Sexy airplane zombies

-climbed Half Dome
-met my new nephew Owen
-moved from Portland to Oakland
-started a doctoral program in clinical psychology
-had an identity crisis
-learned to navigate an entirely new living environment
-began working with homeless adults in Richmond
-made a whole new group of friends
-dyed my hair pink, then red, then blue
-completed three trimesters of grad school

In the last year, Amy:
-survived her family's house burning down (she was the only one who was home)
-figured out how to deal with the fact that all of her worldly possessions were destroyed
-dealt with my identity crisis
-moved to Berkeley
-started taking classes at a new school
-developed 3 new allergies, one of which landed her in the hospital (yay anaphalaxis)
-learned an inordinate amount of psychobabble for someone who is not studying psychology (sorry, honey)
-learned as much, if not more than me, about being a therapist, due to me coming home at the end of every day and needing a therapist of my own

In the last year, Amy and I:
-adopted a dog
-danced our faces off in the Castro one Sunday a month
-moved in together (and still like each other despite the fact that our preferences for everything from color schemes to mattress firmness is different)
-bought tickets to Costa Rica!

Now we are in Costa Rica for a month. I like to think that it is a well-deserved vacation. :) So far, we haven't done much besides sleep and explore San Jose a bit in the pouring rain (it is the rainy season here, and guess who didn't bring an umbrella, lol). I realized that all of my Spanish fell out of my head between 2010 and 2012, and spent a good deal of today asking people how to get places using incomplete, often incoherent sentences (for instance, when wanting to know where the bus picks one up, I stuttered, "por favor, el bus *points to ground* aqui?"). I also discovered that the 100 capsule bottle of Dramamine that I picked up from my pharmacy at home is actually Benadryl, meaning that it will do NOTHING to calm my weany physical self when I am overtaken by the inevitable and terrible force that is motion sickness--see my trip to Peru for more gruesome details. Fortunately, I was able to acquire some Dramamine at the local Farmacia by making vomiting gestures and sound effects until the poor women who worked there brought me an 8 pack of little orange pills. But we have many adventures lined up for the days to come, including hiking up an active volcano, horseback riding, ziplining through the canopies of the Monteverde Cloud Forest, and much more. Stay tuned.

One more thing--Spanish is not the only thing that has fallen out of my head since 2010. The currency here is approximately 500 colones for 1 dollar...do you have any idea how hard it is to do this math when someone (in Spanish) asks you for 13,400 colones and you have no idea how many dollars that comes to? You freeze and try to think of a response--is it a tolerable amount to pay for lunch, or do you do the asshole thing and say, "Nevermind!" and run away into the rain--but instead you hand the cashier a wad of paper and coin colones and hope that they can sort things out for you, only then you remember that that's probably not the best idea, and you open your mouth to say something and remember you can't speak Spanish, and all of a sudden you are saying, "Lo siento...*cough*...colones" and grabbing your more proficient Spanish-speaking girlfriend, throwing her at the cashier to handle your dilemma, and running off into the rain anyhow. I've forgotten how much I love traveling. If I ever travel outside of Latin America, poor Amy will have to learn Russian or Thai or Swahili or something obscure like that.

written by  kfox on June 29, 2012 from San Jose, Costa Rica
from the travel blog: Costa Rica!
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Let's see...where did I leave off? Last time I updated, Amy and I were staying at the Costa Rica Love Hostel in Santo Domingo, a suburb of San Jose, hosted by the lovely, kind, and giving Manfred and Maelene, a young couple who opened up their delightful hostel only six months ago. Those days were fairly uneventful due to the fact that Amy and I were dog tired after a red eye flight in which we got no sleep. Usually I am pretty adept at sleeping on any form of public transportation (much to Amy's dismay...I woke up after many overnight bus rides in Peru to find Amy completing a journal entry that she began at 3 am about how much she hated my sleeping self and how the iPod had died and how being awake for over 24 hours straight had left her with homicidal ideation) but this plane ride was pretty ghastly and sleepless. Amy and I were in the very back row in the middle and aisle seat, meaning that we could not lean our seats back or rest our heads against the window...instead, we draped ourselves haphazardly across each other until one or more of our appendages fell asleep (my right arm was much better at sleeping this particular airplane ride than I was) while the flight attendants chatted loudly in the kitchenette two feet away (I can sympathize with Amy's homicidal ideation now). Occasionally, I attempted to be creative by experimenting with new positions; for instance, Face-on-Food-Tray (didn't work well coz the seat in front of me was able to lean back...grrr) and Fetus (in which I would begin to roll forward off the seat every time I nodded off, only to wake up with a start when my face collided with the chair in front of me). But mostly, I laid on Amy, or on top of Amy while she laid on me, and felt my sleep-deprived soul ache. This ride, right after finals week, left Amy and I quite overwhelmed and needing a couple days of rest before setting off for exciting adventures. (Note: Amy would like me to include that this ghastliness is typical of nighttime travel for her, and she is already well acquainted with Fetus and Face-on-Food-Tray. She suggests that next time I try Face-on-Knees in which she hugs her knees to her chest fetus-style and rests her face on them, but wraps the seatbelt around her legs to prevent herself from eating shit against the chair in front of her...my girl is brilliant).

On Saturday morning, Amy and I left Manfred and Maelene and hopped on a bus to La Fortuna, the primary tourist locale for those who want to see Volcan Arenal, an active volcano nestled amongst beautiful rainforest and flanked by the biggest lake in the country. Much to our excitement, this bus was more buslike than the buses in Peru, which were either very expensive or gutted-out vans filled with anywhere from 5 to 25 people, their stuff, and potentially a chicken or two. Amy poked at me to prevent me from falling asleep, and we watched as the scenery changed from more urban Latin America (buildings comprised of various pieces of sheet metal, wood, plaster and colorful tile that surround walled courtyards for houses and "hole-in-the-wall" businesses with brightly colored signs that advertise in Spanish) to more rural Latin America (beautiful green jungle EVERYWHERE with an occasional building). From La Fortuna, we caught a shuttle to El Castillo, which was another 45 minutes along a bumpy, potholed gravel road (if you rent cars in Costa Rica, it is suggested you rent something with 4 Wheel Drive, as the intense rain leaves many of the roads eroded and speckled with mini-craters). The shuttle dropped us off at Essence de Arenal Boutique Hostel, and from the moment we stepped out of the van, I was pretty sure that I wanted to stay here FOREVER. The first thing that caught my attention here was the breathtaking views: located at the top of a large hill, the hostel has gorgeous views of both the Laguna de Arenal (the lake) and Volcan Arenal. It also has a small pool and back porch overlooking these same views, and 88 acres of land which include an organic finca (or farm) where the hostel staff raise their own vegetables and chickens. In addition, there is a fish pond, a natural spring pool, and several jungle-gym-esque structures that my hippie girlfriend has informed me are sweatlodges. We entered the reception area of the hostel and were immediately greeted by Kelly (one of the owners?) and Melissa, two friendly Americans who live and volunteer their time here. Melissa showed us around and asked if we would like to sleep in a room in the main guest house or a semi-permanent tent not far away. Me being me, I wanted the more novel option, and we were led into a large waterproof tent with a wooden floor and one permanent wooden wall that houses two large windows that let in the breeze. There is a full-sized bed in the tent with an orthopedic mattress, a locker for our things, two nightstands, and a lamp for the nighttime. We have a gorgeous view of the valley from our windows that includes a banana tree right and tropical flowers outside the tent. When it rains, we can hear the pitter-patter on the tent and we wake up to the sound of tropical birds singing in the morning. Also, because this is such a welcoming community with a hippie vibe, Amy and I can be a little less vigilant about pretending that we're not gay. Oh, and there are fireflies at night! I LOVE it and kind of want to live here. Forever. They also have a vegetarian restaurant at the hostel that has its own gourmet chef, and for dinner, you are served a three-course meal with vegetables from the hostel garden and a delicious dessert. I'm actually disappointed that Amy and I have made reservations for our next stop already, because I could imagine staying here for a week or more, relaxing and exploring and writing--Amy is working on a novel too, so it would be a perfect opportunity. Tomorrow Amy and I are going to explore the Arenal Observatory Lodge and visit some hot springs. More later!

written by  kfox on July 1, 2012 from La Fortuna, Costa Rica
from the travel blog: Costa Rica!
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At Tabacon, it is rumored that there are over ten different pools with different kinds of water, each at different temperatures and with different natural minerals that have various health benefits. There are supposedly floating bars in the middle of said pools, and waterfalls of delightfully warm water that cascade down upon the spa's patrons. One can have about 10 different kinds of massages at Tabacon for an additional fee, as well as facials, skin treatments, and other girly stuff that I have never had the know-how or financial resources to have done. However, despite the fact that we were relaxing in Tabacon's leftover water, Amy and I were definitely not at Tabacon. First of all, a good deal of the free hot springs lay underneath a bridge with cars driving over it. Costa Rican families dotted the springs, mostly mothers playing with their kids in the rushing warm water (sooo cute), and many stared at us at Amy and I waded into the water in our hiking clothes. It wasn't Tabacon, but it felt more culturally explorative and real. And then the old, fat men with the Speedos showed up and shit got realer. As they floated about in the water near us, then next to us, then "accidentally" grazing us with plump, pruney fingers as they swam by, I was reminded that, although Amy and I had not been hit on in Costa Rica nearly as much as Peru (maybe it's the blue hair?), men everywhere can be skeezy. And then, a 13 year old boy totally redeemed his gender by approaching Amy and me and warning us to stay away from the fat, old Speedo men because they were very drunk. We looked over and saw the boy's mother and her friend looking at us earnestly and nodding. I was truly touched; I like to think that for every asshole in the world there are at least two nice people to make up for him/her. Amy and I immediately got up and moved to another part of the springs, and the women and the boy followed us a few minutes later in what felt like solidarity. No one stole our backpacks or even attempted to, and I felt a connection to these people. It didn't matter that they actually lived here and we were tourists; they still wanted to take care of us, even though we were invading their free hot springs. And if our roles had been reversed, I would have done the same for them.

Then I went back to the shore and found that, of all things, my hiking boots had been stolen. Not Amy's, just mine, even in their post-hike, poo-brown glory. Even my nasty-ass socks were gone. But that's beside the point; for all I know, it was another tourist who took them. The point is that, while their are gross, horny men in Speedos in every corner of the world, there are also sweet people who are willing to help a complete stranger. I aspire to be one of these sweet people who sees the humanity in others above all else.

written by  kfox on July 3, 2012 from La Fortuna, Costa Rica
from the travel blog: Costa Rica!
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Currently, I am in Monteverde, a beautiful cloud forest inhabited by a good deal of biodiversity, Ticos (Costa Ricans) and, oddly enough, Quakers. Amy and I got here on the 3rd and have been frolicking in the rainforest ever since. But first things first: saying good-bye to Essence Arenal and El Castillo was hard. We felt so safe there and we want to go back. Our last day, we visited a Serpentarium, or a reptile museum down the road from our hostel. Our tour was led by Juan, a Tico about my age with an eyebrow ring and dreadlocks down to his thighs, who informed us that there are 135 species of snakes in Costa Rica, and of these, only 17 are venomous (still seems like a large number to me, lol). Juan let me, Amy, and three Belgian women hold a variety of nonvenomous snakes and lizards (well, he offered the reptiles to the Belgian women, but mostly they squealed and said, "No no no!"). He also showed us the multitude of poisonous snakes that are found in Costa Rica, including 4 kinds of coral snakes, sea snakes, 1 kind of neotropical rattlesnake, and a shit ton of pit vipers, who are named pit viper because of a 'pit' located behind their eyes that senses heat from prey. Pit vipers also have triangular wedges for heads and elliptical vertical pupils like cats. The two most abundant species are the eyelash palm-pit viper (has lacey scales over its eyes that look like eyelashes) and the Fer de lance (incredibly aggressive and poisonous and ALL OVER Costa Rica...yay!). Other species include the hognosed pit viper, the jumping pit viper, the bushmaster (the biggest viper on the PLANET), and the Godman's montane pit viper. Apparently, running into coral snakes is only a problem if they bite your toes or fingers, because their mouths only open 45 degrees and cannot wrap around bigger body parts. Vipers, on the other hand, can open their mouths a complete 180 degrees, meaning that they can bite you anywhere from the tip of your nose to your entire head. And they often live in trees; yay. We also petted a 240 pound boa constrictor named Elise, held these awesome green tree frogs with bright orange eyes and blue sides (but when they sleep, they cover up all their bright bits and totally look like green leaves...cool), and saw butterflies that are bright blue on one side and brown with eye-like spots on the other (this is so they look like owls and snakes when their wings are folded so that predators don't bother them). Then we moved on to a bunch of venomous tarantulas, and I got to hold one! Of course, this was only after Juan assured me that these spiders were used to being held and never bite humans, and if they did, the venom would make me sick rather than kill me. I was the only one dumb enough to partake in that activity, lol...Amy stood back and took pictures. :P

As cool as the tour was, one of the best parts was directly after. Amy had been telling Juan about how much she missed our dog and showed him a picture of her on the camera. Juan said, "She looks kind of like my dog!" and immediately ran up the street to fetch his dogs so they could comfort Amy. It was so sweet! I love Costa Ricans.

The next day, Amy and I took a Jeep-boat-Jeep trip to Monteverde. The only way to get to Monteverde from El Castillo besides take a 7 hour bus is to take a jeep to the lake, cross it in a boat, and then take another jeep up and down the extremely rough roads leading to Monteverde. Amy and I are actually staying in Cerroplano, a neighborhood in between Monteverde and Santa Elena. So far, we have purchased me a new pair of hiking boots (we went to a family-run shop in Santa Elena, where they only had random sizes in each kind of shoe--everyone, including a couple of five-year-olds, were scurrying around the shop looking for 8.5 hiking boots lol), eaten at a restaurant built like a giant treehouse, taken a canopy tour on a series of hanging bridges in the rainforest in which we spotted both howler monkeys and capuchin monkeys (the howler monkeys stuck around the longest and positioned themselves right above us--according to our guide, this was so they could shit on us), gone ziplining, and consumed fruity alcoholic beverages while watching an intense lightening storm on the 4th of July.

For those of you who have never ziplined, think of it as clinging to a pulley with a handle on it as it speeds across a cable 150-400 feet above the rainforest. Amy, ever the trooper, has a pronounced fear of heights. However, for some reason unknown to both of us, she selected me as a girlfriend; not only am i not afraid of heights, but i am also an adrenaline junkie (much to my parents' dismay). Due to the unfortunate combination of these conditions, Amy and I ended up on a zipline tour, and I'm fairly surprised that karma did not strike me down as Amy climbed onto the first zipline platform, the expression on her face so solemn that Medusa herself would have turned to stone upon looking at it. Even I was a bit nervous at this point: we had ridden up the mountain in a gondola and climbed about 8 stories on a bare bones metal platform, where it seemed that a strong gust of wind might surely send us plummeting into the rainforest below. But there was no plummeting--at least, no unplanned plummeting besides the initial descent in every zipline. We even got to do some tandem ziplines, where Amy and I rode down the zipline at the same time (something possessed me to yell "I love you!" every time we did one of these tandems, which may have been the reason that the guides kept asking Amy and I how we knew each other. Amy even admitted to having fun by the end of the 9 ziplines, although she also insisted that she felt no need to do it again. All in all, an excellent 4th of July. :)

written by  kfox on July 5, 2012 from Monte Verde, Costa Rica
from the travel blog: Costa Rica!
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Anyhoo, Amy, Johnny, and I eventually made it to the top of the giant hill, much to my body's relief. From there, we hiked through some of the only primary rainforest left in Monteverde. Primary rainforest is rainforest that has never been cut down, whereas secondary rainforest is rainforest that has been allowed to regenerate after the primary rainforest has been cut down; all of the canopy tours, ziplines, etc. take place in secondary forest. You can tell the primary from the secondary because it is much denser. We spotted some random things in this rainforest, including a frogs, butterflies, and hallucinogenic mushrooms. It was a very cool walk through a lot of mud and giant, vine-covered trees, and I kind of felt like I was Indiana Jones. I also miraculously managed not to fall on my butt despite how slippery and muddy the trail sometimes was...take that, jungle!

Amy was tired after our hike and opted out of the night walk that we had scheduled with Johnny. As a result, it was just me and Johnny wandering through the rainforest. First, he took me to a giant strangler fig tree (a higuerón tree) that was hollow all the way up the inside, and whose outside branches formed a kind of ladder that allowed you to climb up through the hollow bit to the top of the tree. Johnny asked if I would like to do this even though it was unorthodox tour behavior, and I, being a fan of tree-climbing, instantly said, "Ohmygod YES!" We put on headlamps and climbed up the inside of the tree. I got a taste of what spelunking must feel like, because at one point the tree got very narrow and I wasn't sure my grad school figure would allow me through this small space. But I made it and we sat in the treetop in the Monteverde rainforest and talked about life a bit. I totally want a tree like this in my backyard someday, wherever I choose to settle down.

Next, Johnny took me to the Children's Eternal Rainforest. You know all those kids asking for money to help save the rainforest? Well, this money has gone a long way and created a 220 km nature reserve. We went to the small part of the reserve that humans are allowed into and wandered down the Sendero Bajo del Tigre, although we didn't see any jaguars. We did, however, see many awesome things, including a sleeping sloth, a sleeping toucan, and sleeping butterflies (apparently many animals sleep at night...that's another thing I haven't done much of since starting grad school). We also saw a tarantula (it took me forever to find my camera so poor Johnny had to keep bating it with a stick) and these crazy porcupines; apparently in Costa Rica, porcupines dwell in trees and have monkey-like tails that they can hang from. It was awesome, and I was sad to leave such a beautiful place. But on to the next beautiful place. :)

written by  kfox on July 6, 2012 from Montezuma, Costa Rica
from the travel blog: Costa Rica!
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