An Interview with Laura "The Toe" Granfortuna

Can you give us a quick overview of your in-the-field itinerary?

I was mostly on the Osa Peninsula. I did Sierpe first, then Ciudad Neily, Paso Canoas, back to Sierpe, Drake's Bay, Cabo Matapalo, Puerto Jimenez, Rincon, Zancudo, Pavones, Golfito, then back to San Jose.

What was the best part of the whole trip?

I liked Sierpe the most - I don't know if it had something to do with it being the first place I went; maybe I'm a little more nostalgic towards it because of that. But I made friends there right away, and they were the best people I encountered during the entire trip! The time I spent with them was so interesting and entertaining, and I found the atmosphere of the town inviting in general, same with Drake's Bay. I was glad when I had to go through that part a couple of times.

What was on your iPod playlist as you journeyed?

Hm, well I started getting into Feist, "The Reminder", before I left and I couldn't get the songs out of my head, so I basically listened to the album on repeat for the first two weeks and when I wasn't listening to it I was singing it! This lasted about until I met a cool DJ in Zancudo who gave me two Oreja de Van Gogh albums, which have become my new obsession. I also brought along Bersuit - good zany music in Spanish to match my adventures, and I listened to a fair bit of hip-hop too - mostly Jurassic 5, Gorillaz (which turns out to be very well-suited for the jungle) and Aesop Rock.

What will you miss about being on the road?

Definitely the people I met. I hope I come back sometime in the not too distant future so I can see them all again.

What won't you miss?

I guess wearing wet clothes all the time. Even if you hung things up to dry, the humidity was so intense that I think everything only got wetter. And the ants. They were unstoppable.

And fending off not-so-desirable men. They were also unstoppable...