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Published: November 23rd 2008
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Posted by John. Nov. 22nd
Getting settled.
Everything is falling into place nicely here in Samara. This is definitely a Tico town. The normal touristy feeling you sometimes get while traveling in Latin America is virtually nil here. Aside from the few students that come here to study Spanish, it is just a nice, relatively untouched Tico town. A rough knowledge of Spanish is a must. I have realized I know more than I thought I did and when I don’t know it, Megan steps in and acts as my professional interpreter.
It is good that we came a few days early. Class doesn’t start until Monday so we are spending these few days just getting settled, relaxing, and finding our way around. Yesterday, we got up late, (You realize how much your responsibilities have diminished when you lose track of what day of the week it is) and found our way to the beach. Such a beautiful place this is. The beach is a very broad and gently sloping crescent with gentle, breaking waves and (so far) very few people. Absolute paradise. After walking one half of the beach, we decided to stop and sit for a bit and rest.
In a giant ficus tree above us were at least five or six monkeys jumping and playing. The amazing thing is how quickly we have transitioned to a mind-set that this is no big deal and to be almost expected.
On the way back home, we stopped and picked up some fruit. A pineapple, two bananas, a lime, and an onion for a grand total of two dollars. And we are told that prices here are higher because we are on the coast.
(Megan steals the computer from John when he gets up)
We are going to try to go into Nicoya today, which is about 36 km away from here directly inland. We want to go grocery shopping there to get some of the basics because supposedly the prices are much lower. Once we get basic groceries, we’ll probably continue to just go to the store that is right across the street. And we’ll probably continue to buy just enough for a day or two at a time so we don’t waste food or have too many leftovers. Besides, we don’t want to have to transport a whole lot of food when we move to wherever we decide
to teach.
We’ve been talking about how much we have reduced our carbon footprint here. We don’t have cars, we don’t have hot water (yeah, that one’s definitely not by choice!), our water stops running usually at least once a day and our theory is when too much is being used (we share water with the rest of the apartments and the lady who takes care of the place does laundry every day), it can’t keep up - so therefore we use less water, we don’t have air conditioning, and we only have three lights in the whole apartment (although we do have our computers plugged in), and we won’t be using a clothes dryer.
And phew!! The wind here has been unbelievable since we arrived. It’s almost like a constant wind storm. Last night it got so bad it was knocking branches out of trees. They say that’s not normal. I don’t know if it’s the change of the season (we are in transition from rainy to dry) and it happens every year or what. But the wind sometimes seems enough to almost knock you down. It’s nice in some ways though because it keeps our apartment
pretty cool and pretty fresh. If it gets hotter and the wind dies down, we might really start to enjoy those cold showers!!
(Posted by Megan, Nov. 23)
So yesterday we did go into Nicoya. The lady who takes care of the place here is named Yami. I don’t know if I’m spelling that right, but that’s at least how you pronounce it. She only speaks Spanish, and we’re glad to have someone to practice with. Yesterday she offered to let us go with her to Nicoya. She said she never goes, except yesterday she was taking care of her great-grand-niece and needed to take her back to her mother in Nicoya. So she showed us where to buy vegetables and where the grocery store was. We never would have found our way around without staying there all day. With her help, we left at 2 and got back by 5:30 and it’s at least a 45 minute bus ride (I think it was more like an hour). I’m not sure it was all that much cheaper in Nicoya. I did get a receipt for the first time since being here, so now at least I can
compare and see if it’s worth a trip every week or two.
Today Yami is showing us how to use her washing machine. It’s very old and there’s a separate wash basin and spin basin. And she doesn’t have a dryer so we’re going to line dry our clothes.
We are about to go down to the beach and go swimming for the first time since we’ve been here. We’re going to bring our snorkel gear and fins. I hope it’s not cold!!!
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