Vuelvo al mundo real

Back in the states after 5 incredible weeks. I really learned a lot in Costa Rica...about ticos, Spanish, myself. And although I complained about things sometimes, I am really going to miss it there. I've only been home for about 21 hours, and I am already going through rice and beans withdrawl!!! I've been scouring the net looking for comida tica to bring me back to the vida tica.

Here are some pictures that we took on our last night.

Wendy and I


We gave Mami the night off and took her out to dinner. She picked a place called Pizza a la Lena. It had yummy pasta.


Kenneth, Alan, Mami, and me


Everyone


The boys and me. Kenneth decided to put on the coat to be funny. He was in his bummy clothes, and Alan put on the hat so that he wouldn't have to brush his hair.

Cahuita

School ended on Tuesday, so on Wednesday my friends (Kelli and Emily) and I hopped on a 6:00 a.m. bus to Cahuita. The tiny town is on the Caribbean Coast and is a 3.5-4hour bus ride. We basically hung out at the beaches all day and eventually left as lobsters. Seriously. The town is in the province of Limon, which is where you will find a lot of Jamaican-blood ticos. The place is all about reggae and Rastafarian.

Main Street



The water was so nice and warm, and the waves were huge. The three of us just sat in the water and let the waves carry us away. One concerned surfer asked us (in English) , “Do you know how to swim?”

The food was ok, but I am not a huge fan of cooking with coconut. I did have some yummy food at the last restaurant that we ate at. It literally was right on the ocean. So beautiful!!!
View


On Thursday, we rented bikes and rode all over Cahuita. It was so much fun! I felt like the witch in the Wizard of Oz because the bikes had baskets. I seriously want a bike like that! The bad news is that I lost the key to the bike lock, so I had to pay to replace it. Boo.


Mamon Chino (delicious fruit)

Monteverde aka Estoy en el cielo

Last weekend, I went to Monteverde with some friends. The name means Green Mountain. It's a 4-5 hour bus ride from San Jose, even though it's only a 140 mile journey. Why so long, you ask? Well, because there is not straight shot. No 4-lane highway. Instead, there's uphill and downhill on semi-paved or not-at-all-paved roads. There was a highway for the last hour or so...

We stayed in a really cute place called Monteverde Country Lodge. It reminded me of being at a summer camp because there was wood everywhere. The first night, there were only four other people besides Katie, Becky, and me. We literally had to walk uphill about 20 minutes to get to the hotel from the center of town. I would have been annoyed if (a) it wasn't so beautiful, and (b) it wasn't great exercise.

Hotel


The first full day, we went ziplining.

Survivors (Me, Becky, Katie) Seriously, why do I have a cabezon?

It wasn't your ordinary zipline. Not at all. It included the tradional lines, but then had a vertical repel down and a Tarzan swing. I was lucky enough to be the first to go on that one, so I had no idea what to expect. You're alone on a platform accept for the worker that pushes you off. Seriously. For the first few seconds, the rope is slack so it feels like you are going to plummet to your death. I screamed like a baby. Then I laughed. The last zip line was done superman style. What is that, you ask...instead of being harnassed by the chest, you're harnessed by the back and your legs are hosted up, making you completely horizontal. The line is 1km long, takes 40 seconds, and goes over a deep, green valley. It was awesome. Plus, I have it on video.

Tarzan Platform. Pushed from here, flew down passed lower platform into the open air. They stopped us by catching us in front of the stomach with a rubber padding thing. It hurt.


We also went to a butterfly farm, where our guide was a 15 year old tica who knew her insects like no other.

Scary Beetle that's noctural and blind.


On the morning that we left, my compañeras slept in while I went on a solo tour of the cloud forest. Amazing. I walked on hanging bridges over the forest. It felt like I was in a movie or something. It was really peaceful. Generally, I am a social person who avoids doing things without company, but I am glad that I did this on my own. I had time to reflect and take in all the nature.

Why is it called a cloud forest?

La Negrita

Costa Rica's patron saint is La Negrita (little black one). It's actual a representation of the Virgin Mary. 375 years ago this year, an indigenous girl found a black stone that looked like a doll, so she brought it home and put it in a box. The next morning it was missing. She went back to the spot where she first encountered it, and it was there again. She brought it home...and the same thing happened, so she took it to the priest. I don't know all of the details, but the ticans proclamed it a miracle and wanted to build a cathedral where La Negrita was found.

This is the original church. It was never finished because earthquakes kept hitting the area and the ground couldn't support the weight. Now it's a park-like place. There are gates around it, which aren't always opened.


Every year, there's a Romeria (pilgramage) to Cartago, where La Negrita was found. People walk from all over the country to show their devotion. This cathedral is fairly new. If I am not mistaken, it was built last century.


In the cathedral, there are tons of glass cases like this one, containing representations of body parts like arms, legs, hearts, and heads, or babies, beds, and other things. Each represents a prayer sent to La Negrita. Literally, I was overwhelmed by the devotion! There are also trophies, degrees, etc. that people send to La Negrita in appreciation.

Ya casi es la hora...

I only have 9 days left in Costa Rica. Of those days, I only have two days of class. The remaining classes should be pretty easy. In my composition class, we have the test on Monday. If we finish, we don't have to come on Tuesday :) The test is an essay. Based on the corrections of my first essay in that class, I am feeling a bit nervous about it. What I noticed, however, in the subsequent essays that I have written is that a lot of the corrections seem to be a style-based correction, not a grammar one (side note: on the second one I scored a 97).

In my culture class, Monday I give a presentation and turn in a paper on Costa Rica fashion. I know. Seems weird for me to choose that theme, but we had to pick something cultural and I thought that it would be easy. It wasn't. But, I think that my project is pretty good.

This weekend is a long one (one class tomorrow), so I am leaving at 6:30 a.m. for Monteverde. Hopefully, there won't be a disasterous wake-up like the last time I had to leave at 6..Mama Tica is going to be up at 530 and she told me that she'll make sure that I'm up :) Monteverde is a cloud forest. I can't wait. Wendy went there last weekend and said that it was beautiful.

We are looking into going to Arenal next week Wednesday-Thursday. It's a 5 hour ride, but it's the 3rd most perfect cone-shaped volcano and it erupts almost daily. We'll see.

Manuel Antonio-Parte 2

After the park, we headed to the beach. From the restaurant, we saw these guys using horses as ladders to get coconuts. Then, they used leaves as cups.


At the beach, we witnessed a robbery.


I happily identified the suspect.


These are the boats that used to take people to the entrance of the park, but are actually not used anymore. The entrance and the exit have swapped positions.



Here we are having fun on the beach. The water was really warm. Steve likened it to bath water. Other than the nasty cut I got on my knee from some coral, it was perfect.



The next day, we just lounged around at the hotel, went to the beach for lunch, and then went to the airport. NIGHTMARE. To make a long story short (too late?):
Hombre: The airplane is having a mechanical problem. The pilots are going to do a test.
(five minutes)
Hombre: Test failed. We're going to take you to San Jose via van. (Cue Steph crying because we were supposed to eat dinner with my tica family)
(10 minutes)
Hombre: They are sending us a plane! Should be here soon. (Cue Steph rejoycing)
(35 minutes)
Hombre: The plane can't leave San Jose because of weather. We're going by van. (Cue anger)
(10 minutes)
Van arrives. We make it in two hours. Should have taken about three. My life passed before my eyes. We were able to make it (really late) to my tica family's house for dinner. Laughter was shared. Food was eaten. All was right in the world.

Manuel Antonio-Parte I

Steve surprised me with our awesome hotel for our second anniversary. Because it is low season, he was able to get a really good deal. The hotel offered us transportation to the beach and national park whenever we wanted. Their golf carts brought us up the big hill. We had a private balcony overlooking the wildlife reserve. Breakfast was included. The bartender at the pool gave us fresh fruit on a stick whenever we passed him. The pool was three levels. Needless to say, it was awesome. Oh. Aforementioned bartender was convinced that Steve was Tobey Maguire.

View from balcony


The first day we went to the National Park. I highly suggest going with a guide, because there is no way a gringo like me (or you) could spot these animals. Seriously, Jesua (our guide) saw insects on branches. No lie. He had a scope that we could look through and we saw the cutest things. Sloths eating. A crocodile completely submurged besides an eyeball. And best of all, lots of monkeys. Lots and lots. They were so cute, I couldn't handle it. We saw them steal someone's food, only to throw down the bag in frustration when he couldn't get it open. The walk though the park took us about 3 hours. It was really awesome.



Can you spot the sloth?


So cute