OtziBlog: January 2007

Rockin J's Hammock Hotel

In Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, which is on the far southeast coast of Costa Rica (Caribbean side), there is a hostel called Rockin J's. Now how cool is that? Sweet name. Even sweeter, they have a Hammock Hotel. This means there is basically a big open area where they have hung hammocks and for the princely sum of $5 per night, you can sleep in one. They give you a locker to put your stuff in. They have a beach right on the caribbean. They show movies every night, rent bicycles, and the place is covered in Mosaics which were made by guests. The whole place is just so Gaudi-goes-to-Jamaica. We had an epic 2 night stay there. Here are the pix:

Yeah, rockin J is pretty cool.

Now this is what I call a swingin hotel.

Parrish, kickin it hammock style.

Parrish hauls her bike through a portage in a small riptide. Biking in the rainforest and on the beach was what you might expect: WET.

2006 Light Parade

Yeah, I know it's already 2007, but I am just now getting round to writing up the 2006 light parade. The parade was held on December 12, 2006. Several of my friends and family, new and old came out to help decorate the boat and man her during the parade. It was by far the strongest effort to date for team Calliope in the light parade. This year we used an inverter instead of a generator which eliminated noise and smell from the deck of the boat. The downside was I didn't start installing the inverter until the day of the parade, but what would the light parade be without some last-minute boat work? Aaron insisted we were ahead of schedule, but in reality it was not the case as we were working on the system right up until we shoved off the dock at 4:30 PM. We went with a star of david design hoisted just above Calliope's spreaders, along with a christmas tree around the mast, so it was a very multi-cultural light array. It was probably the warmest light parade yet. Luke made phenomenal chili and we had plenty of cider and hot cocoa. A good time was had by all, near as I can tell. Thanks to everybody who came out to enjoy the parade and especially to those who helped with the set-up and the cooking. I look forward to doing an even better job next year, which should be easier to accomplish since the inverter is now PERMANENTLY installed!

Here are the videos. Thanks to Mike Klassen for playing the role of cameraman. Enjoy!

Feliz Año Nuevo

In my sister´s Peace Corps station town of San Nicolás in Honduras, they have an old tradition on New Year´s Eve of stuffing a scarecrow with fireworks and sawdust, dousing it in gasoline and setting it on fire to say goodbye to the old year. As the culmination of my trip to visit Parrish in San Nicolas, I was on hand to witness the event and was able to get some great pix and video. For those of you who don´t know, El Año Viejo means ¨the old year¨in spanish and is the term used to describe the scarecrow stuffed with fireworks. Check out the pix, and 2 videos:

Me, Parrish, Fernando and some local kids checking out El Año Viejo.

Parrish and her boyfriend Mario (who is one of the people working hard to organize the re-vitalization of the el año viejo tradition) getting cozy with El Año Viejo.

The boys from the neighborhod gatherd ´round El Año Viejo prior to the torching.

Finally, here are 2 videos of El Año Viejo going up in smoke. Be sure your sound is turned on to get the full effect...

A house full of wonderful crazy ladies

So Parrish has some really awesome Honduran aunts and grandmas. Several of them live in a house together across town from Parrish so she sees them all the time. They are seriously funny, seriously crazy old Honduran ladies, and they help to keep Parrish on the straight-and-narrow. I got to have the pleasure of going over to their house on New Year´s eve for some tamles and some mistela (a super strong drink made with guaro - like rum - and orange juice with spices). We had a grand old time and I got to meet Navo. Navo was born on the 24th of december and her name is actually ´Navedad´which means ´Christmas´but she goes by Navo for short. I didn´t realize this, but when I arrived and was introduced to her, she shook my hand, gave me a hug and said ´My name is Christmas.´How cool is that? Here is a picture of Parrish together with Navo, Marcela, and Maritza:

Navo is on the right in the yellow. Maritza - an Aunt - is on the left. Marcela is next to Parrish. And Parrish is...the tall one...in case you didn´t know. Marcela is the matriarch of the family and at about 85 years old, she still goes out dancing till the wee hours, reminding us all of Steve Miller´s grandma... She is one of the most full-of-life people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. WAY cool.

Vamos a la finca

My sister lives in a small town in the highlands of Honduras where coffee is the main crop. All around her town there are coffee fincas where people raise coffee plants and produce their beans. Honduran coffee is very high quality and tastes awesome (I know from experience). Plus the people who produce it are super nice. While staying in Parrish´s town of San Nicolás, I had the opportunity to head up the mountain to the finca owned by her Honduran ´dad´whose name is Matias. Here are some pix of the trip:

Parrish and Matias in Matias´s truck, a sweet red diesel Toyota. Wish I could get a truck like that...but they are not sold in the US...bummer...

Parrish with one of her Honduran ´brothers´named Marlon. Nice hats...

This is the terrace where they dry the coffee beans after washing and de-pulping.

Marlon...avoiding work. One of Parrish´s other Honduran ´brothers´- Carlos - is tying up bags of coffee in the background.

Parrish - earning her keep on the finca by bagging coffee.

Matias hauls a sack of coffee to the truck. These sacks weigh about 100 lbf each.

Parrish´s third Honduran ´brother´- Alejandro - checks out the truck - now loaded down and ready for the trip to the exporter.

At the exporter´s office, they have a huge scale where sacks of coffee are weighed and the farmer is paid for them. Since Matias´s finca is ´certified´as ´high quality´he gets paid more per lbf than the average Juan.

Roatán

Roatán is a long, skinny island off the coast of Honduras, where my family went for christmas this year. It is one of the Bay Islands which are famous for scuba diving, killer seafood, lots of tourists, and the awesome local Garifuna culture - sweet beats. We stayed in the Lost Paradise Inn which is basically a bunch of cabanas right on the beach - very low key and family run. It was an awesome setup. Parrish, David, and I got SCUBA certification and did some epic diving. We saw lots of different kinds of corals and fish, one shipwreck, one monster moray eel, and had an overall excellent experience with the folks from Ocean Connections in West End. I highly recommend Roatán to anybody looking for a beach vacation destination...