Weekend

This weekend our group went to see the famous touristy Arenal Volcano, which is totally cool by the way. We spent all day Saturday at Baldi Hot Springs, going down slides and pool hopping, and eating from the DELICIOUS buffet there. Sunday we hiked for a while across some hanging bridges and then had lunch at this amazing lookout over the volcano. I didn't take any photos at the hot springs for fear of destroying my little camera. Here's the website, though, so you can still see what it was like: http://www.arenal.net/baldi-hot-springs.htm. The food at the hot springs was incredible - fresh cucumbers for the salad, fresh pineapple, and a chocolate fountain that was out of this world. The hotel we stayed at was nice too: http://www.lapraderadelarenal.com/. Unfortunately, Saturday night I got the worst headache I think I've ever had in my life. It really was unfortunate because I wasn't able to hang out with everyone. I laid down in bed and seriously could not move. I still have a small headache now and hiked and stuff anyway today in spite of it all, which may not have been the best idea. Anyway, stay tuned for some photos!

I think I'll let the pictures do the talking....

PUERTO VIEJO, Costa Rica

This city is located on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica in the province of Limon. We met Friday morning at 8 am to take a bus from San Ramon to San Jose, and then we took a cheap taxi to another bus station where we basically got on the bus to Puerto Viejo immediately, with a 4 1/2 hour bus ride to look forward to. KL, AK, and I were the only ones at this point. DB and TC left on the 4:30 am bus, and ES had arrived there on Thursday. The bus ride was surprisingly pleasant and short. I listened to music, read a book, and enjoyed the scenery. We arrived there between 2 and 3 pm and ran into ES who was waiting for us on a corner because "he knew we would be getting there soon." It's so funny to me how much we all run into each other sometimes, even though we have no cell phones or way of communicating! He led us to the hostel where he had left his stuff, and we talked to the resident entertainer, Juan, who was actually just a man who lived next door to the hostel but was allowed to bring guests to and from there because he just has a way with people, I guess. The hostel would be $8/night if 4 of us shared a room, so KL and I took the big bed, and the boys took the bunk beds and we all got to spend a weekend together! KL and I called our bed the "princess bed," or, the-big-bed-that-had-a-mosquito-net-over-it-that-kind-of-made-it-look-like-a-princess-bed bed:

It didn't take long for us to find out why these were necessary. Anyway, we settled in, then ventured off to another popular hostel to meet up with our other gringo friends. We said hello, then KL, AK and I took off to find some almuerzo (lunch). We came across a little place nestled between the trees practically on the beach. I had the most DELICIOUS pineapple fresca, along with a small pizza. This is one of the first views of the beach that I saw:

Beautiful, right? (Click on it to see it larger!!!!) After we ate, we all got back together to hang out and figure out what to do with our afternoon and evening. We decided to go swimming, and the water was a bit chilly because it was cloudy and later in the day. We swam a while and just hung out together most of the afternoon and evening, and then showered and decided to hang out at our place for a while and to then head to Rockin J's for the live reggae music. There were a lot of foreigners there, and we met some different people and listened to the music, which was okay but not stellar. We headed home around 12:30 and went to bed so that we could get up early on Saturday and have all day to do whatever we wanted!

Saturday morning we woke up pretty early and decided to go to the beach. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, which was the bluest I think I've ever seen. We rented bikes and rode down the road for a while so that those who wanted to surf could check out the waves and decide if they wanted to get boards. We all just swam for a while in the beautiful clear Caribbean water. The current was INCREDIBLY strong, and at some point I started to get pretty scared. I couldn't get back to the beach at all, and the water just kept pulling me out and the waves just kept pounding and pounding over me. I prayed and really thought I may never make it back to shore. Somehow eventually I did, and I wanted to kiss the sand when I got back! TC and KL stayed in the water, and I just sat in the sand and tried to take in all the beauty around me! TC, KL, and AK decided to check out the surf board rentals, so I watched our stuff while they did. TC and KL shared a board, and AK and I sat on a log in the shade on the beach and talked for a while. It was VERY hot outside, but not humid, which was really nice! After they came in, we got back on our bikes and headed back toward town to check on our other amigos. We all hung out until lunch time. KL and I asked our hostel owner for a lunch recommendation, and he recommended Soda Miss Sam a couple of blocks away to get some typical Caribbean Costa Rican food. We took advantage of the casado, a typical Costa Rican dish, which had rice and beans which were supposedly different on the Caribbean side. They were different, and they were DELICIOUS. I don't know how to describe the difference...maybe a bit sweeter? Regardless, the food was scrumptious and we ate it up! We then headed back to our hostels. Some wanted to nap, DB and AK wanted to snorkle, but KL and I wanted to explore on our bikes. We rode down the road both ways for a long while - we spent most of the afternoon, several hours, riding and exploring and taking pictures. I will do a whole separate post with just pictures and short captions, in addition to an incredible experience at the end of the afternoon! While we were riding, we experienced a lot of cool things:

• We met a writer from Massachusetts who has been here for 11 years. Our entire conversation was shared while we were riding bikes down the road.
• We stopped to see why a big crowd had stopped in the middle of the road, only to find out that a man had stopped to help a SLOTH that was crossing the road. Yes, a SLOTH. In Costa Rica, they don't have squirrels and opossums crossing the road....they have sloths cross the road. Picture will be in the next post.
• We found a small used book store nestled in the woods. We didn't buy anything, but it was nice and secluded, and air conditioned.

The ride in general was just incredible. I am going to go into more detail about this in a separate post, but I breathed slower, rode faster, and just soaked up every moment of the ride. It was awesome.

After our journey was over, we returned our bikes and hunted for the others. We found them eventually and all just hung out and then went looking for food later that evening. We ate at a nice restaurant and had casados again, which were scrumptious again. We headed back to our hostel to make a game plan after helping TC pick out some earrings for his girlfriend. Right as we got back, the rain started to POUR, and the electricity went out! It was awesome though, and it made us very sleepy. We all went to bed pretty early because the electricity was on and off, and we didn't really want to walk anywhere in the pouring rain.

On Sunday we got up early. KL went to run muy temprano, and AK disappeared, so ES and I went to the store to get something for breakfast. Right after we got back, everyone showed back up, and we all decided that since the weather was still kind of dreary that we were ready to leave earlier in the day than we had originally planned. We chose to take the 11 am bus. For 2 nights and 4 people, the hostel cost $16/person, and the accomodations were just fine. Can you believe that?! If you ever want to travel on a budget but still find good accomodations (you can certainly find more luxurious places than what we have been staying in), Costa Rica is the place to come! While we were waiting for the bus we went to a coffee place nearby, and met some girls from the US who are teachers in San Jose. While talking we discovered that one of them is the teacher for one of the children in a missionary family I know who is here in San Jose! Isn't that crazy?! What a small world! We exchanged information and told them that if they ever needed to get out of the city that they could come visit San Ramon, and they told us that we were welcome at their place as well! We boarded the bus and had a pleasant 4 hour ride back to San Jose. It passed rather quickly. We were giggly and happy, for some reason, and I think that KL and I were the 2 people on the bus that no one ever wants to sit near because we thought everything was funny! We had a good time, and finally made it back to San Jose and took a taxi back to the other bus station. We luckily were able to immediately get on a bus back to San Ramon, and we made it back in less than an hour, which was REALLY fast. It was COLD when we got back! KL came back to my house with me because her host family was gone for the day, so I made us some coffee and we had some snacks. We looked at pictures and watched a movie for a bit, and then she headed back to her house. My grandmother and one of my aunts came over for a while, so we all ate and talked together. We laughed a lot and had a great time. We later went to my uncle's house (the uncle who is married to my Spanish teacher) to take some medicine to one of them, and ended up staying there for an hour or so. I think they were ready for us to go because they normally go to sleep very early. My host dad just kept talking and talking to my uncle, and it was kind of funny because we all were trying to pull the two apart. I went to bed soon after we got back home, and got a good night of rest!

I think that sums up the weekend. Be sure to check out the pictures that I will post on here this afternoon! If you are my friend on Facebook, you can see ALL of them there!

Playa Santa Teresa

Friday
Met at green church at 6 am, got to bus station around 6:20 am for what we thought would be a 6:30 bus - no such luck; bus came at 7:30 instead
An hour and a half bus ride to Puntarenas (cost just over a dollar)
Bought ferry tickets (Just over a dollar)
Waited patiently for 11 am ferry; got on ferry
1-1/2 hour ferry ride - beautiful scenery
Docked and got off; some of us got a taxi straight to the beach - took about an hour to get to our spot
Checked in to our bungalow and went to the beach immediately while we were waiting for the others to arrive
Others came later but bungalow owner was not going to let us all pile in rooms together so some of us decided to walk down the road to get a hostel
Hostel was $12/night - reminded me of church camp with bunk beds, no air, cold shower, gross floor; did have an open kitchen area and fridge we could keep stuff in; also had an upstairs loft where you could turn on ceiling fans and watch movies!
Walked down the street and ate at the first restaurant we found; people who owned it lived there and would basically just cook for people whenever they walked up
I had a hamburger - delicious! So did a couple of the others - Food was great!
Just before we left our other gringo friends walked by and we encouraged them to eat where we had just eaten
They ate there and stopped by our hostel on their way back
We then went to a market near our hostel to get more food - I got some cereal and juice to munch on throughout the weekend (this would be the first trip of many to this mercado)
We all enjoyed lazy evenings because it had been a long day, beginning at 5 am!
Those of us at the hostel hung out with some other people who were staying there - a few ticas and some people from England and a guy from Spain - really fun to talk to!
We went to bed pretty early, before 11 I believe!

Saturday
Woke up before 5; everyone in the room was up before 6 - we went to the beach to hang out while the guys surfed and Kelsey ran - SO nice and quiet and beautiful!!!!!
Came back to have breakfast and coffee - toast with jelly - delicious of course!
Decided to be lazy and watch a movie in the upstairs loft
Went back to the beach for a bit - cloudy but not terribly hot; very muggy though
Went to get lunch later on at the same place - delicious again! I had a chicken quesadilla that was INCREDIBLE!
Went back to the beach after lunch - sun was out with full force so it was HOT! Saw some monkeys hanging around the trees near the beach
Went back to the hostel - showered and snacked while some went to the ATM
Napped in a hammock while Danielle read in the other hammock
Went to the mercado when everyone got back to get food to cook spaghetti for supper!!!
Came back and cooked - we all helped and it was fun :-)
Ate spaghetti with all kinds of spices and toppings, and bread of course - SO GOOD!
Walked down the street and met up with our other amigos to watch the BIG GAME - Costa Rica vs. Mexico
Mexico totally dominated - 3-0 - Costa Rica went down without a fight :-( Game was fun to watch though!
Headed back to the hostel and met some people from Switzerland - they speak 5 languages and they are the same age as me - maybe we should reevaluate our education system here?!
Went to bed kind of early because I wanted to catch the 6 am bus back home; others stayed up a while longer

Sunday
Woke up at 5 am - couldn't find my camera but it had just gotten stuffed in the bottom of my pocketbook - Michael from the group met me and we walked to the bus stop to get the early bus - we both had a lot of homework and work to do and wanted to get back to town early - the next bus wouldn't leave till 2 pm so we knew we wouldn't get back till much later if we took that one
Left promptly at 6 am and rode about 2 hours to get to the ferry place
Got on the ferry - ride seemed a lot longer this time for some reason, but was about an hour and a half
Got off boat at Puntarenas and got back on the same bus that had also ridden the ferry
Bus left Puntarenas and headed toward San Jose - made several stops along the way, including San Ramon
Bus dropped us off around 11:30 at a stop near the mall; walked to the mall and got a taxi into town to our homes
Came home and unpacked; talked to mom, dad, Hannah and Evan on Skype
Got a shower and got ready - my host mother invited me to go somewhere with them
Ended up going to some huge party thing with all of my host father's family - one of the babies in the family had gotten "baptized" - or christened, as we would say back home - Mom I wish yall would have had something like that for me when I got christened! - they had all kinds of delicious food and CAKE :-)
Met all of his family - they were all VERY nice and interested in why I was here and what I was studying - I was kind of out of it though because I was so exhausted from a night of little sleep and the long travel home
Went then to my host mother's brother's (or my uncle's) house to check on their kids - one of them had to go to the hospital for three days - the mother (or my aunt I guess) is also my teacher for Advanced Spanish - she probably thought I was crazy - I was fighting SO HARD to stay awake there! I was completely exhausted!!!!
We came home and I came in and did some homework
Mother made fried porkchops and french fries for a late supper - yummy!
Went up to another aunt/uncle's house to say goodbye to Shae who is flying out muy early in the morning to go back to Canada! Goodbyes are always sad!
One of their sons was SO cute - he came up to me and said - "eres la nueva in la casa" - saying that I was the new girl in his aunt's house - and so he pulled me to his room and showed me some of his toys - and dad, he had on Cars crocs - made me think of you because you love that movie!!!!
We didn't stay long, and then we came back, and I did some more work and am now finishing my blog about the weekend - I'm so exhausted or I would go through and write more complete sentences but I think this is the best thing for now. Got a busy week ahead and I need some serious REST!

Buenas noches!

Saturday crocodiles

We then all got back on the buses and rode another 30 minutes or so to get to our next and final stop for the day: the Crocodile Man Tour. Located on Rio Tarcoles, the second largest river in Costa Rica. The river is muddy looking right now since CR is in the rainy season and all the rain washes dirt and mud into the river, in addition to the pollution coming from all the water in San Jose that empties into all the rivers. It got cloudy quickly, and soon it started to rain, just adding to the ambiance of the whole experience. We climbed onto a boat, and headed out down the river, and saw some INCREDIBLE views, beautiful birds, and lush greenery all around:

The tour guide was funny, speaking Spanglish so that everyone understood. He explained that all the crocs (NOT ALLIGATORS) in the river have names after world leaders, like George Bush, Bill Clinton, Hugo Chavez, and even a Monica Lewinsky. Almost immediately we pulled up on a bank of sand near the largest croc in the river, named Osama bin Laden. I think I'll let the pictures do most of the talking here:

Not exactly what I want to do for a grown-up job one day, but it pays the bills I guess!

More views:

These are all crocodiles:

Want to go swimming in this river???

We boarded our buses, said adios to the Puntarenas kids, then headed back towards San Ramon. The bus ride back was much longer, not only because we had a ways to go, but also because there was a LOT of traffic on the highway between P and SR. We finally made it back after 6. I immediately headed home and showered...don't think I've ever felt so clean after all the sweating I did on the zipline, and then after sitting in wet seats on the boat because of the rain! My mother made delicious food yet again, a chicken breast cooked in some kind of barbecue-like sauce, with cream corn and some other stuff sprinkled on top - DELICIOUS. I need to start taking pictures of my meals, because I don't know that my descriptions do them justice. After supper, I finished getting ready and then headed up the street to Kelley's house to meet up with her and some others to head toward the parque where we all decided to meet up around 9. We arrived at the park and slowly everyone made it there, one BIG group of gringos sitting in the park - we definitely get stared at. We hung out for a while, I had yet ANOTHER churro, and then some of us headed toward the stage area to listen to the great band playing. They played music that was very easy to dance to, so of course we were moving around a little bit. A couple of people from our group, Danielle and Michael, were dancing around when an older couple came over and took each of them: the husband took Danielle and the wife took Michael, and they showed them the steps and danced with them for several songs! It was so fun to watch! And they were so nice too, like most of the people we have met here have been. Afterwards, we all walked down the street and met up with the rest of our gringo friends, and we headed toward another student, David's, apartment. He chose not to live with a host family, and instead rents a VERY nice apt. for only 200 a month! Quite different from rent in Clemson, Columbia, and especially Charleston! We all hung out there for a long time, listening to music and just hanging out. Then we all took taxis home. I was SO tired from our long day!

Friday, Saturday ziplining

WOW! What a great weekend it's been down south! I didn't realize that I hadn't posted since FRIDAY, so I have a bit of catching up to do!

FRIDAY

No classes on Friday ever!!!! I have ALWAYS wanted to not have class on Friday but have never been able to work it out, and I finally get to! And I'm SO THANKFUL!!!!!

I slept until 8:30 or so, then walked to another student Morgan's house so that we could go on a watch hunt! I brought a watch down here, but I wanted one that was a little more sporty so that I could wear it all the time and not worry about it being so nice that it would get stolen. We walked the streets of the downtown area for a while and went in multiple stores. We noticed that a lot of stores here are all-inclusive, meaning that you can walk in a store to buy a TV and come out with a new outfit or something. Now I know that at somewhere like Walmart or Target back home this would be normal, but San Ramon has no Walmarts or Targets. So it was a bit interesting to see that. We finally found a legit jewelry store and found some watches we liked. I got a pink sports watch (yes, dad, I know pink is not practical, but it was/is cute!). We were there mid-morning, so downtown was hoppin! We stopped by a bank on the way to Morgan's house, and then we headed back. I got back home around 11 or so. I then relaxed a bit before my mom cooked lunch. I think we just had rice and beans again: they are starting to make more frequent appearances at meals.

After lunch I got dressed and packed because the group had planned to meet at school to go check out some waterfalls a few miles up the road. We arrived at school and everyone decided not to go because it was about to rain. Some played soccer in the POURING rain, probably one of the heaviest rains I've seen since I've been here! Some of the girls got some string and made bracelets. Morgan and I walked around campus to take pictures of the University and of whatever else we saw that was photogenic! I have some pretty pictures of flowers that I took. We then stopped in where the girls were making bracelets and all spent some time talking. Soon everyone else joined, smelly and wet. Some of us waited around to meet a tico for coffee - this experience taught us that "tico time" not only means showing up late, it also means not showing up at all. Tico friend never came for coffee. So we enjoyed our cafecitos and talking at a cafe across the road from school. We then all headed back to our respective homes after deciding to meet up at the park around 8.

At home I took a shower and waited anxiously for dinner, which unfortunately brought the first thing I have tried in Costa Rica that I have not liked. It was like a tortilla made from corn somehow, but it was not very tasty. My family here loves them and poured this sour creamish sauce allllll over the tortillas for better taste, they said, but even with that I was unable to eat even half of it. Luckily they do not get offended if you don't like something...all you have to do is say so! Fortunately, my host mother made some HOMEMADE CORNBREAD, straight from the feasting tables of HEAVEN. This cornbread is AMAZING, with the taste of regular cornbread but just enough sweetness to make you chew it a little slower, and a little more than you normally would.

After dinner I headed up the street to meet Kelley and then we headed to the parque with some of our other estudiante friends. We basically just hung out there and talked, walked around and absorbed all the sights and sounds of the fiesta. There was a horse show going on, and the horses all would come out into the middle of the street one at a time and do a trot or strut or something. It was fun to watch. We headed home a bit before twelve so that we could all get an adequate amount of sleep for the next day's activities.

SATURDAY

I had been looking forward to Saturday for a while! We all had to arrive at school around 9 am to get on a bus to head to Puntarenas, about a 45 minute drive. We went straight to our first destination for our canopy tour - aka ZIPLINING through the forests of Costa Rica!!!! The group studying in Puntarenas (also through USAC) was also there to do it. Their group is much bigger than our group of 15: They have around 60 students in their program. I like our smaller size because we all have a chance to really get to know each other better. We got fitted for equipment and such, and some of us payed a few extra dollars to be able to do the "superman" zipline (will explain later). They split us up into 2 big groups, and about half of our group from San Ramon was with part of the group from Puntarenas. We had to hike through the trees a bit to get to our first of 8 platforms. They explained the proper technique to us, and then it was just a waiting process till we each got our chance on the first (and fastest!) zipline. It was SO MUCH FUN! The views were incredible and we all had fun just spending time with each other. The superman zipline was the last. They switched the harnesses so that we would be suspended by our backs instead of our waists, and we were able to stretch out to fly like superman! By far the BEST of all the ziplines!!!!

Some of the other students in my program, all waiting anxiously for our first zipline

Me on top of the mountain before heading down our last zipline, SUPERMAN
(can you see the ocean in the background?)

I was suspended by my waist with my arms out in front and my legs stretched out behind me, flying through the air like superman at the speed of light!
Okay, maybe not that fast, but it was a pretty speedy zipline!

They had fresh fruit waiting for us afterwards. It was DELICIOUS - fresh pineapple and watermelon. We were SO hot and sweaty after ziplining and walking a lot between platforms - the humidity was ridiculous, probably worse than it is back home, and it was MUCH hotter there than it is back in San Ramon. We were fortunate enough to get on an AIR CONDITIONED bus to ride to our lunch spot about 30 minutes away. It was the first time I had felt AC since the plane rides down here. It was fine for a while, but then it was too much and it was TOO cold! We watched Michael Jackson videos on the TVs on the bus on the way down there. I never have really watched his music videos or listened to his music, but he is an awesome dancer!