Compost!

Well, yesterday I moved back to compost, and I wasn't shoveling shit (smartass). I spent the morning finishing my lesson on compost chemistry and compost management, and the rest of the day taking temperature samples, recording the data, and "watering" the compost to increase the temperature. They actually use the heat generated by the compost to heat their water here. It's an impressive system. Then, I got put in charge of compost management for the next week or so. I'm kind of excited. I think you have to earn your respect around here, so I'm trying really hard. Anyway...I'm supposed to increase the water temperature. I'll let you know how that goes. The rock jacuzzi was pretty nice and warm tonight :) I fell down four times yesterday. Three times in the compost, and once down a few slippery stairs. I was covered in compost by the end of the day. I think I'm going to have to work on not being so clumsy. It's not a good quality to have in a place with so many machetes!

Today, I did spend the whole day shoveling shit. Literally. I spent about 7 hours moving one pile of compost to the other side of a big shed, because it had been sitting for too long and the temperature was too high (about 160 degrees F) inside the pile. This is no good because the nitrogen starts to vaporize...so it has to be mixed up. I was shoveling with a pitchfork for about 6 or 7 hours. Whew. I was feeling pretty good in the morning. By about 3, I thought I was going to fall over. At 4 when I got off, I stumbled to the shower and bed. I managed to make it up for dinner and then had a couple beers and visited the hot tub with the other female volunteers. Now, I'm feeling pretty good. Tomorrow is my day off, so I'm going to sleep in, do some laundry, and take a horseback ride to the overlook to see the volcano! I'm pretty excited about that.

That's about it for now...I'm studying Spanish when I have to energy and trying to memorize the verb conjugations that I've forgotten. I'm catching more of the fast conversations around me, and I think it's only going to get better. Hope everyone is well! If I make it into Fortuna tomorrow afternoon (around 3:30 EST), I'll post some pictures and try a Skype call home, if you guys are around, padres. Otherwise, I'll go another day this week after work. Pura vida!

Aura

La Paciencia

Well well well... I re-learned a good lesson this week - remember to be patient! Thanks for the support and advice everyone. Everything is much better now. Let's see...I moved to a different bed, and I can sleep again! Yay! I have a bunch of 'friends,' I think. The night before last, there were a lot of people in the bar after dinner, and I played a guitar and sang with a couple of other people for a while. It was a lot of fun! I spent yesterday landscaping again. I'll have to post pictures, or you guys won't really understand. I was basically chopping with a machete all morning, and then carrying huge loads of branches and tropical plants on my head across a field to the tractor. It was insane. I was pouring sweat, but it felt good. Anna, you're my inspiration, I swear. I've been singing a lot :) I learned how to drive the tractor, from my friend Francisco. He drilled me with Spanish all day. I really like him; he's a nice guy. I met his wife and son, and we had a long conversation about relationships and interactions with people from other cultures. In fact, I've had some pretty complex Spanish conversations the last couple of days!

Then, I had to refuse a couple of propositions and have 'the talk' with one nice guy :) I'm determined to stay single while I'm here. Later, I got invited to a fiesta in the closest town, and I went there last night with the other gardener. It was cool - I watched the local children to a typical Costa Rican dance in costume and had a few beers. Today, I was learning about the biochemistry of compost when I got called away to the stables. They needed help, so I got to spend today over there. It was awesome...it was a relaxing break from what I've been doing, and I got to ride. We changed the horses out for some others from the field, so we did some herding. It was great. I learned a few other things and got to practice my Spanish a lot. It's getting a lot better and everyone is being really patient. I'm starting to get to know the employees better, and even my roommate is starting to open up. I think maybe they were scared of me! Anyway, one of them has geometry homework that she's having trouble with, so I told her I'd be glad to help. I went to the hot tub after work today, and I'm feeling really relaxed. I'm about to conjugate some verbs and talk with some turists in the bar, and then try to get to bed early.

I'll do pictures and maybe Skype calls on my day off on Tuesday or Wednesday. I can't use facebook usually here, so sorry for the lack of communication there. Miss you guys and talk soon!

Aura

Hola otra vez

Well, I didn't have much time to write last night, so I'll try to get caught up today. I'm currently at Rancho Margot, in Costa Rica, and I'm planning on staying here for a month. I'm doing a work exchange - I work 48 hours a week, and they provide room, board, and use of their ranch. Today was my second day, and I am working my ass off. Yesterday I pulled weeds for 8 hours. Today I basically did lanscaping work - pruning, weeding, and cutting things down. I learned how to use a machete - carefully! Then we had to haul off all of the brush that we cut. It was rather grueling and very hot. I feel good overall, and strong, but very tired. Today at least, I was working with another guy, so I had someone to talk to. He was really nice, and he only spoke Spanish, so I had a good chance to practice. I'm doing the same thing tomorrow, and moving on to something else the next day. Supposedly, we will rotate areas of work every week, so I should get to do some other things - work with horses, learn how to make cheese or soap, milk cows, etc. That will be good, because I don't know if I could keep this pace for a month. We'll see.

I've managed to make a few friends, and there are a few tourists staying here right now, so there are people to hang out with in the evenings. I'm trying to get to bed early every night, though, so that I can get up on time. I have a little bit of a housing dilemma. They put me in the farmhouse, which is where many of the employees stay. I don't know if any of the people there are volunteers, other than me. The other volunteers (all English speaking) are staying in the bunkhouses, which are somewhat nicer and in a different area. I can't decide how I feel about the whole thing. My main problem with the farmhouse is that there is no hot water, and the beds kind of suck. I didn't get ANY sleep last night, but I figured out this morning that my bunk was missing a bunch of slats, so the mattress kept falling through. I moved today, so I'll try out the new bed. Also, my roommates don't seem to really care to have me invading their privacy (the 18-year old girls), so I feel a little uncomfortable. I think I could probably ask to move the the bunkhouses, but I don't want to seem like a spoiled wimp, especially not to the employees. I'd like to get to know them, so I don't want to just move because I "can't take" not having hot water, for example. I also think it's really good because I can speak Spanish more. However, I'm feeling a little isolated out there...I'm not sure what the best course of action is. Any advice?

For now, I think I'll just ride out the next few days and see how they go. As long as I can sleep, I think I'll be okay - I nearly lost it last night when I woke up for the 5th time and couldn't go back to sleep. I don't know if I mentioned it already, but it is absolutely beautiful here. The ranch is amazing - so beautiful it's surreal. Juan (the owner) really has a lot of cool projects going on, and I'm excited for my first day off so that I can go riding or hike to the viewpoint to see the volcano. So far, I've seen a spider monkey, several species of hummingbirds, some beautiful butterflies, and a lot of amazing plants. It doesn't look like I'm going to be able to upload pictures from this computer, so I might have to wait until I go to La Fortuna on my day off. Hope everyone is well!

Aura

Hola de la finca

Well, I has my first full day of work today, and I feel for all you farm people! I weeded sweet potatoes (estuve desearbando camotes) all day, for about 8 hours. After that, my back and my legs were killing me. However, yoga in the afternoon made it a lot better :) My Spanish is getting better, and I'm feeling pretty good. It seems like the people who don't speak Spanish here kind of tend to gather together to speak English, so I'm tryin to avoid doing that. I want to practice speaking Spanish! My two roommates only speak Spanish, and they're about 18, and they're always sitting together giggling and talking muy rapido, so it's a little difficult. However, there are a lot of guys who are nice here, and they usually speak slowly so that I can keep up. Yesterday I had a tour of the farm, almost entirely in Spanish, and I understood almost all of it! My listening comprehension is getting much better already. Now I just have to work on my speaking skills and my vocabulary. Anyway...I'm tired, so I think I'm going to head to bed. I have to get up at 6:15 every morning, so I'm still getting used to the schedule. More soon...

Aura

La Fortuna

Yesterday was insane. I arrived at the airport in San Jose, planning to take 3 separate buses to get to La Fortuna. On the plane, I realized I was feeling pretty nervous (read: terrified), and it occurred to me that for all my globetrotting, I've never gone out of the country by myself. It was a kind of new feeling, but I decided there was nothing to do about it except ignore it and try to get through San Jose quickly. It's supposed to be a dirty, somewhat dangerous city. When I walked out of the airport, I was accosted by about 30 taxi drivers, all trying to talk me into their cabs. I had to wade through them to get anywhere. I picked the one with the nicest face and asked him where I could find the bus stop and an ATM. The directions to the bus stop were a little ambiguous, but I could spot the ATM, so I headed there. I then headed back to try to get better directions to the bus. This time a couple of the taxi drivers started following me, so I did the first thing that came to my head - walked back inside the airport to the "official" airport taxi stand to ask how much they charged. I was willing to give up on the bus because I was getting frazzled. However, when I discovered that the taxi cost $19, I got my balls back. I asked for directions again, and breezed out of that place headed for the bus stop. The bus pulled up just as I got there, and I hopped on. It cost 90 cents.

The walk in downtown San Jose was the only part I was worried about. From the bus stop where I got dropped off to the one I needed to leave from, it was about 7 blocks. My Lonely Planet advised not walking this stretch at night, but it was daytime, and it was only 7 blocks. After wandering around for a while trying to orient myself, I finally managed to get back where I started and start the 7 block treck. Now I'm pretty city-wise, but this place was SHADE-Y. I walked fast. I finally spotted a guy in business attire walking ahead of me, and I hurried to get close to him. Then I tailed him for a couple of blocks, until he started to look annoyed. Then I asked him politely in Spanish if he could tell me where the San Carlos terminal was. That nice guy walked me right there and dropped me off! From there, the journey got a lot easier, although it was very long. There was a direct bus to San Carlos (Ciudad Quesada) leaving as soon as I arrived. A nice Costa Rican gentlemen helped me check my bag and even saved me a seat in the front of the bus next to a window. He was from Ciudad Quesada. In San Carlos, I literally walked off of my bus and onto the next to La Fortuna. Unfortunately, I was getting pretty hungry, and I'd had to pee for about 3 hours, but I wasn't going to complain about not having to wait for a bus! The drive up here was amazing and really beautiful, and as far as I could tell, I was the only foreigner on any of the buses.

When I arrived in La Fortuna, I spent about 45 mins looking for my darn hostel, which was ridiculous, since it was a few blocks from the town center. Then I got a much-needed shower and met up with 2 guys from couchsurfing (www.couchsurfing.org) for dinner and drinks. It was a fun night! I met some of their friends, went to a poetry reading in Spanish, and then we went to their apartment and played Apples to Apples :) I had to punk out early though, because I was exhausted. It's nice to have some friends here though! Now, I'm headed to meet a shuttle to my first volunteer job. It's a place near the volcano called Rancho Margot - you can check it out at www.ranchomargot.org. It's about 30-45 minutes from La Fortuna, so I'll probably make it back down here on my days off. I'll be there for the next month, and I think I'll have internet access. I'll try to post pictures soon...

Aura

Here I go!

Well, I haven't updated in a while, but it's time. In case anyone was wondering...we did get the truck running. AThe problem was a catastrophic axle failure - too bad, since we took the engine out twice to reposition the damn things. But, my dad replaced them, and now it runs like a charm. There are some minor brake issues, but I'm sure they'll be resolved shortly.

So, I am on my way out of the country! This week was a frantic mix of crossing off lists, making more lists, running around, and trying to see all my family and friends before I left. I'm feeling a little frazzled, but happy to be on the road. I'm currently hanging in the Fort Lauderdale airport, waiting on my international flight. I'm practicing finding internet on the go :) My day started bright and early (4:30 a.m.), with a drive to the airport with my parents. When I went to check in, I found out that the airline wouldn't let me board without a return ticket! I had read online that I just had to show proof I could buy one, but apparently, that is not the case. Anyway, after a frantic few minutes of negotiation, I just bought one. Hard lesson, but it wasn't that expensive. Maybe I'll come home for Christmas after all!

The first flight was fine, and I've already had two offers of companionship from the businessmen sitting next to me on the plane. I politely declined ;) Seriously, though, it was fun talking to them. I have been in such a different world the past few months that I'd forgotten what it was like to jet around in airports with a blackberry in one hand and a laptop in the other. It was fun to participate in the same old banter, and reassuring to remember why I wanted to take this trip, anyway.

Well, I'm going to run, but I'll be writing more frequently now that I'm on the road. I'm planning on catching a bus out of San Jose as soon as I get there, so hopefully that goes smoothly. I'll be headed up to La Fortuna, and I'll probably check in again once I get there. Bye!

Car Talk

Time for another update, I suppose! I've been watching time pass (rather quickly, I might add) in Georgia for the past month or two. Besides a quick trip to Kansas and Albuquerque (sorry there wasn't enough time to socialize with everyone!), I've been hanging out at my parents' in good old Rome. I spent the first few weeks of my vacation sitting on my butt. Literally. Then I remembered that I don't really like sitting around all the time and started a major project with my dad, who really doesn't like sitting around :) He really needs a truck to haul some stuff and start a few other projects at the house. He has this old Volkswagen Rabbit truck that doesn't run (major engine problem), but he also has a Rabbit sedan that does work - same body. So we decided we would just take the engine and transmission out of the sedan, and transplant it into the truck. Piece of cake, right?

Well, 4 days later we had a running truck. No joke. It took a lot of sweating and cursing, but we removed the engine from the truck, removed the engine from the sedan, and mounted the sedan engine in the truck, all using a tractor and a cable. The cars are from '81 and '82, so the wiring under the hood was...interesting...to say the least. After hooking everything back up (minus a half a dozen wires that we were relatively sure didn't go to anything), I have to say that I was not very confident the thing would start at all, but I was trying to act optimistic. Amazingly, it turned over the first night we tried it, and we had it running the next morning! After that, my dad bled the brakes while I ran some errands, and that night we took it for a test drive. We were congratulating ourselves and laughing out loud while we were coasting down the road at 55 mph! When we were within a mile of home though, we suffered a minor setback...one (or both) or the CV joints failed catastrophically. We had to walk home (because you know we weren't going to call my mom after all of that bragging!)

So, then I left for onion-town (Vidalia) to see my grandmother for a few days and go on a juice-fast. Today is day 5 - I think I'll start eating solid food again tonight or tomorrow - and I'm back in Rome. We're going to try to fix the CV joint today; probably just replace the whole axle since we have a donor car that we know has good ones. Hopefully the next test drive will last longer :)