Last Thursday, I left Sierpe and travelled northward by myself to begin what I planned would be a month at Finca Amanecer, a farm in the little town of Londres, about 30 kilometers in from the central western coast. I got off of my third bus of the day in the late afternoon, and walked into the farm. I was greeted by this blond woman about forty years old asking me who I was and what I was doing there. Before offering me to take my bag off or a glass of water or even telling me her name, she told me that the WWOOF program at the farm had been shut down and I wouldnt be able to stay there, not to mention Jimmy and Jeremy who would be meeting me on Monday. Thankfully, a girl about my age, who was traveling from Ecuador to Mexico with her friend, walked out on to the porch and rescued me from the raving womans wrath. She introduced me to Kyle, a Canadian guy a few years older than me who had been trying to get the food growing operation up and running at Amanecer for the past couple of weeks. He got me a glass of water, and we spent the rest of the evening walking around the farm, which was in pretty pathetic shape, and coming up with a plan of what needed to be done for the farm, what was already growing (some pina, banana, vanilla, a bit of chocolate, yucca, and some spices), and how we were going to justify my stay, and my friends stay, to the powers that be.
Kyle left for good the next morning, but not before he managed to convince Kelly, the woman who greeted me, and Elena, the owner of the farm who was in the States, that the farm would need the three of us to stick around and work for a month. The next few days I spent composting and digging a big old hole for an outhouse, among other tasks around the farm. During the first few minutes of digging, I was stung by a wasp and quickly realized that there was a nest about six inches from my face, on the back of a leaf hanging right above the hole. I took great pleasure in gathering a bunch of dry leaves, making a huge pile in the hole, which was about five feet deep by then, and setting it ablaze to smoke out the bees. This was highly successful, and I was able to continue digging. I also constructed a masterpiece of a compost heap, made from chicken wire, bamboo, and string, which I was very proud of. I spent a lot of the time that I was working in the fields laughing at myself for getting such a kick out of making a well layered, airated, and hydrated compost pile.
The weekend after I got to Amanecer I slept in a tent because 15 Costa Rican cowboys came to town for an annual cowboy convention. They road 10 hours from the capital city of San Jose for a big old party in Londres, so our farm was turned into a bed and breakfast for Saturday night. Since we were hosting the cowboys, we got to eat and drink for free all night, which lead to some dancing and howling to the Tico band that was playing. It was a great night, and I was glad to have met and danced with Maile and Sophie, two super cool Oregonian girls on a super cool trip through south and central america.
This reminds me of the sheer amount of people I have met and lived with on this trip. When I think back to the friends we were with at the beginning of the trip, it feels like Ive been here forever. It turned out that things werent meant to last at the Amanecer, though. Jimmy and Jeremy showed up on Monday night, with Dan, our good friend from school who had to meet us down here a bit into our trip. It was great to see him and hang with them at the farm for a few days, but we soon became too much for Kelly, and after waking up to her yelling made up accusations about us in the kitchen, we decided it was probably time for us to move on. We spent a great last day at this magnificent cliff overlooking a big old river which we swam and fished in, and then we were off to Cascada Verde, where I am now writing from.
Im pretty hungry by now, so Im going to head down to the kitchen to start some beans Ive been soaking, and I think were going to a big festival on the beach tonight and tomorrow, which should be a hoot. Ill write all about this new place, which is located on the side of a mountain overlooking the Pacific ocean, real soon.