Travel and First Day

Posted by matt1988

Hola from Costa Rica!! We wanted to let everyone know how our honeymoon was going, and we figured this would be the easiest way to explain it to everyone.

Dia 1

So this may have been the strangest day of our entire lives. The flights went really smoothly. Ironic side story, Sean Phillips from high school was on our connection to Ft. Lauderdale. Small world, eh? We arrived in Costa Rica around noon, made it through immigration and customs, and transfered our money (which we later found out we didn't really need to do very much, but oh well, live and learn). Then we waited outside of the airport for 2 or 3 hours, which was stressful because we wanted to know for sure our shuttle was coming. While we were waiting, a guy that works for the airport told us where to get some food. It was just rice and beans, but damn, they were good. Our driver finally showed up a half hour late and we were on our way. That van took us through small cities in the rain forest. It was stunning, even the poorest villages we saw were colorful and lively. We stopped and ate fried plantains with cheese, and we will now make that a staple in our diet while we stay in Costa Rica. The roads are unlike the ones in the states. They are extremely curvy and bumpy. Our driver must know them by heart by the way he was navigating and driving so quickly. We met another couple just a couple years older than us on that shuttle. They're from D.C. and they seem to be traveling the entire country and staying in hostels. They were very nice and the girl helped translate some things for us. Then we had to take a car carrying ferry across the bay because the reserve and our hotel are on a peninsula. We had to switch drivers at this point, and the new one knew even less English than the first. By the time we got off the ferry it was completely dark, even though it was only about 6:30, and it was pouring rain. These roads were even worse, 1 and a half lanes wide, bumpier than ever, very hilly, and some bridges that would not pass in the States. More people joined the shuttle at this point, and we met a woman who had quit her job, hopped on a plane, and landed in Costa Rica without any plans at all. I thought we were unprepared! She has been everywhere and it was great talking to her. We finally arrived at our hotel at about 8:30, all safe and sound. All of the guests here seem to be volunteering at Rainsong and they all know English. The hotel is not like one you would find in the States, but it is really amazing. The walls are all very colorful, and we have a private room with a bathroom and shower. We have a view of the ocean from our hotel. There is even an air conditioner, but it costs a little more to have on. The temperature was cool last night because it has been raining 3 days straight so we don't need the air conditioner right now. We went to bed at nine because we were so exhausted from traveling. But we finally made it! And it took air, land, and sea to get us here.

Dia 2

We got up around six thirty so we could get ready and walk over to Rainsong with the other volunteers. One of the very nice volunteers, Trina, gave us some oatmeal to make but it took too long so we had to save it for later. The hotel has a communal kitchen, pretty well equipped with everything we need. Our walk to Rainsong is about 1 kilometer I believe. Luckily it's all flat, and it takes about a half hour to walk there. On the way we passed so many beautiful flowers and trees. It's amazing we literally get to walk though the rain forest. There are dogs everywhere in Costa Rica, and they have all been really mild tempered so far. We also saw about 4 different types of butterflies, some interesting birds, and crabs which walk along the road. When we got to Rainsong, it was definitely not exactly what we expected. It's much smaller than the website makes it seem, and Mary, the caretaker who we have been communicating with, was a large white woman in a mumu smoking a cigarette. Immediately we were asked to go help out on the farm they have a little up the road. A man whose name sounds like "people" took us there with one other girl who knows a little more Spanish than us. "People" knew absolutely no English and had to show us how to do everything. We mainly walked around while he showed us what needed to be done on the farm daily. We cut up mangoes, cucumbers, bananas, and papayas for the animals. We got to see something called a capir, which is a rodent like a capybara, but smaller and brown with white spots like deer have. There were large, black birds with red gullets like a turkey and read eyes, called Guans. We also saw a couple other types of birds that we had never seen before, some being friendly and others not. They had a beautiful deer that loved being around people, so we are assuming it has been raised by humans. We met 2 other boys they are staying on the farm for a month that are from Holland. One of them knows quite a bit of English and he ended up showing us how to do a lot of things. It was all mainly making sure all the animals had food and water. When Mary first asked us to go to the farm I thought we would be doing a lot more manual labor, but it was extremely easy. It was a muddy walk back to the main part of the sanctuary, and we had been out in the rain for 4 hours without raincoats or anything. But I couldn't tell if I was wet from the rain or sweat. It is very humid; not the worst we have ever experienced, but that is probably because it has been raining (in a rain forest, go figure!). We finished up our day of volunteering at noon, looked at the animals they have (which we will describe later as we get to work with them), and walked back to our hotel. We stopped at a small grocery store along the way, which I thought was going to be more intimidating, but it was very easy to find what we wanted. We got some basic essentials, like rice, pasta, tortillas, avocados, plantains, cheese, bread, and peanut butter. We are drinking bottled water here because we are in such a remote area, the sanitation probably isn't the best. I almost paid the cashier waaaay too much money because I cannot count zeros, but we were lucky enough that he corrected me and gave it back to us. The people here have all been nice, welcoming, and helpful. So now we are relaxing in our hotel room after our long day of walking (Matthew has fallen asleep next to me) and we will go explore the beach this evening. We miss everyone very much and we still can't stop talking about how lucky we are to have family and friends that support us as much as all of you. We will update this blog every couple of days so we have a record of our time here and so everyone can keep up with us if they chose. Now, I must go brush up on some more Spanish!

Hasta Luego!

Love, Matt and Zoe Knox