Back to life, back to reality

Well, after a very long break, I'm now back at work. We had training Wednesday to Friday, and I was teaching yesterday. After a great three weeks, Rita and Enda went home on Monday. The pic of the week shows them enjoying cocktails in El Avión restaurant in Manual Antonio while the sun sets over the Pacific behind.

Playa del Coco
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Unfortunately, our plan to go to Nicaragua didn't work out. All three bus companies were booked out and we couldn't get a seat. So while Rita headed to Manuel Antonio early, Enda and I headed to Playa del Coco, a beautiful town on the northwestern coast in Guanacaste province. We went diving. I hadn't dived since a very dramatic dive when I ran out of air in Brazil in 2003, so it was a little nerve wracking for me at the start. However, when we saw the amount of multi-coloured tropical fish around us it was absolutely incredible. At some stages you had fish 360 degrees around you, as well as above and below. Enda was a first time diver, and he took to it ... well, like a fish to water, I suppose.

San José and El Pueblo
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Myself and Enda had one night in San José after Rita went to Manual Antonio. I thought I'd bring him around the bars, and we had a funny night. We went to a few bars on Calle Amargura, the bar street near the University of Costa Rica. We ended up in El Pueblo, where I haven't been in an age. It's a strange place. It's a compound that looks like an industrial estate. But it's full of bars, nightclubs and souvenir shops. You wander from bar to bar. Some are small with live music, and some are larger with shows. What amused Enda the most was the way that the bouncers tried so hard to get you into their club. It was like the polar opposite of Dublin.

Manuel Antonio
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We ended Rita and Enda's trip in Manual Antonio. It's the first place on the coast I travelled to when we got here, and I've been there more than any other place. But I just love it. It's so breathtakingly beautiful, but also so relaxed.

A total wreck!
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Anyway, now that the string of visitors have gone, I feel that I need a rest! Unfortunately, when myself and Enda were here in Heredia before joining Rita, we were coming home from having a meal and a (very) few beers. I wasn't drunk, honest! But I did have a fall, and really hurt my foot and ankle. That was almost 2 weeks ago, and I'm still limping.

Then when we were in Manuel Antonio, because of the ankle injury I couldn't go to the National Park with Rita and Enda. So I went to the beach and got very badly sunburnt. Now, after almost two years I thought I really understood the Costa Rica sun. The only time I was burnt previously was on an overcast day and I learned my lesson from that.

This time, however, I was under a beach umbrella for the entire day. The sun was very high in the sky and it was hot, but I thought I was completely safe. So I took off my t-shirt to take advantage of the slight breeze. Whether UVB rays came through the umbrella (some percentage can get through apparently), or bounced off the sand (my sides were much more badly burnt than my front) I don't know. Anyway, I was really miserable and sore after it. It's over a week now and I'm still obviously burnt on the sides, and I'm peeling whole sheets of skin. Never again.

One of the girls in school told me that she'd read an article that the sun in Costa Rica was the
strongest in the world. And now I believe it.
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Anyway, that's it for this week. This will be my first full week working, and I'm looking forward to seeing my old students. I also have four new classes, so I'm looking forward to getting to know new students too.

Until next week,

Pura Vida,

Éamon

Today's headline from La Nación: State subsidises fish kills on Isla del Coco

Feliz Año

Sorry about the delay in this week's mail. My routine is well and truly broken between Rita and Enda's visit, and Christmas and New Years. The pic of the week is Enda and Rita outside the church up the road from the apartment on Christmas Eve.

This is my very first time writing the weekly email from a hammock. We're down in Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean, and the room has a hammock on the porch outside.

Christmas
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I've never been one for the traditional Christmas dinner. But now I'm away and having family visitors for the Christmas it was back to the turkey! We were a bit more adventurous for the starters. First we had tamales. These are the traditional tico food for Christmas. They are made of pork, rice and vegetables places in cornmeal and wrapped up in a banana leaf. Next was sopa azteca, a traditional Chicken soup from Mexico, with cubes of cheese and avocado and some fried tortillas. Then we were fully traditional with turkey, stuffing, mash and roast potatoes and veg. I had ordered my turkey the week before Christmas. I just wanted a 10lb one, but they only had 14lb. However, when I went to collect it I had to take an 18lb one, so we've been eating turkey ever since. It was a very special Christmas, and wonderful to be able to share the experience with Enda and Rita.

Volcanoes - zero out of three
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We hired a car, so I had the very unusual experience of driving here, which I've never done before. On Stephen's Day we went to the Poás volcano, which is a couple of hours drive up in the mountains. On the way we realised that the cloud was getting thicker and thicker. By the time we got there it reminded me of my first holiday in Achill. We could see nothing but a thick cloud. There is the volcano crater and a lake higher up in a former crater, but we couldn't see either. The next day we were on our way to Irazú, which has the largest volcano crater in Central America, but which has been dormant since 1963. However, we had to turn back as the cloud beckoned before us. Then we went up to La Fortuna to visit the still active Arenal volcano. This was my fourth time. I saw the lava the first two, but last time with Clara and this time with Enda and Rita the mountain was shrouded in a thick foggy cloud and we couldn't see a thing. However, the trip was made worthwhile by a visit to the wonderful Tabecón hot springs where we spent a full day.

New Years
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We were back in Heredia for New Years. The Central Valley goes mad for fireworks, and we watched the whole thing from the apartment balcony, sipping champagne and smoking Enda's very expensive cigars that Clara brought him back from Cuba. When we hit midnight and the fireworks went off it was like being in downtown Baghdad. It was crazy, people were letting off fireworks just out in the street outside, and this was repeated all over the Central Valley. Michael McDowell would have had a fit. How people weren't killed I don't know, because the fireworks were going every which way. But it was an amazing spectacle.

Puerto Viejo
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Originally we'd only intended to have the car for four days, but it's been great having it, so we've held onto it a little longer. We're now down in the laid back town of Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean coast. We drove out to the beach in Manzanillo today, stopping to look at howler monkeys, a sloth and a toucan on the way back. It was beautiful and relaxed. Tomorrow we're going to the national park at Cahuita, where I believe there are some really beautiful beaches.

Nicaragua
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We're back to Heredia on Thursday, and then Rita goes to Manuel Antonio on Friday. She wants to spend a few days on her own at the beach, so myself and Enda are going to go to Nicaragua. For me it's a long overdue visa run, and we'll visit the city of Granada. When we come back we'll join Rita on the Pacific coast.
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Well that's it for this week. I notice from the papers that Rita and Enda aren't the only Christmas visitors, Brad and Angelina have spent Christmas and New Year here as well!

I hope that you've all had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all the very best for 2007.

Pura vida,

Éamon

Sunday's headline in La Nación: Road deaths climb by 19% in 2006.