Vamos a la playa

This past weekend, my husband (Steve) flew into San Jose to spend a long weekend with me in celebration of our second anniversary. He flew in on Thursday and almost missed his connection flight because his plane in Chicago left really late. He ran through the Miami airport to make his connection...only to be delayed again. Gotta love those airports.

While I was waiting for him at the Santamaria Airport, I saw a bunch of reporters. I was hoping that they were waiting for Juanes or Daniel Radcliff, but instead it was a football team called La Liga(I verified this with one of my tico brothers). I took a picture just for giggles.


Steve and I spent the night in the Marriott near the hotel because we were flying to the beach. Yes, we flew instead of taking a bus. He was only here for a few days, so I didn't want to waste three hours on a bus. My taxista, Johnny, told me that Bill Clinton stayed at the Marriott. The next morning, we flew on a regional airline to Manuel Antonio. Seriously, the flight was 15 minutes of air. No joke. The ticos don't take the airline, it's basically all tourists. One of my tico brothers told me before I left, "It was nice knowing you."

View from plane. It seats about 12 people.


Plane at the Quepos "airport"


Our hotel van picked us up. We stayed at the Gaia Resort. Seriously. Was. Awesome. Our room wasn't ready yet, so the van took us down to the beach for lunch.


Calle with venders all selling the same stuff


More to come...it's late. I'm tired. And my internet is slow today.

I thought I was in the tropics...

Word to the wise. When going to Costa Rica in the summer (their winter), make sure to pack plenty of warm clothes. I made the mistake of thinking, "Oh, it will be hot there." It is hot...for about 2 hours then it rains and gets chilly. My iPhone's weather bug mislead me to pack the wrong things. You see, it said that I would be in a place of 80 every day. Liar. Currently, it's 70. At night, it gets colder. Since I'm used to the cold of Illinois, I am generally ok, except for my feet. I only brought one pair of non-sandals (my gym shoes), so my toes might soon fall off. I think that it's hilarious that I am in the tropics, but it's hotter in Illinois.

On a side note, Steve is coming today! He almost missed his connection in Miami, but he ran to the gate and made it on time (only to have to wait for a maintenance issue). We're spending the weekend in Manuel Antonio on the Pacific coast. Fingers crossed for warm weather!

Random thoughts...

¿Estudió Ud. en España?
Practically every tico that I’ve met has commented on my accent. Apparently, it’s obvious that I studied in Spain. Here, they speak pretty smooth (more or less). I however, do the Spanish I’ve-got-phlegm-in-my-throat-when-I-make-a-j-or-g-sound pronunciation. Luckily, I don’t have the Spanish lisp (there are plenty of those among my fellow students).

Cocinera fabulosa
I am extremely lucky because my mama tica is an AMAZING cook. Although rice and beans make an appearance at every lunch and dinner (and sometimes breakfast), she manages to make the rest of the meal a feast. We eat a lot of chicken because Wendy is a semi-vegetarian and mama tica doesn’t want her to go hungry. In addition to the main course, we have rice, beans, some sort of salad, another salad, and sometimes bread. Today, we ate stuff shells that had cheese and egg. Yummy!
Every once in a while, she serves up something…interesting. For instance, yesterday at dinner we had “apple cinnamon milk.” It tasted rather like oatmeal, and when I looked at the package I realized that it was, indeed, oatmeal. Instead of cooking it a la americana, she dumped some of it into a pitcher of milk. It was ok, but very bizarre. We’ve also eaten some weird breakfasts. We always have a plate of apple, pineapple, and banana (which, by the way, they call banano). Then we have either eggs and toast or toast with some topping. The toppings have included: black bean puree (actually quite tasty), cheese (Wendy’s and my fav), ham, turkey, chicken, and avocado (by far the most interesting).
She also makes 99% of her juice by hand. Literally. I’ve seen her squeeze about 10 lemons to make lemonade. I’ve had lots of exotic fruit drinks here, many of which I have no idea of the name. I know cas is one and the other is tarmandino (or something of the sort).

Profe. fabulosa
I had a bit of a panic attack after receiving my score on the first composition. Because I am a nosey Rosey, I saw what my neighbor’s grade was, and it was significantly higher. I was in a funk for the rest of the day, and eventually I wrote the profe (Ale) saying that I was frustrated. She responded with a really long email telling me that because I wrote more and had more elaborate sentences, I had more room for errors. She agreed to pre-read my second composition and go over the corrections with me. Then she signed it “A hug, Ale.” Today in class, while everyone was working on a review sheet for our test tomorrow (my first test since 2004!), we went in the hall and she helped me out. She reassured me that I am very capable and that I have a big vocabulary, but I need to watch my prepositions. Seriously, prepositions are so hard to learn in a foreign language because the English equivalent isn’t necessarily used the same way. They don’t really teach prepositions in school, so you have to learn by osmosis. Not. Fun. Nor. Easy.

Isla Tortuga

Yesterday, we went on an excursion to Isla Tortuga in the Pacific Ocean. We were leaving at 6:20, so I had to be at school at 6:10. I had set my alarm for 5:25 and the taxi driver was arriving at 5:45. Well, I had my earplugs in, so I woke up at 5:51. That’s right, my alarm was going off for nearly 30 minutes and I had no clue. I ran like a banchi outside to tell the taxista that I would be right there, hurried inside, brushed my teeth, and changed. Thank goodness that I am an organized person and had packed my beach bag the night before. Seriously. I am never late! I never sleep until the alarm either. The worst part was that I told someone that I would pick them up in the taxi. Of course, she ended up taking her own taxi because I suck. But, I did get to the bus on time.
The first part of the journey was about 45 minutes to the restaurant. The food was so delicious! That’s not really a surprise since everything here is yummy (minus the Mexican restaurant).

I bought some souvenirs for some lucky people and then we headed back on the bus for another 45 minutes or so. Once we got to Calypso Cruises, we hopped on a catamaran and headed to Tortuga. We got to the island, which is really isolated, about an hour later.



The first thing that Becky (the previously mentioned friend who I abandoned) and I did was go snorkeling. Two little boats took about 40 of us out about 5 minutes off shore. I’d give distance, but I am horrible at that…There wasn’t a ton to see, but there were some pretty fish. After about 30 minutes of that, we returned to shore for lunch. I thought that breakfast was good, but that had nothing on lunch. I even liked the ceviche. That’s right, family, I ate raw fish and it was delicious! Then there was peanut chicken. Mmmm…
Ceviche


After lunch Becky and I lounged around on the beach. It was so nice outside and relaxing. I always say that I hate relaxing because I am not any good at it, but whenever I am on a beach like Tortuga (e.g. Kauai), I love it.


Eventually, we went on the banana boat. It’s basically a long yellow banana that seven passengers ride on and hope not to fall off while the boat tugging it drives. At first, I was white knuckling it for fear of falling off, but then figured, “why not enjoy yourself?” The captain of the boat made sure that all of us fell off. It was really fun (except the mouth of salt water).

By this time it was about time to go, but we had a little visitor. A wild boar came down to say hello. The workers told us that there’s a pack of them, and that this little chica comes down for the free food and some loving. I know that she looks dead in the picture, but she was alive and kicking. Literally. You she was like a dog when you petted her stomach.
On the catamaran back to the dock, it started raining (shocker). There’s not a whole lot of coverage on the boat, so lots of people got soaked. I managed to stay fairly dry. Once on land, we headed back to the buses for San José. The journey was about an hour and 45 minutes. It was a bit scary since it was dark and Costa Rican expressways are (a) often on the precipice of a cliff, (b) don’t have lights, and (c) are filled with crazy drivers.
All in all it was an awesome day worth every penny. Of course, I came home a bit burnt since that’s how I roll. I did put on sunscreen; obviously I should have reapplied it. Oh well. Today was really the epitome of Pura Vida.

Rain, hills, Mexican, and movies

Today and yesterday were good weather days. It wasn’t raining, so I was able to walk to and from school both days. It’s about a 35-40 minute walk with plenty of hills, so it’s really good exercise. Yesterday, I decided to go for a run for the first time since getting here. I was a bit apprehensive since the roads are horrible (both in lack of sidewalks and crazy drivers), but I really had the urge to hit the pavement. I ran about 1.5 miles to the University of Costa Rica sports complex, ran around there (about another mile) and ran home. I just about made it home when it started to drizzle. No kidding, as soon as I got into the garage it started to pour. The run was challenging because of the roads, the air climate (not polluted, but thinness), and the hills.

Today after school we went to a Mexican restaurant near school (not my idea). I had a chicken quesadilla, but instead of shredded chicken, it was chunks. Not the best. After that, I met up with my friend Katie and her roommate to go see a tican movie called “A Ojos Cerrados.” It was a short movie, only about an hour, but really moving. It’s the story of an old man who lives with his wife and granddaughter until his wife dies suddenly. The title (Closed Eyes) refers to the man having his eyes closed almost all the time after his wife dies. It was unique because there wasn’t a ton of dialogue, but there was so much emotion in the facial expressions and the music. I highly recommend it.

The theater itself was so cold! Literally, my toes were frozen! Good thing I had a long sleeved shirt in my purse! Maybe it seemed colder since it had air conditioning and no other place here does. The good news is that the seats were so comfortable. They were plush, rocked back, and had TONS of leg room. The best part, however, was the cost. It was 1500 colones to see the movie, which is about $2.50. Not bad for a first-run movie in a comfortable chair!

El Teatro Nacional

Yesterday, we went on an excursion to el Teatro Nacional. Everyone says that it’s the prettiest building in the country. It was built in the 1800s and has Italian marble throughout it. The coolest thing, in my opinion, was the floor of the theatre itself. The floor was built so that it could be raised up to make a dance floor. To do so, 12 men turn a massive wheel underground. The fastest time was two hours.
Interior

A few cool things:
1. The president’s balcony is basically open for all to see. There isn’t a big security set up, or walls dividing her (the president is a woman!) spot from the public. The guide told us that it’s common in San José to see the president. She’s run in to previous presidents on tours, in the pharmacy, and on the street. I think I’d pass out if Obama was in front of me at Walgreens!

2. There are smoking rooms (not in use anymore) for men and women. There were no windows in these rooms…nice. The women’s room had some pictures, while the men’s had a naked woman statue with no head.

3. There are beautiful paintings on the ceilings. The one in the main foyer used to be on a Costa Rican bill. There are some errors in the painting, however, because the artist never set foot in Costa Rica. Therefore, the bananas are upside down, the oxen's braces are in the wrong spot, and the women look European and not Tican :)


After the teatro, we had some free time, so I went to the cathedral down a block away. Not really my tastes. It’s really modern on the outside.

I did, however, like the statue of John Paul II. It was round, like a Botero statue.


After the five minutes it took me to go through the teatro it started to downpour, so I went with some friends to a café for some hot chocolate. You might be surprised to find out (as I surely was), that it’s actually colder here in San José than it is in Illinois right now. In the mornings it’s about 80, but once the rain hits, it drops down to the 60s. Should have packed more appropriately!

Clases de baile

Today, I took a Latin dance class. It was the first of four. Seriously, it was so cheap. $20...total. $5/class! Can't beat that. We were in a little room in some old building on the outskirts of school. There was ONE fan, no air, and you couldn't open the windows. We were packed in like sardines, about 30 of us. The instructor taught us for an hour. We covered the basic dances (salsa, merengue, etc). Some people have no rhythm, especially the men (mind you, there were about 4 guys). We all sweated our butts off, but it was so fun! Next week we have two classes, and the woman said that they would get harder with time.

As a side note, today it didn't rain!!! I couldn't believe it. It looked like it was going to, but nope. We managed to walk to school (which is normal) and home (un milagro!). In total about 2 hours of working out today: 30 minutes walking, 60 minutes dancing, 30 minutes walking. (Bonus, the walk is HILLY!!!) Not bad. Not bad at all :)