Back in Civilization!

Sorry its taken me a while to update this. I've been back in the realm of internet and cell phone service for 4 days now, but the thought of logging down everything thats happened to me over the past couple weeks just seemed way too overwhelming in my tired, unmotivated state. Giving you every little detail would be pretty obnoxious so I'm going to try to sum it all up as best I can. In fact I think I'll just break it into a few parts. Sorry if it get's a little tedious. These have been some of the best 2 weeks of my life.

Isla Violines

So on our last morning in San Jose we woke up with the stars still out to load up a huge (pretty luxurious) bus with all of the bags we would need for the field trip. The other half of our stuff, including our computers, went straight to the institute, which we wouldn't see for another 2 weeks. The bus ride was long, but it was a good way for us all to get to know each other a little better. Our first stop along the way was a bridge over the Rio Tarcoles. It's a famous tourist spot because it has an incredibly beautiful view, and because directly below the bridge, a huge group of crocodiles spend every day basking in the morning sun. This was the first time I felt like I was somewhere truly exotic. Wild spoonbills and scarlet macaws flew overhead as we snapped a million photos of each crocodile. Suddenly the excitement of what we would be witnessing over the next few weeks just filled me up. We made a few more stops after that one, at a park that held some of Costa Rica's mysterious stone spheres, and at an African oil palm plantation. Dad, the spheres made me think of you a lot. They don't know very much about the indigenous peoples of Costa Rica, but they believe these perfect stone spheres, ranging from the size of a tennis ball to the size of a car were somehow created and utilized by a group called the Diquis. Its one of those cases where the technology to make such an object seems to be far too advanced from the time period they come from.
Our final destination (by bus) was a small beach town called Sierpe on the Oso peninsula, where we grabbed a quick lunch at restaurant owned by a women who's daughters would be coming with us to cook for us for the next part of our stay, and whose sons would be our boat drivers (Pretty much every person we encounter in Costa Rica is related to at least 3 other people we have met or will meet in Costa Rica) 
Finally we loaded all our stuff into two boats driven by two new Tico friends, Chato and Mario, and took off on an incredibly beautiful boat ride through one of the world's largest mangrove forests. More macaws, tiger herons, parrots, kingfishers all flew overhead. It was like a real life Jungle Cruise. When we finally saw what would be our home for the next week I think all of our jaws dropped. A beautiful and completely isolated tropical island welcomed us to its shores. We each stepped out of the boats into the bath-warm water and just kept laughing and yelling about how incredible it was that this was school. 


On this beach on Isla Violines, right where the sand meets the forest, begins the property of Don Miguel, our host for the six days we were there. I could write an entire post on Don Miguel and I probably should someday. Don Miguel is 48 years old, though he's got a weathered look about him that makes him seem much older. He is the island caretaker and lives in his house there alone, unless being visited by a school group which I'm not actually sure happens more than once a year. There is one other man who lives on the opposite side of the island, but we had very little interaction with him. As far as we were concerned Don Miguel was the king of this island. On the first night of our stay, as we sat in the dining area getting an orientation from Frank, Don Miguel walked shyly inside with a young boa constrictor he had just caught that we were all able to hold. He then proceeded within the next 20 minutes or so to catch cane toads, a box turtle, and several huge insects for us to pass around. One of the amazing things about this group is that everyone wants to see everything, and hold it, and ask questions about it. No on is afraid of snakes, or bugs, or anything. Sometimes it feels like being around 26 versions of myself. Throughout the rest of the trip, Don Miguel would accompany us on hikes with his machete, allowing us to go anywhere we wanted. He would cut down coconuts for us, go crocodile catching, and exploring with us in the middle of the night, all with a very shy and quiet demeanor, and without a word of English.
We spent almost every day exploring the trails along the island, with several 'orientation walks' and workshops. We had one day where we climbed through the mangrove forests and got to forage for small bivalves called pienguas, we had several amazing tree frog and poison dart frog encounters, traveled across the ocean with Chato and Mario to another island, Isla de Canas to go snorkeling, went bird watching every morning, all in the name of school. 
I think my favorite thing about the island though was getting to know everyone from the trip so well. The only electricity we had came from a generator that only ran for a couple hours at night (longer if Costa Rica was playing soccer that night). We had to wash our own clothes by hand, play card games by headlamp light, and lived in a little tent village right at the edge of the sand. Every morning and evening we all had to line up on either side of Chato and Mario's boat and push it with all our strength either into or out of the water, rolling it over tough bamboo poles that we would have to keep hauling back in front of the boat to keep it moving. We had no choice but to learn all about one another, and bond through our struggles and amazement at our living situation. It was hard to leave. But as sad as it was saying goodbye to Don Miguel we were all anxious to see what was next on this trip.