Spring Break with Stephanie

Stephanie and I left my house on Sunday after a pleasant lunch with my host family. We had some nice discussions, one of which included South Dakota. My host sister really wants to come to the U.S. so she can practice her English. I told her she’s more than welcome to come visit me in Iowa and South Dakota, but that there’s not a whole lot to do there. However, Stephanie kept telling her how beautiful South Dakota was and how there is stuff to do. My family thought it was pretty funny that we kept arguing about it. And I do agree with Stephanie, there is stuff to do in South Dakota, and I’m definitely a big fan of it; however, I don’t know how most other people feel about it and I wouldn’t want her to be disappointed if it wasn’t like New York City or LA. I mean, I love tubing down the runoff polluted rivers of Iowa, I just don’t know how Georgina would feel about that.

Anyway, on Monday Stephanie and I went to La Fortuna and Arenal, and on Tuesday and Wednesday we spent a lot of time in Monteverde. We did a zip line tour in Monteverde, and we also went to a tree frog terrarium at night. We got to see some pretty colored frogs, and our guide was pretty good at mimicking frog calls. Oh, and in the zip line that we did, we got to do a “Tarzan swing,” which definitely scared me a little. We also went to a privately owned nature preserve to hike around. We saw some wildlife, and we even hiked down a pretty intense trail to see a waterfall. It was nothing compared to Mr. Chirripó, but intense nonetheless.

On Thursday we went to the Manuel Antonio National Park. We hiked around a little bit before plopping ourselves on a beach surrounded by jungle. Even though there were also many, many other tourist on the beach, I really enjoyed Manuel Antonio. It had some of the clearest water I’ve seen so far, and it was nice not having buildings behind you. Also, there are many white-faced monkeys that come around begging for food. Even though feeing them is prohibited, surprise, they still get fed. Sometimes, they even steal shoes and other items thinking they’re food (either that or they just think it’s fun to watch tourist try to run after them).

After a day on the beach, Stephanie and I were definitely ready to relax. Oh, and even though Stephanie’s legs “never, ever burn” (that is a direct quote, might I add), apparently the Costa Rican sun was just too much for that “winterized” South Dakota skin. (Just teasing, Steph…) Anyway, we spent the next day traveling back to San Jose, and Saturday we relaxed by the hotel pool.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great Easter. I missed being at home for Easter for a big dinner and hanging with family. Oh, and by the way, when I get home I’m going to eat mashed potatoes and steak for a month, and I may never, ever eat white rice again.

This weekend, I had planned on “takin’ ‘er easy” and catching up on homework. However, my family is taking me to their niece’s house which has a hot tub. So we’re going to grill and stay there Saturday night. So, so much for relaxing, but at least I’ll be spending time with my family. I’ve been speaking way too much English lately.

Well, hopefully I'll stay up to date on my whereabouts and happenings from now on.