Looking Back, the True Beauty of Costa Rica

Before I wrap up the Costa Rica - 2007 blog, I wanted to mention the true beauty of Costa Rica. I don't think you can find any other place in the world with so much natural beauty. But even the most beautiful places can seem a little bit brighter with the right people. I want to take a second to mention some of my friends that I met along the way that made the trip so great.

Sharon, Myself (the Ligador), Laura & Marshal

My first week in Heredia was challenging and I don't know what I would have done without them. I'll never forget when Sharon looked up and saw me that first day of class. She screamed, ran over to me and gave me a jumping hug. (Sharon is a good friend from Raleigh but I didn't know she was going to be in Costa Rica at that time). It was great. We were the Cool Cuatro: in school, at lunch or our personal favorite, Karaoke bars, we were always there.

Me & Rachelle

Sarah, Me, Lindsay, Chio girl, & Kesha (aka Medecine Women)

Gavin, Me & Travis

In Playa Flamingo, I have to thank, Rachelle from Cali, " The Medicine women" as they were affectionately called (they were Med students in SC), Tim, Travis, Gavin & Michelle for the great laughs and incredible times. For the runs on the beach (pun intended), "En mi boca", "I like big butts and I can not lie", crazy dance skills, wonderful conversations on the beach, mud pies, and much much more.

Annegreet, Jolanda & Chris

Orosi was the only place in Costa Rica that felt like home. It was such a great place filled with so many wonderful people. The first week I was there, I ran into Chris, a good'ol country boy from the great city of Raleigh, North Carolina. I couldn't believe it.

I later met his roommates Annegreet and Jolanda from Holland. We had some great times, in the Hot Springs, watching some interesting TV shows at Nido's bar, and just hanging out at the hostel drinking tea, playing card games, Spoons (Anne wasn't really that good), and Jenga.

A couple of weeks later, Jolanda, Anne & I met up and traveled together to Monteverde, La Fortuna and even Nicaragua. We had some rough times: rainy weather, bloody noses, miserable heat, but not once did I have a bad time.

Jon, Adrian, Josue & Femke

At Montana Linda in Orosi, we're all drinking tea and playing Dominos. It's amazing how much fun Dominos and Jenga can be with the right people. And you will be surprised at some of the many different and interesting discussions you can get into.

Josue's Mother & Denny (my Brother)

Denny came down for a week to explore Costa Rica with me: waterfall jumping, surfing, coffee tours, and the scorching heat. It's just a small taste of what Costa Rica has to offer but we had a great time.

I want to thank Josue and his mother for welcoming me into their home and treating me like family. Since the first day I met Josue, he treated me like a good friend. Whenever he could, he offered to help me, whether it was helping me fix my camera or just showing me around San Jose. He & his mother offered me their home, a place at the dinner table and their friendship. (Not to mention some very funny stories) I always felt welcome. I can't thank you all enough!

I think that does it. My trip to Costa Rica was life altering and the memories I made will not be forgotten (especially with all the pictures I took). But like all things, it wouldn't have been half as good without the wonderful people and friends I made. Thank you all.

My Old Kentucky Home

Home Sweet Home! I was sad to leave Costa Rica but I am happy to be home.

The first picture is of the farm house I grew up in, taken from the road. As you can see, catching the school bus in the morning was a commute, especially on those cold snowy days. The next picture is of the farm house up close.

The last picture is of my brother Denny's new house. Not bad for a farm boy, huh? He's been gracious enough to lend his basement to me until my next voyage.

Until next time....

Volcan Maderas

Well, I almost died by water, then fire, why not earth? The hike up Volcan Maderas on Isla Ometepe in Nicaragua is definitely an experience. Three & a half hours straight up a steep volcano; what a better way to spend a perfectly good Saturday morning.

The first hour wasn't so bad. The slope was fairly gentle and I was just getting started. But it progressively got worse and worse. The second hour was where men are made. It started to get incredibly steep and you had to watch every step you made because of the loose rocks. One wrong step and you could fall, roll your ankle or any other assortment of painful injuries. At first I thought I was in excellent shape and jog up the hill. Well, I thought that until I was stopping every 15 minutes to catch my breath. And I was counting every minute from the 5th to the 15th. And just when I didn't think it couldn't get any worse, it did. Once we climbed above the clouds, everything became damp & wet, including that nice dirt, the tree roots and those loose rocks. Planning & watching every step you make for hour and a half is draining. And the water was running out quickly.

I can't tell you how ecstatic I was to reach the small crater lake at the top of the volcano. It was like being stranded in the desert only to finally see the oasis. I felt like dropping to my knees and kissing the flat ground where I was standing. Instead, I popped open my can of tuna with jalapeños and took a long awaited nap right there in the grass.

Now, the hike down wasn't near as exhausting but was definitely more intense. For some reason, the guide really wanted to get down. I don't know, maybe he had another appointment. Maybe it was the marijuana he smoked on the way up there. Who knows? But we shaved 2 hours off the trip down, passing other groups who left the top 30 minutes before we did.

All in all, it was a great day and a great sense of accomplishment. I would highly recommend it!

Near Death Experience in Nicaragua (No Joke)

This is the beautiful ¨Laguna de Apoyo¨, the crater lake in Nicaragua, near Grenada.

It´s a beatufil crater lake (a lake on top of a previously active volcano) and extremely large, over 6 kilometer across and deep enough for people to scuba dive. You can stay next to the shore, lay on hammocks, or take a swim in the clear, warm water, or swim out to the dock and sock up the sun if you like. Very peaceful and tranquil. That´s exactly what I wanted. I brought my swim trunks, a book for some leisurely reading and my journal. I had everything I needed, I thought.

But, they also have kayaks freely available if you would like to take them out. Just ocean kayaks where you sit on the top of them. Just hop in, take off and enjoy. What could be better? Well, what started as a pleasant little kayak stroll, turned into one of those horror stories you see in safety videos or safey belt commercials.

The lake is 6 kilometers across and asked the girl at the desk before I took off if anyone had actually crossed it. She said people had but it takes over 4 hours and they wouldn´t be real enthusiastic about rescuing me if something went wrong. I shrugged it off and didn´t think much about it. I had no intention of crossing the lake. My only thought was that it didn´t look THAT far.

I got in the water, turned left, then right and thought, ¨This is easy money, I´m crossing this mug.¨ And so I did. Going across was very very slow because I was going directly against the wind. Crashing into the waves, slow and steady. It reminded of boats during a storm in movies. When they hit a wave, the boat crashes into it and everyone has trouble seeing because they are getting sprayed with water in their faces. It wasn´t near as dramatic but very similar. Anyway, I don´t know how long it took to cross but my best guess would be around 2 hours. But no worries I thought, with the wind behind me when I return, I could make it back in record time.

And I did. I didn´t even stop or get off the kayak at the other side of the lake. I just touched my paddle on the shore and turned around. I would bet that I made it half way back in 20 minutes or less. I was zooming across the lake and feeling good. I remember thinking ¨I´m going to be back in 2 and a half hours easy. Who said this would take 4 hours?¨ It was then that I noticed the kayak had progressively become more unstable. It was getting harder to balance myself. When I started, I put the kayak in the water and practically stood on top of it. But now, it was hard just to sit. I thought the waves may be the cause because the wind did pick up a little. But then I fell off the kayak. And then again, and again. I realized the kayak was filling up with water and a shift in weight from anything would cause the water inside the kayak to shift and thus flip. I kept going until the point came that just my weight on the kayak would cause it to flip backwards (the backend sank completely underwater and the frontend would fall back on me.) I remember being a little upset and thinking, ¨Damn, this is going to screw up my time.¨ I tried to think of ways to remove the water inside but determined it was in possible without getting to land. I was really irritated because I looked silly swimming next to a kayak in the middle of the lake. And every attempt to get back on made me even more angry because it would flip over. I wasn´t even concerned that I was in the middle of the lake, almost 3 kilometers or roughly 2 miles from land, or that I didn´t have a life jacket. I just thought about how silly it was and how long it would take me to get back.

The game and my perspective changed when on my last and final attempt to straddle the kayak, (I thought if I get in the middle, not in the seat, I could maintain balance) I pulled my legs up fast to get them on the boat and the unthinkable happened. My left calf cramped like never before. I didn´t eat much that day, maybe a pack of peanuts and I hadn´t had much to drink either. I was dehyrdated, hungry, and the run I took around Grenada probably didn´t help matters either.

So I´m in the water trying to swim and my left leg isn´t moving. I can feel the muscle ball up like a rock and the pain tear through my body. It was here that I said, ¨This can´t be happening, this is a deal breaker. People can die from things like this.¨ I swam over to the kayak and managed to throw my body across the kayak, just enough to keep my head above water. I pressed the heel of my right leg into the cramped calf until I felt it release. The whole dynamic from here changed dramatically. I´m not a great swimmer but felt comfortable doing the back float for 2 miles if I absolutely had to. Now, if I left the kayak and had another cramp, I would be a gonner. (I later found out the back float wasn´t going to work either because the waves were too big and would crash over you and your mouth when you tried to breathe.) I stretched out the my leg and used it cautiously. I had a pretty scary thought about drowning and quickly dismissed it because I could simply lay on the kayak and let the waves take me in.

And that was good for the next 30 minutes but I noticed something that really scared me. To gauge my distance or speed, I would always point the kayak to a specific point on the shore in front of me and then look directly over my right shoulder for a reference point. For me, it was a house off in the distance. I remember floating on the kayak for at least a half hour, maybe more and all I saw was that house. I wasn´t moving. At least not at any rate to get me back to land anytime soon.

I had another dreadful thought but quickly dismissed it because now, the worst case scenario was that I lay on the kayak and wait until someone comes after me. They knew I had the kayak and I´d already been gone for over 3 hours. In the hour I was in the water, I had a lot of thoughts race through my mind. What about snakes or fish in the water? What if they don´t come after me? What if the person working the desk didn´t write my name down? What if...?

But I dismissed them all because I could still just lay on the kayak and float back. And within 15 minutes, the kayak flipped while I was just laying on it. It had taken in so much water that any weight, any shift at all, would cause it to flip over. Just hanging on to the side lightly would cause the front end to come out of the water and just about flip over.

Suddenly, all of those fears I had came flooding back into my mind and I didn´t have response. These were valid fears and I needed to do something. I was still in the dead center of the lake and it appeared to be the same distance to the shore, whichever direction I took. I decided to keep moving forward, with the wind, since it was the same distance and started swimming. I kept the kayak with me in case I needed it if only for temporary relief if my leg cramped up again.

I remember when I started to panic. This was real. My luck was running out and quick. I started breathing faster and my mind started racing. But within, seconds, something inside me said,¨This isn´t helping, I need to be calm right now. This is just a waste of energy. I´m not going to die. It´s just that simple. I´m not going to die.¨ I certainly didn´t hear Dad´s voice but it definitely sounds like something he would say. ¨There´s no sense in complaining about it, don´t get excited.¨

It was here when I started getting strategic. The little back support on the kayak could be removed and it functioned as a small float. Although not great, it did provide some bouyancy. The paddle float as well so I laid it under my arms. I still held on to the kayak just in case but I just started swimming. I started waving one of my arms in the air occasionally to signal for help in case anyone was looking. I was constantly thinking, ¨What else can I do? Is their no way to remove the water from the kayak? Would anyone hear me if I yelled for help? How do you say ¨help¨in Spanish?¨

I can´t say that I was a rock and I banished all doubt and fear because I clearly wasn´t. A storm was coming in and the waves were constantly pounding me in the face and making it hard to breathe. My calf wasn´t cramped but I could tell it was tense and one wrong move and it would seize up again. I knew this and it bothered me. I was just about to start screaming for help when I saw a tiny kayak heading towards me in the distance. I couldn´t believe it! ¨I´m saved!¨I thought.

But the battle wasn´t quite over. The storm came in and fast. With the heavy rain and the rough waves, it made it very difficult to get the kayak back to shore. But after another 30 to 45 minutes and some help from a kind (and appreciated) Irish couple, I finanlly made it back to land. Sweet, sweet land! The kayak that towed me in was impossible to navigate in the weather so we just paddled with the current and let it take us in wherever it liked. Once on land, I drained the water from the kayak. I would bet that it was over half way full. No joke.

I paddled back to the shop with a standing ovation waiting for me. Sunburned from head to toe, completely (and I mean completely) dehydrated, starved and exhausted but alive. Just barely, but alive. Not a bad day.

Here´s a picture of me the next day with the infamous kayak:

Moral of the story. Always wear a LIFE JACKET!

The Gates of Hell - Volcan Masaya, Nicaragua

Native tribes of Nicaragua used to throw women into this active volcano as sacrifices to their gods in hopes of preventing another eruption. And when the Spaniards discovered the volcano, they believed it was the gateway to Hell. They even erected a cross next to the crater in an attempt to cleanse this unholy ground. I remembered reading this and thinking how strange and superstitious people were back then. Who would think that?

After my visit, I would! I don´t believe it is the gateway to Hell but I do see how one would get that impression.

From the minute you are on the trail leading up the volcano, you get a feeling of death and desolation. The terrain is littered with black rock and ash from the previous eruption and the trees and grass are brown and withered. And the silence is broken only by the sound of the hot, dry breeze which smells of sulfur.

When you walk to the side of the crater, you are surrounded by vultures. The sky is covered with them, circling and patiently waiting. And for every one in the air, it seems like there are at least 2 or 3 on the ground, some close enough to touch. If you´ve ever seen a vulture up close, you understand why they were often seen as bad omens or the prescence of death.

And you can hear the volcano breathing as you approach the crater. It releases its poisonous fumes with a slow and deep whoosh, constant and penetrating, like a heavy breathe or drum beat. You must limit your time next to the crater because the sulfur from the fumes will burn your eyes and cause you to cough.

Later that night, we took a tour of the volcano where we could actually peer into the volcano and see the lava. We had to use gas masks because of the fumes:

You couldn´t really take a good picture of the lava (it just shows up as a red dot.) but it was incredible, a red boiling furnace of breathing lava.

And just when you thought it couldn´t get better... The lava from the last eruption had created caves around the volcano and we had a chance to take a look. The caves were interesting and you could see where native tribes had etched primitive drawings on the walls but to me. But the most interesting part for me, was the entrance.

If you get to the caves around sunset, you arrive just when all of the bats are leaving. Take a look at this picture:

You could stand right in front of the cave as hundreds of the bats fly right past you. If you´ve seen the movie, Batman Returns, then you have an idea of what it looks like. You can close your eyes and listen to them fly right past you. Incredible!

It may not be the gateway to Hell but if I had to imagine what it would look like, I say Volcan Masaya comes pretty close.