El Macho Gringo: March 2013

First of all, I’m sorry about the long time lapse in between blog posts, I’ve been constantly busy with weekend travels around the country and three orientation classes I’ve been taking throughout the past month with the Grupo de Kansas, as well as class enrollment. I’d like to mention really quickly how awesome the Costa Rican bus system is. As long as you’re familiar with the system/itinerary of buses and are able to speak the language, you can get practically anywhere in the country by bus within about 5 hours at the most, give or take. Oh, and it’s cheap too.

Anyway, since my last blog entry I’ve been to beaches on both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts of Costa Rica, and have gone trout fishing on a mountain in the center of the country. The first of these journeys was to Punta Leona, a gorgeous Pacific beach that is, unfortunately, completely privatized nowadays, but that nonetheless isn’t completely tourist-y. We had an amazing time playing Frisbee, soccer, and volleyball on the beach, but the highlight of the trip for me was definitely a 6 AM birdwatching tour I did with a few friends on the last day we were there. Our guide, Alex, studied ornithology at la Universidad de Costa Rica, and it couldn’t have been more evident. He could pick out certain birdcalls with his ear and immediately zero in on their location way up in the tropical trees with his Swarovski spotting scope. I've posted some pictures at the end of this entry of the birds we saw, such as Macaws and the rare “Fire-billed Toucan.” Of course, when we asked Alex what his favorite bird was, he responded with “I love them.” The dude really loves his birds.

Since I'm an avid fly fisherman, I was ecstatic that I was able to catch many wild "Tico trout" the following weekend. I set out super early in the morning at 5 AM on the MUSOC bus out of San José for the mountain valley of San Gerardo de Dota, and I was in the Rio Savegre fly fishing before noon. It was pure trial and error at first, as is always the case in uncharted waters without a guide, but after failing with dry flies in a few pools I discovered that the American strain of wild trout that populates the cloud forest rivers would eat just about any sub-surface nymph I casted at them. I caught numerous small trout, although I did catch a couple of “keeper-sized” fish (when I didn’t have my camera, of course.) I wasn’t disappointed at all with this result, though, because I brought quite a few of the beautiful little fish to hand before letting them go catch-and-release style. I can’t wait to return and stay a few more nights at the Suria Mountain Lodge so that I can really figure out the game and catch some of the bigger, more “educated” trout.

Finally, this past weekend I had my first encounter with the Caribbean side of Costa Rica along with a few friends from the Grupo Kansas. On the downside, the Caribbean climate is much more rainy and I could now pass for having chicken pox thanks to the ravenous mosquitos over there (bug repellent seems to be more of a delicious sauce to them.) But I can name far more positive things from the trip, such as the late-night jungle party at our hostel, “Rocking J’s,” in which I played djembe by the bonfire for over an hour; semi-successful attempts at surfing (gnarly brah); an incredible bike ride to Manzanillo beach accompanied by my Ipod’s shuffled reggae playlist; and some of the best food I’ve eaten in my entire life in the form of a “Marlin filet a la plancha” and Caribbean rice and beans at the restaurant Elena Brown’s. I had a great time conversing with some of the locals at Manzanillo, who spoke three languages: Spanish, English, and a unique form of Creole, which was like a mixture of Jamaican patois and other influences. “What’s up?” in that dialect is “Wha de ras gwine on?”

In closing, I’ve definitely noticed a big upswing in my Spanish-speaking abilities recently. I also know that my accent has improved because two maes (mae = dude in Costa Rican Spanish) asked me if I was from Spain after hearing me order to-go food at a restaurant counter the other night. Classes have just started, so I’ll write a bit about how those are going in my next post. I’m very excited to be learning philosophy, astronomy, journalism, and Spanish morphology with native speakers. Without further ado, I’ll get to some photos. Until next time, as they say in Britain, “Keep calm, and rock on.” Pura Vida!