Entering into the Osa...

Hello friends.  As those of you who have traveled in other lands know, the internet can be very very slow.  So it is today.  I had big plans of sharing more photos with you, still some from Guatemala, and then more recently, the Osa Penninsula.  As it is, I will just share two entries of transcribed journal writing.  I apologize for not being able to figure out how to use spellcheck from here, and so reveal my lack of skills within the subject.  I hope you are all so well, and I will post photos soon.  With light and love.

January 18.
Night two, in the jungle. From the book, Under the Tucsan Sun- “Life must change from time to time if we are to go forward in our thinking”...

Here we are, the four of us (my girls from Vermont. Aimee, Michelle, and Colleen), friends who not, in the big picture, have known one another long, but have found ourseves together, in a foreign land, living within an edge of the Costa Rican jungle. I write by headlamp from within my cocoon, a hammock hangin from the wodden beams of our abode- with a mosquito net draped over and tuced under it. The sun has been down for over four hours now, but still heat penetrates into the pores of the skin. In the harshly cold winds of Chacula last week, I could hardly imagine feeling this ungodly hot. There is no electricity here, so after the earth makes its rotation away from the sun, it si all candlelight. Aimee has set up candles, beautifully, all over our new home, that light the place aglow. This structure, our new home, is simple and well built, round logs criss cross to hold on a tin roof, a floor about four feet off the ground, and no walls, unless you count the loosley draped mosquito netting that hangs on all four sides. I can hear the ocean doing its continous rhythmic dance, less than a quarter mile away. Crickets and other unkown creatures fill in the night orchestra. Tomorrow prior to sunrise there is sure to be roosters and howler monkeys again, calling out in their ancient, haunting, and somewhat comical calls. As we woke yesterday morning at this sound, the first thing we all did was giggle. It is such a foreign sound, half way between the mules of Chacula and old crazy trumpets. It was an authentically beautiful day today and the sensations of really arriving began. Flying into San Jose, navigating through the trials of renting a car, and then making the journey south, in this new mucho caliente, tropical, humid, wet, thick air was quite a culture shock. I think there are a handful of people I know who would call this place romantic, but most, a majority, would name it as a rustic and wild place to call home for a month. Last night I got up to go pee, brabbing my headlamp I scamperd out into the night, inwardly praising myself for feeling so comfortable- when I turned 45 degrees and saw, in my headlight, two big glowing eyes staring from a crouched shadow in the grasses. A chill ran through my whole body, hair on end, I sprinted back to my hammock. I waited about an hour, wide awake, then, having not yet actually releived myself, I worked up some courage, grabbed the machette and walked back into the night. I think this is goin to be an amazing experience. One of deep undeveloped nature, of ocean, of shells, of monkeys, cookng outside with friends, with what we have. One of being lucky enough to eat tangerines, lemons, oranges and bananas from our very backyard, looking up at bright stars, and having time and space to be an observer to the world around, and the world within. So I cound the blessings of this day-

Having woken to the sunrise on the ocean.
Having seen my first wild onkey, eating breakfast in the treetops.
Having used the machette to chop down a cluster of bananas, that now hang, ripening, in the doorway.
Having watched dearest Manuel chop in half the scorpion that set post on the toilette room ceiling.Having received a coconut from the neighbors tree which tasted so sweet and fresh.
Having made corn tortillas on a castiron pan, which smelled of Guatemala.
Having been brought a guitar from Manuel, so to play and sing!
Having friendship. Heartbeat. Giant grasshopers. How blessed I am to be here in the hot and sweaty heart of central america.

January 19.

Using the treasure maps, Mark so carefully drew out for us, filled with local secret spots and scribbles of personal notes of advise, we found our way here, to the cove- to paradise.
Arriving was an adventure.  There were quite a few river crossings and we were not sure if La Macha, our very expensive rental car would make it through.  Three of us got out, wading the waters, assesing the the depth, and deliberating whether or not the low sitting car could go through. Asking, can the bottom of a car really get that wet?  Eventually a man on a four wheller drove by, we flagged him down, asking his opinion, and were assured that it was no problem, as long as the water does not go over the handles...ok!  So we went.  Four gringo girls, one white little honda, through the rivers, on the roads of the Osa Penninsula.  I am sure we were a sight to be had.  Now on the beach, pelicans dive fishing, the wind russles our hair.  There is little need for clothing here, and all es muy tranquilo.