Dra.
Moya, my preceptor this past Thursday at the pharmaceutical lab, followed
up with me regarding the trip to the islands of Nicoya and insisted that I come, and that she pays. I told her I would come only if I could pay for my own ticket. She repeatedly said no to this and would not even hear me out. She is such a mom, I love it. So I finally agreed after a little arm
twisting by her in which she explained I'm a student and I don't have money for trips like this one, and she's a pharmacist. So I spoke with the coordinator of
the trips, "El Chino" who in reality is not Chinese or of any Asian
decent but, like me, has smaller eyes and is there for called Chino. When we
spoke over the phone I asked him his real name and he said Miguel but he said
he hasn't heard that name in years! Anyway, we arranged to meet at a bus stop
near Mama Ticas house at 5:45 AM the next morning.
I went to the spot at 5:30 AM, paranoid to miss a bus
2 days in a row. A few minutes after I got there, a girl named Joaneigh and her
family joined me. We started chatting and I learned her aunt moved here to Guadalupe from Vancouver about 40 years ago, and they have a family
business here. They live less than a minute away from Mama Tica's house! Their family is originally from Taiwan, but Joaneigh currently lives in
Vancouver. The bus came a bit after 6:0 AM, right on time if not early according to "Tico Time". We picked up more people in San Jose including Dra.
Moya and her friend is also a pharmacist of La Caja! In the group we had everyone from professional photographers, to mother-son/daughter pairs, to hard-core hikers. A few of the people had been on the trips with Chino before in the past and learned how great he was and came back for more! Joaneigh and I were were the only 2 not from Costa Rica. When we picked up the last 2 passengers, we stopped to pray that God
blesses our trip and all the people on it. We began traveling with Abel driving and Chino directing
the introductions. We all went around and introduced ourselves and then were
handed our bagged breakfast and we were off! We stopped for water because there is
no drinkable water on the island and real breakfast because you can't put gallopinto
in a bag.
After we started up again, we turned onto a dirt road and
everything changed. Houses were totally different and made of corrugated metal and
wood. We arrived at the water front in the very poor neighborhood. We
walked out to the boat since it was low tide and got on an "ancha" (type of boat) and off we went into the ocean!
We learned that there are about 16 islands in
the Gulf of Nicoya. We passed many of the islands and the guy
driving the boat told us about the specific island and how many inhabitants
there were and what they do for a living.
Below is the view from San Lucas onto the gulf, after we got off the boat.
(I have many more pictures but my computer is being a bit slow at the moment and does not wish to upload them, so I shall do so at a later date!)
We arrived to San Lucas to see the
old island where there once was a penitentiary. We toured the old church there
and then the newer looking building and the rooms in the back where the
prisoners slept. There were many "drawings" on the walls that made it
rather clear that this was most likely an all-male prison. Our tour guide told us he was in
this jail 30 years ago for 3 months and when he left he stayed on the island
and started working. After we toured the old buildings we followed the hiking
trails to see "cocos" and did we ever! It was almost like walking on
a floor of old coconuts. We had 2 professional photographers in the group, one
of who noticed the monos in the trees! See pictures. We also saw a beautiful
beach that kids were playing soccer on. After viewing the scenery and Chino
taking a photo with Los extranjeros (Joaneigh and I), we headed back to the dock. You
can tell Chino does this for a living because he took some great pictures of me
before we boarded the boat again.
From San Lucas we went to the Isla Chira
where we had an interesting greeting by the local drunkards...Anyway we had an amazing meal of either arroz con camerrones (rice w/ shrimp) or
pescado entero frito (full fried fish). I tried ceviche for the first time as one of the group members insisted
I try hers when she learned I hadn't tried it yet. For a drink I had a beer
with freshly squeezed limes and salt, something else new to try! I ordered the
pescado entero, and I was sure happy I did! It was amazing. It came with
white rice of course, a salad of pepino y tomate, and tortillas de platano
which was also new! We only had to pay
for our drinks because everything else was included in the cost of the trip.
Next we all piled into a taxi that was pretty
similar to taxis I've ridden in Mexico. It's basically a pick up truck with a
tarp through over the back and raised by poles. "Chiribús" The seats
were removable wooden benches. We drove from one side of the island to the
other in about 20 minutes. There were beautiful views on this side of
the island. Once we reached the other side of the island we saw a fish market that was closed because it's Sunday.
After a dog almost joined us in our taxi, we headed back to the other side of
the island to get back to our boat! We left Isla Chira and headed back to the
mainland, noting Isla Caballo, which got its name for its shape, not
because there are horses there. We got back to the mainland in our
boat and thanked our trusty friends of the islands and headed back to our 15
passenger van.
We drove back to the same rest stop and I had an empanada de
pollo - one of the best I've had thus far and it was at a rest stop! Got back
to moms house and 2 surprises awaited me: 1) they decorated the arbol of Navidad! and 2) the second Canadian student had arrived earlier in the day! Mama
Tica said they took pictures with the arbol of Navidad that we have now and she
and I must take one. She made me wear my "gorro de turismo" for the
first photo because she can't stop laughing when I have my hat on. I met our newest housemate, Marie-Julie, who was
finishing up her residency applications, and we all went to bed. Such an amazing
day I can't believe how blessed I am to continue to meet such
amazing people on this whirlwind of a trip.
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