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Yes, it's true. Jeff and I are back. I didn't want to mention anything on the blog because Jeff was trying to suprise everybody, but we returned yesterday, and got off the plane at around noon.

The farm did end up charging a small fee of $8 per day for our food. We were under the impression that we were working for room and board, and when we found out on Saturday that this wasn't the case, we emptied out our checking accounts to pay our bill, and bought plane tickets home with Jeff's credit card.

Anyways, the trip was great. Although I wish it would have lasted longer, I'm glad to be back.

Todos Tranquillo

Hellllloooo everybody. Thought I´d put up some more pictures for you. ¡Salud! Downtown San Jose. Pidgeon heaven.

Jeff and I have a new favorite bar. The Cantina-- about a two kilometer walk from the farm. This place along with a very small convenience store are the only two establishments here in Mastatal.

Another day of hard work.

Jeff is in the upper right hand corner of this picture, on the limb of a tree that dangles above a waterfall.

See that strip of leather to Jeff´s right? Damn right that´s a machete. And thats a coconut grown on our farm that we brought down to The Cantina. Before we put in the floor...

...And after we put in the floor. It took all of Monday and even a little bit of overtime to complete-- but hey, it´s done. That´s Javier, the farm owner.

This is basically what we ate every meal. Beans, rice, potatoes, and salad. Sometimes, we were treated to a small patty of home-raised beef.

Cut these off the tree myself. Javier´s niece is watching Jeff paint the new sign that he´ll post by the front gate.

Finito.

Costa Rican sun-set. Todo Tranquillo.

Javier´s re-painting the refrigerator.

The dining room. Everything at the farm is outside.

Mario and Lucielle, Javier´s wife´s parents, live on the farm in this Cabaña.

¡La finca!

So we got to the farm yesterday, and it´s awesome. Jeff and I sleep in this two story wooden structure that is completely open on all sides, and the beatiful green jungle of Costa Rica surrounds us. The farm has tons of animals, -- cows, horses, chickens, pigs-- everything. There are fruit trees, sugar cane, herbs and vegetables. And the best part is that everything´s organic.

The stove in the kitchen is powered by natural gas--aka, pig shit. Water is collected strait from the nearby mountains--untouched by chlorine, flouride and everything else that comes out a tap. The majority of everything we eat is grown/raised right on the farm. There are compost bins and permaculture tubs, and every thing is reused or recycled. It´s quite the contrast to the trash-lined highways and biways of the rest of Central America and Mexico.

I spent the afternoon drinking coffee and napping in a hammock. This morning, after picking a basket of oranges, Jeff and I went on a jungle hike to a waterfall with the farm owner, Havier. We saw one of those little black and green poisonous dart frogs, among some other animals. Jeff and I are waiting to see a boa or a coral snake... from a safe distance, of course.

The internet cafe is only about a kilometer or two from the farm, so I´ll be able to keep in touch. At this point, I have no idea how long we´ll stay. We might have an opportunity to work in a hostel on the Costa Rican coast when we´re done with the farm-- that would be for real money. Photos later this week!

Costa Rica

Jeff and I just got off our bus here in Costa Rica about an hour ago. We checked into a cheap hostel with free internet use--bingo!

Tomorrow we´re going to ride on some chicken buses to the farm, which is about 2 hours south-west of San Jose (where we are now) in a little town south of Puriscul called Mastatal (sp?). I highly doubt there will be internet there, so it´s possible nobody will hear from me for at most a month.

Thank God for free meals on the bus today. Money is dangerously low and if things don´t work out well on the farm, I´ll be back to Denver any time between tomorrow and whenever. Suprisingly, I´m only slightly disappointed by this. I feel that I have accomplished exactly what I set out to do. We had no idea what to expect when we left Denver, and we took what came to us as it came.

South of the border is far more dangerous than I had expected. That´s why hitchhiking without even speaking Spanish was immediately out of the question. I´m sure it´s difficult to negotiate your way out of a bullet to the brain when you can´t even speak the local language.

Buses weren´t expensive, but they weren´t cheap. Apparently, in the last 8 years, Mexico has upgraded their entire bus system to first class, eliminating alot of the chicken busses. Although these are still cheaper (and more comfortable) than the Greyhound busses in the states, they remained to be an unexpected expense for Jeff and I.

Anyhow, if the next time I talk to any of you is back in Denver next week, don´t be suprised. I´ll be excited to see you and have plenty more to tell and hopefully plenty to listen to as soon as I return. Sorry, no new pictures.

Cheers.

Escuela de Español y Chicas Bonitas

Hello everyone! This past week has been quite the week. Jeff and I have a 3 day layover here in San Salvador and will be leaving here for Coasta Rica on a bus the morning of the 8th at 215 AM. There, we will start working on the farm. Our money hasn´t lasted near as long as we had originally hoped, and I´m down to my last $20 (other than a little bit of money I´ve set aside for getting home). We will try to get work permits in Costa Rica so we can get second jobs (as our jobs on the farm only give us free room and board) and if we get second jobs, we will continue to work in Costa Rica until we can afford to travel furthur south and into South America. This is not likely, but ideal. If we can´t get second jobs, we´ll have to suck it up and head back to Denver early-- but I don´t feel in the least that I didn´t accomplish what I set out to accomplish. Anyways, the past week has been incredible. Our spanish classes in Antigua, Guatemala were amazing. It was kind of a hectic week, studying all the time and whatnot. We made a lot of friends from all over the world in the student house that we stayed in, and the biggest new years celebration in Guatemala was only a few blocks from our home. Jeff and I did a few hikes in Antigua, and there were even some hikes where you could go to the top of an active volcano to see some lava. We didn´t have time to fit that in, and had to pass it up.
Anyhow, I´ll save the book for later and I´ll just put up some photographs for you all to enjoy instead.


A little El Salvadorian court where Jeff and I played some b-ball.

Our dorm room here in the hostel in El Salvador.

Mi Amiga and Spanish teacher Claudia.

Antigua´s Central Park, New Year´s. Santa Clause is all tuckered out.

New Year celebration in Antigua.

Latinos sure like their explosives.... they lined the entire park with fire-crackers and set them all off at once.

Yes, that´s a volcanoe in the background. I took this on the apex of a hike that Jeff and I took.

Antigua is at the base of three volcanoes, one of which is still active.

A beautiful Antiguan street.

And a beautiful Antiguan church.

Our New Year´s Eve celebration back at the house. Jeff is confused here because he mistakenly thought that it was his birthday.

Maria houses up to 12 students at a time. We were two of a group of 7 (or 8). This is the nativity scene in her living room, which has an open roof.

All us students. At the head of the table is Maria, our host.

We saw tarzan swinging in the jungle...

With his friend, Jeff.

Our work-out for the day in Tikal, Guatemala.

Tikal again.

Our hotel terrace in Flores, Guatemala. High brow? Maybe. This place cost us ten bucks for the night.

A Mayan temple in Tulum, Mexico.

Survivor man. Jeff and I avoided paying 50 pesos and snuck into the ruins the back way, across a jagged shoreline of volcanic rock.

Packing up after camping on the beach for free in Tulum.

A big fiesta for Christmas Eve in our hostel in Playa del Carmen. The owners of the hostel were Chilean, and knew how to throw a real Christmas party.

This is how much fun we had. I have no idea who the hell the dude in the middle is.