Sunday, August 30, 2009

PNW vs. CR round 1

So, My camera has been on the fritz, some of these pictures are mine, some are not. But whats important is that I went on a really awesome hike through a cloud forest!

Im in Monteverde right now which is in the mountains kind of in the center of the country. Its a pretty temperate climate, and actually reminds me a lot of the Northwest, so incase you were wondering, yes, i did break out my plaid button down shirt.


Impressively I have had a string of luck on my way to and in Monteverde. I was sitting in the dirty dirty puntarenas (The Poont as reffered two by two guys I met who studied there) waiting for my bus and two guys in a cab come by and try to hustle me into a cheap, but not cheaper than the bus, taxi to Monteverde.

I declinded and they dove away, only come back 5 minutes later and offer the same ride for FREE! needless to say I was very happy and accepted their invitation.


When I got to Santa Elena, which is the town in Monteverde, They took me to the hostel that one of them owned and I got a $5 private room with my own bathroom and free breakfast.


Anyway,

without much else here are a few pictures from my hike yesterday


Monteverde is a cloud forset in Costa Rica. If it isn´t all at 100% humidity it is damn close. The hike we did was long-ish, like 2.5 miles or something. The view above is supposed to have a volcano in it, but as we were in a cloud forest you could not see it.

We climbed this awesome tower and it was really cool, but once again very very cloudy, so the picture really doesn´t do the scene justice. but you do get a glimpse of my barba development (thats beard incase you were wondering).


The only non insect animal we saw was this quaddle (i really dont think that is the proper spelling) circling around the trash back by the information tent. pretty feral right!



Monday, August 24, 2009

Half way through a quarter of the way through the beginning

First a disclaimer:

I am a horrible speller, I will not spell things correctly, and I may not have the conviction to spell check every time i post somewhat infrequently.

I just recently read a note from my friend (and for some of you, your friend as well) Max. In it he talked very explicitly about writing while traveling. Its funny that no less than ten minutes after reading that I switch browsers to do exactly what he detailed in his note. Max was, in a far to complex way, talking about how as artists, writers and people we share our experiences of travel with those who are back home. This seemed especially relevant due to the fact that My very reason for starting this blog was so that I could have an easy way to keep any of you back home updated on my goings and doings while traveling. It's a funny feeling knowing that going somewhere so far away leads you to desire intimate (though in this case only one-way) communication with those you left.

Alright enough of my philosophical bullshit.

Costa Rica has been a blast so far, I was with my mom for the first two weeks (up until yesterday) and now I am on my own, in a surf town called Santa Teresa on the Northern Peninsula. Our "Week of Adventure with" Costa Rica Rios was amazing. We stayed in a river camp in the Jungle for two nights, we biked across volcanos in the pissing rain then after me and my mom went to Manuel Antonio for a week of solid vaction. I surfed all last week, and it was fun, I swallowed at least a gallon of Salt water, and then after that i felt like I was ok. So today we went to Santa Teresa to surf where there are legit waves and i found out that i am still very very very very much a beginner, meaning, I couldn't even paddle out to where the real breaks were.

So that's it for the most part. I have no pictures because I am kind of lazy, but also haven't taken that many. I would say something along the lines of, promise some are coming, but then if I didn't deliver that would be even lamer.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

T-minus 48 hours

I'm not very good at packing, I often pack too heavily and almost always forget something important despite overpacking.

Hopefully this will help:

Checklist:
bag
day bag
3 pairs shorts
1 pair pants
3 v neck t shirts
2 tanktops
1 athletic shirt
1 collared shirt
1 hoodie
1 water resistant jacket
1 beenie
5 pairs socks
3 pair underwear (might be buying some more, then again maybe ill just abandon wearing any underwear)
Running shoes
flip flops
Enough deet to stip my skin off
sun screen
medkit including: cyprol, painkillers(perscription and over the counter), other various creams and ointments, lots of bandages, MOLESKIN, a pair of little scissors, some over-the-counter stomach chewys and other random things that seemed like a good idea.
1 travel book
1 other book
sketch book
watercolor set
bag of pens and pencils
Camera
and other stuff

I am not taking a computer or an Ipod with me. The computer was pretty obvious, I just don't want to worry about it, The Ipod was a bit more of a decision. I think it'll be benificial to not have any destractions. Similarly i'll be unable to retreat to my safe little music bubble which might force me to do more things such as: draw, drink, people watch, read(which i do way to little of), meet new friends and go on small or sometimes not so small adventures.
My next post is going to be after I go to the jungle in Costa Rica, hopefully I'll have some rad pictures.

On a different note, here is the first page of my new sketchbook. Since the name of my blog is "sketchdout" I figured it would be pretty weak not to have a sketch in my first post. I wanted to finish my old sketch book and get a new one before my trip, and here it is, pertty, red and shiny, well, not shiny.