Hale Chronicle - a tale of two Hales

Why Costa Rica

Since I made the anouncement a couple of days ago that we’re moving to Costa Rica there’s been many questions about why, when, how long and of course “Haven’t you travelled enough?”. Soo, here’s the scoop.

While we were away my work offered me an 18 month position in Costa Rica. After a short discussion with Jenn we decided the opportunity was too good to pass up and we quickly accepted.  So in 1 months time (April 13) we’ll be off again flying south to San Jose, Costa Rica. This time we’ll be taking Maggie with us and we’re really looking forward to see what Costa Rica has to offer.

So I hope we’ll have a chance to see everyone before we leave and if any buddy is in the market for a TV or car let me know as we’ll be getting rid of a few things before we leave.

Areverdici Legambiente, Buongiorno Cinque Terre

Over the last couple of weeks we did not have any internet access but we still wrote several blog posts that you’ll now find posted according to the date they were wrote.

Volunteering in Northern Italy

The last 2 weeks we’ve been volunteering for Legambiente near a town called Brivio, north east of Milan. In Brivio we worked to help Legambiente maintain the swamp in Adda Nord Park. Our work included everything from cutting down reeds, vines and trees, to clearing small streams and waterways that feed the swamp, to painting bridges and observatories. The work was dirty and tiring but a lot of fun.

During our stay in Campesirago we lived with all the other volunteers from around the world. Everyone was a lot of fun and I’m glad to have met them all. It was very interesting how at anytime I could be hearing multiple conversations in Korean, German, French, Italian and English. I learned a few words in each language from the house mates but I’m sure I’ll forget most by the end of the tour. 

Now for my records here’s who we stayed with:

Alice, France

Calum, Wales 

Chris, South Korea

Johana, Germany

Manuella, Switzerland

Martial, France 

Nadja, Germany

Simone, Italy

Yiseul, South Korea

Yeorim, South Korea

Cinque Terre and La Spezia

We left the work camp on Saturday, Jan. 31 and took a few trains to La Spezia via Milan. La Spezia is our base to explore the Cinque Terre. It is also the first place we’ve arrived without first having booked a hotel. This would not be a problem as this truly is the off season right now. After visiting a few we ended up choosing The Venezia which is 3 star hotel just a couple hundred meters from the train station. The rooms are clean, usually quiet and we have our own bathroom (this was a must after sharing 1 with 12 people for 2 weeks). 

Yesterday was our first day in the Cinque Terre and we used it to visit 3 of the villages, Riomaggiore, Manarola and Monterosso. Unfortunately the main trail that we were hoping to hike between the villages is closed except for 1 section between Riomaggiore and Manarola. So we spent our day hiking around the villages and taking the train back and forth. This is when we discovered that almost everything is closed in the Cinque Terre at this time. The scenery is still beautiful though and I could imagine spending a week or more in these quant villages in the summer.

Today we awoke to rain. Not a light rain like we had the day before which was still fine to walk around in. This is a heavier rain that just makes exploring outside really wet and not much fun. But we still had 2 more villagers to see and I was hoping that the weather would clear so we could do a hike I planned later in the day. 

Alas, it is now almost 3pm and I’m sitting in our hotel room in La Spezia writing this post. We did take the train to Vernazza this morning and walked around the village in the rain but we couldn’t really enjoy it and once again almost everything is closed. So now we’re taking an extended siesta and hoping we can visit the last village, Corniglia, this evening if the weather clears.

Adventures in Campsirago

The day started like any other in Campsirago. Up around 7, put in a days works and we were all excited to head down to town and watch a play this evening. 

So after dinner we prepared to leave for the play and we got the first sign that we shouldn’t leave, we couldn’t find the van keys.

Once we found the keys we where on our way, Several kilometers down the road on a narrow stretch (one car width) there was a bang coming from underneath the van. This followed by us stopping suddenly. Thinking we had a flat tire we all jumped out to have a look. We were quite surprised to find the front right axel had snapped and the tire was now more horizontal than vertical. 

This turned out to be quite the predicament because of the small windy mountain road we were on combined with fog and dropping temperature. The weather made some prime conditions for icy roads as well. Did I mention that we didn’t have a phone?

Luckily for us a couple of cars followed us down the road shortly after the incident and one of the drivers turned out to be one of our neighbors in Campsirago. The nice neighbor man brought Nadja back to the camp where she called the police. The nice polizia game her another number to call for a tow service. But due to the icy roads no tow trucks where willing to head out in the current conditions, wasn’t that bad.

When Nadja returned we made the decision to hike back to Campsirago, fortunately I wore my dress shoes so I was read to hike up the icy roads. An indeterminate amount of time later we arrived  in at camp and after waiting 2 hours we have just heard from Simone. He is with Martial and Nadja and they’re heading back to camp now.

I Made Bread!

Today, I made bread, from scratch. I was scheduled to work at the camp today and not the swamp so I took part in all of the cleaning and cooking while everyone else was supposed to be at the swamp. But due to the rain and snow coming down all night most of the day, work was cancelled. 

Alore, back to the bread. With the help of Martial, we took half a bag of floor, a pack of yeast, some salt, sugar and almonds. I mixed that all together with some water, kneaded the dough and the we left it sit, covered on the radiator(a low heat source is needed) for several ours so the dough could rise. Then we worked the dough again and threw it in the oven on low (approximately 170C) for about 45 min. I’m quite proud of my bread and I plan on making it again when I get back home.

Tomorrow we may or may not be heading back to the swamp as it’s still raining on and off so there’s no telling what conditions may be like down there.

Last Day in Ireland, First Day in Italy

To Italy

Yesterday we got up early, returned our rental car and flew to Italy. Once we finally checked in for our flight and got on the plain we were informed that we had to wait for the plane to be deiced. This we were told should only take 10 or 15 minutes. Almost an hour and a half later, all while waiting on the tarmac, we were off to Italy.

Once we arrived in Milan it felt like Jenn and I were in the Amazing Race. First we had to catch the Star Fly shuttle to the Milano Central train station. From there we needed to take the underground metro for 2 stops to another train station where we were to take our final train to Brivio. Aside from walking past where to buy our tickets for the train to Brivio and not validating our ticket, didn’t know we had to, I thought we handled it like a couple of pros. We landed in Milan at 11:30, managed to collect our bags, take the shuttle, metro and train and arrive in Brivio for the scheduled meeting at 2:30.

To the Camp

In Brivio we met up with other Legambiente volunteers who drove us to are shared accommodations in Campesirago. This small village we are staying in is an old medieval village that was abandoned shortly after World War II. This was due to poor access to the village as it is high up on the side of the mountain. Since the year 2000 though the road up here has been paved, buildings are being renovated and people are moving back. Campesirago currently has 15 permanent residents!

The weather so far has not been too cooperative, lots of fog, rain and even a little snow. This has prevented us from enjoying many of the sights around this area but this morning the clouds were actually below the level of the town allowing us the see out over valley, filled with clouds and the tops of some of the other hills in the area. The sight was amazing, unfortunately we were off to work and I had no camera.

Our First Day at Work

Luckily for me the work camp has extra rubber boots I’m able to borrow while I’m here. The information sheet we got said waterproof hiking boots would be fine but with all the rain and snow they’ve had here lately there are lots of puddles we need to walk through along with lots of mud to contend with. The weather is also still not cooperating. Once we drove down into the valley this morning there was more fog and throughout the day we were met with rain, a little bit of sun and some snow on the way back to camp.

The work is hard, but rewarding. Today we cleared some observation decks jutting out into the swamp of the snow and debris that had accumulated and then we got down to the real work of the day. Cutting back the trees that were overgrowing the platforms. Because we are trying to be environmentally friendly this was all done with hand tools. I spent most of my day swinging what looked like a thick machete cutting up the larger branches into manageable chunks that we could carry out. Carrying the pieces of the trees out is very important because if we were to leave them there the trees would decompose and become soil. This would then make the swamp hard earth and hence, no swamp. This is bad.

Tomorrow I’m scheduled to stay at the camp while Jenn and most of the others head to the swamp to do some more work, weather permitting. It’ll be my duty to cook breakfast in the morning, clean up while everyone is gone and prepare dinner when everyone is back. At least I’ll be warm.

Dublin Airport Fun

I’m currently sitting in Dublin airport, finally checked in for a flight to Milan. Just to let everyone know, when flying into Italy non EU residents need proof that you will be leaving the country before you can board the plane to Italy. We were unaware of this until checking into our flight this morning, which then sent me running around the airport for the next 20 minutes trying to get one of our ticket reservations printed. FUN!!

Also, we are down another pair of scissors. Don’t ask.

2 Week Hiatus (Maybe)

Early tomorrow morning we’re off to Italy. We’ll be volunteering north east of Milan in the Lombardio province. We don’t know what kinda of access we’ll have, if any, so don’t expect any posts from us the next couple of weeks. Adios!

Northern Ireland

Yesterday, as Jenn previously mentioned, we rented a car and headed to Northern Ireland. On the way we made a couple of stops, first New Grange and then at Loughbrickland.

New Grange

New Grange is a Neolithic tomb estimated to be about 5200 years old. I could bore you with a bunch of details but suffice it to say, it’s really old and really cool. Just standing inside something that was built over 5000 years ago is amazing.

Loughbrickland

Loughbrickland is a small village in County Down, Northern Ireland. This is where my Great Grandfather once lived before moving over to Canada. By the time we arrived the sun was falling and we still had an hours drive ahead of us so we just took a quick walk around part of the village. Trying, and failing, to find some old places my dad showed me in photographs. Definitely well worth the stop and I’d love to come back with my dad some day.

Giants Causeway

This morning we went for a hike at the Giants Causeway. It’s located on the northern edge of Irelands coast and it was clear enough today we could see Scotland across the water in the distance. The causeway provides a beautiful hike and as there was a big storm about to blow over Ireland the large waves kept crashing into the stone formations making quite the site. Due to the incoming storm though it was quite windy while we were there and made the hike back up to the visitor center some good exercise. Fortunately we avoided the rain on our hike and were back on the road by the time the storm hit.

Dublin Day 2

Today we started with the Hop On/Off bus tour we had started yesterday. True to form we saw at least 3 of the green buses drive by before the yellow bus arrived at our stop. After sitting on the yellow bus for 20 minutes our tour resumed. We took an excellent ride through the Georgian part of the city to our eventual stop, Kilmainham Jail.

Kilmainham Gaol

The Kilmainham Gaol was first built in 1796 and was used for over 140 years as a prison. This is the site where the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising were held and executed. We took a guided tour that provided an excellent history to not only the prison but to Ireland and its fight for independance. In the prison there are 2 contrasting parts, the newer Victorian wing (seen above) and the old original prison (seen below). 

The prison did not only house political prisoners, we found out that during the famine in the 1850’s as many as 9,000 people were held here in 1 year (not all at the same time). Considering there are only 112 cells that lead to some severe over crowding. An example of a crime it took during the famine to be imprisoned was stealing some loaves of bread to feed your family. This earned you 14 days in Kilmainham. But since food was so scarce during the famine many people committed crimes just to go to jail and get a meal for several straight days. The authorities also did not discriminate over who was held in the jail. Many woman and children were held prisoner some as young as 6.

Dublin Castle

After the jail we wandered over to Dublin Castle. As you can see this isn’t a typical structure when you think of the word castle. Above you can see the only reaming tower from the original castle built in 1204. The rest of the castle was destroyed in a fire during the 18th century and in it’s place a Georgian Palace was built. This in my mind makes the Dublin Castle not a true castle but a palace posing as a castle.

We took a guided tour of the palace which is where the British Viceroys and visiting monarchy lived until 1922 during the British rule of Ireland. The tour included the king’s bedchamber, the throne room and St. Patricks Hall. Formerly a ball room the hall is now where Irish presidents are sworn into office. At the end of the tour we were also taken to an excavated part of the palace where you could see more of the original structure and the part of the moat that used to surround the castle.

After the castle we wrapped up the day with a visit to the Irish National Museum. We saw some great old artifacts dating back thousands of years and the best part was it’s free! Overall we really enjoyed our second day in Dublin, even when I got us lost. We’re looking forward to hitting the country side tomorrow and I’m looking forward to driving a car from the other side of the road.

Now for something scary.

Dublin Day 1

After a long sleep we were eager to start our first real vacation day of our trip touring Dublin. On our morning stroll down O’Connell Street we were quite surprised to find a convenience store with Tim Hortons in it.

We decided to buy a hop on/off bus pass so we could easily see some more of Dublin and get some cheap transportation around the city.

Travel Tip: Buy passes for the green buses, not the red/yellow buses. They come much more frequently and costs the same. We bought the red/yellow pass but did manage to get it at a student price.

After taking only a part of the tour we hopped off at the Guinness Brewery for a tour of the Guinness Storehouse. This seems to be one of the most popular tourist activities in Dublin and I loved it. The storehouse includes a great self guided tour learning all there is to know about the Guiness brewing process and everything else from transportation of the beer to marketing.

I then earned a certificate for pouring the perfect pint and we topped it off with a drink in the Gravity Bar. The bar is the top of the storehouse which offers beautiful 360 degree views of the city as this is the tallest building in Dublin. Unfortunately we could not take any nice pictures up there due to the rain.

Fun Fact: Guinness Breweries is responsible for the Guinness Book of Records. They first created it as a way to settle arguments in pubs.

Following the Guinness tour we hopped back on a tour bus to catch a few sights on our way back to O’Connell street where we had a first meal and pint in a real Irish pub.