Estoy en Costa Rica: Week III

When Sophie and I went our separate ways, it was the final week of my trip. There was no one heading towards the Carribbean side of the country and I was determined to get to Tortuguero National Park to see the large green sea turtles lay their eggs on the beach. There was no direct way to cross the country from Santa Elena to Tortuguerro so I had to backtrack to San Jose and spend the night.

I took practically a day's worth of travel to get to the Tortuguero because the national park is only accessible by boat or plane. And since I was a budget traveler...it had to be boat...and the cheap boat option at that (read: take the boats the locals use to get to Tortuguero and pay a mere $10 rather than the fancy tourists boats that charge from $50-200 pp depending upon the "type" of excursion you do). Although it took me practically the whole day to get there, it was well worth it.

Once I arrived, I managed to book myself on a turtle tour that evening and was warned to wear dark clothes since the mama turtles have very good eyesight. At 8pm, my guide picked me up and I joined 8 others who were in my group. We walked single file along the beach for about a mile when he said that there was a turtle on the beach preparing to dig its hole for her eggs. It would take 30 minutes so we waited. While waiting, another turtle happened to come on shore! We we were soooo shocked but were instructed to make no movements and no sound. By this time there were 100 people on the beach and we all quietly waited, stood very still in the dark as this new turtle inched its way up the beach. It was massive yet all we could make out was this huge hump slowly crawling up away from the ocean. We were excited at the prospect of seeing another turtle hatch its eggs but after 15 minutes, my guide cried out, ¨The turtle is leaving.¨ She decided to abort her plans of laying eggs on the beach and book it back to the ocean. Apparently, the turtles are very sensitive to the slightest movement and are picky about where they will lay their eggs. It was cool to see how fast the turtle booked it back to the ocean. And it was MASSIVE!!! The entire length of her body was as long as me! We focused our attention back on the first turtle who was about to lay its eggs. Each group took turns looking at the beautiful event. I got to witness with my very eyes, less than a foot away, a green sea turtle laying some of its 100 eggs in the beach! It was one of the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life. I definitely think it's in my top 5 life experiences although now I have to come up with what the other 4 are. LOL. I have no pictures of the blessed event because flash cameras or any kind of light are absolutely not allowed because it will scare the turtles but you can check out fellow flickr peep, juvertson, who has a nice photo of a birthing sea turtle (I don't know how he managed that picture in the dark).

My final days were spent not zipping around on a bus but rather chillin' out in the sleepy town of Cahuita. So many of the travelers I met prior were encouraging me to get to the Caribbean side and spend time here because it has a really relaxed vibe and a strong rasta culture thanks to the population's Afro-Caribbean descent. I felt like I was in a whole 'nother country actually cuz reggae was playing everywhere, the locals spoke English, and the food had a Caribbean flavor (lots of coconut milk and spices...yum) rather than Spanish. This is also the place where I learned how to walk at a snail's pace since it was sooo hot and there was no place I was rushing to go.

For $15 per night, I got my own private room with bathroom at the Spencer Seaside Lodge and I was a mere 50 meters away from the sea. Each room had walls with painted murals. Mine happened to be a map of the country, which would've been useful if I ever forgot where I was. Ha!

More importantly, I got to hear the crashing waves at night lull me to sleep and wake me up each day. To the right is the view from my room/door. In the short distance between my room and the waves, you'll see coconut trees from which several hammocks were hung. And about 2 feet from my door were bananas still hanging on the vine; some were ripe and ready to be picked and others were still green. Guests were welcome to an unlimited supply of bananas at any time.

I felt sooo at peace and so relaxed because all I did was eat, sleep, go to the beach, swim, sunbathe, and read for four days. For a day trip, I took the bus 16km south to neighboring yet larger Puerto Viejo. Compared to Cahuita, it felt like a metropolis when in fact it really is still a small town compared to the rest of the places I had visited. But beccause I felt a more touristy vibe, I got out of Dodge quickly by renting a bike and peddaled the 6km to a nearby beach, Punta Uva (see left). It was beautiful and scarcely populated with a few tourists and Tico families sprinkled about. The water was so calm that it was perfect to swim in. I managed to surf one last time too in nearby Cahuita National Park on my last day. I spent several days here. And on my last day, I surfed one last time. All in all, a wonderful way to end my trip.

When I got back to San Jose and heard all typical city noises, I longed to get back to my haven on the beach! I couldn't believe a mere $15/night got me a room by the sea. Man, what a life...and what a steal!!

Estoy en Costa Rica: Week II

My second week in Costa Rica was spent traveling with Sophie, a young British woman who had never been out of the country till now, and was plowing through Central America in 6 weeks with a final destination of Mexico City. We met in Jacó attending the same surf camp and discovered at dinner one evening that we were traveling alone. We left it open as to whether we really would meet up in a few days time to head north to Monteverde for the cloud forest and La Fortuna for Volcan Arenal. In the end, it worked out and she was my travel companion for a week.

With the beach and the country's natural beauty within a two hour distance, I spent very little time in the capital city of San Jose. Perhaps I've had my fill of South American cities but San Jose didn't seem remarkable compared to the European feel of Buenos Aires or the sheer grandeur of the snow-capped Andes as a backdrop to the caldera in which Bolivia's La Paz sits in. The only really nice thing about San Jose is the incredible variety of international cuisine: Thai, Indian, Japanese, Italian, French, Argentinian, Cuban. One remarkable thing I did in the San Jose vicinity was to visit Volcan Poas. Check out the sulfur fumes emitting from right side of the crater.

Traveling with Sophie was loads of fun and our personalities complemented each other. We stayed in hostels the entire week since our minds were looking ahead to when we would finally separate. Hostels allowed us to meet tons of people. In the end, Sophie found someone to go north with while I was not as lucky but ventured off on my own towards the Carribean side of the country.

While we were together, we visited Volcan Arenal in La Fortuna (the main reason why tourists visit). Because we were there during rainy season, the volcano was often shrouded in cloud. On clear days, you are able to see its perfectly spherical cone. And at nights, you could see red lava spouting out of its top. Here's the best view I had of the volcano in the three days/two nights we were there. In spite of the lack of visibility, we hiked at the base of the volcano and saw sloths, howler monkeys, and all types of birds along the way. We visited a beautiful nearby waterfall and swam at its base and we went one evening to Baldi Hot Springs, one of the many local thermal hot springs in the area and found swim up bars and hammocks and tons of people just having a great time.

Days later, we crossed Lake Arenal to get to Santa Elena, the base from which people visit neighboring Monteverde & Santa Elena Cloud Forests. Sophie and I took a morning tour of the cloud forest which was incredibly lush and peaceful. We saw more howler monkeys but the elusive quetzal was nowhere to be seen.

Monteverde Cloud Forest is particularly special because it straddles the Continental Divide, allowing for several types of climates to co-exist lending itself to an incredible amount of biodiversity in a relatively concentrated amount of space. Beautiful!

I took a tour of a coffee farm, Café Monteverde, a cooperative of farmers and their families who are committed to an environmentally sustainable method of farming (coffee and otherwise) without the use of chemicals or pesticides and whose coffee is sold to the international Fair Trade market. I passed up on going to the Quaker Cheese Factory for fear that I would break down eat the cheese (still on accupuncturist's orders: no dairy...among other things).

One new thing I experienced while in Santa Elena was a zipline canopy tour. It was tons of fun but I wouldn't recommend it if you have a fear of heights.

Before Sophie and I said our goodbyes, we managed to dance salsa with local Ticos at a local bar/club and we left our mark of our shared Costa Rica experience at a local restaurant. Tourists are encouraged to draw on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper with their names, their date of visit, and where they are from (I even saw one sign drawn by a woman from the Philippines! Imagine that!). We couldn't pass up the opportunity...and since there was no longer space on the walls, we decided that the surfer chicas deserved a place on the ceiling. Ya dig it??

Estoy en Costa Rica!

Hey folks, the blog has not been updated of late. I left for Costa Rica on July 2 and won't be back en los Estados Unidos until July 22.

A quick update on me (with some pictures to follow on flickr):

Learned to surf in Jaco (there's an accent on that last o but can't figure out how to do it on this dang keyboard) for an entire week. Attended an all girls surf camp with dos otras chicas. Our surf instructor was a badass Tica named Shilka who taught us in thong bikinis cada dia. I was able to stand up twice on a long board (read: a good length for a beginner like me) on the first day. By the third day, I graduated to a shorter board! All in all, I was bruised and beaten by the waves by Friday. But still felt exhilarated when I finally caught waves and rode them that I'm officially an addicted surfer.

Putzing around now in the rest of the country. Heading to the Cloud Forest in a day or so and am currently in the town of La Fortuna, trying to get a glimpse of Arenal Volcano. But alas, it is rainy season and the summit is shrouded in clouds. After Monteverde Cloud Forest, am headed to the Carribbean coast for an even more laid back vibe with a taste of rastafari culture.

Madonna at MSG

Madonna! Madonna! Madonna! (Think Robin Williams's Armand Goldman in The Birdcage.)

I promised myself that I would see Madonna live in concert at least once in my lifetime. And considering I love her latest album, Confessions on a Dance Floor, I thought that now would be a good time as any to see her. Unfortunately, I couldn't get 2 tickets to any of her concerts at Madison Square Garden. Her show must've sold out in less than 5 minutes. So then I did the next best thing. I searched for one ticket on TicketMaster and snagged one. So I went alone! Ha!

Tonight's performance was her first NYC show on her tour. This morning I was warned by a radio announcer that Madonna was keeping the air conditioning low or off (couldn't exactly hear) in the Garden to preserve her voice. Oh puhleaze! What a diva...give me a break. She was pulling a Whitney Houston.

A little put off by the fact that it would be stifling hot in the Garden that night, I came prepared and wore a tank top underneath my work clothes and the hippest pants I owned that would still be professionally acceptable. I get to my nosebleed seat (seriously must've been tenth row from the roof!) but got compensated because it was an aisle seat. Thank goodness because I don't think I could've handled being sandwiched between sweaty people.

The ticket said the concert started at 8pm, but my girl did not come out until 9 nor did she have an opening act. So what did our crowd do? By 10 to 9, we were getting antsy so one really flamboyant gay male several tiers down decided to harness that energy into doing the wave. After several attempts, we managed to do a 3 or 4 complete waves all around the Garden! Hysterical!

There was an announcement about the AC being turned off or low (again, couldn't hear above the screaming crowd) but the pleasant man's voice assured us by saying, "Madonna appologizes for any inconvenience but hopes you enjoy the concert." The lights go down and "Future Lovers" starts to play with a background slide show of horses and Madonna in her equestrian get-up. Then this crystal ball lowers into the middle of the Garden floor and opens up to birth a Madonna in her riding outfit complete with hat and whip (of course), which she used as she played dominitrix to her back up dancers. In these first few minutes of the concert, I realized that out of all the concerts where my seats did not matter, this one did. Madonna puts on a show. And you want to see it clearly with your own eyes rather than watching a jumbotron 'cuz what's the point of that. You may as well be home watching it on TV.

There were some parts of the concert that were painful to watch like when she played guitar. I don't even think it's playing...strumming is a better adjective. She even slipped with her guitar as she skipped down the runway at one point. But her yoga practices have taught her acceptance instead of resistance. So she let herself fall to her knees instead of trying to break her fall and it was cool to see that even Madonna is human. She trips and falls like the rest of us!

But lemme tell you, all that yoga must be doing something right. That woman's body at 47 is ripped! Of course, she makes millions of dollars so there is no excuse to look anything but amazing. If I could look at least half as good as Modonna at 47, I would be stoked! But she's inspiring nonetheless. Middle-age isn't a death sentence as it once was and seeing her in concert tonight taught me that. I hope to be staying active, fit, and doing what I love at middle-age too.

Overall, the concert was amazing albeit hot. She sang "I Love New York" and she was disappointed afterwards and said, "I wrote this song for you guys and I don't even see you jumping!" So of course, we complied and jumped as she started singing "Ray of Light". But we stopped and in the middle of the song she yelled, "You're NOT jumping!" I yelled back, "Bitch! That's because we are hot!!!" LOL. Still, I had a great time and sang every single word to all her songs. And she did what she did best -- dance! My favorite part of the concert was when she and her back up dancers dressed up in 70s suits and moved like John Travolta. It made me want to go out and get a shiny white suit with the big shirt lapels and dance to Disco Inferno or something.

One final note, I have to admit that I shook my head when she got lifted on a disco cross as if crucified with a crown of thorns on her head singing "Live to Tell". I wasn't offended but rolled my eyes at the serious ego that this woman has. I mean seriously, what makes her think that she can be the Christ? I know she was trying to send a positive message encouraging a unified faith community as verses from several major religions flashed in the background, highlighting the virtues of love, forgiveness, and peace in humanity but was the crucifixion scene really necessary?

Oh Madonna, what a piece of work! Nonetheless, I still live for her.

American Ballet Theatre's Giselle

Photo courtesy of ABT.

For work, I had to entertain the Foundation's South African guests this evening. Since we are a supporter of the performing arts, we have many connections in the dance, theater, and orchestra world. Six complimentary tickets got us inside tonight's performance Giselle at the Met.

Did I mention that I work for a great organization?!?!? What a perk!

To pursue the PhD or not?

Met with the Archaeologist today for morning coffee. He's really got me excited about my work on the Filipino balikbayan box. He was shocked that I did not want to pursue the PhD and encouraged me to consider it since he believes that I can make a new and exciting contribution to the intellectual conversations on the immigrant experience and that this MA thesis can easily become a PhD thesis.

Nooooooooooooooooooo!!! Virtual poverty, more school, no benefits in my 30s?!?!?! I don't know. I've got to really think this through.

A Wedding by the Sea

I love all the things there are,
and of all the fires
love is the only inexhaustible one;
and that's why I go from life to life,
from guitar to guitar,
and I have no fear
of light or of shade,
and being almost earth myself,
I spoon away at infinity.

-- Pablo Neruda

The Cooking Anthropologist & her husband, the Computer Scientist sharing their first dance.


I was honored to be asked to read at their wedding. I read a poem by Neruda, an excerpt I included above.





A German tradition, where the new bride and groom have to saw a log in half to represent teamwork and unity. You can see these two were having fun.


Below is JK & me. I haven't seen her since her Vermont wedding in 1999. Now she has two beautiful boys!















The obligatory MHC shot below.















African drummers at the reception.

I spent time with the Cooking Anthropologist & the Computer Scientist in Tanzania when she was doing her year of fieldwork. We went snorkeling off the coast of Kigombe and lunched on a sand island only exposed during low tide.

A double-date weekend at the Cape, this time with Mojo in tow.

Happy Mother's Day!

Here are the happy mothers on Mother's Day!! It also happens to be the birthday of Jellybean's Mother (shown here in red). Happy Birthday!!!

There were eight of us that schlepped from Forest Hills after church to Woodside. Two subway lines, four elevator rides, and several blocks later, we arrived at Sripraphai starving. Our hunger was satiated with their awesome papaya salad with mussels, squid, and shrimp and equally delicious duck salad (my preference is the papaya salad though). On the right, you see me scrapping up the last remaining bits of the papaya salad. To die for!!! I love their tilapia fillet dish with curry and eggplant and this time I ordered it mild. Last time, I thought I could handle the spice so I ordered "medium"...I thought my mouth was going to implode from all the heat. I was with J the first time, and our eyes were full of water. Poor thing, he had indigestion for two days!!!

Once the food arrived, the eight of us fell silent. The food was praised by all (thank goodness, since I picked the restaurant). After the meal, you see on the left that my mom and I are conniving behind the birthday girl. Several minute later, out came a banana cake with a candle on it. I think Jellybean's Mother was surprised.

Two hours later, the group emerged from Sripraphai and headed back to the 7 train, 61st Street Station. The station is located directly underneath the airline landing pattern for LaGuardia Airport, so here I am with mom, as we enjoy watching the planes fly low above us. Thankfully, we look nothing like Mr. Roarke and Tattoo as we exclaimed, "Da plane! Da plane!"

We Froze our Butts Off for Depeche Mode

We're city folk. Therefore, we don't own cars. So The Quirky One and I took the LIRR to see Depeche Mode at Jones Beach. We thought we would be 2 out of oh say, 10 people needing a shuttle bus to the theater...when in fact there must've been a few hundred of us. I couldn't believe it.

Fooled by the warm weather of the afternoon, The Quirky One wore summer clothes: flip flops, capri pants, and a tank top with a light zip up sweater to the concert. I was dressed a little more warmly but all thanks to luck really. When we got to the outdoor theater (our first time to attend), the wind picked up as we realized how much colder it can get right by the bay! Needless to say, we froze our buns off. I was afraid our toes would fall off too. So, it was even more reason to buy Depeche Mode paraphanelia. We ended up wearing our newly bought purchases to provide extra layering against the wind.

I've waited 17 years to see these guys. This is a shout out to my JHS peeps!!!! We wore black, teased our bangs high, and listened to Depeche Mode's Violator on our Sony Walkmans, and thought they were just simply amazing with the hits that came off that album: "Enjoy the Silence," "Policy of Truth," and "Personal Jesus." Here's to you ladies! Boy how we've grown: three of us are getting married this year, two are engaged, and three (including yours truly) are still standing.

Thanks goodness I always manage to sneak in my camera. I don't know why I bother though. I never have terribly good seats but the camera has a video function. So sometimes I take a video...but then I'm always singing so I just end up hearing my voice on the video. That's definitely not a good thing to post. Ha!!! I'm a little disappointed that they didn't play Policy of Truth tonight. It's my favorite song, I have to admit!!! It elicits such strong JHS memories!!!

The Quirky One and I were on the lookout for lots of Asians at the concert considering our group of friends who listened to DM were all Asian. We were surprised to find very few Asian folks at the concert and even more surprised to hear a lot of foreign languages being spoken. There were A LOT of Europeans there. It's the first concert I've been to where English was not the predominant language (As a side note, a Pearl Jam concert was the concert where most of the voices I heard singing belonged to men.)

On a final note, which serves as a funny story to boot: when The Quirky One heard that I was a DM fan and how long I've been listening to them, she was startled at how far back they go. She's only three years younger than me but got into them in college. I told her that I was listening to them in the late 80s! A few days later, in the excitement of perhaps finding another DM fan, she asked if she could borrow my DM disc collection so she could burn copies. I had to break it to her that I listened to them on cassettes and never got around to buying CDs!!! Funny, huh?

I'm Frrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Depeche Mode tonight at Jones Beach Theater.

More to come about my crazy week!