Second Honeymoon Update

Email from Dan to Family:

hey family.  still alive!

after the rainforest place we went down to another tourist town called la Fortuna, where we rode horses to a 210ft waterfall with a swimming hole, found an awesome hot springs place, and went white water rafting on a river with 40 class 3 and 4 rapids.  what a rush.  it left us exhausted and hurting in many various ways.  blisters, cuts, sores, aching muscles, etc.  so we spent 9 hours on the bus to get where we are now... the caribbean coast. its like a different country than the rest of costa rica... well come to think of it, each place we´ve been is like a different WORLD.  here, everyone is really mellow.  the afro caribbean culture predominates here... costa rican rastafarians, if you will.  we found a tiny little town with a very local feel rather than a touristy place.  we are more than happy to hang out in hammocks all day strung between coconut trees reading and relaxing.  i cant beleive how warm the caribbean is.  the waves are actually pretty decent sized, but so far we havent gotten to the beach early enough to avoid the offshore wind that breaks them up too much.  and also i havent found anywhere that rents body boards and fins.  thats okay though.

yesterday we rented 50cc scooters and zipped around the coast, had a picnic of homeade sangria and fresh pineapple.  a local wandering along the beach used his machete to chop open a coconut for us.  its pretty idyllic.

jay, hope your job is going well!

parents, too, i guess!  more than that, i hope you are staying sane with jess around.  we will come deflect some of her angst in a couple weeks.

we are going to explore a forest reserve today.  later!

Dan

Ellie's Honeymoon Update

Email from Ellie to Family and Friends:

alive and okay (great actually).

we're having a blast! dan's lyin on a hammock by the ocean, less than 20 feet from our hotel room (which costs only $20/night, and has a map of costa rica painted on one wall). means the beach is small but the sound effect at night will probably be nice. just got here from the rainforest area, where we went horseback riding to a 180ft waterfall with a swimming hole at the bottom, zip-lining at canopy level, white-water rafting, hiking, etc it was all amazing, but my legs are so sore now i can barely walk. glad we had the "honeymoon" period before that just lounging in the ritzy hotel, cause that really sapped our energy.

i tried to convince dan to adopt this adorable, smart, loving mutt-puppy from our hostel (they had already had her fixed and cleaned up, and she was SO sweet, colors just like a dingo and thats what i wanted to call her) but dan convinved me not to, and he's right--its pretty hard (and silly) to bring a dog back as a souvenir.

everyone pretty much speaks spanish and english, but we're still trying to test our language skills out as much as possible. now we're trying to spend less money, aka hang out in hammocks on the beach for a few days on the caribbean coast. it has a very jamaican feel, lots of african south-americans, coconut shrimp food rather than beans and rice, and everything is cheaper.

rents -- dont worry, dan is guarding our passports and money with an under-the-clothes travel wallet. i keep a little out in the "jesus SAVES!" plastic joke change purse erica gave me so he doesnt have to flash all of our valuables in public. so far so good. :)

alrighty, im going to go. just wanted to let you guys know that we're happy, safe, and relaxed/adventuring, no worries.

love you lots,

ellie

ps the main grocery store in la fortuna, the town near arenal volcano that we just visited, (oh yeah and we went to some amazing hot springs), was named Super Christian 2. i thought that was pretty funny.

:)

love again,

 ellie

Honeymoon Update

Email from Dan to Family and Friends:

yall!
just sayin hi from Costa Rica
I cant believe its been only a week since the wedding... what a whirlwind.
We left the Yacht Club and crashed at a nice little hotel in the U District, slept for 12 hours, woke up, had lunch with the Swansons and then caught a flight to LA, then a redeye to Miami, then flew over Cuba to Costa Rica, tired and exhausted.  We taxid down from the airport to the pacific coast, to a luxurious all inclusive 4 star hotel with a private beach.  I´m not sure what we really did there for 3 days... it involved lots of suntanning aka sunburning, reading in the shade, eating gourmet and I really mean gourmet food, drinking at the 3 bars, smoking hand rolled cigars (being rolled by an imported Cuban man in a round hat in the lobby of the hotel) and in general being waited on like a king and queen.  Well we had enough of that luxury... its exhausting having nothing to do except sleep eat drink smoke and read books... so we hopped in a cab and then a bus and then another bus/cab like thing and drove over a few dozen potholed washboard road and ended up in the cloud forest at the tip top of the world called Monte Verde, where we are about to spend out 3rd night in a nice little backpackers hostel.  Yesterday we went on a ¨canopy tour¨which is pure madness.  They set up platforms in the tops of massive rainforest trees and strung really long cables between them in such a way that you hook a caribeener attached to a pulley on one end and a harness on the other and throw yourself into open air and then soar over/thru/under/between the trees, trying to look to both sides to see the incredible views, down to watch the ground flying by at ridiculous speeds, and ahead to try to figure how to land on the next platform without flying off the other side.  It was incredible.  And you couldnt really fly off the other side but it felt like it.  That went on for a few hours. 
Ellie found a dog in the hostel that she wants to adopt.  Im slowly trying to convince her that its a bad idea.  But it is a really really cute dog.  We named her Dingo.  Right now Ellie is asleep with Dingo curled up next to her. 
Tomorrow we are doing a ¨coffee tour¨of a plantation.  Supposed to be some the best coffee in the world.  I will try to bring yall some.  Then we are heading down the other side of the mountain in a jeep-boat-jeep trip to La Fortuna, where we hope to relax in the famed Tabacon Hot Springs before trying to get to the caribean coast.  travel can be hard during the rainy season. 
Life is hard.
see you in a few weeks!  hope you are enjoying your summers!
Well, thanks for tuning in... and thanks again for making my wedding day memorable and special.  I love you all.
- Dan Wedge Swanson 

ps ellie woke up and informed me that Dingo puked in our bed.  gross!  thats what we get for feeding her half a pack of bologna.

Implications of One Plus One

Implications of one plus one
- Marge Piercy

Sometimes we collide, tectonic plates merging,

continents shoving, crumpling down into the molten

veins of fire deep in the earth and raising

tons of rock into jagged crests of Sierra.

Sometimes your hands drift on me, milkweed's

airy silk, wingtip's feathery caresses,

our lips grazing, a drift of desires gathering

like fog over warm water, thickening to rain.

Sometimes we go to it heartily, digging,

burrowing, grunting, tossing up covers

like loose earth, nosing into the other's

flesh with hot nozzles and wallowing there.

Sometimes we are kids making out, silly

in the quilt, tickling the xylophone spine,

blowing wet jokes, loud as a whole

slumber party bouncing till the bed breaks.

I go round and round you sometimes, scouting,

blundering, seeking a way in, the high boxwood

maze I penetrate running lungs bursting

toward the fountain of green fire at the heart.

Sometimes you open wide as cathedral doors

and yank me inside. Sometimes you slither

into me like a snake into its burrow.

Sometimes you march in with a brass band.

Ten years of fitting our bodies together

and still they sing wild songs in new keys.

It is more and less than love: timing,

chemistry, magic and will and luck.

One plus one equal one, unknowable except

in the moment, not convertible into words,

not explicable or philosophically interesting.

But it is. And it is. And it is. Amen.