For our first “people of interest” profile, detailing a select few of the interesting people we meet during our travels, we are featuring Marcos Garcia, a Costa Rica born-and-raised eco-farmer/ nature guide / football (soccer) player / language professor/ avid birder – you can see why we thought he was interesting.  Chelsea and I had the pleasure of spending two weeks with Marcos while volunteering at his farm in Mastatal. 

Introduction
Marcos is a 29-year-old entrepreneur from the small farming town of Mastatal.  While the majority of his peers and family have relocated to the city of San Jose after high school in order to find jobs, Marcos has fought to stay in his home town.  After a few unsuccessful career attempts (where he gained valuable trade and language skills) he believes he has finally found his calling in the eco-tourism business, working right out of his own home on his parents’ farm.  He spends most of his time doing things he loves including bird-watching, meeting volunteers and guests from around the world who come to stay on his farm (we were some of those), building and landscaping, farming, and guiding tour groups around Mastatal and other regions of Costa Rica. 

Background
Marcos grew up on his parents’ farm in the small town of Mastatal, consisting of four or five locally-owned farms and, including a few of the smaller neighbouring communities, about 150 people.  He spent most of his adolescent life helping his parents on the farm, milking and herding cows, managing a few horses and chickens, and growing produce including corn, beans and rice.  Costa Rica is an amazing place to live in such a way – it seems that everything grows ridiculously fast, and cows and chickens are seen wandering pretty much everywhere.  One of the coolest things we learned during our short visit to Mastatal was that all of the farmers in the country plant crops according to the lunar cycle.  I’m not sure if they do this at home but it was the first time we’d heard about it.  

Because Mastatal didn’t have a secondary school while Marcos was growing up, each day he and the other kids rode the bus for about 45 minutes to La Glora High School in a neighbouring town.  Once finished high school, many of Marcos’ friends moved away to look for work, the majority finding themselves in the capital city of San Jose.  This was not the life Marcos wanted for himself (fair enough, San Jose is a crazy place, interesting, but crazy).

Soon after Marcos finished high school, a professional carpenter came to Mastatal and trained Marcos and ten other students during a one-year carpentry internship.  The group received on-the-job instruction while building the local community center.  Although the training was valuable, Marcos soon found that in Mastatal he could not make a living at carpentry alone. 

Growing up, Marcos was always fascinated with the English language.  His first exposure was through music (we were quite surprised to find that much of the local popular music was stuff we knew from home – lots of Bob Marley, Green Day, Celine Dion, Creed, etc.).  Marcos quickly fell in love with the language, devouring any books he could get his hands on and eventually teaching himself enough to become almost completely fluent.  After speaking with Marcos for a few days, we were amazed to find that he had learned English independently in this way.  After working for a couple years as a carpenter, Marcos worked teaching English in the local grade school.  Although he enjoyed working with the kids, he often found that their parents were a bit too much to handle.

In 2002, La Cangreja National Park was created near Mastatal.  This led to a local boost in eco-tourism, and around this time, a few local farms began offering volunteering and internship positions for travelers.  Marcos saw an opportunity in this and started “Finca Siempre Verde” on part of his parents’ land.  Starting with just a couple small cabins in the middle of the rainforest, Marcos and his volunteers have now built a two-story building including a large classroom / yoga studio, two large dormitories each with beds to sleep about fifteen, a private room (the “honeymoon suite” during our stay), and an area below for relaxing in hammocks.  Pretty sweet place to stay!

As part of his eco-tourism offering, Marcos also recognized an opportunity to teach Spanish to English-speaking travellers.  He received training and became a certified Spanish instructor, and has been teaching his guests (which included us for two weeks) for the past nine years.  To further supplement his income from the farm, Marcos also works as a tour guide for groups of students from a few different Universities in Washington state, leading them on multi-week trips around the country and sharing with them his knowledge of the local culture and ecology.

Interests and hobbies
Marcos’ passion for birding was quickly evident from his habit of stopping mid-conversation to eagerly point out some rare species of bird that happened to sing, fly by or stop to rest on a distant treetop.  Apparently, his passion for bird-watching is not uncommon in the area: Mastatal is in a region of Costa Rica which boasts some of the best birding worldwide.  On a three-week trip guiding a group up and down the Pacific coast, Marcos claimed to have seen over 300 species of birds!  

Horseback riding is also among Marcos’ favourite activities, having ridden since he was a small child.  In town, he often competes in a game called “carrera de cintas” where riders gallop under a tiny hanging ring and catch it on the end of a pencil-sized stick. Marcos also enjoys playing football (soccer) on the local team and watching the regional games twice a week on TV with his father. 

Interview with Marcos
Note:  the translations below might not be 100% correct.  We did our best, any mistakes can be blamed on Marcos, our spanish teacher.  =)

What do you think is the meaning of life?
DESPERTARSE CADA PODER ABRIR LOS OJOS Y PODER REALIZAR LAS COSAS QUE LE HARAN FELIZ - “To wake up, open your eyes and do what makes you happy”
VIDA ES PODER VER LO LINDO DE CADA DIA Y PODER DISFRUTAR CADA MINUTO DE EL DIA INDEPENDIENTEMENTE DE LO QUE SE ESTE HACIENDO - “Life is to be able to see the beauty of every day and be able to enjoy every minute regardless of what you are doing”

Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?
POR SUPUESTO EN EL LINDO PUEBLO DE MASTATAL CONTINUANDO EN LA FINCA GRECIENDO Y TENIENDO LA OPORTUNIDAD DE MOSTRAR A OTROS UNA MANERA DIFERENTE Y SOSTENIBLE DE VIVIR EN ESTE MUNDO.  – “Of course, living in the beautiful town of Mastatal continuing to grow the farm and showing others an alternative and sustainable way of living in this world”

What do you love about Mastatal?
 LA PAZ -LA TRANQUILIDAD -LOPURA VIDA DE LA GENTE – “The peace, the tranquility, and the pure life of the people”

What do you see as the biggest problem in Mastatal?

LA NECESIDAD DE TRABAJOS PARA QUE LA POBLACION NO TENGA QUE SALIR DE MASTATAL A OTROS LUGARES Y ASI CONTINUEN EN SU TIERRA – “The lack of jobs, forcing people to leave Mastatal instead of continuing to work on their own land.”



What would you do with yourself if your parents were to sell the farm?
MOVERME A LA CIUDAD TRABAJAR COMO POLICIA O CARPINTERO Y TENER UN GRAN NECESIDAD PERDIDA POR NO PODER REALIZAR UN SUEÑO – “Move to the city and work as a policeman or carpenter, and miss out on being able to realize my dreams.”

If you could travel to any place in the world, where would you go and why?
ME GUSTARIA IR A CUBA PARA PODER TENER UN EJEMPLO DE COMO ERA LA VIDA CUANDO IS PAPAS CRECIERO.  TAMBIEN VIAJARIA AL AMAZONAS EN BRAZIL PARA PODER VER LA NATURALEZA ALLA. – “I would like to go to Cuba in order to see an example of how life was when potatoes/the pope was growing.  Also travel to the Amazon in Brazil in order to see the nature there.”

What is your opinion of the growing tourism industry in Costa Rica?
ES BUENO SIMPRE QUE SEA EN FORMA SOSTENIBLE CON SEGURAS FORMAS DE CONTROL Y QUE SEAN FUENTES DE INGREASOS PARA LA POBLACION COSTARRICENSE. – “It’s good as long as it’s done in a controlled and sustainable manner and is bringing income for the Costa Rican people.”

Who were the coolest Canadians you have met?
COOLEST: YOU PLURAL (the two of us, of course)
COOL: A FRIEND COOL AARON & A FREIND 67 BETTY FROM CALGARY 

Do you have any regrets?
NO SIMPLEMENTE  EL NO PODER TENER LA FACILIDAD DE VIAJAR POR EL MUNDO PARA PODER VER NUEVAS COSAS PARA APRENDER Y PODER APLICARLAS EN MI VIDA Y PROYECTOS PERSONALES. – “Only that I haven’t the opportunity to travel the world, see and learn new things and be able to apply them to my life and personal projects.”

Thanks, Marcos, for the great experience & we wish you the best of luck in realizing your dreams!

Pura Vida,
Mandrew & Chelsea

Hola, 
Just a very quick note that we have made a couple of updates to our website including a new "Cool Things" tab where we are keeping track of some COOL THINGS!  

On the Video section we've uploaded a couple new films that we made, described below, and you can check out the other pages when you like.

That is all!
-Chelsea

COSTA RICA WITH MARCOS
Marcos Garcia, a local Costa Rican farmer and entrepreneur that we met in Mastatal, Costa Rica, was gracious to show us some of the most beautiful things about Costa Rica.  On a quick afternoon hike and while hanging out on his farm, Siempre Verde, we saw countless birds, lizards and insects.  This video is a summary of what we saw in a very short amount of time!

YOGI'S MURAL
Andrew and Chelsea paint a wall mural at Yogi's Hostel in Moyogalpa, Isle de Ometepe, Nicaragua

Well, we have said our good-byes and are now on our way to Isle Ometepe, Nicaragua.  While we are excited to see a new place and spend some time on a beach, we were also sad to leave Mastatal!  The tiny farming community in the middle of nowhere, Costa Rica.  After three weeks we came to feel like locals, passing familiar faces everywhere we went, and recognizing the newbies in town when they passed through.  We will fondly remember the tink frog sounds at night, the rooster in the morning, and the smell of caca de vaca (cow poo) that frequently wafted on by.  

During our last few days in Maststal Marcos, the finca owner at Siempre Verde, was very gracious to show us some of the most beautiful parts of Costa Rica and he enlightened us with heaps of birder knowledge.  I have never met a real life "birder" before, and now that I have, the movie, "The Big Year" makes much more sense to me (if you haven't seen it, you MUST!  It's hilarious!).  I have always found birds to be very beautiful and neat, but I admit that I have developed a higher interest in them since meeting Marcos.  He could name any bird making a peep or flying by at any time.  He would be in the middle of explaining something about the finca and abruptly turn straight around and point dead square at a tiny humming bird five trees away!  He really is connected to all of nature and being around him for two weeks really strengthened our connection as well.  

Marcos took us on a hike down (and through a few times) one of the main rivers that runs through Maststal to show us the sights, birds, insects, plants, etc.  We took a bunch of video footage and will be making a short video about the Costa Rican wildlife while we are in Nicaragua.  He also took us on a very cool night hike near the finca where we got to see some nightlife in action!  

One thing that I find kind of hilarious is how used to something you can become.  For example, I was cooking dinner a couple of nights ago, stirring a bunch of rice and beans in a big frying pan on the stove, when the rice began to move!  I gave it a second before poking it with the wooden spoon and all of a sudden two large cockroaches crawled out of the rice and over the side of the pan.  I did take a half a second before I continued stirring but I realized that it really didn't have much impact on me.  But if I think about how I would react if that happened at home?!  No friggin way would I even still be in the same room, much less continue cooking and EATING it!  Haha.  Also, on our night hike, I had stopped to take a picture of something (a frog maybe?) and Marcos came up and asked me if I had seen the giant tarantula standing next to me.  I calmly looked down and started taking pictures of it, without a second thought.  If this had happened on the first, or even fifth night in Costa Rica, I would probably be in the ground, dead from a heart attack.  Not only have we gotten used to these things, we have grown very fond of them, and will miss them terribly while we are gone!  

But we don't have to get too far ahead of ourselves just yet, we are staying in Central America for at least a couple more months and I am sure will have many more encounters with the jungle.  Next time you hear from us will be from a beach in Nicaragua looking at a volcano!  Hope everyone at home is doing well, I heard it was snowing in Whitehorse today (hehehe).  

Love you all!
Chelsea

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Hola amigos!  Nosotros estamos aprendiendo espanol ahora.

We are staying at another organic finca (farm) near Mastatal, 2.5km from Villas Mastatal (the last finca we volunteered at).  Marcos is our Spanish teacher and is instructing us on our volunteer activities.  Our days are very busy here starting with preparing breakfast at 6:30am, eat at 7:00, work from 8:00 to 1:00, eat lunch, Spanish lessons from 2:00 to 4:00, and prepare dinner at 5:30, eat at 6:00.  Not much free time…

Our work is variable, including gardening and planting things, digging holes and landscaping, harvesting, and building projects including constructing a wall in the dormitory area, sanding and varnishing wood for the wall and other projects.  I have also agreed to help Marcos with a computer project, making a 5ish minute video about the nearby national park, La Cangreja. 

We are usually pretty beat by 1:00, covered with sweat, mud and caca de vaca (cow poo), so the cold shower is a great reward.  While it is gratifying and interesting, I am finding this work to be pretty hard.  Since the bugs are so bad (for me anyway, it feels like I have chicken pox all the time!) I have to wear long pants, a long sleeve shirt, and rubber boots.  It is super hot and humid here and nothing ever seems to dry, so it is like working inside a steam sauna all the time that stinks like mold and vinegar.  Even just walking is hard work.  Plus there is no flat land here, and the paths to everything are muddy and clay so you’re constantly trying not to slip. 

I don’t mean to complain so much, but I am really looking forward to having some FREE TIME to RELAX and READ and SWIM and EXPLORE and DO YOGA and whatever else we feel like doing.  We are paying quite a lot of money to be here and we don’t have much time to ourselves.  And we are the only volunteers here and we miss having others to play cards and share experiences with.  We will stick around here for one more week so we can continue with our Spanish lessons with Marcos (he is an amazing teacher) and then we will probably head north to Nicaragua!  Lilly and Kim, the awesome French girls we met at Villas Mastatal, recommended an island on a lake near the Nicaragua/Costa Rica border (Isle de Ometepe) so we are going to figure out how to get there soon.  After a week or so of that maybe we will head to Roatan for some diving and then back down to CR to meet up with Andrew’s parents!  Christina (another lady we met at Villas Mastatal) recommended a cool hostel in CR that we might check out before Donna and Jim arrive. 

The dormitory at Siempre Verde is very very nice.  We have an amazing view of the rainforest from the second floor yoga deck, and we sleep on the third floor above that.  At night we hear the craziest sounds!  When the night thunder and rainstorms aren’t hammering on the tin roof above us we can hear owls, frogs, monkeys, crickets, geckos and a TON of unexplained noises.  It is a little bit scary sometimes because most of the sounds are completely new to us!  Plus going to the bathroom in the middle of the night is intimidating because you never know what is lurking in the shadows.  Last night, for example, we were awakened by something climbing and rustling in the tree beside our window (everything is open, no glass or walls or anything) and then a bat was flying around our bed for a few hours.  Pretty cool stuff! 

Yesterday we hiked through La Cangreja national park near Mastatal with our friend Spencer from Villas Mastatal, and we saw some neat frogs, bugs and a small coral snake.  We heard some kind of larger animal running down a tree but didn’t see it.   It was probably a coati or monkey of some sort.  On the way back home we stopped at the bar in Mastatal for a cerveza and someone had killed a fer de lance snake (extremely poisonous) and left it on the roof of the bar.  This snake is responsible for several deaths per year, and this was the second one we encountered in the last week…  The first one was trying to get into Marcos’ parents place (just up the hill from our cabana) a few nights ago!  So we have to be pretty cautious when we go hiking through the rainforest, or even just walking around at night anywhere.  When we first got here 2 weeks ago, we were pretty much fearless and ignorant, hiking for a few hours through a small overgrown stream to a beautiful waterfall, wearing nothing but shorts, tank top and barefoot.  We have adjusted a little bit and aren’t so much afraid of anything as just a bit smarter, I think.  We walk a bit slower through overgrown trails now, and we take a machete with us just in case a boa constrictor decides to try to make lunch of us. 

Overall, Costa Rica is completely amazing!  Everything is new, and weird, and difficult, and uncomfortable, and confusing, and scary, and EXACTLY what we were hoping to experience!  This is travelling!  This is how it must feel to be a kid again, discovering the world, testing limits, trying to communicate, and navigating anything!  And everything that is normal to us is completely crazy to the people we meet here (cold winters, bears and moose, northern lights, dishwashers, fast food, etc).  How cool is THAT?!

Pura vida
-Chelsea

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Hola amigos!

Our first few days in Costa Rica have been awesome!  When I was originally planning our first destination I had an inkling we'd be a bit off the beaten path, and indeed we are!  Although the 36 hours of traveling was a bit painful (including three hours on a bus along a winding and hilly dirt road - not for the faint of stomach), it was definitely worth it, as we've found ourselves in a small farming town (about 150 people) in the middle of an incredible lush and hilly forest.

Villas Mastatal is an organic farm of about 40 acres, owned by a local family & passed down for the last fifty or so years.  About half the land is maintained with a mix of fruit trees, veggies, herbs & leafy greens, a grazing area for the cows, a couple chicken coops, a pig pen, a small tilapia pond, and accommodations for the family and up to about 40 volunteers; the other half is left in its natural mostly forested state.  It seems to me that Javier, Raquel and their two year old son Andres have it pretty good with their own slice of paradise, and they've been extremely happy to share it with us.

The volunteering experience so far has been great.  A typical day has been wake for breakfast at 7, work from 8-12, and then relax, read, hike, hang out with the other volunteers and help the family prepare & clean up after meals (typically beans, rice and or pasta, salad and fresh fruit).  We spent a couple days sanding & varnishing the dining tables, and the rest of the time helping with various tasks around the farm: fertilizing plants with compost, planting seeds, collecting fresh fruit & herbs for meals, and shoveling cow poop (caca de vaca).  The work has been just vigorous enough to ensure you're soaked in sweat by lunch time and ready for a refreshing cold shower.

The weather has been warm but not hot, but incredibly humid (it is rainy season, after all).  Most mornings seem to be overcast but rain-free, and at some point in the afternoon it will either rain a little or rain a lot.  Our biggest challenge has been finding a way to properly dry our clothes to avoid a musty odor - a losing battle thus far.

We've now got the weekend off, so we'll likely spend some time checking out the bar in Mastatal or wandering into the national park to hunt for monkeys (we can hear them screaming at night, but have yet to spot any).  On Monday we'll move 1.5 km down the road to Siempre Verde and begin our much anticipated Spanish lessons.

Pura Vida,
Mandrew

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Flights booked, accommodations arranged, Dukoral ingested - it's finally happening!  Our summer in the Yukon has been incredible, but we're ready to start our real adventure.  We fly out of Whitehorse on Sunday morning and will arrive in San Jose, Costa Rica early on Monday.  From there, we'll catch the bus for about 4 hours to the small town of Mastatal (see map below), where we've arranged our first couple stints of volunteering. 

Our first week or so we'll spend at Villas Mastatal, a small family-run organic farm and eco-lodge.  From there, we'll head over to Cabañas Siempre Verde, where we'll volunteer while taking part in their intensive Spanish language training.  By staying as volunteers, we'll be expected to work about 4 or 5 hours a day, 5 days a week in exchange for accommodation and meals at a reduced rate ($10-15/day each).  We're not exactly sure what we'll be asked to do as volunteers, but it could include random farming work (weeding gardens, harvesting crop, milking cows, etc.), construction projects (building maintenance or trail clearing), or helping out in the kitchen.  Once the work is done, we'll have plenty of time to relax and explore our new surroundings, hike around the neighboring La Cangreja National Park, swim in waterfalls, swing through the trees with monkeys & bats, and have a generally awesome time.

From what we've been told, Mastatal is a pretty small town with not much more than an internet cafe, bar, church, pay phone, convenience store and soccer field.  Should be an interesting starting point for us! We've been told the locals are extremely friendly, and based on the jovial-looking folks on the colones (especially Señor Muttonchops, bottom left) I'd have to agree.  

I'm not sure when we'll next be able to post an update, but in the very least we should be able to send some GPS beacons to let everyone know we're still kicking.  We've thrown a map on our home page which will show our most recent location updates.  Pretty snazzy, eh?

We're both really excited and nervous to be diving straight into things like this, but that's generally the way to go.  We'll spend the next few days getting our things packed, saying our goodbyes, and enjoying our last few nights in a real bed.  Wish us luck, and don't forget to keep bein' chili (I'm working on a catch phrase, thoughts?)

Mandrew

Map of Mastatal, Costa Rica: