|
Hola all! Sorry I haven't updated in like forever! I would say that I've been
busy, but lets face it, I am in Costa Rica, no longer working and I am just too
damn lazy!!
This weekend me, Rebecca and Kenroy went to San Jose. San Jose is the capital
of Costa Rica and takes 4 hours on the bus from Cahuita. The buses here are so
much cheaper than back home, it cost just over 3000 colones which is equivalent to
a pound for the entire journey! San Jose was one of the first cities in Central
America to have street lighting, it also boasts one of the best children's
hospitals and several good universities. It has sights familiar to most cities,
pizza huts, burger kings, industrial estates, big car stores etc. But interspersed
between these normal city business buildings are houses made from rusted
corrugated iron and shacks where large families have lived for generations. It is
scary to see some of these dilapidated iron houses reaching to over two stories
high, they look like they could topple at any minute. There aren't many high rise
buildings in the city because it is an earthquake zone and the area is too poor to
build strengthened buildings, the tallest building which is pretty much visible
wherever you go belongs to The Holiday Inn! I guess that kind of says a lot about
the city!
So we arrived on Friday, found our hotel costing us 5000 colones (so five
pounds) each. Then we went off the San Pedro Mall! This was very exciting for me
and Rebecca, having only shopped in the small stores you find in Limon or Puerto
Veijo, it was nice to be in the atmosphere of a very westernized mall! The food
court was also a glorious sight! Although Rebecca insisted we tried Taco Bell
which I found unimpressive! I regretted not getting KFC! We wondered around the
shops for a while but didn't buy anything as we have no money! Then we went to see
a movie (IN A REAL LIVE MOVIE THEATER) granted the movie, which we let Kenroy
choose as a gesture of good will after he had suffered hours of shopping with two
girls, was in Spanish and shockingly bad! I was impressed with how much Spanish I
understood though!
(side note, there are ants on my computer and the bastards keep biting me, I am
remembering why I never write these emails. I also have not had breakfast yet so
am friggin starving!)
In the evening we went out for food and took pictures with cows. That statement
is not as random as it may seem! In Costa Rica there is this art thing where
statues of Cows are painted by different artists and placed all over the city. I
put pictures on my photobucket for you guys to see some of the best ones!
We got the bus back that night and arrived safe and sound in Cahuita to
sleep!
Rebecca and I also went to PV last Thursday because we discovered a Cafe called
'bread and chocolate' and lets face it, that got to be good! Fair play to the
place it didn't disappoint! We had pancakes and brought truffles and brownies to
go! We did want everything on the menu but resisted! Yes thats right we both went
on a half an our bus journey just to eat, but that is the kind of girls we are!!
Really don't know what else I've been up to! I really love it here, I miss
everyone back home of course, but the thought of leaving this place makes me feel
to cry! It just has such a nice atmosphere and everyone is great. You can't go to
the store without seeing someone to talk to or one of the towns 'characters' doing
something amusing! Time is going too fast!
At the end of this month we plan to go to Guatemala for a week so that should
be good! The bus costs like 150 dollars return! We have to go through Nicaragua and
Honduras! More stamps for my passport yay!!
Anyway, the ants are really starting to piss me off now! Although I am at the
stage where if I see my cereal is covered in ants my thoughts tend to be 'oh well
more protein' rather than anything else!
Hey guys, once again so so sorry for not emailing for a while and a belated
Happy Easter to you all! I must say I missed the chocolaty goodness of Easter
time! Here Holy Week (Semana santa) is very important. A lot of tourists come in
so its good business for everyone! It is also important to those who are religious,
Rebecca and I ended up getting dragged to a !'saving of souls' church thing,
needless to say my soul remained unsaved! It was good to go though, and going to
the church services does make you feel more apart of the community! On Thursday
through Sunday of holy week everything pretty much shuts down, there was no
internet, bars had to be shut by midnight, there isn't even any news on tv! On
Thursday we went with my host family to their cousins house who has a pool.
Rebecca and I baked cupcakes and everyone brought their own bit of food to be
shared out! Was fun, people decided it was funny to push me and bex in, but then
Kenroy got his mum which was hilarious, wish I had my camera with me! Then we
played water volley ball – brilliant in the warm water.
Cahuita clinic got pretty quiet for the last couple of weeks, I still enjoyed
it but was glad to go to Hone Creek clinic, which is bigger and has an Emergency
ward. To go to the clinic I got up at 6 am to get the 7am bus, which made me feel
quite grown up! Although at first is was scary! There I helped out the nurses
weighing people and taking blood pressure, as well as preparing injections and
helping with iv's! I also got to be there when emergencies came in and sutures.
Saw this one guy who sliced his thumb length ways through the middle with a
machete, was pretty grim! We saw a lot of machete cuts from people who work in
the fields, they people seem kind of used to it, I however was not! The doctor and
nurses told me how the Indian women who have to walk to the clinic when they are
in labour will sometimes have their babies on the way and just keep walking, like
its nothing! Its amazing really! I will have to pop back in to take some pictures
as I forgot my camera on my last day! Everyone was really nice there though,
although I think it was quite cruel of them to make me answer the phone when my
Spanish is so bad, luckily I have mastered saying 'un momento' while I run and get
someone who has a clue what they are talking about! I mean its an emergency clinic
for Christs sake, for all I know people could be phoning up on their death beds
and they get a clueless gringo on the end of the line who confuses easily in
English let alone Spanish!!
Anyway, after work me and Rebecca tend to go for a walk down the beach, eat
some pineapple or some pineapple empanadas and talk about our day! We wave Kenroy
off to school to annoy him too! They go to school for like 2 hours from 5 in the
evening till around 7 and the stupid boys still complain, they know nothing of
school! bah!! The evening is just general hanging out to be honest, relaxing in the
hammock! Weekends we don't stray to far. Rebecca and I know that there are loads
of things we could (and probably should) be doing but we like it here, we like
the feeling of being at home and just hanging out and being apart of the
community! I mean we could go away a lot more or go to different towns or try
surfing etc but we will have those opportunities in other places, here we have the
opportunity to be at home and accepted in a foreign country, not many people have
that same fortune! I am so glad I have extended my stay. If me and Rebecca were
far less sensible people we both say we would say 'screw it' and try and start a
business and stay out here forever! We really do love it that much! We already
have a backup plan to move out here and marry some locals if we are not sorted by
the time we are 30!
Ok, here are some of the characters in Cahuita!
My favourite is Gary! He is short and rarely bathes! When I was working in the
clinic he needed an injection in his butt which I gave to him and he responded
with 'what are you doing to my butt!?'! A couple of weekends ago me and Rebecca
were sitting on the beach when we saw Gary get into the sea, fully clothed to take
a bath! Was hilarious! Although something odd is going on this week, he was
wearing an ironed shirt and new trousers! We were quite shocked to see him in such
a state!
Rebecca's favourite is Bambi. Bambi is a tall skinny rasta guy with the biggest
lips you have ever seen! He rides around town on a bicycle which has a basket
(often containing bananas) He likes to talk to Rebecca, although it is difficult
to understand him through the slurring! But he is so funny! I will try and get a
picture of him!
Oh oh there is also coconut guy who walks about trying to sell coconuts (I
didn't think you could crack that intricate code on your own) Me and Rebecca have
a plan to have a coconut with us and try to sell him one, but we have yet to find
a suitable coconut!
Then there are some of the saying here that me and bex have caught our selves
using! 'cho' which is kind of like damn 'I have to wake up soon' meaning I have to
get up early 'make I see' which is let me see 'your too fas' meaning you are too
nosy' there's more but I can't remember right now! Then there is getting used to
fat being a term of endearment here! It doesn't do much for your confidence people
calling you 'gorda' basically meaning fatty to get your attention! Or Eloisa's
cousin saying he liked me and found me attractive by referring to me as the big
one, yes she looks strong!' It is funny, even if a part of me dies inside a
little!!!
Ok so three weekends ago we decided to go to Tortuguero National Park! We got
the six am bus then realised there was no boat untill 11 so we had to sit around
for 3 hours, but it was a nice day so all was well!! It is a four hour boat ride
to Tortuguero. The boat ride goes through the jungle, every so often we would see
little shacks or small houses and little fishing canoes. If you have ever seen the
movie Anaconda, the scenery is almost like that! You litterally feel like you are
in the middle of the jungle, although I wouldn´t recommend watching the movie
about a giant killing snake before you go, can make for a tense journey! I took
some pictures, but to be honest they don´t show how beautiful it is! One of the
best points was where we passed a place where the river met the ocean, that was
pretty cool.
When we got there we found a cheap cabina to stay in $8 a night and went for
food. I didn´t like the town itself. Cahuita has a few tourists but it has all its
own culture. I didn't sense any culture in Tortuguero, It also seemed to be
oldpeoplesville! Me and Rebecca sat on the beach laughing as groups of 50 plus old
people passed us with quick succession of eachother. At this point I cursed
Rebecca, she wanted to go to Tortuguero to see manatees, which incidently have
ionly been spotted like once in four years! So it was a bit of a bust! Was amusing
though! We really missed Cahuita after like one night! It has become our home, I
love it here. It's the kind of place where you walk down the street and you know
most people, it just has such a nice and tranquil atmosphere!
The week at the clinic was pretty normal, although Joyce the nurse who I have
been working with fell ill. She had a recurring problem that caused very severe
stomach pains. I was worried so I went with her to Hone Creek clinic and then she
was transferred to Limon, again I went with her as I didn't want her to be on her
own. They later admitted her and now she is in San Jose having an operation. I was
quite proud of myself in the end, as I managed to get from Limon hospital to the
centre of town to catch the last bus back into Cahuita on my own! My spanish is
still really frustrating me, I just can't seem to get it into my brain!
The next weekend was pretty chilled, on Sunday Rebecca and I made a big brunch
for ourselves and my family. How Rebecca eats so much I'm not quite sure. She is
absolutely tiny and eats all the time, I am beginning to resent her seeing as if I
so much as look at food my ass gets wider! We also went to the beach one
afternoon, when I was forced to kneal on the floor and allow Kenroy to do flips
over my head, luckily I got away unscaved! When we were walking back, I guess at
around 530, the sun was setting and Rebecca spotted something in the sea. There
were two dolphins swimming around! It was so cool to see! I mean not many people
have walked along a carribbean beach at sunset only to see dolphins swimming
around!
On monday we spent the day in Cahuita beach, we walked thorugh the national
park to Cahuita piont, where a monkey attacked me (why always me) it jumped into
my arms and stole the bread I was eating.. bastard. They really should know not
to steal food from me! Although when one tried to steal bex´s cinamon role,
rebecca, a normally placid and animal loving person threw a rock at it. Her first
attempt to scare it away was by throwing a leaf, at which point I couldn't stop
laughing. It is surprising how the monkey, which lives in a tree was not so scared
by this flying leaf it dropped down dead! I mean really! I am now nursing sunburnt
legs though!
Tuesday we went up to Tuba Creek clinic again. I met one of the indians from
the mountains. He had walked for 5 days through the mountains just to get to the
clinic and when we left he was starting his journey back! The doctor told me how
once he went in a helicopter to the mountains to work there for a week. That must
have been an amazing experience, the lifestyle is just so different! Today I
watched very closely as the doctor was stitching up someones leg, so that was
pretty cool! Next week they are sending me to the bigger clinic at Hone/Home
Creek, so I'm really looking forward to that! I´ll be in the emergancy department
so hopefully will see a lot of cool stuff!
Last weekend we went to black beach, its pretty amazing, the black sand is all
sparkly, but it sticks to you like mad, I spent the whole day walking around with
a black glittery ass!! It was fun though. To be honest, weekends are pretty
relaxing, we don't do all that much except go to the beach, bake cookies and watch
movies, it really is a tough life in the Caribbean!!
On Sunday I went with Kenroy (the son in my homestay) and his two little
cousins to the beach. This is when I decided that I will not have children! Why
is it they don't seem to realize that older people are in fact capable of
drowning, and having three kids (another random child appeared) climbing on your
head and screaming does make swimming rather challenging! We played that game
where you have someone on your shoulders and you fight another set of people. It
was all going well until the chubby kid decided he wanted to go on my shoulders.
Going back to my traumatic childhood memories I didn't have the heart to turn
around and say "no fatty gotta go" so I let him go on my shoulders. So
after about two hours of children trying to murder me I sought salvation on the
beach. Finally catching my breath and starting to feel better when a monkey
thought I looked like a good target to throw fruit at! So there I was absolutely
knackered being pelted with fruit by a random monkey! Why does that sort of thing
only happen to me!!!
Work is good. I get to see and do a lot more than I would at home. I basically
write down peoples names, weights, heights, take blood pressure, assess their
condition prepare and sometimes give injections. Next week I'm in the main clinic
with more serious patients. I also spend a lot of time forcing my self not to
stare at womens legs. For some reason razors have completely by passed some of
these people. I swear one woman looked like mr tumnus from the Narnia stories. She
had the hairiest legs and armpits I've ever seen, and thats included men! So yeah,
its very hard to force your self to look away!
On Thursday I had a very difficult day at work. It was all pretty normal, then
we had an emergency call from the beach. A guy was brought in after drowning,
they tried to resuscitate him and tube him. The gave adrenaline and bagged him
while I held him in the right place. When ever they squeezed the bag stinking
water came up from his lungs and through his nose.. After lunch it was business as
usual, it had to be, everyone just got on with their jobs and we continued to see
patients.
Yesterday we went to the beach! We walked through the park for a bit, ran away
when a monkey tried to pee on our heads from a great height! In the evening we had
a water balloon party which was kind of fun, but again involved being dragged
around by little kids, it was funny though! Then we watched blade 2 and Rebecca
and Kenroy realized how annoying I am to watch scary movies with as I insist at
least one of them holds my hands at all times!!
Today we went to a community meeting, built a turtle shelter, baked cookies and
did laundry. The usual stuff here in Cahuita!!
I really do love it here. I am trying to extend my stay, but money is big
issue, but I figure, if I am going to be a poor student I may as well take it to
the extreme! I'm really not ready to come home! Its not that I don't love and miss
everyone, its just life here is so different! If anyone feels like giving me their
life savings I will gladly take it off your hands!!!
|
