Right now I am sitting in a plastic lawn chair on the third floor of an old building in downtown San Jose. The fluorescent lighting dimly illuminates the keyboard in front of me as I attempt to think of words quickly enough to keep up with my fingers. Time is short. Electric fans hum against the buzz of a radio announcer calling the shots from a nationally anticipated soccer game happening right now a few kilometers away in Heredia. Many of my classmates are there, witnessing the game for themselves.
I just bought some excellent plant books at a shop a few blocks away. Exciting! Soon this cafe will close and I will walk back to the hotel at the other end of downtown. Then dinner, which I also find exciting. I'm rather hungry.
We had a long busride today up from the lower slopes of the Caribbean side of the Cordillera de Tilaran (for those of you with maps), from the town of La Fortuna all through the central plateau to San Jose. Tomorrow we ride again for Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, where we shall encounter La Selva biological station: our next real destination. This layover in San Jose was intended to be as short as possible.
Brian, one of my classmates, sits at a computer nearby, typing nearly as furiously as myself. We don't get a lot of time to communicate with other countries. Every second is precious. I've heard no complaints, though. It's hard not to love this country, and Jack doesn't really give us time to think of things to complain about anyway.
A brief synopsis of the past few days:
About 5 days ago now, we hiked from Monteverde down into the Penas Blancas river valley to Refugio Eladio's: a rustic cabin structure right smack in the middle of absolutely exquisite old growth rainforest. You'll just have to wait for photos, because words cannot do it justice in the amount of time I have. Everyone lived through the 14 kilometer mudslide of a hike, some just barely dragging their weary feet enough to keep from collapsing by the time we got to Eladios. Dinner never tasted so good. The next few days were spent in field study with our two instructors Jack and Beth, and also doing field problems of our own.
The day before yesterday, we hiked out of Penas Blancas. That journey made the former hike seem like a frolic on the lawn of Versailles. Buckets of rain fell the night before the hike, and we could not ford the river. When Eladio nearly lost his wife to the rushing water, Jack made up his mind. The trip around the ford added 5 kilometers to our trip. We crossed the river on a hanging footbridge and began the hike. All morning Jack hacked our trail through the dense rainforest that has since grown over the habitations of 30 years ago in the valley. At noon we reached the point of our original planned crossing.
The rest of the day we trudged through wet, wet rainforest. It was the most glorious hike I have ever undertaken in my life. After nearly ten hours of hiking with a forty pound backpack strapped to my waist, we arrived at Poco Sol. Immediately, we stripped and swam in lake. The water there felt like warm silk.
Sorry to leave you hanging, but I have run out of time. More soon.
Pura vida!
I just bought some excellent plant books at a shop a few blocks away. Exciting! Soon this cafe will close and I will walk back to the hotel at the other end of downtown. Then dinner, which I also find exciting. I'm rather hungry.
We had a long busride today up from the lower slopes of the Caribbean side of the Cordillera de Tilaran (for those of you with maps), from the town of La Fortuna all through the central plateau to San Jose. Tomorrow we ride again for Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui, where we shall encounter La Selva biological station: our next real destination. This layover in San Jose was intended to be as short as possible.
Brian, one of my classmates, sits at a computer nearby, typing nearly as furiously as myself. We don't get a lot of time to communicate with other countries. Every second is precious. I've heard no complaints, though. It's hard not to love this country, and Jack doesn't really give us time to think of things to complain about anyway.
A brief synopsis of the past few days:
About 5 days ago now, we hiked from Monteverde down into the Penas Blancas river valley to Refugio Eladio's: a rustic cabin structure right smack in the middle of absolutely exquisite old growth rainforest. You'll just have to wait for photos, because words cannot do it justice in the amount of time I have. Everyone lived through the 14 kilometer mudslide of a hike, some just barely dragging their weary feet enough to keep from collapsing by the time we got to Eladios. Dinner never tasted so good. The next few days were spent in field study with our two instructors Jack and Beth, and also doing field problems of our own.
The day before yesterday, we hiked out of Penas Blancas. That journey made the former hike seem like a frolic on the lawn of Versailles. Buckets of rain fell the night before the hike, and we could not ford the river. When Eladio nearly lost his wife to the rushing water, Jack made up his mind. The trip around the ford added 5 kilometers to our trip. We crossed the river on a hanging footbridge and began the hike. All morning Jack hacked our trail through the dense rainforest that has since grown over the habitations of 30 years ago in the valley. At noon we reached the point of our original planned crossing.
The rest of the day we trudged through wet, wet rainforest. It was the most glorious hike I have ever undertaken in my life. After nearly ten hours of hiking with a forty pound backpack strapped to my waist, we arrived at Poco Sol. Immediately, we stripped and swam in lake. The water there felt like warm silk.
Sorry to leave you hanging, but I have run out of time. More soon.
Pura vida!
posted by cody @ 2:31 PM
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