the boys take to the mountain

johnny came to visit us, and he and josh and david (from quepos) went to hike mount chirripo earlier this week. chirripo is the highest peak in costa rica! they hit an elevation of over 11,000 feet. according to the guidebook this hike can take from 6 to 10 hours depending on your personal ability. it also frequently rains, and is in the low 30s at the peak (very rarely they may even get a bit of snow). now you know why i didnt go :) they had a great time, even though they got poured on, and the elevation made it difficult to breathe. it was in the low 30s when they got to the lodge at the top (you spend the night on the top and hike down the next day). josh got a gigantic blister on his heel which got a bit infected so we headed to the pharmacy when they got back, and picked up some drugs. it was great, you can just go in there and explain your ailments and get pretty much whatever you need. fantastic!

while they were gone i was ALL ALONE which i was not too happy about. i dont like being alone to begin with, and then as it turns out, i had quite a rough 2 days. i had to kill 2 cockroaches (after it rains, a lot more bugs come out). the lights went out on me for a few minutes and i didnt have any candles and the boys had taken the only flashlight so i thought i'd be going to bed super early but then they came back on. the water went out mid-shower. and then suicide shower blew up on me. ok that was a bit of an exaggeration, but the thing sparked and sizzled and i totally freaked out. it blew the fuse and you could see the wires (love the costa rican electrical codes... nonexistent) and thus we had no hot water for the last few days here! LASTLY..... on monday night i was walking from the couch to the sink, and something fell on me. something alive.... kind of on my chest... so i looked down, saw something kind of jello-y like on me, picked it off me, threw it on the floor and started to freak out. it looked like a little puddle of gecko. so i thought that our little baby gecko died or something! i mean, they dont just fall off the ceiling! they are masters at clinging to things! anyway i had a minor meltdown and was FREAKING out and then i pulled myself together and went to get a plastic cup so that i could scoop up poor baby gecko and dispose of hi somehow. i come back and its gone. so now im freaking out more, because i cant go to sleep until i confirm baby gecko is alive and well, i cannot risk him falling on me again in the middle of the night. so i look around carefully and see movement in the bedroom. surprise! its not a gecko but a FROG! A FROG! now i am having a full blown freak out and am chasing it around the room. must catch frog before going to sleep! he is a lively little thing, on the floor, on the bed, on the shelves, on our clothes, back on the bed, almost under the sheets.... it took about 15 or 20 minutes but i finally trapped him and got him safely outside. needless to say, i am never going to let josh out of the house overnight again :)

here are some pictures from the hike the boys took: