Where have I been? Mal Pais and Isla Venado, for starters

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Hey friends,
This entry is a little more me-specific, instead of the more-general previous two entries. I traveled with a friend, Rafa, to Mal Pais to give my surfing legs a go, and it went...pretty great! I got up at least twice, and only got another surfer angry for "swiping his wave" once! Well, at least I learned a lot with my twenty four hours of rented board. I learned why I don't surf, mainly, but gosh was it fun! That weekend, I surfed Saturday in the afternoon until the sun set (a very cool effect out on the water), and then I got up and surfed the early morning waves with the sunrise.

The next weekend I went with my Cultures Class to visit the very secluded Isla Venado in the Gulf of Nicoya. It was a very great privilege to visit this authentic fishing island, with population less than 700, and to interact with the locals and especially their children--And the food was DYNAMITE! Just because, everyone from my class brought some goodies for the children of the Island: candy, fruit, cookies; I brought balloons and peanuts; my buddy brought a boogy board! Then we played fútbol, and then at the only restaurant/bar we ate a humongous dinner, danced a bit, and played a few rounds of pool before calling it a night.

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Photos

Mal Pais
This is all there really is to do in Mal Pais, which translates to "Bad Country," and that's fine with everyone who ever goes there. In fact, that's WHY everyone goes there. The waves were a little lakey at the time of photography, but that's because as soon as they got good, I was out there with the rest of them!

Just hanging out
a lizard that ran like a duck. funny guy, this lizard.

Bring it on.
my buddy Rafa took this for me. Thanks, man.

Las Playitas
I included this photo because this is where USAC is SUPPOSED to be playing Monday night fútbol, but some jerk vandalized the field and cut all the wires to the lights, and we can't play until they investigate, which, since this is CR, means it'll be about 30 months.

This is classic USAC
We joke here--and it's not really a joke--that USAC decides what we're going to do 4 minutes after we do it, and this shows, if nothing else, some quick decision making. We did this to have room to dance in Dance Class!

Phase 1
This is the ferry from Puntarenas to Playa Naranja. We slept on this ferry, but we couldn't exactly do it on the next leg of the journey...

Phase 2
Then we took this guy the rest of the way to the Island

Chelsea is befriended!
Followed shortly by all of us! We were on our way to the elementary school with our goodies for the kids, and as we walked along the dirt path, more and more niños fell in step with us. My friend Chelsea was a hit with the kids (maybe cause she's their size.)

Waiting patiently
All the students sat along the wall and we had a miniature halloween. It was great!

Group Photo!
After this, I threw into the air all of the candy that I had brought and we had a piñata-style harvest.

more and more
this photo started with two people, and every time we took it, more kids realized we were taking one, and got in and implored us to take it again!

Our revered cook!
We are not worthy! She served up salchichon (sausage), fish, little shrimp, and huge shrimp, and we basically exploded.

My buddy from Venado
Gerardo showed me the ropes of his village, and then we played a few rounds of pool (he let me win).

Where were YOU for the lunar eclispe?
I was in Costa Rica.

5 am
The view from our deck. The quite fishing village was about to get busy; this is the best time to fish.