October 16th: San Jose to El Castillo

Grant woke up early to try and get boots that were slightly bigger at the supermarket, but no success. On his way back to the room he met a guy from Toronto who was about our age (he said, you can call me "Frank"...apparently that's his name, but we can't be sure). He had just arrived in Costa Rica the day before we got back to San Jose, and he was ready to move on from the city, so he decided to join us. He didn't speak any spanish at all. We had the standard breakfast at Gaudy's (two pancakes, fairly bland, generic syrup, half a banana and a small slice of pineapple), then called a taxi and the three of us were off to the bus terminal for San Carlos. The taxi was $5, which Frank paid (lucky for us). We bought tickets to La Fortuna, and then stood in the only line (we thought) that was there. When a bus pulled up next to us, the one behind us drove away...turns out, we were waiting in the wrong line. We should have been on the bus behind us, which left earlier. That should have been relatively obvious, since we were standing on the side opposite the door to the bus that people were saying went to La Fortuna. But we didn't see another line, so they left without us. Luckily, the bus that pulled up after us was going to San Carlos, which is a stop for all uses going to La Fortuna. We had to quickly change our tickets to ones to San Carlos, and in changing our tickets they took our La Fortuna passes away and wouldn't give them back. Since we had the bus mix up, we were basically the last ones on the bus. Grant managed to find a seat directly behind me, but we couldn't sit together. The ride was roughly 3 hours, and we climbed quite a bit uphill. We even made it into pine tree country. There were lots of open fields, coffee plants. when we got to San Carlos, we tried to tell the bus drivers what had happened, and a Tica lady who saw what happened tried to help us explain, but they made us buy another ticket to La Fortuna. it was only about $1.50 but we had already paid for it. The ride from San Carlos to La fortuna was 1.5 hours, and the further we went the fewer bars there were on the windows. In fact, there were a decent number of United States-calibre homes (although not so close together).

La Fortuna was decent, although we didn't leave the bus stop. Turns out, you have to pay 300 colones to use the bus stop bathroom, but we went into the supermarket that is right next door, and they don't make you pay. When Glenn came we loaded up our stuff and he drove us to the edge of town so that we could drive though and let him explain the layout of the town to us. We stopped at two stores on our way through town so that Grant and I could buy our food for the next two weeks. Apparently, we get paid on the 1st and 15th of each month ($85 each, each time) but since we arrived on the 16th we have to wait two weeks until we get paid for the first time. We stocked up on food, since there really isn't anything in El Castillo: huge sack of rice, two bags of beans, oil, produce, eggs, cereal, new boots for Grant. Glenn told us we were responsible for dish washing supplies and laundry things as well, so bought those things at the second store.

The road to El Castillo is north of the volcano, and it is about 15 miles from La Fortuna. It's actually now a national highway, and it will get paved eventually. We passed a bunch of hotels (one of which has direct access to the hot river, and it apparently a very swanky place. It's a resort and spa it it looks really nice). Down the road from the huge resort is the free hot springs that you can park on the side of the road and walk to. The roads here are much better marked than on the Osa. The land around the volcano is either government reserves, or leased to ranchers on 99 year leases that started in the 70s and 80s. The volcano had laid dormant for years, so long in fact that the natives in the area thought it was extinct. Then, in the 1960s, it suddenly blew, burring the town of Arenal and a few other villages in lava and ash. The eruption created a taller cone next to the old one. You can only walk on the lava from a 1980s eruption.

El Castillo is a small village. Basically, it's one street with a few houses, two mini supermarkets, a relatively nice school, a church, and about four houses. no gas, no bank. no bakery.There is a guy a few doors down from the volunteer house who sells fresh milk and cheese though, and that's becoming our vice. There are 300 residents in this town, and another 100 or so in the village at the top of the hill, above the observatory. One the way up the street we met Erika, the receptionist, and her two girls on the way to the soccer field. We stopped by the VOlunteer house and unloaded our things, then drove up the hill to the observatory and Glenn's house. We didn't go inside the observatory though since it was late and getting dark. Late here means about 4pm, since the sun sets by 5:30pm.

When we got back to the house, we cut up the pineapple we bought and unpacked our things. Our window overlooks the back porch. Beyond that, a few yards down, is a river (not hot, but not cold the way it is in California). There are banana trees and an avolcado tree in the back yard. It appears to be a bit messy,but there's space for both a compost area and garden. once our room was in order we made dinner (spaghetti with chuncky veggie sauce), and we ate it on the front porch. Here, it is very safe. No one locks their doors, they're usually wide open. Of course, this attracts the bugs. I also tried out the shower. water comes into the bathroom through PVC pipes that hang from the wall and ceiling. Hot water=low flow, cold water = strong flow of water. The screen above the shower leaks some kind of dusty dirt stuff if it gets damp. But, the shower is ours only.

Grant described the volunteer house as low-income, rundown student housing, and that's exactly what it is, but it's nice. There are 5 people currently living there including us, and the kitchen supplies are lacking. But, the experience will be incredible.

Oh, and the laundry? That's done by hand, in buckets, on the back porch.

From Grant:

Traveling to El Castillo wasn´t too difficult to do. We took a bus from San Jose to Cidade Quesada (aka San Carlos), then transferred to another bus to La Fortuna. Total cost was about 4 dollars per person, and about 3.5 hours of travel time.

Once we arrived in La Fortuna, Glenn, the owner of the Butterfly Conservatory, came to pick us up. It was about 2pm. We stopped by the grocery store, loaded up on food and living supplies for the next two weeks, and then headed to El Castillo (about 25 minutes away). Glenn briefly showed us around because it was already late afternoon, and then we got settled in.

We started working the next day. We were given two tours of the Conservatory as if we were guests in order to become familiar with that process. The Butterfly Conservatory is beautiful. It is very much so a regenerated rainforest. There is a Jardin De Mariposas (Garden of Butterflys) that is probably what Jamie visited when she was in La Fortuna, it is a separate thing from the Butterfly Conservatory, and there is a story behind them that I´ll tell you another time. Anyways, from just about everywhere in El Castillo we can see the Arenal Volcano. It hasn´t been spewing any lava for the last year and a half, but it constantly is spewing out gases. It is really amazing to be living here, and seeing the volcano from our kitchen window. It is a reminder of how alive our planet really is. Oh yeah, and we have a good size river running through our backyard, and we can hear the water from our bedroom.

Today, I worked with a machete cutting down invasive plants on a hillside that has recently been replanted with trees, then I did some composting and weeding in the afternoon. Melissa did some work in the butterfly habitats, and then did some work at the reception.

Life here is going to be very simple. Our kitchen is very limited in what cookware we have, and there is not laudry machine, so we do the laundry by hand. El Castillo is pretty isolated, and there are only about 300 people that live in the nearby area. There are two little markets in town, but most shopping is done in La Fortuna because it is a little bit cheaper there than here in El Castillo. It has a feeling of being very safe here. There is a small school, church, and people get together in the evening to play soccer on a field.

We don´t have internet access from our house, but if we walk up the street to Glenn´s house we can sit outside and use the wireless there. There are two bungalows that he has so that you can ¨sleep like a butterfly.¨ They both have excellant views of the volcano and of the lake. However, Glenn is gone for the next 2 weeks, and the power went out yesterday, so his wireless device got messed up, and now we bought drinks at a nearby restaurant in order to use their wireless.