Getting Down and Dirtry

Monday, 24 December

I got up early this morning for I had an 8:30 pick-up to go hiking. I ate breakfast and made pb & j for lunch. I also packed lots of layers since I do not have a fleece. I got to Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve around 9ish and was immediately cold. I put on all of the layers that I brought and was able to maintain some warmth. The Reserve is higher up than the hostel so it was more in the clouds and more wet. The wind was also blowing so the combo of the two just made it fun! I decided to do the long trail which the board said was almost 5km, but based on my experience in Manuel Antonio, who knows how long it really is. The trail was muddy and wet. I know that I used the word muddy to describe the trails in Manuel Antonio. That was nothing compared to today. Luckily, my Keens did a good job of keeping my feet dry when the mud would sink up towards the top of my foot. For the first 1-2 hours, the mist was thick and I could not see more than 50 feet. As the trail went along the edge of a mountain, the sun came out a little and the visibility probably doubled or tripled. I kept thinking that I needed a hiking stick to help me navigate the mud patches and I eventually found one. It was a godsend until it broke in half towards the end and smacked me on the temple. Stupid stick, I didn’t really want you anyways. I was coming down into a trench that was about 2 feet deep. When I put my weight on it to swing down it snapped and man my head did not appreciate the thump to my nogin. I was already feeling a little bad due to the fried chicken yesterday (sidenote: no more chicken – especially fried!), but luckily the pain did not last too long.

I got back to the info center around 2ish, so I hiked for about 5 hours with a couple water breaks and a couple breaks to snack on crackers. I am so used to hiking in the desert that as long as you find shade and a rock, you can stop anywhere. Not so in the cloud forest for everything is wet and no matter where you sit you are going to get wet too. This is because water is always falling. It is not raining per-see, water has just collected on the tree branches and leaves and is falling. You can tell when the wind is blowing for a lot of water falls. I recorded the sound on my camera for it totally reminded me of a rain forest CD I had that was just one long track water falling and the animals making their noise.

The bus was not coming to pick me up until 4pm, so I scarfed down the pb & j and apple and felt a little better. I then walked around the hummingbird feeders and then ended back up in the center playing cards. They had a station to clean the rubber boots that people could rent (which I totally should have done for it would have been so much easier to walk through the mud without caring about my shoes), so I went over and cleaned up my shoes. The bottom of my pants were totally covered in mud due to my shoes scrapping against the side of the pants.

The ride home was interesting for the driver picked up tourist staff along the way and dropped them off in town. I noticed after he dropped off the last person and I was the only person left, that he was not going the right way. I decided to not say anything and to see if he knew of a different way. We ended up going back up the hill a little and stopping at what looked like a motorcycle service shop. He got out and just started chatting with the guys working there. I was like WTF, but decided to wait to see if something was going on. After a few minutes I got out and he saw me and was like oh shit, I totally forgot you were in the van. Ooops. So I finally got home and took a nice warm shower.

During my hike I started feeling like the volunteer gig may not be the thing for me, especially if this is the weather that I would be working in. Also, because of paypal. I decided that I should look into WWOOFing again so I headed out to get food and go to an internet cafe. I needed cash first, so I went to the bank and the ATM would not give me money. Why is it that some banks work and some do not for my card? I had the same problem in China and Quepos and it is frustrating. But now, this is the only bank in Santa Elena that I know of and I am kind of worried. There is an ATM a ways down the street that I will try tomorrow and hope that it works. Luckily, I found a place called the Tree House that has an internet cafe on the first floor and a restaurant on the second that takes credit cards and if you buy over $6 in food, you get 30 minutes of internet free. I ended up having pizza and it was awesome. It tasted and looked like something my mom would make, but with a few different ingredients. I got the vegetarian pizza, but asked them to hold the corn. Just didn’t sound good to me. It came with peppers, mushrooms, cucumber (a little strange), tomato, palm hearts and mustard seeds. The mustard took me awhile to figure out but it is actually a nice touch. The seeds are the size of peas and a darker green color. I must admit that I was afraid that they were peas at first. I ate half and now have christmas dinner – who-who!!!

I am now writing this at the restaurant and will use my free 30 minutes to load up my latest posts and pictures. Oh yeah, it is called the Tree House because there is a huge freaking ficus that the building was built around. I am guessing that the base is about 6-8 feet wide and the canopy is enough to block out most of the mist. So I am outdoors, but not.

I have no idea what I am doing tomorrow, maybe looking for a different gig to do next. Only time will tell.

Feliz Navidad!