Al: The Reason I Am Here

5/22/15

Curo when we rescued him

Confession: I have always connected with animals, probably better than I connect with most humans. Animals don’t care that I’m quirky, what I look like, or if my jokes are funny. They don’t judge you or compare you to others, they simply see you as they see anyone else. I am a firm believer that people’s opinions and actions towards animals tell more about their personality than anything else. I’m not saying disliking animal’s makes you a bad person, I just don’t particularly understand people who don’t like animals. Not liking animals, however, is one thing, mistreating them is an absolutely disgusting behavior that should not be tolerated. And that is where my week begins…

This week has been rough. There is a lot going on in my head. Memorial Day weekend I almost always spend with friends, doing something, having fun, catching up. I’m starting to get anxious about coming home and rejoining the real world. My emotions are all over the place. I haven’t been sleeping much. It is hot. I miss home. I miss my friends. Part of me wants to cry every 5 minutes, but I’m pretty sure that is just the exhaustion talking. Earlier in the week I began to questions what the hell I am doing. Why did I think packing up my life, moving to Central America (when I don’t even speak Spanish) and living out of a bag was such a good idea. Maybe, this is a question all people on this type of journey have at some point, maybe I’m just over analyzing everything—I have been known to do that. But earlier this week, I asked for a sign a moment, anything telling me this is where I am supposed to be, that everything will be ok.

On Wedseday we went to Panama for the day. I learned how to cross the border, which turns out to be much easier than I thought it would be. We did some duty free shopping, got out of a very expensive ticket (this was my first experience with Costa Rican policia and it was quite interesting) and had a blast. I have been hoping that keeping busy would make me feel more connected to the area. I have been having fun, don't get me wrong, but I was still feeling slightly disconnected. 

Yesterday we went to visit Conchita (the paralyzed dog we are building the wheelchair for) at her home about 40 minutes outside of town. We had gotten a call about a skinny dog earlier in the week and figured we would check it out, since it was on the way. “Skinny” was just about the understatement of the year. You could see every bone in his body. This poor boy was chained up in the sun, with no access to shade, food or water. He is very light and his nose and tail were both unbelievable sunburnt.

Curo is such a love 

He was so hungry. He ate immediately.

The owner said he was sick and agreed to let us take him to the vet for treatment. As soon as he got in the car, his tail started wagging. When the vet saw him, he said we should absolutely not ever return him to the owner and that this dog was not sick, he was just starving. We put him on vitamins and a fatty diet. We talked to the owner, even offered to buy him off the owner—who finally admitted that he is too poor to feed him—but he wants him back. At this stage we have to file an official report with the “animal police” and they technically have to remove him from the home. We are hoping to have him officially removed while he is still with us before we have to return him (the owner told us to keep him until her is healthy, but then he wants him back). 

We are working on getting him hydrated. He is a little protective of us and a bit scared of men. He is gaining strength by the hour. Last night I was able to take him on about a 10 minute walk.

During his walk, he found a liter of abandoned kittens. They are literally maybe three weeks old with their eyes barely open. There is about an 85% chance they won’t survive. Kittens this tiny are a lot of work. They need their mothers for milk, warmth, and to properly clean them. It is heartbreaking because more often than not, they die. But then it hit me, if they die, it will be sad, but I will know I’ve done everything I can to help them.  I canceled my evening plans, put the kittens in the basket of my bike and took them to be cared for. We took care of them until almost midnight. All three survived through the night. This morning we found a mama cat that we are hoping takes them in. This is their best chance at survival.

Tomorrow I am off for a weekend adventure in Drake’s Bay. We will be staying one night to stay on Isla de Cano. It is a protected national park and no one except the park rangers and volunteers are allowed to stay there. We will be exploring the jungle and the ocean. I will be completely out in the wilderness with my friends. No cell phone, no computer, just us, the beach, and the jungle. I can’t wait.

Last night, as I rode my bike home, barely able to see and exhausted, I realized that my questions had been answered. The people I have met here are great. They are warm, friendly, and supportive. The opportunities and adventures I am getting the chance to have are mind blowing! When I thought about it, I couldn’t imagine being in any other place in the world at this point. I’m here to help these animals. I’m here to find them homes, I’m here to feed them bottles, pet them when they are scared and make sure they are loved. I am here to relish in the beauty of the jungle and the ocean. I am here to grow and learn and challenge myself. I am where I am supposed to be, doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing.

I’m sure over the next few days I will have a few more sleepless nights, followed by plenty of updates about Drake’s Bay, the doggie and the kitties.

Until then,

Love you!

-Al

Al: I'm Coming Home (Not Yet, But I Did Pick a Date)

5/12/15

Picture I took on our last trip in La Fortuna

My MisAdventure, journey, escape, self-discovery, whatever we are calling this, has an end date. And it’s sooner than I thought. Coming into this trip I had a feeling that something would happen at some moment that would make me decide it was the right time to go home. And guess what? It just did.

I had a decision to make. It was time for me to figure out what matters most in my life. And I decided monumental moments in the lives of my family and friends are not to be missed. I love traveling and I don’t ever plan to stop.  But in this case, it is more important for me to go home. I used the same rash decision making skills that brought me on this crazy adventure to pick a return date. 

And so, sometime during the second week of July, I will board a plane in Panama City with a one way ticket home. A few days later, I will be in Sacramento for my mom’s retirement party.

I can't miss her special day!!

My mom is finally retiring after 20 years working in the same office. She has worked her ass off for  many years to support me. Because of her, I have been able to do things like go to college and follow my passion for adventures. I was really having trouble with the idea of missing her retirement party. How could I not support the one person who has supported me my entire life? But I thought it would be alright because we were meeting in Panama the week after her retirement to celebrate. Last week she stared questioning whether she really wanted to meet me in Panama. The more we have talked about it, the more I realized what she wasn’t saying; she wants me home for her retirement party.

When I was considering what to do, I thought back over the past few years. There were times when work commitments got in the way and I missed significant family moments. Three years later, there is one I still regret it more than any other. I know I can’t make up for it and I don’t even know that the person realizes how guilty I feel for not making it, but after that, I swore to myself I would not let life get in the way of once in a lifetime events. I won’t do it again. Life is journey of self-discovery, I don’t have to be in Central America for my journey to continue.

The minute I made this decision I started crying. It was like all of the emotions I have suppressed since my arrival in Costa Rica flooded into me at once; fear, excitement, joy, sadness, anxiety at returning to my former life, and more. I’ve been sitting here in tears for almost 5 minutes and I don’t know if they are happy tears or sad tears. But as much as I want to run away to Central America and live in paradise forever, I can’t, at least not for now.

Frankly though, the more I think about it my whole life is a series of misadventures strung together with laughter and love and shared through a series hilarious and ridiculous stories. Sometimes when I recount these stories I can’t even believe they are mine, my MisAdventures. This trip just is just one chapter in my Grand MisAdventure.  When I go home, the adventures won’t stop, it will just be the start of a new chapter.

My trip is nowhere near over though. As a matter of fact, I’m only 1/3 of the way through it; I have a lot of time left to explore Central America. I still have two months to complete my Costa Rica and Panama bucket lists. So with that, let the MisAdventure continue!

Until Later...

Love you!

-Al

Al: What My First 30 Days in Paradise Has Taught Me

5/4/15

I have been in Costa Rica for 30 days! One month ago today I hoped on board a plane and changed my life forever. This past month, I have surprised myself in more ways than I thought. I have overcome some misadventures and am really starting to feel at home here in Puerto Jimenez.

We even fixed my little buddy
 (who I decided to name Buddy)

This morning I participated in a mini-castration clinic. By noon, I had assisted in 10 surgeries. Not only do the surgeries no longer bother me, I actually find them quite interesting. We have another clinic with around 20 dogs this weekend. I can’t wait to learn more!

This afternoon I got an incredible opportunity. A friend of mine was leading a zip line tour through the forest and invited me to join. This was very different than the zip line I had done before. That zip line had been over the canopy and focused on distance and speed (I’m not complaining, it was a blast). This tour was more of an educational experience. This zip line has 10 platforms, but they are shorter than the other ones. The lines go throughout the different layers of the forest. While zip lining we were able to stop and look around. 

My friend taught us about the different layers of the forest and how they work together to create the magical ecosystem that we call the jungle. In one layer toucans were so close we could almost ouch them. On another layer, a green viper snake (I don’t remember the name, but I do remember that I was deadly poisonous) had made a hole in the tree into a home. It was sleeping so we could get up really close. I wish I had brought my camera with me. My friend is incredibly knowledgeable and was more than willing to share his knowledge with me. It was such a great learning experience. I can’t wait to go on more tours with him!

However, I have decided to keep today's blog post relatively short, but I do want to make a list of the top 10 things I have learned since coming to Costa Rica:

10. Coconut water can fix ANYTHING, from a hangover to an internal infection, the pharmacy has told me to drink coconut water for everything. It’s a crazy miracle cure.

9. Cold showers are not that bad.

8. Spanish is harder to learn than I thought it would be, but I’m working on it.

7. There is always more to learn. Every single day here I learn something; whether it's animals and vet techniques, the jungle, a new recipe, a new yoga pose (because I actually do yoga now, I’ve made it through 2 whole classes and am excited to learn more!), some hip-shaking dance steps, or a new phrase in Spanish, my brain is constantly absorbing information and I love it.

6. I don’t need nearly as much stuff as I’ve always thought I needed. I know I recently downsized, but I’m thinking I might need to downsize again.

5. I love animals. I always knew I liked animals, but I really love animals. Being around them all day is such a soothing experience.

4. I’m pretty good at sticking to a tight budget.

3. I love planning travels. I am just starting to plan my month of backpacking and I am having so much fun figuring out all of my options.

2. The more obstacles that pop up in my way, the more determined I become to achieve my goals.

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY…

Sunset in Puerto Jimenez

1. I have a great life. I had a great life before this journey and it has only continued to get better. The support I have received from my family and friends has been phenomenal. I am making sure to really appreciate every single day and I’m finally understanding how blessed I truly am! 

 I’ll write more later, but I figured I’d just keep this one month post short and sweet.

Until next time…

Love you!

-Al

Al: The Past Two Weeks (Written 4/28/15)

4/28/15

The last two weeks have been so busy that I just haven’t had time to write. I have a little time today, so I figured it was time for more updates.

Working with the animals has been a phenomenal experience. The German gal, Valentina, that had been working with the animals before I got here decided to come back for a week, which has been great because she has been able to show me the ropes. My first weekend we had a castration clinic. In eight hours we fixed 35 animals! I was surprisingly unfazed by the surgeries. I thought I would be bothered more.

On Monday we got an abandoned dog. We named him Baxter. He’s about a year old. His personality is actually quite similar to Maddy’s, which makes it easier for me to work with him. I understand his aggression and how to work with it. On Tuesday we got him fixed, the vet we use likes us to help with the procedures. Although I had been fine during the weekend clinic, this experience was quite different and I actually had to sit down for a bit.

Kitty's Favorite Spot

While at the vet, we found out they had a tiny kitten who was waiting to be taken to his home the following weekend. We decided to take him back to the volunteer house and care for him there. He was so tiny and scared. He insisted on climbing onto my back and sitting on my neck and shoulders. He was a sweetheart.

In the morning, we would get up, care for Baxter and the kitty. Then we’d go to the beach. After that we’d have lunch, come back to the volunteer house, walk Baxter again, and then let him and the kitty run around for an hour or so. There is a herd of monkeys that hang out around the “office” so we usually would watch them at this time. Then we’d go have an adventure and come back in the evening to walk Baxter again. Then we would feed them dinner. Some nights we would walk Baxter again around 8, but for the most part he was pretty worn out by then.

Over the past two weeks, we have also gone on quite a few adventures. I ride a bike now, which I haven’t done since 2007s bike disaster. Backstory—I had a bike for a week in college…it didn’t go well, after running into a third person in 3 days, I decided bike riding wasn’t my thing. Surprisingly, I’m really enjoying having a bike as a mode of transportation. It only took like 4 days for me to remember how to ride one.

On my first day with a bike we went on a 4 km bike ride. We were supposed to be going to Playa Preciosa. We took a wrong turn and may or may not have ended up at a private beach, no one kicked us off, but we did have to walk through a fence to get there and there were no people or structures to be seen in either direction.  It was gorgeous. The water was a little bigger than I would have liked, but it felt great. I did get caught in a bit of a riptide coming back in. I turned into jelly, got knocked around a bit, got a head full of sand (it took me 3 days to get all of the sand out of my hair), and then I was able to swim out. Definitely need to remember to be more careful.

Two days later we went on a kayak tour. Valentina’s friend is a kayak guide, so he took us out. We spent the first hour kayaking in the ocean. It was much different than what I’m used to, much choppier than mangroves, rivers, and lakes. My anxiety was also through the roof. I’m slowly adjusting to the idea of being out on open water, but it’s a slow process. Then we swam for a half hour. After that, we moved the kayaks into the mangroves and kayaked through them.  At the end of the tour we kayaked back out to the ocean right as the sun was coming down. It was stunning. We didn’t see any crocodiles (thank God!) but afterwards, our guide took us to another part of the mangroves where the crocodiles hang out. There was a family. One GIANT male, two females, a smaller male, and two babies. I stayed pretty far back, but everyone else was able to get surprisingly close.

Another day we went swimming at the beach closer to town. I got my first jelly fish sting. Luckily for me, it was from a loose tentacle, so it wasn’t too bad. My leg got pretty swollen, but it was to be expected given my physical reaction to stings, bites, etc. I took an antihistamine and I was fine.

Taking a Break from Dancing

Last weekend we did a fundraising thing at a hotel. After that Valentina and I went out with a friend of hers who likes to dance. We learned to Bachata, Merengue, Salsa, and a few other dances. I’m so uncoordinated, I’m pretty sure I just stumbled around and attempted to move my hips and count and not trip on my dress. It’s a little different here though. Men get very touchy (rightfully so, the dances are very sensual), but it’s a little overwhelming for me as I have not yet learned to tell them not to touch me. There are a few very raunchy dances (similar to what we have back home) that made me beyond uncomfortable. But as my language skills and dance skills improve, I think I will really enjoy dancing.

Saturday morning, a friend took us out on his boat. Valentina had never seen a dolphin and he wanted to find one for her. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any. We did see flying fish. I even got in the water and swam on a board behind the boat. I had a mask on so I could see under water. The water was murky so I didn’t see much though. It’s so striking here, just being in the boat looking as the water, the jungle, and the sky come together is an intoxicating feeling. On Saturday night, there was a party and I was actually invited. It was fun. I met a bunch more people. I learned how to make fresh Pina Coladas. I ate FRESH sashimi (like it was alive less than 24 hours before). After that, we went out and did some more dancing. I got pretty tired and decided to call it a night around 1 a.m.

Sunday we went out on the boat again, this time with a mission: find Valentina Dolphins. Valentina and I got there early and hung out on the boat in the harbor. We decided to see if we could do random yoga poses on the edge of the boat. It was quite fun. Cielo, the three legged dog joined us, and we were off. I actually think I’m slowly building some color (didn’t even know that was possible), because I’m able to stay in the sun for longer periods of time than I ever thought I could.

After about 2 hours, we went to a reef. We snorkeled around and yet again, I didn’t even panic, sort of. We even saw fishies swimming around. We saw lots of Dori fish. On our trip back to Puerto Jimenez, we suddenly spotted Dolphins! We saw a bunch of bottlenose dolphins. They swam all around our boat. I forgot how huge they are. Unfortunately my camera died after two pictures. But hopefully I’m able to see more in the next six weeks. I tried water skiing, but ended up inhaling a bunch of ocean water…much more stressful than inhaling fresh water…and had to get back in the boat.

Weekend Boat Adventures

The next few days were mostly spent caring for animals. Sunday night we got a puppy that we had to take to the vet. He had a liquid pouch that had developed in his hip. He also happened to only use 3 legs. We took him to the vet on Monday. He drained the liquid pocket. Turns out he has owners. 

When we took him home they were very grateful. They also started telling us that they want another dog. We suggested Baxter. We brought him over there and they love him. They are taking him. They are very sweet people and really love their dogs. We are taking him to his new forever home on Monday. Although we still have a lot of dogs that need homes, this feel like a great success!

Valentina left this morning, so I’m on my own taking care of the animals right now. So far it’s gone well, but I know how important it is at this point for me to work on my Spanish skills. I had kind of become reliant on her to help me communicate. But now it’s time for me to learn.

The bugs have still not let up. I am covered in bug bites. My poor legs look like I’ve contracted some form of virus or something. Even today, I got out of the shower and coated myself in my usual layer of bug spray. Then I put on pants (because it is raining and actually cool enough to wear pants for once). I sat down and put my feet up for one minute and I now have 3 bug bites on the bottom of my feet. On a positive note, since none of the bug sprays I was using seemed to be working, I talked to some friends and they told me they use a mixture of coconut oil, citronella, and water. I just made it and we’ll see if that helps!

That is all of the updates for now. Until next time…

Love you!

-Al