Home Sweet Home

My detour to Georgia was great, I golfed, cooked, went boating, saw the town, and had a sweet Kimberly Clark tour. It was great to see my friends and catch up. I had quite the hiccup getting there and that led to a drive to atlanta adventure landing us in Agusta by 6am.

But now I am truly glad to be HOME SWEET HOME.

My parents had chocolate milk waiting and still haven´t complained about my massive piles of luggage in the living room. My bed feels so soft. I have been seeing my friends in a whirl wind of activity and fun. Sure I miss the layed back schedule and gallo pinto but wow....

-The first hot shower was mind blowing
-I ate an entire bag of Bagels and cheese in less than 12 hours
-I have already drank a gallon and half of milk
-I do feel super guilty about dropping the paper in the toilet but dude that is a good idea
-The conference grounds will ALWAYS have a piece of my heart
-Costa Rica can try but it can´t beat this...

I am definitely still processing the last three months and am sure that life lessons are ready to explode. I will keep you posted.

I´m american again

It is all done... I am no longer a Costariccence. I am sad.

I am currently chilling in the Dallas Airport and experiencing a whirl-wind of emotions. Say goodbye is hard always, especially when you are all returning to such dramatically different lives and locations.

My final day was a perfect send off.  We had our final exams in the morning and everyone did well, we spent the afternoon on the beach getting our last touch of color, Annemarie and I went to the centro to run our final errands.  Annemarie was on a mission to spend all her colones and it was a lot of fun to shop with a buy crazy Annemarie.

We had NACHOS! From my favorite soda, I played with Ignacio and watching cooking shows with my madre. As a family we watched the soccer game, A fairly intense one where my brother appeared to be cheering for the wrong team.

It was nice to have everything all packed away, sitting and relaxing was the ONLY option. We then went for our final beach ride around town and my parents dropped me off at La Mesa (a specific cement table where I had out with all my tico friends). That was a hard HARD goodbye. My family said lots of nice things, and I tried to say lots of nice things too. This is a time when I wished I would have practiced my flash cards more ;)

Most of us took a group bus to the airport, another hard goodbye to the friends that stayed behind, it felt crazy to think this was the last time I was seeing all this.

It was nice to all take the same flight to Dallas but then it just got harder. I am the only one left now waiting for my 8:30 p.m. flight to visit friends in Georgia. We moved from gate to gate saying goodbyes; Annemarie was the last one and the worst one. I left her walking down the hallway crying. I am so glad for all the relationships I made but right now praying that I survive without them. We were like family.

El final Fin de Semana

The majority of us spent our last weekend in Puntarenas and I think it only made it harder to say goodbye.

I did a lot of last hangouts with Tico friends and passed time speaking Spanish on the Beach. We finally attended a Puntarenas fútbol game which only made me love the sport even more.

You were not allowed to bring bottles, coins or anything in the stadium that you could through so all beverages were sold in bags, but the fans found a way to throw them anyway. The refs also had there own police escort.

We had a bonfire on the beach!! with marshmellows and no rain a blessing from God. I tried for the forth time to see harry potter and still a no go, I heard! fireworks which is one step closer to seeing them.

I made banana bread for my family which was delicious but opened the door for gluten craving. I learned how to cook lots of other Costa Rican foods and for dinner one night we had Cow Butt...deliciosa.

I also did some studying and a lot more laying on the beach. I thought about packing once but that is as close as I got.

Los Chinos

The adventures in food have continued, to recap I was too scared to tell my host family that I didn´t like eggs, fish, tomatoes, and so forth after I told them I was not able to eat bread, pasta, cereal, pizza, and so forth. Therefore I have been trying LOTS of new things and well I think God gave me a miracle because I like them all. And I think lunch on Tuesday was the final test... Fish Soup.

Now fish soup is an understatement and I changed the name to Soup of the entire ocean because well because something in there had legs. There was three different kinds of shells, something else that was really tough and meat that still had the scale shapes and was neon pink...

Sopa de todo el mar

I ate it and they were SO ecstatic, they kept telling me that no other student had ever eaten it before and in the back of my head I am thinking I can only imagine but I just said ¡Que Rico! My hermano told me it was very good for hangovers f.y.i.

I then told them that in the United States I don´t really eat fish, that my family never cooks them. This surprised them too but I explained that my mom was the only one who liked them. And then my host mom was even more surprised she asked "¿what about the chino, your chino brother?" he has to like fish, and I said no he only likes meat and rice, no veggies no fruit. And she was just floored that there could be a chino that doesn´t like seafood. And yes she does no he is Korean but chino serves the same pupose here and yes during this whole conversation she held her eyes in a slanted fashion with her hands. All in all GREAT lunch.

Cooking Patacones, deep fried plantains with beans

I am currently in the process of learning how to cook all the delicious food.

TEXAS?

This weekend I felt like I was in a whole different country! Well maybe more like Texas. We went to Guanacaste for the Independence day but turns out there was a HUGE rodeo, full of games, bull fights, horse shows, cows, food, souvenirs, carnival rides, free sampling booths and plenty of people to watch. We spent 14 hours there on the first day!

On Sunday we traditional dancing and singing in the central park and then drove to the Pacific to spend time at Playa Conchal, where are blonde gringa powers got us free horse rides on the beach.

We went back to Liberia for the night and just hung out down town and watched an open air type concert. The most entertaining part was the homeless people dancing with no shame on the stage. Later that night we saw them all sleeping on the same side walk and congratulated them on their dancing from what we can tell they are “married”.

Monday brought the crazy too, we were just heading home but turns out the celebration was everywhere, which included authentic dancing in front of Mundo Magica (A target type equivalent), marimbas in the bus stop, and a hodge podge marching band with children dancers. Oh Costa Rica how I love you.

Last viaje, más o menos...

The week ended nicely. A former student came to visit my host family so I have had a new brother for the past few days and it has been fun swapping stories and adventuring in Puntarenas together. He showed me a ridiculous 80´s clothing store where he got some clothes that look like they came straight out of Prince of Belaire.

Today I also swam to the sunken ship in front of the USAC building with Lauren, a new girl this session. It was very fun but VERY tiring turns out it is WAY farther than we thought. All the current was strong so we swam all ziggy zaggy and probably twice the distance we needed. We were out adventuring for about an hour and a half...

Tomorrow I leave for BULL RUNNING in Guanacaste, it is the Independence of Guanacaste from Nicaragua so there is lots of activities. I can´t to play.

Typical Wednesday, finally!

Life is starting to settle into a pattern again, which is good. I was going a little crazy with all the action going down. The last vendors of the carnival finally left today. The take down process is a lot slower here. Apparently these carnies have a more relaxed schedule.

We were hoping they would leave the firewood so we could have a bonfire!

I went to the daycare again yesterday, it was nice to see all the kids again and talk about our vacations. The kids just had two weeks off of school for winter break, the fact that it is winter here is hard to fathom. The weather has been milder but I still see temperature in the High eighties on a regular basis.

I went to aerobics and impressed all the ladies with my abs. A lot of the moves we do are more dance like with like a cagillion motions combined so I think they thought I was not very athletic... but rightfully so because for those moves I spend have the time watching them. Today we are doing arms so they just told me to put sand in a bottle. I like how sports are universal.

The United States are gonna be so lame...

            With the mid-way point of session two approaching there has been a lot of reflection on how we will feel when we return to the United States. I personally am starting to get ready to come home but I am also starting to feel more and more like I live here. Putting toilet paper in the trash can is second nature, cold water is expected, waiting is natural and well English is HARD!

            I planned to keep things low-key this weekend but of course you can’t hide from adventure here…

  Or quick shoot over to San Jose area to see Harry Potter turned into an unsuccessful exciting adventure. A girl who came with had to pick up a package that her parents sent her… which ended up being a wild goose chase to the airport and then finally a remote loading dock... put us at the mall in Heredia at 5:30 when all the tickets were sold out. We were extremely bummed but people had to return because they had class commitments on Saturday. The mall was weird though, I almost fit in with blonde hair! I also had arroz con leche caramel flavor! We ended having to take a crazy bus that seemed to stop every five minutes on the way back and didn´t get to Puntarenas until 1:00 but oh man did I sleep good.

            Saturday was more low key… we enjoyed the carnival, watched the Puntarenas scrimmage in the stadium by my house, drank smoothies but things got complicated when I tried to cook:

            Collin brought me cake mix when he came to visit so I planned to cook heath bar cake, I figured my family would love it due to the obsession with condensed milk here. They put it on ice cream, rice, marshmallow. And I figured the other ingredients would be easily to find. Assumption wrong. They do not have cool whip, caramel ice cream topping or heath bar in my town. I was ready to resort to regular icing but that is also not present…

    So I figured I can use dulce de leche, make my own whipping cream, and frozen caramel candy!

 Close… and well its gluten free and somewhat like bread so I WILL eat it and enjoy it!

           

        The highlight of the cooking process may have been the mid-break snack. We only made a 9x9 pan so we had half a can of condensed milk and dulce de leche left. I suggested ice cream and well Annemarie, my brother and I were practically laying on the floor because we were all having sugar overloads.

            Sunday brought another exciting church trip. Annemarie and I were under the impression that it was Protestant and were very excited for the opportunity to having something a little more similar to home but turns out it was Pentacostal… I could handle the flag dancing and sweaty screaming preacher (I actually could understand a good portion this time J) but the people falling on the ground when the Pastor touched them and the Mariachi band that showed up at the end threw me for a loop! Also on the way out we say a traditional Costa Rican parade for the festival. The typical tradition though is that clowns dress up and chase and whip the young women and children… I was honestly scared.

We enjoyed the carnival in Puntarenas a lot too.

          The only thing I am going to call a real disappointment is that the fireworks for the festival NEVER happened L. I developed a fireworks obsession last summer viewing

Them close to 10 times and think they should be used to celebrate every special occasion in life. But alas none ever lit. The ¨chicas locas¨, a named we earned from Collin via our Osa trip did score ourselves some free cotton candy. Cat calls for being a gringo does have it´s perks. Also while hanging out at the carnival were asked multiple times if we were sisters, just another story to not feel bad for not being able to separate Asian dialects. 

F.y.i I am eating queque right now and LOVING it.

Week 2 take 2

This week was a busy one. My classes this semester are serious about homework and seriously in Spanish. One professor that I have for two classes doesn't even know English! I am learning a lot though but also realizing there is a long way to go.

The Newhouse Family stopped in Puntarenas on Monday after vacationing here for 2 weeks or so. It was fun to show someone else my home and here all about what was happening at home. It sounds like they had a great time and we exchanged lots of travel stories over lunch and ice cream. 

Right now I am preparing to go watch HARRY POTTER! We have to ride a bus into San Jose to go to the closest theatre, we were all pretty bummed to miss the premier but other than our friends on Facebook the topic isn't really prevalent here. When I ask they all love it but I think they just wait for it to come out on DVD.

Last Field Trip!

We went on our last Field Trip Saturday night to Monteverde a Cloud forest and the most exciting event of the weekend we wore pants and coats. It was wonderful...

The forest was beautiful too often you would just find your self walking through a cloud. We hiked up to the Continental Divide (about 4,500 ft in Costa Rica) which was very cool to think that it ran all the way back to the one in the United States.

A couple friends and I went on a 4:30 am hike to peak a Mountain and we didn't quite make it do to Breakfast time constraints but we did see an exciting sunrise, clouds, walked through a field of Bees on accident and had fun sliding in the mud.

The Sunday activity was ziplining we arrived late because our bus could peak the steep hills with us inside so we would have to walk and then climb back in. That was entertaining. The canopy was amazing my favorite so far. The rain forest there is just so much mossier and one cable was so long you needed to go as two people to cross.

My highlight of the entire weekend though was the Hummingbird garden...Dad you would have been in heaven there must have been hundreds!! I took tons of pictures and videos.

Tico Rules---the lack of

On Friday we went on our first field trip for session two. It was nice to finally spend some time with everyone and get to know the new kids. We went back to Curu where we had gone last semester so we were able to tell the new kids all about the history and the Monkeys.

From there we went Snorkeling! I was a bit skeptical about what I would see but it ended up being amazing. i probably saw 10 different kinds of fish and a star fish . It is not quite intense as the amazing pictures you see in Costa Rica but it is pretty intense in the fact that you pay $5 get some flippers, get in a boat and then they stop in the middle of the ocean by a rock and say "Here is a mask HAVE FUN!" of course that is in Spanish. No formal training no rules, I did however manage to break them though... I wanted to swim out to this other rock but he called us back.

The overall experience reminded me of Horseback riding, they put you on a horse slapped its butt and it started running. You had to figure out the rest.

We spent the rest of the afternoon on a beautiful white sand beach with a bunch of rich ticos. Here is cost $7 for a beach chair and you had to pay to hike in the Jungle. We got lots of free pineapple and watermelon though.

After the trip we hit up the Carnival for its grand opening! The lack of regulations were great here too, Carnival rides have never been SO fun! The atmosphere was great too it was so layed back no bells or whistles it was actually kinda quite.

Surprises Never Stop

A Festival is coming to Puntarenas!!! I kinda new it was coming but now the Paseo is filled with carnival rides, vendors, and stalls. I was quite sad about missing Coast Guard but now I will just experience the Costa Rican version!

I also saw a boy roller skating down the street, and yes I mean roller skates giant four wheeled orange skates I was like huh? Then he went backwards and I was like WOW!

I saw a man cutting his front yard grass with a machete, a long like two foot machete.

My dog got a hair cut and now he is like half the size! and a girl... Our relationship took a hit.

I also found a free aerobics class right next to my house, it was super fun the instructor is crazy energetic. It was easier than the other class USAC sometimes attend mostly because I think these steps were harder and spent more time trying to catch on. For Monday the instructor either said make sure you bring a bike or leave your bike at home... I guess we will find out lol.

Back to the Real World (If you can call it that)

I spent the last two weeks travelling all around Costa Rica and LOVING it! Osa was amazing, we made great Tico friends, rode horses, saw animals, swam with crcodiles, went speed boating in Ocean waves and stayed at an all inclusive resort with three course meals and hammocks everywhere.

Right after Osa Collin Came to visit and we spent a long weekend around San Jose and the Caribbean with some friends I made first session (Annemarie, Stephanie, Tanny). We rappelled down waterfalls, surfed, saw more wildlife and the night life of Puerto Viejo. I skipped class Tuesday and Collin and I took the Ferry to Montezuma where we had more great food, beach time and traveling adventure. 

I would love to give all the details now but unfortunately classes have begun and this semester my classes mean business. They are all taught in Spanish two more grammatical courses plus a class on the history of Spanish literature. We also restarted the speaking only in Spanish all the girls I traveled with decided to join and we have created a system where we have to pay every time we forget and speak English today I owe 20 colones, Roughly only 4 cents though haha I think we need to up the anti. Making friends with the new kids does prove more difficult with this promise... 

Final Week of Session One

This week is the last week of classes for most of the Students in Puntarenas right now. About half of us are going on a Week-long tour of Osa in southern Costa Rica before we start classes again on the 5th.

It is shocking to think that this adventure is already about half over. My Spanish is a lot better, but not fluent. I have only kinda tried surfing once but I have more sessions planned. So I think I am on track for an amazing finish.

Almost everyone that is leaving wishes that they were staying longer. It is wierd to say goodbye and even wierder to think about new people coming. Puntarenas with brand new Gringos. The transition is definitely going to be interesting.

I have my final exam tomorrow in Cinema so we have all been studying. We went to a restaurant, I had a delicious pineapple  drink (tasted like drinking a pineapple through a straw) and watched the Soccer games. America won 1-0.

I had my last day of dance class yesterday my partner Sophie and I passed I guess haha. It wasn't too hard ;) but now we know Salsa, Merengue, Cubiana and Bachata.

 I did my final presentation for Eco Tourism today which was to look into my future and determine my opportunities to volunteer/ give back.

I passed the class but well my new future list includes being a Nanny abroad, engineering abroad, grad school, being a camp counselor in Costa Rica and well at least I have a list in excel now…

The last day of cooking class was a bit of a letdown, I think they are getting sick of my gluten free antics. I was so excited because we were going to make pasta in class…but they just bought mine. They made bread with a maple syrup glaze to go with it but I just got tortillas. But hey it was still good food and if compared to a different standard probably AMAZING!

         

Tomorrow is our last day at school with this group of kids. I hope to keep volunteering next semester but I have class at that time so we will see what happens…Pura Vida. 

Pura Vida

             Pura Vida is like the catch phrase of Costa Rica. It perfectly embraces their easy going culture. When things go awrye they just say Pura Vida and brush it off. When things are goinf great they say Pura Vida. This weekend involved a lot of Pura Vida. 

            The first alteration started when I arrived at school on Friday and everyone said grab your stuff booby (this is my new nick-name along with bovement, boov, the german, and boover) we are leaving at one. I had no real plans just to visit the beach and run some errands, I needed more bug spray I am already on bottle two.So I packed up my stuff  and headed to the bus stop. Pura Vida!

            We had a great ride talking about high school and stuff but the 1 and a half hour ride turned out being a 2.5 hour ride. Pura Vida. Of course it was raining when we arrived so we headed straight for the Hostel that our teacher told us about. I learned on this walk through San Jose that my second biggest fear is getting poked in the eye by an umbrella. It was like a nightmare every person, and there were a lot of people had an umbrella.

            We made it to the hostel and it was really cool,  the walls were all uniquely painted, it had stairs and hallways going every which way perfect for hide and seek. We had some trouble pay and getting a room together but eventually we settled. Pura Vida.

            The original plan was to catch a movie and go out to dinner kinda like a Date night with America. Once the plan was under way people however changes their mind and we decided to do a fancy dinner instead. We found a nice looking place owned by a hotel and headed in, this place was really nice. Stained glass windows, wood floor, and a super fancy waiter. I was happy I got a super delicious salad bar but no one else liked their food, pura vida.

            We then were on a mission for a store to get some ice cream/ desert and had a nice walk around the town. It was nice to explore it all empty but this all meant everything was closed. We meandered for about an hour and eventually gave up, the good news is when we returned to the hostel there was a 24/7 mart right across the street. Pura Vida.

            We spent the next day shopping in the big city. We went to this cool super market all indoors with all the touristy souvenirs you could imagine. The streets were line with shoe shops and clothing stores. Some people left for a mall in a nearby town but I stayed to explore here. We shopped until about lunch and hit up a taco bell  (Pura Vida), went to a small museum in the Historical Theatre and  then headed for the bus stop. We got to Puntarenas and ate at Mitobes,  probably the nicest restaurant in Puntarenas. I ordered a delicious chicken salad big enough to feed a family of four. Pura Vida.

            I stayed up late doing homework and catching up with friends from home but woke up early to go to Church with Annemarie and her family. I did however sleep through my alarm but was ready in time. Pura Vida.

            I was excited for church and new it was going to be an adventure but turns out is was way more of an adventure than I anticipated. We left around 8:30 and has to catch a bus, the church was in Miramar about 30 minutes away and Annemarie’s family is too big to all ride in one car. When we left Annemarie, her mom, and I were the only people on the bus, that was different.

            We got to the bus stop and had to walk for about 20 minutes to the church, it turned out we were in the mountains now and the church was this beautiful complex set back into the woods overlooking the cost of Costa Rica. It was nice to get a perspective like that. Pura Vida.

            On our way up the hill though we saw a funeral procession coming down the street, an ambulance followed by a hurse, then about 40 people on foot and a dozen cars. A 20 year old boy of the church had had a heart attack. I was very sad and church was delayed until 10:30.While we waited we played games like patty cake with Annemaries sisters.

            When the service started it was very excited to watch people and attempt to translate what was going on. Some of the songs even had the words in Spanish but we could sing along. This fun lasted for about the first 60 minutes of the 2.5 hours.  It was really weird to the children came up from bible school early and the general population was just talking during church. I could follow what the Pastor was saying but it was hard to collect significance when thinking so hard. The theme was lying and I know it is bad so I think we can call it pretty much good. Pura Vida.

            I was very thankful when it was over but was slightly antsy to get home for our family barbeque ( Unfortunately from the Spanish I did really actually know if there was one or when it was for sure) , but I wasn’t even close. We all piled into the family car and the three of us got dropped off at a bus station. Where we waited, and waited, and waited… for 2 hours. Some excitement did happen a homeless guy developed a crush on Annemarie and wouldn’t stop scooching closer to her and touching her so annemarie’s mom called the police after warning seven times, I also made fun with a little diva 3 year old, and a lady brest fed a boy who was old enough to walk. I was so thankful when I got home. I had missed the barbeque but still ate good. I was really bummed cause I was looking forward to having a social activity. It was a little harder but I eventually could say Pura Vida.

            The story ended up providing plenty of entertainment too. When we took our Sunday night ride around Puntarenas and we passed the bus stop my Padre asked me if I wanted to get on one to Miramar. 

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

In honor of Father’s Day I decided to provide a sneak peek of the book I am going to write and publish someday. It was originally titled “Stupid Things My Dad Says” but after a recent round of editing has been changed to the “The things my Dad Says” because of two main reasons. First he also says a lot of insightful and helpful things and now I can include those too and Second I now say a lot of the once dubbed stupid things. And I would never say stupid things. Lol

     1.      Excuses are like belly-buttons everybody has them but nobody needs them.

     2.      Don’t be a schmuck

     3.      Do what’s right and Do what’s best

     4.      You deserve to be head over heels in love. 

     5.      Stand up straight you’re a Boeve.

     6.      Dead Horse!

     7.      I couldn’t be better if I was twins.

     8.      Is your integrity worth _______ (fill in the blank with any questionable action)

     9.      I can’t I have a bone in my leg

*I was about 9 until I realized that I had a bone too.

Situational Phrases

Me: I am almost ready I just need to change my shirt real quick.

Dad: Don’t change I love you just the way you are.

      *Like is used in more informal settings

Stranger: How are you doing today?

Dad: I am finer than frogs’ hair.

Stranger: Burst of laughter while Me=eye roll

Cool Stranger: What up?

Dad: My hairline and my brother’s cholesterol. (If an acquaintance is near by their name replaces brother)

Me: Dad will you make me a sandwich.

Dad: (Points at me as if about to do a magic trick) YOU’RE A SANDWICH!

Person: Any probable question that the answer is not really know.

Dad: Licks his finger lets it dry in the air pretends to read it while giving a generic magic eight ball answer.

These are only the basics that I could remember on short notice and while being separated by a LOT of miles. (I tried to google map it but it said that it was unable to calculate directions). I know there are lots more entertaining phrases and good adive. If you remember some feel free to comment.

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!

The struggles of Living in Costa Rica

Now the beauty of this list is not only the realization that most of these struggles are of my own doing or lack of competence but also the conclusion that if these are the struggles then I am doing pretty dang well.

1. Even Clinical Strength deodorant can't keep the pit stains at bay
2. Everyone wants you to speak spanish
3. The toilet paper goes in the trashcan after use...
4. They don't drink milk
5. Packaged gluten free baked goods are non-existent
6. It rains the hardest when you forget your umbrella
7. Seven year old children play soccer like high schoolers so extrapolate from there
8. Language barriers do exist and therefore many things are lost in translation
9. The United States is far away
10. Everything is made of tile

The brightside
1. Every one is therefore sweaty always so you stand out if your dry
2. People here may speak perfect English but Puntarenas has the mind set that they want to teach us Spanish.
     but they are right that is the only way to learn.
3. Trying breaking that habit it is impossible, and I haven't really found an upside yet because if the wind      blows just right the entire town smells like an out house.
4. I miss it! But in replacement frescos, like fruity drinks, are a component of the meal. My mom has made freshly squeezed lime, orange, mango, and a bunch of fruit that I just smile and nod when she talks about. They are all delicious though.
5.No bread, cereal, cookies, crackers. My cooking class has been a nice little source of breaded type foods but just something else to get used to. I was however afraid to tell my madre all the foods I didn't like after I told her all the foods I couldn't eat. I now eat fish, shrimp, tomatoes, and cabbage. I also told my family here the story about how my dad pulled up all the cabbage because he didn't want to eat it. They laughed and laughed and now every time I eat cabbage they say that I should cook it for my dad.
6. Murphy's law it is inevitable, but the air is so warm it is nice to have an excuse to just walk in the rain
7. We have played several pick-up games with the locals and well I am getting better. They are pretty nice too about yelling your name pointing to where you should stand and then kicking the ball there.
8. One example... Collin is coming to visit the end of the month and I thought my mom was talking about preparing things (she offered to prepare him all my favorite foods) but she actually asked if he could bring things. Collin is now signed up to bring 4 pairs of Keds. I am really bad at saying no too...
9. With skype and facebook it is so easy to stay in touch but it is also so easy to see the United States without you. I guess I just want to make sure that it is know that I miss my family, my friends, my bed, the beach, the conference grounds and all the people there.
10. So it is all made of tile and then it is all went and then it is really slippery.

Costa Rica Wins

Costa Rica won today. Don’t get me wrong I still had a great day but it was just another adaventure. Last night I went to an Aerobics Class. It was in a ladies house with a whole sloop f Ticos. We jumped and kicked and danced for an hour and oh man I was soaking wet with sweat so that means today I was sore…this morning’s run was hard. Costa Rica 1 me 0.

The morning was mostly typical, we had our second quiz in cinema (unfortunately harder than I expected but still good), a stop at the beach, and a delicious lunch with Coconut Flan. I had to do a presentation on our daycare volunteering and it went very well. I was freaking out just a little when my partner didn’t show up till half an hour before class (Tico time... Costa Rica 2 Me 0). But then I remembered that we could use ENGLISH! It was a breeze.  Costa Rica 2 Me 1.

Dancing class Costa Rica 3 me 1, we tried cubian my hips just don’t move like that. It rains pretty much every day but of course it rains the hardest when you forget your umbrella Costa Rica 4 me 1. I knew I should have brought my rain slickers ;)

I then had the opportunity to go to church with my family it was the 8 year anniversary of the death of my padre’s mom. Costa Rica  (Or the 80 anniversary of her life… lost in translation). It was cool to see the cathedral and I had a great time watching but I think I understood 12 words. Costa Rica 8 me 1. The rest of the night was fun I watched soccer and minute to win it with my padres.

But I did get Coconut Flan at lunch and dinner today so I am going to call this one a win (Dad I got the recipe for you! Does that count for father’s day? Haha)

I also forget to say that this weekend I also saw two armadillos and husked and cracked open my own coconut. I also tried mamones which taste a lot like wild grapes but you have to suck them out of their peal. 

The Weekend of Walking

I couldn’t believe it was already the weekend when I woke up Friday morning I felt like the week had just started and I wasn’t rested for another adventure, but there was no time to dilly dally.

The day started out godo with Cinema Class, we watched the movie Nueve Reinas which is similar to Ocean’s 11 (my favorite movie) I would highly suggest this film too. I ate lunch and packed and headed for the Ferry. Most of the students had left already since they did not have a late morning class.

We walked to the end of the peninsula and rode the ferry from Puntarenas to the Nicoya Peninsula; it was a cheap/quick ride only $1.50 and one hour.  On the ferry with us was our Professor of Ecotourism and her family. We landed in Paquera and caught a bus to Santa Teresa a Surf town on the west side. Good news only 2/3 of us had to stand this time.

Austin, Me, Stephanie and Annemarie on the Ferry to Santa Teresa

We arrived in Santa Theresa just before night fall and the walking began… We talked to a boy from New Jersey who runs a hostel with his Sweden friend.  They said they could give us a great deal and it was just up the road, 5 km later we arrived just when the rain started to fall PERFECT! We dropped our stuff and immediately headed for food.

We ended up at an upscale(well upscale for Costa Rica all the silverware matched) sushi/fish shop. The sign also said beef and chicken but in my book Veal doesn’t really count as beef. Haha. I am also getting so used to the typical ease of gluten free in Puntarenas that I forget to ask when I go out now, thank goodness I remembered because I initially ordered the special to split with Anne Marie which ended up being breaded. Oops!

So after a lot more questions and instructions I found out that Cevchie was about the only thing to eat but still sounded delicious. It is also very popular here so we thought we would give it a try. And we tried and I decided it tasted like Tuna Block…and turns out it was tuna. Ceviche is a cooking style where you cook the fish in acid, it was like almost raw tuna. But once over the initial shock we both enjoyed it.

We then stopped by the store and headed back to the hostel. On the way back we luckily ran into all our other friends from USAC we all headed to our house to hang out. We had a great time but we returned to the dilemma of travelling with 20 people without a shared goal. At one point we were in a Taxi and 1/3 of the people were yelling to turn around 1/3 of the people were saying go on and a 1/3 were just watching. We couldn’t find a club that pleased everyone and walked up and down the strip (if you can call it that). Some of us finally just stopped at a beautiful place overlooking the ocean and walked the5 km and back to the hostel. We could hear the frogs croaking and saw crabs scurrying across the road. Everyone had fun.

As close as I got...but hey I look like I am having fun

In the morning we could really see the town, It was a single dirt road with hostels on either side. Half the people in the town were carrying a surf board and 4 wheeler or dirt bikes were the preferred means of travel. We grabbed breakfast (Avocado Omelet J) and headed to the Beach.

The beach was a blast! The waves were huge and so much fun. We walked and explored up the coast and I even tried my hang at surfing. I only tried about 4 times and was apparently in white water which is hard but I was glad to finally try. I am hoping to hire a real coach sometime soon.

Like Puntarenas there are Dogs everywhere, except here there
are more and they are all really nice and pure breeds. We had
the cutest Lab Puppy follow us to breakfast I wanted him to
come to the beach too!

We did however have some casualties at the beach while the majority of us were on our hour or so walk the tide came in. A flip flop and t-shirt are gone and two digital cameras are currently chilling in a bag of rice. Pray that they will dry out and work SOON!

After the beach we de-salted and trekked back to the bus stop. Some people stayed in Santa Theresa, we were headed to Curu a nature preserve for our Ecotourism class and other were headed back to Puntarenas. We all fell asleep on the bus and when our stop came we frantically rushed to get off. When we got off it was a big surprise a wooden gate and a large LARGE green field. I felt like we were not in Kansas anymore.

The Ranch

Usually you get of the bus and there is a bank, a tourist shop and seven people trying to sell you anything, this time we were all alone and it was nice. On the 2.5km walk into the preserve we saw a heard of cattle grazing, wild horses, dear (Yea chilling by a palm tree, Now I really couldn’t figure out why so many live in Michigan it gets cold and we try to kill them). We also saw a cage of protected Spider monkeys and a million more crabs.

At this reservation you were allowed to interact with the animals.

 The camp was on a beautiful cove. They only had solar power but there was a small store and souvenir shop. We listened to the presentation about the land which was started in the 1930’s as a sustainable hardwood and fruit farm. Unlike typical wildlife prevention this farm utilized creatures like the monkey to help grow healthy crops. It currently is a tourist location for Tortuga island, a cattle and mango farm.

Night Hike

This might have been my favorite night so far most of us went on a night hike to see the wildlife but ended up being the wildlife. We turned it into a tour where for some reason we all picked up Australian accents (some turned British) and wandered through the Jungle. I was the guide who spotted Heffalumps, whoozles, and dung of 

the kinnikanich beetle. I think all the real animals heard us coming miles away.

Monkey Snagging the Leftovers

Then we played group card games like Mophia and the Name Game, we were all exhausted and rolled into bed at 10:30!!! The lighting here in Costa Rica really throws you for a loop.

We woke up early to look for animals, Annemarie and I walked to a lagoon we mostly found mud but learned that the statement of a million crabs may have not been that much of an overstatement. The whole ground had at least one teeny tiny crab per square inch. We saw some birds and a Cuati, a raccoon meets swiper the fox kinda thing.

Most people headed back to Puntarenas or to Santa Tereasa if they didn’t go Friday but Annemarie and I decided to spend the day here. We hiked more after breakfast and saw lizards, iguanas, a crocodile and lots of birds. We returned to camp in time for the Monkey’s lunch time! This tradition started with the origin of Curu the only way out used to be by boat and boats would come near the camp to collect the fruit, the overripe or ruined fruit would be put in buckets and the monkeys started to come down and eat it. After the shipping stopped so did the fruit. The monkeys however were upset by this fact and pounded on the roof of the house until they were fed fruit.

So continuing the tradition we got to see a whole trip of Capoochen monkeys get bananas and then argue with a troop of Howler Monkeys about the situation. It was amazing!

We took a dip and headed back to the road to catch the bus for the Ferry. On the way back we decided who each glee character the students at USAC were with our teachers daughter. It worked surprisingly well, except they said I had to be Sue Sylvester. Haha.

We tallied it up and we think we walked about 20 miles this weekend I was glad to come home to my rice and beans watch soccer (Yea I am being converted…) and RELAX!

Saving the Scarlet MaCaw

I wanted to write real quick about my adventures on Thursday before I headed off for the weekend. This will be brief but hopefully I can add more detail later...

We got to play with the students again Volleyball although not my strong suit I think I was able to teach them something. I also taugt them nucomb, they would get demolished by the CRCG kids but they caught on. The teacher also loved it he played volleyball in college and didn´t want to give the kids a turn.


I also went to a sanctuary where they are rehabilitating foriegn and local animals. This was amazing it was like a zoo on steroids, most of the animals were rescued from homeswhere they were being mistreated.

They were also helping in rebuilding the Scarlet and Great Green Macaw population a.k.a. ther were like 30 some Macaws just swooping over our heads, one nibbled on my shoe. They were real strict about not interacting with the animals in order t not domesticate them but that just made it that much more amazing.

I have to run though to go catch the ferry to the Nicoya, for real how do I do school.

Tico Time

I missed my chance to go to visit the local private school again because my Cinema class ran long. But pura vida. I am really enjoying my cinema class, it is not very hard in the sense that my teacher doesn't really grade on Spanish grammar but it is a great refresher for remembering Spanish.

So I am enjoying it because I am learning a lot about movie style and cinematography as well as about the history and culture of Central America. My teacher is a riot too, he calls me Booov and when I told him the correct pronunciation he said booby and well it went down hill from there. We were laughing like middle schoolers. So far my recommendation is to watch City of God, good flick not for kids. The report writing is going well but I am procrastinating right now by blogging. 

We hung out with our Tico partners, local university students who want American exposure, and cleaned the beach. I used a lot of Spanish my partner Dunkan is very helpful. We then played a pretty horrific game of Volleyball but we all had fun. We finished with swimming in the ocean and FOOD!

So Tico Time= the flexibilty of people here to be late for whatever, or for class to run long, or for the bus not to come, or the food not to be ready. 

My own little Triathlon

Austin cracked after one day. He passed his hand over his face like a curtain and says I can't do it anymore my head hurts! We guilt-ed him a little it was his idea after all but we let him off the hook. In reality the whole group is just speaking more Spanish now it is fun, I am learning a lot more.

I am starting to catch on in my dancing class. Sophie and I have decided to be partners every week to improve are schools and I know lots of tricks now. The hardest part is I am the guy and she struggles being a "girl" she is always trying to lead our teacher just laughs and whenever he watches we mess up. He probably thinks we have two left feet. Dancing with him is really fun though! He is so good you don't even have to think he just twirls you all around.

After I went for a swim in the ocean... like a swim swim, lap swim. Probably not the best idea I have ever had but it felt good afterward. It was dark and I kept hitting things in the water. When I first started I was like woah I feel good, then I thought maybe it is cause this is saltwater and then 2 minutes later I switched to side stroke. I'll keep practicing, I read a book on how to swim in Wisconsin. :)

The USAC students also played Soccer the field was indoors and super small. I held my own most of the time, I had a few swings and a miss. I scored a goal! and ending up being on the winning team. Thats all that matters right? ;)

Afterwards I watched the NBA game with my hermano, that was good Spanish practice too we talked about sports and school. We did however come to a few bad conclusions= He doesn't like Futbol Americano and well I was breed to. He hates the Lakers, My favorite team is the Lakers! I hate the spurs, His favorite team is the Spurs! We agreed to disagree and it helped that we are both cheering for Miami now. I told him lots of people in American don't like Lebron James and he just said but he is really good at basketball.

Hablo solamente en Espanol

So a few weeks back Annemarie talked about the idea of only speaking Spanish second session like the last 5 weeks of us being in Costa Rica. We told Austin about it this weekend and he had the great idea to start NOW because he won't be here second session, and well so far so good... pretty much I just don't talk unless I have too, comedic comments no longer exist.

The hardest part time to speak only Spanish is when I am with other USAC students that haven't made the promise and are a lot newer to Spanish for example at Day Care yesterday Cristin had no translator. Regardless we had a great time again.

She keeps playing hard to get. And her Mom stopped by to breast feed...we didn't know what to do.

It had been raining all day and in the right corner here the roof was leaking like non other. The floor was very slippery and the kids kept falling, they were surprisingly tough.

The paintings on the walls were done by a former USAC student that also volunteered here.

We have to do a report on this volunteer project for our Ecotourism class we think we are going to contrast it with day care in the United States, it is a lot different than Jane's House. As well as talk about how the kids benefit from the experience. Another interesting fact it only costs $6 a day!! I think my parents used to pay us more than that to watch ourselves.

Last comment- I saw two jelly fish like swimming in the Ocean this morning and got like 6 feet away from a pelican!