And the journey continues

After my few days back in the Netherlands it was already my last week at the project. It was a nice close-up. I’d bought a flour puzzle and I brought some balloons. We had a fun last day and I hugged them a lot. I never really thought that I liked young kids but as of the first day I was totally crazy about them. They were so cute, especially all with those big brown eyes. I would never do something like this for work but I enjoyed it way more then I imagined.

With the girls I planned something special. During our lessons we’ve practiced 3 conversations which you could have in different shops: clothes shop, drug store and fruit/vegetable market. During the last lesson we did the “shopping-game”. I bought some things of all 3 different shops. The different dialogues we’ve practiced helped them to “buy” the stuff from each other. They could keep the things afterwards. The next day the girls had a trip planned to the beach and asked me to join. We had a nice day at the beach together and afterwards I was a bit sad to leave.

After saying goodbye to everyone in Granada Hannah and I took the boat from Granada to San Carlos (14 hours). This seemed like a cool plan at first but I can’t recommend doing it. Almost everyone at the boat got very nauseous and some people had to throw up. Luckily we managed to sleep most of the trip but we were glad when we arrived. In San Carlos we found out that things would not really work out the way we planned to. By now we should have known that you can never trust a published or told schedule of any public transport around here. We went (again) by boat to Isla Solentiname, which was described as a very artistic place. In reality it was just a small island with a few houses and 1 shop with some wooden arts. The next day we took another boat to El Castillo. We arrived in pouring rain and decided to first go for a late lunch before visiting the castle. When the rain had stopped and we got up to the castle it was already closed. That night we both got very very sick. Probably there was something wrong with our lunch. All by all this was not a very successful last weekend in Nicaragua but we still saw some nice things and had fun.

The last 2 weeks I stayed at the farm Villas Mastatal in Costa Rica. The farm is situated in de middle of nowhere in the rainforest. The views were stunningly beautiful and the whole place and the people were great. There were constantly about 10-15 volunteers and we all got along very well. In the morning we worked on the farm: (re-)planting beans, banana trees, corn and other stuff, building a greenhouse and a bus stop. All our meals consisted mostly of food from the farm. If you had cooking-duty you could be picking the same food you’ve been planting in the morning. Everything tastes just a bit better if you freshly pick it and are involved in the growing process. In the afternoons we went for walks into the National Park in which the finca was located, and went swimming in the several waterfalls. Further we just relaxed all together, made a bonfire, had movienights etc.

In the weekend I went with Wren and Lauren to Manual Antonio, a National Park which is quite famous for tourists to go. We had a great time here relaxing at the beach and spotted a lot of wildlife: monkeys, deer, crabs, bats, raccoons, agoutis, iguanas, sloth. We even had a fight with one of the monkeys because he tried to steel Laurens bag.

Right now I am in Panama City and my last month here in Latin America has started. This afternoon I’m gonna pick Jesper up from the airport and our trip together will begin. I’m really looking forward to it. And hopefully we can have a great party in Bocas del Toro when he gets his final results.

P.S. Thanks a lot to everyone who contributed to my founding for the project. I’ve bought a lot of stuff like: computer, internet, printer (so that they can study English on their own), mixer, radio, clothes, toiletries, diapers, towels, toys, fruits and of course all materials for the English classes. They were very grateful for it so thank you!!

The rain season has started

The rain season starts here in Nicaragua in May. I knew that but I didn’t suspect that it would be that it would be this abruptly. On the 30th of April it suddenly was cloudy (I’d barely seen any clouds here in 3 months) and in then it started raining, thundering and lightning all night long. During day it’s still nice and sunny but now in the evening it’s again storming. The ditch is overflowing and in the main room the water comes down the wall at one place. It’s not very extreme but imagining that this is nothing here and it gets way way worse is crazy.

It has been a while again since my last story. I’m keeping myself very busy. The guy from the print shop asked my why I’m always in a hurry; I said it must be my culture. My time in here is almost at its end. In about two weeks I will already leave Nicaragua and start travelling. My time here is even shorter now because last night we got the news that my grandmother has died.. My parents already spoke to me at the beginning of the week that she wasn’t doing well and that I had to be prepared for the worst. So now I’ll go from Sunday until Saturday back to Holland to go to the funeral and be with my family. It’s a sad reason to come back for but now the plan is made I’m also kind of looking forward to see some people again, in the end it already has been almost 4 months since I’m gone.

The last couple of weeks I did a lot of nice short trips and have just been living my life here in Granada and working at the project. The last weeks of teaching on my own to the girls went very good. They seem to like my classes and I like teaching them. By now I also used quite a bit of the money we all collected together. They could use a computer, a mixer, an iron and a radio. These things I’ve already bought and they were very happy with it. Tomorrow I’m gonna look for a printer and internet connection so they have the opportunity to keep improving their English on their own after I leave. I will also have a look coming week back home for cd-roms for learning English. The rest of the money I will use for some basic stuff: clothes, toiletries, diapers, towels etc.

The week after Semana Santa and my trip to volcano Telica we went with a whole group to Playa Gigante. There we had a nice and relaxed weekend with just sunbathing, walking around a bit and having some rum and Toña during the evenings.

The weekend after that we went to Canyon Somoto. This was a beautiful rural area just about 3 kilometers from the border with Honduras. It’s exactly the kind of thing I like: nature, rocks, water! First day we did a sunset-horse riding trip in the mountains with great views of the canyon. The next day we went on a six-hour hike through the canyon, including a nice but scary 7-meter jump. Believe it or not but I was actually quite terrified when I was standing up there. I had more troubles with this than with the bungee jump in Costa Rica. Only thing that wasn’t that nice about this trip is that I’ve dropped Daniela’s glasses in the canyon. I was supposed to hold them for a minute but they slipped away and sank into the 20 meter deep canyon. But besides that it was a very cool trip!

Last week we went up north again to National Park Padre Ramos (the biggest mangrove forest in Central America. We had a nice hostel at the beach and went into the mangroves with a local guide in his boat. I expected to see a bit more wildlife but it was still a nice trip. Especially climbing up a hill and having an amazing view of the whole area. I wanted to eat fish and our hostel served only vegetarian food so the guy who was our guide at the boat trip went in the afternoon looking for fish. We ate in his house and he had found huge red snappers and prepared them deliciously in his little house (cabin).

Further we’ve been one morning to the Mombacho cigar factory in Granada. This was very interesting to hear and learn more about this process, we’ve even made our own cigar which is harder then you would think.

At the moment I’m just having two relaxed days in Granada waiting for my flight back home. So yeah don’t be surprised if you see me walking around in Appie again next week but don’t worry I won’t stay long. Still too much to see and to do!

Xxxxx

* While writing this story the rain got quite a bit worse. The whole electricity just broke down so I’m now walking around with a flashlight, which I luckily have because without you can’t see a thing. The water is now really flowing into all the rooms and I just found out that also the toilet and the toilet paper are soaking wet. I’ll put this story online as soon as we have electricity again and now I’m going to sleep, not that much else to do at the moment. Luckily with the rain also the temperature got down a bit because sleeping without a van is normally impossible. Good night

Semana Santa & Volcano Telica

Last week was Semana Santa (Holy Week). This is the week before Easter in which all people in Latin-America and also Spain have a lot of religious activities and most people don’t have to go to work. In this week also all schools are closed and because of that most volunteers don’t have to work either and so almost everyone left for a trip. I was curious about the whole thing so I decided to stay and join the girls I work with at my project with all their activities. It was an interesting experience but I don’t think I ever wanna do it again.

On Monday I’ve joined the girls for a day of praying. This was a very long and exhausting day. The guy who said the prayers and read from the bible (who was not a priest but just a random guy) spoke from 9 AM until 5.30 PM. We just sat and listened... My Spanish is absolutely not good enough to understand all those religious things so I basically just sat there all day doing nothing. It’s probably for the best that I didn't understand all of it because otherwise it might have been even worse since I’m not really into all these religious stuff.

On Tuesday we went to a little village outside Granada. Here we made mixed groups with us and the children of the village. In groups we went by all the houses in the village to read them from the bible, I did the reading (I know it's pretty crazy) and the others explained and discussed what it meant. Later on in the afternoon there was a service. The priest arrived in a big car with a mobile phone in one hand and the hostias in a plastic bag in the other hand. Afterwards there was a procession in which the children played parts from the bible.

On Wednesday we went to another neighborhood just outside Granada. Here everyone dressed up as Christian figures and then we did another procession. This procession was about the walk of Jesus with the cross up the mountain. They took it quite serious. The kid who played Jesus was really carrying a cross, other kids had to hit him with sticks, he had to fall down several times, they painted blood on his face with red paint and in the end they “attached” him very realistically to the cross.

On Thursday where was a big service in the main Cathedral in Granada. This was actually kind of impressive. There were about 30-40 priest walking in a long row to the front and I think the Bishop was also there because there was one guy who was really dressed up and who was wearing a mitre. I didn’t take my phone because I thought it might be a bit disrespectful to make pictures in a cathedral during a service. I was very surprised to see a nun with a big iPad making pictures and videos... At the service on Tuesday I took the hostia because that’s what I would also do back home since I had my baptism and my commune even though I’m not practicing. But before this service started the chief nun came to me and told me that it was actually not appropriate for me to take the hostia because I didn’t do confession recently. She offered me to arrange to do confession that afternoon so afterwards I could take the hostia, but I decided not to do that, they take it all very serious here. Later that afternoon we went again to a village outside Granada for another service.

On Friday (finally the last day!) we did a long procession with loads of people up on a hill to a cross. This was kind of similar to the procession on Wednesday but now with adults. It took very long and afterwards we were all a bit burned in spite of our sunscreen.

For the weekend I went to Leon and I was really up for something totally different and didn’t want to see any other service or procession because I’ve had enough of that during the week. I went on a trip to Vulcano Telica. This is a very active Vulcano near Leon. Once a month they have a full moon-hike. I decided to do this one because it’s quite unique. It was a very cool experience. We first had diner all together at the office of the tour operator. Then at 10.30 we headed to the Vulcano. Here we hiked until 3.30 AM until we were at the top of the volcano. During the walk we barely needed a light because the full moon already provided so much light. The days before there had been a fire on the way to the volcano and our guide told us that the path had been closed for several days. They waited until the last moment to decide whether we were allowed to go up or not. On our way we saw several spots that were still glowing. It kind looked kind of like a bonfire at the end when there are no flames anymore but you can still see it glowing. But then a lot of those spots along the way. When we were more up we could see another big wildfire at the other side of Leon. That was not close to us but because we were that high we could see it quite good. When we were on top of the volcano we walked to the crater to see the lava inside. I expected to see a bit more but it was still very cool to see! After that we just lay down on the ground next to the volcano to sleep for about an hour until sunrise. This was very cold but at the same time amazing. Just imagine lying on the ground with a big steaming volcano, a full moon and a lot of stars with several horses walking around you. After “sleeping” for an hour we got up again to watch the sunrise. Then we had breakfast made by the Telica tribe who live around the volcano. They started at about 4 AM with cutting wood to make our breakfast. Because the glowing spots which we saw on our way up apparently started to burn a bit more we could take the same way back down so we took a shorter way and then had a long ride by car/truck on a very very bumpy road. It was a very exhausting but really amazing trip!

This week I've started teaching English to the girls on my own. I was a bit nervousabout it especially because some of them are real teenagers with the matching attitude but it actually went surprisingly well. They listened to me and they seem to like the classes. Part of the collected money I’m using now to make the lessons more fun and to provide them some materials they can also use after I leave. Unfortunately it’s impossible to find good learning books in whole of Nicaragua. They just don’t have it at all... So I’m creating the material myself. I've bought all of them a nice map to put there papers in. Further I’m now talking with the nuns about other things they need.

Now I've started teaching I'm constantly very bussy with preparing classes and everything. Time is passing by very quickly now and I feel like I'll never have enough time to do everything I want to do... On the other side time passing by this quickly means that I'm having an amazing time which is really the case so that's a good thing

Regular life in Granada

After almost a month without updates I thought it might be time again to write something. You would say that I should be very busy because I didn’t wrote for all this time but now I’m trying to think about what I’ve done in the last month it’s actually not that much special besides the last week when I had a week of vacation.

My weeks have been pretty much all the same. By now I’ve got used to my work here on the projects. In the mornings I’m still working with the little children who are sooo cute. It’s bad to say but of course I have a few favorites (mostly the very little boys with huge black eyes). I’m becoming a champion in changing diapers and washing kids after peeing in their pants. For one reason or another they always come to me when they do that or they just pull down their pants and start peeing on the playground.. I’m starting to get used to it by now.

The afternoons with the girls are also very nice. They are starting to open up a bit more to me. The Canadian people who gave the English classes have left and in two weeks I’m gonna start teaching on my own.

Coming week is Semana Santa/Holy week here in Latin America. This is basically a week with a lot of religious festivities and a lot of people are free from work and schools are also closed. The girls who I work with have a special program the whole week and I asked the chief nun if it would be possible for me to join their program. That was possible so I’m very curious about how this week will be!

Because I’m going to work during Semana Santa I was able to take last week off. I used it pretty well with 3 nice trips. First we’ve went for a night to Laguna de Apoyo (a crater lake close to Granada). This was a very beautiful and quiet place. We had a nice hostel right on the beach with free use of kayaks. After that we went to Vulcano Masaya. This is a volcano in between Granada and Managua which is very active. When we came at the crater of the volcano we saw how much smoke is constantly coming out of the volcano. Everyone started coughing right away. The gases coming out of the volcano are clearly not healthy at all. It was very beautiful and weird up there. It is really how you imagine a volcano to be. We were their around sunset which was also amazing from up there. When it was dark we went to the bat caves. These are caves with (of course) a lot of bats. We all got flashlights because we went quite deep into the caves and it was very very dark! We had constantly bats flying around our hats which was pretty cool! Unfortunately we didn’t saw any lava because the place where you normally can see it was closed for safety reasons. Hopefully I’m gonna see that somewhere else.

Then the really cool part of my week of vacation started. I went with Carlotta to the Corn Islands. These are two small islands (big and little corn) at the Caribbean coast which look like paradise. I’ve seen a lot of pictures of the islands but in reality it was exactly as you see on postcards etc. It really was paradise. We took a small plane from Managua to Big Corn (public transport through land takes about 2/3 days) and then a boat from Big Corn to Little Corn. The first night we slept in a hostel high on a hill with a great view on the coast. The day afterwards we found a place with little cabins literally 50 meters from the ocean. These cabins were even cheaper than our hostel on the hill so we decided to change. On the island we mostly relaxed and walked around. The island is about 2,5 km² so you can easily walk all around it. There are no cars, no roads and during day mostly no electricity. Very basic but also really cool! There were just come walking paths through the “jungle” and of course the beach where you can walk on. We also went snorkeling one day. There were a lot of beautiful fishes, coral and we even saw a nurse shark. Further we didn’t do that much besides relaxing and eating delicious daily fresh fish. Last two days we spend on big corn. As the name already says this island is a bit bigger (10km²) and here they have a road and some cars. After Carlotta left I had 2 days alone so I’ve rented a bike to explore the island. Even though it’s not that popular for tourists also this island was very beautiful with a lot of amazing beaches.

Now back again in Granada and up for a new week of work. You all have to miss me a bit longer by the way. I’ve decided to change my flight so I can travel a bit more after I’m done with working. Jesper is gonna meet me in Panama where we will spend about 2 weeks together and after that Sam will come and we will travel together to Colombia. So I’ll see you at the 30th of June coming from Bogotá!

Happy Easter

xxxxx

Bienvenida a Nicaragua

I’m going to switch to English with these updates so that also the people I meet on my way are able to read it. Sorry if my spelling is not correct but my speaking is still way better than my writing. During my last update I was still in Costa Rica, which feels now already really long ago. I’m now a bit more than 2 weeks in Nicaragua and I’ve experienced a lot of amazing things. This is going to be quite a long story and I’m probably still going to forget a lot of things but these two weeks have so far been the best since I’m here.

First things first.. My journey from Costa Rica to Nicaragua went very smooth. No problems at all and I arrived more or less at the expected time in San Juan del Sur (a coast place in the south of Nicaragua). I was supposed to stay here until I would go to Granada for the voluntary work but the plan changed. San Juan del Sur is a very touristy and party place which is nice for a few nights but I wanted to see a bit more. The hostel in San Juan was beautiful: a bit up on a hill with amazing view and sunset over the ocean. It was a real party hostel; people were drinking rum all day long. At my first night there (while drinking a lot of rum) I met Ryan and Dave, two guys from Canada and Australia and we went the day after together to Popoyo beach (a small surf place a little bit more north).

This was a great decision because we had good fun together and Popoyo is a beautiful place. On our first night we already saw the most amazing sunset and star heaven I’ve ever seen. Popoyo is really really tiny, it has about 25 houses and a very small supermarket with kind of grumpy people but even that was amusing. After two night we’ve changed our hostel because at the first place were some strange people hanging around at night so we’ve decided to move. Our days in Popoyo were very simple: eating, surfing, relaxing and more eating and beers.. Great way of living! Another special thing in Popoyo was the river. There was a river which you had to cross to get to the surf spot. This crossover was quite challenging with the different tides and change in stream. Sometimes it was a bit too much but it created fun moment especially when the surfboards are starting to catch the stream.

Both Dave and Ryan were planning to go to Granada (the place where I’m doing voluntary work) as well so after 4 amazing days in Popoyo we went together to Granada. Arriving in Granada I’ve saw the place I am supposed to stay for the coming 3 months. The place is actually a small Spanish school for foreigners and it has 2 bedrooms in it. I have one bedroom and Wieke (a Dutch girl) is staying in the other room. It’s a nice place with VERY loud neighbors but we have a small garden, our own kitchen and bathroom en even our own bikes which is perfect! Granada is a beautiful and very clean city at the lake of Nicaragua. You can see here quite well how poor some people are. You have a lot of adults and children begging for money or food which is sometimes hard to see. There is a main street with a lot of nice terraces and bars where you can hang out. The local kids are every night doing break-dance performances in this streets (they are really good!). It’s a nice city to stay a few months, not very big but it has a lot of nice places (Dave and Ryan I’m writing this while sitting in the garden café with a smoothie

Being in Granada I’ve also started my voluntary work. I’m working at a Centrum which is runned by nuns to support poor people. Right now I’m working three mornings at a crèche with children until 4 years old; the youngest one is 10 months. This can sometimes be quite exhausting but it’s also great fun! I never realized that I liked young kids this much. These children are all from poor families. They are at the crèche so that their parents are able to work and earn some money. And even when they don’t work the children at least get some decent meals which they might not be able to get at home because they don’t have the money for the food. Further I work 4 afternoons with girls between 11 and 17 years old. These girls are also living with the nuns and go to school there. The background of the girls are very different, some have had serious problems with drugs our have been abused but others are there because their parents are not able to take care of them very well and they have better opportunities when they stay with the nuns. I’m still kind of figuring out how I can help here best. At the beginning they told us to just help them with their homework. Right now I’m assisting two older Canadian people who are here for a few weeks to give them extra English classes in the afternoon. They are just here for 2 more weeks and after that I will take over these classes. Teaching them English is one of the things to help them most because it gives them so much more opportunities later in live. Nicaragua is still developing as a touristy country but the coming years it will just become more and more so if they speak some English they have way more chances to find a good job.

Besides getting used to the working life again I’ve not do that much last week in Granada, just a bit relaxing and going out for drinks and dinner. We’ve even had an afternoon in Nicaraguan style: coffee, rum and cigars). I have to admit that I did not join this whole thing properly because I’ve been sick the day before but I accompanied and the real Nicaraguan vibe was totally present. This way we more or less celebrated our last night with Ryan before he went back to (freaking cold!) Canada.

Last weekend we’ve went to Leon (a university-city a bit more north). I really liked this place and will go back there for sure. We’ve did a lot of nice things: going to the American Sniper movie, the beach, volcano boarding at cerro negro and just hanging around in the city. The volcano boarding was really cool just the walk up to the top of the volcano was a bit hard. The wind over there was very strong and you have to carry your board up and this catches a lot of wind which makes walking and coordinating a bit difficult. But in the end we’ve made it and had a great slide down!! Your face is totally black afterwards and I had a nice black mustache. Before I went back to Granada we’ve climbed the cathedral, up there it was really beautiful. It is totally white and it makes you feel like you’re in Greece.

Right now I’m back in Granada and starting to get used to life here, finding a rhythm, making new friends. But I’m doing great and I’m excited for the rest of my stay here and all the nice weekend trips I’m planning to do!

Lots of love from Nicaragua

xxxxx

Hasta luego Costa Rica!

Mijn laatste avond in Costa Rica is alweer aangebroken. Morgen vertrek naar Nicaragua. Alhoewel ik heel veel zin heb in een nieuw avontuur vind ik het ook wel jammer om hier weg te gaan. De afgelopen 5 weken zijn top geweest! De taalcursus, de mensen, de uitjes, alles was even leuk!

Sinds mijn laatste verslag heb ik vooral veel gerelaxt. De taalschool lag op het strand dus buiten de lessen deden we niet meer dan op het strand liggen, zwemmen en beetje (proberen te) surfen. Als we heeel actief waren gingen we op de fiets naar één van de volgende stranden voor de afwisseling. In Sámara zijn een aantal leuke baretjes en clubs met ladiesnight, salsanight en reggaenight dus ook in de avonden hebben we ons zeker niet verveelt. 'S nachts op het strand met een drankje onder de sterrenhemel is verder ook niet vervelend.

Vorig weekend was in een nabijgelegen plaatsje een aantal dagen feest. Op zaterdag zijn we daar met een groep van de school heen geweest. Op straat was van alles te doen zoals optochten (toch nog een beetje carnaval), eetkraampjes, feesttenten etc. Ook was er 's avonds Torros (stierenvechten). Dit gaat er hier een beetje anders aan toe dan hoe wij het kennen van Spanje. Hier worden de stieren niet gedoodt of verwondt. Het was een beetje duur maar als je er dan bent wil je het ook zien. De arena is vergelijkbaar met Spanje, een cirkelvormig veld met rondom tribunes. Toen het bijna ging beginnen stonden er nog altijd superveel mensen in de cirkel. Wij vonden dit een beetje vreemd en waren aan het wachten totdat de mensen de ring zouden verlaten. Dit gebeurde echter niet.. Stierenvechten houdt hier namelijk in dat er tientallen mensen in de cirkel staan en er vervolgens een stier los wordt gelaten en alle mensen door elkaar gaan rennen, vrij bizar. Zodra de ronde voorbij is komen er 3 cowboys op paarden met lasso's de arena binnen die de stier vangen en meenemen. Ook waren er mannen die gingen rodeorijden. In een hokje gaat de man dan op de stier zitten en vervolgens gaat het hokje open en probeert de stier de man van zich af te schudden (zoals wij dit in Phantasialand met een nepstier hebben), sommigen hielden dit behoorlijk lang vol! Rondom aan de hekken hangen mensen die de stier af en toe een schop geven als hij langsloopt. Op een gegeven moment viel een van de mensen vanaf het hek op de stier, de stier gooide de man van zich af en begon vervolgens met zijn kop ertegen te duwen, daarna leek het nog alsof de stier op de rug van de man stond. Het zag er behoorlijk heftig uit en ik denk niet dat die man er heelhuids vanaf is gekomen. Verder vloog er wel vaker opeens iemand door de lucht of werd iemand ondersteboven gelopen. De meesten staan gewoon op en gaan weer verder. Het was een bizarre maar ook wel gave avond.

Dit weekend zijn we naar Parc Nacional Monteverde en Arenal geweest. Vrijdagavond hebben we een avondwandeling (in het pikkedonker) in het regenwoud in Monteverde gedaan om dieren te bekijken die vooral 's nachts leven. Vrijwil meteen hadden we geluk want er was een luiaard vrij laag in de boom aan het eten. We konden hem heel duidelijk zien. Een luiaard is nagenoeg doof en blind en hij reageerde dus ook totaal niet op onze aanwezigheid en ging rustig door met eten. Daarna wist de gids een tarantula uit zijn hol te lokken. Verder hebben we een schorpioen, kikkers (met rode ogen), een slang, een slapende tucan en papegaai, vleermuizen, kinkajou en een grote wandelende tak gezien. Ik vergeet nu vast nog wel iets. Onze gids vertelde dat in Costa Rica ongeveer 2x per dag iemand wordt gebeten door een slang maar doordat elke dokter en elk ziekenhuis wel tegengif heeft gaat het zelden echt mis. Tijdens het lopen op een supersmal paadje in het pikkedonker zei hij wel nog even dat we zo ver mogelijk links moesten houden omdat er rechts weleens schorpioenen konden zitten..

Gisteren zijn we naar het Mondeverde extreme park geweest. Hier gingen we door het regenwoud ziplinen. Het ziplinen zelf was al een hele ervaring, soms ging je echt meer dan 100 meter boven de grond van de ene berg naar de andere. Bij het ziplinen zat ook een tarzanswing, superman en batman. Bij de tarzanswing spring je van een platform en val je eerst enkele meters naar beneden en begint vervolgens op en neer te slingeren. De superman was zo'n kabel van meer dan 100 meter boven de grond van ene naar de andere berg alleen hang je hierbij met je rug en voeten aan de kabel bevestigd waardoor je dus als een superman/vogel horizontaal gaat. De batman was eigenlijk hetzelfde als de superman maar dan door een donkere tunnel. Dit was allemaal al best wel gaaf en soms een beetje eng maar ik had me thuis al voorgenomen dat ik in Monteverde nog iets anders wou doen, namelijk bungeejumping. Ik had gelezen dat dit de hoogste bungeejump van Midden-Amerika was (143 meter) en aangezien ik dit toch altijd nog eens wou doen leek dit me een goed moment. Samen met 2 anderen van onze groep hebben we na alle andere dingen dus ook nog gebungeejumped. Dit gaat niet zoals meestal vanaf een brug maar vanaf platform dat met kabels tussen 2 bergen in hangt. Het was heel eng en vooral de dagen ervoor had ik veel zenuwen maar uiteindelijk viel het heel erg mee. Ik ben als eerste gegaan en heb zelf gesprongen, ik had verwacht dat ze me zouden moeten duwen haha! Na alle thrills hadden we een lekker relaxed avondje in een superluxe spa met hotsprings.

Vanochtend hebben we nog een tour gehad in de buurt van vulcano Arenal (die we vanwege het slechte weer helaas niet hebben kunnen zien. Wel hebben we veel vogels en mooie bloemen gezien (mam hier zijn dan ook eindelijk voor jou een aantal foto's van bloemen).

Morgen dus op naar Nicaragua. Ik kijk erg uit naar de goedkopere prijzen en betere wegen. In Costa Rica is bijna alles ongeveer even duur (of duurder) dan in Europa. Je vraagt je af waar al dat geld heengaat want de mensen hier hebben het echt niet zo breed en ook verder het onderwijs, de gezondheidszorg en de infrastructuur zijn bijvoorbeeld niet echt top. Iedereen heeft wel toegang tot onderwijs en gezondheidszorg maar dit is niet vergelijkbaar met bij ons. Velen gaan blijkbaar na de basisschool niet meer verder en voor een afspraak in het ziekenhuis moet je soms 2/3 jaar wachten. De infrastructuur is echt bizar slecht! Costa Rica is een klein land maar door de slechte wegen doe je superlang over een relatief korte afstand. Zo hebben we bijna 4,5 uur gereden over een afstand van nog geen 200 km. De laatste 2 uur was over een weg vergelijkbaar met het pad naar de knup. Zo zijn ongeveer de helft van alle wegen hier. In Nicaragua schijnt dit veel beter geregeld te zijn.

Hopelijk hebben jullie allemaal een goede carnaval, veel plezier nog!

Kusss

Pura Vida

Denk je de winter en de daarbij behorende wintergriep over te slaan, wordt je hier bij +30 graden gegrepen door het griepvirus.. Het heerst blijkbaar door de harde wind de afgelopen week. Fikse verkoudheid en keelpijn, zo lijkt het in ieder geval toch een beetje alsof ik daar bij jullie in de sneeuw zit. Alleen hier geen warme thee en een dekentje maar fruit(sapjes) en ijs om weer beter te worden.

Afgelopen week heb ik al flink genoten van het strandleven hier in Sámara. Heerlijk elke dag strand en hangen in de hangmat. Verder heb ik mijn eerste poging tot surfen gedaan. Af en toe kwam ik recht maar het ging nog niet echt fantastisch, deze week nog maar wat meer oefenen. De lessen hier zijn ook erg leuk alleen heb je met dit strandleven niet echt zin om huiswerk te maken, Heredia was wat betreft vooruitgang in Spaans een betere plek. Alhoewel ik hier wel in mijn gastfamilie alleen maar Spaans kan spreken dus dat compenseert weer een beetje.

Mijn verjaardag is ook voorbij, 23 alweer.. In het begin was het een beetje raar om m'n verjaardag zonder jullie allemaal te vieren en ik voelde me ondanks al jullie lieve berichtjes dan ook niet zo heel erg jarig. Maar toen ik op school aankwam kwamen er direct mensen naar me toe om me te feliciteren en 's avonds zijn we gaan uiteten/drinken en heb ik zelfs nog een paar cadeautjes gekregen. Eerste keer dat ik met een verjaardagsetentje een zomerjurkje heb kunnen dragen. Toen Ijeoma tegen de ober zei dat ik jarig was kreeg ik ook nog een toetje met een kaarsje erin (van het huis). Mijn gastmoeder had een taart voor me gemaakt en ik kreeg van haar een fles wijn, binnenkort maar een avondje op het strand bij zonsondergang gaan opdrinken. Al met al dus een geslaagde zonnige verjaardag.

Het eerstvolgende strand naar het zuiden hier is Playa Carrillo wat een heel mooi strand scheen te zijn en goed te doen op de fiets. Dit hebben we deze week dus eens uitgeprobeerd. We hadden begrepen dat je via het strand (letterlijk) of via de weg kon gaan. Via de weg leek ons makkelijker maar onderweg bleek deze weg uit belachelijk veel heuvels/bergen te bestaan. Aangezien we fietsen zonder versnellingen hadden viel dit zwaar tegen en moesten we bepaalde stukjes lopen. Wat ook niet hielp was dat het extreem warm was (zelfs de tico's zeiden die dag dat het heeel erg heet was). Het strand was inderdaad heel erg mooi! Er waren alleen geen winkeltjes waardoor we het moesten doen met onze meegebrachte flesjes met (warm) water. Op de terugweg besloten we het maar eens over het strand te proberen. Dit ging perfect en binnen 15 minuten waren we terug in Sámara. Het was het waard maar een betere voorbereiding was slim geweest.Volgende keer dus maar meteen via het strand.

Zaterdag zijn we met z'n tweeën met een gids naar een eilandje hier in de buurt gekajakt. In de zee kajakken is met al die golven is toch net was anders dan bij ons op de Maas, maar ook erg leuk! Onderweg kwamen we een grote groep pelicanen tegen. Op het eiland aangekomen bleek dat we de enigen waren. Ik ben heel enthousiast begonnen met het rondlopen/klimmen van het eiland maar toen werden de rotsen wat hoog en moest ik het opgeven. Later zag ik het eiland van een afstand en realiseerde me dat het toch wat groter was dan ik dacht en het nogal een mission impossible was. Wat heel grappig was om te zien waren alle krabben en andere schelpdieren die door elkaar renden op het strand en de rotsen. Bij het eiland heb ik met de gids gesnokeld. Veel mooie vissen gezien: stralend blauwe, grote zwarte met gele strepen, een hele school grote blauw-paarse vissen en nog meer. Beetje stom dat ik geen onderwatercamera mee had.

Gisteren zijn we naar Nationaal Park Palo Verde geweest. Een groot nationaal park met tropisch droogwoud, mangrovebossen en veel dieren. Met een boot zijn we langs het park gevaren en hebben vele vogels, krokodillen en apen gezien. Erg leuke tocht, vooral de krokodillen 2 meter vanaf de boten waren erg gaaf. De gids die we bij ons hadden vertelde veel over het park en over Costa Rica in het algemeen. Na afloop een lekkere lunch gehad (met natuurlijk rijst en bonen) en terug naar Sámara.

Bij jullie is de sneeuw weer gesmolten heb ik begrepen en zijn de voorbereidingen voor carnaval in volle gang. Veel plezier allemaal en drink er ene extra voor mij, ik denk aan jullie als ik aan de cocktails zit!

Kusss

La segunda semana

Buenas a todos!

In Nederland ben ik nu jarig, hier duurt het nog eventjes. Jammer dat ik m'n verjaardag niet met jullie allemaal kan vieren maar op een tropisch strand in shorts is weer eens wat anders dan in de regen of de sneeuw. Ze hebben hier alleen geen Limburgse vlaaien dus ik zal morgen op zoek moeten naar een alternatief..

Na 2 heel leuke weken in Heredia ben ik afgelopen zaterdag in Sámara aangekomen. De laatste week was iets rustiger dan de eerste week. We hebben vanuit de school een excursie gehad naar een koffie-plantage in de bergen. Het was erg gaaf om te zien hoe het hele proces van planten tot het kopje koffie in zijn werk gaat. Veel jongeren en Nicaraguanen werken in Costa Rica als plukker op de koffie-plantages. Hier krijgen ze niet per uur maar per mand koffie-bonen betaald. Deze mand is te vergelijken met een grote emmer. Een goede plukker doet er ongeveer 25 minuten over om één mand te vullen, dit is ongelofelijk snel! Op de plantage rook het heerlijk naar versgebrande koffie. Vanuit de plantage die we bezochten wordt veel geëxporteerd naar Europa. Alleen ongebrande bonen worden geëxporteerd, de bonen die in Costa Rica worden gebrand worden ook enkel in Costa Rica verkocht. Na de rondleiding konden we verschillende soorten koffie proeven, bizar hoeveel verschil je kunt proeven. Op de terugweg reedt Jerry (onze gids) langs allerlei velden met koffie-bonen-bomen. Het uitzicht over deze bergen was heel erg mooi.

Verder zijn we vorige week naar de hoofdstad van Costa Rica, San José, geweest. Ik had al veel hierover gelezen en gehoord, voornamelijk dat het erg lelijk en niet de moeite van het bezoeken waard was. Het was dan ook een verassing toen de stad toch wel mooi en gezellig bleek te zijn. Aangezien vele Costa Ricanen in het verleden naar Europa zijn vertrokken om te studeren en later weer zijn teruggekeerd is in de bouwstijl van sommige gebouwen veel Europese invloed te zien. In San José hebben we de overdekte markt bezocht en hebben hier op zijn Costa Ricaans geluncht. Daarna zijn we naar het Jade-museum geweest. Dit was een erg interessant museum waar ook veel over de geschiedenis van de Costa Ricaanse inheemse stammen werd verteld. Sommige van deze stammen leven nog steeds in het binnenland van Costa Rica. Tijdens mijn maand rondreizen zou ik graag een van deze stammen een paar dagen bezoeken en zien hoe ze leven.

Aan het einde van de week was het alweer tijd voor afscheid van de mensen waarmee ik in Heredia ben opgetrokken en van mijn gastfamilie. Mijn gastfamilie was superlief en waarschijnlijk zal ik later tijdens mijn reis nog een keer bij hen langsgaan om de baby te bekijken, misschien wordt hij wel op mijn verjaardag geboren! Voordat ik vertrok hebben we nog even een fotosessie gehouden met Marielos (tica mamma), Fran (tica pappa) en José (een vriend van Marielos uit Nicaragua),

De busreis van Heredia naar Sámara was goed te doen. Voor 4.300 colones (ongeveer 7 euro) zit je al 5 uur een in luxe touringcar die rechtstreeks naar Sámara gaat. In Sámara aangekomen ben ik eerst de school gaan zoeken. Sámara is niet erg groot dus dit was vrij makkelijk. De school ligt letterlijk op het strand en heeft een grote tuin met hangmatten, goed uit te houden dus. Mijn nieuwe gastfamilie is ook erg aardig al is het hier meer gebruikelijk om 's ochtends naar het strand te vertrekken en 's avonds pas terug te komen waardoor ik hen niet zoveel zie. Gisteren een flinke strandwandeling gemaakt en vandaag lekker op het strand gerelaxed. Morgen gaan we voor mijn verjaardag met een paar mensen uiteten en daarna nog naar een bar. Woensdagochtend heb ik mijn eerste surfles!

Ik had morgen graag al jullie verjaardagskussen en knuffels in ontvangst genomen maar dat komt volgend jaar wel weer.

Veel plezier allemaal thuis in de sneeuw, ik denk aan jullie vanuit mijn hangmat

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