Friday, March 27, 2009

T Minus Two Days: The Freakout

It's Friday, less than two days before I leave for Costa Rica. This morning I decided to back up some important files onto a USB hard drive. The drive made weird sounds. So did my other USB drive. Attempting to fix things, I caused Windows to lose recognition of the keyboard and mouse. This meant I was unable to log onto my laptop -- the laptop that's going to allow me to do all my photo editing, my blogging, and to work for the Montevede Institute for four weeks.

I've been there before. If you run Windows, you've been there, too, no doubt. Many thanks to Joseph, Tina L, Elie, and Ceri, all of whom offered help. In the end, Windows just arbitrarily decided to "find" the keyboard and mouse again, but only after half a day of backing up files, trying over and over to reinstall Windows, and rebooting countless times.

As you glaze over from this dull report, please realize I just needed to vent to the world. I promise my next blog entry will be of greater relevance and interest. Maybe even beauty.

Monday, March 16, 2009

T Minus Thirteen and Counting

Spider Monkey, 2005
Guanacaste, Costa Rica

I've started this blog to post photos and narratives during my upcoming trip to Costa Rica March 29th to April 26th.

In just 13 days I'll be in Liberia, Costa Rica, where my plane lands at 7:30 pm. With the roads being treacherous at night, I'll stay in Liberia the first night. From there, I'll spend two days and nights near CaƱas, where I'll take a half-day float trip down the Corobici River. From there, I'll catch the Interbus to Santa Elena/Monteverde, where I'll spend the rest of my four weeks photographing nature in the cloud forest jungle and environs.

The Monteverde Institute has offered me internet access during my visit. Since they're located a few miles from my cabin, I'm not sure how often I'll actually be online, but my hope is to post here at least several times weekly.

This map shows my travel points (click image for a legible version):
Click to see a legible map