Guaymí Indigenous Reserve

After a sleepy night in San Vito we finally made our way up to the Guaymí reserve. Rough dirt roads lead us up to the base of the mountain that is officially protected as their home. At the base of the reserve we were outfitted with horses to take us up a steep and winding path to the town where we would be staying for the night. The journey alone would have made the experience worth the while. My horse in particular provided me with in interesting enough trip up the mountain. Mañoso was his name and while he was young and strong, he did not respond well to commands telling him to slow down or stay away from the other horses. Despite some frustration and a few close calls with some tree branches and one attempt to rear up and kick another horse we arrived in tact, both of us tired and sore and in need of some rest.

The towns in which the Guaymí live are small and serve their most basic needs. Costa Rica has been kind to the Guaymí, who are originally from Panama. The government has worked well with the tribe and provided them with electricity, sanitary bathrooms, and a bilingual school where they are taught in Spanish as well as Ngöbe, their native language. They have preserved much of their artistry including ways of making clothing mostly for the women. They also use natural fibers harvested from trees to make bags and canvases for painting. They sustain themselves selling there art and from farming; although, they mostly farm just what they need to eat. They mostly grow rice, beans, and corn but also grow bananas, cocoa, and have small holdings in livestock.

Upon our arrival we roamed around the small town and started to converse with the locals and their children. They were mostly quiet at first, but the kids especially warmed up to us as the day pressed on. We brought them a soccer ball as a gift which we put to good use just before dusk, and quit playing only when we could no longer see. After the sun had gone down and we had eaten dinner. One of the older men in the town put together a demonstration of traditional song and dance for us. We sat back and enjoyed and sipped on "chicha" a fairly weak liquor made of corn fermented with sugar and water. After a few glasses we were invited to join in as they taught us their traditional dances, which were quite simple and nevertheless very entertaining. As the night pressed on and we grew tired more and more of the locals became quite drunk and provided us with further entertainment. Eventually, as the leader of the festivities lost his ability to sing to the chicha, things began to quiet down. After checking the building we were to sleep in for snakes and large insects, we made our way to our improvised beds set out along the wooden floor. While sleeping was rough, it was only for one night so we had no reason to complain.

The next morning we went on a short hike where we were able to see some traditional homes and some of the fields used for farming before we made our way into the forest. Upon our return from the hike we were presented a display of the traditional artwork that was also available for purchase. We stocked up on Mastate paintings as well as some handbags and jewelry (In the photo to the right, the women are extracting the fiber from mastate that they use for their artwork). Afterward, we presented the Guaymí with our gifts that consisted of clothing, fabric, school supplies, and some sweets for the kids. The Guaymí sat in a circle around the meeting area and we went around tossing shirts and pants to whomever called for them and then passed out pencils and pens and suckers to each child. We could tell the they anticipated our visit as much as we had through their gratitude for what we brought.

Visiting the Guaymí Reserve was like taking a step backward in time. In our society where more is better and we live on the profits of excess goods, it is interesting and refreshing to see a population centered around subsistence. Their solitary life style protects and preserves their culture in a day and age where cultures are easily destroyed and dictated by consumerism and media. It was nice to see people happy with what they have enjoying their traditions and each other apart from the technology and daily conveniences we have become so accustomed to. I hope to return to visit the Guaymí some day, and next time I will definitely stay a while longer.

Cerro de la Muerte and the road to San Vito

Last weekend we made our much anticipated trip to the Guaymi Indigenous Reserve, but our long day of travel beforehand proved to be as interesting and eventful as the reserve itself. Our first stop on the road consisted of a short a short hike in El Cerro de la muerte (Mountain of Death), Costa Rica's highest point, which received its daunting name during the colonial times when unprepared travelers often died during the treacherous journey through these mountains. It may be hard to believe, but at its highest points there is typically ice and snow on the ground during certain parts of the year. Thankfully we didn't climb that high, but where we did hike just of the highway offered some spectacular views of one of Costa Rica's most beautiful landscapes.

After our venture up the mountain and a hearty lunch, we headed down to a calm, undeveloped beach, one of Costa Rica's many beaches named Playa Hermosa, where we remained fairly isolated along with a few surfers and other sun-bathers. We enjoyed the tranquility of a beach not lined with lawn chairs and umbrellas of high rise resorts as we played in the strong surf and lounged in the shade of the green trees that lined the shore.

After a couple of hours in the sun we continued our travels along the Rio Grande de Terraba following the river inland to our destination in San Vito. Along the way we stopped at a couple of shops where indigenous families of Terraba and Boruca heritage sold some of there artwork. A majority of the pieces now cater to the aesthetic appeal of tourists; nevertheless, it is still possible to find some traditionally styled artwork as well. My favorite pieces where the masks made by the Boruca that are used to celebrate La Danza de los diablitos (to the right you can see which one I purchased for home decoration). The seemingly innate skill and artistic ability of the indigenous populations is truly something worth seeing and is well worth any money you can spend on it. However, it is sad to see traditional style art disappearing from these shops and being replaced by improvised artwork forced in by tourism.
The night before our trip up to the reserve we spent in San Vito, a small town founded by Italian immigrants who came to jump into the coffee business. We enjoyed some great Italian food before making our way to bed in order to build up a reserve of sleep that would be much needed the following night.

Barra Honda

After reluctantly leaving the beach we made our way to our final Spring Break destination located about a half hour away from the city of Nicoya. Upon arriving in Nicoya we realized we missed the one and only bus to the park entrance, so we had to pay a taxi driver to haul us out to the middle of nowhere. As it turned out, we did save ourselves about a kilometer and a half of walking along some rough roads with all of our bags, so we didn't complain. The cabins we stayed at sat behind a nice little restaurant and bar where we ate all our meals. For twelve dollars a night we got private rooms with fairly comfortable beds, private bathrooms, and use of wonderful pool looking out over the mountains. Before we arrived we thought about doing an afternoon hike, but upon seeing the pool we decided a relaxing evening cooling off in the silent wilderness around us wouldn't be so bad.

The next morning we woke up at 8 a.m. for a fairly early breakfast before making our way to Barra Honda National Park. We walked up the road about half a kilometer to get to the park entrance. Little did we know when we embarked on our journey, the day was shaping up to be Costa Rica's hottest day of the year, so by the time we arrived we were already sweating. At the park office we payed about 16 dollars to get outfitted with spelunking gear and guide to lead us up to Barra Honda's caves.

An hour and a half and 3-4 km straight up hill later we arrived at the mouth of the caves soaked in sweat. We peered down the inverted 50 foot ladder that stood between us and our latest adventure. A bit shaky and nervous, we made our way down as our hands slicked the ladder with sweat and we struggled to find foot room between the ladder and the rocks. Thankfully, all three of my compañeros and myself made it down safely. Once down in the caves we squeezed through some tight spaces to find some interesting cave formations like "the Family" and the "Fried Eggs."After an hour or so in the caves we made the treacherous climb back up the ladder and started the hike downhill. The caves were a nice break from the sun and thankfully when we surfaced the heat had abated a bit for our hike back down to the hotel. Along the way down we ran into an entire family of howler monkeys and tried in vain to snap some photos of the some interesting birds hanging around the path. Needless, to say upon our arrival at the hotel we were very grateful to grab some beers and bottles of water and dive into the pool before eating lunch having to head home.

I'm glad we decided to continue our spring break in Barra Honda. If we would have stayed at the beach we never would have meet the awesome hotel owner and his wife (who was a great chef), we would have missed out on the spelunking, we never would we have been able to enjoy the cool waters of the pool, nor the utter silence of the dry forest surrounding us at the hotel. All things considered, I must say I wouldn't have changed a thing about our spring break. Looking back on our days on the beach, the rodeo, the volcano and the caves it's sort of hard to believe all of the things we did.

Brasilito and Playa Conchal

Following our two nights in Liberia we caught a bus to the beach. Just south of the overly commercialized Playa Flamingo lies a sleepy little town called Brasilito. Although Playa Brasilito wasn't the nicest beach in Costa Rica, it's neighbor Playa Conchal very well may be.

Playa Conchal is home to two fairly small resorts and over half of it is part of nature reserve. Opposed to a typical sandy beach, Conchal is entirely made up of little shells (Concha = Shell in Spanish). On calm days the water is perfectly clear and great for snorkeling and there is practically no surf. During our stay it was mostly windy so, we didn't get to dive in with the snorkel gear, but we did enjoy the strong surf rolling us along the shore's surprisingly soft, tiny shells. On our last day the morning was calm so we were able to take some kayaks out before it got to windy, we planned on snorkeling in calm cove out on a point about an hour out from the beach. But once we arrived we saw that the off shore wind had blown in a bunch of sea snakes and it started to get a bit choppy so we decided to turn around and head back.

We stayed in Brasilito and vegged out on Playa Conchal for five awesome days of filled with sun, shells, and saltwater. Conchal is truly one of the best beaches Costa Rica has to offer, and while it can get busy it is never anything like its neighbors Playa Flamingo and Playa Tamarindo. Also,if your willing to do a little walking to Playa Conchal, Brasilito was a great place to stay due to its quality inexpensive lodging. Although we contemplated hanging around a few more days in order to indulge in relaxation, we decided to press onward. Nevertheless, it was a very difficult decision.

In this picture you can see the point out to which we kayaked. It is just in between the point and the the seemingly small rock in the distance.

Being buried in shells is much better than sand. I can attest to that.

Liberia and Rincon de la Vieja

After our Nicaraguan adventure Don Jorge was kind enough to drop us off in Liberia where myself and three friends planned to begin our Spring break apart from our group. We stuck around in Liberia for a couple of nights in order in explore the town and enjoy the ongoing festivities as the people of Liberia celebrated there town in true Guanacasteco fashion.

Guanacaste is the large northwest region of Costa Rica and Liberia is its capital. The region is known for its infatuation with rodeos and runnings of the bulls. The festival in Liberia played home to rodeos both nights we were there and we were able to visit one. We payed about four dollars each to sit up in the top of the stands and watch the Guanacastecos ride bulls and then after dismounting let their drunk amigos agitate and flee from the angry animals. There was only one injury when we were watching, so it was mostly just amusing to watch the drunk people dodge the hooves and horns of the bulls. Eventually, it got to a point where we sort of felt bad for the bulls as people chucked their empty beer cans and bags of trash at them as they tried to rile them up. Sadly, few bulls got the revenge they deserved.

During our only full day in Liberia we made our way to Rincon de la Vieja National Park about 50 minutes away from the city. The volcanic Guanacaste Mountain Range is older than the more active Central Range but still plays home to some impressive volcanic activity. The park at Rincon de la Vieja takes you through some starkly different micro-climates and sports many rivers and waterfalls along with fumaroles and extremely active mud pots. We encountered three different types of monkeys as well as a variety of lizards and birds along the paths. I wasn't able to accompany my friends to the beautiful waterfall la Cangreja but I was able to enjoy some swimming in one of the cool rivers, which was extremely refreshing after a long morning of hiking. The only thing we should have been prepared for was the bugs, more specifically the black flies which were quite vicious and left us all scratching for a couple days afterward. While transportation and park entrance was a bit expensive ($30) the experience was definitely worth it, and I look forward to going back sometime when my ankle is less sprained.

Something missing? Try the whole tree!

Nicaragua

Pardon the two week hiatus, I assure you now there will be a few posts because after a travel-filled Spring Break there is much to write about.

Our first Spring Break destination was Nicaragua. It was about a six hour bus ride to the border and another two hours into Granada where we were staying. Despite its duration the trip was very pleasant and filled with gorgeous scenery as we passed through Costa Rican province of Guanacaste marveling at volcanoes and mountains all the way into Nicaragua.

In Granada we stayed in colonial style hotel bordering the main plaza. Granada was the first colonial city constructed in continental Central America, and it's rich history manifests itself mainly through the still standing colonial structures and strict construction and design requirements maintained by the municipal government. Streets are lined with brightly colored building sporting traditional wooden or stylish metal signs. Our first night there we took a tour via horse and buggy around the city stopping by the three different cathedrals as well as Lake Nicaragua. After building up our appetites we enjoyed some typical fair at restaurant owned by an Aquinas alumni who helped organize our trip.

The second day we toured Las islas de Granada in Lake Nicaragua via boat where we caught glimpses of a variety of birds and enjoyed the view of volcano Mombacho. After lunch in Granada we headed to Managua for a quick tour and an introduction to the turbulent recent history involving dictators and corrupt officials that plague the country to this day. Managua is filled with current president Daniel Ortega's propaganda. You can't travel a few hundred meters without finding a political billboard sporting his face. Atop the city lies the old citadel of the Samoza dynasty and their ruins of their bunker that was destroyed in the civil war that ended in 1972. Though our tour of the capital was brief it gave us an idea of how Nicaragua came to be and showed us the cult of personality surround their corrupt government regimes.

In the evening we made our way to volcano Masaya where we enjoyed the sunset while breathing copious amounts of dangerous volcanic gasses. The spewing sulfur actually forced away from the large crater to a safer location. Our group then hiked down to some lava tubes located on the side of the mountain (I unfortunately sat this part out due to a sprained ankle). By the time everyone returned it was dark and quiet, so we made our way up to the crater once again with the hopes of seeing some of the bright orange lava flowing in its center, disappointingly the gas cloud was still to thick but we did get to here the mountains deep rumble in the silence.

Our final day was spent visiting local markets. We first made our way to the market in Granada which sold a variety of goods ranging from meat and produce to pharmaceutical goods and clothing. The market really revealed the lacking standards for sanitation and the lack of funds to improve and regulate them. While I'm sure the produce would be perfectly fine to purchase, buying the unrefrigerated meat would definitely be a bad idea. Despite the seemingly lacking standards of cleanliness the market was packed with shoppers certainly because citizens have little choice when shopping for goods at prices they can afford. Afterward we hopped on our bus and headed to the tourist market in Masaya where we spent and hour or so bartering for gifts and souvenirs before heading to lunch and Laguna de Apoyo, an old volcanic crater that has since filled with water forming a small lake. There we spent time swimming after lunch before making out way back to the hectic and confusing border with Costa Rica.

Our trip to Nicaragua, although short, demonstrated to us the hardships the country faces as well as all that it has to offer. The streets are filled with people selling souvenirs and snacks trying to make a living, and every so often you will come across a child asking you for money or food. With a budding a tourist industry the jobs may not still be there for a lot of Nicaraguans, and before their economy can really blossom the people our going to have to escape the corruption under which they are currently caught. Nicaragua is a truly beautiful nation full of things to offer its citizens and tourists and it is only a matter of time before the people realize how to use those resources to their full advantage.

More Nicaragua Pictures

Food you may not want to eat...

Masaya Volcano

Human Pot

Monster Pot

Birds of Lake Nicaragua

View from hotel room