location: internet cafe upstairs from some electronic shop i think, downtown San Joaquin De Flores. .
temperature: roughly 29 C, maybe 88 F? poor conversions aside, it's hot.
available tools: one compaq desktop, one sticky keyboard, and one dysfuncional fan
listening to: young men in the next room playing video games; large trucks passing and honking (always) outside; other keyboards and mouseclicks; the futbol game re-cap on the news; more honking. . .
feeling: slightly overheated and mildly guilty, for skipping out on an (entirely optional) event at the school. . was thiking about it, but after seeing the plaza FULL of little kids, gave in to my flight response and took off to explore the town. thre's a christmas party today for neighborhood kids, but today, i am just straight up not down with trying to herd 40plus whippersnappers. in spanish.
wandered through the industrial-ish area betweeen the school and downtown, and remained comfortably oriented throughout the entire walk, for which i am thankful because getting lost here in the heat, in a place without road signs is not my ideal afternoon. however, the lack of street labels has yet to be an issue for someone who grew up using landmarks - old barns, sharp corners, dysfunctional cars, large trees, etc - for directions. .
well, friday i lunched at a latin tapaps place in monteverde - had one of the best and probably the most beautful (almost the most expensive) meal yet: a roasted eggplant/smoked mozz napolean with sundried tomato sauce, a heart-of-palm and tangerine salad topped with toasted almonds and a hoisin-balsamic vinigarette (sp?), and steamed gren beans with a light garlic cream. delicious.. .
that night was spent back in moon shiva, listening to a costa rican rock star whose name i need to look up. he was rather skilled with the guitar, had undeniably admirable vocal strenth and range; the cake's icing: wavy mullet. furthermore, i could understand much of the content of his songs, including a classicly bluesy one - Mi Dulce Concepcion: ' yo tengo una nena, se llama Concepcion. .' and so on and so forth. . .
saturday morning i napped for a few hours in an oversized charter bus from monteverde's ridiculously damaged roads (the govt offered to fix them but eh town declined, in favor of retaining the only thing preventing monteverde from blossoming into some terriblely touristy flower. enough is enough) to volcan arenal. that afternoon we took a simple 2 1/2 hour hike through the rainforest. we saw giant plants, three toed sloths and howler monkeys. our guide, walter, can howl exactly like those critters; it's impressive. along parts of the trail are rubber trees, and we got to play a bit with the sap - it was truly fascinating for me, converting the smooth white treeblood to thick, unsnappable rubber by simply mixing it between fingers. amazing. felt something like discovering fire - an unexpected marvel. walter's father used to make ponchos out of it bu spreading it on large sheets of cloth to dry. and this stuff is biodegradable! amazing.
after our hike we went to baldi hotsprings and spent the evening lounging in hot hot water. there were wet bars, which seem like a fantastic idea until a $1 beer is 6.50 and all blended drinks are $10. whhaaat? it's almost insulting. so we contented ourselves with taking too many pictures, and going down a ridiculously steep waterslide. (may i mention that the was a time not too long ago that you would not have been able to bribe me to sample that green tube? but i did it, and almost had fun.)
we had a buffet dinner at the springs (creamy mushroom sauce with veggies and coconut flan for dessert) and bussed out to the other side of the volcano to wait for rocks to roll.
serously.
arenal is the most active volcanbo in costa rica, and at night you can see the red hot insides spilling down the hill. except the percent of c____ (a chemical component i will remember later) is too low/high for the lava to melt, so when arenal burps he spews glowing bolders.
i have wanted to see lava for many years, and while i won't be completely satisfied until i see the molten stuff, that night was actually breathtaking. we were so far away that the red trails and sparks had to be HUGE, and to hear their crashes from 2plus miles? sheesh. at one point a tour bus pulled up behind us, and the waiting process punctuated by ooh and aaahs and clapping was like watching fireworks, with some key differences : my ears were comfortable the entire time. it was free, for everyone involved. there is no 'bombs bursting in air' uncomfortable patriotic element - it's as natural and necessary as burping a baby, no? (albeit slightly scarier..)
watching the volcano spit orange, walking through winds that threaten to steal your clothes or knock you over, seeing waves reach on determined tiptoes to touch cliffsides and swallow docks, rain filling gutters in a blink, lightning striking just close enough. . these are the thrills i seek. i can do witout rainforest canopies, bungee jumps and parachutes, give me storms and growing things. it's a beautiful combination of feeling miniscule but empowered, awed and reassured, recharged, that i imagine -i hope- keeps churchgoers in attendance - these experiences keep me humble, hopeful, and happy.
after fawning over the volcano, i got some deep deep sleep (waking up confused as to where, exactly, am i? is always a sign of this) and hit the buffet breakfast around 7. we grabbed towls, suits and bright yellow $5 ponchos and set off in the rain to hike (bah - 15 minutes) to a waterfall. i must say i did my fellow puget sound swimmers proud by forging ahead into the waters. . no one took me up on the invitation to join me in those chaotic waters but we moved downstream and had a group swim. felt like a kid playing on a slide, floating down the river and walking back up to get carried down again. the rain stopped during out treck, so it wasn't too cold. spent some time in the nearby town browsing souvenirs (didn't buy a thing of course but a friend treated me to cheesecake ice cream. sigh.) i spent almost 5 minutes admiring a dead moth in a gladd frame - you know those ones that look like the face of an owl? amazing. right down to the light-glintswe lunched at the hotel and reentered out large chariot (this bus could fit 20 some people and we were 4) for the 3 hours to san joaquin.
and now, here i am, staying with another family for the week of christmas.
(just had a small power-outage and thought i might have lost this entire post. refused to freak out, and thank goodness it's all saved and fine. phew.)
my familia tica this town around has 4 kids, but only one left in the house - 22 year old karen who i haven't gotten to know yet as she was busy yesterday with a party for her cheerleading team. she seems nice enough, except she though i was 15?? didn't think i looked that young. . no matter. the parents are great- definitely jokesters, and i think we're all going to get along just fine. no one drinks coffe but the mom, adelaida, so i was an immediate hit when she found out i would be her cafe buddy. this afternoon she's going to teach me to make some pineapple dessert. .
they are definitely catholic, seemingly more of a practicing bunch thatn my other two families, so i am interested to see what christmas is going to be like. already have seem some photos fo the extended family so i may have some hope of remembering names when(if?) we're all together.
hope everyone's well - been hearing lots about snow snow snow, which is hard to imagine here; enjoy it if you've got it and make a snow creature for me. .
love,
mak
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