Family Fun Time

Once again, it’s been too long. I opted not to try to keep up a blog while we were still computerless. Fortunately we now have a new used computer to accompany us on the rest of our travels. 

I am currently enjoying a Christmas visit from my in-laws. Nate’s family arrived in Costa Rica on the 16^th of this month. We started our adventures together in Alajuela, a suburb of San Jose. Nate, Donnette (mom), and Caitlin (sister) lived together in Alajuela fifteen years ago when Nate was just a lad. We had a fun day of walking down memory lane together. 

 After a day in Alajuela we flew south to the Osa Peninsula. National Geographic has called Osa ‘the most biologically intense place on Earth’, which is a good way to describe it. We stayed in an ‘eco-lodge’ called Punta Marenco. I don’t know what qualifies a hotel as an ‘eco-lodge’, but it might have had something to do with the lack of electricity and hot water. We were each put up in a small cabina on a hill overlooking the ocean. We spent each night sitting on the porch watching the sun set over the water while scarlet macaws, white faced capuchin monkeys and coatis bustled around in front of us. While at Punta Marenco we took several tours. On these tours we saw a lot of wildlife and learned a lot about them. Our tour guide was a guy named Brayner. Brayner was a great guide because he often said helpful things like ‘And… Well… Just as it is very important to remember that what do you think is the reason why spider monkeys have no thumbs?..... Well, just as in that case it is because of ‘Involution’’.  Or, ‘And…. Well…. Just as why do you think is the reason we call it the orchid? In that case it comes from the Greek work ‘testicles’.  Just as… Well… the orchid has balls that holds water. And when it gets full, it is very important it needs to be released. And… well… in that case just as in the man, it is released as pee.’  I’m willing to bet at least 50% of Brayner’s English vocabulary is comprised of ‘and… well… in that case… just as…. It is very important to remember….. let us see what happens.’ And possibly another 5% was made up of ‘It is very important to remember that for us it is a pleasure’.  Anyway, our stay at Punta Marenco lodge was very enjoyable. I have lots of pictures of wildlife (we saw an anteater!) and jungle scenery, but unfortunately I have no way to retrieve the pictures from my camera. You'll just have to enjoy this picture of the fam in front of the Bahia Drake airport and use your imagination for the rest.

 We were in Puerto Viejo for the last week. Most of our time there was spent relaxing in our jungle lodge. We did make a trip to the Jaguar Rescue Center for a tour. Donnette, Caitlin and Jason got to see what it’s like to be groped by grubby monkey mitts. 

Now we're back in Alajuela. Tomorrow Donnette, Caitlin and Jason head back to Utah, and Nate and I will make the long bus ride to Nicaragua. Leaving Puerto Viejo was really hard for Nate and I. It really started to feel like home there. But we're really excited to get on the road again and see new things. Tomorrow night we're meeting our friends Tyler and Emily on Isla de Ometepe. We're very excited to bring in the New Year with our friends. 
I hope all of you also have a great New Year.
Pura Vida.
Kia

A Quick Update (Quupdate)

So as many of you may have heard, Nate and I got robbed. Someone broke in to our house while we were sleeping and stole our computer and our debit/credit cards. It's a hard-knock life. We're both okay, and they only put us back one crappy, broken computer. It could have been a lot worse.

In other news, life with the monkeys is great. I would like to post some pictures, but our camera is broken. I can now recognize all of the monkeys and they have gotten  to know me pretty well. Hanging out with them is a lot of fun. I have 2 weeks left at the Jaguar Rescue Center, then I must kiss my furry friends goodbye.

I'm about to run out of prepaid internet time, so I must bid you adieu. I hope everyone had a super Thanksgiving.

Kia

Hey Friends,
Sorry it's been so long. I've been quite busy wrangling monkeys. Nate and I have now been in Puerto Viejo for two weeks. We've moved in to our apartment and it's great. Living in hostels is pretty tiring, so it's nice to have a home base for a while. This place is bigger and nicer than our last apartment, and it is much cheaper. Its right up against the jungle so we get some pretty fun and some pretty gross visitors. Lots of cool birds and lots of bugs. Here's my favorite gross bug I've found in our home.

 

I know this appears to be a turd, but it is actually a slug. Turd-slug. We also had a plague of toads travel through our front porch. 

I started working at the Jaguar Rescue Center a few days after we arrived in Puerto Viejo. The Center is run by a couple, Sandro and Encar, who both have backgrounds in biology. It's not a sanctuary or a zoo. What's special about it is that almost all of their animals are released in to the wild. The only permanent residents are animals who could not survive on their own. Currently they have snakes, howler monkeys, two-toed sloths, caimans, dozens of birds, a porcupine, possums, a margay (wildcat), frogs, horses, tarantulas, a coati and a white-tailed deer.

Life at the Center is pretty relaxed. I spend most of my time either cleaning cages, monkeysitting, or watching after baby sloths while they get their exercise. Everyday the monkeys and the coati go to monkey school. Monkey school involves two volunteers hiking in to the forest with arms laden with baby monkeys. In the forest we lay out a blanket and release the the little guys in to the trees. A group of wild monkeys knows we show up at the same time everyday and meets us to play with the babies. Some of them are too young or scared to go in the tree so they sit on the blanket with us and take a nap. Once it's time to go back the monkeys see us packing up the blanket, scamper down the tree and jump on our shoulders for the walk home. Monkey school is designed to get the monkeys used to being in the jungle and dealing with their own species in the wild. Once a monkey is ready to be wild again it just wont come back down from the tree at the end of the day. It's entirely up to the monkeys to decide when they are ready; we don't make them stay or go.

I get to spend a lot of time napping in the jungle with lots of little primates, but there have been some exciting moments. Sometimes one of their previously released monkeys, Conga, comes down to the kitchen and begs for bananas. Yesterday Conga's neck and stomach was covered in horrible pustules. What she had was botfly larvae living in and feeding off her flesh. Me and the other volunteers stood and watched as Sandro and Encar sedated her and began removing the larvae. It was easily one of the grossest things I've ever seen. Too gross to describe in detail here but if you're interested, you can watch botfly larvae being extracted in this video. (WARNING: Do not watch if you're easily grossed out. Seriously.) After a few minutes of intense emergency medical attention, Conga was released. We've seen her since and she's looking healthy and happy. Monkey injuries seem pretty common. A few days ago one of our monkeys fought with one of the wild males and now has bandaged feet and a big nasty bite wound on his leg. Luckily his wounds aren't that serious and he should heal just fine.

I really like working at the Center. Hanging out with the animals is really great, and all of the people I've met there are really nice. Now please enjoy these pictures of me playing with cute non-human babies.

This is a baby opossum. Kind of cute in an ugly way.

Punxiulina, the baby porcupine. Friendly and pokey isn't a super great combination.

This is India, an adult two toed sloth. When I clean the sloth cage India follows me around and tries to give me kisses.

Me with a monkey (Chepito) on my head. They like to be carried around like this all the time.

Brad Pitt and Chepito hanging out on my belly.

This is Xai, a white-tailed deer. Yes, that's a monkey on my head.

Hanging out at monkey school.

This is what I do three hours a day.

Now please enjoy this video of cute baby monkeys.

xoxo

Kia

Our time in Bastimentos is has to an end.

On Tuesday we paddled around the bay in a kayak with some friends we met at the hostel.

We spent most of Wednesday exploring Nivida Cave. The cave is thought to be Panama’s longest, but no one has reached the end yet. We took a boat through some beautiful mangrove swamps and hiked for several minutes through dense jungle and chocolate trees before we reached the entrance.

Mangroves

Cave entrance.

Once inside we were instantly swarmed by thousands of bats. The cave is covered in beautiful limestone formations, and a small stream flows through the bottom. We waded through water anywhere from ankle to neck height before we reached a small but deep pool. On one side a small waterfall filled the pool with cold cave water, and on the other there was a large rock formation off of which you could jump into the muddy water. Nate took the plunge, but I wasn’t as brave.

 All those little black dots on the ceiling are bats.

 

Yesterday Panama celebrated  its independence from Colombia. Part of the tradition here is for people to start playing drums at four in the morning and drum until the sun comes up. After the drumming the whole community met at the school for reenactments of history, music and dancing. The celebrations ended by the whole town marching in a parade down the main street, or rather, main sidewalk. All the adults wore their Sunday best and all kids dressed in brightly colored costumes. The boys drummed and girls, even little ones, shook their hips as they marched through the whole town. It was really fun to watch and much more lively than our Independence Day parade.

 

We’ve both really enjoyed our time in Bastimentos. The island is beautiful and we’ve met some really beautiful people. In the last post I mentioned Luis Antonio, the Puerto Rican artist who carves portraits in to driftwood. Luis has been working on a piece since we’ve been here and it’s nearly done. It’s a large piece of driftwood with a nude woman carved so expertly it almost looks like nature put her there. Until yesterday there were some traveling artists staying at our hostel. Steph and Duende specialize in making beautiful South American jewelry out of stones, wire and thread. They’ve managed to stay on the road for nearly six years now, floating from place to place selling jewelry. They’ve just recently set up a website so they can share their art on a larger scale. It's definitely worth taking a look. Meeting all these artists has inspired me to be creative on this trip. Another girl at our hostel, Liela, was traveling and selling jewelry as well. She was nice enough to show me how she weaves her bracelets and necklaces. I’ve been practicing and I’ve gotten pretty good. So who knows? Maybe one day I’ll spend years at a time drifting and selling handicrafts. It doesn’t seem like such a bad gig. Those guys are truly living the life.

Here's some pictures of Luis and his nearly finished sculpture. 

We left Bastimentos this morning. I'm happy to be back in Puerto Viejo, but I'm going to miss Bastimentos, especially the lack of cars. Nate and I spent all afternoon hunting for an apartment with great success. We move in to our own fully furnished, all inclusive apartment on Tuesday. Anyone who is cool enough to come visit us while we're here can crash on our couch for free :)

I start working at the Jaguar Rescue Center on Monday. I'm excited but also getting some new-job anxiety. I think it will turn out really well, though. I've heard lots of good things about the center. Stay tuned for pictures of me and my new monkey friends!

xo

Kia

Bastimentos is on My Mind

We’re not very good at keeping up on this blog. It’s been too long. 

We’re now in Panama. In the island chain of Bocas del Toro. It’s much different than Costa Rica. Costa Rica is not a fully developed country by any means, and it’s dirty and some places aren’t very safe, but it’s nothing like Panama. Everything is a bit rougher here. Buildings are either falling apart, abandoned or in some stage of chaotic construction. Naked children are a given. Yesterday we saw a little boy bathing in a 50 gallon drum in his front yard. It’s also much more conservative here. In Costa Rica you can smoke and drink just about anywhere you want and people ride their bikes around the streets nearly naked in beach towns. Here you can’t smoke inside, you can’t drink outside and it’s illegal to walk around the streets without a shirt on. It’s very different, but so far we like it a lot.

We spent the first few nights on Isla Colon, the most populated island, in Bocas Town. Most tourists go to Bocas Town and boat to different sights around the island. Our first day in Bocas we took a tour of the archipelago. 

They took us to Dolphin Bay, which is exactly what it sounds like: a small bay full of dolphins. This is the best picture I could get.

After Dolphin bay we went to a kind of crappy snorkeling spot, and then drove by Sloth Island which is, obviously, a small island covered with sloths. After sloths we saw Red Frog beach. The red frogs were absent, but the beach was lovely despite how crowded it was.

We finished at a much better snorkeling spot than the first before heading home. The boat ride back had some amazing views.

The day after our tour we went to Starfish Beach, which is one of my favorite places we’ve visited so far. No one knows why the starfish gather here in huge numbers, but the effect is stunning. The beach was deserted, the water was perfect and the starfish were beautiful.

The next day we rode bikes a few miles out to a pretty deserted beach. Took a hammock nap.

Now we’re on Isla Bastimentos, in the town of Old Bank. Bastimentos is a different world. We hear very little Spanish. Everyone speaks English or Guari Guari, and English/Spanish Creole language. There are no roads, just sidewalks. One local came to welcome us to the town when we were first walking around and exploring. ‘No cars, no stress’ he told us. We instantly knew this was a good place to be. We’re staying in a small hostel built on stilts over the ocean. It’s a relaxed place that just happens to be filled with weirdos like us. There’s a group of Argentines here that have been on the road for six years. They fund their travels by selling handmade jewelry. One of the girls has a Cramps tattoo, and she and her boyfriend have hairstyles similar to mine, but even crazier. We’ve spent some time bonding.

Our first night here we met a Peruvian girl named Cecilia who talked us in to going out to find a party but  all we found were empty bars and a wandering Dutch guy who met up with us on the street. We had heard there was a party on Red Frog beach, but we didn’t have money to pay a boat ten dollars to take us out there. Then a miracle happened. We met an old crazy guy who told us ‘Don’t worry abou’ the money. We make it happen, man. Tonight is a special night. We are spreading love!’ so we followed him. He took us to his friend’s house and introduced us. ‘Dis is Scooby Dukes. He is my son. He could be my son. He gon’ take care a you, aright? Scooby Dukes, you take care a dem people. Don’ let anything bad happen to dem people.  It’s a special night. We spreadin’ love.’ So we paid him five dollars and got in the boat. It wasn’t until after we got in the boat that we thought we might get robbed and forced to walk the plank. Our luck is better than that, though, and everything turned out fine. The party totally sucked (Think frat boys dressed in spandex Halloween costumes) but Scooby Dukes stayed good on his word and even offered us some drinks when we got back home at 4 in the morning. We politely declined.

Yesterday we mostly just stuck around the hostel and hung out with the Argentines. I have been trying to track down a haircut for some time now and yesterday I was successful. I asked the owner of the hostel (who we know only as The Jaguar) where to get a haircut, and he yelled to some lady on the street ‘Olivia! Wheer you get dem heers cut?’ Olivia sent us to see Cresto, the local barber. Cresto’s barber shop consisted of a broken barber’s chair propped up on a cinderblocks on a patch of hardened dirt under his stilted house. Normally I go to a super fancy salon where I get offered juice or sparkling water before a woman who looks like a super model massages my head and consults me on various moisturizing products. Trusting Cresto with my hair was a big step, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised. It was the best 4 dollar haircut anyone’s ever gotten.

 In the evening The Jaguar got his calypso band together and played us some songs. My favorite was one called ‘Bastimentos is on My Mind’. Others were called things like ‘Bocas del Toro’ and ‘No one Want to Leave from Bastimentos’. I sure don't. Bastimentos is my favorite place so far. I can't imagine anywhere as relaxed and beautiful as here. The Jaguar really loves where he lives for good reason.

Nate, Los Jaguares and me.

Á bientôt

K

All is well in beautiful Costa Rica. We've had a great couple of days.

This is the view from our last hotel room.

It was an awesome room, but staying there wasn't worth listening to the constant fighting between the owner and his novia. Our room was a large open-air loft on the very top of the hotel, right above the owners house. So we heard everything that went on downstairs and in the street. For the first few nights, there was just bickering and bad words, but last night we enjoyed the grand finale. I awoke to the sound of glass bottles being smashed outside in front of the hotel, followed by lots of screaming in Spanish. I didn't hear anything from the owner, but his girlfriend sure was pissed about something. In the end all the screaming and bottle breaking prompted the owner to pack her things and kick her out. She protested by standing outside yelling and throwing rocks at the hotel. It was totally wild and that's not even the end of it.

This morning we went downstairs to find the lobby full of cops. One of the hotel employees was trying to tell them that crazygirl had been kicked out, while crazygirl was there insisting that this was not the case. We didn't stick around to see how it ended, but while we were roaming the streets searching for breakfast, we were passed by a police pickup truck with about 4 cops and crazygirl in the back. As they passed she started freaking out and repeatedly punched one of the cops in the head and then tried to bite his ear off. It took all 4 cops to restrain her. It may have been one of the craziest things I've ever seen.

I should point out how well the cops handled the situation. There were no displays of authority. There were no patronizing 'Ma'am, you're gonna need to calm down' type remarks, and there definitely wasn't any unwarranted or excessive physical force. It was the first time I have seen cops handle a stressful situation with out acting like an ape. So bravo for Puerto Viejo's police force. Provo PD could definitely learn a few things.

Besides eavesdropping on fights, Nate and I have spent a lot of time at the beach. Most days we take a 20 minute walk on a jungle path and stop every so often to watch the monkeys and sloths. At the end of the path there is a beautiful beach. We swim and read and just sit and relax until Ephraim, the coconut vendor, comes by and offers us some agua de pipa. It's a pretty good way to spend a day.




We're planning on heading to Panama sometime in the next few days. We'll come back to Puerto Viejo in the first week of November and then I'm going to start volunteering for the Jaguar Rescue Center. The rescue center takes animals that have been illegally trafficked, hurt or orphaned and cares for them until they can be released back in to the wild and if they can't be re-released, they keep them and care for them until the end of their days. The center requires that volunteers work for 40 hours a week for at least three weeks, so I'm going to have a full schedule for quite a while. I think it will be rewarding, though, and I'm definitely looking forward to chilling out with animal babies.

So yeah. Fights, coconuts, animals... and I bought a new dress.
More pictures to come later.
xoxo
Kia

We've gone quite a ways since our last post, sorry we haven't been updating very often.

After Manuel Antonio we headed to Uvita. I was super excited about Uvita. Everything I read about it promised whales, turtles, beautiful beaches and no crowds. Unfortunately it wasn't as wonderful as the guide books made it sounds. The beach was beautiful and uncrowded. I would love to post pictures, only we couldn't take any because thievery is so rampant on the beach. We signed up to spend an evening helping baby sea turtles make it to the ocean, but it ended up being to rainy, so our guide cancelled on us. I suppose Uvita probably is amazing during the right time of year, but the rain coupled with our new-age-aging-hippie-hostel made our stay less than fantastic. We stayed less than 24 hours.

After Uvita we took the bus back to San Jose. All the travelers we meet like to bond over an implied mutual hate for San Jose, but Nate and I really like it. We went to and English pub called Hoxton's for the second time since we've been here. Hoxton's is great. Good music. Great food. If any of you ever end up in downtown San Jose, I highly recommend it. We spent 2 nights in San Jose doing mostly boring stuff like laundry. Yesterday we caught the bus to Puerto Viejo.

I love Puerto Viejo. LOVE IT. It's beautiful, laid back and there are dozens of free/cheap things to do within biking distance. Last time Nate and I were In PV, we went to a Halloween party and Rocking J's; Puerto Viejo's most popular hostel. The party was a blast. Fun people and a safe, welcoming atmosphere. We decided to stay at Rocking J's this time around, since we had so much fun at last year's Halloween party. We checked in and booked a tent around 5ish. Loud music started in the bar almost immediately, and the place didn't quiet down until the sun came up this morning. Party music, meathead fights and drunken giggling kept us up literally all night. Sadly, what was once a backpackers paradise has turned in to a frat boy zoo. I wont snark too much, though. I'll leave the storytelling to Nate.


Since last night was so horrible we switched hostels this morning. We're now staying in Hotel Puerto Viejo. It's a hostel and bar run by nice surfer dude named Kurt. So far the accommodations are MUCH nicer and infinitely quieter than Rocking J's. We're happy to stay here.

Here are some pictures and stuff.

More beaches.

 The decor at Rocking J's is REALLY COOL. There's a ton of cool art and mosaics. Too bad it's been taken over by spring break bros and bimbos.

Hammock hostel. Great idea. I think Moab could use one of these.

That's all, folks.
xoxo
Kia

Sámara and Manuel Antonio

On Monday Kia and I left Monteverde, and headed west to Playa Sámara on the Nicoya Peninsula. It's a quiet beach town, and a favorite among vacationing Ticos. Rumor has it that even ex-president and Nobel Prize winner Oscar Arias owns a vacation house in the area. It's no rumor that Mel Gibson has a house nearby. That's a fact. There's a stretch of beach nearby that the locals call "Playa Gibson." Although we didn't run into the star of Mad Max and Lethal Weapon 1-4, we did enjoy ourselves. 

 Here's Kia hanging out in our new hammock,

 and here I am covered in bed bug bites. They were our only company. Turns out nobody (besides us, I guess) gets all the way out to Sámara in the low season, and there's not too much to do except hang out at the beach. Sure, it sounds great -- and it was pretty great, come to think of it --  but the water was too full of gross runoff from the rain to snorkel or anything. We spent a lot of time walking around, and when it got too rainy to do that, we hung out with Bambi, the perpetually shirtless, perpetually stoned dude who was in charge of the hostel. We spent two nights and a full day there before deciding to head out.

The trip down to Quepos and Manuel Antonio was a pretty long one. We had to take two buses, a ferry and two more buses to get here, but it was worth it.

 This morning we woke up early and went to the national park with our new, Swedish buddy, Gustav. This is one end of Playa Manuel Antonio. We were the second group on it this morning. The only other tracks down this far were from animals.

 There are about a million hermit crabs everywhere in the park. This is one of the smallest ones we could find. Last year my friend Todd and I built a huge maze out of sand for them. Kia, Gustav and I tried to recreate that today, but we weren't as dedicate as Todd and didn't do as elaborate of a job.

 This looks like a pretty good spot to hang a hammock to me, but signs everywhere say that Manzanillo trees are toxic. I believe them.

Here's the raccoon that kept trying to get into everybody's backpacks.

That's all for tonight. Live long and prosper. Love, love, love, Nate

Whatsup, chickens?
Nate and I are still having a wonderful time in Costa Rica. We left La Fortuna a few days ago and now we're in Santa Elena, a small town outside of the Monteverde cloud forest.

We were pretty excited to leave La Fortuna. Our hostel was pretty crappy and our neighbor Jorge kept trying to scam us. We were able to visit the hot springs before we left, which was rad. The hot springs are actually just a river that is heated after it flows through the volcano. There are a bunch of super fancy resorts along the river that charge out the ass to soak in the spring, but we were able to find a free spot downriver where the water forms a small waterfall under a bridge. Soaking in steamy volcano water was exactly what my aching muscles needed after lots of hiking the day before.

The day after the the hot springs we left La Fortuna. Instead of taking the 7 hour bus ride around the mountains and lake, we took the 'jeep-boat-jeep' over them. Calling it a jeep-boat-jeep is pretty misleading, because a jeep ended up being just a van. But it was fun nonetheless.

Arriving in Santa Elena was very refreshing its much cooler, more beautiful and our hostel is a lot nicer. The best part: Our hostel is filled with dozens of super nice adopted street dogs. I love it.

Yesterday we went to the cloud forest. It was easily the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Words can't describe how beautiful it is, which is too bad because we forgot a camera. So instead of including our own pictures, I found this photo gallery online which you are welcome to enjoy.

After the cloud forest some friends we met at the hostel took us to the most amazing tree I've ever seen. In the rainforest there is a tree called a strangle fig. The seed of the strangle fig lands in the top of another tree and it's roots begin to grown done the trunk of the host tree. pretty soon the roots get so thick and strong that it chokes the host tree which then dies and rots away. Whats left is dozens of intertwining vines that are still in the shape of the original tree, only completely hollow. The one that we went to was especially amazing because it was big enough to crawl through. You could actually climb up about 100 ft. through the center of this tree and poke your head out the top.

 Climbing up this tree feels strangely like squeezing yourself out of a giant, arboreal birth canal.

 I'm about halfway up the trunk and looking up here.

 Here I'm at the top looking down. That teeny tiny red spot in the middle is Nate on the ground below me.

 Husband and wife. Smelly, un-showered tree huggers.

So that's the news from Costa Rica.

Pura Vida
Kia