I am enjoying my day off. I have gone to town in order to run a few errands and hopefully find some beads to celebrate the holiday! Liz, if you are reading this I finally go the package you sent today... what was that 4 weeks? To everyone else, it contained my replacement credit cards so I will have money to come back to the states at some point. Speaking of which, while thinking about how to transition back into the ¨real world¨I am considering going to Alaska for the summer and prolonging my adventure. I have a friend who lives on Wrangell island in Southern Alaska. She works for an organization that helps troubled youth by taking them on wilderness trips. http://www.alaskacrossings.org/
I may have an oppurtunity to work in the shop helping to stock supplies, clean and maintain equipment, and prepare for the expeditions. I am not sure if I am going to pursue this, but I do think it would be an interested experience going from an island in the tropics to an island in the artic! I am curious to hear everyones opinions on this idea.
All is well at Little Morgans, I have begun sketching up some ideas for future expansion.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
working away
Not much to report. I am alive and well. Bri (my counterpart) and I have fallen into a nice routine which allows me to have a couple hours free in the afternoon. I need to buy a plane ticket in the next couple days. I will probably be back in the states the end of April. Start planning the parties now!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
pictures!
This is a compilation of the pictures that Anna and I took while traveling together:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=anna.e.oconnor&target=ALBUM&id=5299752930997095537&authkey=Z0Q5r1giqTk&feat=email
http://picasaweb.google.com/
life on the island
My apologies for not posting anything in such a long time. You would think that sitting around on an island would allow a lot of time to blog, but unfortunately we often lose power and when we have the Internet is slow. We also have the only connection in 3k, so it is very popular. Today is my day off and I have gone to the biggest town on the island (probably 300 people) where the have a decent internet cafe.
The last week has been good, but rather exhausting. The job is simple enough. I get up around 8am to check out any guest that are leaving and help with the breakfast. There is a local girl that cooks and cleans, but she doesn´t speak English and of course my Spanish is almost non-existent. After the breakfast rush I am left to tend to the restaurant while she cleans. During the day there is very little to do. Stock the beer fridge, keep the books, take a nap in a hammock, and maybe play some pool. Also, I am learning to juggle... very slowly. The weather is nice, normally in the 80´s or 90´s with a slight breeze and a few clouds. Although, a few days ago we sustained hurricane force winds for several hours. It knocked out the power for a few days and damaged some of our roofs as well as took out a few banana trees. We have a generated to keep the kitchen going, as well as the TV and beer fridge (very important to Morgan!). The hardest part of the day is in the evening. That is when new guests arrive as well as those that are already staying the return from their daily activities. There is also dinner to contend with. It can be pretty overwhelming for a few hours and I could really use another person to help out. Anyone interested!?!?!
After dinner things chill out for a bit and then a party will break out, typically led by Morgan. At that point I am somewhere between being part of the party and a bartender. It is always a lot of fun and I get to met a ton of cool people. I hang out until everyone passes out, and lock the place up, typically around midnight. Of course, I have to get up the next day at 8 and do it all over again! One big part of the job is looking after Morgan. He is an amazing person that can talk his way thru anything, and gets a long with everyone, but has a tendency to forget things. All in all it is a pretty great gig, especially if I can find a counterpart to share the work load.
So that is a day in the life of Adam. I was able to sale my car, thanks Liz, Dad, Carol, and Joe. I hope to climb one of the volcanos in the next few weeks, and that will make a great story!
Feel free to write e-mails and let me know what is going on in your part of the world.
The last week has been good, but rather exhausting. The job is simple enough. I get up around 8am to check out any guest that are leaving and help with the breakfast. There is a local girl that cooks and cleans, but she doesn´t speak English and of course my Spanish is almost non-existent. After the breakfast rush I am left to tend to the restaurant while she cleans. During the day there is very little to do. Stock the beer fridge, keep the books, take a nap in a hammock, and maybe play some pool. Also, I am learning to juggle... very slowly. The weather is nice, normally in the 80´s or 90´s with a slight breeze and a few clouds. Although, a few days ago we sustained hurricane force winds for several hours. It knocked out the power for a few days and damaged some of our roofs as well as took out a few banana trees. We have a generated to keep the kitchen going, as well as the TV and beer fridge (very important to Morgan!). The hardest part of the day is in the evening. That is when new guests arrive as well as those that are already staying the return from their daily activities. There is also dinner to contend with. It can be pretty overwhelming for a few hours and I could really use another person to help out. Anyone interested!?!?!
After dinner things chill out for a bit and then a party will break out, typically led by Morgan. At that point I am somewhere between being part of the party and a bartender. It is always a lot of fun and I get to met a ton of cool people. I hang out until everyone passes out, and lock the place up, typically around midnight. Of course, I have to get up the next day at 8 and do it all over again! One big part of the job is looking after Morgan. He is an amazing person that can talk his way thru anything, and gets a long with everyone, but has a tendency to forget things. All in all it is a pretty great gig, especially if I can find a counterpart to share the work load.
So that is a day in the life of Adam. I was able to sale my car, thanks Liz, Dad, Carol, and Joe. I hope to climb one of the volcanos in the next few weeks, and that will make a great story!
Feel free to write e-mails and let me know what is going on in your part of the world.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Welcome Home
Just a quick note to let everyone know that I have made it to Morgans last night and have begun work. All is well and I will write more later.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Canopy Effect
It is Anna's last day in central America :( She leaves tomorrow around 4pm to fly back to the states. Sounds pretty cold if you ask me. I heard there is a bad ice-snow storm in the MO, AR, OK area... I hope everyone is making it ok. If you haven't heard, I have decided to return to Ometepe and work at Little Morgan's for a few months. I am planning on coming back to the states around April 15th.
Today, as a last adventure for Anna before she leaves, we went on a zip line tour thru the canopy of a rain forest about 1.5 hours north of San Jose. It was pretty incredible! We were strapped into what seemed like a massive amount of equipment, but really it was just standard repelling gear. At first is was a little scary flying across a jungle by the seat of your pants, but once you got use to the feeling it was really amazing. We were in a group of 6, myself, Anna, a guy from Belgium, and 3 people from South Carolina. We went across 12 zip lines the longest being 550 meters long and 100 meters high over a river. We also zipped past waterfalls and thru some crazy trees. The highlight was what they called a Tarzan swing. Basically just a giant swing that flings you out over all the trees. I have a video of me doing this which I will attempt to upload at some point.
So this is the end of the chapter, Adam and Anna's excellent adventures, but up next will be an entire new experience with me living on Ometepe. I should have more time and the ability to upload photos!
Everyone come visit for springbreak!!!
Today, as a last adventure for Anna before she leaves, we went on a zip line tour thru the canopy of a rain forest about 1.5 hours north of San Jose. It was pretty incredible! We were strapped into what seemed like a massive amount of equipment, but really it was just standard repelling gear. At first is was a little scary flying across a jungle by the seat of your pants, but once you got use to the feeling it was really amazing. We were in a group of 6, myself, Anna, a guy from Belgium, and 3 people from South Carolina. We went across 12 zip lines the longest being 550 meters long and 100 meters high over a river. We also zipped past waterfalls and thru some crazy trees. The highlight was what they called a Tarzan swing. Basically just a giant swing that flings you out over all the trees. I have a video of me doing this which I will attempt to upload at some point.
So this is the end of the chapter, Adam and Anna's excellent adventures, but up next will be an entire new experience with me living on Ometepe. I should have more time and the ability to upload photos!
Everyone come visit for springbreak!!!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
wildlife and landscape
I am currently in Tortuguero, a village on a sliver of land between the Caribbean Sea and a series of Canals in the NE corner of Costa Rica. It is adjacent to the major National Park in Costa Rica that preserves a rain forest called the "mini-amazon" and is a major eco-tourism destination for people coming to view the sea turtle nesting (not happening at the moment). The village itself is only about 800 people and survives based on tourism. It is a very remote place and is only reachable by boat or plane. We took a boat from Puerto Limon which took about 4.5 hours. It was just a very large canoe with a motor on it and we navigated thru a series of small and large canals.
I thought this was as good a time as any to talk about some nature. As you may have guessed, where we are at now is VERY tropical. I feel like I walked onto the set of LOST. Speaking of which, I haven´t seen the premier so no one ruin it for me! On the boat ride here we got to see sloths, monkeys, crabs, lots of birds, turtles, an alligator, and a few big crocodiles... pretty crazy! Today Anna and I decided to do a little hiking. We followed a public trail thru the national park. Before we left they made us rent rubber boots which was really good because we ended up walking thru up to 6" of mud and standing water. We hiked for about 6 miles. Got to see some monkeys swinging over our heads as well as a bunch of Lizards, ants, and even a baby Deer. (I didn´t know they existing in the rain forest). Of course I got pictures so you will get to see all of this later.
The Caribbean coast has been tropical with lots of rain (it has rained at least once every day here). The Pacific coast is more tame and reminds me a bit of Southwest Missouri landscape, but with palm trees! In the middle there are lots of Mountains, many of them volcano's. Nicaragua was full of volcano's.
So that is a quick summary of what it looks like down here. Obviously the pictures will do a much better job of telling he story. I forgot to mention there are a TON of mosquito's, and they LOVE me! Anyone know how to treat Malaria?
If you are wondering about the job on Ometepe... no decision yet, still waiting to hear back from the future boss.
I thought this was as good a time as any to talk about some nature. As you may have guessed, where we are at now is VERY tropical. I feel like I walked onto the set of LOST. Speaking of which, I haven´t seen the premier so no one ruin it for me! On the boat ride here we got to see sloths, monkeys, crabs, lots of birds, turtles, an alligator, and a few big crocodiles... pretty crazy! Today Anna and I decided to do a little hiking. We followed a public trail thru the national park. Before we left they made us rent rubber boots which was really good because we ended up walking thru up to 6" of mud and standing water. We hiked for about 6 miles. Got to see some monkeys swinging over our heads as well as a bunch of Lizards, ants, and even a baby Deer. (I didn´t know they existing in the rain forest). Of course I got pictures so you will get to see all of this later.
The Caribbean coast has been tropical with lots of rain (it has rained at least once every day here). The Pacific coast is more tame and reminds me a bit of Southwest Missouri landscape, but with palm trees! In the middle there are lots of Mountains, many of them volcano's. Nicaragua was full of volcano's.
So that is a quick summary of what it looks like down here. Obviously the pictures will do a much better job of telling he story. I forgot to mention there are a TON of mosquito's, and they LOVE me! Anyone know how to treat Malaria?
If you are wondering about the job on Ometepe... no decision yet, still waiting to hear back from the future boss.
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