Thursday, September 30, 2010

Getting to The Pacuare Turtle Reserve


Arriving at the Pacuare Reserve was quite an adventure! We followed the directions we were given from the project coordinator hoping we would end up in the correct place. We took a bus from San Jose to the small town of Matina where we caught a cab that took us down a long dirt road past many banana tree farms with Dole trucks parked along the road. Bananas here are so good and plentiful. When we were in the mountains we bought a whole branch of them and they were delicious. I felt like a real monkey or a toucan eating bananas right off the branch. At the end of the dirt road we were dropped off at the canal and at first there was no dock or boat or people in sight, just Katie and I on the side of the dirt road with our bags. Upon further inspection we spotted the little dock just past a gate and two people waiting with the Pacuare motor boat to take us down the canal to the reserve. Katherine, the on-site head of the research assistants picked us up along with one of the guards and they were each polite enough to not comment on the enormity of my suitcase which gratefully did not capsize the boat. The canal was beautiful with lots of butterflies and birds overhead and we constantly kept our eyes peeled for the rare sighting of a crocodile. There is a crocodile that lives close to the reserve that they have affectionately names Rambo. Katie and I went on some night walks and always called to him but he proved to be ever elusive although we did see the glowing eyes of a couple of caymen. 
The reserve was in its last week with the turtles and we were the last volunteers to arrive. We were a little surprised at how few volunteers there actually were because upon signing up we felt lucky to have gotten spots when in reality the place was pretty dead. We were the only “Gringas” in sight and the other group of volunteers were from Spain as well as many of the research assistants. A few of the other research assistants were from England and the rest of the workers and guards were local Ticos. So we were excited to get back to speaking Spanish and practicing with native speakers! In the mountains before the reserve we were surrounded by only other Gringos and we weren’t provided much opportunity for practicing the language and we are really hoping to become more fluent by the end of our travels here in Costa Rica.

There is so much beauty here and so many animals and critters to admire. Lots of these critters being bugs, which at times can be fascinating but other times can look quite man eating. Katie is much better with the bugs than me. I shy away from them, admiring their creepiness from afar while she gets right in there and takes 30 pictures of each insect from every possible angle. The real kicker however is when I tell her there is a spider next to her or a big bug she will at times let out a girlish squeal and hop 50 ft into the air. I guess bug bravery can only go so far. To be fair I walk the trails waving a stick in front of me in order to knock any on coming spider webs out of my way and after witnessing a giant spider silently descend from the tree tops on our first night walk, I politely declined the invitation for the second night walk. Not the picture perfect jungle explorers but we try...
 



The first night we arrived there I saw a spider nearly the size of my face chilling out near my bed. Not the best placement if you ask me and surely going to give me nightmares. We try to escort it out but by the time we get back from dinner it is nowhere to be found. I have trouble sleeping that night of course, visions of spiders crawling all over my body haunting my waking dreams. I awake the next morning unharmed and begin telling Katie the woes of my dreary nights sleep when I turn and look to the corner of my bunk bed and notice a snake, nicely nestled into the corner of the bunk. I quickly flee from the bed and Katie begins rolling with laughter. Then she makes me get back in bed so she can take this picture! The timing of the whole thing was quite funny seeing as I was just describing how I would awake in the night and scan the top of the bunk for spiders with the flashlight, while the whole time there was a snake sleeping not even 2 ft  away from my head! It turned out to be a small Boa, which is not venomous (whew!), but the whole experience was eye opening and a great introduction to sleeping in and being one with the Costa Rican Jungle.  Later the next day, the spider also showed back up and this time Katie was my knight in shining armor and delicately escorted the spider out of our cabin with the use of our handy dandy tupperware. We named her Cecilia and gave her a new home in the forest where she belongs! 
Notice the snake in the upper right corner of my bunk! Yikes!!

I'm so glad he didn't try to snuggle with me!
This was all just within the our first 24 hours at the reserve so as you can see there are many exciting stories to tell about our time there and it may take us a little while to get all that we want to share about our time there out in the world on our blog. We have decided to separate our stories out and share things with you about our stay as we have time and are able to match writings to pictures. We plan on putting up another blog soon all about seeing the turtles, volunteering at the reserve, and the other exciting critters Katie saw along her night walks with our favorite guard at the reserve, Danillo. Thanks so much for reading and I hope that everyone is enjoying our stories! 


Welcome to The Pacuare Reserve!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Wisdom on the Walls (and floors and doors and tables)

Last night while I was writing our blog I noticed The 10 Indian Commandments just to the side of my keyboard and I really loved that this wisdom had been lacquered into the tabletop itself.  The travelers who have passed through Rocking J's have left parts of themselves behind through their art and their words.  I could talk for quite awhile about each piece, but I'll just let them speak for themselves.  There is some really good stuff here - enjoy. 

Translation: Always free, always living!
Translation: To share is to live

The Toilet Bowl

Rocking J's: Hostel/Mosaic museum!
Free bananas, too!!
It’s been so long since we’ve blasted anything out to you all, it’s hard to know where to start. Not where we left off, because that is so far in the past by now and we know you want up to the minute breaking news!  So here’s what’s going on right now: Monday night, September 27th, in Costa Rica. Here in Puerto Viejo it’s raining up a storm, literally, with plenty of lightning and thunder.  Earlier it actually looked like the special effects from an old horror movie, it was so over the top.  We’re able to just sit back and enjoy the show, all warm and dry under the huge roof here at our new hostel: Rocking J’s.  By far the biggest hostel we’ve stayed at, Rocking J’s is more of an estate than a hostel, with a good sized lawn and hammock hangout area in the center, bordered on 3 sides by the lodgings and common areas and opening out onto the ocean. $4 hammocks and $5 tents are the most popular options; Kirby and I chose the tent. The whole place is covered in mosaics and paintings created by travelers who have stayed here over the years, and it’s so beautiful that you could literally spend hours looking at all the beautiful details. So much color and visual stimuli everywhere, it’s the total opposite of the hostel we were in last night, which brings me to the title of today’s blog: the toilet bowl.
Notice the aquamarine urinal cake on the wall above the fan - the only thing on the wall!

 That’s what we called our room at the sunset hostel.  Because of the smell. Right when we walked in the door yesterday I told Kirby I thought it smelled a little like pee in our room, but then we realized that what it smelled like was the men’s bathroom.  That’s because of the urinal cake that was hanging on our wall.  The only decoration in our barren white room was the little aqua green “freshener” that smelled mysteriously like the unmistakable bathroom deodorizer.  Check it out in the corner of this picture. The white but semi-stained walls, the urinal cake, and all our “stuff” swirling around the room made the nickname of “toilet bowl” the obvious choice.  We knew we had to get out as soon as possible, especially since the smell started morphing and taking on new and unidentifiable characteristics.  This morning we toured the hostels in the surrounding area and now here we are at the most rocking place in town!  Sorry if our description of the toilet bowl was too graphic for some of you, but we want to paint a very clear picture of our experience here in Costa Rica: the good, the bad, and the stinky!


Today, after moving in to our new hostel, we immediately took advantage of the wifi internet and made a HUGE batch of rice and beans, which Kirby magically turned into vegetarian burritos by adding flour tortillas, salsa, onions, a little frying, a whole lot of love!We went down to the beach on the backside of the hostel and discovered little turtles in the sand, one of which I’m laying on in this picture.

Puerto Viejo has these little turtles all over the place, on the side of streets and at the beaches. It would be fun to stay here for a while and try to find them all. After settling in at our new home, we headed out to the nearby beach down the road. It was relaxing and inspiring, and while swimming in the warm ocean waves we couldn’t help but burst into song!  This beach was especially inspirational for songwriting, and we’re almost done with our newest hit track: “It’s SOOOOO Hard Livin’ in Paradise!” I've included a picture of us on the beach just after our songwriting session, so when you hear it on the radio waves you'll feel extra VIP!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Interactive Moth Madness

Here they are, some of our favorite moths.  We hope you enjoy the details and beauty that mother nature bestowed upon each and every one. There are hundreds more where these came from, but we didn't want to overwhelm you! These moths have captured our hearts and we thought that you would find them intriguing as well, so we decided to make them the subject of our next interactive blog. So here is your mission: rank these moths in order of size, starting with the smallest and ending with the largest, or just let us know which one you think is the biggest! We've numbered and named them to make things easier, but please keep in mind that these names are a result of our imagination and have no scientific relevance whatsoever. Enjoy their beauty and good luck in determining their size!

1: Teddy Bear Warrior
2: Yellow Fringe-Bottomed Moth
3: The Brown Eyed Pig

4: White Stealth

5: Mr. Moleface

6: The Emerald Princess

7: Mr. Smith
8: The Magical Emperor

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Off to the Pacuare Reserve!

Yesterday was a busy day full of bus trips and lots of walking and some shopping in order to prepare for our adventure over to the Pacuare Reserve. We are very excited to get going and to be giving back to this beautiful country that we have fallen in love with so much! We are riddled with bug bites but are stoked to try out our new rain boots! We both feel that our mothers would be proud at our purchases to protect our feet not only from the elements but also from the bugs! We won't have any electricity for the next week so obviously no internet will be available so prepare yourself for a HUGE blog blast once we get back to civilization! Thank you so much to all of you that are reading and commenting, we are really enjoying your feed back and love that you are getting the up to the minute status even though we are in Central America! We love you all! Take care and we will talk to you soon! xo

P.S. Don't worry, we know you wouldn't be able to stand the suspense any longer, so here it is!!!! The mystery picture revealed! After all your creative comments, the actual photo is a bit anti-climatic, but I guess that was kind of the point.
We're thinking: Hurry, take a good picture before the next big wave comes and takes us by surprise again! Don't let these calm-looking waters fool you, we risked our lives for this picture! ;)

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Katie will stop at nothing to get the perfect moth shot!!! Risking life and limb and blinding herself in the lights!
The moth that started it all!! He (or one like him) chilled with us at our table all last night!
Hiking near Fuente Verde on a trail David made just 2 weeks ago!
Our pet moth Carmen laid eggs in our room today!!!!
Creating our mandala, fueled by sugar cane (you can see it sticking out of Katies mouth)
Fungal in the Jungle
Que cheeba!
On the trail with David, check out his rain boots. We're buying some tomorrow. We CAN'T WAIT to stomp around uninhibited by water, mud, or bugs.
Beautiful, and we just found out they're edible too. Better before they open though. The leaves are also edible and have been delicious in our salads.
Our first view of a wild Toucan. Right after we took this picture, 5 of his buddies flew up. We lured them in by hanging bananas off our deck.
Our cozy cabin, home sweet home
David explaining the uses for all the plants in his garden
The little stream just below our cabin

Monday, September 13, 2010

Blog Blast!

Enjoying the cool waters of upper Diamante Falls
Hello Everyone! It was such a gift waking up in the medicinal herb garden yesterday! It was misty and magical seeing the clouds drifting between the valley and trees and enjoying the stillness of the garden. I really felt safe and at peace the up there. It is truly one of the most awe inspiring places I have ever been, you can feel the energy in the garden radiating off the mountains! Sorry to get all spiritual on you but it is the only way to describe this place and I am not even doing it justice. After waking up we enjoyed some breakfast on the open air veranda of our little garden cabin and then packed up and headed for the upper falls of The Diamante waterfall. We hiked up through the mist for about 30 minutes and all the sudden through the mist is this beautiful waterfall in the middle of the jungle atmosphere! So gorgeous! The water was such a beautiful aqua color we just had to get right in there and swim! The water was cold but it was awesome being surrounded by jungle swimming in our own private waterfall pool! Once we were done swimming the rain started to come down pretty heavily so we got dressed and headed back towards our garden cabin.
Katie and Kirby's Friendship Mandala at the Garden Cabin
Our friend David has created a new type of art that he was kind enough to share with Katie and I. He collects interesting leaves and flowers from the forest jungle (and trust me there is an abundance of art inspiring plants) and arranges them in interesting mandala patterns. He showed us some of his art and it is beautiful. He creates mandalas with the pieces he collects and photographs them to keep a record but to see them in person is a real treat. So, on our hike down the mountain we took our time and found as many interesting leaves and flowers as we could in order to create a piece of art with David.
One thing we practiced while picking these beautiful plants was something we learned the day before from Marco about asking the plant for permission to be used as medicine, art, housing, etc... If you consult the plant first it is believed that the plant will enhance its qualities for your purpose of use. We liked this idea so we leisurely hiked down the mountain asking plants to be part of our art project. The rain came down most of the walk down and we were not only soaked but had a couple of close calls falling in the mud! Major mud foot!
Once we made it back to the open veranda cabin we spread out our treasures and got to work. David was gracious enough to explain his art and then let Katie and I create on our own, making a mandala of friendship. We had fun planning, designing, and creating a piece of art out of nature at times blending interesting concepts like life and death with the use of dying leaves opposite vibrant green leaves and colorful flowers. We felt very proud with our ending piece and are happy to "Blast it out!" as David would say.
Once back at our cabin we chilled out and enjoyed all the comforts of home! Stove! Hot water! Unfortunately, there is no dodging these mosquitoes though! They are really getting a feast from Katie and I. We are going to tally them up and we will let you know who has more bug bites in the next blog. We made a nice meal of pork (fresh from Fuente Verde, Davids farm) and rice with our favorite Lizano Salsa of course! We were even treated to some fresh home brewed Vanilla beer from David's friend Jeff. We loved the beer he made and it was very refreshing after our long day of hiking and treking with our packs.
The Galloper!!
Today was a nice lazy day and we were able to sleep in and enjoy our coffee on the veranda that we love so much! David was kind enough to let us borrow his Hyundai Galloper, a small yet sturdy little SUV, and we were so excited to take a drive up the road to see The Diamante falls from afar! We had tried to see it yesterday after we climbed down the mountain but that tricky mist was toying with us and we were unable to see it. Katie had a blast wrangling the Galloper, it was so fun having our own vehicle to romp down the country jungle roads!
The view from the drivers seat of Kirby opening the gate to our cabin!
It was a gorgeous day with a clear view of Diamante! We were so inspired we wrote a little song dedicated to the waterfall! Perhaps we will wait to post that til later...We pulled off to the side and enjoyed the view of the waterfall from atop our cool ride! Another highlight of the day was seeing a long trail of leaf cutter ants! So awesome!!! Que cheeba!!

Katie's pet moth - Carmen
Well, now it is getting late and Katie is getting ready to call in the moths. Katie is not just one with the moths now, she has officially become a real moth lady! They have been flocking to her, even in the shower. So, here is a picture of the first moth of the night, which of course came right to Katie! It even has hairy legs just like Katie!
We just finished up a huge load of laundry and I must say I will appreciate a washer and dryer so much more when we get home! Washing by hand is not easy! Now its time for rice and beans! Pura Vida to all!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

It just keeps getting better!

This blog is being written from what will probably be our coolest blog site in all of Costa Rica! We're on the side of a mountain, in the middle of a beautiful garden of exotic medicinal herbs and fruit trees. It's raining outside but we're nice and dry inside of our open air cabin, complete with a sleeping loft upstairs. Spending the day here was beautiful and we are excited to wake up here (probably at the break of dawn, since there is no electricity here so we will most likely be going to bed as soon as our little fire sputters out).  We got incredibly lucky and were able to hike up the mountain with one of the best naturalists we've ever met in person! Marco, a Costa Rican native who is incredibly knowledgeable about all the plants in the jungle and their amazing qualities. We saw a tree whose sap could be used as a substitute for breast milk, a "ginger shampoo plant" that would take too long to explain now but is really beautiful to see and apparently helpful to find in the forest after a long day of hiking, and many many more medicinal and healthy plants that are very useful to know about. We took so many pictures and notes and even photographed some of the plants in his guidebook (most of them, actually) so we are planning to write a huge post about all the gifts of the jungle later when we have more electricity and time.
Let me back up a little, though, and tell you about yesterday! Because it was a good day, too. We had plenty of time to enjoy sleeping in our cozy little cabin, then after a leisurely morning on the deck we headed down to David's house at the Fuente Verde farm. They have their own website which is pretty interesting if you have time. David showed us around his home, which is still being built actually, but is totally habitable as is, with running water, a stove, fridge, sleeping areas, and most importantly: is covered and dry! We went on a couple short hikes around and through the farm and he generously shared his knowledge about lots of edible plants, farming techniques, and interesting leaves and flowers throughout the jungle. His home had a very welcoming and organic feel to it and we felt really comfortable both there and at the farm in general. Seems like a really cool community down there.
Last night, after our day on the farm, we went to a farm just down the road a bit called "Finca Ipe". That name might be wrong, so don't go checking out websites just yet. :) They were hosting their weekly Friday communal dinner, so Kirby and I got to experience one of the best meals either of us can remember in quite some time. Definitely the best meal so far in this country hands down!!  There were 12 or 13 dishes, all healthy and delicious and made with organic and natural ingredients from the farm. Chicken curry, borsch (not sure if I spelled that right, is there a t at the end?) all kinds of salad, lentils, fish... it was a flavor explosion! And rice and beans too, of course! Kirby and I brought our finest meal available - pasta with homemade red sauce, spiced up with some fresh pork from the farm. The bowl was empty at the end, so I guess it was good! We both ate 2 huge plates and wanted more but had to restrain ourselves - so much variety!!! We've been eating meals consisting of 1 or 2 dishes, so having 13 of them was like visiting the best buffet you ever imagined. The people were nice too and we even met a woman who just sold her home 2 weeks ago and moved to Costa Rica for good! She had been housesitting for one of the friends of the farm and was planning on leaving the next day to housesit a mansion for a friend of a friend.  She said the bathroom looked like something out of a ritzy spa, and the furniture in the living room was super plush too. The way she was gushing about this mansion, it made us want to go visit her there, but alas we can't squeeze it into our schedule (believe me, though, I tried to find a way!)
This morning was a super early one, we were out the door by 7am!!! The plan was to hike to a waterfall that has a lodge right under the overhang, then spend the night there under the ledge. They have sleeping surfaces, mattress pads, even a whole kitchen and bathroom area! We called this morning and found out it was already reserved for a big group of teenagers, so decided to stay at this cabin instead. Funny that this place is so awesome and it was only our second choice! We feel so lucky right now you can't even imagine. We pulled up to the trailhead right as a group of people were getting out, turns out they were a film crew! We met John, one of the owners of the land we hiked through, and he explained that they were working on a project to promote indigenous uses of land and plants and encourage preservation of the culture and environment. He said he had been waiting 15 years for this day, so we were incredibly lucky to be able to share it.  They were filming Marco as he explained all the wonders of the jungle, so we got to follow along and learn. They had us pop into some of the scenes as well, like when Marco cut a vine had us drink the liquid that poured out. Apparently its common knowledge in Costa Rica that if youre lost in the jungle without water, cutting open these woody vines is an easy and safe water source. We learned about so many amazing plants today, I can't wait to write more about them! It was so nice to be hiking through the jungle learning about plants instead of teaching about them! I still caught myself looking for banana slugs though, just out of habit.

When we got to the waterfall it was as beautiful and stunning as any waterfall, except that it was even better because you could see people just hangin out under the ledge. When we got back to our cabin we did some stretching, had dinner, and enjoyed the beautiful view. The energy here feels very special, almost magical, and this garden totally captivated us with the sights and sounds. Even now as I write this, the rain patting on the roof and all the bugs singing their buggy songs feels very peaceful and calming. I better go now, because here we are at the end of another long blog with very few pictures!  I'll save up more details for when I have photo accompaniment. And remember everyone, its not too late to write what you think we're doing in those pictures!!! We won't be able to post the real pic for another few days when we get wifi on Kirby's computer again, and it's really entertaining for us to see your guesses!  We're also thinking about doing something exciting with all our moth pictures since by now we have hundreds. Actually, the only bad thing about this cabin is that there is no light to call in the moths.  Oh well, at least we have tomorrow!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Greetings from our misty mountain cabin

Today's lunch - ballin' on a budget!
 Hola! It's been awhile since we wrote a blog that actually talked about what we've been doing the past couple days, so we figured we'd fill you in. I'm sitting on the deck of our new home for the next 5 nights, our own personal cabin on the mountain!!! Kirby is cooking up some ramen, not the normal plain top ramen but a Costa Rican authentic ramen!  I can't believe we're here at this cabin right now, its so beautiful. I think. We actually got to the cabin just as it was getting dark so we haven't gotten to take in the full view from the deck yet, but the drive up the mountain was amazing! Costa Rica has so many beautiful things to see and people to meet, we feel so lucky that we ended up here.
A few days ago, the night before we left Marlon's, we were planning on taking the morning bus to La Fortuna and staying there until we left to go to the Pacuare Reserve and help monitor the nesting sea turtles. That morning I got an email from David, a friend we made at hostel Galileo who was staying there with his wife and kids, saying that he would be leaving the cabin he was renting near Fuente Verde, a sustainable organic farm, and if Kirby and I wanted we could rent it for $75 per week. We checked out the website for the farm, loved it, and decided to completely change our plans and head south to the cabin instead of north to La Fortuna.
We scrambled to get all our stuff together, ran to the bus stop and barely made it in time! The bus rolled towards us and we felt a rush of excitement at actually catching it, then it rolled right past us! A couple old men were walking up the street and laughed at us, telling us that the bus wont stop for you if you have big bags like ours. We thought about hiding the bags then popping them out after the bus stopped, or taking a cab, or walking several blocks to catch the bus at the Escazu central station. While we debated our options I made another visit to our huge spider friend. He was hangin out right in the middle of his huge web. Awesome! I got more pictures of him but out of repect for aunt Becky and any other arachniphobes I wont post anymore right now.
We decided to walk to the central station, made it to San Jose, and a nice guy took us to the bus stop and showed us where to buy our tickets. The people are so nice here! We had a little time so I sat with our heap of stuff and Kirby popped into a nearby hostel to get online and try to figure out where we would go once we got off the bus in Manuel Antiono. She is quite the hostel finder and made a great choice once again with Vista Serena!!! The past couple days couldn't have been spent in a more beautiful and relaxing atmosphere, and the family that runs the hostel was so welcoming and fun to be around. Especially Alex, who took us to the beach on our first night and out dancing the next two. It's hard to find someone who can shake it as hard as us, but he was quite the dancer! OK the ramen is ready, were gonna eat and then Kirby's taking over.
Blowin' up the dance floor!
OK dinner is over, it was delicious. These Ticos know their ramen.
We had a great time shaking our groove thing last night! I think we might have taught the Ticos a few new moves! This morning we had to get all our stuff packed up and ready to go so that we could enjoy our last meal on the awesome veranda at our hostel, The Vista Serena. Katie introduced me to the wonders of Lizano Salsa, possibly the most delicious condiment in Costa Rica, and a friend we made in the hostel left us a can of corn so we really spiced our rice and beans up for lunch and even treated ourselves to a fresh cup of Tang! We are really mastering the art of balling on a budget!
We were able to schedule our travel plans today for late afternoon so we were also able to take a nice little cat nap in the comfy hammocks hanging on the veranda. It is so peaceful just swinging and taking in the view. The hostel always has good music playing and you can feel all your troubles fade away when you just sit and look out at the valley and the water with birds and butterflies soaring. 
Of course when it was time to leave the rain had just started once again... we seem to have good timing for having to trek through the rain.
We made it smoothly back through Quepos and onto the bus towards Dominical where our new friend David was waiting to pick us up in his Land Rover, which came complete with coconuts strapped to the roof! It was a beautiful misty ride that only took about an hour. We don't mind taking the bus at all here in Costa Rica because there is always something gorgeous to look at, and I must admit Katie is great company. We never run out of things to talk about and when we do, we sing! Katie is becoming quite the rapper, we are thinking of dropping our first album here in Costa Rica.
Dominical is a tiny beach town where surfers come in the green season for the big swells. David was awaiting us just down the dirt road in town and we were so grateful to have him pick us up because it made our travel day nice and easy! We stopped at a little fruit stand on the way to our cabin and picked out some fruit. We got a giant bunch of bananas for like $1.50! We also got some other interesting fruits to try, there is one that is kinda spiky and red and you crack it open and there is like a big slimy grape with a pit inside. I didn't make it sound so appetizing but it was actually quite tasty! I forgot the name of the fruit though so I will have to get back to you on that.
The drive to the organic farm was along a windy road through some of the greenest mountains I have ever seen. The misty fog was rolling over and the rain was still trickling down. We made it to our little cabin and it is the coolest little place I have ever seen!! We have our own wrap around porch that opens out to the mountains outside! We will have to post some pics of this place later because it is awesome!
After eating some ramen and getting used to the multitude of bugs flying around we finally decided to settle down and write this blog. It has been hard staying focused though because these bugs are really beautiful. We were worried about fending off the mosquitoes but luckily they seem to have retired for the evening allowing for the beautiful moths to take over our attention. Katie has been taking a million pictures of the moths the whole time I have been writing this. Right now she is standing on the table heading towards the light, she is one with the moths now! Hee...Hee... We have been thinking we should be National Geographic photographers. That would be an awesome job! It is like watching a live in person showing of Planet Earth out here on this balcony right now. As long as no giant spiders come along and try to crawl on me, we are in bug heaven!
Tomorrow we are going to walk down to the stream that we can hear flowing right below our little cabin and then head out on a walk to the organic farm to meet the people and go on a hike in the mountains. We are getting ready to snuggle up and watch a movie soon. Everyone goes to bed really early here and basically gets up with the sun. We are going to see about getting on that schedule at least while we are here! I can't wait to see the view off our balcony in the morning! I hope you all have a good night and sweet dreams! XO
P.S. Thanks so much for interacting, if you have!!! And also congrats on making it to the end of this blog! Sorry its mas words and menos pictures, but we're working with limited technology here. Kirby' macbook can't connect to David's portable internet 3G thing, so he let us borrow his computer and our access to pictures is restricted. Which also means you might have to wait til we leave here to find out what we were actually doing and thinking in the mystery picture! Hope the suspense isnt too hard on anyone... ;)