Monteverde to Nicaragua

[First- An explanation of the pictures- These actually were supposed to go to a different post, but we don't feel like fixing it right now. The first picture is right before we went ziplining- so fun! The bridge was in the Monteverde cloud forest, about 150 feet up off the ground. We saw monkeys about two minutes after we took this picture! The third picture is Arenal volcano. This picture was taken from the van on the way to our volcano tour, but we had a very similar view from the town of La Fortuna.]

It´s been an interesting experience so far...as we have stayed at a lot of hostels and things we mostly meet other tourists from Europe and North America...doesn´t exactly make you feel like you´re having a REAL experience here. About four days ago, Gwen started talking about wanting to volunteer to help people who were affected by the earthquake. We had basically spent our days sightseeing and having fun, ignoring the fact that the news every night brought the death toll higher and showed increasing destruction from mudslides. Even mentioning this idea to other travelers and hostel owners, in hopes of getting a contact or entry point into the efforts, we were met with confusion as to why we would do that on our vacation. I looked online for an opportunity to travel to the Alajuela area, but then a friendly bartender in Monteverde told us that most of the area was closed because of the danger of aftershocks- he asked us very nicely not to try to go there. We had already made a small financial donation to a group of kids who had been fundraising and collecting food at the supermarket, so as we shopped for dinner on our last night in Monteverde, the 14th, we asked if we could help them in any way... About five minutes later, Gwen and I were wearing bright orange T-shirts that said "Soy un conquistador de la comunidad," (Roughly translated, we are people who fight for the community!) and we were bagging groceries while soliciting donations from both tourists and locals. Gwen's experience at Big Y came in Very handy...I mostly did the asking for money part, which I know how to do! After about half an hour of this, we helped load food into a van, and walked over to a community center to do an inventory of all of the donations they'd received that day. During the walk, we got a chance to speak with the woman who ran the children's program that had been responsible for the bright orange tshirts and volunteers who we'd given money to earlier that week. She was, in a word, amazing. She began the program several years ago with a grant from the Monteverde Institute and got kids involved in hopes of addressing problems related to child abuse. The program was a huge success (55 volunteers age 3 through 18 presently) and they do everything from working in the Cloud Forest Preserve to fixing roads to helping others in the country. Three years ago, she (Dulce is her name) helped 8 high school-aged girls achieve their goal of making it to Wisconsin...of all places...for a soccer tournament. Since then, the program has gained tremendous support and involvement from parents and children in the community. Dulce mentioned that the program has been good for everyone...for the poor kids, she told us, the program gets them out of their homes and helps them feel better about themselves, while for the wealthier ones it provides a bit of perspective. Kids travel from miles away on foot to participate in these service events and Dulce buys them a taxi ride home after dark when the events are over. Funding was cut a few years ago, but Dulce didn´t have the heart to tell them so she just kept the program going. So, anyway, we spent an evening with her and some kids loading a truck, soliciting donations at the supermarcado, and sorting through piles of clothes. It was a fantastic opportunity to re-learn the vocabulary for various clothing items! :) One of the funnier moments was when we were trying to come up with a polite way to inventory a "sexy santa nightie" that someone had donated. A mom whose kids had come in to help threw it at Gwen, and said "es un regalo para ti!" (It's a present for you!) That night was one of the best we've had so far. It's been nice to have this time here before we move on to Quepos, as it's given us a chance to experience several possibilities of how we can spend our time here.


Jeez. We're talkative. The next morning, we woke up so very early to take a series of buses to Nicaragua. The day before, we spent awhile trying to figure out the best travel plan, which was complicated by the fact that we were intentionally misled by people who wanted us to take a taxi instead, making the bus sound nearly impossible, and certainly very expensive. But! We found a very nice guy who helped explain the bus schedule along the Pan-American highway. We took a total of three buses to get to Nicaragua, where we stood in line for two hours because the computer was down. Once we finally made it through the border, we were accosted by two kids who insisted that there was NO way to take a bus to our final destination. Fortunately, we had been chatting with enough people in the line to know that this was probably not true....we also remembered our lesson from the day before: fact check.

After taking our fourth bus, on which there was inexplicably someone who was carrying a box of dogs, and a taxi, which already had a man and a woman and a baby who may have been fresh from the hospital, we made it to our final destination, San Juan del Sur. Of course, we immediately found an inexpensive, clean, safe place to stay, bought beers, and then jumped directly into the ocean. It is beautiful here, and fewer people speak English, so it's nice to HAVE to practice Spanish. We have already found a favorite "soda" (local restaurant) and made friends with the locals who ate breakfast and dinner there with us today. Being at the beach, particularly after so much traveling, makes it feel like we are actually on vacation.

The plan right now is to head to Ometepe Island on Sunday. The island is in the running to be named one of the New 7 wonders of the world --who knew they were choosing more?? The island itself is made up of two connected volcanoes, and apparently has beautiful beaches and cheap accommodations. We'll let you know how it goes!!!

Before we sign off, here is an official invitation to come and visit us in Quepos during the month of February. If we were better at posting pictures, I would post some, because we have this cute little white clapboard house with an extra bedroom, just for YOU.

signing off- Gwen and Margaret