I am currently writing this extract in one of the most obscure and unique settings. It is 10 o’clock at night at the moment. Now, bearing in mind that we normally go to sleep at 7.30 and wake up at 4, this is pretty much the middle of the night. Around me I can hear the soft pats of water dropping from the leaves of the trees, and the sound of the crickets chirping, whilst above me lays only sky. Sky and a solitary moon that is so bright that you can barely see any stars around it. I am sitting outside on the bench at the end of a very good day.
For me it’s been a day of cooking actually.
This morning I was assigned to the gardens and after breakfast found myself down the valley clearing the trail down to the waterfall. So it was a very pleasant morning. Nata and Deven did, however, play an evil trick on me. In the three hours spent clearing the trail I managed to clear an area of… 5 meters!!! Just in case you don’t know, that is ridiculously small amount. The reason was, that I had a couple of rocks in the place I was wanting to clear. Ok a couple, is a giant understatement, and having to dig through rocks with a shovel is a slow and laborious process. Firstly though, I need to explain something to you about working with rocks. There are different stages, or frames of mind that you go through when trying to clear rocks. You have the first stage, the ‘sure I’ll do it’ stage. This is where you are assigned an area and you don’t really mind which bit it is. This can shortly be followed by the ‘I can do it’ stage. This is where you become more motivated to do the task and start setting yourself goals. It then starts to get a little tricky and you get a little tired of trying to move some particularly difficult ones. This triggers the ‘Wouldn’t turn down some help’ stage. Personally, I tend to stay in this stage for most of my time. I’m not too bothered about asking for help and don’t feel my ‘image’ (which isn’t great by the way) being dented much when I do so. This is the stage where you start to think in your mind, ‘it would be nice if somebody would offer me a little bit of help’ and if they do you would naturally accept it. And then you have the final stage. I don’t tend to get to this 4th stage very often, remaining in the 3rd for most of the time. This stage is known as the ‘I WILL SUCCEED IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO’ stage. This is where you have gone too far to just leave it and, to accept help from anybody would be like allowing somebody to take the reward for your hard work.
So as you can imagine, working on a 5m stretch for 3 hrs, had pushed me to such a degree that I had gone all the way to even into the last stage. I had worked too hard to stop then, but there was just one big rock left sticking out of the trail and I was determined to see it deflated. So I called to the others to tell them I wanted to go up and get the pick axe, to which Nata replied, “but we are leaving in 15 minutes”. As I had said, “I will succeed if it’s the last thing I do” so after shouting, ‘I don’t really care’ back at them, I hurried back up the trail to find a pick from under the restaurant. I remember thinking, ‘should I tell them to leave the rock?’ but then I thought ‘no, they would never do that’. If they wanted to mess me around and go up just as I came down I would simply take the walkie-talkie and finish the job alone. Anyway they wouldn’t be that mean would they, surely they must understand that I was in the 4th stage. So when I was coming to the last bend before the rock and heard the sound of shovels on rock, my heart sunk. I rounded the corner to see a small piece of rock left standing where the rock had once been with two young men standing by it laughing. B@$%5£!. Well I have to admit I cursed more than I have done in the last 2 months all together and it took me a while to see the funny side. To be honest, the fact that I had thought they might do that suggested that I may have come up with the same idea if one of those guys had gone to get the pick. Either way, that section and much more was completed and to a high standard, so all in all, a good days work.
It was after this that I found out from Susie that we were going to have another buffet dinner in the evening as there were so few people up in the community today. On this occasion it was Susie who suggested contributing something so I told here the epic stories of the last occasion.
It turns out Susie used to be a baker and she and her ex-husband used to run a little bakery. Now working in a little bakery, like the ones they had at the Belgium coast, has always been something I’ve wanted to do. So baking a big loaf of bread seemed fitting (the fact that bread was one of the foods I miss eating the most here, obviously had nothing to do with it). So I now have a new recipe that I have called the ‘1,2,3 Bread’, which is based on the standard way of making loaves in bakeries.
Anyway we made the loaf and I have written down the recipe so I can show it to you guys when I get back.
So, after that Ema asked me if I wanted to help making the fudge. Before he had even got the last 2 letters out, I had already agreed. Devon and Ema got everything ready and they seemed to know exactly what to do, so to say I helped, actually meant I handed them the peanuts and raisons, as well as ‘helped’ lick out the bowl. Hey I’m not complaining.
And then later on that day I was in the kitchen helping Christina making these roasted chopped potatoes with spices on. The help required with this was less of licking the bowl and more of pealing, mixing and adding more ingredients, so much more like actual helping.
29/10/09
I have been thinking that I really ought to write another piece about what I’ve been up to recently, but I could never think of anything really special to write about. Well that’s not totally true because how often can you say that you went gardening high in the mountains with a view over several huge valleys, with parakeets flying past you, and vultures riding the thermals at eye level and below you. But in comparison to any other day here in Durika, that’s just the norm. So, when I realized that I hadn’t written about my day goatherding, I couldn’t understand how I had forgotten.
At dinner on Sunday I looked at the schedule to discover that the next morning I was to be attempting to guide the goats to new pastures whilst trying not to let any of them get the better of you and looking as though you are in total control when anybody is looking (if nobody is looking however, you can fret and sweat as much as you like, hehe). In other words, shepherding. But no, I wasn’t worried anymore; I’ve already got through the ‘fret and sweat’ stage. The only difference between this time and the others was that I was going to accept the challenge I set myself last time, and take another route. I would have been a little more comfortable with it if I had been able to walk it before hand, but the rain had meant I would just have to go with what I could remember from my first day here.
The pen was opened, the goats were shouted at, the ‘7 terrors’ were all present, so… I was on my way.
It definitely makes life much easier when the goats know exactly where they are going, having walked it countless times before. In fact for the first 30 minutes I found myself being led down a lovely trail along a ridge without having to raise my voice once (not that it ever helps).
By the 3 hour mark I had experienced very relaxing stops, amazing views, vultures flying over my head only 2 meters above me, warm sun on my back and no near heart failures. The route is along a ridge with thick forest lining it so there is very little opportunity for any doubling back. That along with the fact that there was plenty of food meant that it was simply a 4 hour leisurely stroll allowing me some time for myself and to take pictures.
So instead of this being the challenge I had set myself, I found that the 1st two sessions had been the actual challenge. So it was a very chilled out day and I was very willing to do that more often.
Ok I have to tell you about one moment in the 4 hour that required some frantic waving of a stick and shouting ‘VAMOS’ at the top of my lungs. It seems that here in Costa Rica that barbed wire is almost a house hold item. It is sometimes used to mark a boundary, but not to stop animals getting in or out, it was just the cheapest way of marking out an area.
So when I came across such an area on my travels I assumed it was simply one of these situations. Not to mention there was a large area of thick grass on the other side so I wasn’t too concerned when the goats started ducking under the wire. Well, to be honest I was actually quite pleased with myself to have found yet another good grazing area.
It was only when I saw the banana plants with one or two goats looking hungrily at them, that I came to the rapid conclusion that the barbed wire had been placed there for its proper use… keeping hungry goats out! Oops, it seemed that I had let my goats break into the neighbour’s banana plantation. As I said, the stick was waved frantically and I hurriedly chivvied my hairy comrades back into friendly lines. Thankfully, I had spotted the plants at a similar time as the goats had, so only one or two leaves had been nibbled (just like those in the Wallece and Gromit movie ‘Shawn the sheep’). So no harm done really, but I was just hoping that I wasn’t going to hear the sounds of baying dogs, bellowing farmers and the sharp clap of gun shots. Hehehehe
At dinner on Sunday I looked at the schedule to discover that the next morning I was to be attempting to guide the goats to new pastures whilst trying not to let any of them get the better of you and looking as though you are in total control when anybody is looking (if nobody is looking however, you can fret and sweat as much as you like, hehe). In other words, shepherding. But no, I wasn’t worried anymore; I’ve already got through the ‘fret and sweat’ stage. The only difference between this time and the others was that I was going to accept the challenge I set myself last time, and take another route. I would have been a little more comfortable with it if I had been able to walk it before hand, but the rain had meant I would just have to go with what I could remember from my first day here.
The pen was opened, the goats were shouted at, the ‘7 terrors’ were all present, so… I was on my way.
It definitely makes life much easier when the goats know exactly where they are going, having walked it countless times before. In fact for the first 30 minutes I found myself being led down a lovely trail along a ridge without having to raise my voice once (not that it ever helps).
By the 3 hour mark I had experienced very relaxing stops, amazing views, vultures flying over my head only 2 meters above me, warm sun on my back and no near heart failures. The route is along a ridge with thick forest lining it so there is very little opportunity for any doubling back. That along with the fact that there was plenty of food meant that it was simply a 4 hour leisurely stroll allowing me some time for myself and to take pictures.
So instead of this being the challenge I had set myself, I found that the 1st two sessions had been the actual challenge. So it was a very chilled out day and I was very willing to do that more often.
Ok I have to tell you about one moment in the 4 hour that required some frantic waving of a stick and shouting ‘VAMOS’ at the top of my lungs. It seems that here in Costa Rica that barbed wire is almost a house hold item. It is sometimes used to mark a boundary, but not to stop animals getting in or out, it was just the cheapest way of marking out an area.
So when I came across such an area on my travels I assumed it was simply one of these situations. Not to mention there was a large area of thick grass on the other side so I wasn’t too concerned when the goats started ducking under the wire. Well, to be honest I was actually quite pleased with myself to have found yet another good grazing area.
It was only when I saw the banana plants with one or two goats looking hungrily at them, that I came to the rapid conclusion that the barbed wire had been placed there for its proper use… keeping hungry goats out! Oops, it seemed that I had let my goats break into the neighbour’s banana plantation. As I said, the stick was waved frantically and I hurriedly chivvied my hairy comrades back into friendly lines. Thankfully, I had spotted the plants at a similar time as the goats had, so only one or two leaves had been nibbled (just like those in the Wallece and Gromit movie ‘Shawn the sheep’). So no harm done really, but I was just hoping that I wasn’t going to hear the sounds of baying dogs, bellowing farmers and the sharp clap of gun shots. Hehehehe
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23/10/09
Well today was a quite an interesting day. It started with an absolutely stunning view from the plane above the community.
We had just finished our morning training and were standing around chatting, when I think it was Patri, pointed at something by the West coast.
As soon as I saw it I ran as fast as I could back to my cabin to snatch up my camera.
The view to the West was of a savannah of cloud high above the land below, with washes of pink glinting off them. The blue sky dotted around it contrasted beautifully, and set the scene perfectly for the rainbow rising vertically out of the clouds. It was a painting that could not ever be given justice by any human hand.
My pictures can only give a taste of what I saw, but the whole setting could never quite be captured.
So it was some start to the day as you can imagine.
And then after our second work period, fixing one of the electricity poles that had been bent out of shape by a falling branch, I found myself back very early.
Normally, if I was to get back at this sort of time, with two hours before lunch, I would go and maybe lend a hand to somebody else for a bit. But today I wanted a bit of alone time. It has rained a little more than usual lately, so I hadn’t been able to go for walks or sit outside, so this would be perfect.
Sitting on the bench outside our cabin was exactly what I needed and I was able to just sit there and just observe. Suddenly, though, I spotted something really worth while observing, two toucans!
With camera in hand I found myself effectively chasing them around the front area trying to get close enough for a decent picture, but I was always bested by the two colourful birds. With no really good photos to show for my hard work, I though I would walk down to the wind turbine (which was in the direction I last saw them go).
It seemed rather idyllic and thought that placing my posterior (after checking for any ant dwellings) on the side of the hill would be wonderful.
It was so serene sitting there, the clouds were low but not so thick as to block out the Sun, and I still had an amazing view of the primary forest on the opposite side of the valley. The fly catchers were busy leaping off the perches, pirouetting in mid air before dropping back onto their branch to swallow their catch.
I was sitting close to a tree that quickly became abundant with life. There must have been close to 20 different birds on this small tree. You had the yellows of the different types of flycatchers, you had the reds from the fiery coloured tanager and
the red tanager,(photo taken from the internet) there was the green of a woodpecker, very similar to the green woodpecker we see at home. There were also, pale blues as well as blacks and whites from the little birds searching the bark for grubs.
It was stunning. I would usually have tried to creep forward to get some pictures, but for once, I just wanted to enjoy what I was seeing.
I must have been there for over half an hour, with no care in the world and just absorbing the best of what was around me.
It was funny because when I went to get up I realised my cheeks were really saw. I must have been smiling for the whole of the 30 minutes. This wasn’t just ordinary conditional happiness (I hadn’t just been given chocolate), this was just total bliss. I was just totally content with myself and my surroundings.
Well, I better go, lunch is being served and I don’t want to miss out on conditional happiness.
We had just finished our morning training and were standing around chatting, when I think it was Patri, pointed at something by the West coast.
As soon as I saw it I ran as fast as I could back to my cabin to snatch up my camera.
The view to the West was of a savannah of cloud high above the land below, with washes of pink glinting off them. The blue sky dotted around it contrasted beautifully, and set the scene perfectly for the rainbow rising vertically out of the clouds. It was a painting that could not ever be given justice by any human hand.
My pictures can only give a taste of what I saw, but the whole setting could never quite be captured.
So it was some start to the day as you can imagine.
And then after our second work period, fixing one of the electricity poles that had been bent out of shape by a falling branch, I found myself back very early.
Normally, if I was to get back at this sort of time, with two hours before lunch, I would go and maybe lend a hand to somebody else for a bit. But today I wanted a bit of alone time. It has rained a little more than usual lately, so I hadn’t been able to go for walks or sit outside, so this would be perfect.
Sitting on the bench outside our cabin was exactly what I needed and I was able to just sit there and just observe. Suddenly, though, I spotted something really worth while observing, two toucans!
With camera in hand I found myself effectively chasing them around the front area trying to get close enough for a decent picture, but I was always bested by the two colourful birds. With no really good photos to show for my hard work, I though I would walk down to the wind turbine (which was in the direction I last saw them go).
It seemed rather idyllic and thought that placing my posterior (after checking for any ant dwellings) on the side of the hill would be wonderful.
It was so serene sitting there, the clouds were low but not so thick as to block out the Sun, and I still had an amazing view of the primary forest on the opposite side of the valley. The fly catchers were busy leaping off the perches, pirouetting in mid air before dropping back onto their branch to swallow their catch.
I was sitting close to a tree that quickly became abundant with life. There must have been close to 20 different birds on this small tree. You had the yellows of the different types of flycatchers, you had the reds from the fiery coloured tanager and
the red tanager,(photo taken from the internet) there was the green of a woodpecker, very similar to the green woodpecker we see at home. There were also, pale blues as well as blacks and whites from the little birds searching the bark for grubs.It was stunning. I would usually have tried to creep forward to get some pictures, but for once, I just wanted to enjoy what I was seeing.
I must have been there for over half an hour, with no care in the world and just absorbing the best of what was around me.
It was funny because when I went to get up I realised my cheeks were really saw. I must have been smiling for the whole of the 30 minutes. This wasn’t just ordinary conditional happiness (I hadn’t just been given chocolate), this was just total bliss. I was just totally content with myself and my surroundings.
Well, I better go, lunch is being served and I don’t want to miss out on conditional happiness.
18/10/09
My day started with an early wake up at 4 so that I could get my laundry sorted as well as get up to the volley ball court for morning exercises. However, it didn’t seem to be on so Devon and I found ourselves staring at one of the most amazing lighting storms I have seen yet. Pretty much every morning we can see a storm over to the West, but these flashes were so bright that it seemed as though somebody had turned the sun on for that split second before flicking off again. Whoever was playing with the light switch was creating an impressive display of nature’s beauty as it was awe inspiring to see the forks of light light up the cloud formations around it.
Anyway, after a power nap I woke up to get breakfast before my second lone shepherding experience. Last time had gone as good as I could hope but they had almost killed me both by giving me near heart murmurs, or literally causing me to pass out with exhaustion after chasing them down and up very steep sections of the land that makes up this particular mountain range. I am convinced that they were just trying to mess with me because it was my first time, but it could well have been that I was so paranoid and tense that it rubbed off on the goats. Either way, last time I had relaxed a lot more by the end, and more importantly I had got them all back into their shed in exactly the same state as before, if not a little fatter.
So this time I was going to play this much more coolly. I had done it once,
I was more confident, experienced and knew which ones to watch.
And it went brilliantly. I like to think it was a combination of both my goatherding skills as well as the goats behaving that it meant they never threatened to disappear into some jungle.
In fact this time is was so much more relaxed that I even had time to take one or two pictures! Ok, I it literally was one or two, but considering last time I found myself constantly trying to prevent a goat from running off, 2 pictures is a big step. But better than that, I enjoyed myself. In fact I was having such a good time that at one of the longer stops, anybody in the local valleys would have heard that ‘the hills were alive with the sound of music’. It was quite impressive really. There I was, on top of a ridge pocking out of the rainforest around me surrounded by goats, singing the likes of ‘Jerusalem’, or ‘Swing Low’ at the top of my lungs. It was just as if Maria was standing there with her arms wide and singing to the mountains (the only difference being I wasn’t wearing a nun’s outfit with an apron and I was singing at least 2 octaves lover, if that’s possible). I sang all the songs I could remember either from the Abbotsholme song book or from our Tuesday song practices with Mr Moon in chapel. The image of Maria singing to the mountains was slightly dented when I ran out of classic songs to sing and I moved on to various renditions of hip hop tracks like Low and Lean Back. You never know Maria may have had a secret collection of T-Pains or FloRida’s tracks. But it was good fun all the same and I may have got some of the local wild life into a different genre to the typical bird song they hear every day. Ha ha.
Needless to say, the time flew by and I enjoyed the time to myself (if you don’t count the 40 goats standing around me). But it was nice and so much more relaxing than before.
I’m thinking of really testing my goatherding skills by taking the goats on a different route next time I shepherd. I’ll probably scout it out first just to make sure I really know it, but I think I may try and take them along the ridge. Well we’ll see but I’ve set myself a challenge now.
Better go
ciao
Anyway, after a power nap I woke up to get breakfast before my second lone shepherding experience. Last time had gone as good as I could hope but they had almost killed me both by giving me near heart murmurs, or literally causing me to pass out with exhaustion after chasing them down and up very steep sections of the land that makes up this particular mountain range. I am convinced that they were just trying to mess with me because it was my first time, but it could well have been that I was so paranoid and tense that it rubbed off on the goats. Either way, last time I had relaxed a lot more by the end, and more importantly I had got them all back into their shed in exactly the same state as before, if not a little fatter.
So this time I was going to play this much more coolly. I had done it once,
I was more confident, experienced and knew which ones to watch.And it went brilliantly. I like to think it was a combination of both my goatherding skills as well as the goats behaving that it meant they never threatened to disappear into some jungle.
In fact this time is was so much more relaxed that I even had time to take one or two pictures! Ok, I it literally was one or two, but considering last time I found myself constantly trying to prevent a goat from running off, 2 pictures is a big step. But better than that, I enjoyed myself. In fact I was having such a good time that at one of the longer stops, anybody in the local valleys would have heard that ‘the hills were alive with the sound of music’. It was quite impressive really. There I was, on top of a ridge pocking out of the rainforest around me surrounded by goats, singing the likes of ‘Jerusalem’, or ‘Swing Low’ at the top of my lungs. It was just as if Maria was standing there with her arms wide and singing to the mountains (the only difference being I wasn’t wearing a nun’s outfit with an apron and I was singing at least 2 octaves lover, if that’s possible). I sang all the songs I could remember either from the Abbotsholme song book or from our Tuesday song practices with Mr Moon in chapel. The image of Maria singing to the mountains was slightly dented when I ran out of classic songs to sing and I moved on to various renditions of hip hop tracks like Low and Lean Back. You never know Maria may have had a secret collection of T-Pains or FloRida’s tracks. But it was good fun all the same and I may have got some of the local wild life into a different genre to the typical bird song they hear every day. Ha ha.
Needless to say, the time flew by and I enjoyed the time to myself (if you don’t count the 40 goats standing around me). But it was nice and so much more relaxing than before.
I’m thinking of really testing my goatherding skills by taking the goats on a different route next time I shepherd. I’ll probably scout it out first just to make sure I really know it, but I think I may try and take them along the ridge. Well we’ll see but I’ve set myself a challenge now.
Better go
ciao
17/10/09
Well today was a very special day. Because today, was 6 weeks in Durika, meaning I am already half way through my stay here! How scary is that? It feels like I only arrived last week.
Today has been a bit of a strange day and a little different from most, because I spent so much time on the computer. My ’30 minute only’ allowance of time spent on the internet was broken, in order to research universities. The only reason I set my ’30 minute only’ internet regulation, was to stop me spending all day effectively ‘living’ at home and not allowing myself to be absorbed in the beauty, that is Durika village. But today was an out of the ordinary day.
Oh yeah, but we did go to for a ‘swim’ this morning in the water fall which is always a fun and refreshing occasion to say the least, although I somehow always manage to forget just how far the walk there and back is.
Anyhow, as I said I am half way through my stay. It has taken me a little while to get used to how it works in the community. I found that at the beginning I was always striving to get to some other place or some other time. During the 1st morning session I would be constantly counting down the time until breakfast and then after breakfast I would look forward to lunch and then the afternoon off. But when I got to the afternoon I didn’t quite know what to do with myself, so at the beginning I didn’t feel that my time here being allowed to flow.
However, the other day we watched a movie. Now I know this sounds really cheesy and fake but its true when I say that it has really helped me this last week. I was starting to understand more, that I needed to appreciate everything and not always focus on the future, but it hadn’t quite clicked but the movie managed to move the final cogs into line. It was about a gymnast who was amazing at what he did (the rings by the way), was at the top of his game and was attempting to compete for the gold medal in the Olympics. He had everything going for him, including a gift with the opposite sex, which made watching those parts almost as awkward as if you were watching it with your parents. Despite all this, he wasn’t happy. He didn’t realize it, but he wasn’t ever satisfied. Anyway to cut a long story/ movie short this man he meets helps him understand that you have to live in the present not in the past or future. If you can do that you will be constantly happy and you will get much more from life. ‘It’s the journey that is so exciting not the destination’. And that was very true for me. Where I am now is one of the most beautiful places on Earth, but when I was working I never even glanced at what was around me to enjoy it. I had to set myself a specific time when I was going to go and allow myself the opportunity to appreciate it and take pictures. How bad is that? But this has helped me to realize that I can enjoy it throughout the day. Well, it has meant my last week especially, has been absolutely wonderful as I have finally taken full advantage of what this place has provided to me.
So I have learned a great deal from this short amount of time here so far, things I think would have taken me a lot longer to learn if I had been in the same environment that I was so used to at home. I have learned things about myself, other people as well as how to enjoy living life. But I’m almost certain I’m going to be taught a great deal more from the rest of my time here, and am thoroughly looking forward to it. I am guessing that these next few weeks will go a lot faster than up till now, but I will hang on to every second, loving every step of the way.
Learn from the past, live in the present and welcome the future.
Today has been a bit of a strange day and a little different from most, because I spent so much time on the computer. My ’30 minute only’ allowance of time spent on the internet was broken, in order to research universities. The only reason I set my ’30 minute only’ internet regulation, was to stop me spending all day effectively ‘living’ at home and not allowing myself to be absorbed in the beauty, that is Durika village. But today was an out of the ordinary day.
Oh yeah, but we did go to for a ‘swim’ this morning in the water fall which is always a fun and refreshing occasion to say the least, although I somehow always manage to forget just how far the walk there and back is.
Anyhow, as I said I am half way through my stay. It has taken me a little while to get used to how it works in the community. I found that at the beginning I was always striving to get to some other place or some other time. During the 1st morning session I would be constantly counting down the time until breakfast and then after breakfast I would look forward to lunch and then the afternoon off. But when I got to the afternoon I didn’t quite know what to do with myself, so at the beginning I didn’t feel that my time here being allowed to flow.
However, the other day we watched a movie. Now I know this sounds really cheesy and fake but its true when I say that it has really helped me this last week. I was starting to understand more, that I needed to appreciate everything and not always focus on the future, but it hadn’t quite clicked but the movie managed to move the final cogs into line. It was about a gymnast who was amazing at what he did (the rings by the way), was at the top of his game and was attempting to compete for the gold medal in the Olympics. He had everything going for him, including a gift with the opposite sex, which made watching those parts almost as awkward as if you were watching it with your parents. Despite all this, he wasn’t happy. He didn’t realize it, but he wasn’t ever satisfied. Anyway to cut a long story/ movie short this man he meets helps him understand that you have to live in the present not in the past or future. If you can do that you will be constantly happy and you will get much more from life. ‘It’s the journey that is so exciting not the destination’. And that was very true for me. Where I am now is one of the most beautiful places on Earth, but when I was working I never even glanced at what was around me to enjoy it. I had to set myself a specific time when I was going to go and allow myself the opportunity to appreciate it and take pictures. How bad is that? But this has helped me to realize that I can enjoy it throughout the day. Well, it has meant my last week especially, has been absolutely wonderful as I have finally taken full advantage of what this place has provided to me.
So I have learned a great deal from this short amount of time here so far, things I think would have taken me a lot longer to learn if I had been in the same environment that I was so used to at home. I have learned things about myself, other people as well as how to enjoy living life. But I’m almost certain I’m going to be taught a great deal more from the rest of my time here, and am thoroughly looking forward to it. I am guessing that these next few weeks will go a lot faster than up till now, but I will hang on to every second, loving every step of the way.
Learn from the past, live in the present and welcome the future.
Something Special I saw this morning
I was taking pictures this morning and after I had finished I thought I would walk back to the cabin but keep my camera on just in case I spotted something interesting. Literally when I reached the back of the cabin I heard a flapping noise above me and looked up to see a hawk of somekind. I was so annoyed that I hadn't seen it before hand and taken a picture, so when I saw that it was landing near by I rushed to follow it. Anyway the picture speaks for itself, I was just lucky I suppose.
8/10/09
08/10/09
Gillette Mac Fusion Turbo Tropical Style!!!
Ok, so I’m bet you’re all wondering how my beard coming along. Well, personally I think I deserve some recognition for the determination required to stop myself from shaving after the 1st 3 days. For all of you who have never had to go through such a sensation, beards with pathetic moustaches are very annoying and serve only to get in the way (although they may have some insulating properties but who cares about that?). Anyway, dad told me that I should let it grow a little bit so that I don’t go through my razors too quickly, and he said that I was ‘living in the wild’ so I may as well look as though I am. However, I don’t think he was expecting me to go this far.
Mike went on his Canadian canoe trip last year and didn’t shave for 3 weeks. Needless to say, mike had an impressive mat of thick ginger hair on his chin that he could safely call a beard. So, this naturally appealed to my competitive nature. Could I grow a better beard than mike in 3 weeks? Bearing in mind that mike is two years younger you would think so. Then taking into account that if you see him you would immediately assume that his is my older brother rather than younger, the contest would be close.
Well I persevered and… you wouldn’t believe it… but instead of the 3 weeks I was originally aiming for… I managed over a month!!! That in itself should be a victory. Well, it would have been if you hadn’t seen what I called my beard.
Mike, you beat me hands down. I had tufts of fluff stuck on my face and an eyebrow stuck over my top lip, nothing like yours. In Spanish the word for beard is ‘barba’, but what I had was a ‘bartita’ (a very small excuse of a beard).
Despite this, shaving was a pig. Although it wasn’t a solid mat, it was enough to make shaving a very laborious process. It didn’t make things easier when the mirror is hung 2 meters away from the tap. Well anyway, I thought you might want to know the important stuff about Costa Rica, so here it is. Ha ha
Please excuse the extremely happy-face, it turns out its difficult to smile whilst taking a picture of yourself. Ha ha
Gillette Mac Fusion Turbo Tropical Style!!!
Ok, so I’m bet you’re all wondering how my beard coming along. Well, personally I think I deserve some recognition for the determination required to stop myself from shaving after the 1st 3 days. For all of you who have never had to go through such a sensation, beards with pathetic moustaches are very annoying and serve only to get in the way (although they may have some insulating properties but who cares about that?). Anyway, dad told me that I should let it grow a little bit so that I don’t go through my razors too quickly, and he said that I was ‘living in the wild’ so I may as well look as though I am. However, I don’t think he was expecting me to go this far.
Mike went on his Canadian canoe trip last year and didn’t shave for 3 weeks. Needless to say, mike had an impressive mat of thick ginger hair on his chin that he could safely call a beard. So, this naturally appealed to my competitive nature. Could I grow a better beard than mike in 3 weeks? Bearing in mind that mike is two years younger you would think so. Then taking into account that if you see him you would immediately assume that his is my older brother rather than younger, the contest would be close.
Well I persevered and… you wouldn’t believe it… but instead of the 3 weeks I was originally aiming for… I managed over a month!!! That in itself should be a victory. Well, it would have been if you hadn’t seen what I called my beard.
Mike, you beat me hands down. I had tufts of fluff stuck on my face and an eyebrow stuck over my top lip, nothing like yours. In Spanish the word for beard is ‘barba’, but what I had was a ‘bartita’ (a very small excuse of a beard).
Despite this, shaving was a pig. Although it wasn’t a solid mat, it was enough to make shaving a very laborious process. It didn’t make things easier when the mirror is hung 2 meters away from the tap. Well anyway, I thought you might want to know the important stuff about Costa Rica, so here it is. Ha ha
Please excuse the extremely happy-face, it turns out its difficult to smile whilst taking a picture of yourself. Ha ha
08/10/09
Ok, it’s just after lunch and I’m still recovering (and probably will be until the weekend) from this morning’s work.
I was working in the gardens today, and you know how I said that I actually enjoyed weeding, well just like everything (apart from chocolate), the novelty is starting to wear off. 3 hours of pulling up plants and trying to find excuses for not weeding the areas by the mounds concealing millions of ants is back breaking work. To say my back is stiff is an understatement and the mud has managed to form a rustic tattoo on the skin of my hands which I’m sure I will be left with until I die. So mum, I can safely say, there is even less chance of me helping you weed than before, so sorry about that. Ha ha.
However, I cannot understand it but, I’ve got to admit it is a very satisfying job. I was looking at the beds that I weeded and man it looked good. Being totally impartial, of course, I think it’s the best looking part out of all of the gardens!!! But no, they do look good.
Actually, although I have complained a lot about it, its actually quite good fun I suppose. It’s a good opportunity to think as its so quiet and peaceful. But I could do with a break from it for a few days, so I’m glad that I am sheepherding tomorrow and then milking on Saturday.
Ok, it’s just after lunch and I’m still recovering (and probably will be until the weekend) from this morning’s work.
I was working in the gardens today, and you know how I said that I actually enjoyed weeding, well just like everything (apart from chocolate), the novelty is starting to wear off. 3 hours of pulling up plants and trying to find excuses for not weeding the areas by the mounds concealing millions of ants is back breaking work. To say my back is stiff is an understatement and the mud has managed to form a rustic tattoo on the skin of my hands which I’m sure I will be left with until I die. So mum, I can safely say, there is even less chance of me helping you weed than before, so sorry about that. Ha ha.
However, I cannot understand it but, I’ve got to admit it is a very satisfying job. I was looking at the beds that I weeded and man it looked good. Being totally impartial, of course, I think it’s the best looking part out of all of the gardens!!! But no, they do look good.
Actually, although I have complained a lot about it, its actually quite good fun I suppose. It’s a good opportunity to think as its so quiet and peaceful. But I could do with a break from it for a few days, so I’m glad that I am sheepherding tomorrow and then milking on Saturday.
6/10/09 The trip to the Continental Divide
Early on Saturday we prepared our rucksacks for a two night stay up in the hut half way up to the continental divide. The group consisted of Devon, Melissa, Ema and me led by Eugo.
Once we had packed the group equipment, like food, we set off on our little adventure. Now I can tell you, walking in a group of 5 is so much faster than walking in a group of 12 plus teachers and leaders. What took us 3 hrs last time was achieved in close to 1½ hrs! But the walk was beautiful. The forest is home to so many beautiful plants and animals, especially by the stream that I found myself very busy with the camera.
The walk was also a lot easier than I remembered it despite carrying all the vegetables, but it was nice surprise and allowed me to enjoy the views and sights much more.
When we were walking along the track before the last climb we began to hear the sound of blanches shaking and the calls of some creature. I soon discovered this to be the so
und of white face capuchin monkeys feeding on the huge fig trees. It was wonderful to see the little creatures jump from branch to branch. One seemed very interested in its new audience and sat there staring at us for a while, which was the perfect opportunity to dig into our bags for our cameras. Unfortunately, my camera either loved the look of the leaves around it or was convinced that that was what I wanted to look at, so I found it hard to focus on the actual monkey. Also with it being a good 20m away, the pictures weren’t brilliant but hopefully this image should give you an idea.The last ascent is very steep and would have been fairly challenging if I had been thinking about it. However, the ‘path’ was guarded by wild raspberries! So if anyone was to ask me about a certain section of the ascent I would only be able to tell them how good that section was for the fruit. Either way, they tasted great and as I said I so absorbed in devouring them that I didn’t even notice we had been climbing a very steep section for over half and hour.
We arrived pretty early so after lunch we set to work on some of the jobs we were there to do. Waxing the floor was interesting and my trousers now have some interesting red patterns on them where I wasn’t careful enough.
But the other job was clearing out the ‘thunder box’. For those of you who are not familiar with that term, it’s the ‘long drop’ or bog. I’m sure you currently have images of disgusting smelling, fly cover piles of … well you know… doo doo. Well, I certainly did and I am not going to lie and say I was very enthused about the sound of that job.
So when the sight of very good compost reached my eyes I was mightily relieved. The last group had been there 3 months ago and it had decomposed very nicely.
And then, we cooked, but more importantly made fudge. Eugenio’s mum had owned a restaurant and her fudge recipe had made it famous in the local area. So much so that old people still go to the shop (now owned by Eugo’s sister) go get the famous fudge that they used to eat in their youth. But seriously, when you taste it, you understand exactly why it became famous! It is the most delicious fudge I have ever tasted the recipe is so simple that I will be using it to pay for my university fees (as well as filling my belly on regular occasions he he).
After a good nights sleep I woke up to the most amazing view. You could actually see the Pacific Ocean from the window. The sight was both wonderful and humbling.
This view proved to be the best view of the ocean as it was very cloudy on top of the actual Divide but the walk up was great. We saw so many different organisms and I obviously had to take loads of pictures. But the most amazing animal we saw as the Resplendent Quetzal.
Unfortunately I was carrying the rucksack at that time and I couldn’t get my camera out. I think Eugo got some good photos but I’m not sure. Either way, look it up on the internet, ‘Resplendent Quetzal’ it is sometimes considered the worlds most beautiful bird. But yes, very few people go up there so they are not used to ‘being afraid of humans’ so they hung around much longer than you would expect.
Anyway, when we were at the top of the Continental Divide we sat and lay around for about an hour. It was really interesting because if was so peaceful and calm and the cloud was really starting to come in then. I’m not sure if it was this, and it reminding me of hiking, but I started to think of Abbotsholme. I have never properly dealt with leaving Abbotsholme, emotionally. I had been so relieved that I could finally rest. Either way I have never felt that I have managed to properly deal with it. But up there, when I was thinking about everything I had done at Abbotsholme, I got quite emotional and even felt my eyes well up because although I don’t miss it in a way that I want to go back, I do miss the fact that it was my security and home for 7 yrs. It was a bizarre moment but I think that this experience is doing exactly what I intended it to do, allow me to process things I haven’t been able to do whilst at school and get myself both physically and mentally ready for the next stage of my life.
Oh yeah something else I must add. Every now and then Eugo will announce, ‘this may be a new species, because I have never seen this before’. I believe that Durika may have discovered 50 new species of organisms so some of the picture I have taken may be some of the first pictures of that species.
But anyway, we were just going to collect some water from the local spring when I spotted it. It was the most beautiful creature, a type of moth I think. It had red and black wings with a metallic blue shoulders and head. Underneath, it was striped with metallic blue and black stripes. And to my surprise as Eugo began snapping shots off with his camera, he announced his great phrase, ‘this may be a new species!!!’ If that’s the case I found a new species!!! And today when we were walking back towards Durika, I spotted another one! Either that or it was the same one, but this time I had my camera ready. So it is possible that these are some of the first photos of this species. If its not a new species I would appreciate it if nobody told me so that I can live on
thinking that there was a possibility of finding a new species, he he. Thanks. Well, the whole experience was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was very different from what we normally get up to and it was good to break up the routine a little. But I must say this was a particularly special way to break up the routine.
05/10/09
The other day was a really good day. If you look at what I actually did, it was pretty much an average day. I did similar activities to every other day, but for what ever reason, when I was lying in bed in the evening, I felt as though a very special day was coming to a close.
My 4.15 alarm went off as per usual and Devon and I stumbled through the dark up to the volley ball court for morning exercises. However, today our reception party consisted of Ikedo only (the dog). But instead of going down we sat for a few minutes watching the flashes of lightning, illuminating the skies over the opposite mountain range. This happens most mornings but it was nice to watch bright white light uncover the cloud formation for that brief instant.
But then as true teenagers, we saw this as another opportunity to get a little bit more sleep. However, within 20 minutes I was woken again, this time by Nata, telling me that I was washing the goats that morning and we were starting earlier than usual.
Washing the goats. Now this job is great fun. It consists of dragging the goats into the smaller pen to be hosed down, scrubbed clean with soapy water and then rinsed off for good measure. Fantastic fun. They don’t do it very often but the special occasion is marked with some put-out looking goats.
Some of the goats accept their fate and will ‘come easily’ and get it over and done with, but others, well they don’t see it in quite the same way. The sheer terror on their faces gives you the impression that they are thoroughly convinced that they are walking to their doom. They soon find out that their ‘doom’ isn’t anywhere as painful as they are expecting, but is a lot better smelling and very wet. So, as you can imagine I spent must of my time chuckling at them.
The funniest moments were when the males had to get washed. The leader of the ‘8 terrors’ is a young grey male. He has one of those personalities where ego and looks are everything, so getting a ‘bath time’ was something that would seriously damage his ‘cool goat’ reputation. You could see his reputation drop every time white bubbly soap was slapped onto his back. It was so funny. But ‘el macho’s’ (the male goat’s) was ever better/ worse.
We took him from his little hut down into the main hut for his ‘bath time’. So there he was… the top dog (goat) strutting his stuff as he swaggered into the pen. He was there with his babes and you had to remind him every now and then that he was not to go and ‘introduce himself’ to the ladies, with a short tug on his rope. But then it all went down hill for him. In front of all his girls, he was tied up, and then hosed down and soaped! Imagine his embarrassment! Ouch it’s going to take him a while to recover from that blow! But nah, it was really important to stop them getting infections or illnesses and stuff. We found one goat that had a botfly in her, or rather its maggot form. Botflies will land on an animal (or human!!!) and then lay its eggs on them. Then the larvae burrow into the skin and begin to grow! (or at least it goes something like that. Either way, the larvae end up in your skin and they are not pleasant) To get them out you have to squeeze it like a big spot until you get the bug out.
Anyway, after breakfast I went with Christina and Melissa to the old vegetable garden. It’s a little way from the community and I had not been before. It was more of the usual in that I was breaking off new shoots from the main sweat potato plant and replanting it. Unfortunately, it turned out that it wasn’t only plants that like the amazingly fertile soil. I remember wondering why there was a large mound in the middle off the row, precisely where I was going to plant the next plant. As soon as my spade entered the soil, the ground began to move. Or rather the ‘ormagas’ (ants) began to move. I kid you not, there were thousands of them and that wasn’t the only mound around. The girls thought it hilarious that I wasn’t so keen on them and they showed me with ease how to do it. Either way, ‘!!!no megusta las ormagas!!!’ (I don’t like ants!!!). But yeah they were everywhere.
But once that was finished I helped weed. The soil was so rich and fertile that it was so easy to pull the weeds up. And, you won’t believe it, especially you mum, but I actually really enjoyed doing it!!! So much so that I turned down the offer to plant plants instead, and continued weeding!!! I think Durika must be getting to me because we all know that I will try every trick in the book to get out of weeding at home, even if that means going to my room and doing some course work. But yes it was so therapeutic.
However, the highlight came toward the end. I have come to love watching the parakeets flying low over the forests. They fly in small groups of maybe 10 or 12 and make a huge racket as they go. But for what ever reason I love watching them. So when we were weeding on the edge of the ridge in the exposed area that is the vegetable garden, and we heard the distinctive calls of the parakeets, we all stood up. And then in an instant they rounded the edge of the ridge and flew straight between us. It was so amazing, they were flying a meter off the ground and simply darted in between us and off into the valley. It felt like something from the movies, and for me it was one of the highlights so far. To be honest it wasn’t that big a thing, but the feeling of them flying amongst us on the edge of a mountain was something magical.
Well, already then I was having a fantastic day, so the birthday party in the evening with dancing and karaoke was just the ‘cherry on top’.
All in all the day wasn’t too far out of the ordinary, but for me, it was something extraordinary and very special.
My 4.15 alarm went off as per usual and Devon and I stumbled through the dark up to the volley ball court for morning exercises. However, today our reception party consisted of Ikedo only (the dog). But instead of going down we sat for a few minutes watching the flashes of lightning, illuminating the skies over the opposite mountain range. This happens most mornings but it was nice to watch bright white light uncover the cloud formation for that brief instant.
But then as true teenagers, we saw this as another opportunity to get a little bit more sleep. However, within 20 minutes I was woken again, this time by Nata, telling me that I was washing the goats that morning and we were starting earlier than usual.
Washing the goats. Now this job is great fun. It consists of dragging the goats into the smaller pen to be hosed down, scrubbed clean with soapy water and then rinsed off for good measure. Fantastic fun. They don’t do it very often but the special occasion is marked with some put-out looking goats.
Some of the goats accept their fate and will ‘come easily’ and get it over and done with, but others, well they don’t see it in quite the same way. The sheer terror on their faces gives you the impression that they are thoroughly convinced that they are walking to their doom. They soon find out that their ‘doom’ isn’t anywhere as painful as they are expecting, but is a lot better smelling and very wet. So, as you can imagine I spent must of my time chuckling at them.
The funniest moments were when the males had to get washed. The leader of the ‘8 terrors’ is a young grey male. He has one of those personalities where ego and looks are everything, so getting a ‘bath time’ was something that would seriously damage his ‘cool goat’ reputation. You could see his reputation drop every time white bubbly soap was slapped onto his back. It was so funny. But ‘el macho’s’ (the male goat’s) was ever better/ worse.
We took him from his little hut down into the main hut for his ‘bath time’. So there he was… the top dog (goat) strutting his stuff as he swaggered into the pen. He was there with his babes and you had to remind him every now and then that he was not to go and ‘introduce himself’ to the ladies, with a short tug on his rope. But then it all went down hill for him. In front of all his girls, he was tied up, and then hosed down and soaped! Imagine his embarrassment! Ouch it’s going to take him a while to recover from that blow! But nah, it was really important to stop them getting infections or illnesses and stuff. We found one goat that had a botfly in her, or rather its maggot form. Botflies will land on an animal (or human!!!) and then lay its eggs on them. Then the larvae burrow into the skin and begin to grow! (or at least it goes something like that. Either way, the larvae end up in your skin and they are not pleasant) To get them out you have to squeeze it like a big spot until you get the bug out.
Anyway, after breakfast I went with Christina and Melissa to the old vegetable garden. It’s a little way from the community and I had not been before. It was more of the usual in that I was breaking off new shoots from the main sweat potato plant and replanting it. Unfortunately, it turned out that it wasn’t only plants that like the amazingly fertile soil. I remember wondering why there was a large mound in the middle off the row, precisely where I was going to plant the next plant. As soon as my spade entered the soil, the ground began to move. Or rather the ‘ormagas’ (ants) began to move. I kid you not, there were thousands of them and that wasn’t the only mound around. The girls thought it hilarious that I wasn’t so keen on them and they showed me with ease how to do it. Either way, ‘!!!no megusta las ormagas!!!’ (I don’t like ants!!!). But yeah they were everywhere.But once that was finished I helped weed. The soil was so rich and fertile that it was so easy to pull the weeds up. And, you won’t believe it, especially you mum, but I actually really enjoyed doing it!!! So much so that I turned down the offer to plant plants instead, and continued weeding!!! I think Durika must be getting to me because we all know that I will try every trick in the book to get out of weeding at home, even if that means going to my room and doing some course work. But yes it was so therapeutic.
However, the highlight came toward the end. I have come to love watching the parakeets flying low over the forests. They fly in small groups of maybe 10 or 12 and make a huge racket as they go. But for what ever reason I love watching them. So when we were weeding on the edge of the ridge in the exposed area that is the vegetable garden, and we heard the distinctive calls of the parakeets, we all stood up. And then in an instant they rounded the edge of the ridge and flew straight between us. It was so amazing, they were flying a meter off the ground and simply darted in between us and off into the valley. It felt like something from the movies, and for me it was one of the highlights so far. To be honest it wasn’t that big a thing, but the feeling of them flying amongst us on the edge of a mountain was something magical.
Well, already then I was having a fantastic day, so the birthday party in the evening with dancing and karaoke was just the ‘cherry on top’.
All in all the day wasn’t too far out of the ordinary, but for me, it was something extraordinary and very special.
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