Classes, Earthquakes and Salsa Dancing.. O My!

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This week has been very busy. We began classes and had many other adventures throughout the city. So I will start with the exciting stuff.

Now to the adventures. Yesterday (Thursday) a group of us went to explore downtown San Jose and find a restaurant that was supposed to have amazing cake. It took us quite some time to find it but walking around helped me get my bearings of the downtown area. As we walked into the restaurant and were waiting to be seated, all of a sudden the ground started shaking. We were suddenly pushed out the door by some of the workers. As a midwestern girl, it didn't quite register it was an earthquake. Then as it finally clicked what was happening, some of the Ticos started pointing towards the top of the building. We look up and realize the building is actually swaying. I probably should describe this building for the full effect. We were on the ground floor of a parking ramp which is at least 6 stories high. When we see this, we head for the central plaza near the restaurant where we waited out till we saw the birds settle down and the Ticos leaving the plaza. As an afterthought, I realized the plaza we went to probably wasn't the best place considering there are 3 subterranean levels of museums under the plaza.

After we got our nerves back in order, we went back to Spoon (the restaurant) and had lunch. By the way, the food was delicious and the cake was even better. We plan on going back soon. 😊 We didn't realize that we had survived one of the worst earthquakes in recent Costa Rican history. As we started to head back, we started seeing the damage. There was at least one store that had to completely shut down because everything had fallen off the shelves and shattered. Some glass windows were broken and complete streets were roped off by the police, forcing us to take a longer route home.

We were pretty lucky in San Jose. There was some damage to some buildings and things falling off shelves, but nothing too serious. The epicenter was near Poas Volcano. Our group was actually supposed to travel to Poas on Sunday. However, because of the extensive damage, we are unable to go. It is scary to think we were supposed to be there in just a few days.

Now on to a lighter subject. On Tuesday, I attended my first dancing lesson. I learned the basic steps of the meringue and salsa. While it was very fun, it was also very tiring. A group of us decided to test out our skills at a salsa club called Castro's. A nice older Tico tried to teach me some steps. However most of the time he just tossed me around (or I suppose you could say was just leading). It was very fun and we plan to go again soon.

Now for the boring stuff. I am in Spanish 101 and it is mostly review from high school. However, since it has been quite some time (a solid 4 years), it is taking me some time getting back into the swing of Spanish once again. I am learning various descriptive words and a couple of verbs. And a ridiculously large amount of vocabulary. It is definitely helpful being surrounded by Spanish. Today we watched a very touching movie called Valentin. It is a foreign film that all of you should watch.

Since this is already very long, I think I will call it quits for the day. Tomorrow we visit Turu Ba Ri Park and Sunday we visit Irazu Volcano. Be on the watch for pictures!

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Comments

[Mom]

So glad you are ok after the earthquke! Have fun on your tour! Look forward to more pictures, Mom