Canadian Nomad

My journey to Costa Rica was a very interesting . The first 6 hours or so were fine, I slept for the most part.

When we stopped in Nicaragua to pick up some more passengers and I had a fellow Canadian, older gentleman sit next to me. What I had in store for the next 6 hours I was not prepared for. Turns out this man was “bi-polar”! Lucky me, he had been on anti-psychotics since 1980 but then 10 days ago decided to stop taking them! FANTASTIC. He was always kind to me, but when the music was too loud and the bus attendant wouldn’t turn it down, he’d lose it. Swearing, talking about strangling their necks and so on. I edged closer to the window at this point just waiting for him to turn on me. He was constantly talking to me while I was trying to watch movies on my laptop, listen to music or sleep. Most of the time, he was trying to get me to calm him down about loud music . Then when it came time to pay the Nicaraguan border fee he only had two out of the three dollars due, I lent him $1 to help him out. Then at the Costa Rican border, they had already rejected him once before and now they were trying to do it again because he did not have proof of a return flight to Canada. So he pulls me over and is trying to get me to translate and explain to him what he has to do to get across the border. He needed to buy a $20 return ticket to Nicaragua, but he obviously didn’t have the money. So he asked me for it, well by asked I mean begged. He was very scared and didn’t have anyone else to help him. I gave him the $20 to buy the ticket. He was so thank ful and was asking how he could repay me. I just said “pay it forward”.

I got dropped off in Punterenas later that night. Kind of scary being on the side of the road alone at night but I grabbed a cab to the ferry to Paquera. I was worried what I was going to do once I got there as it was very late at night and the buses had stopped running to Cabuya. I chatted up a man on the ferry and he offered to give me a ride more than half way there. Score! Once he dropped me off I caught another cab up to Rainsong Sanctuary. A girl named Cher met me outside and helped bring my bags inside. They had set up a bed for me, outside, with the dog. Once again, lucky me.

I woke up in the morning to a baby monkey crying next to my bed . It was the first time I got to hold a baby monkey that day. There are two baby howler monkeys, Evie and Frannie, that have been orphaned due to electrocution. The older howler monkey, Mona, is here because an alpha male from her pack beat her and her tail was lost in the process. I also get to feed and play with raccoons, porcupines, turtles, parrots and toucans.

Later another volunteer, Kristi (same name and from Vancouver too…creepy) waled me up to the long-term volunteer lodging at the farm. It is….RUSTIC to say the least. There was just three of us staying at the moment. Kristi was sleeping in a hammock and the other girl, Jackie, had the one real bed in the room. They offered me a mattress on the floor or Jackie’s little blue crap hammock. I took the hammockso I wasn’t on the floor with the jungle creatures. Our little lodge does not have walls and is very open, therefore little creatures can get in quite easily. Ah, home sweet(?) home.

Tags: bi polar, cabuya, costa rica, home, howler monkey, montezuma, Nicaragua, paquera, pay it forward, porcupine, punterenas, raccoon, rustic, Tica bus, Travel, white faced monkey
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We got to the bus station to grab the bus to Copan. Little did we know what adventures this bus ride would have in store for us. While we were in the jungle it had rained heavily every night, making the roads very unstable. I was looking out the window at the gorgeous lightening storm that was in effect when one of the lightning bolts struck a tree right outside my window. It made an extremely loud cracking sound and sparks went flying, absolutely amazing. Further down the road we came to a stop, an awfully long stop. I looked at the window and saw buses and other vehicles turning around. Turns out there had been a mudslide that was now blocking the road. It was starting to look like we’d have to spend the night on the bus, and none of us had eaten. So, in the dark rainy night we ventured to a corner store and bought an exceptionally nutritious dinner. Jalapeno chips, hot dog buns, cheese, cookies and mini sausages of only God knows what kind of meat (I did not partake in eating the sausages).

Finally the bus made some movement and we were on our way again, some workers had cleared the path making it so we could continue on our way. Once in Copan at one o’clock in the morning, in the pouring rain, we tried to find a place to sleep. Most hostels we tried were full, but we managed to find one. The next day we changed locations to another hostel and decided to book a horseback riding tour. The horses looked more like donkeys and the tour guide only spoke Spanish. I don’t know what came over me that day but I was in the giggliest of moods. Watching Rich’s loco horse jerking him around and him freaking out was bringing tears of laughter to my eyes. Then looking to the other side and seeing Imran leaned back and talking to his horse like they had been mates for life, I was hysterical. I chatted with the tour guide who was babbling away and I was merely smiling and nodding understanding only a few words per sentence. By the end of the tour we had all gotten very comfortable on our horses and we were racing and cutting each other off (yes, I was still laughing).

Rich and I woke up early one morning to climb, the recently erupted, volcano Pacaya. We managed to get a great group and an insane guide, who suited us just fine. Once we hiked the hard part we were running and sliding down hills of loose volcanic gravel down to the volcano’s crater. We walked across hot coals to a large hole in the ground exposing glowing red hot lava. We took the marshmallows we had bought earlier and threw a couple in and watched them catch fire before even hitting the lava. Once we had all taken a few pictures we made our way back in a cloud of steam from the heat of the sharp lava rocks beneath our feet. We made a quick stop to roast some marshmallows on the rocks and our guide just used the rocks to light his cigarette. The way down was much faster than the way up, we all charged through the gravel and slid down the side of the volcano until we reached the bottom. We all stopped before getting into the bus to empty our shoes. Little piles of gravel formed from what had accumulated in our shoes.

Tags: Copan, Horseback riding, lightening, Mudslide, Spanish, Volcano Pacaya
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Tags: Exhaustion, Language Learning, Money, Struggle, Working
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