New Year and So On..

It's almost time to wish you all a happy new year, so we will do it now before we get distracted by other things. We have been invited to a New Years Eve Party tomorrow night at some neighbours (meaning about 1/4 kilometre deeper up into the jungle) house who plays the drums/bongo's. We will be attempting to fill in with our guitars. We better practice our Reggae rhythms! There is a great party atmosphere in town for New Year, they even have Dj's playing latin and reggae outside the supermarkets, very loudly!

It's been pretty much raining the whole of Christmas week though. We almost packed a beach bag this morning as we saw a glimmer of sun, but by the time we'd brushed our teeth and downed a coffee, the rain had started again. See the video, that's the garden and surroundings of the house that we are sitting. The house on the hill opposite is derelict so no onlookers, just jungle and random wild creatures, adopted pets and us.

We are managing to keep ourselves amused though and our very kind friends keep giving us a lift to do grocery shopping. We are on the lookout for some sort of vehicle ourselves that has more than two wheels and a roof, as grocery shopping on a bicycle in the rain isn't much fun! The price of 2nd hand vehicles here is shocking, and there is a very limited choice. For $4000 you can buy what would cost about £500 at home and is just about ready for scrapping. So if anyone has any import contacts in Central America...good business idea!

Ok Happy New Year to you all, hope that it's a great year ahead for everyone.

Christmas in Costa Rica

In summary....it's been wet!! On Christmas day though the sun shone for a few hours, just long enough fortunately to attend the two outdoor events that we had planned.

First of all, we were the entertainment at the soup kitchen Charity Xmas dinner. We have to admit, we had had a very lovely and late night with our neighbours on Christmas Eve and didn't have much song in us on Christmas day! We managed to pull it out of the bag though, with the help of our neighbour and fellow volunteer Jana providing harmonies and tambourine percussion. We performed a selection of sorts of Christmas carols, including a Spanish one, and some random pop/blues songs during lunch! So the indigenous people of Costa Rica were not only nutritionally nourished but experienced a brief history of British/American pop music on Christmas day. I'm not sure that they would thank us for the latter but the organisers and fellow ex-pat volunteers seemed to be tapping their feet!

Following that, we attended a party in the botanical gardens where we met lots of fellow ex-pats and made some new friends. It's funny, that here the term 'neighbours' takes on a different meaning. Despite being friendly people, we barely knew the people in our street back home, but being in a country that is not ones own, has an effect of making the most unlikely people bond. I guess it's that old tribal instinct in us all, and that there must be something about being in the minority that makes us stick together.

Sad News

Blogs can't all be happy news.

We haven't written for a week or so, due to having received the sad news of Rene's Father passing away on Tuesday just gone - 14th December. The funeral is tomorrow in Romford and very sadly we won't be there to pay our last respects. This is the hard part of living so far away from family.

We are sending our love to all back home, and tomorrow we will be paying our respects in the best way possible that we can from afar.

Bits and Bobs

The term 'bits and bobs' seem to amuse our American colleagues so I use it quite often. Also this post is going to be a bit random!

We have had a lot of rain this week, as it's still rainy season so we've had a few days rained in at home. Nothing to do but read and work on my Spanish studies (very slow going!). Rene is pretty fluent so helps me out a bit, and does most of the talking in public. We don't want you all to think that whilst you are freezing your butts off in blighty, that we are on the beach ... it's still winter here ,although not quite as harsh of course!

We still worked three days though, at the rescue centre http://www.jaguarrescue.com/ for two days where we had the responsibility of the baby monkeys for a few hours. They are both orphans and are crying for their Mums (who died) all the time, so it's quite traumatic for them still. The owner of the rescue centre is their new Mum and they are mostly attached to her. Then one day Rene and I took 9 of the older monkeys into the jungle for them to have their two hour play, and after a while, 7 of them curled up on us/with us on the rug on the grass and went to sleep. It was a bit surreal at the time but very cute. We had cramps in our legs and aching backs after an hour, but dare not move and wake them up! One of the mature females is flirting with a wild male that waits for her most days, so hopefully soon she will stay wild with him. That's the plan anyway, and from what we are told, usually happens when they get to about two and half years old.

House Sitting Job

' It can't possibly be true' we thought as we were driven up this driveway by the owner of the house, who was showing us his home with view to house sitting the very next week for around 7 weeks. We chatted with him and his partner for around an hour, and they showed us around, and then said 'how about it, do you want to house sit for us?'. No pause or consulting each other required, 'yes, of course, it will be a pleasure', we replied in unison, trying not to look too desperate!

So that's how it goes out here. Ex-pats are scared to leave their houses vacant for more than a few days as once the locals know that they are away, they will either end up broken into or occupied by locals!! Works for us, free lovely home of a standard and location that we would never be able to afford to rent! Being in contact with a number of ex-pats through the voluntary work we are doing, we were put forward for the job, so maybe it could happen again.

So we moved in on Wednesday and spent the last few days, testing out the hammock, observing the wildlife in the garden and (Rene) fiddling around in the kitchen marking his terittory! We are still full on with the volunteering and just spent two long days there, looking after the tinyest baby orphan monkeys in betweeen revamping the tropical gardens at the Rescue Centre. It's a long term project which is really interesting and we get other volunteers to work with us (getting the young ones without bad backs to do the digging!). It's a half hour cycle ride away so by the time we get home, we are so tired we can barely speak, and then of course a long shower is required to remove the animal debris! Love it though!

Panama but no cigar!

So, as visitors to Costa Rica, we are only allowed to stay for 3 months before we have to leave for 3 days, in order to be able to re-enter for another 3 months...and so on. There is no official visa renewal procedure in place. So we went to Panama for 3 days, to the Islands just off Panama to a place called Bocas Del Toro. It's a small group of islands just off the coast and they are pretty and very tropical. We are told it's where they film the series Survivor. Anyway we hired a hotel for 3 days and explored on our pink bikes, see picture! Rene didn't choose that colour by the way, it came with our hotel booking but he didn't seem to mind too much! It's very similar to Costa Rica, pace-wise and culture, except a bit cheaper.

Evidence

Hi all, we managed to get some photo's of monkey's on our heads at the rescue centre yesterday, incase you didn't believe us! In the afternoon we got to take them into the jungle to integrate with wild monkeys. We actually carry them and walk with them hanging off various parts of us, it's amazing! Anyway, when we were in the jungle, a wild troop of monkey's came down from a tree to meet these ones from the rescue centre, and there seemed to be some chemistry between some of them. Although on this day, they all returned home with us to the rescue centre, but some days we are told, they find a mate and decide to stay wild. There are some cases when they come back to visit the rescue centre's to show the humans their babies, kind of like visiting the grand parents! This is truely a wonderful experience, and we are pinching ourselves to make sure it is real!

Monkeys On Our Heads!

The title of this blog just about sums up our day today! We were accepted as volunteers at an animal rescue center here in Puerto Viejo yesterday and started today. We were thinking that our first few weeks would entail endless cleaning, shit shovelling and chopping of fruits/food for the animals, but no, on day one, hour one in-fact, we were thown in the cage with around 12 howler monkeys! My job was to clean the cages and Rene's was to work with the handyman to fix some cages, bit sexist but who cares (Rene is actually great at cleaning and me at fixing!). Within seconds, we had baby and grown monkeys on our heads, shoulders, in our arms and up our legs all vying for our attention. It was too good to be true and we felt that we should actually be paying for this amazing experience! They are so faccinating and affectionate, I don't think we could ever tire of them.

During the course of the day, we assisted with taking some of the monkeys into the jungle to get them used to being free, feeding baby raccoons and sloths, and of course, some sweeping up and cleaning. We will working there two or three times a week to start with and if we settle in this town then it could be a long term thing. We love it here and with the connections that we are making, it is feeling more and more like home.

Tomorrow we are helping in a soup kitchen for the homeless, and then we will visit the schools to see if there is any work for English teachers so we can earn a bit of money as well. We can't live on monkey love alone sadly!

Pictures of monkeys on our heads will follow after our first couple of shifts. We don't want to look like tourists with camera's just yet, rather more, like hard working, keen volunteers. I have attached a photo of our local beach though instead.

Two in a boat

Finally the weather settled enough for a trip out on a kayak this week. It looks like we are not doing much in this picture, but to get to the rivermouth it was a hard slog across a bumpy sea into the wind. Anyway, the instructor decided to put us in to one kayak since it would be easier to catch one than two if we drifted! When we got the river, we floated, gently guiding ourselves through the national park waters and observing various species that inhabited it. The high point was the large troop of howler monkeys that followed our progress through the trees and the baby one gripping onto the mother's tail in the tress as in the other picture. Our instructor was called....Rene, short for Reynold I think, he had kayaking down to a full art, but I doubt he could sing the blues!

From Coast To Coast

We were on the Pacific North West coast of the country and the plan was to take a slow trip across the mountians and down south to the East Caribbean coast of C.Rica over a few months, but weather forced us down in a day and a half! It rained so hard that bridges broke, and numerous landslides occured, sadly causing fatalaties and many road closures. We escaped just in time thanks to a Dutch couple with a car that befriended us heavy laden travellers and took us over 500k on bumpy roads in their 4 x 4 hire car!

So, it's calming down now and we have started to explore an entirely different scene to the one that we spent the last six weeks in. The Caribbean coast has a whole different flavour to the relatively sophisticated north. It's rustic at it's best and a little shanti with an aroma of special herbs in the air! We have been offered a variety of choice substances on the streets and have thus far declined!

We have secured a lovely apartment for a week in the town of Cahuita, owned by Italians (who talk very loudly and gesticulate wildly in true latin fashion) and due to Rene's heritage, managed to get a good deal on the price.

We went for a short walk in the National Park here and 9 kilometres later, looking and feeling rather bedraggled we ended up at the other end of a trail (still some 6k from our apartment) and came upon an oasis...an Italian restaurant set in beautiful gardens with a rather charismatic Italian owner. Another few heritage points here got us a lift home, after we had fed and watered of course!

Oh and there were kittens...added bonus!

Tonight we are going out with guitars to pimp ourselves out for a gig or two @ $50 a night, see what happens. Reggae seems to be the chosen genre here...we may get laughed at, worth a risk though!

Over and out bloggers, chef's cooking up a storm and it's nearly time to eat. xxx

A Giant Leatherback Turtle....

..laid it's eggs in front of us!! It was 1.65 x 1.25 metre's so not something that you would pass by without noticing! Wow, what an evening that was. We were visiting the Las Baulas National Park where their main objective is to protect the rapidly becoming extinct species of leatherback turtle from poachers and the like. www.leatherback.org/ldc/pg/park.htm .

We waited for 3 hours in the rangers office at night for a call to say that one had come onto the beach (it's not guaranteed though) to lay it's eggs and then we were marched in single file for around 1km along a very dark beach to where the turtle was being monitored by biologists. We got to observe for a while and it was quite a surreal experience. The whole of the beach is closed at night purely to protect the turtle activity and no ambient light was allowed apart from the biologists infrareds. For those reasons we have no photographs of the event, and in any case it would have seemed wrong to try and capture the moment with just an image. Here's some pictures of the beach though, and you will just have to take our word for it!

2 Wheels are better than 2 feet

... as far as I am concerned! As a biker and not a walker it has been paining me to watch all these people flying around on bikes and us on foot, so we finally hired a couple of mountain bikes for some two wheeled adventures! We got a couple of battered Trek's, lacking in suspension that our comfy ride's at home offer, but for £10 for both no complaints! After a scantily clad ride along the beach (it's the norm here!) and then 9k of hilly road riding we found a lovely hotel with a pool and beautiful gardens to eat and rest in before a rainy but cool ride home! Cycling in the rain here is actually a joy as it keeps you cool! Today we are suffering from battered buttock syndrome but we are hiring a comfy 4 X 4 to take us further afield and that does not require any peddaling, we hope! xx

Animaltastica at Carillo

Oh it's been a fun packed week already, starting with Saturday - trip to the refuge/zoo in Carillo, saw the loveliest raccoon and anteater and mini leopard species. They are all there for a good reason, to be rehabilitated for their return to the wild.

On Sunday we had a music jam with a Costa rican drummer in his family home, and some cocktails after in a beach bar. On Monday we walked a long way, crossed a river by foot, and found a deserted beach. Today, we nearly went kayaking, but the waves to high, so we opted for boogie boarding instead but the waves were too high!! Getting the idea of the waves here?? We lasted 3 mins each and then gracefully gave the boards back to the hire shop, and sat and watched the local guys doing the full standing surfing with ease. Okay so we need a bit of time and practice! Tomorrow we have decided to hire bikes and explore. I haven't not had a bike to ride since I was 4 years old, it's killing me as everyone has bikes here. Ours are in storage at home! Then if we are not too exhausted, by Friday, we will opt for 4 wheels and head a bit further out, and try not to get lost or lose a wheel in the pot holed roads. The roads are made up largely of holes and the occasional patch of tarmac so you have to drive slow, but no one is in a hurry here so that's fine. Right, on with the vodka cocktails before we stretch our legs to our favourite eaterie. It's full of colourful Tico characters who all seem to have a story to tell, and think Rene is a Tico as he is the same colour as them now! My Spanish is coming on, I can ask for the bill and the toilets and buy beer, what more do I need? Bye for now homies xx

Oh lordy we did it!

Hi all, sorry long time no blog, it's been a whirlwind of a month with the course. We both graduated on Friday... yesterday, with a pass A after a gruelling 3 hour written exam and teaching assessments all week. So we are pretty chuffed. It was an amazing course and experience in general and we have learnt so much. We had a graduation party last night were our teachers plied with champagne and then copious Guapo shots - the local spirit which tastes similar to petrol. So we danced the night away, see photo's of our fellow graduates and teachers, before we had done too much damage.

Today started with a heavy head, but not wanting to waste our first day of freedom for a month, we headed to a neighbouring beach town and found ourselves at a Zoo and Refuge centre in the town, it was amazing, more of that in the next blog though.

What next...well we are going to stay in Playa Samara for a further two weeks and wind down a bit, take some day trips and see a bit more of the coast, then we are heading to the mountains inland in Costa Rica, first to a place called Monteverde. http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/. It looks stunning. After than who knows. We are quite keen to visit Nicaragua and Belize also, and somehow will come up with a bit of a plan once we get over the course. For now though we will enjoy the pura vida with a sense of acheivement and a bit more confidence that we can get a job as English teachers here or elsewhere...when we have had enough of having fun!

Brain Overload

We have completed our first week on the TEFL course and found that learning to be English teachers isn't quite as easy as we thought! However, after the initial shock of how hard the course is (long hours, homework, and very tight deadlines), we are really enjoying the work and have learned an incredible amount in just one week! The teachers are great, they are making us think in a totally different way and we have taught our very own local English classes this week already. The Tico's (local's) Costa Rican's are wonderful warm and charismatic people, and it's been so much fun working with them.

The people on the course are great and we all had a party last night to celebrate the end of a gruelling first week. We found some amazing beach bars and a beach disco even where Tico's and tourists alike mix and ended up partying with our teachers and our students!

Today the sun shone so we have been sweating out the hangovers on the beach, and had some swims and really nice long walks. We are feeling much more at home here now. The new purpose we have, the climate, and knowing a few faces around town are all contributing to making us feel more settled. The pace of life here is perfect. It's not so slow that it's annoying, yet it's a far cry from the hurried pace back home. We have heard of very very little crime here also, and it feels safe and not at all threatening. We have yet to meet a grumpy or rude local, they are just so chilled and smiley, maybe it's the drugs, We will investigate that in the next chapter (!).

Adios for now Amigo's.

The New Pad and School's Started!

On Saturday we found ourselves a pretty cool apartment for the month, up on the top floor of Casa Tortuga (House of turtles). It's pretty open air apart from the bedroom and bathroom and in a lovely location on the edge of the town and a stones throw from the beach. It's a five minute walk from the school, and yesterday was our first day there. We are on the TEFL course, 11 of us in total, and the first day was intense to say the least. It was a long day from 10am until 7.30pm and from day one we were planning our own lessons to teach to real live Tico students this week. The teachers are pretty dynamic and there are people from all walks of life on the course to get to know. Got to do some study now before school starts, over and out all. x

T'is the Rainy Season For Sure

We knew it would be wet, but not this wet... so have chatted to some local Tico's and they have confirmed that it's the worse case of what they call winter (wet but still warm) for many years! However, the country is so green because of it, the beautiful colourful flowers, shrubs and trees everywhere, almost overwhelm the senses. This contrasting with the backdrop of tropical sounds, and sightings of tropical birds of paradise more than compensate for the inconvenience of the heavy and relentless rainfall. And after all, it's only water!

From our balcony we watch how the locals operate a bicycle whilst holding an umbrella and their shopping simultaneously! It's a skill that we are hoping to acquire if we stay here long enough to get our hands on some push bikes. So far our enquiries have only made it as far as local hire shops that are asking crazy money for a months hire but we are hoping to ask around and see where they sell old bikes, I for one am missing two wheels!

We have had some homesick moments of course, how could you make a giant leap like this and not? It's been quite strange because it takes the mind and body a while to realise that it is 'okay' to relax, and that this is what it is all about. We have had good contact via the internet and today we are moving to a house without but will have it in the school that we start in on Monday.

We have had the pleasure of meeting the village Dr already and what a pleasurable experience that was, seriously, a lovely guy, okay so he was charging us, but nice to know he is there and has a heart. Rene had an ear infection, and is on the mend now. He asked him to stop by on Monday just to see that he is better, as he said that he would worry otherwise! All the locals are lovely in fact, pretty laid back and are particularly helpful, possibly in part because of Rene's fluent Spanish abilities. Most of them have a go at English with me though when Rene is not by my side and I have to try and converse, but I am trying to learn Spanish albeit slowly.

Okay time to pack up and move on again now, will blog again as soon as we can. The photo is of the view towards the beach nearest to us.

Monkeys

A few more days of Costa Rican living and we have experienced some of the local Monkeys, just happened to be walking past the bus stop and saw a load of them hanging out there, waiting for scraps. video on facebook as probs uploading on the blog. Other than that, enjoying chilling at our lodge and off to see see some waterfalls this afternoon. It's expensive here, one of the down sides, it's not as cheap as they say which is a bit worrying. However we are in a tourist trap town currently. So tomorrow we are off to Playa Samara which is 4 hours away by coach (only 52 miles away) the town where we will be studying the TEFL course next week, to settle in and see what it's like to live there. the roads are bumpy and slow! Also it rains a lot, September is the wettest month though, so just riding it out! In between the showers it's sunny so catching a few rays when we can. Rene has written a lovely song on our terrace already, the guitars are an asset to our trip, we will always have music wherever we go. The local people - Tico's are lovely, relaxed smiley people. Adios for now xx

It's all good!

Continuing on...rene's suitcase showed up shortly after we had shopped and kitted him out with a new wardrobe! Anyway all good so far. After a couple of chilled days at the Eco lodge we headed to the coast on a small aeroplane - 12 seater, and being a nervous flyer, was a bit preturbed to see that the (short) pilots couldn't actually see over the cockpit dash! However, I reassured myself that all the instruments required to get us there safely were in front of their eyes, and I put myself on 'looking left and right' duty! Rene was pretty chilled, and we headed up into the skies and the views themselves proved to be a wonderful distraction.



After landing in the the very lushous and stunning Nicoya Peninsula http://www.nicoyapeninsula.com/ and a short car ride we found ourselves at our pre booked eco lodge by the beach, in the town of montezuma. Famous for a hippy, easy going, slow paced life and surfing. I think there are some illegal substances going around judging by the looks of some of the street dwellers. However, nice place and we have quickly adapted to the pace of life. We have yet to venture up to the waterfalls as the rains have been quite heavy, intersperced with short breaks of sunshine. Rene is not much pleased with the price of wine here..and moreso the shortage of good red Italian wine, but yet he remains calm considering the importance of this sparcity! The Argentinian cartons aren't half as bad as they look!



We have sighted a large iguana, some huge pelican type birds, a large,well giant hamster thingy scuttling around which yet has to be identified. Monkeys have yet to show themselves to us also. The flora and fauna is stunning, and everywhere looks like a prehistoric dinosaur could pop out any moment!



Enough for now, we have to get back to the hammock and rocking chair on our veranda. love to all. xx

The Eagles Have Landed and...

..it is beautiful!! After an eventful journey - a delayed departure from Heathrow with BA to Miami, leaving little time left to catch/find our connecting flight with American Airlines amidst a schedule of 100's of AA flights and following the blue dots around Miami international (I don't advise it!) and then finally to land on this beautiful shore (20 hours after departing romford) with a stiff neck from airoplane napping, was a joy! However to find that only ONE of our suitcases came around on the carousel! So the one with all our toiletries, Rene's entire wardrobe and random other essential items (Swiss Army knife!) has gone to LA or somewhere else instead.

The Tacacori eco Lodge, our first two night sleepover, welcomed us last night at 10pm (uk 5am). It is a stunning haven with wonderful owners who are French. But today we have awoken to a condundrum of...which of my clothes will fit Rene. So far only my socks have done so, my t-shirts and shorts will only leave him breathless and looking a little camp and I don't think he will take too well to advances from effeminate Tico's. We are optimistic that it will show up later today though otherwise a shopping trip in down town San Jose is imminent. The rest of the day's itinerary may include a walk to the next village, some jetlag naps and no doubt some reflection on the huge leap that we have made!

Renegade Rocked for The Last Time

Last night at Wimborne's Rising Sun, Renegade Rocked for the last time! What a great night it was, and what a lovely crowd. God bless the blues and let's hope they know the 12 bar in Costa Rica! I can only seem to post one photo per Post so I will email the rest of the band pics to the band!

Leaving Party Success

Well what a send off! We had a great night, thanks to all for your support towards our big, slightly extravagant change of life! Thanks to The Renegaders, to Baz Jones for his musical contribution, and Simon jones for all the photo's, oh and also being man enough to play a pink bass guitar! Thanks to Waddle to for the venue. Thanks to the FRFF posse for all their dancing and my wonderful t-shirt. Now better finish the packing. Byeee