Cascanueces

Back in San José. It's strange to be back here after 2 months. I guess I should count myself lucky for not having to come back here sooner as it's the main transportation hub in the country. A lot has happened in the last week or so. I made it to Punta Mona with little mishap--well, less than would be expected on a hike through the jungle with unmarked trails with our entire packs in ankle- and calf-deep mud with a map drawn by someone who had attempted it, gotten lost, and was later told the way by someone else. After about 2 hours of hiking through muddy, mosquito-infested trails, Emily and I came upon a farm. It didn't really seem like the right place, but I assumed that there weren't very many residences out there. I asked the guy working on a shed, "¿Dónde estamos?" to which he replied "Punta Mona", sealing any doubts I had about the place. He seemed a little agitated by our presence and asked us to wait down on the beach for the dueños to come back in about an hour. So we went down to the beach, skinny dipped for awhile, ate our "lunch" (oreos, crackers, peanut butter) and climbed back up to the farm. The same guy came back and seemed even more agitated. After a long series of awkward questions, we finally determined we were in the wrong place and that the farm we were searching for was farther down the trail. When asked the location of something, who gives the geographical feature? I found it hilarious but the guy didn't even crack a smile. He pointed us down the trail. Another hour of slogging through mud, but even deeper, wetter, stickier. At one point Emily's shoes were sucked into the mud and she had to a) balance rather gracefully to avoid tumbling over with the weight of her bag and b) walk in her socks in the mud to extract her shoes (with several loud sucking sounds). This was also hilarious and I did my best to avoid that area. We finally arrived in Punta Mona (the actual organic farm, not the geographical feature which we had been hiking on already for several hours).

I spent two days at Punta Mona, during which it rained on and off the entiretime. I had a great time, though. It's an organic farm which is sustainable and mostly self-reliant. Basically, a commune of a bunch of hippies from the US and Canada who wanted to escape our sociopoliticaleconomic system. Communal, vegetarian meals (absolutely amazing) with produce from the farm, yoga at 6am on an open wooden platform from which you can hear the jungle, the ocean, the rain, the birds, the howler monkeys. I would have stayed longer but the weather was terrible and I was getting tired of staring out at the beautiful Caribbean through a sheet of rain. The hike out was less eventful, took about half the time because they lent us rubber boots. It would have been impossible otherwise because of the (even) increased mud from several days of constant rain. I saw many red dart frogs on the trail.

I spent two nights in Puerto Viejo, hoping that the weather would clear. One day was mostly sunny with several unannounced downpours. I did manage a bit of beach time. That night, the last night there, I was awoken at 2am to painfully loud reggaeton and lots of shouting. I was a bit disoriented and it took a few minutes to realize that there was a man outside shouting about how he had a right to do what he wanted in his own home, etc. I went out to the balcony to see what the fuss was and everyone from the hostal was out there too. Some guy (stoned? as the Norwegian girls suggested because they had never seen someone high before; drunk, more likely) was outside at the entrance of the hostal yelling and shaking the bars while several of the ticos staying at the hostal were trying to reason with him (I have no idea where the owners were: not where they should have been, caring for their hostal). We were all peering down the stairs when there was a gunshot. Mass exodus of gringos and europeos back to the dorm room. We all got in bed, absolutely shocked and completely unsure of what to do. Not that there was much to do besides stay in the dorm room and listen to his music. A little while later, some dumb American staying in a different room went out to the balcony and threw a bottle at his house, hitting the tin roof and making a really loud noise. The music stopped and we all waited to see what would happen. The guy retaliated by throwing several things (bottles?) at our tin roof. Loud, but not that scary as they were obviously not gun shots. Obvious to me but the two Norwegian girls ran to my side of the room and threw themselves under my bed and the one next to it. Eventually some women outside started arguing with the man and he turned the music off. The Norwegian girls climbed out and went to bed. All nine of us in the dorm left the next morning.

Nothing so eventful here in San José. Yesterday I went to the Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo where I stumbled upon a "summer festival" and so got to see the National Symphonic Orchestra last night for free. I haven't seen an orchestra in years and this one was really good. They played about 9 pieces, among them 2 from the Nutcracker (Cascanueces--is it Christmas?), 2 from Harry Potter (yeah, I don't get it either), and several Costa Rican songs during which everyone around me cheered and shouted a bunch.

I'm happy to be out of the rain and looking forward to impending trips to Arenal, Monteverde, Irazú, Liberia.