Week one in Quepos

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What a week it has been, and I haven’t even made it to the national park yet, the namesake of the region. I arrived last Sunday and after a small mix-up (interbus was an hour and a half late delivering me to my destination, after arriving an hour early to Monteverde this was very surprising) I was with my host family. I can only try to explain the living situation; however I’m not so sure that I know exactly what is going on. The house is deceivingly spacious. From the front it looks just like an ordinary one-level house, with a few rooms and a small enclosed porch. Once inside, the maze of a floor plan sleeps 6 plus has room for 3 exchange students at a time. Sadly I am the only student currently occupying the residence but perhaps we will receive a new one tomorrow, as a new week is set to begin.
The proprietors of the house, to the best of my knowledge, are my mama Tica, Yesenia, aged 42, and her husband Mauricio, aged 29. Then comes daughter Génesis who at 20 years of age cannot possibly be the daughter of Mauricio, but I don’t yet have the courage to ask who her father is or how the current family situation came to exist. There is also a younger brother, Isaac, who is only 15 but could pass for 18. Génesis has a 2-year-old (almost 3) son named Dilan. He is adorable 95% of the time, but when he doesn’t get his way he begins yelping in a very unnerving way. He doesn’t cry, he doesn’t scream, he yelps in some sort of sick, twisted, combination of the two. It can be when he is hungry, or when you take your cell phone back from his grasping hands, but he will begin to emit a very disturbing and unnerving sound that I have never heard from a child before. I wish he were a bit more developed as I can’t quite understand what he says, but at least I can learn with him as we often watch the discovery kids channel in Spanish with shows such as Jorge curioso (Curious George) or Babar. Yesenia’s mother also lives with us, and her accent is so strong I have a very hard time following what she says, but she always has a smile on her face and treats me well. Dilan’s father also is there often, I am not sure if he lives there or just spends a few nights at the house. I also can’t tell if he is Génesis’ girlfriend or husband. I don’t see any rings so I’ll assume they are just dating still. I cannot remember his name for the life of me, but he is a nice guy and always extends a hand for shaking when we greet each day.
The house is located just a few blocks from the center of Quepos, which in my world is the bus station. There are numerous shops and restaurants in the surrounding blocks and I have enjoyed walking around the neighborhood a few times, exploring my options. Prices here are the highest I have encountered so far in Costa Rica. There are a few local eateries that offer cheap treats but most of the shops are geared towards the tourists. Manuel Antonio National Park is the number one tourist destination in the country, both with Americans and Ticos. Luckily I am here during the rainy season as it hasn’t been too crowded. The 25 minute bus ride that winds through the hills between Quepos and the park entrance is filled with hotels, hostels, restaurants and tourist shops but I can’t help but feel sorry for the proprietors as vacancy rates must be at 50+% this time of year.
My school lies almost excactly halfway between the town of Quepos and the park itself. It takes about 10-15 minutes to reach by public bus each morning. I was lucky enough to have afternoon classes last week (no one was in my level so I received a private 3 hour class in the afternoon instead of group classes for 4 hours in the morning) so I was able to sleep in and lazily make my way to school each afternoon. I even managed to hit the beach twice during the week, before going to school. This required packing my belongings into my backpack and sitting on the bus for 25 minutes before arriving at the beach. I would then lay out the tapestry I bought in Israel for this exact purpose, and lay my half-naked body down for 45 minutes to an hour. The sun here is so strong (UV index from 10-12) that I can barely last an hour in the sun with sunscreen on. It is then back to the bus where I ride to school and spend the rest of the morning on my laptop before classes begin. I have sporadic internet at my house family’s house so I am often arrive at schools desperate to check my e-mail and read the headlines of Seattletimes.com, CNN, NYT.com, and check the markets.
The school facility is nice, and they provide free fruit, tea, and bread throughout the day which makes it easy to spend little on lunch. My costs here have been reduced to only paying the $0.50 every time I take the bus, and occasionally buying a cup of noodles or other instant lunch to supplement the fruit and bread. I’ve also frequented the local sports bar twice to watch some football but that can be forgiven. If I had too, I could live off of $1 a day here (not including my prepaid lodging which comes with breakfast and dinner). The one odd thing about the school is that there is a family of bats that has taken up residence in the rafters. I am used to wildlife being all around here in Costa Rica, but having bats fly by my head during class takes it to another level.
I have morning classes next week so the cushy lifestyle will come to an end, but being done at noon will have its perks as well. I can hit the beach after lunch and hopefully get to the park one of these afternoons as well. Quepos, as a tourist town, is also not the safest place in Costa Rica so I have been hesitant to take out my camera but I hope to get some more pictures up soon. Thanks everyone for reading. I am not halfway done with classes and a tiny bit homesick. However I am excited for my next 5 weeks and to continue the development of my Spanish. I am almost finished with the grammar classes and expect to spend my final week or two in Flamingo only conversing and working on speech and listening exercises.
If anyone wants a post card please let me know! I have easy access to a post office here. Hasta luego amaigos.

-Matt

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