On large spiders and library books

Hola! My big news is that the other day I killed what I’m positive was a baby tarantula in my bedroom. Or at least it’s distant cousin. Very creepy and way too large for my liking. I know tarantulas can’t kill you, but me no likey. That’s probably one of the downfalls about living in the cabin. I feel like I’m constantly cleaning up beginnings of spider webs. Creepy!

On the plus side, I have a lime tree, banana trees and a big avocado tree right outside my porch. Because of eczema etc. I’m really only utilizing the lime tree, but man is it great! One of the world’s larger rodents (what I think is a capybara) is also a fan, and stores all his weird little berries etc underneath it. He’s a shy fellow so he keeps his distance, but we have a mutual appreciation for our tree.

The cabin!

This weekend I did laundry for the first time in a non-western machine. In Nicaragua, I just used something called the pila, which is basically a big cement sink that every house has where you wash clothes. They have those here too (and at my house!), but washing machines are more common. The one I have at the cabin is 2 compartments: wash and spin. You plug it in and then add the water with a house (took me a little bit to figure that out). It soaps up and does its thing and then you transfer it to the spin compartment. This compartment in my machine is most definitely broken, so I just skipped it and did a rinse cycle. Turns out the spin cycle is pretty important and my clothes still had soap in them and were soaking. I did the best I could to remedy this in the pila and put everything out on the line. Once you’re done with the machine, you press a drain button, and the water disappears (into a drainage area right next to it in the ground). Since it’s constantly misting, then sunny, then raining, then sunny, then misting; drying clothes is a challenge. The wind here helps dry things even when they are not directly in the sun, so that’s nice. The cabin is pretty tree covered so bed sheet drying will be more challenging, but I’ll just cross that bridge when I come to it next weekend. I always kind of wanted to be a pioneer, so I like all these cleaning rituals that make you really slow down and get involved. Everything becomes a commitment!

Since I don’t have internet, I’ve been doing a few a little projects. One was making my own face/body scrub. I’ve found that most of Central America loves Ponds products, and Ponds always tests on animals :(. Scrub kind of stuff isn’t common here and what they do have is marked up price-wise and full of chemicals. It’s also just more fun this way! So far I have a little witchy jar with coffee grounds, extra virgin olive oil, honey and cinnamon. Besides being a good exfoliant, coffee has collagen in it which is good for your face; the olive oil is good for hydrating and has vitamin e in it for scars etc; honey is an anti-bacterial and cinnamon I guess helps waken everything up (?). I’ve also noticed recently that all the water in the house drains at some point into certain areas of my yard (also took me a little bit to figure this out), so that makes me feel better about using a few more natural products.

I’ve also been doing yoga a little more at my house and nearby. I live about a 5-minute walk (uphill) from a really nice hotel called the Belmar. It has really nice views, and a smoothie/tea bar and yoga classes. I’m sure I sound like a yuppie, but it’s grand. Mostly it’s tourists that do yoga (for $10) but they have a discount for locals that  drops it down to $6. I ate at their restaurant once (it’s really expensive) for a goodbye dinner for a few teachers in May. They have a local discount there too of 20-25%, which also makes a big difference. I just have to remember when people visit that all these discounts exist and pay (thus get the discount) so they don’t have to.

I’ve also been reading a lot more. When I do have the internet I feel like I spend hours checking facebook/instagram or watching TV, so it’s been nice to not have that (not that everyone does that, I think I just have trouble regulating my time in a healthy way). I did check the news once last week and saw mostly things about Israel and war etc, which reminded me that I do not miss the news and the doom and gloom, no sir. I do have an internet stick that works on my work computer if I want to bring it home, but it’s so slow that I can’t really dilly-dally. Sometimes it’s really nice to have TV....but I did bring some movies with me so that’s been nice as a back up too. Lately I’ve been really interested in Chinese medicine and acupressure, so I’m reading a lot and teaching myself all the pressure points in the body that alleviate different organs. It’s pretty cool and nice to give myself a little massage. Even our faces have tons of pressure points that correspond with different channels in the body. The ones that affect my stomach/intestine/gallbladder are always the most painful. 

I’ve also been reading a book called “Paradise Imperfect” by Margot Page, who moved to Monteverde for a year from Seattle with her family and attended our school. It’s been interesting to read while living here, and a pretty accurate description I would say. It’s also interesting to read someone’s perspective of bringing their family, rather than being single and moving myself around. More complicated, but also less lonely. 

My kindle has been nice to have in case there’s something obscure or specific I want to read, but there’s also the Friend’s School library. The Friend’s school is a Quaker school in the village of Monteverde (where there are no paved roads). I live right at the border before the paved road ends (where there’s a gas station). They’ve been building a sidewalk right in this area (before Monteverde), and there’s a beautiful viewpoint where you can see down to the ocean. There’s always some cow or horse chowing down on grass. The Friend’s School library is pretty much like going back in time. It’s open 24 hours (never locked and all the “staff” are volunteers that come in periodically but usually aren’t there). The library mostly has English books but there are books in Spanish too. Nothing at all is digital, so the library system is all paper cards and pencils and drawers. I always feel a little like I’m in a museum, and it’s awesome. There are great posters like dinosaurs reading or Indian Jones (circa the 80s) telling you to return your books. It’s an honor system, so you right down your name and the date, and leave the card. When it’s time to return it, there’s a trunk to put the books in. I would also like to add that in their "technology" section, titles include "The Complete Book of Cheese," "Dairy Farming" and "Beekeeping Basics." So good.

Another weekend activity I like to do is visit “La cuchara de la abuela” (The grandmother’s spoon), a little restaurant in Monteverde. I’ve tried their arroz con pollo, but my favorite is this roast chicken they make on a giant tortilla. So good! I’m still looking for someone I can buy chicken from directly--- added to my after work to-do list! Mostly I only meat here once or twice a week here and I’m pretty much on a vegan diet because of my stomach issues. I get most of my groceries from the “feria” farmers’ market on Saturdays, which is very simple with none of the hoopla we have in the U.S.. I kind of miss this hoopla, but I appreciate the utilitarian-ness of it all. There’s a little cocina in the back where I always get a chicken empanada from a very happy lanky man (who is a folkloric dancer on the side), and also older than God.

I’m not really sure if all this stuff is interesting just to me (ha!) but thanks for reading :). Saturday was my ex-boyfriend’s birthday in Nicaragua so I gave him a call. It was really nice to talk to him and even though we aren’t together, I still care about him. The phone I’m using right now is SO bad, and even English I have a hard time understanding. My Spanish is pretty kick-ASS right now most days (since I’m speaking it the majority of the time), but being in the woods just makes phone calls more difficult and the phone I have is very cheap. Every time it rings there’s this disco music interspersed with frog noises, so that’s professional.

The only other recent happening is that I traveled to San Jose (the capital) last week to pick up some new teachers and their kids. In private transport it should only take 3 hours (6 round trip). It turned out that the weather in Monteverde that day was just perfect, but down the mountain there was a massive storm, so trees got struck by lightning and blocked the highway. It was a very long day and in total we were gone for 12 hours. We also stopped at Walmart (there’s one near the airport), to take advantage of lower prices and products that aren’t in Monteverde (like shower caddies and nature valley bars and fancier shampoos!). This made me way more excited than should be normal. Normally I’m against Walmart, but they pretty much have a monopoly over all of Central America, so their prices are lowest and the variety of products are the largest. Sad and really pretty depressing given their politics, but not really fightable on an individual level other than limiting shopping.

Anyhow....I hope everyone is having a good summer! Miss you all and sorry for my limited contact--- I hope my blogging explains why a little bit more!

xoxo

W

Dispatch from a cabin in the woods

There ain’t no internet in this here cabin, so I’ll have to be updating this in the office. I moved into said cabin yesterday (Friday). I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss the internet. There are 2 guys at school who don’t have email addresses, and in my head I just think “bad ass”. I’ve been house-sitting for the past few weeks, and my neighbor was one of these bad-ass dudes. After work he usually plays soccer with his son, or works in his garden, or (until recently) watched the world cup. I guess that makes me sound like a creeper, but it’s hard not to notice what your neighbors are up to when you live on your own.

My job really depends on internet and email communication, and I’m very thankful to be able to communicate with people in the U.S. and around the world, but sometime the idea of not having the need for internet is pretty great. Every time I meet someone who’s not on facebook I think.....what a rebel!

Lately, I’ve mainly been working, hosting my first visitor from home and house sitting. House sitting turned into kind of a mess. The family forgot to pay the electric bill so I was basically indoor camping for a little while there and all the food went bad. The electric company (also the phone company here) messed up, so the house was without power for 5 days. The hot water here runs on electricity (I’m sure it’s the same in the U.S. but I’ve never had to think about it since our power never goes out), so that meant really chilly showers. Now I’m sure you’re thinking “Costa Rica is hot” so cold showers aren’t a big deal. Up in Monteverde, we are in the mountains, and it actually gets quite chilly. I wore a fleece and fuzzy leggings today about town. The weather can change rapidly in a day, so at some point it’ll be sunny and I’ll have my lunch outside, and then 30 minutes later it’s downpouring. I always have my emergency umbrella on me!

Luckily during this no power situation, my friend Elise was here visiting. We met up in Manuel Antonio on the Pacific coast, and spent a few days there. I was glad to see it. It’s very different from Monteverde. Still green and beautiful but super hot, and way more touristy. There’s a good amount of tourists here regularly (mostly from Europe or the U.S. or Canada), but nothing like the coast. Where there be more tourists, there be higher prices, so that was also different. Fruits and veggies are really affordable here, but anything processed is on-par with with the U.S. or more expensive because it’s being imported from a U.S. or foreign owned corporation. This isn’t a huge issue for me since I’m basically allergic or unable to digest all processed food. I’ll just take that as a blessing.

In Manuel Antonio, Elise and I shared a private room at a hostel, which we shared a kitchen/living room with 2 german girls. Ze germanz! They were interesting. Every morning they would have this massive feast of fruit on the balcony and then toot about town in their rented car. Oh the life of the Euro! One of the girls was here all the way from her motherland to adopt a cat she met last year on the beach. That’s right. A stinkin' cat! If it was a dog, I’d understand (dogs are the superior creature), but chances are that cat could care less about relocating to Europe. 

Elise and I saw some monkeys and a few sloths in M.A. There were so many tourists that we didn’t need a guide because we would just follow the pointed fingers. Sometimes overly excited tourists would tell us themselves (or grab us in Elise’s case). Pretty different than Nicaragua which has a lot less white people. The beaches and all the greenery were very pretty. The animals are so used to all the people that they can be very aggressive with snacks. A giant fat raccoon stole my platanos in my bag when I walked down to the water. I would also like to add that he only ate half the bag and walked away- very wasteful! I guess he can afford to be choosey. 

One of the best parts of our beach trip was the smoothie shack at the hostel. I had a smoothie every morning of banana, avocado, kale, mint and orange juice. It was delightful! Sadly, I can’t really have this anymore (which I’ll explain later). The fresh coconut water was also great which you can’t find (in any form) in Monteverde.

One of the worst parts of our beach trip was that I swam in a river contaminated with fecal water. YEP. You read that right. The main beach in M.A. has a small river running into it. There were lots of locals in the water, and it was cooler/more refreshing than the ocean temperature, which is surprising because of all the actual crap in it. The beaches there are also pretty rocky and have a strong undercurrent/rip-tide. So, naturally the river was a lovely choice. I never put my head fully under because it was really shallow in the moving part, but the policia came over and let everyone know that the water “is.....not so clean” in Spanish, because the hotels dump literal shit in there. Right next to a national park! There are no words. I kept thinking about Pamela Anderson in Baywatch having to be hosed down with a chemical rinse every time she swam in the Santa Monica Pier. Gross and a half.

Elise came up to Monteverde for a few days. There was a beautiful rainbow to greet us but no power, so we ended up staying at my friend Molly’s for a few nights. I’ve been moving around so much that it’s really nice to be in one place and feel settled. I also finally get to really unpack, which is a relief. We did yoga together at the Hotel Belmar (they also make really good smoothies and teas). While I was at work, she went canyoning down a waterfall and zip-lining. We also climbed this really amazing hollow tree that’s about 5 minutes from school. It was nice to see a familiar face and sad to see her go.

Besides Elise’s visit, I’ve been spending a lot of time on my own, learning that I have to be my own best friend and content with my own company. It’s something I’m still learning since I’ve never spent this much time alone ever. It’s especially quiet right now because school isn’t in session and a lot of the foreign teachers are in the U.S. Most of the Ticos (Costa Ricans) all have families and spend time with them. I’m also one of the only people not in a relationship, so that’s been interesting! I miss the guy I was with last year, but sometimes things just don’t work out and life goes on despite the sadness. Some of my favorite things to do here are cook a good meal, go on a long walk, and shop at the farmer’s markets. I’ve also been spending a substantial amount of time killing spiders. Exciting, no?!? My iphone broke so I’ve been taking less photos, but I’m trying to make more of an effort to bring my camera around. It’s also been really exciting watching the World Cup, so it was pretty sad when Costa Rica “La Sele” lost.

The only other thing that’s been going on is health-wise, I’m in kind of a weird place. I had a really painful ear infection last month that luckily passed with treatment (and everything was free on Costa Rican insurance). The main thing is that ever since I got here in May I’ve had a lot of skin issues, eczema on my face among other things....and it’s been real bad! I don’t know if I’ve ever felt so unattractive ever. I’ve tried lots of different things, but the only thing that’s worked is adjusting my diet (cutting out peanut butter, bananas, avocado, coconut milk, sugar, eggs and coffee). It’s weird and annoying, but it’s working and I’m desperate! I’m mainly eating only savory foods that are cooked (nothing raw). The idea came from my acupuncturist in Berkeley who told me to give him a list of everything I’ve been eating. Apparently in Chinese medicine, my entire diet was “damp” meaning really hard on the digestion and very imbalanced. When the stomach is upset, it will show on the areas of the face where I’m affected. I know a lot of people don’t believe in Chinese medicine (hi dad!), but it’s always helped me when nothing else works.

Anyways, if you made it this far, congrats to you for reading! 

Lots of love to you all from this cabin in the woods, where I’ve successfully connected my propane tank to my 2-burner stove. Indoor camping for the win!

Until next time/Hasta la próxima,

W