Nov
2
2010
Trip to Costa Rica
Author: KristiMy 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.