Sept. 8th
My second official day of volunteering at El Rio hostel. The hostel mainly consists of volunteers, and the occasional backpacker. The hostel is under construction. It's actually real cool to play a small part in something big. This place will eventually hold up to 60 people. The bar/deck area is massive and over looks the river. The volunteers have an option to sleep in hammocks or tent with an air mattress. I'm taking up a hammock for now, we'll see if this gets old. Along with the hammocks area there is an outdoor grill and beautiful kitchen. Which I get to cook in everyday.
My new routine consists of waking up early...7am early. Heading to the kitchen for breakfast and a solid hour of morning coffee/chill time. Passing the hour with morning talk and getting my mind juicing for lunch ideas. Everyone starts at 8am. I head to clean the hammock and bathroom area. After which I have time I hit up some side projects before preparation for lunch. This week I cleaned out the cooler and reorganizated stuff..woooo, crazy right. No for real though this week I'm building a couple signs, dart board, and rings to put in our outdoor gym. Yeaaa so excited about all of this. My positive and create mind is flowing. This helps a lot when it comes to cooking for 7 people everyday. My first lunch I made burgers, fries and veg. Today I will be making stuffed peppers, pasta salad and deviled eggs. I use pumpkin and pineapple along with meat and veg to stuff the peppers. Omg so good. One of my favorite things about travel is the availability of different fruit and vegetables. Spices up any old recipe. Lunch is served everyday at 1pm. We always eat lunch and dinner M-F together as a family. It's really nice. After lunch I clean the kitchen and my work is finished for the day. Everyone is done after lunch. We usually continue working, chill in the river or head to the beach. Today decided to go tubing with a guest, Lala. An afternoon of floating down the river is exactly what I need. The walk up the river takes about 45min. Then freedom. I can't wait to chill out. Working in the heat and humidity really takes it out of you.
On our tubing adventure we are joined by a group of people from another hostel. If you are staying in the area or Rancho Relaxo specifically you can tube with us. The cost is 15,000p. Definitely a good way to pass time in the afternoon. Floating down the river through the jungle....yea pretty cool. OK so we are joined by a few lost souls and head out. The walk takes longer than usually, everyone is a little toastie. Well except the guide and me, lol. We finally make it to the river and jump in. The float down is chill, a few rapids and relaxing current. Everyone links up along the way to float and party together. And then sometimes we get stragglers and people fall behind. Hilarious to watch someone get stuck where there is no current. Whaling their arms, butt stuck in a hole, like a turtle on it's back. We end our trip at EL Rio hostel. Spending the evening reading and hammock chilling. Daily work in the heat has gotten to me, definitely more tired then usually.
Dinner is made each night by 2 of the volunteers. Serving sometime after 7pm. Usually 7pm but let's be real, nothing in South America is ever on time. We eat dinner then head to bed. Several volunteers head out for the weekend. We still have another day of work, but if you put in extra time here and there you can leave a day early. I enjoy the laid back environment of the staff and people we work for.
9th Friday
Morning wake up call.....4-5 dogs running underneath your hammock, wacking you with their tail and sometimes kisses. It's Clem's last day so she makes French toast for everyone. I love breakfast, seriously my favorite meal of the day...now only if we could get some bacon out in these parts. Nothing like bacon to go with everything.
The day starts and it is a bit quieter than usually. The local construction guys have the weekend off. Makes for a peaceful day of work. I do my daily duties then start on lunch. The menu; Yucca, beans, carrot/pumpkin guacamole, and our left overs Sausage/stuffed peppers. I have never cooked Yucca before soo this will be interesting. It is a root, tastes like potato and takes forever to cook. Best way to prepare is clean, peel, then boil to soften the root. I didnt boil this time, went straight to cutting into thin slices and throwing in the pot. I cook them with butter and white wine. Plus a million different seasonings. Total cook time 1hr and 30 min, woo. When I cook I kinda just go with whatever I have, and see what happens. Everything usually turns out great.
Lunch is served, we getting to chatting and pulling together creative ideas for El Rio. Some new projects are the outdoor gym. After lunch I head out with another volunteer to check out the wood, what options are available for making equipment. I spot a log perfect for rings and some wood for a sign. I would also like to make a dart board. The challenge is to find the right piece of wood. We pass the afternoon chilling in the river and reading.
It's Friday so we all end up in the kitchen for a little dj dinner party. The business owners, Ben and Guy, are both big into house music. They also have a small turn table, nice to have music available to your use. Ben and Alex, another volunteer, take turns showing my the ropes of djing. A big thing is teaching their volunteers how to dj, great way to pick up a new skill. We take turns spinning beats, kinda addicting I can see why people love doing it. We eat dinner while taking a break for a quick mid meal mix, what Ben calls it. I'm really enjoying the people here and the opportunity to continue to learn new things. Being in the jungle on the river with no wifi allows you to refocus on what it is your doing now. Really spending time with the people you are with, and enjoy your surroundings. The evening comes to a close early. We head to bed, my mind wanders else where, off to dream world.
10th Saturday
Sleeping in....to a very late 9am lol. A few volunteers and I get together to head to the beach. Walking into town first for fruit and food for lunch. I grab bananas, oranges and a can of tuna with bread for lunch. Spending $2usd on supplies. We catch the bus down to La Brisa Tranquila, walking from the road to the beach. The afternoon and evening is spent swimming in the waves, napping on the beach and catching up on some wifi time. Need to figure some flight info out for Africa and what I'm doing in November.
Off the coast a storm is coming, the lightening is ripping through the sky. We all decide to head out to Rancho Relaxo for the night. Being a volunteer at El Rio has its perks, free night stay at Rancho. We finally get to sleep in a bed, yess. Rancho is a chilled out stoner hostel, yea this is true. We join everyone for family dinner then head to the bar. Drinks, music and chilling.
11th Sunday
Waking up to farm noises early in the morning. Yes, Turkey, donkey, and monkeys. It's either farm animals, dogs or howler monkeys, that's what you get for living in the jungle. Luckily I am able to catch a few more hours of sleep, in a bed. You never realize how much you miss a bed until you go to sleep in a hammock every night.
Breakfast is served between 8-10am. Becca and I head to the kitchen to grab some type of tortilla egg thing. Hugh, another volunteer l, eventually joins us. Hugh and I stay at Rancho through the afternoon. Hiking up the hill to the Mirador. A hammock area that over looks the landscape. It's beautiful, so peaceful and away from everything. We spend the next couple of hours napping and reading. My phone had died so I was alone with my thoughts. Taking time to just be happy in nature. I find life so much simpler out here, and easy to get away from all the hustle if the States.
After a couple hours I head back down to check out and head bBack to the hostel. First I stop off in Buritaca to grab fruit. Buritaca is nothing much of anything. There are road side stands with street food and fruit, and the occasional mini mart. Besides that, nothing. You could easy drive right pass without knowing you were even in a town.
\nI pick up bananas and papaya. Spending a large 3,000p.im a big spender these days.
\n
\n12th Monday
\nI'm sick, yes sick. Waking up in the middle of the night 4 times, stomach cramps, diarrhea sick. Yup now you know.
\nSo my morning started off slow. The pain in my stomach comes and goes, I'm determined not to let it get me down. I go through my daily routine and now trying to add I side projects when I have time. First helping organize the tools. Finding a place for everything and labeling in English and Spanish so there is no excuse for people's sloppiness.
\nLunch menu is BBQ pork arepas with cooked carrots and lentils. I enjoy cooking, gives me a chance to explore new and different food options. Especially when you have to cook 5 times a week, you have to get creative. Lunch comes to a close and my body is dead. I pass out in a hammock for a couple hours. A huge storm blows through, nothing better then napping in a storm. The rain is soothing, puts my mind at ease. I wake from my nap to find Becca, a volunteer, practicing her head stands that I taught her. I love challenging people to do things they think they can't. Always great to see the expression on their face when they achieve something. She has gotten better and starts completing her push up challenge. Yess I might have started this, now everyone at the hostel is doing between 50-100 push-ups a day. Nice to keep people motivated and fit. A little bit can go a long way.
\nAlex, our sexy Polish volunteer, of course has to impress everyone and over achieve on push-ups. Not like anyone minds anyway. I mean I, as much as the next person, enjoy watching a sexy man do basically anything shirtless. Yes travelers are sexy, this world is filled with such diverse beautiful people I just can't get enough of. I'm pretty sure my favorite is the fact that we all walk around basically naked working during the day. The heat and humidity is just to much handle. And then there is swimming in the river, I guess everyone just goes naked. Whatever, being naked in the jungle is pretty epic if you ask me.
\nOK anyways Alex and Hugh are assigned to dinner, definitely should be interesting. Hugh, I honestly don't think has a clue about cooking much and Alex is a vegetarian soo he isn't cooking anything with meat. Oh and the frig is empty....yup plantains and cooked veg it is. Doesn't matter much to me, I can't really eat yet. Hoping this stomach thing passes soon. Becca and I join the boys in the kitchen to watch this disaster go down, oh and dye my hair. I need some more blue in my life, Becca helps me achieve my blue hair goals.
\n We finish dinner and head to bed early. I spend the evening chatting with Alex about our travels and the questionable future. The future will always be questionable to me, I kinda like it. Nothing is really ever planned. Sometimes I just pick something out of no where and go with it. Like going to Africa for Christmas. One day I was thinking what would be a dope place to be for Christmas, and Africa popped in my head so Africa it will be. My life is a mess and I love it.
My second official day of volunteering at El Rio hostel. The hostel mainly consists of volunteers, and the occasional backpacker. The hostel is under construction. It's actually real cool to play a small part in something big. This place will eventually hold up to 60 people. The bar/deck area is massive and over looks the river. The volunteers have an option to sleep in hammocks or tent with an air mattress. I'm taking up a hammock for now, we'll see if this gets old. Along with the hammocks area there is an outdoor grill and beautiful kitchen. Which I get to cook in everyday.
My new routine consists of waking up early...7am early. Heading to the kitchen for breakfast and a solid hour of morning coffee/chill time. Passing the hour with morning talk and getting my mind juicing for lunch ideas. Everyone starts at 8am. I head to clean the hammock and bathroom area. After which I have time I hit up some side projects before preparation for lunch. This week I cleaned out the cooler and reorganizated stuff..woooo, crazy right. No for real though this week I'm building a couple signs, dart board, and rings to put in our outdoor gym. Yeaaa so excited about all of this. My positive and create mind is flowing. This helps a lot when it comes to cooking for 7 people everyday. My first lunch I made burgers, fries and veg. Today I will be making stuffed peppers, pasta salad and deviled eggs. I use pumpkin and pineapple along with meat and veg to stuff the peppers. Omg so good. One of my favorite things about travel is the availability of different fruit and vegetables. Spices up any old recipe. Lunch is served everyday at 1pm. We always eat lunch and dinner M-F together as a family. It's really nice. After lunch I clean the kitchen and my work is finished for the day. Everyone is done after lunch. We usually continue working, chill in the river or head to the beach. Today decided to go tubing with a guest, Lala. An afternoon of floating down the river is exactly what I need. The walk up the river takes about 45min. Then freedom. I can't wait to chill out. Working in the heat and humidity really takes it out of you.
On our tubing adventure we are joined by a group of people from another hostel. If you are staying in the area or Rancho Relaxo specifically you can tube with us. The cost is 15,000p. Definitely a good way to pass time in the afternoon. Floating down the river through the jungle....yea pretty cool. OK so we are joined by a few lost souls and head out. The walk takes longer than usually, everyone is a little toastie. Well except the guide and me, lol. We finally make it to the river and jump in. The float down is chill, a few rapids and relaxing current. Everyone links up along the way to float and party together. And then sometimes we get stragglers and people fall behind. Hilarious to watch someone get stuck where there is no current. Whaling their arms, butt stuck in a hole, like a turtle on it's back. We end our trip at EL Rio hostel. Spending the evening reading and hammock chilling. Daily work in the heat has gotten to me, definitely more tired then usually.
Dinner is made each night by 2 of the volunteers. Serving sometime after 7pm. Usually 7pm but let's be real, nothing in South America is ever on time. We eat dinner then head to bed. Several volunteers head out for the weekend. We still have another day of work, but if you put in extra time here and there you can leave a day early. I enjoy the laid back environment of the staff and people we work for.
9th Friday
Morning wake up call.....4-5 dogs running underneath your hammock, wacking you with their tail and sometimes kisses. It's Clem's last day so she makes French toast for everyone. I love breakfast, seriously my favorite meal of the day...now only if we could get some bacon out in these parts. Nothing like bacon to go with everything.
The day starts and it is a bit quieter than usually. The local construction guys have the weekend off. Makes for a peaceful day of work. I do my daily duties then start on lunch. The menu; Yucca, beans, carrot/pumpkin guacamole, and our left overs Sausage/stuffed peppers. I have never cooked Yucca before soo this will be interesting. It is a root, tastes like potato and takes forever to cook. Best way to prepare is clean, peel, then boil to soften the root. I didnt boil this time, went straight to cutting into thin slices and throwing in the pot. I cook them with butter and white wine. Plus a million different seasonings. Total cook time 1hr and 30 min, woo. When I cook I kinda just go with whatever I have, and see what happens. Everything usually turns out great.
Lunch is served, we getting to chatting and pulling together creative ideas for El Rio. Some new projects are the outdoor gym. After lunch I head out with another volunteer to check out the wood, what options are available for making equipment. I spot a log perfect for rings and some wood for a sign. I would also like to make a dart board. The challenge is to find the right piece of wood. We pass the afternoon chilling in the river and reading.
It's Friday so we all end up in the kitchen for a little dj dinner party. The business owners, Ben and Guy, are both big into house music. They also have a small turn table, nice to have music available to your use. Ben and Alex, another volunteer, take turns showing my the ropes of djing. A big thing is teaching their volunteers how to dj, great way to pick up a new skill. We take turns spinning beats, kinda addicting I can see why people love doing it. We eat dinner while taking a break for a quick mid meal mix, what Ben calls it. I'm really enjoying the people here and the opportunity to continue to learn new things. Being in the jungle on the river with no wifi allows you to refocus on what it is your doing now. Really spending time with the people you are with, and enjoy your surroundings. The evening comes to a close early. We head to bed, my mind wanders else where, off to dream world.
10th Saturday
Sleeping in....to a very late 9am lol. A few volunteers and I get together to head to the beach. Walking into town first for fruit and food for lunch. I grab bananas, oranges and a can of tuna with bread for lunch. Spending $2usd on supplies. We catch the bus down to La Brisa Tranquila, walking from the road to the beach. The afternoon and evening is spent swimming in the waves, napping on the beach and catching up on some wifi time. Need to figure some flight info out for Africa and what I'm doing in November.
Off the coast a storm is coming, the lightening is ripping through the sky. We all decide to head out to Rancho Relaxo for the night. Being a volunteer at El Rio has its perks, free night stay at Rancho. We finally get to sleep in a bed, yess. Rancho is a chilled out stoner hostel, yea this is true. We join everyone for family dinner then head to the bar. Drinks, music and chilling.
11th Sunday
Waking up to farm noises early in the morning. Yes, Turkey, donkey, and monkeys. It's either farm animals, dogs or howler monkeys, that's what you get for living in the jungle. Luckily I am able to catch a few more hours of sleep, in a bed. You never realize how much you miss a bed until you go to sleep in a hammock every night.
Breakfast is served between 8-10am. Becca and I head to the kitchen to grab some type of tortilla egg thing. Hugh, another volunteer l, eventually joins us. Hugh and I stay at Rancho through the afternoon. Hiking up the hill to the Mirador. A hammock area that over looks the landscape. It's beautiful, so peaceful and away from everything. We spend the next couple of hours napping and reading. My phone had died so I was alone with my thoughts. Taking time to just be happy in nature. I find life so much simpler out here, and easy to get away from all the hustle if the States.
After a couple hours I head back down to check out and head bBack to the hostel. First I stop off in Buritaca to grab fruit. Buritaca is nothing much of anything. There are road side stands with street food and fruit, and the occasional mini mart. Besides that, nothing. You could easy drive right pass without knowing you were even in a town.
\nI pick up bananas and papaya. Spending a large 3,000p.im a big spender these days.
\n
\n12th Monday
\nI'm sick, yes sick. Waking up in the middle of the night 4 times, stomach cramps, diarrhea sick. Yup now you know.
\nSo my morning started off slow. The pain in my stomach comes and goes, I'm determined not to let it get me down. I go through my daily routine and now trying to add I side projects when I have time. First helping organize the tools. Finding a place for everything and labeling in English and Spanish so there is no excuse for people's sloppiness.
\nLunch menu is BBQ pork arepas with cooked carrots and lentils. I enjoy cooking, gives me a chance to explore new and different food options. Especially when you have to cook 5 times a week, you have to get creative. Lunch comes to a close and my body is dead. I pass out in a hammock for a couple hours. A huge storm blows through, nothing better then napping in a storm. The rain is soothing, puts my mind at ease. I wake from my nap to find Becca, a volunteer, practicing her head stands that I taught her. I love challenging people to do things they think they can't. Always great to see the expression on their face when they achieve something. She has gotten better and starts completing her push up challenge. Yess I might have started this, now everyone at the hostel is doing between 50-100 push-ups a day. Nice to keep people motivated and fit. A little bit can go a long way.
\nAlex, our sexy Polish volunteer, of course has to impress everyone and over achieve on push-ups. Not like anyone minds anyway. I mean I, as much as the next person, enjoy watching a sexy man do basically anything shirtless. Yes travelers are sexy, this world is filled with such diverse beautiful people I just can't get enough of. I'm pretty sure my favorite is the fact that we all walk around basically naked working during the day. The heat and humidity is just to much handle. And then there is swimming in the river, I guess everyone just goes naked. Whatever, being naked in the jungle is pretty epic if you ask me.
\nOK anyways Alex and Hugh are assigned to dinner, definitely should be interesting. Hugh, I honestly don't think has a clue about cooking much and Alex is a vegetarian soo he isn't cooking anything with meat. Oh and the frig is empty....yup plantains and cooked veg it is. Doesn't matter much to me, I can't really eat yet. Hoping this stomach thing passes soon. Becca and I join the boys in the kitchen to watch this disaster go down, oh and dye my hair. I need some more blue in my life, Becca helps me achieve my blue hair goals.
\n We finish dinner and head to bed early. I spend the evening chatting with Alex about our travels and the questionable future. The future will always be questionable to me, I kinda like it. Nothing is really ever planned. Sometimes I just pick something out of no where and go with it. Like going to Africa for Christmas. One day I was thinking what would be a dope place to be for Christmas, and Africa popped in my head so Africa it will be. My life is a mess and I love it.