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?

Pee Aqui

Yesterday we went to Jaco' which is more turisty than puntarenas. It has a beautiful beach and lots of shops and stuff. I tried surfing and that wasn't the greatest so we walked through the shops. We took the bus and it was about an hour and a half drive but on the way home we had to stand. Theres lots of wild horses and we ate at this resturant with swings for chairs.

Last night we we going to have a bonfire but we ended up at this kids house listening so people play the guitar.

Today I'm going to Tortuga Island!

A tour of my house

The tail, fins and nose are the only real parts but my tico padre caught it
They don't put much chloro in it and leaves and bugs love the pool but I am so thankful for this pool

The Hall way. My room is the door on the right.
Front door, living room and nico the dog
El Bano in all its glory

My room with its awesome mosquito net

My room. Its pretty big compared to the rooms the other students have.

Spirit in the Sky

Today in class we learned a little, watched 30 minutes of youtube videos of volcano erruptions, earthquakes and the spirit in the sky played live. Then we drank te' and ate cookies, then we read a little. I wish class was this great at UNR.

Carmen put up a mosquito net over my bed so I won't get attacked anymore. I also found out that my host dad is a congressman and I think she said he was running for president or something but Im not sure.

I learned to ride bikes tico style which is pretty thug-tastic to me.

It was Jenifer's birthday so we celebrated again with her host mom and ate queque.

I filmed my tico ride home (I lost my voice so I sound funny):

Yesterday at breakfast carmen put this stuff on the table that I thought was either jello or yogurt but i had a wrapper on it so i wasn't sure. I was running late so I just took ot with me but I forgot it in my purse and when carmen was cleaning she found it in my purse and put it back in the fridge. I was kinda mad that she went through all my stuff so I took it out of the fridge and was going to eat it but I made me sick because it was really dense and strong. I realized that it was jam for my toast! So now they think I'm a crazy jam stealer because I took it twice and ate part of it. fabulous.

What would Ke$ha do in Gringolandia?

Its hard to tell who's wealthy here because they're a lot less materialistic and boastfull than Americans. I haven't been in many other students houses by they said my family must be pretty wealthy because we have a cleaning lady and a pool. They don't act like snobs like Americans though so I wouldnt have know.

Im so tired all the time, the heat takes a lot out of you and I walk or ride my bike everywhere so im always moving.

We had cafe in class today. My teacher walks around the beach in a green speedo haha. He says you have to wear tight swimsuits to keep the animals out or something.

One of the students had a fiesta and all 60 people from the school came. Its hard to have a lot of people in one place though because its so hot and its not even summer yet. After the fiesta I went to the beach and took a ciesta before going home.

40 Bug Bites and a Slight Tan Later...

Last night I was just casually eating at an Italian place when I saw Jaime Fine! Que raro! What are the odds that you run into someone in a different country?

Today Kathy and I walked around the whole town, it was pretty nice outside compared to how hot it's been. Everyone's addicted to "tritz" which I think means treats. They're like ice cream sandwiches but a thousand times better. (picture #) There's also this dish that has fried plantains in the shape of a patty that they put frijoles and carne on. It's amazing.

Tonight was Jenifer's 21st birthday so we gave her the treatment she would have gotten back home. We were the only one's in the bar porque solomente esta mierecoles. I'm so tired though I had to leave early.

Amanda and Jack: I tried to keep the tradicion but they dont have what i need here.

tiempo para te'

Today was the first day of class. My professor is so funny and really easy to understand. He brought us tea and crackers and we had tiempo de te'! After class we walked to to el supermercado to buy stuff. I can't find post cards anywhere (well I haven't been able to find the post office). Apparently it's right next to my house.

I went swimming and the water is sooo nice and cool. I did get bit by something though in a straight line across my back. It was all tingly and it stung but I guess it was just water fleas. The water is brown and there's lots of animals in it but it feels so nice because it's about a zillion degrees outside.

My host mom is letting me use her bike so I rode it to usac and I got lost! Idk how someone can get lost in such a small town but I managed to. I got a good workout though. We got ice cream and walked around some more. I'm going back down to the beach later but most families go to bed early and wake up early so I don't stay out very late.

My family has a cleaning lady named Carmen who is really funny. She has no idea what I say and she laughs at me when I try and explain things. She watched while I skyped Jack and said guapo! muy guapo! and was hypnotized by the screen for like 5 minutes haha.

I am completely covered in bug bites, bug rashes, sunburns, stings, heat rash basically everything the sun or bugs can do to you. My host mom says they like gringos and it mush be true because she doesnt have any! (Don't worry Mom I'm wearing sunscreen for the most part)

The wind has been so strong that the house shakes and rattles. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight because I just realized theres no screen on my window and I can't shut it because it's not glass there's slot things. My host mom is letting me use a giant bed net thing to keep the nasty senguros away but its still loud and scary.

Tico Time

Today was orientation. I was late because my clock was an hour slow. We learned the basics of costa rica and I met a lot of new people. Everyone everywhere is so relaxed and nice. We were stopped on the beach by a dad and his two sons who had build a sand castle type thing but it was very elaborate and had faces and everything.

After orientation we walked to each of eachothers houses so we knew where to meet eachother. Everything is so close. The entire city is three blocks wide. I live on the north side and the ocean is my blackyard, it doesn't have a beach though I think waste is dumped into it actually. We got these things called trits which I think means treats.

We walked down the beach and found a big group of usac students. Theres a lot of wild dogs running around and I feel so bad for them. One followed me all the way home. My family doesnt eat at the same time so my host mom, Dinia, made me a plate and talked with me. It's still scary because I feel like I sound like an idiot trying to talk to them. Tomorrow I start school already and the semester is separated into 4 parts of spanish and the rest of the classes you take are normal. So I'm really only taking two classes and a biology field study at a time but my midterm is next week already.

Pura Vida!

Today I stayed at the hostel for awhile and finished my book and relaxed. Then Teresa and I went to el supermercado to buy calling cards and get colones which is their currency. Everything is tiled. The floors in every room the counters the showers, it keeps it cooler because it's really hot.

We ate at Spoon which had really old sewing machines for the tables, super cute. We made it onto a bus to Puntarenas and I took a taxi to my host family's house. Taxis love to use their horns, just to say hi to everyone.

I have my own room and bathroom and they have a pool! They're very nice and are trying very hard to get me to speak only Spanish but it's scary so i haven't talked yet. They already taught me how to curse haha and they have the cutest little baby. It's not as humid as I thought it would be and I haven't seen a single mosquito :)

McPollo

I just got to the hostel I'm staying at and it's great. I would definitely recommend staying in one if you plan on traveling cheap. It's like living in the dorms with all these people from everywhere.

I met up with this guy and girl who are also staying in the hostel and we're going to go see all of san jose tomorrow. The guy, Lee, introduced us to his friend Jody who has lived here awhile and is involved in campus crusades. She took us to her old host family's house because it was the grandma's 87th birthday. They were so inviting and they had a huge family. They had two houses where a lot of the family lived, which had a courtyard that they decorated. It was gorgeous. Everything is so green and alive.

We have to take taxis everywhere we go and there aren't trafic laws so they drove as crazy as I do. (I appologize to everyone who's told me i'm a scary driver, I now know what it's like to have your life flash before you). There's no speed limit, no cops and the drivers always try and rip us off cause we're gringos.