Leaving Orosi II

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This morning was more quiet at the house and everyone was up and moving at 6 am instead of the usual 4-5 am. Luis F was up walking for 1 hr and 20 minutes for exercise while I was working on my homework still. I never competed my assigned composition but I did several pages of exercises in my book and lots of sentences that were assigned. Amada made a nice breakfast with gallo pinto (a national dish of beans and rice, onions, cilantro and other spices as well as eggs, juice and coffee. The boys were still sleeping when we were eating and only Luis (the 2nd) was up before I left for my 9am class.

This morning Tim and I were the only 2 students having classes. Our teachers showed us pictures of their field trip to the amusement park and they seemed to really enjoy their time all together. We showed them the pictures of Aaron singing and posing in my clothes. Karen and I did go over all the homework that I had completed and did some work on grammar and she explained some more specifics about the past tense. I would have liked to get some time to study the conditional and future tenses but there just wasn't enough time and really I didn't have enough drive. Apparently Tim and Katie didn't work very hard either, since Tim told me that they spent their class hours outside showing each other pictures from their cameras and Tim showed Katie all the music he had on his I-pod. Katie plans to attend medical school and will start studying at college this year and will later have to move to San Jose to attend medical school. She would like to become a pediatrician. Karen would like to work in the primary school here in Orosi where the pay is better and with a job like this she can secure a loan from the Banco de Costa Rica to buil a house. She estimates that she would need at least $40,000 to build a house for herself. What I didn't realize until a few days ago is that neither of them speak English very well at all (all our instruction was given in Spanish). It kind of made me feel like maybe they have more sympathy for us when we struggle so much to speak our crummy spanish with them. So we said our good-byes to our teachers and met th twins for lunch.

We have invited the twins to come with us for the weekend to Turrialba and make a tour of the Turrialba Volcano and maybe also the geological dig in Guayabo. They are Kristen and Allison from New Jersey. They have spent the last several years studying in Florida. Kristen has now completed her first year of pharmacy school in West Palm Beach and plans to get a Pharm. Doctor degree. Allison has just graduated from the University of Miami with a degree i Journalism with a major in communication and film. She would like to be making documentaries on various social problems around the world. They are a great pair and we had lunch together and got all our stuff packed for the weekend in Turrialba. We said a quick good-bye to my familly and we caught the bus to Paraiso (crowded and not fun to manuver for Tim and I and all our luggage. Then we changed buses and caught the next bus to Turrialba. For at least a while we all had to stand on the bus until people got off. But then once Tim and I got to sit other women who were pregnant or carrying little babies got on and we gave up our seats to them. Ticos do travel a lot and get out a lot to enjoy themselves on the weekends and the crowds on the bus and at the bus station were confirmation of this fact. We arrived in Turrialba and the bus driver told us to open the door under the bus to get our luggage. Only Tim and I had luggage there and it had shifted in the undercarriage so that Tim really had to get all the way into the compartment to pull out our bags. We took pictures of him deep in the belly of the bus.

When we arrived at the Turrialba bus station it was raining fairly hard, so we sat in the cafes in front and had snacks and drinks. We looked at the maps in our guidebooks and decided on a cheap hostel to try first called the Interamericano. It was about 10 blocks from the station and we set out even though it was dark, since it had quit raining. We found the hostel without difficulty and it was really clean and cheap ($10/night with shared bathrooms). Tim and I each have our own rooms with double beds and Kristen and Allison wanted a room together which happens to have bunk beds. After we checked in we went out and ordered a pizza toether and while it was being made we went to the grocery store and got fruit, snacks and drinks. We headed back to the hostel and picked up our pizza on the way and had a nice time chatting and eating pizza on a nice balcony at the end of the hall on the 2nd floor. The view is of the open area where the Saturday Farmer's Market takes place, which is near the railroad loading platform. It is not the nicest view you would care to see, but we had a fun time anyway. We all headed to bed at about 10:30 but I had a hard time sleeping with all the noise from another american group that came in after us and the noise from the disco up the street that kept going until about 1 am.

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Photos

Tim at Hostel in Orosi
Tim bought bread and marmalade from the Swiss lady in Orosi. She really seemed to enjoy speaking German with him.

Hottub
Here is the hot tub at the hostel. Behind you can see the furnace and the wood used to heat the water.

Cocao
Here is the Cocao bush that is growing at the hostel. The colorful pods are harvested and fermented before being processed into chocolate.

Kristen, Allison andMe
Here we are in Orosi waiting to begin our bus trek to Turrialba

Tim in the luggage compartment
Tim is retrieving our luggage. Kristin is holding the door up otherwise it would automatically close him in.