Gamalewhale

It's been raining so hard this week! Every night it's poured. Tonight we played card games at my apt. with a bunch of people but it gets so hot in here that it's unbearable. When it started to rain Julia and I frolicked down to the ocean and played in the rain. We were completely soaked but at least we weren't hot anymore.

On seasame street they changed the names of the characters. Instead of Kermit his name is Rene...?

Mi corazon esta golpeando como un tambor de la selva

Yesterday we went to the mall in San Pedro to eat lunch. They have all the american fast food places like McDonalds, Wendy's, Quiznos, Pizza Hut and Cinnabon. We got lots of food then had McFlurries. The mall is huge, it has four floors, an arcade and a movie theater. We spent most of the day just sitting eating and wandering around it. After we finally left we went to el centro to find this amazing coffee place. Instead we found a cute little market with a live band playing. El centro is this long street paved with stone and old street lights thats full of cool shops and placed to eat. There's lots of street vendors with their stuff set up on the ground and I was distracted when I walked onto one. I was so embarassed!

We Took picture with the fat lady for good luck and with the cute police men. We finally made to it El Tostador, this amazing coffee shop with mochaccinos. When we got our drinks mine has a chocolate heart in the chantilly and no one else did. Everyone put up a stink and made them give them chocolate too. The guy that made them turned bright red because the other people working made fun of him for giving me the heart. It was really sweet though.

We decided that we weren't ready to go home get so we stayed at Efren's another night. We watched Titanic in spanish and got pizza. Aleah Megan and I weren't tired so we went back to Castro's and sang Karaoke.

We had to leave on the 6 am bus to get back to la puerta in time for class at 8. We got back around 9 so I wasn't going to go but I ran into my professor at the pulperia buying stuff for ice cream floats so I went to class. They were watching Shrek and eating food.

Yo tire un pedo de mariposas

Today we were supposed to have a reunion in San Jose for all the people who went to Palmares back in January. The only people that ended up being able to go were Megan, Aleah and Me. We took the bus to San Jose and spent most of the day in el centro wandering through the hundreds of shoe shops. We spent 3 hours eating lunch at this cute little soda that had these older men playing music. They played the chicken dance and we did it in front of everyone. We found a discount shoe store and bought 3 dollar heels to wear tonight salsa dancing. The shoes say they're from Aldo but only one shoes says it, the other says a different brand haha.

We stayed at Megan's host brother's house, as we were calling him to get directions we ran into him on the street which is a miracle since San Jose is HUGE!

We got ready and went to one of Efren's favorite places called Rio. There were a ton of people there but there wasn't really a dance floor so we just hung out with Efren's friends. Aleah and I wandered into a private party and made friends with the Costa Rica rugby team. They were drinking beer out of shoes. gross.

After Rio got boring we went to Castro's, which has a Karoke bar on one floor and salsa on another. We danced for a while but my eyes hurt so Deilyn and I went home before everyone else. My feet hurt so bad but it was definitely worth it !

No way Jose

Friday: Megan and I took the bus out to San Ramon and while we were waiting for the next bus to La Fortuna we found this cute little soda that had the best bebidas natural, like mango smoothies. We got to La Fortuna around 7 and we went to the farm that she worked on for three months last year. She went through this program called Eco-teach, which is this program that you can do in almost any country. You pick and country that you want to work in and they help you find a farm to work on. You work for as a volunteer but they give you a place to live and feed you. The farm she worked on is absolutely beautiful and everything about the farm is organic and eco-friendly. They had lots of different smaller gardens but they mainly grow yucca and sugar cane. They have groups of people come through everyday and they give tours and feed them with the food they grow.

The family was so hospitable to us. They fed us and let us sleep a bed upstairs that's basically like camping because there aren't windows anywhere, the house is all open. That's probably how the bat got into our room and scared the poop out of us.

You can see volcan Arenal from the farm and the whole weekend is was so clear, which is really unusual. It usually rains quite a bit and the volcano always has clouds around it.

When it got dark we went into town and ate pizza at La Parada and Megan tought me about American Revolutions and I got freaked out because I feel like I know nothing about any of this stuff that our country has done to other countries.

Saturday: We did homework for a few hours after breakfast and then headed to the waterfall. It's the biggest waterfall in Costa Rica and it's breath taking. We swam in the river that runs off of the waterfall, it's full of fish ( trout I think) and they aren't really afraid of people so Megan got real close to them. She looked like a fish whisperer because they were all just facing her and getting closer and closer.

After the waterfall we were freezing so we went into town and fuond a coffee shop where we got some crazy coffee drinks and bread. Megan and I are Costa Rican food taste testers. We've made it our job to find the best pastries, coffee drinks, ice cream and any other Costa Rican specialties. Yamalith, the wife of Don Juan who owns the farm she worked on, is definitely in the top chefs we've tried. She also has a mole on her lip just like mine!

We ate our amazing food then headed back to the farm on this busy little road that we thought we were going to die on. Costa Rican drivers are scary enough without on lane bridges and no place to walk. At one point we saw a guy about 50 meters in front of us with a machette that he was sharpening on the ground as he walked towards us. We lived though, unlike the giant toad we saw in the street that had his guts squeezed out of him.

Sunday: After more homework and breakfast we took the bus to San Ramon and got ate McFlurries with guayaba chocolate chunks. Amazing.

No me matas!

Today is Kike's birthday so in honor of him Miel and I made t-shirts. On the front they say "want eat soap cat" and on the back they say "mmm... sabe bien". Since there aren't copywrite laws here you can go get a name brand shirt made at a t-shirt store. They had templates for hollister, bilabong, roxy everything.

I realized that I've gained some weight while i've been here from all the beans, rice and dulces I've been eating. I don't really care except that I may not fit into my bridesmaid dress for Rainer's wedding! So I started running almost everyday because I HAVE to fit into that dress. I must love her a lot because it's dreadfully hot all the time here and after I run my skin stays hot for at least an hour, even if i take a cold shower.

My hair's been getting a little long and crazy so I got a hair cut today for two dollars! She took off a ton, which I'm not too excited about but it's healthier now.

Garabatos

I slept in as late as I could (8:30) and ate peanut butter for breakfast! It was fantastic. Later we went to get groceries from the market. We found a mango tree that had yellow ones so we threw rocks and knocked them down. Free mangos! After grocery shopping I went for a run , since I live 100 meters from the beach now. Then we cooked dinner, patacones and noodles and we used some mora and orange that we bought to make a natural drink with water and sugar. It tasted like wine though, but not as bitter. I could probably make a lot of money off selling some crazy fruit apretados. That's my back up plan if I decide to live here forever.

My legs look they have the chicken pox , I think it's just sand fleas but it's gross.

Home Sweet Cabina

Today I was really sick, I was throwing up all morning but I had a final in Spanish so I dragged myself down there. My host family has been making fish a lot and I think that's what it was because Carmen was sick too. I had to take a break every ten minutes during the test to go to the bathroom even after there was nothing in my tummy. You probably don't want to hear this, sorry. After class I took a nap on the floor in the computer lab because it has a/c and there was no way I could walk home yet. Gerardo and Arturo made fun of me so I went home. Guess what was for lunch at my house.....seabass.

There's a surf competition in Santa Teresa this weekend and everyone went to when I felt better I wandered down to the beach where my friend informed me that we got an apt! I went home and packed and wrote my parents a letter because they make me so nervous when I talk to them that I would have never gotten the words out. They didn't say anything about it.

The apt isnt really an apt, it's more like a big room with a kitchenette in one corner and a giant closet that is like a mobil wall. I'm happy though because now all my friends are now my neighbors and I'm a hop skip and a leap away from school

Hey remember that time when I would only read the backs of cereal boxes

Today my Spanish teacher took us on a field trip to get breakfast, which was awesome because my family forgot to feed me this morning. He put us in some taxis and we went to the pastel de carne place. Pasteles de carne are like fried meat patties that are in a sort of crispy sort of doughy thin envelope. They're incredible despite how they sound.

While I was waiting for lunch Maria Pia, my host cousin, did my make up for me, which I haven't really done in months because the heat takes it right off.

I got a 99 % on my Spanish midterm and I have my final tomorrow. Wish me luck!

We had a movie night at my friends house last night and her mom made us fresh mango juice and we had recreos and danced to Tomas uuuuuu Tomas uuuuu Tomas que feo estas!!!

This is a picture of the lifeguard stand that I like to go read in.

Que Feo

I came home after my run to find that the water had been turned off everywhere in the punt. My family knew and didn't tell me so I had to be stinky for a loooong time.

Holy Week

Wednesday we woke up early to get to the border early because it always takes forever. We had to take a mini bus to this town where we would have to take a boat taxi to Bocas because it's all islands. There's about 8 little islands in a cluster called Bocas del Toro. You can take a water taxi between all the islands. It was real cloudy the whole time we were here so the water wasn't as clear as it normally was so we didn't see many animals. After we checked into our hostel we just walked around the small town before going to bed because we were so tired. Our hostel was rela nice and you could see the ocean from the deck.

Thursday we slept in and spent most of the day just hanging out at different islands. First we went to bastimientos where a little village was. We hing out with the little kids for a while and Zak played baseball with the older boys. Michelle found a barber that cut her hair in this old salon that was basically an old chair under someone's house. Andrew and I went exploring and we found an old graveyard. We hiked to the other side of the island to Wizard beach where we sat for a while. Eventually we got on another taxi and went to Carenera island and hung out at Aqualounge which had a "swimming pool". The swimming pool was basically a hole cut in the deck soyou could see the ocean. They had a high dive though.

We met a spanish teacher from New Jersey that we hung out with until dark who talked to us about jersey shore and reno 911.

Kate was sick the whole trip and spent the whole day in bed so we went back and got her ice cream and made her brother made a big pot of chili. We got invited to a secret party at some rich guy's beach house on another island. It was fun but got boring fast so we went back and went to sleep early.

Friday we booked a tour for four islands that we could snorkle on and see some rare birds and starfish. Instead the boat driver only took us to two islands where we couldn't really snorkle because there were no reefs close by. We went to starfish beach which had hundreds of starfish that we put in a big pile and played with. I guess starfish can die if you take them out of the water for more than a couple seconds so we might have caused a starfish genocide. After we got back we were too tired to do anything else and the boys were really sunburned so we went to bed around 9.

Saturday we had a plan to get home before 7 because we had already bought all our return tickets. Since the atms were all broken and the banks we closed we couldn't get money out to pay for our hostel which made us late to the bus. The bus had left and hour and a half early anyway because it filled up so fast so we had to take a taxi to the border. Then we had to wait for a bus going to Limon where we could take a different bus to San Jose. We didn't get back to the punt until almost 10. We spent about 13 hours traveling today.

Agarra mi mano

Sunday we took the bus to Puerto Viejo and got there around 2. The house Crystal rented was up a mountain that we couldn't find a taxi to take us up so we walked up it with our luggage. On our way up we saw red poison dart frogs. They almost commited suicide because they were jumping right in from of us. The house was absolutely gorgeous. You could see the ocean from the huge porch with the kitchen opened up into. 15 of us slept there comfortably. I slept in a hammock but it was s nice because I got woken up but some crazy birds. The town is really small and there weren't too many tourists.

Monday we went down to the beach and bought homemade ice cream from this hippie guy names Walter. He had crazy flavors like ginger-starfruit. We spent most of the day on the beach then we took a walk through the jungle and found some beautiful flowers. On our way back to the house we got lucky and Walter found us! He had his adorable son with him name Kayroni (i think) who wore my sunglasses and flower in his giant baby afro. Walter was nice enough to drive us home. At night all of the geckos swarm the roof because they eat the bugs that go to the lights. There were at least 15 geckos on the ceiling the whole times. The bugs were on steriods, there were moths with pointy wings and giant dragonfly looking flies. We hung out with our landlord person named aqui. He gave us some of his cocao beans to try and he got rid of the spider as big as my head for us. (he also said they're known to jump eek!) Madeline taught us a swedish card game, which was impossible because you had to remember the swedish words for king, queen, jack and two.

Tuesday all 15 of us rented beach cruiser and rode our bikes to Manzanillo, which is a 45 minute ride through a half way paved rode. On our way we stopped to watch some howler monkies and grab some coconute from a tree. When we got to Manzanillo it was this tiny little beach town with tons of mango tree that were painted rasta colors. The boys opened ours coconuts for us and we drank their milk and I tried to eat the meat but it was a lot slimier than I thought it would be.

After swimming for a while we went back to Playa Uva which had a real pretty cave area but a lot more people.

We went back into town and got ice cream from this place that makes their own chocolate. The very attractive guy that worked there gave us a tour of how they make it. First they get the cacao beans off the tree and dry them out. then they put them and sugar into a mixing bowl thing for a whole day. then they let it dry into shapes. It tasted like gourmet chocolate except all natural.

We made tacos for dinner and Andrew and I had to stay at Rockin J's because more people came to the house and it as too full. We had to walk down into town in the dark and it was freaky. There were light up bugs that didn't look like fireflies and creepy noises everywhere. We got to stay in a tent in Rockin J's which is cool because the whole place is covered in tile art pictures. They even had a section that said Reno! They also had weird things glued to the tables like necklaces and lighters.

We met up with the San Ramone kids and went to watch this band play reggae songs. I met a ton of people from Reno who were at other Usac programs or traveling for Semana Santa.

Oh God my

Last day in the punt before I leave for Puerto Viejo. My friend rented a house in the carribean that we're going to stay in for a few days. There's 16 of staying there so we should be in for a fun week.

When I come back I'm planning on moving out of my host family's house. I like them for the most part but I think I'll have a better experience if I lived closer to school and got to learn to cook for myself, and I don't like my host mom. She never talks to me and she always sounds angry and irritated with me.

The punt has been sooooo hot this last week. Summer is definitely here and it's only getting worse. Even the ocean water is uncomfortably warm.

Mangroves

For my marine biology class we went on a field trip to the estuary, which is where fresh water meets the ocean. This is the water the my house sits on, it's contaminated and brownish and it's where the local fisherman live so they can park their boats in their backyard. For our class we went to go see mangroves which are tree things that line 75 percent of all coastlines. They prevent the eart from eroding away from the tide and are nurseries for fish and stuff like that. The estuary is basically all mangroves so we took a little boat ride through it. We saw 6 crocodiles! No one told me there were crocodiles behing my house. They were huge too!

We got to get out and look at the mangroves up close in the thick quicksand mud that they grow in. You could barely walk because your shoe would get stuck in the gunk.

Two for one special

This weekend we went to Monteverde which is a highly elevated rainforest. It's in the clouds basically so it's always rainy and kinda foggy looking.

Wikipedia: Monteverde is humid, misty and cloudy, with temperatures ranging from 59 to 77° Fahrenheit. Annual rainfall averages around 118 in. It was recently voted one of the "7 Wonders of Costa Rica". It is known as the site with the largest number of orchids in the world, with 34 of its 500 species newly discovered.

We took a hike thorugh the reserve but we didn't anything but giant spiders and cool flowers. I think our group was too loud. Afterward we went to the hummingbird site where dozens of them were feeding and fighting. We couldn't really get pictures of them though because they're so dang fast. They were so vibrant unlike any I've seen in the states. That night we got to go into town and eat giant hot dogs. When we got back we listened to a few people play the guitar for hours. It felt like we were in a horror movie because we were the only people at the lodge we were staying at and it was dark, foresty and foggy. It was so dark that when Julia and I were walking back to her room she went to take a short cut through the trees and ended up jumping into a creek.

The next day we went back up into the clouds to do the zip-line. I'm not sure how high we were but we zipped through the clouds on 18 different check points. It took a few hours but it was incredible. I got it on video before they got mad at me.Then we got to go into a butterfly garden where they had tons of cool flowers and plates of fruit where the butterflies were resting. We got to see their cacoons and some of they would land on us.

Cascadas

Tuesday: We planned on taking the 5am ferry to montezuma but we slept in and made it to the 9am ferry but we found out that they only have a 1 o'clock ferry now because they had a huge drug bust. We went on a nature walk and I had a group picture before we finally got to leave.

We got to Montezuma and went swimming until it got dark. We napped in hammocks collected shells and played in the sand for the longest time.

Wednesday: We got up early and hiked up to the waterfall. Jack and Marco are crazy and jumped from way high up. The last ferry left at 3 so we had to leave mmontezuma at 12. Stupid coke dealers.

When we got back Marco got a tattoo.

Then we went to a St.Patricks day party for a little while but we were tired and Their flights left early this morning.

Brail Snail

Jack came to class with me in the morning. Then we took a bus to playa Hermosa but we kept getting wrong directions so it took a long time. Playa Hermosa is a black sand beach and it's abolutely beautiful. We spent like an hour there and it started raining so we took a taxi to Jaco to go shopping and eat.After we got back we went to Cody and Drakes to hang out with all the friends that people have in town.

From pinecones to pineapples

Friday:

Amanda and Jack are flying in tomorrow so Megan and I decided to spend the weekend in San Jose. We left after class and checked into Pangea. There weren't any bed available so we got matresses and set up a bed on the loft. The walls in Pangea were painted all crazy and they had a nice pool and a mechanical bull. We met some Germans and hung out with them all night.

Saturday: We woke up early and found a bus to Cartago, which is a colonial city close to San Jose. They have a basilica that I think is one of the biggest ones in the world. They also have a church that they tried to build in the 1800s but earthquakes kept destroying it. Now they have the ruins that you cna walk through.

In San Jose there was a music festival that had a live band and lots of cool booths. They had a boxing match in the middle of the park and an Alice in Wonderland tent. Then we went to the hippie market but it wasn't that cool so we took naps until manda and jack came.

My whole school was in San Jose for a weekend field trip so we met up with them at El Pueblo. On the way there they tell me that Marco is flying in tonight too! So we went back to Pangea to meet up with him.

Lleno Vida

I haven't had internet at my house all week so I'm just now able to blog.

Here are some highlights of the last week:

Miel and I saw 6 cops get of a cop car and get ice cream, then they asked if they could take pictures of us. Even the cops here are creeps!

One of my favorite things about the Punt is that they paint random things like rocks, trees, fences. You'll be walking down the street and see a random yellow rock. They also put plants in pot holes. Right now theres a garbage can filled with dirt and a little tree in it in a giant pot hole in the middle of the street.

I went to San Jose to pick up Miel's friend from the airport and we got ice coffee! It was incredible. There's no coffee shops in puntarenas.

Russell and I made america breakfast on saturday because we missed scrambled eggs and potatoes.

I went to one of the colleges here to help tico students with their English.

My marine bio class took a walk down the beach to look at olive snails and barnacles. I feel in the rocks and messed up my leg but I found some cute hermit snail things.

We had a pyromania bonfire and we all burned things on the beach. I chased Miel with a giant flaming palm.

Smells like Hippie spirit

Michelle came to my house in the morning and convinced me to go to La Fortuna with them. We got there around 7 and got a hostel. Then we went exploring and met some people from California who ended up hanging out with us the whole weekend.

On Saturday we found a water hole that looked like it could've been the garden of eden because it was so amazing. There was a rope swing and fish and a little waterfall that we jumped off of. Later we took a tour of Volcan Arenal, which is the most active volcano in south/latin america. It erupts a few times a day but the lava doesnt flow towards the town. We hiked up to a viewing point and waited until it went off. We only got to see a little lava but it felt like a baby earthquake. It started raining so hard, we got soaked and had to hike back down in the mud.

The lava makes the lake a natural hot spring so they took us the a run off where we sat in old lava rocks. There weren't even street lights, just tiki lights.

After we got back we celebrated Michelle's birthday with some cake and then we passed out because we had such a busy day.

On the road again

The waterslide in 400 meters of natural water goodness that they made into a slide. It's super long and if you ask for more water you can go super sonic fast. After a few rounds of that we ate lunch and got on the bus to go home. This was the best week and I don't want to go back to the punt heat and stink.

In the morning we all 40 of us got to ride a horse up the mountain. The trail got really steep but the horses did good. When we got to the spa we spent a few hours doing whatever we wanted. There was a steam room and a mud bath where we covered ourselves in mud and wore leave hats. Then the workerd hosed us down and our skin felt all slimy. They had 5 pools that were filled with naturally hot water in the ground.

After we pampered ourselves we rode our horses back down, which got really scary when all the horses tried to squeeze themselves onto the same trail at the same time. My horse liked to go fast so now I have visible bruises on my rear.

After lunch we got to do the canopy tour, which is ten connected ziplines on the top on the forest. It was so much fun and then they let us do the zip line upside down and superman styles. Leona and I traied superman but they put the pulley on wrong and we got stuck half way. I wont be having babies now, it squeezed me too tight.

There were 13 hanging bridges in the canopy that we went through after the zip line because it was so pretty and we could hear howler monkeys.

While we waited for dinner we went up to the sunset bar and danced with these women who were there on vacation. They bought us pura vidas and we taught them how to salsa. After dinner Hunter and our bus driver played the guitar and sang for us. I went for a late night swim with Becky. We woke up cito by flying squirreling him. Then while looking for our room key that Hunter stole Megan and I heard Wilma the wild bore in the food hall and locked ourselves in the bathroom. This was the most relaxing day ever!

Buena Vista

We left for the border right after lunch. It didn't take as long to get our stamps as it did last time but it's still a pain. We stayed in Buena Vista lodge in Liberia. It was this amazing resort with everything you could think of.

We didn't get there in time to do any activities so we just swan in the pool, which was a sight to see in itself. The lodge had like 5 little lakes besides the pool and it had trails and a field to play on. We ended up just playing truth or dare and games in the pool.

Dia Cachimba

We drove to San Juan del sur right after breakfast and arrived around 11. We walked around the little beach town and Megan and I found honey bunched of oats! We scared the cashier because we were almost in tears from happiness.

We found a lady with a monkey on the street with a cart to take pictures in. The monkey's name as Cindy and she ate my water bottle. After lunch we took a boat ride to a secluded beach where we collected shells and played in the clear water. We also watched the hermit crabs try and run away from us. There were hundred and they all ran the same direction.

For dinner we got amazing lobster and shrimp. Then we went to this place called iguana and danced. We met lots of people who were there on vacation. We met Argentinians, Canadians, Germans and Columbians. We talked with them on the beach until around 3 am before we went back to our hotel.

It takes two to whisper quietly

After breakfast we went on a tour of the city. We took a horse drawn carriage to some of the preserved buildings in Granada. We went up in an old watch tower that had cut outs in the building for rifles and a pit that they used to throw the prisoners in. We got to see churches that went back to the 1500s and their old train station.

After the tour we did a boat tour of los isletes, which are this little islands in the Nicaragua lake (which is the only lake in the world with freash water sharks). There were some fabulous houses on the islands and some look out points to protect them from pirates and such. We also saw a monkey fight!

Then we drove up to a volcano (I cant remember the name) but it was basically a giant crater that smelled like sulfur. We had to clim up 177 stairs to see into the crater but it was too smokey. The volcano hasn't been active in a long time though.

After that we went to Masaya , which is a small poor town that has a cheap market. We spent a few hours shopping then went back to Granada. It was Dionne's birthday and they took us to this fancy restaurant. After dinner we has wine night in one of the suites at the hotel then we walked around Granada. The town was beautiful and well kept, I felt like a real colonial woman.

Colonial Princesses

We drove our giant bus to the Nicaraguan border and had to wait in line for 4 hours! It was so long. Then when we got towards the front about 15 people thought it would be ok to cut in line and everyone started yelling "la fila!" I thought a riot was going to break out. We made it through though and headed to Granada, which is the oldest colonial city (est. 1524). It has some of the oldest churches like iglesia de Guadalupe. When we were there they were having a poetry festival so there were tons of artsy people selling books and stuff. We got mojitos at the John Lennon cafe and they fried passionfruit for us.

They shot off fireworks and everyone was sitting outside watching these fire dancers. We walked up to the oldest church, which had these giant stairs and was mission style. There were these little boys that were so cute we had to play with them. We had piggy back races with them until their parents were done at church. If his parents didn't make him leave I would've taken little baby Carlos with me.

Our hotel was incredible. I can't even describe it so I put pictures up. Just click the snapfish link on the left side of the blog. We had hot water and air conditioning! I felt like a princess.

Te amo Tanto!!!!

Today was the last day of Carnivales for me because I'm getting out of here. There were lots of people but not as many as I expected. We found bumper cars and rose them for like 5 rounds. Then we heard a few concerts on the beach. I tried staying out all night so I'd be able to sleep on the 6 hour bus ride tomorrow but it's only 3 so I have 3 hours to try and stay awake.

cada vez que te busco te vas ...

The wind was crazy today! It blew the baby parrot to death. I found it beat up at the bottom of the cage. So sad. The electricity went out too so I was banned to my house with no communication.

My brother gave me my first salsa lesson. I'm not very good but I have a final coming up.

Two USACers got engaged! They're from Reno and they've been dating for a long time. They go to Living stones I believe and they're getting married this summer.

I'm leaving for Nicaragua in the morning so I'm spending the day packing.

I'll be back on Thursday!

If you want to sing out sing out

This morning I had a very hungover family. I guess they stayed out real late since apparently my dad was buying. Bridget couldn't even go to work. Carmen and I thought it was hillarious.

I had both midterms today and my bio test kicked my butt. She didn't give us anything to study so anything was fair game.

Today was very nice outside because it was windy and it cooled it down. The wind blows right through my house and sounds like a hurricane. I was eating my salad and it blew right off my fork.

I went to el centro with April and Samantha and we got some fabulous fruit and had to walk home all sticky.

THINGS I MISS:

1. Cold sheets
2. Uswirl
3. Wearing sweaters
4. The gym
5. Foods without vegetable oil

Viva los Spice Girls!

Our dance teacher, Ivan, was stung by like a hundred bees on the beach somewhere and had to go to the hospital the other day. He came back to class today though and our test is next class. We're learning the bachatta, marangue, salsa and cumbio. He's the funnest teacher, he speaks no English and hes allways yelling mas sexy!

Carmen the house keeper is driving me crazy! She yells my name over and over until I get into the room even when I say I'm coming. Then she'll stare me down the entire time I eat. Creeper.

On my way home from my run this dad playfully smacked his sons butt. The kid looked about 9 but he started yelling profanities at his dad. The he cried and ran away. It was priceless.

I went to go watch my brother dance but we missed him. We got to watch other dances though.

Then we went to Encuentros for Jack's birthday. By the time we got there everyone was horribly singing karaoke.

Then when I went to leave my dad pulled up with my uncle and my sister-ish person. He insisted on Megan singing karaoke so she did. The he tried to by us drinks but I told him I had a test tomorrow. Which I do so I need to study but it was still funny. My dad is crazy.

Donde Estoy

Melissa got almost robbed on her way to school. At 8am someone thought they were suave enough to stick their hand in her bag while she was walking. She saw them and hot them but it was 8 am!

Maria jose is sick so she's been very loud all day. She has a fever and I feel really bad for her but I needed a nap. I'm so tired.

i'm going stir crazy. I need a hobby or something because I've just been sitting at home all day when it's too hot to go outside.

I jung out with Becky, Teresa and Crystal and we got apretados and wondered around the punt.

Tonight was Meg's birthday so we went to happy days for a little while. It's monday night though so I decided to go to bed early.

Dia de Amor

To celebrate Valentine's day Megan and I decided to pamper ourselves. We made avocado masks and hair treatments. The we ate some delicious fruit and watched the office.

My host mom brought home a baby parrot. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen. He was crying like a dinosaur. I think she said we were getting the mom tomorrow.

Carnival day 3

Yesterday I went to watch the horse parade where all the farmers from all over come with their horses and trot down the street. It started two hours after it was supposed to and it went on for days. While we were waiting for it to be over Jenna got her cacique stolen, Drake got 25 dollars stolen and Andrew got his camera taken out of his buttoned pocket somehow. No one here has any respect.

My uncle took Kike and me to lunch and they tried to get me to eat octopus or squid but i'm not quite ready for that so I stuck to shrimp.

After the parade one of the horse guys let me ride the horse!! He even let me steer. It was so much fun.

Me gusta fuego me gustas tu

Last night was the first night of Carnival. We danced and hung out on "the strip" (thats what my uncle calls it). It was super fun until Kate and Danger got mugged on the beach. I guess she didn't want to give them her bag so they fought her for it and then Danger tried to stop them and they beat him up too. Luckily they didn't have weapons and they're fine, just a little bruised up.

I forgot to set my alarm so I didn't wake up for class :( but this is my first absense.

If I had a bed back in Reno I'd trade it in for a hammock.

Today we practiced our tico bird calls. Whenever we walk by a tico they have to say something or make a nonsense sound at us. Lately we've been hearing a lot of bird calls so we practiced acting like birds to scare them away. Then Miel taught me how to ride a bike Trinidad style.

Megan and I tried to run but it was kind of dark and I'm afraid of the beach now so we didn't get very far.

Todo me parece bonito!

Yesterday Miel and I were having a nice run when it got dark by the water when a dog tried to eat us!!

Her parents made chinese food and they said I could eat with them, it was the best fried rice i've ever had. While we were eaating dinner there was this short film on tv with little kids who had stuffed their shirts to made them look older and one of them was having a baby and she threw it in the river. It was hillarious.

At 5 am this morning Carnivales officially started and they made it known by shooting of crazy load fireworks things but no one knew what was happening. I thought someone was being shot. It went on for a long time too, really scary. I could hear it and I'm the furthest from the beach.

Carnivales is going to be insane. Everyone from everywhere come to our tiny peninsula to celebrate on the beach. There's going to be music, dancing, parades, clowns, and crazy people for the next 9 days. They've been building a two story bar thing in front of our school all week, and there's random buildings they're put up in the middle of the streets including (drumroll please) TACO BELL! I'm so excited.

This is my real face

Yesterday Miel and I went to Kike´s soccer game. We got eaten alive by mosquitos. The I thought it would be cool if I cooked American food for Kike but I realized the only food I can make at home are fajitas and hashbrowns so we got empanadas instead. Kike´s English is pretty good but he makes the funniest mistakes sometimes. Soap in spanish is sopa (pronounced soapa) and Kike wanted to say that we should make cat soup for dinner but he kept saying cat soap. Then we were taking pictures and Kike was making a funny face and he said ¨this is my real face¨ instead of this is my normal face.

Pepe Pepe Pura Vida Pepe

On friday night it was Becky's birthday so we went Happy Days and my brother was teaching me and Megan how to salsa. Then my this group of guys wanted to fight my brother and his friends even though they were just dancing so we had to leave. My brother wouldn't talk to me about it so I'm really not sure why they were mad but they punched him in the face. Not fun.

On Saturday I woke up early and went to Jaco with my tico friend who's family owns a resturant so we got to eat for free and they let me sleep there. We went to the beach and went roller skating. Adrian couldn't skate though so i felt bad. I asked adrian why all the trees in Costa Rica are painted and he said because it's pretty haha. He was also telling me how Costa Rica doesn't have an army??? I guess they have a deal with the US though in case they get invaded.

The elections were today so everyone was loud and crazy. I haven't seen my family either so I don't know how his party is doing because we don't have a tv.

I went to happy days to watch the super bowl and it was all gringos. It was a nice change to not be stared at by everyone because we're white haha. They had hot dogs and doritos! I haven't eaten those in sooo long.

I left early so Miel and I could go to Lee's house to watch a bible study or something. I'm not sure what it is but I think it's going to be a sermon on video.

Elections

Today are the Costa Rican elections. There are three candidates: Otton, Otto, y Laura. From what I've learned Laura would be considered more republican (partido liberacion nacional), Otto would be even more republican (movimiento libertario) and Otton would be Democrat(progresista). The topics they're fighting are much much different. Republicans are anti education, anti environment, for a capitalist market, and the president now is republican. They say that the republicans are corrupt because they bribe people to vote for them or they'll talk something away from a group of people and if they vote for them they'll get it back. Otto believes in globalization and human rights. Otton's main platform is fighting against corruption.

My Dad is the congressman of Puntarenas and he's running again for the partido integracion nacional http://www.alvaromorenodiputado.com/. His party has an alliance with the party of Otton.

Laura seems like she has the most support here but the polls are always bias. Last year they said that one person was leading by 20 percent and after the votes were in it was a tie and they person who won is the president right now. I don't think people here are very educated as far as politics goes, they just vote for the people who they like on tv and on posters. Kinda like in America.

Laura Won

Lazy Days and a Lazy Susan

Today I took my final for Spanish and did pretty good.

The power and water were turned off for the whole city from 8 am to 4 pm. So no a/c in class which really sucked and no drinking water so I was dying. Megan and I spent the whole day in the pool and downloading music since there's no pirating laws here, which I'm definitely a fan of.

My family fed me three meals today! For lunch we had mahi-mahi and for dinner we had something similar to swordfish. It was absolutely incredible. I also got a chance to really talk with my family so I'm much happier and I'm glad I didn' t try and move out. The elections are on Sunday so we have flags all over our house and they turned their truck into propaganda by putting megaphones and a giant poster in the back. My Tico mom even braided my hair for me and told me stories about all the inappropriate things other students have said on accident.

I'm waking up early to go to Jaco tomorrow with my tico friend, but Megan and I are still going to go out dancing because Kike agreed to teach us how to salsa. He's an awesome dancer and he gets to dance at carnival.

Tu no eres para mi

I have my Spanish 211 final tomorrow. I can't believe I've already been here a month.

The night life here is so much fun and way different than the states. Everyone from school goes to the same bar together to dance. No one's getting extemely drunk and acting like a crazy person. It's even better when our teachers understand that we're tired because we were dancing our hearts out. Sometimes they bring us coffee, mine didn't even wake me up when I feel asleep in class one time. He also gives us life lessons on marriage and parenting and safety. Sometimes he brings his radio and dances the bachata for us. Tomorrow he's teaching us the words to Mexico en la Piel.

Finished my last book. Have to find a new hobby or some more friends.

I hung out with my tico amigo today and got apretados. His aunt owns a resturant so I get to go eat there. It's in Jaco though but it's worth the bus ride.

Asi se siente Mexico

Wrote postcards.

Ran by the beach.

Our teacher brought us

queque and squirt.

Learned about deep sea

animals.

Had a bubble gum flavored

apedata. which is basically

home made ice cream in

a bag.

Gave girl advice in Spanish to

my brother, hard.

Watched a soccer game.

Ate fruit for once!

Waited for my parents

to cook me dinner but

they didn't.

Julia's birthday.

Learned how to say toilet

paper.

Watch the Simpsons in

Spanish.

Looked at stars.

Danced.

dulces suenos!

No me Importa

The tide was higher today. Only from 5-6 though. My house was on the new because our street flooded the most. It didn't get inside though. I hope it wasn't sewer water because we rose our bikes in it and it got all over us. Yuck! The trash bags were floating down the street and I saw a woman sweeping the water on the street??? why would you do that?

It's so hot during the day. I take lots of naps because you can't do much when it's hot out. I don't understand how I get more hot when I'm asleep and not moving because I always wake up all sweaty and gross. I take two or three showers a day to keep up with the heat. I'm also on my last Jodi Picoult book. I'm on number 5 right now! I've never read this much before. I guess I'll need to find a hobbie. Maybe the cleaning lady will teach me to cook. mmm paticones

I think I need to learn how to say toilet paper because I'm out....

Kike, Miel and I got pizza and these ice creams in a bag. They we're so good, a lady makes them in her house. You'd never know except for a little sign and she sells them for .40 cents. You have to bite the bag open and eat it through the hole.

I learned that to fart in spanish is tirar un pedo which literally means to throw a fart.

No fui yo

The Punt is going underwater tomorrow. The tide is going to be the highest it's been in a very long time and I live on th ocean. My street is already starting to take on water. This is real scary EEK! Here's a picture of my street.

I was walking my bike into USAC to and i kinda fell on the side of my foot and it hurt so bad to walk on now :(

I went to my hermano-tico's soccer game tonight. Miel and I met these awesome chicitas who fed miel ice cream and took pictures with us. I tried to explain to Enrique (my brother) that his nickname (kike) is a racial slur in English. He had no idea what I was talking about and flipped me off. He makes me miss my real brothers less because he acts just like them. jajajaja

Puertoburguesas= Costa Rican Awful Awful mmmm mmmm good

Coco Frijole

Friday: Kike and I had a party at our house. We got amazing hamburgers and swam in our pool. The house is the perfect party house, it has a pool with a water fall, giant speakers and only one neighbor So when our parents said we could have people over and that they weren't coming home we were super excited. Everyone was out of town this weekend though but we had fun with the people who were in town.

Saturday: Woke up at 5 am to catch the 6 am ferry but it was actually at 5 so we waited until the 9am ferry to paquera. Then we took a long bus ride to Montezuma. Its my favorite town so far. It was very small and had tons of street vendors selling homemade jewelry. We took the 3 minute hike up to the waterfall, which was amazing. I was too scared to jump off the top because people have died so I just jumep off of the 10 foot ledge. I felt like we were in one of those movies where the people are in this beautiful place and they're having the time of their lives and then the whole town turnd out to be psyco killers or there's an anaconda the size of Cuba waiting to eat them. Everything was just so surreal and calm, kind of eerie.

We just hung out in the hammocks and around the stores listening to live music and talking to the hippies. I met a lady who never shaves her armpits or legs, doesn't wear makeup, has dreads, and just makes jewelry for a living.

We wanted to take our picture on this cool rock that was out in the water. When we were taking the picture a giant wave came and almost took me out. We got a hillarious picture of it.

We stayed in a pretty nice cabina that has two week old puppies. There was also a monkey eating avacadoes on the branches outside. At like 3 am a guy came into the cabina on drugs or something because he was yelling and took a shower. In the morning we saw that he had taken apart his bed??? Good thing we got our own room.

Sunday: We hung out at the beach all day. It was a lot nicer than the punt because it was breezy so it was scourching hot. I went shell collecting and played in the giant waves. This crazy guy who was sitting by us on the beach made a rose out of long grass and gave it to me as well as the other half of his coconut but I was afraid to eat it because I didn't want to et sick or something.

We took the bus and the ferry back home. I'm so tired and have another crazy looking sunburn.

reducir reutilizar reciclar

Today we went roller skating! Everyone there was a crazy skater. They did this thing where you skate with one person then another and another and soon you have a huge train. The whole time they're blowing their whistle and you have to turn your train around and go the other way. It was so hard but these people were hard core. They were going so fast and if someone fell they would just jump over them. At the end of the train thing they had one huge train and the lead guy was just whipping them around and everyone had to hold one.

When we were waiting for the bus Teresa and Michelle tried to climb a wall which happened to be a school. The cops saw and came over to talk to us. ooops.

mmm sabe bien

Nico is purple....

I tried asking my host mom why he looked like he had been painted and all I got from it was he has allergies...

Me and my friend looked at cabinas today to possibly rent and it would have been so much cheaper to just live on my own. I'm paying 385 to live with a host family. It would cost about 200 for me to live on my own. darn it.

I took a nice run on the beach today instead of going ot soccer. So beautiful.

I'm bringing home coffee with me. The coffee is so good. I guess all the coffee beans starbucks uses comes from Costa Rica.

I also found the Island Jurrasic Park was filmed on but no one's allowed to go there.

It's Peligro's birthday so I think I'm going to go celebrate since I never have homework and I can't sleep with the baby crying anyway.

Street Meat

I don't have access to a phone or a clock most of the time and it's the best feeling. When I come home everyone's going to hate trying to make plans with me because phones and timing and planning are no longer in my vocab.

I just ate lunch with the prosecuter for costa rica....

My family is really starting to annoy me. I'm paying them to feed me and help me with my spanish. None of them are ever home and when they are they don't talk to me. They make food whenever they feel like it and I never know when that's going to be so I have to make my own food most of the time which is impossible because I don't know how to make rice and beans which is all they have. So where's the money I gave them going because it's not towards food. I have beans and rice for breakfast. Rice and beef for lunch and leftovers for dinner...after my mom made chicken for herself. I'm looking into getting an apartment with my friend because it's half as much money. grr.

On the bright side my only homework is to get some rest because my teacher could tell we had a fiesta movie night last night (Cody's birthday).

Palmares

Palmares was so much fun! We took a bus to San Jose real early yesterday and met with Megan's tico brother. We saw a lot of the city which is full of art. They have a lot of American chain resturants that are a lot nicer than the ones at home. There was a taco bell but they have things like fries with tomatoes on them. The McDonalds had fried chicken and was fancy and so was pizza hut. There are a few statues of a fat woman in the city and they believe if you touch her you'll have good luck.

That afternoon we got on a bus that Efran kind of rented to take us to Palmares and back. The bus was crazy and it took us about four hours to go 60 miles. The bus ride was probably more fun than palmares though so we didn't mind.

Our group all had tickets to see Fanny Lu except me and two others so we spent six hours wondering around Palmares. We found a freaky haunted house that you'd probably die going into so we didn't. We met lots of nice ticos and we even ran into other people from USAC. By the end we were so dirty and hungry and tired, we rode the bus back to San Jose and ate at 3 in the morning.

We stayed at Efran's and Quique, my tico brother, left at 6 this morning to go back to Palmares. He's crazy!

We're dirty, broke and tired but we made it home alive with lots of new friends.

Pe Pe! Pe Pe! Pe Pe!

Presa! Presa! Presa!

Baile! Baile! Baile!

Cuba Libre

Palmares!!!!

Palmares is a town near San Ramon. Starting in December there are about 5 "carnivals", they're all over C.R. but the same people put them on. Palmares was the second one and I went last night. I was so scared driving there because everyone drives super wreckless.

They're about a week long and absolutely everyone goes. I saw "clowns" but they didn't look like those scary clowns we have. They were people who had a giant fake person on top of them. They had characters like Kiss members and animals. The crowd was huge , which is usually scary because of drunk people and fights but Costa Ricans are very different and they don't act out like people do in the US. I got there at about 11 last night and there was a parade. They had all these crazy outfits and dancers and drum sessions. Palmares is about an hour away so we're going again today. It's not as hot inland so today will be so nice.

Next carnival is in Puntarenas on the beach!

C.R. laws?

Peeing in public isn't a crime unless you're being rude and do it infront of a ton of people.

As long as the driver isn't drinking, the passengers can do whatever.

Open containers? sure

Prostitution? why yes you can.

Being drunk in public? absolutely.

So why are the festivals is the US so much more crazy and gross?

Crispy Chicken

I guess I don't know how to put on sunscreen because I got this ridiculous sunburn that makes me look like a leper.

<<<<<<<<<<<----

Morgan gave me cornrows so my hair hair wont be quite as crazy.

I had my first midterm today and I aced it. I don't think I'm going to be able to go to real school after this. Today I watched carmen throw a dirty diaper over our fence into the ocean.

como se quita un goma?

con la misma pela de la chancha

Miel! Azucar! Mi Cielo! Gordito! Mi Amor! Dulce!

If you've known me a long time, then you know I'm not a big fish eater. I hate the smell and the salty fishy taste (minus sushi). My parents love fishing and we haven't had much fish yet besides clams they caught until today. We had red snapper, conch meat and seabass. I was terrified because I knew was going to hate it and have to eat it all. It was so good though! Yum!

Hung out with my tico friend and played ping pong for like 3 hours. I probably bore him to death because i dont know how to make conversation in English let alone Spanish.

Please take a long hard look through your text book 'cause I'm history

Today was sooo long. During my three hour long marine bio class we took a trip to parque marino which is just a bunch of pelicans, crocodiles and fish/turtles. We had to look at plankton.

After class we got food and went to futbol practice. I played three games and I did pretty good for never having played before. Now my legs are all torn up but I'm finally ing excersize so I don't care.

Over getting older

I got signed up for the Futbal team to play soccer! I have no idea how to play but I'm assuming it's easy-ish. I need to exercise. It's so hard to work out here because you have to wait until it's cool enough and by then I'm so tired.

My bug bites started to ooze. I don't think they're mosquitos.

I met my tico amigo today. They set you up with a student who's trying to learn english. His name is Adrian and he's super nice.

I had dance class today. Everyone is literally dripping sweat on eachother because it's so hot. My feet are killing me now. After class we took a dip in the ocean. Even at night time the water is the perfect temp.

Factos y Informacion

Here are some facts and definitions in case i don't make sense

Tico: Native

Punt (Poont): The point at the end of the puntarenas peninsula filled with rocks. Very beautiful.

Tico Time: always give ticos 20 minutes extra to meet somewhere. They aren't in any hurry to get anywhere. The teachers won't let is start class on tico time though :/

Gallopinto: rice and beans. I have this for basically every meal.

Supermercado: supermarket

Mega Super: a specific supermarked that has shampoo for almost 8 dollars and shaving cream for almost 10. but they have these really yummy yougurt popscicle things for super cheap that aren't sour cream flavored like a lot of other ice creams.

Pura Vida! It's like carpe diem. It means pure life.

Guanabana: a fruit that kinda tastes like a grape.

Maro: Jam.....

There's no hot water

You can't flush toilet paper

They don't sell tampons unless you've just had a baby

Summer is march and april

Shampoo is twice as expensive

There are three other colleges in just Puntarenas besides USAC

They use calones for money. 1000 calones is a little under two dollars.

The guy think they're giving you a complement by yelling cat calls at you.

If you'd like to send me something (like shaving cream haha!) Here's my address:

Usac ,My name
Costado Norte del Parque Lobo
Barrio El Carmen
Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Use DHL

If you'd like a post card give me your address. It's cheap to send stuff.

The Dirty South

So I couldn't find my phone last night and Ive been using it for an alarm. I asked my tico tio of he'd seen it and he asked my tico madre and she asked my tico padre and they all decided to blame the maid carmen. I didn't think it was her but they threatened to file a police report and everything. Then I found it. She had just put it in a safe place for me. I feel so bad. I guess they think she's taken things before but I wasn't going to blame her.

I think giant spiders are biting me in my sleep. I have a net thing to keep the mosquitos out but now im getting ginormous bites all over. mainly my tummy and back and they hurt. I hope they dont make me sick.

I watched the sunset on the punt (poont) and everyone went out for a while. There's not much else to do. Ive already read two books.

Ive have pinto for every meal since I got here (beans and rice) but tonight we had clams that they caught today. I didn't think id like them but i ate them all and after I got to throw the shells over our fence back into the ocean.

Shaving cream costs 10 dollars here! All natural here I come.

Guanabana

Yesterday we took a ferry and a bus to Curu Wildlife Refuge. I saw my first monkey! We went on a hike and saw lots of Iguanas and spiders. I was so excited for lunch because they gave us so much fruit and I hadn't eaten any yet. After lunch we went snorkling and saw fish that looked like dory from finding nemo but thats all because the water was hard to see in. When we tried to get on the little boat we were taking the waves were so big that we filled the boat with water and almost tipped over.

After snorkling we went to Tortuga Island and ate amazing fruit and layed on the beach. True Paradise. On the way home on the ferry we listened to Jenifer, who wants to be a dairy vet or something, tell us interesting stuff about animals. Did you know cows fart out of their mouths?