Did someone say "earthquake" ?

Well! It’s not every day you can say you survived one of the largest type earthquakes but today was that kind of day. Actually, Alex and I were on the bus and blissfully unaware of any quake activity even after we arrived in Palmares. We only felt some rough terrain but that is not unusual at all. Once we got off the bus, Alex was wondering why there were no taxis parked ANYWHERE. We did manage to hail one of the few we saw and started on our way to the Hogarcita. The taxi driver was listening to the radio and Alex knows enough Spanish to understand something about an earthquake and a tsunami. We are several hours from any water so we were not concerned. Once at the Hogarcita, we both noticed how agitated the Tias seemed. They could not get the gate unlocked. They were upset. Finally one of them explained that the Hogarcita had been shaking and rolling but nothing seemed broken. It is amazing how good our acting skills can be when we have no words…. We went inside through the driveway gate.
Los ninos were all outside and seemed to be happy enough. These are tough kids anyway so what is one more quake in their lives? Today all the children were home except for Escobar. He attends a separate school. I brought out the new crayons and coloring pages and coloring books I brought. The power was off but we were outside under the shelter so it did not matter. Two of the children were leaving today once their Italian adoptive parents arrived. They waited inside. All of a sudden Escobar came running into the yard, crying and obviously upset. We were able to figure out that something very scary had happened at his school. We are still not sure what it was, only that this little 6 or 7 year old guy wanted his papa and we were the only substitute for him. Remember that these are foster children and they have no parental contact. The other children immediately tried to comfort him. Alex held him. Finally he was calm enough to begin coloring. He moved between us, never getting very far away. He talked about it some more….we did not understand him. He talked, we soothed and held him. That is our memory of the great quake.

Later the power came back on but that made lunch late. The Tias had some trouble getting us a taxi to go back to the bus . The bus was a little late but not much. Many people had just stayed home when the quake occurred. We wondered how it was in Atenas and would we be able to get back. To our surprise, things were almost normal. The bus had to make one detour around some rock slides and some power crews were already setting new poles and line. We made it back about 1:45 instead on 1:00 PM.

Since we did not have time to eat lunch in Palmares, we walked to the local ex-pat café, Kay’s Gringos Postares. Both of us were, hot, tired and hungry. Kay is an American and serves American style food. No BLT ever tasted better. And she also sells cookie etc. We had magic cookie bars. What a nice treat after such an unusual day. The Gringos there were talking about how their homes swayed but no one reported any damage. Kay told us she thought her restaurant would crumble but all seemed fine. In a weird way, Alex and I almost felt cheated out of the experience. Both if us had felt small quakes but nothing near 7.6. One lady said she was from California and had been in the Northridge quake which was so much more devastating than this was here. We did not see any damage anywhere.

After the wonderful lunch (cost about $4.50), I walked home. Just in front of my casa, a small hole had opened up in the street and a small amount of water was pouring out. That was it and I am not even sure if that was from the quake or from some nearby construction.

I have to say that temperature wise it is actually cooler here than in Hernando County BUT the humidity is about 1000% and I am certain I am sweating off a few pounds. That's great but I am also having trouble getting cooled down today. I barely had time to email my family and assure them that I am alive and well. I made one quick post to Facebook as well. Funny thing, Alex had over 30 emails asking about her safety and I only had two..... OUCH! I haven't even heard from one of my sons. Thanks to those on Facebok who did inquire. It was nice to get to Su Espacio for my Spanish class and learn that my daughter had gotten in touch with them and asked about me.

Now about those classes... I barely have time to get home from Palmares before I need to be in class. Only Karina and I are in the class. We are both of the opinion that it is not very helpful and prevents us from having time to explore the town or meet people or spend time with our host families. Alex confirmed this as her experience so I plan to stop going after tomorrow. I can learn as much by playing the Spanish for Gringos CDs or actually taling to people I meet. And the children are happy to explain a Spanish word to me. Right now I have no time for anything but riding the bus and walking everywhere. Some of you know how much knee pain I was having before I left and it is not much better right now. I am 62, I am out of shape and overweight....all lessons not lost on me now. C'est la vie.....

Here are some photos I took from the bus today....enjoy!

All in all, it has been a pretty good day. Today's cold shower felt heavenly. I am sleepy and needing to rest. Tomorrow? Who know? Let the adventure continue....

Finally ... it's coming together

Today I went to Palmares. I was at the bus station at 7:45 AM. I don't even go to work that early! At the station I met another volunteer, Alex, who has been here since mid July. She is 26 years old and lives in Nashville. Thank God for having her here. I don't know how I would have found the hogarcita or understood what to do or not to do without her. None of the tias (caregivers) speak English and I certainly do not have enough words to understand any complicated (or simple) instructions. They don't allow any pictures of the children but I do have one photo from outside.

So the bus took muy longer than I was told: almost one hour each way. The walk from the bus to the hogarcito would have been over 30 minutes. Alex had aready told me it was a difficult walk and she herself had been taking a taxi from the bus stop there and back. We agreed to split the cost. Money well spent.

Mostly we played with the eight boys and girls there. Two are being adopted this week by an Italian family. They were so happy to know they have a forever home. They do love to color so we did a lot of that. I didn't take any of the toys etc. I brought with me today. I wanted to see how it was and how many children were there. Tomorrow I will bring surprises for them. They were so happy to see us and wanted to have our attention. They were truly sweet. Several of the boys worked on a puzzle Alex had brought them yesterday. It only had 24 pieces but each boy was so pleased to complete it. BTW it was not as easy as you may think because the pieces were holograms from the Cars movie. We played until liunch time (about 11:15) then we took a taxi back to central Palmares. Alex showed me a beautiful church there by the square.

Alex took me to a wonderful bakery where we bought some lunch. We still had time to look around a bit before the return trip. It is much harder to take a bus up the hill than down the hill but we finally made it back to Atenas. More later....time for bed....

Flexibility...

Flexibility is always an important quality when traveling no matter where you are. That is today's mantra: be flexible. After the tour of the town, I came back and decided to update the blog. Then I took a little nap again.... Just about the time I needed to walk back into the town, the heavens opened up. I made a little video but most of the rains and the thunder came afterwards. It was a regular Florida-type thunder boomer. Guess I'll have to post it on Facebook as I don't see a way to post it into the blog. Flexibility....again.

The Norwegian woman is named Karina. She has been traveling for several months now and was last in St. Martin. Europeans are so much better about travel and experiencing life. Few thirty year old American women I know would undertake such a unique experience. She has backpacked alone for weeks now. How did she land in Atenas? Google search she said.

Our first Spanish lesson was not taught by Anya(her name actually is Hannia)but by Gabby instead. The rooms were filled with other people doing different things: dance, martial arts, just talking.... It was pretty much a very distracting class even before the rain began again. Our teacher spent a lot of time telling us about this and that but it would be hard to string a few sentences together based on that lesson. Back to my Spanish for Gringos cds. Perhaps it gets better as time goes by. Flexibility....

Karina and I agreed to meet tomorrow about 1 PM after we are both finished with our projects. She is volunteering at a local dog and cat rescue. I agreed to share my Spanish for Gringos files with her. We both hope to find Kay's open tomorrow.

After our lesson, we were able to find a Spanish/English dictionary next door to the class. The lady accepted my $20 bill and gave me colonnes. Now I can pay for the bus tomorrow. I hope Kay's can exchange $$$ for me. Otherwise I will be standing in a long line at the bank... Flexibility.

Tonight I had my second cold shower although it did not feel quite so cold this time. We had dinner (pretty much the same food at lunch or dinner every meal. I am not complaining. It is tasty enough and I have not felt hungry yet. Flexibility.

Tomorrow I need to be at the bus station at 7:45 AM. The other person who is volunteering at the orphanage is named Alex (Alexandra??). You can see that it is taking me some time to hear and keep names straight. Probably some of you will not find that surprising.

Things are starting to settle down and feel normal. Tomorrow will be another interesting set of events. I will try harder to take more photos. Flexibility.....

Let me hear from you..... :)

Monday, Monday...

It is now about 7:45 am and I have been listening to the sounds of daily life here since about 5 AM. Ticos rise early . Anita prepared a very substantial breakfast of queso cheese and tortillas, a sweet pastry, a corn meal biscuit and coffee. I was not able to finish such rich food. She is a gracious hostess and showed me the cereal she plans to serve me tomorrow. I wonder if they have bagels here? We are watching the news and weather and I think I get most of what is going on. Soon we will leave for Su Espacio, the community center, where I will meet my tour director, Tina. I have packed my backpack but decided not to take any gifts today for los ninos. I want to see how many and what ages they are first.

We arrived at Su Espacio whi ch is on the north end of town. Anita’s home is on the south end. It took about twenty minutes of casual walking to get there. Tina met us. She is a 40ish American woman who has lived here for about 13 years. One other new volunteer began today. She is a nice young woman from Norway. Her project is in town working with rescued animals. Tina says I may change my project if I like. Another volunteer name April is already going there so I would have a travel partner on the bus to Palmares. How can I be an adventurer if I don’t see how that goes? I agree to give it a try so I must be at the bus station at 7:45 AM.

The same woman who met me a the airport, Anya, gave us a brief tour of the town. We asked questions but her English is little better than our Spanish. She showed us the Mercado (marketplace) and the bus areas and the bank. I still need to exchange some of my dollars for colonnes before tomorrow. I will buy something at the Mercado with a twenty dollar bill and they will give me change in colonnes says the Norwegian girl. It sounds like a good plan to me. I could enjoy some fresh fruit as a snack anyway.

I inquired about finding Kay’s Gringo’s Postares which I read about before my trip. Kay’s is an expat owned and run haven for gringos and gringas like me. I may need it for internet anyway as this morning I thought my laptop had breathed it’s last gasp. As you can see, it has been revived and so far so good. Turns out Kay’s is quite close by my host home. Unfortunately they are closed on Mondays. You can find them on Facebook here: www.facebook.com/kaysgringopostres

This afternoon at 3PM I go back to Su Espacio for my first official Spanish lesson. Anya will be our teacher. Everyone I have met has been very helpful, even little old ladies I met on the street when I was lost. You can’t get very lost since the town is on a grid and not very large. Right now I am cooling off and hydrating. Rains may come again about the time I need to be out again…such is life! Pura vida for now…

Fireworks in the park...

My first day/night is coming to a close and what a day it has been. We are making progress in communicating after Fanny brought out the English/Spanish dictionary. And my internet connection seems stronger tonight too.

I took a nice long nap (siesta?) and felt a lot better. They are so kind and keep offering me food. I know I don't look like I am starving...... I finally got all unpacke d and mostly know where things are. I am so happy to unpack all the things I am not bringing back home.

Pamela (paMEla), age 7, was happy to use her new crayons and coloring book. She is adorable. Actaully the whole family lives in the compund. There are multiple homes here and I am stying with Anita, the matriarch. We were able to talk a bit about the loss of our parents and our husbands.

Rolando is a sweet young man and he speaks pretty good English so he is translating for us. Anita invited me to go with her to the town square where a celebration has been going on all day for the 46th anniversary of the Costa Rican Red Cross. Lots of f air type games and food. I've never been so close to a fireworks show before. We were less than 50 feet from the launch tubes. And they were on the church grounds. It was quite and enjoyable display.

I've had my first cold shower. It felt pretty good after being so unladylike and sweaty! Tomorrow is a really busy day. So much to learn here and to see. For now, I need to sleep. Manyana is my first bus ride here, first day withhte chidren, exchanging money at the bank and first Spanish class.

Buenes noches all....... :)

I have arrived and met my host family....well Anita and Guido are here right now. Every Spanish phrase I practiced has escaped from my brain. It is fun trying to make ourselves understood. Anita is being very patient with me.

My connection is VERY SLOW so I am hoping that later on it will be easier to get online.

I am sweating like I have never been in humidity before. It is actually cooler here than at home. Guess I am just acclimating to the elevation. A cool breeze is blowing through the window. I will post some photos later but for now I just want to let all of you know.......I'VE ARRIVED.

Tomorrow I will be oriented and then travel by bus to the hogarcito in Palmares for my first day of volunteering. Should be interesting there too.....

All of life is an adventure....this one is mine.

new beginnings and new adventures...

Packing up today and ready to fly. Seems like time has really gone by quickly. I still have a "to do" list but it is short now. Today is a beautiful, sunny day in Florida. Only 79 degrees right now. As I check the forecast for Atenas, it looks like lots of rain and thunderstorms are in my future. I don't really care....I love that too.

I will do my best to be online tomorrow night if I can get my aircard working. Got my fingers and toes crossed on that one!

Let the adventure begin....pura vida!!!