Costa Rica´s answer to Crocodile Dundee
In Orosi for a week taking Spanish classes. It´s nice to be a little off the beaten track again and in a small enough town that people dont lock themselves in behind fortress-like gates and people say ´hola´ on the street.
Met a fabulous local character called Nano who has a farm perched on the side of a steep mountain who gave us a tour of his property. We brought him a few beers and we ended up playing cards and eating popcorn (made on his wood burning stove) by candlelight in his rustic cabin with the rain pounding outside while he regaled us with stories and showed us photos.
Nano hiked back down with us on the slippery road in the dark (with a lantern made from bamboo and a candle) and recruited a handful of other travellers for a hike the next day to a 100m waterfall.
The waterfall was impressive, but the highlight of the trip was the 1.5 hour hike up the river to reach it, clambering over boulders and jumping from rock to rock, occasionally veering into the jungle where we slithered around in the mud and vines trying not to think about what a perfect habitat this was for one of Costa Rica´s 900 varieties of snake.
Nano led our rag-tag group, wielding his machete, setting up his rope for some of the really slippery bits, and being larger than life in general. We swam in the rock pools and leaped from nearby boulders. It was nice to spend the day somewhere that few people get to each year.
After a restless night at my homestay family (mosquitoes, no fan, bumpy old matress), I joined a group on a shuttle tour of some local sights, starting with a trip up the Irazú volcano where the clouds magically parted for us as we reached the crater and we were able to gaze down into the surreal green lake below.
Met a fabulous local character called Nano who has a farm perched on the side of a steep mountain who gave us a tour of his property. We brought him a few beers and we ended up playing cards and eating popcorn (made on his wood burning stove) by candlelight in his rustic cabin with the rain pounding outside while he regaled us with stories and showed us photos.
Nano hiked back down with us on the slippery road in the dark (with a lantern made from bamboo and a candle) and recruited a handful of other travellers for a hike the next day to a 100m waterfall.
The waterfall was impressive, but the highlight of the trip was the 1.5 hour hike up the river to reach it, clambering over boulders and jumping from rock to rock, occasionally veering into the jungle where we slithered around in the mud and vines trying not to think about what a perfect habitat this was for one of Costa Rica´s 900 varieties of snake.
Nano led our rag-tag group, wielding his machete, setting up his rope for some of the really slippery bits, and being larger than life in general. We swam in the rock pools and leaped from nearby boulders. It was nice to spend the day somewhere that few people get to each year.
After a restless night at my homestay family (mosquitoes, no fan, bumpy old matress), I joined a group on a shuttle tour of some local sights, starting with a trip up the Irazú volcano where the clouds magically parted for us as we reached the crater and we were able to gaze down into the surreal green lake below.
2 Comments:
OK. Let's compare your day with mine. During an excutiating hour-long phone conversation regarding an application re-design too boring to even recall let alone recount, I am interrupted twice by cubible nazis who tell me the small couch in my new cube is "not allowed."
When I ask the first henchmen why, he in unable to answer, but anxiously sends for his superior. The supervisor explains that all cubicles are supposed to be "the same", and if any variation was allowed, it might "start a trend."
Over lunch I learn that yet another colleague has resigned in disgust. For the fourteenth hundred time, the survivors discuss the pros and cons of quiet desperation.
In the afternoon, while fending off a drip drip drip of emails trying to coax me into a project I'm desperately trying to avoid, my so-called manager dumps yet another random project in my lap, tells me to cancel the project he appointed me to lead last week, and then abruptly announces a vacation, leaving me to manage the Lido deck of the Titanic for the next week.
In a small act of heroism, I discover the source of the endless ringing that is driving the whole floor mad and eventually figure out how to shut it off.
Sometime later I realize that the faint buzzing of overhead florescent lights, and the mindless static of muffled conversations and keyboard tapping for a radius of fifty cubes has finally caused time to stop altogether. In order to move again, to make any kind of progress against the gray sucking molasses of each passing minute, I have to think of something I care about. I try very hard, but I feel all fuzzy inside, and for the life of me I can't think of one thing.
Not one of my better days. Even so, time started up again when I came home and Sarah ran to the door to give me a hug. So even with the gray sucking molasses of each passing minute, I wouldn't trade my life away or even feel I have much of a right to complain. But I must admit, catching a "green wave", or playing cards with a local character, or hopping from boulder to boulder sounds pretty good to me right about now.
Savour your time in the jungle, young Agerbak! Open all your pores until the jungle takes root inside you. If you do the job right, you should be able to take it with you when you leave.
Cool. I'll have to try this waterfall one day. Keep it up!
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