Adios, Costa Rica

Folks,

And so to the end of my last week living in Costa Rica. I leave on Wednesday for Guatemala, and although I'll be back once or twice over the next couple of months (I fly home from here in December), I will just be staying for a night or two.

The pic of the week shows the writer at work. Probably my most typical pose (although I usually face the ocean, I just did it this way for the camera). You can see that I'm putting quite a strain on the poor hammock, and lets just say it now bears the scars.

The 'real' Costa Rica
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One of the reasons that I wanted to move to the coast was because I thought of it as the real Costa Rica. In choosing to come to Costa Rica, the two coasts were a major deciding factor. However, having lived in the central valley and now on the coast, I realise that the central valley is actually the more authentic.

Heredia
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Living in Heredia gave me a sense of how real ticos live. I learnt about tico life from my students and I lived a similar life. I used the same markets, shops and sodas. I lived on a nondescript street off the Avenida Central. I woke in the morning to the loud bustle (too loud for some of my guests) of the city getting its early start. I walked to work every day. I went to local bars.

In Heredia, everything is tico run.

Santa Teresa
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I have loved my three months here on the coast. I think I've been happier living in my one room casita than anywhere else I've ever lived (ok, so not having to go out to work helps). But it's not the real Costa Rica.

It has all the beauty in the mountains, the ocean, the lush vegetation and the animals. But in terms of people everything is built around the tourist dollar, or the dollars of people from the States that have moved here. There are big houses on hills overlooking the ocean everywhere, but I don't know any that are owned and lived in by ticos. The supplies in the shops and the menu in the restaurants are all geared towards holiday-makers. You hear lots of English spoken and a large number of businesses are run by foreigners.

That's not to say that it's touristy or pushy. Everything is laid-back and relaxed, and it's a wonderful place to take a break away from it all. It's just that for me, on reflection, life in the central valley is how ticos live.

Looking back
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I have loved all of my time in Costa Rica. I think back to getting off the plane in April 05 without place to stay, and looking for a job in which I'd virtually no experience. I sometimes wonder how I had the courage to do it!

I feel I have been incredibly lucky. People tell me they don't believe in luck, and that life is what you make it. But in getting the job in Intercultura, the apartment in Heredia, the casita here, it's just incredible how everything always fell into place.

I have met wonderful people, particularly in Intercultura, some of whom I will always keep in contact with and hopefully meet again.

In particular, I've met some wonderful Americans. The Americans who have chosen to live in a country like Costa Rica working for buttons are very different from the loud, whooping Americans you so often encounter on travels. And they'd make you wonder how George Bush could ever scrape a few votes together.

I will also never forget the beauty and variety in this tiny country. Remember that it's about two thirds the size of Ireland, and has the diversity of the Caribbean and Pacific coasts, volcanoes and mountains 4 times the height of any in Ireland.

There are monkeys, egg-laying turtles, sloths, iguanas, geckos, whales and many animals and creatures that I don't even know the names of. Including the green thing that's just landed on my desk. It has six percent of the earth's biodiversity in just 0.03% of its landmass.

Of course there are also earthquakes, scorpions, tsunami alerts and tornadoes.

I've loved my rich experiences here, but I'm sure that there are more to come.

Possessions
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I arrived with one rucksack. It's been supplemented by other rucksack-loads after visits home, things visitor brought from home, and by purchases over 2 years until my stuff fairly filled a 2 bedroom apartment.

Then I had to downsize to what would fit in a car to move here.

Now I have to downsize to what I can carry back on the bus to Heredia.
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And so the end of another phase. I'll continue with my mails one a week, but depending on where I am and when I'm travelling the days I send them may become a little erratic.

So until next week,

Pura vida, y adios,

Éamon

Today's Headline in La Nación: Poll: Better for Yes, but it is a virtual draw

Scorpions

Hi folks,

Well, I'm heading into my final week, and I'm going to be so sad leaving my lovely casita. I've been so happy here over the months, and it's better, rather than worse, for all the drama.

The pic of the week is a scary view of my latest scorpion, who gave me another nasty sting.

Hidden Scorpion
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The other day I was getting ready to go out for my walk. I finish working about 5 or 5.15, and with sunset now at around 5.40 I'm always in a bit of a dash. I grabbed my bag, lifted it up and put it on the bed. I put in stuff like my book, my camera (just in case the sunset is particularly spectacular), my little iPod thing. When I was ready I grabbed up the bag to put it over my shoulder.

As soon as I touched it, I immediately felt the sting. This time I was awake and alert, so I knew what was happening. It takes about 10 seconds for the full force of the sting to hit you. I was over at the sink to run cold water on it. Unfortunately, at that time of the day there is no cold water, it's warm. It was on the index finger of my right hand, and more painful in a concentrated area like a finger, rather than my leg.

I still hadn't seen the scorpion, but I knew the sting by now. I got the spray, went back, and moved the bag a bit, and sure enough there he was. Lurking right at the back.

I tossed the bag so it went on the floor. He still clung on. I sprayed the bag. Then I saw him move out onto the floor. He didn't seem to be reacting to the spray. I sprayed again. He went into convulsions, writhing around lashing around with his tail. After just a few seconds he stopped. I sprayed again to be sure.

I left him there, but when I came back, put him onto a sheet of paper, and took the pic you see above.

Quad bike
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I collected the quad on Wednesday. I want to be able to explore the area a bit more than I've been able to do on foot. Given the state of the roads, I've only been able to explore the beach really.

It was really nerve wracking when I started driving it first. If anything, the state of the roads seems worse on it. Going into the huge potholes full of muddy waters unsure if there are any rocks or stones out of sight is difficult. And when I tried to skirt the edges I was leaning at an angle that made me feel it would overturn.

I'm getting used to it now, and I was able to drive all the way to the end of Mal País yesterday. It gave a wonderful feeling of freedom. But the concentration on these roads, particularly driving back in the dark, is immense.

Thunderstorm
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Thunderstorms are not unusual here, and we normally get a few a week. The one on Tuesday night was the closest yet. The noise was deafening and I would literally jump as it hit. At one stage I went to the door with my camera to take a video clip. One of those instantaneous strikes happened when it was so close that the light and sound are together - the only time I've heard something louder than the tree falling - that I jumped in shock, and then afterwards my hand was shaking. You can see the jump and shaking hands in the video.

The Travelling McDonaghs
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My family are truly on the move at this stage. My sister is teaching in Seoul, South Korea since March, and on Wednesday my mother (who's a Brady!) moved to Nigera, to volunteer for three months. As I travel around between now and Christmas we'll have fun trying to keep in touch. Sharon and Enda are still maintaining a token family presence on the auld sod.
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Well, that's it for this week. Next week is my last. I'll be throwing out everything I possess during the week in an attempt to travel light!

Until next week,

Chau,

Éamon

Today's Headline in La Nación: Waste makes absurd journey to arrive at landfill

Día de la Independencia

Folks,

I think I've used this title for the Independence day emails all the time I've been here, so this is the third. It's easy to see whether shops, bars and restaurants are tico or foreign owned as I walk up the streets, because all tico businesses, homes, cars and trucks are festooned with national flags.

The pic of the week shows a girl in national costume at the 15 September celebrations for Santa Teresa/Mal País last night. She was part of a group from the local school that gave a display of traditional dance.

Quad bikes
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The state of the roads has gradually deteriorated while I've been here. I went into Cóbano on Monday and not only were whole stretches completely in mud, but several parts of the road had completely swept away as well.

I have come to dread walking out after a night of rain, because even in my new plastic clogs (€9 in the supermarket) with grips on the soles there are areas where I'm sliding all over the place. Walking anywhere but the beach requires such concentration.

Because of this, the most popular form of transport is quad bike. They're also called ATVs or All Terrain Vehicles. Most of you will know them, they're like a cross between a big motorbike and a tractor. They're perfect for this terrain. Everywhere you go people are zooming around on them. So I've decided to hire one for a week before I go, and I'll pick it up next Tuesday or Wednesday. It's a bit of an extravagance, but I've lived quite a frugal life since I've been here, and it will allow me explore a bit more before I leave.

The internet cascade
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As I've said before, by far the most difficult thing for me here is a) not having internet access in the casita and b) the really slow speed of access even in the cafés. On Wednesdays and Saturdays I'm always there for between 3 and 5 hours!

I haven't missed TV at all, but I miss the internet so much. The positive side has been that it's less of a distraction from the writing. But on the other hand I so often have things that I need to look up that it slows the process down a lot too.

My two biggest saviours in all this are two free programs that are fantastic. One is Google Reader, which everyone who uses the internet should try out. You 'subscribe' to any sites you want, and it will bring you any updates from them. So you don't need to constantly visit the sites. For example, I have a feed from the Irish Times. Every story that is in the Irish Times comes into my Google Reader list. I get the headline and first paragraph. Other sites make the full article available. But the real power for me is that you can access it offline. So I plug into the internet on a Wednesday and a Saturday, and it downloads all pages that are updated (to a maximum of 2,000). I carry them home on my laptop, and can read them at my leisure in the evening.

However, there are situations where I realise I want the full story and not just the first paragraph. For this I mail myself the link, and when I go to the internet cafe I bring up the page, select what I want to read, and hit a button that copies the whole pages, pictures and all, into the 2nd fantastic program, EverNote. This allows me to get the full detail that isn't in Google Reader.

The only problem is that all this flow of information (I call it the internet cascade) takes time. For example, Pat Rabbitte resigned on a Friday. I got the headlines in Google Reader on Saturday, and marked many articles for reading in full. On Wednesday, I downloaded these to EverNote. So on Thursday, almost a full week after his resignation, I'm finally able to read the full articles.

Overstaying my visa
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My visa ran out on 8th, and I should have done a visa run to Nicaragua. But apart from the expense, this would have taken up about 5 days, 2 days traveling there and back, and 72 hours out of the country. So I decided to skip it. I'm flying to Guatemala on the first leg of my travels on October 3rd, and I don't think they'll even check. If they do, I'm leaving anyway so I don't think there should be a problem.

Supermarket notice
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This notice is in my supermarket, Super Costa, this week. Pure Spanglish!

Super Coast communicates all its respectable clients to him who the day 26 of September the supermarket will remain closed by inventory returning to its normal schedule the day 27 of September. Thanks, Atte: The Management.
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Well, that's it for this week. Just two to go!

Until next week,

Chau,

Éamon

Today's Headline in La Nación: Dengue fever reaches epidemic

I'm a writer

Folks,

I was amazed how quickly everything was cleared up after the tornado. This week has been thankfully less eventful. And I need to update you a little on how things have been going with the writing.

This week, the papers were full of warnings about hurricane Felix. It said there was an alert for the whole country. But I really don't think that on the Pacific we'd get anything but bad weather. Being away from news I don't know what happened with Felix, but the weather's been perfect all week.

The pic of the week shows Ronald and the guy from the restaurant whose name I don't know cutting the tree that fell on the red casita as part of the clean-up.

Tornado clean-up
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On the morning after the tornado I went out for a walk. As I went down the road I realised that the chainsaws I'd heard were actually clearing fallen trees on the trail between the casita and the restaurant. It had been impassable in two places.

Along the main road, everyone was out clearing up. Pulling trees off the road and clearing up their property. The town had no electricity.

I got back at 9.30 and there was a hive of activity around the casitas. Ariel the gardener, Adrubal the chef, Ryan, two friends of Ryan's visiting from the US, Ronald (Charlie's partner), and the guy from the restaurant whose name I don't know, were clearing up. They hacked off all the branches of the fallen trees with machetes, and Ronald then sliced the bigger parts of the trees with the chainsaw. Everything had been removed by 12.30, and the electricity came back at 1pm. It had been gone for 17 hours.

The weather was so beautiful for the clean-up it was hard to believe that it had happened.

The red casita survived really well despite the size and weight of the tree that fell on it. There are just three small holes in the roof and no structural damage. There is a hole in my roof too, but it's giving me no problems, no rain is getting in, so they're going to fix it after I've gone.

I'm a writer
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I've made a lot of progress over the past few weeks in terms of my attitude to writing, if not yet the writing itself. I'm getting to like it more and more, and I think in some little ways it's improving. Although, some of the things I've been writing have been terrible!

A couple of weeks back, I read one part of The Right to Write book that says that if you're writing you're a writer. And I'm writing. So folks, I'm a writer. Once I said that in my head it's all fallen into place, and I really feel it's going to work out for me. How it will I'm not sure yet, but it will.

Knock knock
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On the day I had this epiphany, the exact same day, there was a knock on my door. There's NEVER a knock on my door. I thought I was hearing things. It was the girls from the blue casita (this was a few weeks ago). They'd had a few drinks and were looking for matches or a lighter. 'We don't know anything about you,' they said, 'But we know you're a writer and you're writing a book.' I must have put the vibes out.

First article accepted
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Then last week I got a mail telling me that the first article I'd sent off had been accepted. It's a gay guide to Costa Rica, and was part of an assignment for the writer's bureau. The assignment required that I send it off too. So, I sent it off to GCN and they've accepted it and will publish it in the next few months. They've asked me to send them 'an invoice as agreed'. I have no idea what that means, because I have no idea of price and nothing was agreed. But I'll work something out.
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Well, that's it for this week. I only have 3 weeks left in the casita, and I've been making progress on my plans for my travels around Central America, Mexico and Cuba for the remainder of the year.

So until next week,

Chau,

Éamon

Today's Headline in La Nación: Health service without medication for colds or pain

Tornado

Folks,

Well, the drama just continues here in Santa Teresa. I had planned to write something entirely different this week, but we were hit by a tornado last night and that's got all my attention today.

There are two pics of the week. Both taken this morning (I'm writing on Friday). The first shows the large tree that landed on the red casita, and the second shows the smaller trees that landed on mine.

The start of the storm
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After a lovely day yesterday, the wind whipped up around 4.30 or 5. Wind is unusual here. There was a windy day before. Well, windy for here, it would be classed as a strong breeze in Ireland. The next day there were branches strewn everywhere, and I remember thinking that they'd know all about it if they got a real wind. How right I was.

At about 5.45 I decided to go in, because things were blowing off the desk. It got worse, and I had to close the windows about 7. There was thunder and lightning, but very light compared to normal. The lights kept flickering on and off as the power supply was interrupted a few times. There is an emergency light powered by battery that is in the casita, so I took it out in case we lost power altogether. That happened just before 8.30.

At this stage the wind was very strong. Even in Ireland this would be really strong. I was imagining the damage it would be causing, but feeling comfortable and safe, lying on top of my bed, reading my emails on the laptop using it's battery.

The first tree
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At around twenty to nine, I heard this incredibly loud cracking sound, followed by an almighty bang. The whole casita shook, and I jumped off the bed and cowered by the bathroom door. Knowing that you should head for a door frame in an earthquake I decided that's where I'd head for almighty bangs also.

It was without doubt the loudest noise I've ever heard while I was inside a house. I was quite sure the casita had been hit by lightning. Then I realised that there had been no lightning. It was just like really loud, up close thunder.

I just stood there in shock, my heart going nineteen to the dozen. After about 5 minutes, the wind died down a little, and I opened the door to see if I could see anything outside. I just got this overwhelming smell of sap and leaves. I came out with my torch, and shone it at the end of the porch, and over the surf board box there was lots of bushy trees and branches blowing about, which had never been there before. I turned the torch to the side, to the roof of the red house, and saw this huge tree lying across the roof. It had cracked along its trunk on impact. You can see the tree in the first picture. But when I saw it first it was still dark and in the wind and rain.

The second tree
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I went back inside. I was frightened, but not petrified. Although the tree had been huge, the casita looked to be still standing. I wasn't sure if branches had gone through the roof. I decided to stay on the couch, which was on the opposite side to where the trees are. All the trees are behind the casitas.

So I'm trying to remain calm, realising that anything else isn't going to help. I did, however, pack my bag. I thought that it was possible that Ronald, Charlie's business partner, might arrive to evacuate me to the big house. Or I thought that the casita might also be clobbered by a tree and I'd have to leave. Either way, I thought be prepared.

The battery had gone on the laptop, so I brought the emergency light over, grabbed a beer, and read my book. My heart went every time the wind got stronger. I was waiting for a tree to come through the roof at any minute. The wind was changing in intensity every few minutes, and you'd hear distant cracking.

At 9.15 a louder cracking sound came, and I knew another tree was falling. There was a clatter on the roof, and I was fairly sure it had hit, but it was nothing like as loud as when the tree hit the red casita. A few minutes later there was another crash on the roof. Whether this was another tree, a branch, or the original tree settling I couldn't be sure.

Aftermath
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The wind eased off about 15 minutes later, and I went out with the emergency light, and I could see that there were branches and leaves on top of the casita. I went back in feeling a little easier, because I thought if anything else fell the branches on the roof would have a cushioning effect.

At about 10, the wind died away completely. It was almost eerily silent. I went out again, it was difficult to see the full damage, but I could see that several of the trees had simply snapped completely, the trunk was there, but snapped about three quarters way up, and there was no sign of the top of tree. I had noticed before when I watched the gardener trimming some branches before that the trees are very brittle. There is none of the suppleness most trees have in Ireland where they will bend a lot before they break.

One tree was just a snapped off trunk, and there was a big green iguana clutching the broken top looking up at the rain wondering where the rest of it had gone.

Today
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I woke at 6, and headed out straight away, to see in the daylight what had happened. The whole place looked like a disaster. There were branches and leaves everywhere. The plants had been blown over. The full size of the enormous tree on the red casita was clear. The front of the casita and its porch was completely hidden in foliage of the top of tree.

I walked up the steps, and saw that some smaller trees had fallen onto my casita, and also that there was a tree on the blue casita too. They'd all been hit. Mine was the only one occupied, and probably also the lightest hit. Above the car park there was a tree that had been hit by lightning. It looked like it had been blown apart.

Ronald arrived to survey the damage. He told me that it had been a tornado, although how close to us it was I don't know. He said it had hit Jacó too, and that's quite a distance away. I haven't seen a paper yet. I went out to the village this morning and there were no papers in the shops. The road was impassable in several places apparently, but it was cleared later on.

They had to unblock the little road down from here which was blocked in two places by fallen trees. The sound of chainsaws is everywhere.
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So, that's it for this week. Today, Friday as I write, is a beautiful day, the clean up has been thorough and swift. They're putting the electricity poles back up behind me as I write.

Things are progressing on the writing front, but I'll hold that over until next week.

So until next week,

Chau,

Éamon

Today's Headline in La Nación: Public prosecutor investigates named Education Ministry politicians