Okay. So over the past nearly three months, people have been getting sick off and on. This is inevitable in a dormitory environment... there are lots of germs floating around and people are living in close quarters.
However, recently, it seems that circumstances have definitely taken a turn for the worse. First, one of the day students has a horrible case of chiggers (I might have mentioned this before) that covers her entire body. Her wounds scabbed over but some are bleeding and she is now in San Jose (the capital) seeking treatment at a hospital. A few dorm students have infected insect bites as well; one was awakened last night to a scorpion in her bed, stinging her. Don't get me wrong, I still love Costa Rica, but now the health problems have reached me.
After having a sore throat for a few days, I ventured to the doctor where I was poked, prodded, and examined. When I arrived, my legs had several small red dots that looked like mosquito bites (though some were smaller), but the doctor didn't seem concerned. Instead, he was more worried, and for good reason. A) I have strep throat. Great. This resulted in a ~$60 expenditure on antibiotics at the pharmacy. B) I have some sort of infection in my ear. It may be bacterial, it may be fungal (GROSS), but overall I am not allowed to get in water again without earplugs for some time. Great. So those two things suck, but both seem treatable, and antibiotics make life way better.
However, I spent my evening tonight dining and playing a board game with my coworkers. In their air-conditioned, closed house. And at the end of the night, the 50-some "bites" on my legs have expanded exponentially. They now reach all the way up my legs and they are occurring in much greater quantities. Great. It now appears that I have either an allergic reaction or a rash. Or some kind of pox (I'm hoping not that last one). So I will be returning to the doctor tomorrow and begging that they look at it. If it isn't better by Monday, I swear I'm booking a flight to the United States for our Thanksgiving break. I must see a real doctor about this nonsense, and soon! Thankfully I chose the international coverage insurance. I love Costa Rica, but given all my suffering and that of my fellow students/employees (to wit: the aforementioned maladies, as well as dengue fever, an intestinal infection, a terrible burn, a broken arm, an ATV accident, and a back scratched up by barbed wire), I think that this country may just be trying to get rid of all us foreigners in whatever way it can
Cross your fingers for my health to return!
10.26.2007
10.25.2007
Explorations
Have you ever heard a howler monkey? Chances are, probably not. Or if you have, the monkey and his noisy comrades were probably in a zoo or a park or some sort of enclosure such that, if they became quite angry, would keep them from reaching you. On our school campus, however, we have a plethora of howler monkeys. They enjoy climbing in the trees overhead, and occasionally coming down on the back sides of the elementary school to peak in the windows from a low-hanging branch. This is a picture of one of our local friends:
(Photo courtesy of Tony, one of my fabulous co-workers who has a phenomenal camera). Anyway, the howlers are noisy. VERY noisy. They make a pant-hoot sound that often sounds like some sort of angry rampaging beast, rather than just a group of monkeys. This afternoon, the monkeys were howling surprisingly loudly, and in a tree right near the school swimming pool. Upon investigation, my friend Laura and I discovered that what originally appeared to be three monkeys was actually eight or nine. Why the mathematical difficulties? Well, as it so happens, the monkeys were actually copulating rather vigorously and continuing their trademark howls the entire while. We watched with curious giggles for a few minutes, until some of the pairs broke apart and began to hoot even more loudly-- even coming down the branches until they were only about 20 feet overhead. Let me tell you, if you see an animal like this monkey pictured here baring his teeth and hooting (probably howler code for "get away from my mate choices, you big pale hairless ape!"), you should probably do as we did, and make your exit.
This week has marked the first change from two weeks of torrential downpours leading to the peak of the rainy season-- and about time, too! After ten straight days of rain, tempers were flaring, people were irritable, and the boarding students were stuck inside, Cat in the Hat-style, forced to watch the deluge with little options other than TV or movies. Parasailing? Cancelled. ATV rides? Led to people wiping out, falling, getting muddy, etc due to poor road conditions. The beach or the pool? Forget it.
This Monday, for whatever reason, the weather changed completely. The past four days have been filled with sun and fluffy white clouds against a perfect blue sky. It seems like a completely different universe from the weather that we were enduring before, and I am crossing my fingers that the sun is actually a sign that the rainy season will end 2-3 weeks early this year. In addition, students all over campus are being struck with strange maladies. One day student has a terrible case of chiggers-- all over her body, scabbed and infected (I'll spare you the details). Apparently she fell asleep in the grass in her yard.... never a good idea in a tropical climate such as this. A few dorm students have had allergic reactions to some sort of insect bite. So far, the worst I have suffered is about a half dozen mosquito bites on my leg, but now more than ever we have to be careful of dengue. Because of the two weeks of heavy rain, a plethora of mosquitos will hatch soon, and many of them may carry the dengue virus. For those who don't know, dengue is a dangerous virus that has no treatment and no cure short of rest and crossing your fingers. It causes immense joint and bone pain, fever, and other fun symptoms. If you come down with dengue once, you will be very sick, but you should survive. If you come down with it again, there's something like a 35-40% mortality rate (if I remember correctly.) For those thinking of a visit, not to worry... these cases are actually pretty rare-- one older gentleman who retired here 17 years ago told me he has never known a gringo to get dengue fever. :) Knock on wood!
In other news, two weekends ago I visited the extraordinary Volcan Tenorio with the Alcantara family. Our hotel--candlelit, rustic, isolated, and beautiful--was situated on a freshwater river, some of which was piped around a wood fire into a stone "natural" jacuzzi. The lodge was tranquil, refreshing, and filled with beautiful wildlife-- including many birds, butterflies, and even a sloth high in the tree above our cabin! The second day, we hiked the volcano park-- about 5 miles total-- although it really brought a true meaning to "hiking." The path began flat, but soon thereafter became a slippery mess of tree stumps and volcanic rock, about 24 inches wide. On one side was usually a steep drop; we were climbing 2100 feet up the mountainside. Our guide was a local man, age 44, who told us he had been coming to the volcano since the age of 7 with his father... the volcano park is only 13 years old. Our path up the side also sent us through a waist-deep river, past a beautiful waterfall, into hot springs, and over bridges made only of a log across a ravine (Indiana Jones-style!). In addition, there was some amazing wildlife, like this awesome frog...
And this ENORMOUS millipede!
(Photo courtesy of Tony, one of my fabulous co-workers who has a phenomenal camera). Anyway, the howlers are noisy. VERY noisy. They make a pant-hoot sound that often sounds like some sort of angry rampaging beast, rather than just a group of monkeys. This afternoon, the monkeys were howling surprisingly loudly, and in a tree right near the school swimming pool. Upon investigation, my friend Laura and I discovered that what originally appeared to be three monkeys was actually eight or nine. Why the mathematical difficulties? Well, as it so happens, the monkeys were actually copulating rather vigorously and continuing their trademark howls the entire while. We watched with curious giggles for a few minutes, until some of the pairs broke apart and began to hoot even more loudly-- even coming down the branches until they were only about 20 feet overhead. Let me tell you, if you see an animal like this monkey pictured here baring his teeth and hooting (probably howler code for "get away from my mate choices, you big pale hairless ape!"), you should probably do as we did, and make your exit.
This week has marked the first change from two weeks of torrential downpours leading to the peak of the rainy season-- and about time, too! After ten straight days of rain, tempers were flaring, people were irritable, and the boarding students were stuck inside, Cat in the Hat-style, forced to watch the deluge with little options other than TV or movies. Parasailing? Cancelled. ATV rides? Led to people wiping out, falling, getting muddy, etc due to poor road conditions. The beach or the pool? Forget it.
This Monday, for whatever reason, the weather changed completely. The past four days have been filled with sun and fluffy white clouds against a perfect blue sky. It seems like a completely different universe from the weather that we were enduring before, and I am crossing my fingers that the sun is actually a sign that the rainy season will end 2-3 weeks early this year. In addition, students all over campus are being struck with strange maladies. One day student has a terrible case of chiggers-- all over her body, scabbed and infected (I'll spare you the details). Apparently she fell asleep in the grass in her yard.... never a good idea in a tropical climate such as this. A few dorm students have had allergic reactions to some sort of insect bite. So far, the worst I have suffered is about a half dozen mosquito bites on my leg, but now more than ever we have to be careful of dengue. Because of the two weeks of heavy rain, a plethora of mosquitos will hatch soon, and many of them may carry the dengue virus. For those who don't know, dengue is a dangerous virus that has no treatment and no cure short of rest and crossing your fingers. It causes immense joint and bone pain, fever, and other fun symptoms. If you come down with dengue once, you will be very sick, but you should survive. If you come down with it again, there's something like a 35-40% mortality rate (if I remember correctly.) For those thinking of a visit, not to worry... these cases are actually pretty rare-- one older gentleman who retired here 17 years ago told me he has never known a gringo to get dengue fever. :) Knock on wood!
In other news, two weekends ago I visited the extraordinary Volcan Tenorio with the Alcantara family. Our hotel--candlelit, rustic, isolated, and beautiful--was situated on a freshwater river, some of which was piped around a wood fire into a stone "natural" jacuzzi. The lodge was tranquil, refreshing, and filled with beautiful wildlife-- including many birds, butterflies, and even a sloth high in the tree above our cabin! The second day, we hiked the volcano park-- about 5 miles total-- although it really brought a true meaning to "hiking." The path began flat, but soon thereafter became a slippery mess of tree stumps and volcanic rock, about 24 inches wide. On one side was usually a steep drop; we were climbing 2100 feet up the mountainside. Our guide was a local man, age 44, who told us he had been coming to the volcano since the age of 7 with his father... the volcano park is only 13 years old. Our path up the side also sent us through a waist-deep river, past a beautiful waterfall, into hot springs, and over bridges made only of a log across a ravine (Indiana Jones-style!). In addition, there was some amazing wildlife, like this awesome frog...
And this ENORMOUS millipede!
But the best of all was the scenery... it was worth the ridiculous hike and the aching muscles for two days to see a sparkling azure waterfall like this:
And to hike through some bona fide old growth rainforest. It's never been torn down, and it's absolutely incredible. An entire ecosystem!
All I can say is that I'm a lucky girl... it makes all the bug bites and the rain worthwhile. :)
Now, don't you want to come visit?
10.10.2007
Long Overdue
So... remember that time when I didn't post for two weeks? Sorry, everyone.
For whatever reason, the intervening weeks post-kitten rescue have become increasingly hectic. There is a National Honors Society induction to plan, there are French classes to teach, there is the impending library move to the new elementary building... not to mention the day to day work of storytime, teaching literary concepts, shelving books, and the like. Don't get me wrong-- my work is not stressful. The students are lovely and I enjoy what I do. However, there is a constant flow, and if you get behind for a day, you find yourself struggling to catch up. [I suppose that's true of many jobs.] In this intervening time of activity, though, there have been some highs and lows.
The first high is that I had the most wonderful opportunity to travel to Arenal Volcano, one of the most beautiful places in Costa Rica, with the 7th and 8th graders. The group that went on the trip was absolutely wonderful, and we stayed at a beautiful resort about 1mi from the volcano's base. As it is nearing the peak of rainy season, the evening saw clouds around the volcano, but we could see orange and red lava sprays in the air. Oh-- did I neglect to mention that Arenal is an active volcano? The other neat aspect of our hotel was that it had three beautiful pools with neat water slides. One (my favorite) was a short waterslide into a hot pool... so relaxing! There were also two cold waterslides: a short one into a small pool, and another one about five stories tall into a bigger pool. Now, let me begin by saying that it was pouring down rain when we arrived, yet this did not deter our 7th & 8th grade charges from immediately changing into bathing suits and heading to the pool. Nor did it deter them from repeatedly enjoying these stone water slides. The tallest one had both a tunnel (tunnels make me nervous) and a few overhangs where water spilled down onto the slide. Easily coerced by 12-14 year olds, I agreed to go on the slide. However, I did not account for A) the rain, B) the water pouring down, or C) needing to duck to watch my head due to the overhangs. My contact lens knocked out and water pouring in my eyes, I slid at breakneck speed down the slide and as I reached the bottom, braced myself towards the left. Bad decision.
As it turned out, the bottom of the slide had a stone lip up on the left to prevent people from sliding up as a result of the final turn. Not seeing this, I braced the wrong way, and my left temple slammed into the stone with my full body weight after coming down about 5 stories. Given that force = mass * acceleration, I am going to guess that my force was pretty high entering that collision. Immediately after, I shot into the deep, cold pool with the sense knocked out of me. My head throbbing, I dizzily flailed in the water, attempting to locate the stairs, or even the side. Fortunately, the 4th chaperone (a student's mom, certified in CPR) had preceded me on the slide and heard the crack as my head hit the side. She put her arms out and helped me out of the pool and to a chair. The moral of the story? Do not succumb to middle school peer pressure at the age of 22. The rest of the week continued with some pretty bad headaches and dizziness... I think I probably suffered from a mild concussion, but since I didn't go into a coma either of the first two nights while asleep, I'm not too concerned. However, I'll still be avoiding blunt head trauma in the future.
The rest of the trip to Arenal was incredible... our hotel also had a horse farm, a crocodile garden, a butterfly room, an entire setup of leaf-cutter ants (ridiculously strong!), and a diverse array of wildlife on the hotel grounds. In addition to the crocodiles, my favorite was the "Jesus Christ Lizard" (Emerald Basilisk Lizard) we saw, thus named because they run so fast that they literally walk on water. Extraordinary. Visit this Youtube video for a 30-second clip of the same type of lizard, so you can see for yourself. Other than the wildlife, we also went on a hanging bridge tour... about 2 miles through the jungle on suspension bridges up to a few hundred feet high. One allowed for a beautiful panoramic view of Arenal Volcano. The volcano overlooks Lake Arenal, a massive body of water often used for sailing because of the strong winds over its choppy waves. Although I haven't seen much else of Costa Rica other than Guanacaste and San Jose, I think Arenal is my favorite area so far... truly what one imagines when one thinks of Costa Rica. The volcano itself did indulge in some pyroclastic flows while we were there, with one smoky eruption on the final morning where we could see debris flying out. The students had to do a lab (after all, it IS an educational field trip) and discovered that, should the volcano erupt, we would have had approximately 44 seconds to get far away. In other words, we would have been goners.
That may look like a friendly cumulus cloud, but it's actually the result of the smoking, spitting, fiery volcano just moments before. A bit unsettling, to say the least, though extraordinarily beautiful-- I took this picture just a few minutes before we headed to the hanging bridges.
This week began Monday night with a terrifying interaction with a scorpion (some of you have already heard the tale), but I'll leave that for tomorrow or Friday when I'm not falling asleep at the keyboard.
For any of you who are thinking about visiting, please contact me! I would love to have you and I might be able to provide cheap accommodations (this is especially true for low-maintenance students). Keep me posted-- it's a beautiful country and I think you will love it.
Til next time...
For whatever reason, the intervening weeks post-kitten rescue have become increasingly hectic. There is a National Honors Society induction to plan, there are French classes to teach, there is the impending library move to the new elementary building... not to mention the day to day work of storytime, teaching literary concepts, shelving books, and the like. Don't get me wrong-- my work is not stressful. The students are lovely and I enjoy what I do. However, there is a constant flow, and if you get behind for a day, you find yourself struggling to catch up. [I suppose that's true of many jobs.] In this intervening time of activity, though, there have been some highs and lows.
The first high is that I had the most wonderful opportunity to travel to Arenal Volcano, one of the most beautiful places in Costa Rica, with the 7th and 8th graders. The group that went on the trip was absolutely wonderful, and we stayed at a beautiful resort about 1mi from the volcano's base. As it is nearing the peak of rainy season, the evening saw clouds around the volcano, but we could see orange and red lava sprays in the air. Oh-- did I neglect to mention that Arenal is an active volcano? The other neat aspect of our hotel was that it had three beautiful pools with neat water slides. One (my favorite) was a short waterslide into a hot pool... so relaxing! There were also two cold waterslides: a short one into a small pool, and another one about five stories tall into a bigger pool. Now, let me begin by saying that it was pouring down rain when we arrived, yet this did not deter our 7th & 8th grade charges from immediately changing into bathing suits and heading to the pool. Nor did it deter them from repeatedly enjoying these stone water slides. The tallest one had both a tunnel (tunnels make me nervous) and a few overhangs where water spilled down onto the slide. Easily coerced by 12-14 year olds, I agreed to go on the slide. However, I did not account for A) the rain, B) the water pouring down, or C) needing to duck to watch my head due to the overhangs. My contact lens knocked out and water pouring in my eyes, I slid at breakneck speed down the slide and as I reached the bottom, braced myself towards the left. Bad decision.
As it turned out, the bottom of the slide had a stone lip up on the left to prevent people from sliding up as a result of the final turn. Not seeing this, I braced the wrong way, and my left temple slammed into the stone with my full body weight after coming down about 5 stories. Given that force = mass * acceleration, I am going to guess that my force was pretty high entering that collision. Immediately after, I shot into the deep, cold pool with the sense knocked out of me. My head throbbing, I dizzily flailed in the water, attempting to locate the stairs, or even the side. Fortunately, the 4th chaperone (a student's mom, certified in CPR) had preceded me on the slide and heard the crack as my head hit the side. She put her arms out and helped me out of the pool and to a chair. The moral of the story? Do not succumb to middle school peer pressure at the age of 22. The rest of the week continued with some pretty bad headaches and dizziness... I think I probably suffered from a mild concussion, but since I didn't go into a coma either of the first two nights while asleep, I'm not too concerned. However, I'll still be avoiding blunt head trauma in the future.
The rest of the trip to Arenal was incredible... our hotel also had a horse farm, a crocodile garden, a butterfly room, an entire setup of leaf-cutter ants (ridiculously strong!), and a diverse array of wildlife on the hotel grounds. In addition to the crocodiles, my favorite was the "Jesus Christ Lizard" (Emerald Basilisk Lizard) we saw, thus named because they run so fast that they literally walk on water. Extraordinary. Visit this Youtube video for a 30-second clip of the same type of lizard, so you can see for yourself. Other than the wildlife, we also went on a hanging bridge tour... about 2 miles through the jungle on suspension bridges up to a few hundred feet high. One allowed for a beautiful panoramic view of Arenal Volcano. The volcano overlooks Lake Arenal, a massive body of water often used for sailing because of the strong winds over its choppy waves. Although I haven't seen much else of Costa Rica other than Guanacaste and San Jose, I think Arenal is my favorite area so far... truly what one imagines when one thinks of Costa Rica. The volcano itself did indulge in some pyroclastic flows while we were there, with one smoky eruption on the final morning where we could see debris flying out. The students had to do a lab (after all, it IS an educational field trip) and discovered that, should the volcano erupt, we would have had approximately 44 seconds to get far away. In other words, we would have been goners.
That may look like a friendly cumulus cloud, but it's actually the result of the smoking, spitting, fiery volcano just moments before. A bit unsettling, to say the least, though extraordinarily beautiful-- I took this picture just a few minutes before we headed to the hanging bridges.This week began Monday night with a terrifying interaction with a scorpion (some of you have already heard the tale), but I'll leave that for tomorrow or Friday when I'm not falling asleep at the keyboard.
For any of you who are thinking about visiting, please contact me! I would love to have you and I might be able to provide cheap accommodations (this is especially true for low-maintenance students). Keep me posted-- it's a beautiful country and I think you will love it.
Til next time...
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