It´s the final countdown folks, after being at this farm for a month and a half I am leaving in five days to be exact. I might as well change the title of my blog while I am at it, I am getting out of Costa Rica next weekend and heading first to Nicaragua for awhile and then to Guatemala to check out the Mayan ruins. The reason for this change? A big part of it has to do with the fact that Costa Rica really isn´t that affordable, you end up paying close to American prices for food. Second is that it is now full blown tourist season and I want nothing to do with hoardes of ignorant tourists here to spend a couple weeks partying. Finally, after having researched and talked to many a person, I have realized that heading north will provide me with the adventures and further culture shock I am seeking during this journey. Point blank; Costa Rica is Americanized. Not saying I don´t love this country and it´s inhabitants, cause I really do, but I will just have to explore it more next time.
So many are probably wondering about my farm misadventures over this last month and a half and man oh man have there been plenty. After a week of spending time working my butt off at the main farm I moved up to another piece of their property with a nice couple that turned out to be from Portland as well. The other peice of property was literally a shack in the middle of the jungle and in order to get there or to get to civilization from there, you have to walk down and then up two steep hills divided by a large river. So I probably don´t need to point out that it took a bit to get used to. We had to haul up a couple goats, three horses, four chickens, two ducks, and a partridge in a pear tree. Merry Christmas by the way. Anyhow, it took a week or so to get settled in and in the swing of things up there in our temporary home we´d come to dub Camp Neverland. The nights were spent simply enough; preparing dinner, reading, playing UNO, bitching about our days. Days were spent working in the lemon orchard adjacent to the shack or repairing the broken water pipes or some other backbreaking sweat inducing job or defending ourselves from Mr. Darcy´s attacks. Mr. Darcy is the infamous male goat we had the misfortune of watching over, he just isn´t a pleasant animal. He likes to try and butt his head into you when you´re not looking and if that´s not bad enough, he smells horrendous! Male goats enjoy urinating on their own faces, no joke, it attracts the female goats, I don´t think I´ll be imitating nature anytime soon with that one.
Neverland wasn´t that bad though, there was a lot of time to explore the surrounding jungle full of rivers, waterfalls, beautiful birds, lightning fast lizards, and drunk locals. I learned a lot about my limits, living in close proximity to animals of various sizes, and especially that I hate roosters. They don´t just crow once in the morning like it is in the movies and television, no sir, they sometimes start at four in the morning and continue through out the rest of the morning sometimes as frequently as every ten seconds. Yes, I counted, I sure as hell wasn´t sleeping. They are mean to, I watched them pick on all the other birds on the farm, including an unforgettable while stoking the fire, I heard a commotion and looked up in time to see the small black rooster jump on the back of our white duck and grab ahold of the back of her neck in his beak, the alarmed duck started running around the farm flapping it´s wings with the rooster riding it the whole time! I didn´t know whether or not to interfere or stand and watch with my jaw dropped in astonishiment... I chose the latter. He finally had enough of his duck rodeo and jumped off. Welcome to the jungle baby!
Unfortunately I am running out of time for the day and need to run off and get my mandatory town trip icecream cone and catch my bus. I missed writing this blog and unfortunately didn´t have time to keep a daily journal so I don´t feel its been the most detailed account of my trip, but next time I will finish my farm stories, including my terrible week with Dengue Fever. I hope all is well friends.
Until next time...
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