Advertisement
Just Arrived
This is all of our luggage and the bus that took us from San Jose to Grecia. Hi everyone!!! I have so much to write about, and I finally have pictures!!! I did not get to write the past few days because we have all been so busy! The day we got here was long, I went about 32 hours with out sleep. By the end of the night I went to crash and found a bed full of bugs and human hair/skin....pretty site I know.... I admit I cried, it was a little rough. But I am over it and accepting the culture. I have since learned that my family believes in leaving all the doors to the outside open to let the bugs in. They believe that they "clean the house" for them. I wake up with a few extra bites every morning but it is totally worth it! I find that listening to my i Pod at night helps me take my mind of things and fall asleep. Another LARGE adaptation I have had to make is showering. There is NO warm or hot water. I take ice showers and cannot get all the way under the water with out my breath being taken away. I think I take more of a sponge bath than
Big Red Church
This is what we refer to as the big red church! It is in the middle of town and in made of only iron and was imported here in the 1800´s. a real shower. On a more positive note...food. The ticos (costa ricans) are feeding us A LOT of great food. My host family feeds me breakfast and dinner, and the Spanish school feeds us twice as well. I think I am eating every 2 hours (so much for loosing weight on this trip). The food is just absolutly amazing and VERY cheap. I can get a full lunch at market for $3. Our second day here (Tuesday) was also very long. We had spanish class from 8-12 and then had conferences until 6pm. In the conferences we learned about the Costa Rican culture and the differences between the United States and Costa Rica. Spanish class is really helping me. There are only 3 other students in my class so we all get a lot of attention. I understand a bunch and my speech is getting a lot better. I am now finding my self trying to type spanish instead of english. When speaking english I also run the spanish words through my head at the same time. Yesterday we had spanish class again from 8-12 and then left to go white water rafting! I will never forget this trip. It took us 2 hours to get there (everything in Costa Rica takes a long time to get to because of the poor road conditions). Once we got there we were briefed on the rules and regulations. Me and 4 of my other girl friends went in one group together (I know bad idea). It was hillerious to say the least! We could not really get on the same beat and the tour guide was laughing at us the whole 8 miles down (at some points not laughing cause his life was in our hands as well). It was through the rain forest so it was soo beautiful! At one point on the river we stopped to jump off rocks and eat fresh pinapples!!!! Our guide spoke more spanglish than english so I acted at the translator for the rest of our raft. I pretty much understood everything he said (that made me happy). There was one point though where I didnt and it turned into a very funny story. Lets see if I can explain this clearly......We are going down the river through a rapid and our guide fell out (wonderful I know). When he got back in he looked at me and apparently said " I felt hands on my body", implying that I pushed him in. haha Well what I heard was "I handsome body" now remember that he does not speak english very well so this could have been very feasably. Well we all started laughing sooo hard thinking that this guide just told us that he has a handsome body. Anyways, it was just one of those moments that we will never forget. After rafting we went back to main building to change clothes. We saw that there was a resturant and we all sat down to eat. There we meet two American brothers (also seniors in college) who were back packing through Costa Rica. It was nice to see other people who speak english.
Today we go on an agency visit to a battered womens shelter, I think that this will be an awesome experience. Tonight we are all going to a salsa bar. I just know this will be another experience I will never foget. Tomorrow we have spanish class again (every day), then a cooking class. This weekend we will be at Playa Antonio Manuel. It is supposed to be beautiful white beaches. The beach in on a national park so our hotel is a few minutes away (Costa Rica does not allow buildings on national parks). Apparently, we have to watch out for monos (monkeys) because they like to steal your bags and get your food. I will try and write again tomorrow but if not look to hear back from me on Tuesday when we get back from the beach. I will have many pictures to share! Love and miss you all!!!!!!
Ok so I lied, it was taking way to long to upload on this website, you can go to www.photobucket.com/rrigual. Please let me know if it works.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.073s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0446s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mom
non-member comment
MISS YOU!!!
I'm so glad you got time to post. I'm so happy your are able to experience all of this!!!! Much love to you, we all miss you so much!!! Everyone I talk to has been asking me when you are going to post an update!!!!!!! LOVE YOU SO MUCH XOXOXOXOXO