avocados

my last week here, i haven't written too much, i've been up to a lot lately. it's nice being isolated out in the foothills of Chirripo.  i finished my 3 week spanish course and started my week long massage course to finish up my trip in Costa Rica.  the cacao ceremony was very interesting, drinking pure chocolate... i can't really describe it through words.  movie nights at the yoga dojo, playing guitar and singing at Amrta, reading about raw food (i've been eating very raw lately and like it a lot) going to the farmers market getting a hefty supply of fruits and vegies for the week... im doing great.  i am ready to return back to the states though.  i need people that i know.  and i am ready for another 4 months of sunshine.  i have 5 more days here and it feels like people are fighting over me, wanting me to have dinner with them, play music, and watch movies.  the sense of community out in that pocket within the hills is amazing, truly amazing people.  someday i will come back to this place during a trip through central and south america (skipping mexico and panama). i don't know what more to say, i would rather talk to you in person at a family reunion, over coffee or run into you somewhere, and tell you how satisfied i am after taking a year off from going to school and taking this trip, getting away from everyone and everything im used to.  

so this is like my last two weeks in Costa Rica, it has been great, i've learned a lot about myself and had some amazing experiences.  getting away from everyone and everything was a great move on my part.  right now i am two weeks in on this farm that i am staying at, New Dawn.  it great there, i am the only student there right now and sleep in a bamboo cabin.  this is how my day usually goes...  wake up at 7.00am. drink "the special blend" tea and eat a light breakfast (papaya smootie with bananas and oats).  i then work in the garden for a bout two hours-- helping my teachers turn compost, pick the weeds and help with any bamboo construction that Ed needs.  i get a break around 10am--drink another smoothie--then help with any additional work till lunch is served around 11ish.  Jessica, my spanish teacher, is a great cook.  she makes the best salads fresh from the garden.  after lunch, 12pm, i usually go down to the river bank and spend 2 hours tanning and doing my spanish homework. sunscreen of choice... AD-spf 15 mixed with blended carrots that i buy at the market.  spanish class usually starts around 2pm... so i go to that.  spanish is going well, im getting my language wheel rolling again, the first week we zipped through book one and this coming week we're going to cram-in book number two.  im taking three weeks of spanish and the last week i am going to take a swedish massage and acupressure class.  spanish class ends at 4.  i eat the leftovers from lunch then i go up to the Yoga Dojo and finish the night with a movie with Noe and the wwoofers there--getting back to bed comfortably at 10pm.  

some other things i've been up to... i made a carrot cake the other day.  i have been going to the farmers market every thursday (this week i bought 3 papayas, 7 avocados, 2 melons, carrots, peanut butter and mangoes).  i am going to help noe brew some oatmeal stout this coming week.  tomorrow i am going to a cacao ceremony, where we spend the day grinding cacao and preparing it into a cup of liquified chocolaty goodness.  still debating the chirripo hike (tallest peak in CR).  this coming sunday im going to make a body smoothie from papayas, avocados and aloe and smear it all over my body and lay on some warm rock by the river.  then to finish sunday off, the farm right next to new dawn has a cob oven and we're going to make pesto pizza.

sha-bam!

then im off in a plane heading to texas, then to OREGON! see you in MAY

Some Pictures

above is a mural in Puerto Limon                                  below is a picture of buttercup

above is a caribbean restaurant that i went to in Cahuita.  i had this shrimp, coconut-milk and rice spicy soup.  very good

                                                                                        below is a white-faced capuchin, these little guys were very comfortable with all the tourists around, not such a good thing i guess...

me in Cahuita's free national park. 
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