Grasshopper

No words needed!

Soapmaking

This afternoon we have had a session on making soap, I have made soap using Lye (very caustic) about 2 years ago so it was good to have a refresher but here they use pig fat. When a pig is butchered in the village they render the fat and bring it to the ranch. I must admit it made me feel a little sick, hope to make my own batch without it.

Woodshop

This week I have been having training in the woodshop. I managed to get a set of my own tools as another member of the group took the two hour bus ride to Puriscal. Yesterday we had a 2 hour training session on sharpening tools, I then spent almost 2 hours sharpening my chisel, if I look after it properly it will only take ten minutes sharpening every couple of weeks depending on usage to keep it in tip top condition. Now I know why my father would never let me borow his chisel!
Tomorrow we are actually going to start working on wood, not sure what I am going to make yet, will keep you posted.

Broken Toe

I broke my toe on Friday

Noise!!

The noise of the rain forest is constant and at times deafening....The Cicadas make the most noise steady during the day but as night falls the noise builds up to a huge crescendo. When walking under trees I thought that the spits of water landing on me was light rain water, it isn't it is the cicadas peeing!

Laundry

Those that know me well are aware that I a little crazy over laundering my clothes etc. I cannot wear anything new until I have washed it and I do like everything to smell good. I prefer to line dry my washing and am so particular about pegs to the point that each item has to have matching coloured  pegs, I even had to tell my good friend next door to match her pegs!! Well here we wash in cold water either using a hand cranked machine or by hand, my washing smells nice but nothing is clean but the worst part is the pegs, there are never enough and they are all totally different....uggh

Rural living

View from my front door

Sorry for not having posted any updates, the internet was down for three days....

I thought you would like to see where I sleep. Three of us live at the Ranch, I have a double room to myself and the other two girls share a room. Most of the others tend to hang out at the Ranch but we can turf them out at 930pm, most have gone to bed by then anyway as our days are long and the work physical.

View from my Window

My bed!!

Tapa Dulce

Today I baked orange cake with orange syrup sauce, of course using the oranges I helped to gather the other day. I thought you would be interested to see the Tapa Dulce.

Oranges and Lemons

Today I went orange and lemon picking, it was meant to be a 10 minute job....we took almost an hour! I was the catcher which meant sitting precarioulsy on the side of a hill fielding the oranges and lemons that were being thrown to me. I am covered in bruises, I was sitting with my back to the trees being shaken and they were hitting me as they fell, my hair is a sticky mess. I then climbed high into a tree and jumped up and down on the branches to dislodge oranges, I have not climbed a tree since I was about 13 years old and feel pretty pleased with how I did. Buying them in the supermarket is easier but definately not as rewarding.

Guess what?!!!! I am known as the baking queen here.....There is a course running and they look forward to me delivering the afternoon baked goodies, have made a ton of friends due to my baking. This afternoon I am baking lemon cookies (using the lemons I helped gather this morning). Oh the sugar here is called Tapa Dulce, we use it also for syrup topping on panckes, which I made this morning for breakfast. Catering for 36+ people makes for a busy time in the kitchen. More about food another time.

Ants in my pants!

So much for adding daily!....Sorry

The mosquito net did not work, it assisted the ants as they climbed up and found the various holes and woke me twice in the night but I have been moved into the ranch and living in almost luxury, double room all for me and do not even have to clean it myself!
The first few days were a bit of a worry for me and I was rather anxious, all the others have some sort of environmental background and been on similar internships and I was not sure how or even if I would be able to fit in but am pleased to say that I have really started to settle in. The other interns are mostly around Joe's age (mid 20's) and are all very friendly. As most are on a Wildernes rescue course things are on hold so my day is not that structured but tomorrow (Friday) should be doing a few more things.
My day starts at about 6am....all meals are at the ranch and the breakfast crew arrive at 530am they are quiet but I do sleep lightly. Breakfast is at 7am and consists of fresh fruit, pineapple, mango, papaya, melon etc, We also have eggs and maybe a rice and bean dish, pancakes or american muffins, granola and kefir, it is an amazing spread. At 8am we have our morning meeting, we discuss the projects on offer that day and then in turn have to say what we are doing, for example I said I was baking banana bread for the afternoon snack (36 people to cater for) doing some laundry and going to the internet cafe and reading up on soap making. Lunch is at 1230, today we had tortillas, humous, tomato and onion salad, rice and two other dishes that I have no clue what they were but they tasted good! I spent the afternoon finishing off the baking and then took it out to the classroom and then to various groups working on building projects. After that I washed up which is not easy as it is cold water and the soap is home made and is rather greasy. The evening meal is at 7pm, we are called to meals by someone blowing a Conch shell,  just before the evening meal we stand in a cirlce holding hands and are invited to share our thanks or thoughts, tonight we had Rumbletum which is a  Costa Rican form of bubble squeak; with added cheese and onions with a chickpea salad. I was on clear up and finished by 8.30. People tend to sit around chatting and playing games, I am trying to be crib champion! Most go off to bed at about 930pm as the days are long and the work physical, I fell into bed at just after 10pm, exhausted of course!
Over the next few days I will go out and about taking some photos, still hard to get free time, have been here a week now and not had a day off......here's hoping! Saying all that I am really enjoying it here!

My Internship officially starts today

My Bed!

Monday 11th
My Internship started formally today but as many are on a course this week we are not going to cover everything and will go into more depth middle of next week.
Last night I was luckily given some earplugs and they worked but just after midnight I awoke to awful pain all over, an army of ants had managed to get into my bed, I only had some spray lotion so used that to kill them, there must have been at least 200 was rather an uggy mess to sweep up in the morning, tonight I am prepared and am going to put into use a mosquito net. Please pardon any spelling mistakes and the far too many I's oh and also for me jumping the subject matter all over the place....
Today I learnt how to use the solar ovens and made some gingerbread, it has now been cooking for over 2 hours and still not done, I have been turning the ovens to follow the sun but it is a little cloudy today, giving it another hour then will have to give in and use a regular oven. The sugar here is in a raw state, I was going to tell you what it is called but just can't remember will let you know another time and will also add a photo. It comes in blocks and we store it in the freezer, to use we take 4 blocks and fill a pan that fits them just comfortably half full of water and over a steady heat let them melt down which takes about 1 hour, I think it is far nicer tasting than sugar.
There are about 35 people here in total today and I was on lunch clear up duty, took me over an hour so I felt I deserved a 30 minute break for some 'me time' and to add a little to my blog. I am going to try and write a bit on a daily basis for the first couple of weeks and will try to upload as and when I can, there is so much to tell you. Once I am into the stride of things and have told you the basics of things here I can then go into detiail of the new things that I am learning.

Arrived !!

Hanky House

I was welcomed by Robyn and her baby daughter Solly and shown to The Hanky House where I will living and sleeping with seven others for the next 3 months. It is a super structure and was designed and built by an Englishman who was 26 at the time.
I quickly unpacked and had a welcomed very cold shower, the front of the shower is open and so washed myself looking into the canopy of the rain forest! I was called to dinner by someone blowing a Conch Shell all meals are announced this way, the food is mainly rice, beans and vegetables which as an intern we all take turns in preparing. I met the others interns who are all American apart from myself and a guy from Portugal, I am the oldest by far, the closest in age is 30.
There is a course running here and so it is very busy in total there are 45 people staying which is the largest group that they have ever catered for. I spent the evening meeting everyone and chatting, all are very friendly, the most popular word here seems to be awesome which of course is very American!
The toilets here are self-composting which basically means that they do not flush! Again these are open fronted and look out onto the rain forest, I found it rather hard to go at first but was given some aloe plant and after stripping it inside is a clearish jelly substance, mixed it with water, drank it and hey presto!
My internship officially starts on Monday and also take a share in kitchen duties, I help prepare meals three times a week and help clear/wash up etc four times a week. I have tried very hard to muck in as well and this morning as I was awake very early, I joined in with breakfast preparations which start at sunrise....530am!
My first night I had a massive cockroach land on my hair it was over 4 inches long and 2 inches wide, so that night in bed I kept thinking something really awful was going to land of me. I am finding it very difficult to sleep it is so noisey comapared to home, the jungle noise is constant and as my home is only partly walled you can hear it all, I am sure that over the next few weeks I will get used to it. I have been waking at 3am and then lay and listen to the frogs, insects and all the other sounds.
I am going to leave it there for now, will try to write more later if not will try to add to this later in the week

The Journey

Puriscal

I travelled to London by train on Wednesday afternoon, even with the bad weather the train was on time. I met Joe at Paddington and we had a goodbye meal together, he saw me and my far too heavy and awkward backpack to the station and I made my way out to Terminal 5 on the tube. I finally arrived at the Travelodge at just after 11pm, I had not read very good reports but it was fine, and the shower wasw superb, so would definately stay there again.
Thursday.....got to Heathrow at 0645 and had to queue for over an hour to check in, security was also very busy but they had the queue moving pretty quickly. My flight was delayed firstly because of the extra gate security, everyone had their hand luggage checked again and had a body search. The other delay was due to ice on the wings and having to wait almost an hour for a de-icer. On arrival in Miami I cleared customs and immigration then joined a horrendous queue for more security, finally I was onboard and flying to San Jose!
On arrival after customs and immigration they screened all my luggage, seemed rather odd to me, I battled my way through all the unofficial taxis and found the official taxi rank and took a 5 minute ride to my hotel Los Volcanes, arriving just after 11pm local time (Costa Rica is -6 hours), very friendly owner was waiting for me. My room was dark and had no windows but I did have a little private courtyard, unfortunately I just could not work out how to turn off the light just managed to dim it. I awoke at 430am ugggh.....had a shower and at 7am had breakfast which was included in the price....fresh fruit, granola and yogurt.
The hotel had iron gates to all entrances including my room, so I can only guess that the area was not that safe.
I took a taxi to the bus station in San Jose as my backpack had given me horrendous bruises and I was not that sure where to get on and off the bus. I attempted to use my broken Spanish with a girl at the bus station, she offered to speak in English! I was so lucky because she was also going to Santiago de Puriscal, we chatted for the hour journey and then she helped me find where I needed to catch my onward bus from and as we had arrived at 1030am and my onward bus did not leave until 3pm she also spoke to the restaurant owner where the bus stop was and he looked after my horrid heavy bag for me!I spent my time in Puriscal between having food and cooling drinks in the restaurant and sitting in the local park.
At 3pm I boarded the bus to Mastatal, my backpack was stored in the boot and well Joe...I am sorry but it is not filthy! The two hour journey to the Ranch was along a dirt track with huge potholes, the bus was packed mainly with locals who were also travelling to remote areas. Finally arrived at Mastatal, I met three girls on the bus who were also on their way there and as they had been there before knew where to get off!

Please Note !!!

I would like to say at this stage that I have been kept very busy here and have found it quite hard to have any free time to write, I will try to write as much as I can now....today is Sunday and will upload on Monday if I have time to get to the internet cafe. I am finding it rather hard adjusting to the time and not sleeping that well and do not want to add pressure by trying to write my blog on a daily basis. This is the first chance that I have been able to write since my arrival!

5 days to go!!!

Oh gosh, five days to go and I am nervously excited. I am almost ready.......I am leaving Dorset on Wednesday 6th January and travelling up to London, going out with Joe for a meal and a hug goodbye. Staying overnight at Heathrow and then flying with American Airlines to Miami, have a five hour layover, my flight to San Jose is only a couple of hours but as I am arriving late at night I have booked a hotel at the airport as the city is not that safe especially for single females.
Going to leave this for now, will write next when I get to my hotel in San Jose!!