man, just when i thought i couldn't wake up any earlier

here's a picture of a man holding the daily newspaper that features a new girl everyday!

At the finca in Sarchi i was waking up at 5.30-5.45am and having a little trouble getting up. now>>>i wake at 5am (and it's easy) eat breakfast and out the door at 5.30am. it's a 40 min drive up to the finca, it's a nice drive. the finca is on the slopes of volcan poas and i watch the sun light up the central valley of costa rica. it's very chilly up there in the morning. i was first put to work on weeding carnation flowers in one of many green houses.  my back was killing me>> i was constantly bent over for three hours pulling the suckers outta the ground.  had breakfast at 9, which was (can you guess?) rice and beans and eggs, another typical costa rican breakfast which could also be a lunch or dinner.  to be honest i could really go for a ribeye steak with some potatoes.  food here is somewhat bland, one thing i miss is the variety in the states.  i started work at 9.30am and did the same back breaking work then had lunch at noon. rice and beans again.  i ended up switching to some other work.  i had to move these crates full of soil for all these ticas to jab a baby plant into each little planter>>then moved the full crate to the green house.  that's really it.  since the finca is soo close to the top of volcan poas on a clear morning i am going to try to get up there and see its massive crater. 

still waiting for my debit card so i can travel the nicoya peninsula and guanacaste region.

paz.

left the farm today.  i was a little sad to leave Angel, Niko, Wayne and the new wwoofer who is really cool>> Elliot.  Frank... not so much.  the other night Angel, Wayne, Elliot and I went into Sarchi to go to the fair and celebrate Wayne and mines last night in Sarchi.  Our plans were focused around 9 o'clock>>>> the bulls!  They had set up this huge arena made from scrap metal for the main event, the bulls and the horses.  We walked around and talked to a lot of drunk Ticos who attempted to speak english with us. it was funny.  we sat down had a few beers with freshly squeezed lime from the farm.  it was then 7 o'clock, and we decided to check out the arena and see if we could catch a glimpse of some bulls behind.  there lots of horses but no bulls, i walked up to the ticket taker to ask how much it cost to enter the arena, and before i could say anything he just let all of us in.  the arena had a nice grassy field with a horse with its owner.  we climbed over the wooden railing and got down into the pit to walk over to the horse.  surprisingly nobody stopped us.  the cowboy smiled and gave us the ok to pet the horse.  it was a very nice and calm horse.  after many pictures, the cowboy asked if we wanted to see the bulls.  yeah.  we climbed over the wooden guard rail into a small holding space under the announcers stage, and there were the bulls tucked away.  wayne was at eye level with them and the bulls started to snort and horn each other.  our plan was to run from these guys tonight, but it was way too expensive.  3,000 colones.  none of us had that much, we thought it was only going to be 1,000.  it was cool to see the bulls and the arena before it heated up around 9 though.  we ended up not seeing it and walked all the way back to the finca.  the next day (today) we made a great last breakfast>>> french toast with a banana-oat-cinnamon-honey topping and also had oatmeal with bananas.  now i am in Alajuela, which is pretty close to Sarchi, i will be here for a week or until i get my new debit card from mommy and daddy, i lost it somewhere :/ 

anyways.  it's good to be away from Frank at the finca, but it's a bummer that i am not going to see Angel, Niko and Elliot.  I think Wayne and I will meet up in Montazuma on the Nicoya Peninsula some time. or.. anywhere, i don't really know.

Poas RE-FAIL.

i got up at 5.30am when i didn't even have to work on saturday to go up to Volcan Poas.  last time it was very stormy and wayne and i turned back around wasting money on a taxi.  in my lonely planet guide it says to get to the Volcano before 10am because clouds form around 10 and you can't see anything.  so im up at 5.30am, i take a shower, and hitch-hike into Sarchi, get a bus to Gracia, then get a bus to Alajuala.  it's now 8am.  the bus leaving for poas doesn't get into the station until 9.15, and it's an hour drive up to the top... i am already this far, i take a chance and board after getting breakfast at a soda in a market.  pancakes and coffee (which was delicious!).

finally at the top, it is somewhat clear, until i reach the crater look-out spot and the whole crater is full of cloud.  bummed out with a 3 hour wait for the bus, i take one of the trails that leads to this lake.  and again, it's blocked by clouds.  there were some really funny squirrels running around.  they used their tails like an umbrella because it was raining hard.  that's really it, i have almost lost all hope for getting a glimpse of the Poas crater.  one more week of work and im done with the coffee farm.

Nicoya

i am really happy that i am almost done with this farm that i am at.  one more week! the work is getting old, i am not learning to much about anything here except that i know i don't ever want to be the wwoof-host who owns the farm.  he's a weird man.  i think i am going to stay at Tony Thomas' house which is really close to the farm that i am at.  he is my dad's-cousins-best friend from college and he lives down in CR.  he owns some flower farms that i am interested in seeing and that i might possibly work on (who knows?)  so i will be with him until i head out for the Nicoya Peninsula and Guanacaste region of Costa Rica.  i am going to "bum" around, see water falls, volcanoes, swim in the ocean, play music, and camp a lot!  i am excited.  i think i will start in the town of Montezuma and work my way up the Pacific Coast heading North-West until i get to the Santa Rosa National Park in Guanacaste.  then i will head inland and see Volcan Arenal, the most active volcano in central america (it shoots magma and rocks into the air, super stoked for that!)  i really feel like i am just stationed at one part of the country and i want to see more of it while im down here.  i'll be wearing lots and lots and tons of sunscreen and carrot juice!  pura vida alll!

Pink Boy

this weekend i went to the beach!  i thought we were going to Jaco, which is well known for having lots of tourists, huge hotels and prostitutes, but instead we went to Playa Hermosa.  the beach is south of Jaco 5 km, and is less touristy and bad.   on the way over we went over this bridge and noticed that all these people were looking over the edge at something.  we stopped and investigated.  Crocodiles!  there were probably 10-15 of them and they were big.  we took tons of pictures and left to continue the nice drive through the green coastal mountains.  we got into playa hermosa at dark and checked into the Rancho Grande.  the hotel had this outdoor living space with a pool table and an outdoor kitchen.  there were lot's of surfers lounging about smoking cigarettes and drinking.  we got into our room which was very hot, unpacked and headed out for dinner.  the place we went to was a block away from our hotel, it was outdoor seating and had some delicious meals on their menu.  i got the mahimahi which came with a mango-papaya salsa and grilled vegetables.  it was the best fish i have ever had, no doubt about that.  after dinner the gang went to the beach, a couple of them dove right in to the black waves, i chose not. it freaks me out.  we just sat around and talked and got ice cream after a while and crashed back in the room.  in the morning i woke up at 6.30 am and was the only one up.  i went out and was in search of a breakfast bar.  i walked past the same place we ate the night before and noticed that they were serving breakfast, so i pulled up a chair to the bar and ordered the best tasting banana pancakes, 3 of them.  after that i walked out and noticed that there were tons of iguanas running about the street and up on the walls.  i took some pictures and headed back to the surfer grotto in the hot sun.  a couple hours later the sleepers were up and ready for the surf.  the sand was very hot, it was a black sand beach. there out in the waves were lots of surfers.  the waves weren't huge, but they were big enough to catch a wave and body surf in.  did that for several hours and got very sunburned.  sleeping that night was painful, every time i flipped over my body would burn.  i am still suffering and very pink.  later that day we decided to go into Jaco, just to check it out.  it was awful.  so many tourists and fastfood joints.  why would you come to Costa Rica to eat the same gross food you eat back in the states?  there were a bunch of high-rise-hotels.  i didn't feel like Costa Rica. it felt more like a small wealthy beach town in southern california.  ugh.  jaco was bad.  we ate again, i had civiche (raw fish cooked in lime juice) and then watched a much-awaited beautiful sunset.  surfed more in the morning, and headed back making a quick stop to feed the crocs some spicy sausage.  that was fun.  

POAS...fail

Same old routine on the farm, wake up... work.  eat breakfast, work some more then get off>>>shower, eat, drink, then play music or head into town..  

Wayne and I went up to Volcan Poas.  we were super excited until we reached the top and it was way to stormy to see really anything.  so we headed back down the huge volcano.  it was weird seeing all the destruction from the earthquake that happened a couple of weeks ago.  lots of houses crumbled to the ground, and people without their homes.  a lot of people were camping out in their lawns and getting food from the local church.  i guess a lot of people are volunteering, helping out the families affected by the earthquake. 

this weekend i am going to the Pacific Coast with a friend from CHS.  she is a year older than me and is on exchange from Oregon in Costa Rica.  i don't know her too well but we did go to the same highschool so we have something in common.  we will leave friday and spend two nights on the beach.. i am looking forward to NO coffee bushes for a couple days>> and spending time in the sun on the beach and most likely seeing amazing sunsets!