El Diario

Pokud bych mel vyjadrit pocity z posledniho vikendu jednim slovem, nejspise bych neodpovedel. Pobrezi Ticheho oceanu a narodni park Manuel Antonio totiz proste jednim slovem popsat nelze.

Vstavat o pul pate uz mi necini takove potize (jo, ja vim, porad mi neverite..) a vidina par hodin v autobuse me uklidnovala, ze prece ten spanek dozenu. V sest deset uz jsem sedel na svem sedadle v pomerne pohodlnem buse smer zapadni pobrezi. Tedy pohodlnem do doby nez jsem zjistil, ze si nohy nenatahnu, protoze jednoduse neni kam. Nepripadam si prilis vysoky a stejne mam s mistnimi dopravnimi prostredky problemy. Takze ze spani nic nebylo.

Po necelych 4 hodinach jsme se ubytovali a vyrazili rovnou na plaz. Prvni velmi svetly moment vyletu. Docela hezke vlny (ne jako ten Karibsky rybnik), slunce prijemne hralo, sumeni palem na pobrezi a vsudypritomne musle a koraly. A dokonce i vychlazene pivo Na tvari se mi objevil blazeny usmev cislo 1 Pres poledne jsem se natahl na slunicko, ale ze spanku zase nebylo nic. Kdybych usnul, tak se tam asi roztecu..

Vecer jsme snedli / vypili meloun s vodkou, stravili prijemny vecer a sli vyhlizet Yvonne, ktera prijela autobusem asi v pul jedenacte. Na nejake tancovani v mistnich (nebo neprilis vzdalenych) klubech uz ale krome ni a Chihiro nemel nikdo energii..

Druhy den jsme po snidani (takze kolem 11 vyrazili do narodniho parku, ktery zacinal hned za mesteckem a ktery mohl za muj blazeny usmev cislo 2. Za tri hodiny chozeni v lese plnem palem, lian a kdovijakych vsech stromu jsem stihnul potkat lenochoda, houf opicek, myvala, nekolik flegmatickych leguanu a hromady jesterek a pak jeste jednou skocit do oceanu se osvezit.. Dokonce i casove se nam podarilo stihnout vse nez zacalo prset z hrozive vypadajicich mraku a pak uz jenom vyzvednout veci a nastoupit do autobusu..

Mozna mi budete to horko zavidet, ale ja jsem byl docela rad, kdyz jsem se objevil v suchem a pomerne chladnem (okolo 24C) San Jose.. Teplo je fajn, ale ja radsi vetrny podzim a chladnou zimu. Priste asi pojedu nekam k polarnimu kruhu..

(trochu jsem zmenil fotogalerii, tak se neleknete.. je tam i moznost vyjadrit se ke kazde fotce..)

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If I had to express my feelings from the last weekend with only one word, I wouldn’t probably be able to answer. Pacific ocean coast and national park Manuel Antonio just can not be described by a single word.

I don’t feel that big difficulties to get up at 4.30 (I know, you still don’t believe me..) and the idea of having some more sleep on the bus was calming me down. At 6.10 I was already sitting on my seat in quite comfortable bus in direction west coast. Well, comfortable only until I found out I couldn’t stretch my legs because there just was no space. I don’t feel like being tall and I have problems with local means of transport anyway. So the sleep had to wait..

After almost 4 hours we got accomodated and set out to the beach. The first bright moment of the trip. Quite nice waves (not as the Carribean lake), the sun was giving pleasant warmth, palms whispering on the coast and shells and corals everywhere. And even a cold beer My face created a cheerful smile number 1 Shortly after noon I lay on the sand but again, no sleep. If I fell asleep there, I would probably melt..

Later we ate / drank a watermelon with vodka, spent a pleasant evening and went to meet Yvonne, that arrived at half past ten. But nobody except her and Chihiro had enough energy to dance in local (and not so far) clubs..

The second day after breakfast (that means around 11am we visited a national park that was created just behing the small town and that was a reason for my cheerful face number 2. During three hours of walks in the forest full of palmtrees, lianas and who knows what other trees I managed to see a sloth, a bunch of monkeys, a racoon, several flegmatic iguanas and lots of lizards and also jump in the ocean once again.. We were even able to return back before the rain started to fall from the scary looking clouds and then just to pick up our things and get on the bus..

Maybe you will be a little envious about the warmth here, but I was quite happy to appear again in dry and quite cold (around 24C) San Jose.. Hot weather is fine but I prefer windy autumn and really cold winter. Next time I’ll probably go to the polar circle..

(I changed the photogallery a little, don’t be scared.. you can also add comments to the photos separately..)

V sobotu byl statni svatek vzniku Ceskoslovenske republiky, ceska ambasada pri te prilezitosti poradala v patek malou recepci pro Cechy zijici v Kostarice a i ke mne se dostala pozvanka (byla pro dve osoby, tak jsme sli s Veronikou, ktera tady na “moji” skole studuje).
Byl to pro me velmi zajimavy zazitek, ktery ve mne asi na dlouhou dobu zanecha prijemny pocit z lidi, kterym nevadi, ze na sobe nemate oblek (nebo to aspon nedavali najevo , kteri si radi popovidali o tom, co obnasi prace na velvyslanectvi, anebo proste jenom o tipech na vylet, abychom dobu v teto daleke zemi vyuzili k jejimu dokonalemu poznani.

A hlavne jsem zase slysel cestinu – a nedam na ni dopustit..

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On Saturday we had a national holiday, a day of Czechoslovak Republic establishment, Czech embassy organized a small reception and I also received one invitation (it was for 2 people so I took also Veronika, a Czech student at “my” school).

It was a very interesting experience and I will remember a very good feeling of people that don’t mind you not having a suit (or at least nobody noted , that liked to talk about what an employment at an embassy looks like and demands, or just about some trip advices so that we can fully enjoy our stay in this far and beautiful country.

And I also heard Czech language – and I know I will never want to lose it..

Pocasi: tak mi to s tim pranim nevyslo, skoro cely tyden mi proprsel, jesteze jsem se nemusel nikam moc dopravovat pesky, ale vzdycky me nekdo svezl.. Ale za tyden obdobi destu konci

Lide a zeme: privetivi, bez nejakych konfliktu, na cizince jsou asi zvykli. Hlavni pesi zona je znama kapsarstvim, ale to je asi vsude na svete. Tuto nedeli Panamu ceka velke referendum, zda maji investovat asi 30% sveho HDP (kolem 5 miliard dolaru) do obrovske prestavby kanalu, ktera by umoznila projizdeni i vetsich lodi nez v soucasnosti. Zatim jsou pry preference asi 65-35 pro “ano”. Vzhledem k tomu, ze Panama na kanalu pomerne slusne vydelava, da se to chapat, i kdyz na vselijakych budovach najdete nasprejovane napisy “No” a spoustu billboardu proti, zejmena na univerzitach. Potkal jsem se taky s demostraci, ale ta se tykala socialniho (penzijniho) systemu a stavkovali duchodci Normalne zablokovali jednu z ulic pred parlamentem a smula.. Vekovy prumer stavkujicich tak kolem 65

Lode: jsou vazne obrovske a vejde se na ne neuveritelne mnozstvi kontejneru s roztodivnymi nazvy a napisy na bocich, nejcasteji Maersk a cinske klikyhaky. Perlickou je, ze asi 70% vsech lodi ma panamskou vlajku (taky maji druhou nejvetsi flotilu, po Egyptu, hadejte proc Trochu zavidim Ondrovi a Jardovi v Rotterdamu, nejak si ten pristav nedokazu predstavit, ale musi to byt supr..

Konference: samotna konference byla trochu zvlastni, takova nejaka jina. Delegatu bylo asi 25 a na to skutecne nejsem z CZ zvykly. Ale nakonec to bylo fajn, zejmena proto, ze v arealu se nachazel bazen, takze kazdy vecer se vsichni presunuli tam a jali se konzumovat napoje. Libilo se mi

Cesta: to jedine me nebavilo, Panama City je odsud vzdalena 800 kilometru, ale jedna cesta trva okolo 17 hodin, autobusem.. Plus pasova kontrola a prohlidka batohu na hranicich.. I kdyz – tohle byla jedina vtipna cast cesty, jako nejnebezpecnejsi zbrane byly vyhodnoceny nase jmenovky se zaviracimi spendliky, jinak by se asi panamsky celnik kazdeho neptal, co a k cemu to je. Na kostaricke strane pri kontrole jenom mavli rukou nad mym pasem a nevyslovitelnym jmenem a bylo. Akorat sem si na to musel 45 minut pockat..

Fotky samozrejme najdete nahore, cekam taky vase podnety k prvni a posledni fotce v komentarich

A kdo by nahodou litoval, ze jeste nevidel video pisne “Vamos a la playa”, tak tady je odkaz: http://youtube.com/watch?v=V6XeSRwREf8

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Weather: well, I wasn’t lucky enough, it was raining almost the whole week, only good fact was that I didn’t have to move anywhere by walking, but there was always someone giving me a ride.. But I was told that the rainy season ends within a week

People and country: kind, not looking for conflicts, probably used to foreigners. The main pedestrian zone is known for a lot of pickpockets, but this is probably the same as anywhere else. This Sunday the citizens of Panama will decide (in a referendum) if they want to invest about 30% of their gross domestic product (GDP) – around 5000 millions USD – into a giant canal reconstruction, which would allow even the biggest ships flow through. So far the predictions say 65 vs 35 for a reconstruction. Panama is earning a lot by having the canal, so this decision is quite expected, even though you can see a lot of graffitti saying just “No.” and a lot of billboards against the investment, mostly at the universities. I also met a demonstration, but this one was not connected with the referendum, but the social security and pension system and the demonstrants were the retired people They just blocked one of the streets in front of the parliament and that’s it.. Average age around 65

Ships: they are really huge and are able to transport incredible amount of cargo containers with various names and writing ont he sides, most often Maersk and chinese signs. The interesting fact is that about 70% of all ships have panamanian flag (they have the second largest flotile of the world, the first one is Egypt, guess why I’m little envying Jarda and Ondro being in Rotterdam, I just can’t imagine the port, but it must be fabulous..

Conference: the conference itself was a little bit different, somehow. I’m really not used to having 25 delegates, being from CZ. But in the end it was very nice, especially because of the bathing pool – which meant everyone moving for the night and having drinks there. I liked it

Travel: the only part I didn’t like that much, Panama City is 800 kilometers from here, but the journey takes 17 hours, by bus. Plus the passport and baggage control on the border.. Although this was the only funny part of the ride, as the most violent weapons were considered our name badges with pins, because otherwise the panamanian customs officer wouldn’t ask everyone what it is and why we carry it. On the costarican side they just waved above my passport and unpronounceable (what a word!) name and that was it. I only had to wait 45 minutes for that..

You can obviously see the photos under the link above, I’m awaiting your comments on the first and last photos

And if you somehow haven’t seen the “Vamos a la playa” song video, here is the link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=V6XeSRwREf8

Tak me Duro predbehl s oznamenim meho vyletu, ale co se da delat.. Ano, tento tyden se nachazim v Paname a zucastnim se tady regionalni konference AIESEC jako organizator, coz ma svou vyhodu v tom, ze muzu stravit v Paname vic dni, trochu se podivat po okoli (snad a snazit se zazit atmosferu dalsi zeme.

Prvni dojmy: i kdyz to jsou sousedni zeme, historie a mentalita je uplne jina nez v Kostarice. Po ziskani nezavislosti od Spanelska totiz Panama nepatrila ke zbytku stredni Ameriky, ale stala se soucasti Kolumbie, od ktere se odtrhli o dalsich asi 50 let pozdeji. Takze tady v listopadu slavi dva dny nezavislosti i kdyz realne to netrvalo dlouho a prisli Americani, aby postavili pruplav. Do toho si jeste primyslete fakt, ze Panama je treti zeme na svete podle pomeru cinskych pristehovalcu na osobu (pry nejakych 90-95% takovych tech malych obchudku se smisenym zbozim typu “vecerka” je vlastnenych cinany), a vyleze vam z toho sileny mix vsemoznych kultur..

Prostredi: po cely rok vicemene stejna teplota (kolem 28C) s vykyvy plus minus 5 stupnu. Obdobi destu je skutecne obdobi destu, takze tu nekdy prsi s drobnymi prestavkami nekolik dni v kuse (doufam, ze tohle nepocitim Doprava – maji tady cesty v nadprumernem stavu, dalnice na sever je skutecne kvalitou srovnatelna s D1, existuji ukazatele smeru do mestskych casti a auta na cervenou skutecne zastavi Trochu zvlastni je troubeni pri jakekoli prilezitosti (kdyz mate i treba jen malinkou predtuchu, ze tamto stojici auto davajici prednost hodla vyrazit a narazit do vas..) a nejsilenejsi ridici jsou v takovych tech silene pomalovanych a okolo 50 let starych autobusech, kterym je uplne jedno, jak rychle a z jake strany vas predjedou. Neni divu, ze se jim tu rika “diablos rojos” (=cerveni dabli).

Ale jinak se mi Panama City vazne libi, zase si na chvili pripadam nostalgicky a vzpominam na OV a to druhe velke mesto v CZ, kde studuju I kdyz pravda, tolik mrakodrapu v Cesku nemame, takze jsou mozna i o krok dal..

Musim koncit, za chvili odjizdim pripravovat misto urceni.. Zpatky v Panama City bych mel byt v pondeli vecer a v kanclu ve stredu dopoledne (oboje mistniho casu)..

Well, Duro was quicker with announcing my arrival, but what one can do.. Yes, this week my location is Panama and I will take part in a regional AIESEC conference as a member of organizing team. Its advantage is that I’m supposed to spend more time in Panama City (and hopefully also its surroundings) and feel the atmosphere of another country.

First feelings: even though they are neighbouring countries, the history, mentality and life is completely different than in Costa Rica. After gaining independence from Spain they didn’t become a part of central America but a part of Colombia, from which they separated som 50 years later. That results in celebrating two “independence days” in November although in reality it didn’t take long time until the Americans came and started building the canal. To this you can add also the fact, that Panama is country with 3rd highest ratio of Chinese per capita (it’s said that some 90-95% of those tiny little shops with various articles is owned by Chinese) a nd you have a completely crazy mixture of cultures..

The place and environment: more or less the same temperature through the whole year (around 28C) +- 5C. The rainy season is really rainy which means sometimes several days with rain (I just hope I will not be there during this period Traffic – they have roads in above-average condition, the highway in direction north is comparable with Czech D1, there are direction signs and cars really stop on red lights A little bit weird is using honks anytime (if you think that a car over there standing and letting you go wants to hit you) and the most crazy drivers are in those colorful and about 50 years old buses that don’t really care how fast and which way they overtake you. No wonder they are called “diablos rojos” (= red devils).

But to be honest, I like Panama City, I feel nostalgy a little reminding of Ostrava and the other big city I’m studying in I also have to admit we don’t have such skyscrapers (not even the ocean) so they may be one step ahead..

I have to finish now, I’m leaving in a while to start preparation of the place.. I should be back in Panama City by Monday evening and back in my school by Wednesday morning (both local time)..

… je zkratka pro Outgoing Preparation Seminar, neboli vikend pro zajemce o zahranicni praxi. Ja jsem se na nem podilel jako ziva ukazka toho, jak nekdo takovy vypada – a taky jsem chtel videt, jakym zpusobem podobne vikendove akce funguji tady v Kostarice.

Misto bylo vybrano nadherne, uprostred kopcu a presto jenom pulhodinku od hlavniho mesta, v “parku” zvanem Fossilland. Cestou jsme museli prekonat pomerne strme stoupani a nakonec slapat jeste asi 20 minut do jeste strmejsiho kopce k chate, ale vyhled stal za to (na fotky je odkaz nahore). Protejsi kopce, neprilis vzdalene mesto, samoty uprostred luk, proste parada

Samotny prubeh me trochu zklamal, snad jediny z tech, co meli na starosti program a byli pripraveni, byl Martin a jeho casti agendy o ruznych kulturach a rozdilech mezi nimi.. Uz jsem dokonce zacal premyslet, ze bych se na nejakou mistni konferenci vydal jako jeden z tvurcu programu, akorat ze v nejblizsi prijatelne dobe (tak nekdy od prosince) jich tady moc nebude.. Ale jinak bylo fajn, obzvlaste tu cast, kdy se me mistni studenti vyptavali na rozdily mezi stredni Amerikou a Evropou (a jejich nevericne pohledy, kdyz sem jim rikal o jizdnich radech a moznosti stezovat si, kdyz neco neprijede vcas) jsem si uzival.. Bohuzel to byla jedna z mala casti, kdy jsem se mohl zapojit nejak vice aktivne, protoze proste melou strasne rychle a nestihal sem jejich spanelstinu.. :-/ Mam jeste minimalne 3 mesice, snad se to jeste zlepsi..

Jsem zvedavy, jak se jim bude darit – vetsina rikala neco o Evrope, tak se treba se nekdo z nich ozve..

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… is an abbreviation for Outgoing Preparation Seminar, which is a weekend for people interested in an internship abroad. I was a part of the weekend as to show them how a trainee looks like “live”. And I also wanted to see how these things work here in Costa Rica.

The place was fabulous, in the middle of hills and still only half-an-hour ride from the capital, in a “park” called Fossilland. We had to drive through quite a steep hill and walk about 20 minutes more to reach the house but the view was worth it (the link to photos is above). The opposite hills, not very far city, lonely houses in the middle of meadows, simply great

The flow itself was a little disappointment for me, maybe the only ones responsible for the agenda and being prepared were Martin and Luis Diego and their respective parts about various cultures and differences inbetween. I even started to think to be interested more in the conferences here as facilitator, the problem is that in the near future I should be working more for the school here than for AIESEC – and there are not many conferences around, especially from January onwards.. But in the end it was ok, I enjoyed especially the part when I was telling the local students about differences between Europe and central America (and their heads shaking while telling them about timetables and a possibility to complain when your bus does not arrive on time).. Unfortunately it was one of not-so-many parts where I could take more active part because of the language barrier, they still speak too quickly for me.. :-/ I’ve got three more months, I hope it gets better..

Now I’m curious how they are going to succeed in looking for an internship – most of them told me something about going to Europe so I hope they will tell me..

Znova jsem si nedavno precetl Duruv prispevek nazvany “pure happiness”. Ne, bohuzel jsem jeste nenasel hospodu, kde by tocili ceske (nebo aspon jakekoli jine evropske) pivo. Muj prispevek se ale bude tykat neceho jineho.

Uz je to mesic, co jsem se ocitl v nadherne zemi, stovky kilometru daleko. Za tu dobu se me spousta lidi zeptala, jaka je tady priroda, jestli se mi libi mistni devcata, jak dlouho tady budu a taky jestli jsem stastny. Pomerne dlouho mi tyhle otazky (ok, tak minimalne aspon ta posledni) vrtaly hlavou.

Muzu byt stastny, ze jsem si splnil jeden ze svych snu o cestovani. Ze pomalu ale jiste objevuju skryte krasy jineho prostredi a spolecnosti. Ze mi cas straveny tady tak trochu otevira oci a ukazuje moznosti vseho toho, co muzu delat v budoucnosti. Ze se muzu angazovat v aktivitach, ktere mam rad a se kterymi muzu ostatnim pomoct. Ze jsem nasel partu bezvadnych pratel, kterym je jedno, ze jedinym pojitkem je pobyt ve stejnem case na stejnem miste..

Anglictina ale rozlisuje trochu podrobneji – vyse uvedene se hodi spise k vyrazu ‘be lucky’, coz se casteji preklada jako ‘mit stesti’ (po nasemu ‘mit haluz’ Zatimco pocit stesti se da vyjadrit jako ‘happiness’ – proto ten titulek.. Minuly tyden jsem se dokonce naucil odhadovat miru stesti na stupnici od jedne do desiti (i kdyz Martin, muj predchudce tady, to asi spise vztahoval k hladine alkoholu..

Je tezke zodpovedet dost komplexni otazku jednim slovem.. Ale – jo, jsem stastny. Ze mam kde bydlet, co jist, co na praci a ze na me v Cesku zatim porad jeste nezapomneli.. A je to docela fajn pocit..

I have recently read Duro’s blogpost named ‘pure happiness’. No, I haven’t found a pub with draught Czech (or any European) beer. My post will be about something different.

It has been a month since I arrived to the beautiful country, hundreds of kilometers away. A lot of people asked me during the time, what is the nature like, if I like local girls, how long should I stay and also if I’m happy. I was thinking about these questions (ok, at least about the last one) for quite a long time.

I could be happy that one of my travelling dreams came true. That I’m slowly discovering hidden beauty of a different environment and society. That my stay here shows me a little bit the possible ways of my future steps. That I can take part in activities that I like and thus help the others. That I found a bunch of good friends who don’t care that the only connection is being at the same time at the same place and speaking one language.

English however distinguishes between two different words – the fact in the previous article could be named as ‘being lucky’ whereas the word for human feeling is ‘happiness’ (also used in the title). Last week I learned about a possibility to describe my happiness in 1-10 scale from my predecessor Martin (however, he might have been talking about alcohol

It’s pretty hard to answer such a complex question. But – yes, I’m happy. That I have a place to stay, what to eat, work to do and that people back in CZ still haven’t forgotten about me.. And it’s quite a good feeling..