and drank my water and gatorade, and thought longingly of the chocolate ¨enrobed¨ cookies that I knew were sitting on my table, along with other snacks, carefully packed in a bag.

Trail Markers

I then hiked back down the trail, and took a second trail to a mirador, or a lookout, that looked over another valley. I had a surprisingly clear view, though it was still cloudy. I continued on to the park entrance, where I chatted with the guarda bosque (park ranger) and two men from Philadelphia, who were waiting for their wives. I learned that durning the week, hardly anyone goes to Barva, and on the weekends, its mostly tico families, not tourists. I also learned that the guarda bosuques live at the park for 10 days, and then with their families for 5. Eventually, my taxi arrived. I chatted with the driver all the way down the mountain, to San Jose de la Montaña, where drivers switched, and I continued almost in complete silence to San Jose. I took the taxi all the way into San Jose because it wasn´t that much more expensive that taking it just to Heredia, and I was pretty exhausted. I caught the bus back to my apartment, and was home by about 3pm.

Pretty Flowers from the trail

So despite the ridiculously long walk in the morning, which, to be fair, ended up being my favorite part of the day, I loved it. I had a great time, and a beautiful day - no rain, which is practically unheard of. Everyone thought I was crazy for walking all that way, and some thought I was crazy for going by myself, but I had a lovely time being by myself, which is something I miss out on here sometimes. I have to be ¨on¨ when I´m at the UBL, and its still pretty tiring to work mainly in spanish, and Luz is in and out of my apartment after work, sometimes with the other kids in the complex, so having time to myself where I don´t have to be on was pretty amazing, and very refreshing.

The Hike that Wasn´t

I realized that I´m behind on sharing my adventures with all of you - oops! I suppose I´ll start with the hike that didn´t happen (at least, not that day). I was all set to hike up to Volcán Barva, and had packed my snacks, put my water bottles in the fridge, packed an extra pair of socks and a wool sweater in my bag, and then started to get out my clothes for the next morning. I had washed my leggings two days before, so I stepped out back to grab them from the laundry line. I then realized that they had sat underneath a drip in the getter for two days, and were in fact wetter than they had been when I took them out of the wash. That cancelled my plans for the next day! I hung them up inside to dry, and went to bed. I slept in super late - all the way to 10am! I cleaned for most of the morning, and then decided I needed to go grocery shopping. I didn´t want to go to the Perimercado, since I´ve been there a number of times. Instead, I walked up the hill, past the UBL. I stopped by the musmanni, which is a bread store of sorts, and got a donut and a baugette, and then continued walking. I caught the Cedros bus, and took it to the end of the line - which was all of four blocks from where I´d been. I went to the small shopping center called la cruz, because there´s a massive crucifix on the corner. I got a chocolate ice cream at Pops, which has some of the best ice cream in Costa Rica, and then went to the grocery store, which is a really expensive one - but if I ever get a hankering for comida tipica norteamericana I know where to go. I walked all the way back down the hill to my apartment, through the rain that had just begun. I feel like I know the area a bit better now, having done that exploring, which is nice.

Where I live and work

As I have mentioned before, I live in an area of San Jose called Cedros. I'm about 20 minutes from Central San Jose by bus, which is pretty much the only way I can get there. I tried to find Cedros on a map, and I failed pretty hard. I did find the neighboring areas, and thought maybe I could mark where I live, but no such luck. It turns out that street names on maps make matters much worse when you are used to navigating by landmarks.

Anyway, I live on the calle ancho 400 m east of the Perimercado (a grocery store). Calle ancho means "wide street" and it is the name given to any street that looks like mine - a very wide T-intersection. I live in an apartment complex with 7 condominios, which each have two bedrooms, a bathroom, small kitchen - all off of the living area. I'm in mine all by myself, now that Amanda has gone home, which is fine, albeit a bit lonely occasionally. So I leave my door open, and Luz comes by almost every night to play UNO with me. We use the game to work on her english skills - what color is the card, what number.

The UBL is two blocks (200 m) east of my apartment. I walk up the main road, and then turn in at the UBL's driveway, which is very steep. The UBL consists of the main building, with offices, classrooms, and the library, the guard house, student dormitories, la casa de miliones (which is also a classroom/meeting space) and the big chapel. The rest of campus is green space, including a spot where many of the students play soccer, and a small meditation garden.

I spend most of my time in the library, which covers about half of the second floor. I have finished several projects already, but my current project is probably the most interesting, and will certainly last me quite some time. I am scanning in images from the "Latin American Evangelist," a magazine begun in the early 1920s which chronicles the missionary work of a wide variety of reformed tradtions in Latin America, under the auspices of the LAEC (Latin American Evangelists Conference(?)). The UBL was begun by the LAEC, though it was originally named the Instituto Biblico, or Bible Institute. It started as a women's school, but quickly began to educate men as well as women. The images I am scanning are all from the Instituto, pictures of teachers, students, and buildings. Alongside these images are the chronicles of the LAEC, which are fascinating. Operating in a very Catholic context, it was very common for priests to threaten violence to the missionaries (envangelistos), and for the converted people to be ostracized in their communities. The LAEC also ran a hosipital - the Hospital Biblico, a childrens' home, and several churches. There was an article written after part of the board of LAEC went to Morocco. The article spent quite a while discussing the evils of the veil, and how it was a shameful thing, and wouldn't the women be better off if they were christian? Up until the last, it could have been taken nearly word for word from an article written today. It has been fascinating to read them as I search for images, and has really brought home the conflict and divide between Catholics and reformed traditions (or as they say here, Catholics and Christians). Wow. Okay, sorry about that history of mission work in Latin America jaunt.  And for the painful grammar of the last bit.  

Mission Group 1: Louisiana

This last week, as I noted in my last post, we've had a mission team from Louisiana here at the UBL. They range in age from 21 to grandparents - my best guess would be about 75. They are all members of a small church in a parish about the size (population-wise) of Grinnell-the-town. The group includes a kindergarten teacher, several retirees, a prision librarian, a hair dresser, and a university student. They spent the first few days they were here painting the chapel, the casa de miliones (de mujeres), a kitchen somewhere, and one of the apartments. They also did some roof repairs here at the apartments, for which I am very grateful!

The team has been very friendly. Though none of them really speak Spanish, they have been very interested in getting to know the students and the children here. I ate lunch with them everyday, and my "payment" was translating the questions and answers of the students Becky invited to eat with them. The people invited varied from professors from the US and Switzerland, to Costa Rican students, to Peruvian political-prisoners-turned-seminarians (which is pretty fitting, when you think about it). I am very grateful for the opportunity I've had while they were here (and will have again with the next group) to learn more about the students. I see most of them in the library, and know their names and where they're from, but I know very little about their lives. I knew J. was from Peru, but I didn't know that J. had been in jail for 9 years, accused of terrorism, though he never received a trial, and once he did, was immediately freed since he was found innocent. I knew that B. was nearly blind, but I didn't realize that B.'s family had supported her through school, despite a degenerative vision problem, and continue to support her dreams of becoming a teacher. It has been a humbling experience.

Speaking English has been a bit of a relief as well, to be honest. I am rapidly regaining language proficiency, but it is still difficult for me, and translating is hardest of all. I am past the point of needing to do a running translation in my head for all but the most difficult parts, but actually translating from Spanish to English is hard - I often have a really good grasp on the ideas being presented but no clue how to turn them into English phrases, and when I do, they come out ridiculously awkward and stilted. Sigh. Oh well. I like pretty much everyone (the guy who asked derisively what there was to do in Minnesota has earned my eternal enmity), and they're all very interesting, lovely people. Plus, in return for translating, I get to eat lunch with them, which is a whole week of not having to cook for myself, which, let me tell you, is awesome.

Sarapiqui

Chocolate, monkeys, and crocodiles, oh my!
Yesterday, I went on a day trip to Sarapiqui, which is about an hour and a half outside San Jose, through cloud and rain-forest. I went with a group of Methodists from Louisiana who are at the UBL for a mission trip. There are 11 of them, and the youngest is 21, so they're a bit older than I am. We all got up at the crack of dawn (really. when I got up, the sun wasn't up yet) and got in a minibus with our guide for the day. We took the bus up through the mountains, and then down to the lowlands, to a city called Puerto Viejo. We were headed for the Tirimbina Biological Reserve, which hosts a variety of tours as well as a local education program, teaching local kids about the rain-forest to help preserve it. At Tirimbina, we took a "chocolate tour."

We crossed an 800 ft suspension bridge to the small cacao plantation on the reserve. There we learned about the growth of cacao, and also got to watch/participate in the traditional chocolate making process, from opening the cacao fruit to grinding the roasted seeds. And we got to sample the chocolate at all stages, which was pretty sweet - not literally, since most stages are actually really bitter.

We also saw several different types of birds, a strawberry poison frog, and a hog-nosed pit viper. (I thought I could take comfort in the fact that it was tiny - maybe the length of forearm, but then I was informed that the younger -read smaller- the snake, the less control they have over the amount of venom injected. Lesson: the younger the snake, the more dangerous.)

After lunch, we returned to Puerto Viejo, where we got into a boat on the Rio Puerto Viejo to take a river tour. We mostly saw birds, but we did see a troop of howler monkeys, three or four caimans, about a bajillion iguanas in trees, and a crocodile!

The crocodile was massive - the guide thought it was about 10-11 feet long, which is way more crocodile than I ever wanted to see. It was also a really lovely way to spend an afternoon, floating slowly along a river, looking at birds.

We then drove back to San Jose, and had several volcanoes visible for most of the ride. Volcan Turrialba is smoking, and has been for the last few months. No one really knows if that means that it will blow or not; it could just be letting off steam. I also saw Volcan Barva, which I am hoping to take a day trip to climb, because it has some beautiful lakes up top. Anyway, it was a pretty sweet trip, and I'll be headed back to the region at least twice - once to climb Barva, and once to go on a birdwatching tour at La Selva Biological Reserve.

Hart! Ben! I was at your stomping grounds! It was exciting! I thought about both of you all day long!

Manuel Antonio

This last weekend, Amanda and I took a 4 hour bus ride to the Pacific Coast, to a national Park called Manuel Antonio. The park is famous for its beaches, monkeys, and iguanas. We saw all three, plus some others - two sloths, a deer, raccoons, and a large rodent we never identified. I went a little crazy on the photos, so I'm just posting the best of the bunch. This is a photo of the north end of the main beach in the park, which is where Amanda and I went swimming. On the south end were tons of high schoolers playing volleyball and honeymooning couples making out. Either way, it was more crowded than we were interested in. The water was a nice temperature - cool in comparison to the outside air, but not so cold it gave me the shivers.

The park is, of course, famous for the animals. Here are two examples; I can't tell you how many monkeys and iguanas we saw, not to mention the two sloths, a red and blue crab, hermit crabs, a crazy lizard that looked prehistoric. . . it was pretty great on the animal sightings side of things.

Manuel Antonio is also a really famous tourist area. It was nice to have a break from speaking Spanish, especially since Amanda doesn't speak any, and so I had to translate for her during the weekend as well. Because it is a tourist area, there are tons of hotels. We stayed at The Falls Resort, which was pretty sweet. One of the most exciting things (for me, anyway), was the running hot water (as noted in my last entry). But the hotel was really nice, with cotton sheets, a/c . . . the whole nine yards. Plus, the center of the resort was an  overgrown jungle garden, with birds, lizards, butterflies, R.O.U.S.'s, and monkeys. On our last day there, we saw at least 5 monkeys, two of which were mama monkeys with babies clinging to their backs. Pretty much adorable and a fantastic way to close out our stay. The photo to the left is the view into the garden from our room. Pretty hard to tell its a hotel, yeah? The other great thing about being in a tourist area was the wide variety of restaurants we had to choose from. We decided to eat at El Avion on Saturday night, which is a restaurant built around a plane from the Iran/Contra Affair. Remember that plane that got shot down over Nicaragua? There was a second one ready to go in Costa Rica, but after the US government declared it had nothing to do with the first, the second got left at the San Jose International Airport, since the US gov't couldn't exactly claim it. Several years ago, a business man bought the plane for $3,000 and shipped it to Manuel Antonio. Then he hauled it up the main road, and parked and reassembled it on the edge of a cliff.  The result is pretty spectacular. The plane houses the bar, and underneath the wings there is a large balcony, which is where we ate. This photo is the view from out table out over jungle and the Pacific. Pretty sweet, no? It was pretty great, and the food was really good. It was the only time the whole trip we didn't eat casados, which are a traditional Costa Rican dish. They consist of rice, beans, and some type of meat or chicken, plus veggies or a small salad. I love casados; they're my preferred meal here. Instead, I had pasta with veggies which satisfied the part of me that had been craving vegetables, and Amanda had a hamburger, which satisfied her craving for American food.

While in the Park, we also did a hike around what I guess could be called headlands, though they're covered in rainforest. The trail is called the Cathedral Trail, and I have no idea why. But it was a lovely, very short, very hot hike. There are a variety of lookout points along the way, some of which overlook the public beach, the ocean, and the park's beaches. While on the trail, we saw our second unidentified ROUS, as well as what we think was a legless lizard, and several iguanas. This is the view from a lookout:

So all in all, it was a pretty fantastic trip. I had a great time, and I think Amanda did as well. We did a lot of hiking, but also plenty of lazing around on the beach, which was rest time well deserved.

This last photo is of me and Amanda at the Park Entrance. Amanda has gone back to the States, but it was super great to have her here for a bit, and to have a traveling companion!