Meanwhile, work continued on the dorm immediately after Christmas. We must crack on as we'd planned a few days away for New Year. Finally, the beds were finished and actually looked stable when we hauled one bunk bed on top of the other.... Phew, hopefully no shock nocturnal plummeting. On the rare days where Anna was not needed to help with the beds, skilled work only required, she staffed the welcome centre, which was fun, and painted a sign, to encourage income and stating what it would mean for Cloudbridge:
Anna's sign, with grateful thanks to Edgar for the Spanish version
So, with 'just' the dorm doors to make and hang, off we set on 30th December for Ojochal, a little community near Dominical, on the Pacific coast, consisting largely of French ex-pats. We'd tried to hire a car for a few days, and thought we'd booked online, but it turns out the company had never heard of us, despite sending email confirmation.... Hey ho, we'll have a few chilled out days by the pool in our little Airbnb apartment. Off we set at the crack of dawn on the 5am bus..... Arriving here for breakfast..... While waiting for our next bus.....
View from the cafe in Dominical, not a bad spot to wait for a bus
The bus arrived as scheduled. We were to be met at the bus station in Uvita, just along the coast, by our Airbnb host. Snoozing on the bus in the heat, we suddenly realised that we were due to reach Uvita by 11am... It was now 11.10am. Hurtling up the moving bus to ask the driver if we were at the bus station yet, he grunted in response and pointed behind him.... We were way past the bus station - our bus didn't terminate there, despite the sign on the front. Leaping off, we found ourselves on the hot, dusty highway, late for our rendezvous and, asking some men who were playing cards at an old wooden table at the side of the road, were dismayed to discover that the next bus back was not until 1.30pm.... Asking if there was any way we could get there sooner, like now, one of the men stood up, putting his cards down and said 'Si, en mi carro' ('Yes, in my car', which was in fact a pickup, very similar to the Cloudbridge truck). We hopped in, not even asking how much, as we had no choice. I (Anna) sat in the cab, next to the driver, Alan behind in the flatbed. The driver was quite shy, but we made conversation, about where we were from etc. Then, looking a bit shifty, unable to look me in the eye, he said 'Somos amigos' (We are friends). 'Si', I answered, unsure of where this was going. He repeated 'Somos amigos, nada mas' (We are friends, nothing more). Mystified, and not a little uneasy, attempting to shift myself subtly towards the door, I agreed: 'Si, somos amigos, nada mas'. He then looked at me and expanded, explaining that, if we are stopped by the police, we are just friends, it's not a commercial arrangement, as he'd be fined.... What relief! Laughing, I said he'd better tell me his name then! Chuckling, he said 'Marvin' and when we reached the bus station, he was very embarrassed to take a tip, saying that our friendship was more important! Nice man, our friend Marvin. Our host, a bear of a Frenchman, was so surprised to see us climb out of a local pickup, 20 minutes late, coming from the wrong direction and covered in dust.
Our little jungalow in Ojochal, private pool on the deck
Sitting on the deck, thinking about unpacking, we spotted two birds diving at the grass bank. They then lifted in their beaks, between them, a long, bright green vine snake into the air, before dropping it onto the bank again. The lucky snake burrowed rapidly into the grass and we didn't see it again. What drama, and we'd just arrived! What's next?! Toucans...12 of them, hopping about in the trees opposite, followed by a raptor, then, at dusk, green parrots, and spider monkeys, jostling for the best sleeping spot in the branches, one male just hanging upside down, showing off his rotund belly and ample bits for everyone to admire. Then, after dark, a frog orchestra tuned up and serenaded us all night. Wow.
Toucans in the tree opposite the jungalow
Raptor, very close to the house
It was incredibly hot on the coast, so we took full advantage of the pool, though the water was bath-warm - we swam and soaked until we went to bed.
New Year's Eve
Next day we headed out early, before the heat of the day, by foot to the nearest beach, Playa Tortuga. About halfway along the narrow road to the highway, which is lined with hotels set among the trees and residences mostly inhabited by ex-pats, we were startled by a quad bike drawing rapidly closer and a loud voice enquiring: 'Where're y'all headin'?' It was an older woman, Leanne, from the States, who'd lived in the area for years and years and, having just returned from a trip to US the previous night, had loaded up her quad bike with goodies and essentials for local women and children. Still room for us, she called, and before we knew it we sat either side of her, one bum cheek each on the bike, hanging on for dear life, to the little French cafe at the gateway to the town, from where we could walk to the beach and she could catch up with pals over a cup of tea. Waving goodbye, she gave us a piece of paper with her mobile phone number, just in case we needed a ride to the highway to catch the bus when we leave. What a character. I want to be like her when I grow up.
Arriving at the beach nice and early, guess who we came across, helping his friend to set up his pipa (young, green coconut) juice stall.... Our amigo (nada mas) Marvin! He greeted us like he'd known us all his life and told us where the best beaches are, where to look for scarlet macaws etc. Sweet. Sure enough, within a few steps we spotted loads of stunning scarlet macaws cackling in the trees backing the golden sandy beach and flying majestically above us. There was no-one else to be seen.... For miles. Except Carlos, an old guy who has a very rustic wooden shack on the beach, just one room where he sleeps, and an outside kitchen. We were, once more, so grateful that we'd learned a bit of Spanish at the start of our trip, as we enjoyed a chat with Carlos, who explained that he'd lived there very happily for 30 years and, although he is colones poor (he had 2000 colones, about 2 pounds 50 pence, to his name, he said) he considers himself to be a rich man, pointing to the sea and his surroundings. He lives on fish cooked fresh from the sea and at weekends sometimes cooks fish for locals spending a day at the beach. He loves talking to people, that's his entertainment, he said. Inspirational.
Thought you said it was high season - Playa Tortuga
And a lovely sunset to round off the last day of 2015
So, car-less, in a fairly remote area, we spent New Year's Eve just the two of us in the pool, beneath the stars, cicadas' and frogs' songs welcoming the start of 2016. If it continues as it began it's gonna be a good one. Happy New Year!
Next day, resisting the urge to take a tour of the area, go ziplining, book a snorkelling tour etc, we returned to beautiful Playa Tortuga, where, at the entrance to the beach we wished a Happy New Year to the many local people who were camping among the trees in lots of tiny tents, with their whole families, cooking over open fires, then finding the same peace and quiet as the previous day a little way along.
A perfect way to relax before the forthcoming feeding of the 5000 (well, 25 including teachers etc)
All too soon our beach break came to an end and we headed back to Cloudbridge. Hiking back up the track from San Gerardo de Rivas in the dark, enveloped by the heady scent of flowers and mountain air, we were amazed and thrilled to see not one, but two armadillos! The first was scuttling along in a ditch. They have very poor eyesight and as we neared, it tried to leap up the vertical side of the ditch, poor thing, eventually succeeding and escaping into the shelter of some tree roots. The second, about 200 metres along, scampered into a hole in the riverbank. What a welcome back to Cloudbridge. We sat outside on the terrace of the casita, watching fireflies and stargazing, before climbing the stairs to bed, preparing to get up early the next day to recommence work on the dorm.
But, next day we discovered that the doors had been made and fitted! The dorm was all but finished! What a great surprise. It was good to be back. Now we could focus on the daunting task of catering for the bright young things and their teachers. Emma and Brodie, the other half of Team Cook, as we'd come to be known, were still away enjoying Costa Rica, but the emails had been flying, discussing menus, recipes, ingredients, quantities (loads!... 271 eggs, for a start!), equipment etc etc. It suddenly seemed very scary, and very soon! Google searches for 'what do 16 year olds from Kentucky eat?' resulted in photos of that famous white haired finger-lickin' colonel - not very helpful when, in line with the Cloudbridge ethos, and unbeknown to them, they were to be served a vegetarian menu for the week.
The mother of all shopping trips in San Isidro started very early - Alan stayed at Cloudbridge to do the 'snagging' and Anna went off with Tom and Dr Bob in the 4WD to hit the supermarkets. In the interests of budget, Dr Bob and Anna were tasked with comparing 4 items from our list in 4 different supermarkets - no outright cheapo, so, 2 hours after arriving, Tom picked the one with the easiest parking..... And... breathe!
Meeting up at the bus station with a supercharged Emma and an exhausted Brodie, just back from their travels, we embarked on the biggest supermarket sweep ever.... Followed by a trip to the greengrocer's where we cleared their stock of pineapples, onions, peppers, avocados etc etc. The sheer volume of stuff only served to increase anxiety levels and blood pressure . we could be having a lovely time seeing more of Costa Rica now- beaches, jungle .... But, repeat 'It'll be fun, it'll be fun, it'll be......' (cue 'Psycho' shower scene music).
So, all of us remaining volunteers moved to some cabinas about 15 minutes downhill, attached to a local hotel, as there would be no room in the Cloudbridge inn while the kids were there. We sadly left our little Casita Colibri, our home and sanctuary for the last 8 weeks.
During the day the young students went to work in the 'field', to study gunneras, butterflies and dung beetles, doing presentations each evening and preparing for their final presentations at the end of the week, which would be graded. The teachers were so enthusiastic and knowledgeable, also great fun.
Assortment of fruits bought by the students on a trip to San Isidro farmers' market
3 of the bright young things with huge gunnera leaves
So, how did it go? We all left the cabina at 4.45am each day, stumbling up the hill to Cloudbridge in the dark, stars still shining, to prepare for breakfast at 7am. We served lunch at 1pm, then prepped for the next day, finished at about 4pm, schlepped down the hill to the cabinas, before tucking into dinner of leftovers, eating with whatever utensil we could find (supposed to be self-catering for 4, we had one teaspoon, one knife and one serving spoon - amazing how quickly you get used to eating with a giant spoon), then a shower and bed, exhausted, alarm set for 4.20am to start over the next day.
Team Cook hard at it
Actually, we're all a bit shell-shocked here, as Tom had just told us that David Bowie had died, and, although we 4 were from different generations, he had made an impact on us all. For us, he represented the soundtrack of our youth and one of the best gigs we'd ever been to (the Serious Moonlight tour) plus fond memories of smooching at youth club to 'Starman' and 'Life on Mars'. Very sad, especially as, musically, he was still going strong and remained a true original. RIP David.
One day the students took a 'sack lunch'; we were off the hook as soon as we'd cleared up after breakfast and prepared for the next day, so all 4 of us went on a hike to a swimming hole , lowering ourselves by rope to the foot of a waterfall and swam in the freezing cold water..... Fantastic!
So, how did we do? The much-discussed and tweaked menu finally included spag bol, lentil shepherd's pie, Thai curry, pasta with a choice of sauce, veggie burgers etc. Breakfast included pancakes, home-made granola, scrambled eggs and, the Costa Rican staple, Gallo pinto..(literally translated as 'painted cockerel', consisting of rice, beans, sweet pepper, coriander and Lizano salsa), and toast. After our very first lunch serving we asked a couple of the kids what they thought of the spag bol. One said it was a bit beany, the other said it was a bit noodly (think he was referring to the spaghetti). They attempted to soften their responses with comments that it's good to try new foods....hmm. Over the next couple of days it became patently obvious that......The kids did NOT like beans! Or lentils. However, they loved pancakes and the Thai curry and pasta with mushroom sauce were huge hits, as were the mango cakes (they were supposed to be muffins, but due to the dodgy oven they didn't rise... Poor Emma baked two batches, but they remained resolutely flat - oh well, we said, we'll call them mango cakes and see how they go down .... They loved them! The evaluation forms at the end of their week revealed, no surprise, that they hated Gallo pinto, burgers can't be called burgers when they don't contain meat and... They loved everything sweet (a bottle of maple syrup disappeared in one sitting), including some brownies which cunningly contained black beans! One girl said that she'd starved all week as she couldn't eat anything we'd offered (picky princess!). Still, there were some good comments, too, the staff loved most of it and some even said that they were going to try some meat-free days when they returned to Kentucky, due to our food and Linda's talk about meat and climate change. Yippee! Our work here is done. After perusing the evaluation forms on the penultimate day and swallowing the negatives, we plotted payback... On their last morning we put up a sign at the breakfast table saying 'Today's breakfast, due to popular demand... GALLO PINTO' - what fun to watch the kids' crestfallen faces from behind the kitchen door. The adults got it and laughed uproariously. We then served up their favourite, pancakes, to everyone's relief.
There was great camaraderie between us cooks and we also made good friends with the lovely and funny Laura, a local woman who cleans at Cloudbridge. She worked with us all week, washing up, cleaning the new dorm and showers and generally helping out. It was great to practise our Spanish again and to learn a bit about her life. She'd done quite a bit of professional catering in her time and was tried all of our dishes, but, like the students, she picked out the lentils from the shepherd's pie! Laura made a delicious pumpkin cake at the end of the week, typical of Costa Rica. Que Rico!
With the lovely Laura
The students' final presentations at the end of the week were fascinating. My favourite was the study of dung beetle activity as a gauge of the health of the Cloudforest - do they prefer primary- or secondary forest, or pasture, and human- or cow poo? (The subtitle of the talk was 'yes, we sh*t in a bag for this'). Turns out the beetles prefer human poo in secondary forest, but, the students were quick to point out, that this doesn't mean we should cut down the primary forest, plant trees and use the area as a toilet!).
On the evening of our last day of catering, we all went to Cafe Bambu in San Gerardo for a fundraising meal for the local community project: Cloudbridgers, students, teachers, local ex-pats, everyone. At the end of it, Team Cook - Alan and I and Emma and Brodie were presented with gifts for our efforts. Alan and I were thrilled to discover, under all the recycled paper, a big jar of MARMITE! Emma and Brodie were not thrilled to discover their jar...they hate it! Oh well, every cloud....we now have 2 jars of the delicious salty brown ambrosia! Won't last long.
So, would we do it again? Not on your life!!!!!! It was fun, though, bloody hard work, but fun.
The gang from Gatton Academy, Kentucky, on their last morning (note one of the profs and his wife snogging! Lovely fun couple ... Worthy tenants of 'our' Casita Colibri!)
All the students passed their assignments and we felt proud of what we first time caterers had achieved, so all good. Except that the time to leave Cloudbridge had arrived. It's an exceptionally beautiful place, and the passion, vision and dedication of Tom, Linda and Frank is truly inspirational and gives hope for the future. Not only did we leave behind bits of the dorm, some new trees and some beds (and 16 students full of beans) we also left a bit of ourselves. We had a great time and met some fab people. We'll never forget our 9 weeks here.
On 13th January 2016, Team Cook bade a tearful goodbye to Reserva Cloudbridge.
Saying goodbye to Tom and Linda, early morning at the bus stop in San Gerardo
Team Cook headed off together on the bus to San Isidro, gazing at the stunning countryside for the last time, then went our separate ways: Emma and Brodie to start another volunteer project near Monteverde Cloudforest and Anna and Alan to Drake Bay and Corcovado National Park, all still in Costa Rica. Au revoir, Cloudbridge, we'll miss you muchisimo.
Recipe
So, for this post's recipe. It couldn't be anything else but Gallo pinto, could it? Dedicated to the lovely students and staff from Gatton Academy, buen provecho and very good luck for the future:
Gallo pinto
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked black beans
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- 3 cups cooked white rice
- ½ onion, chopped
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Instructions
- Fry onion and bell pepper in vegetable oil, about 3 minutes.
- Add the garlic and sauté a bit more.
- Pour in the beans and the stock, bring to a simmer.
- Avoid the mixture drying up.
- Add in the rice and stir thoroughly, gently.
- Don’t mash the beans!
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Right before serving stir in the coriander (fresh cilantro) and top with heavy cream (sour cream) if desired.
Next post: Coastal Costa Rica - Corcovado to Cahuita
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