No se preocupe (don't worry) I'm still alive!

So, Just thought I'd drop a line mentioning that I'm still alive. I've been quite busy the last few weeks. Who knew I'd have so much homework. Anyway, only 6 days left in the "Rich Coast" and then it's back to Iowa where it could snow one day and then have a massive tornado the next. I'll be back on American soil on May 8th, so I'll definitely write about the last month then and add some pictures. Anyway, I'm still kicking...

My Favorite Place in Costa Rica: The Bottom of the Ocean!

So good news everyone: my lungs didn’t explode! How great is that? Actually, it turned out to be an amazing experience. I’ve actually decided me favorite place in Costa Rica is on the bottom of the ocean. And now I’m a certified scuba diver, which means I’ll probably go diving again in about…oh 10 years or so, if I’m lucky. Actually, I hope I get to go more than that, but ya know, the rivers in Iowa just don’t compare to the ocean.

Anyway, so how does one go about getting certified? Well, on Friday we left for Playa Hermosa (Beautiful Beach). It took us nine hours to get there because of the bus schedules. And actually, we got the last bus that went to Playa Hermosa. The scary part was, the bus was supposed to leave at 5:30, and we didn’t get there until 5:40, but fortunately it was running behind schedule. We finally got to our hotel, which was an ordeal in and of itself, at around 8:00 on Friday.

On Saturday we woke up bright and early to start exploring the pool. But before we could learn to dive, we had to learn how to use the gear. When diving you wear a wet suit, a weight belt, flippers, a mask, and of course, a tank full of oxygen with 3 hoses coming out of it. The three hoses provide air to you, to others (if necessary), and to the vest because you need to fill it with air to float. We learned in the pool first to get used to the regulator (the breathing apparatus) and the buoyancy controls. We all got in a circle and we had to practice taking our regulators out and then putting them back in, using other people’s octopuses (an extra regulator attached to your air tank, used to share oxygen with people if they run out), and taking our masks (goggles) off. Taking the goggles off scared me a little. To get the water out of the mask you push on the top part of it, tilt your head back, and blow air out of your nose. I hate getting water in my eyes, and I definitely hate having a plastic thing full of water suctioned to my head. I did it, and I got some water up my nose and my eyes hurt a little, but I did it without going to the surface.

That afternoon we went to the ocean. Only 6 of us went down at a time (there were 10 total) because we only had one instructor. Dan was my partner, so we were in charge of looking after one another. I won’t lie, I was a little nervous. However, we only went into water that was about 20 feet deep, so you could come to the surface at anytime. We swam through a massive school of fish, and we saw tons of blow fish and many other kinds of tropical fish. We also saw eels and an octopus. I filled up my whole 27 exposure, waterproof camera. So I’m hoping some of those pictures turn out. That dive lasted about 50 minutes. When you start, your air tank has about 3000 psi of air pressure, and you have to come up when someone gets down to 1000 psi.

On Sunday we took a boat out to an island. On the way there we saw “something” whales (I’m so specific, I know), which are actually a type of dolphin. Anyway, we got to the island and all 12 of us went down at the same time. This time we went down to about 50 feet. Some people had problems adjusting their ears to the pressure, but I could swim straight down, fortunately. I just had to keep swallowing. On this dive we saw a sea turtle, which I would estimate (although water distorts the distance and size of objects) was about 3 feet long. It was a Green Sea Turtle, and when people tried to touch it, the guides banged metal snaps on their air tanks and shook their heads no.

We were on the bottom for about 30 minutes for that dive.

On the surface we had to wait 40 minutes before we could go back down. This has something to do with letting your body adjust to the pressure, or air, or something again. I should probably know this since I’m technically certified, but I guess I’ll play it safe and go with guides, or I’ll have to study a bit before I go down on my own. During the 40 minute break, some of us swam to the island and went into a shallow inlet/cave thing. There were hundreds of crabs all over the rocks, and when you got near they just dove to safety into the ocean. It was pretty cool except one of the girls sliced open her foot on the island because it was made out of coral type stuff and was very sharp.

Anyway, we put our tanks back together, got our gear on and went back down. I was one of the first people down, and when we got to the bottom, Myra (our instructor) gathered us together and signaled for us to watch her. She then proceeded to take her regulator out of her mouth, let go of it, grab it again, and put it back in. Then she pointed at us, signaling it was our turn. I had no problem doing this, even though I was 50 feet from the surface, it wasn’t that hard to get the respirator back in and blow the water out. However, when she proceeded to take her goggles off, my heart started pounding. When it was my turn to take my goggles off, I shook my head no… I was not about to fill my eyes with salt water, suction waterlogged goggles back onto my head, blow my precious air out, all while attempting to breath through my mouth—at the bottom of the ocean. I’m sorry, I just wasn’t ready for such daring things. She signaled for me to calm down. And then she asked me if she could fill my goggles with water. I shook my head yes, so she filled them with water just a little over the tops of my eyes. I then attempted to blow it out, and I got it even though it took me a few tries. So essentially what I did was the same thing, but I didn’t fill my goggles with water myself. Who does that in real life anyway? I stayed calm (enough), but I think I definitely used up more oxygen than I normally would’ve.

On this dive, we saw mostly the same animals again. However, there were trumpet fish that were about 3 feet long, 2 inches wide, and almost transparent. I also saw big eels. I think they’re called moray eels, or something similar to that. The guide told me to stick my fingers by its mouth (as a joke, obviously), but I’m not dumb. I’ve watched “The Little Mermaid” enough times to know better than that.

Anyway, this time they decided to only take people up when their oxygen was running low, and since I was one of the first people down (and I did breathe rather heavily during the goggle incident) I had to go up after only 35 minutes.

Even though I love air, and I think there are many beautiful places above sea level, there’s something spectacular about the sea floor. It really is a completely different world. It looks like everything is flying, and you can even fly yourself. You just fly through the water in a world that you don’t belong to, but for 35 short minutes you can. So if there is anyone else out there who watched “The Little Mermaid” as many times as I did or just really loves water, I definitely recommend scuba diving. It’s definitely worth it, even if you do get a little salt water in your eyes.

"Family Weekend" and Fruits

Last weekend I had a relaxing weekend with the family. My family took me to a town that I don’t remember the name of. (I know, I love it when I’m specific). We stayed in Ana’s niece’s house. It’s her second home and it is located fairly close to the beach. We left Saturday morning and came back Sunday afternoon. The house has a Jacuzzi, a cold water Jacuzzi to be exact. But it felt nice since it’s so hot there. On Saturday night we went to town and saw a parade of horses (it has a Spanish name…it might be “tope” but I’m not sure). There had to have been more than 250 horses in this “tope”. After that finished we went to the “Fruit Fair.” A bunch of fruit farmers brought their crop in to sell. Ana bought me a bunch of crazy fruit because I wanted to try it all. I took pictures of them all on Sunday, and then I had Ana tell me the name so I could look it up in the dictionary. However, we don’t have English words for these fruits. Why? Because we’ve never ever seen them or eaten them because they are crazy and only grow in the tropics. Some of these fruits we would never even think of eating because they don’t even look like fruit. As I was writing the names of them down, I wrote descriptions of them. For more than two different kinds I compared them to a potato. This one looks like a small, hairy potato, and that one looks like a big pointy potato. Obviously I’m a potato girl. One fruit that actually is in the dictionary is the soursop (guanábana). If any of you have ever eaten a soursop, please tell me because I will be utterly amazed.
It was a nice relaxing weekend. We ate copos (a.k.a granizados) which are like snow cones, except they’re made with powdered milk and condensed milk as well as the flavor syrup. I also played games, including Uno, with Ismael. An interesting side note about the game Uno. Whenever Costa Ricans ask me if I know how to play (if they’re speaking in English) they ask me if I know how to play One. At first, I was very confused, but when I realized what they were asking me, I found it quite hilarious. Apparently, they think that we call it One in the States. They were quite shocked when I told them that we also call it Uno. Anyway, I just thought that was an interesting little tid bit.
Next weekend I will be traveling to Puntarenas to learn to scuba dive. As long as I remember to keep breathing out as I ascend to the surface (so my lungs don’t explode), I should be fine. No worries.
On Monday I went to Sonrisas (Smiles), a Pre-K school. I’m going to start volunteering there every Monday (even though I’ve only got five left). They put me in a classroom with children who I would guess are between 1 and 2. They can walk, talk in words, and they still poop in their pants…so however old that is. Anyway, I was only there for an hour today. I don’t know if most of you know how absolutely horrible I am with kids. They hate me because they can sense my fear of them. I’m drenched with “Oh-sweet-Moses-please-don’t-puke-on-me-poop-on-me-or-stick-your-dirty-little-fingers-in-my-mouth” pheromones. Anyway, I fed some fruit to one kid and some ¡gelatina rica! (tasty jello) to a cute little girl. Then I attempted to play with them while the teacher changed diapers (thank goodness they didn’t make me do that!). Every time I sat down, Bianca, a cute little girl, sat in my lap. I was ok with it after she got her diaper changed, but before I was slightly uncomfortable with her damp little bum plopped nicely in my lap. She also liked the feel of my stubble growing on my legs and she liked my “cola” (pony tail). I think one of the little girls sensed that I wasn’t actually a native Spanish-speaker (I can’t even fool the little kids!) because she brought me a toy car and said “carro” and she touched the door and said “puerta.” So I don’t know if I was supposed to be saying, “Good job!” or “thank you for teaching me.” Anyway, I think I’ll enjoy spending 4 hours with those guys once a week. They’re pretty darn cute. However, my hands were pretty sticky when I went to dance class, and there may have been feces residue on my pants, but that’s nothing a little water and soap can’t cure.
Tonight I’ve got a potluck type fiesta to go to. One of my Spanish classes is going to get together with some Costa Ricans who are learning English. We’re going to play games and eat food. I’m planning on making some chip dip, but it’s hard when they don’t have the same things we do. And even though Wal-Mart may be the devil, I won’t deny that I miss having so many options in one building.
Anyway, I better get reading some of my novels and doing some other homework. Oh, and wish me luck this weekend that my lungs don’t explode and that I don’t get nitrogen poisoning!

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.

Nicaragua Trip

Alright. So I’m finally back from my travels. I’d love to write about every detail, but I would have to write a novel, and I’m more of a short story writer. Anyway, from March 17-22, I was traveling with the program that I study through. We went to Nicaragua for most of the week, but we also saw Volcano Arenal, La Fortuna waterfall, and Monteverde Cloud Forest.

Before I write about what I did in Nicaragua, let me share some information that I found in the CIA World Fact book about Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the U.S. The GPP for each country is $3,200 (Nicaragua), $13,500 (Costa Rica), and $46,000 (U.S.). The percentage of the population that lives under the poverty line is 48% (Nicaragua), 16% (Costa Rica), and 12% (U.S.). These numbers correlate with the unemployment rates. In Nicaragua, the unemployment is 5.5% and the underemployment (not quite sure what that is…) is 46.5%. In Costa Rica it’s 5.5%, and in the U.S. 4.6%. The reason I’m sharing this information is because Costa Rica has a very large tourism industry. When I ask students here what they study, many have told me “tourism.” Anyway, my point is, Nicaragua has as many natural resources as Costa Rica, and in my opinion it is also very beautiful. However, it is so poor. And even though it could probably have what Costa Rica has, its government doesn’t care because it has other priorities like the army. The second we stepped off the tour bus in Nicaragua, there were little kids hanging on us and asking us for money. One humorous thing about these little kids and their begging is that they’re picky little beggars. I’m sorry if that sounds horrendously blunt and cruel, but it’s true. I didn’t have any Córdobas or any U.S. change, so when a little girl asked me for money I asked her if she wanted a piece of gum. She said yes, so I gave her one and then she said “two!” Well, I wanted my gum too so I told her no, but she still insisted on two, but apparently I’m heartless because I only gave her one. The next day at breakfast, a boy of about 8 was begging for food. We had some extra bread that we weren’t going to eat so we asked him if he wanted some and he said, “Yes, with butter.” There were no pleases or thank-you’s, it was definitely a command. I guess there’s not a phrase in Spanish that translates as our “beggars can’t be choosers.” Anyway, it was sad to see these children, who probably should’ve been in school, begging for money all day. Anyway, that was my tangent for the day. Now I’ll get to some of the main highlight of the Nicaraguan trip.

We stayed in Granada, which as I mentioned before is the oldest city in Central America. It was very beautiful because it was colonial. We went on carriage rides around the city and we went to watch the sunset at Lake Nicaragua (look at it on a map…it’s huge!) The next day we went on boat rides around the isletas (islands) of Lake Nicaragua. On many of these islands, homes are built, are being built, or the land is for sale, which I found sad. Our tour guide showed us some really amazing houses that are owned by the coffee plantation owners in Nicaragua. While on the boat tour, we went to an island that apparently people had put some monkeys on. To our surprise, the monkeys were quite used to tourists, and one jumped on our boat. It sat on people’s laps while trying to open our boat driver’s lunch pail that had old, crusty rice in it.

That same day we went to Managua, which has very large markets with very cheap stuff in it. When we got back to Granada, my friend Liza wanted me to go with her to the little park by our hotel because there were vendors set up there. I told her I would go there with her, but I couldn’t go near the stands because I didn’t want to spend anymore money. Well, apparently I have “sucker” written all over me because a man came up with some hammocks and asked me if I wanted to buy one. Since I was in the “no buying” mindset I firmly said no, but when he told me $5….well, who can resist a $5 hammock, even if you don’t have a place to hang it? Oh, and that same day I also purchased a $3 Cuban cigar with Liza, which we proceeded to smoke that night. I can definitely cross that off of my list of things to do before I die, and I definitely don’t need to repeat it.

The next day we went to San Juan del Sur. We took a boat ride to a beach that afternoon, and on the way back we saw “whale spouts.” I don’t know what they’re technically called, but we saw the water that shoots up when the whale breathes or whatever. Anyway, our boat driver was such a nice man that he drove us towards the whales. We actually got close enough to see their bodies and their tales come out of the water. Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely glad I got to see whales in the wild, but at the same time, our boat was pretty small, so I’m glad we didn’t get any closer. (Side note: the following week I talked to some girls from Canada, and they told me about a troublesome whale near British Columbia that capsized boats full of tourist for fun…).

Anyway, once we got back to Costa Rica, we went to Monteverde and did the zip line tour. A zip line tour, or canopy tour is where they strap some gear on you, connect you to some cables, and let you “zip” through the air over the canopy or through it. It was fun, but I was hoping for something a little scarier.

Anyway, on Saturday we headed back to Heredia, and I was quite anxious to get back because my friend Stephanie had flown all the way from South Dakota to come see me in Costa Rica and was waiting for me with my host family. However, as we were leaving Monteverde, it started raining a little bit, and because we had a massive tour bus, we were unable to make it up one of the dirt roads. Despite our attempts to weigh down the back of the bus, we had to turn around, so I didn’t get home until 10:30 that night.

(I’m going to continue with this story in a different post because that way I can add more pictures!)

Manzanillo

The pictures are of Manzanillo, the beach, and the place we stayed.

So last weekend I went to Manzanillo on the Caribbean coast. If I could live anywhere in Costa Rica, I’ve decided I would live there. The town that we were in was small, and everyone knew everyone. The roads were dirt and the road just kinda quit once it reached Manzanillo. We stayed in a cute “cabin” type thing with Dan’s host aunt, so we got a good deal on it. We thought the mosquito netting was pretty neat. We had a nice balcony that had a hammock. We could also hear howler monkeys from the room.

We spent all day Saturday on the beach, so that was fun. The water is pretty clear on the Caribbean side, so we rented snorkeling gear. There is a barrier reef around Manzanillo, and it’s one of the two living reefs of Costa Rica. I saw lots of colorful fish and different types of coral. I can’t wait till I take my scuba diving lessons!

So it was just another relaxing, uneventful weekend on the beach. The following two weeks I’m going to be quite busy traveling. The 10^th through the 15^th I will be traveling with my study abroad program. We are going to be going to La Fortuna Waterfall, Monteverde Cloud Forest, and Nicaragua. I’m excited to go to Nicaragua and see the difference between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Nicaragua is a much poorer country, so I think it’s going to be shocking to see some of the poverty there. An interesting fact; however, is that we will be staying in Granada City in the Hotel Alhambra—I lived in Granada in Spain and I’ve been to the real Alhambra, so we’ll see if they compare at all to the originals.

My friend Stephanie is coming to visit me over Spring break. She’ll get here on the 15^th, so my family is going to go pick her up from the airport and hang out with her until I get home. Then Stephanie and I take off on Sunday and we’ll be going to Arenal Volcano, Monteverde, and Manuel Antonio (a national park on the beach). So I’m going to be busy traveling (poor me, I know…).

I guess besides traveling, the only other thing I swear I do is eat. Let me tell you a story about why I’m going to be 10 times my original size when I get home. Yesterday I didn’t eat the lunch that my mom had prepared for me because I didn’t go home after class because I was with my friends at the university, getting their pictures on my computer. Then we went to the mall to get some things. While at the mall, I became a little bit hungry, so I just grabbed a cheeseburger and small fries from the ¢500 menu ($1 menu) at McDonald’s. I know, good choice. Well anyway, when I got home, my host mom noticed I hadn’t eaten lunch, and I didn’t want to hurt her feelings so I just told her I didn’t eat lunch. What I meant was, I didn’t eat lunch at home, and I just excluded the McDonald’s part. That came back to bite me in the bum. She served me a ridiculous amount of food for dinner. I had like a pound of rice, beans, 2 yucca (sort of like a potato) patties, lettuce salad, a salad type thing made out of a type of flower, fried plantains, and a steak (not like Iowa’s, but a steak none the less). My question is, who eats that many different types of food at one meal anyway? When I got done, I seriously thought about going to the bathroom and throwing up just so I would feel better. Anyway, about 20 minutes later my host mom came in and offered me some cookies. I turned away the cookies! That’s how full I was. As I’ve been told before, Costa Rican moms sometimes show affection with food. Needless to say, I will not be coming home lighter than when I left. My host family keeps telling me no one is going to recognize me when I go back because I’ll be black (from getting tan) and fat… Thanks host family, thanks.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures of Manzanillo and of Montezuma! I hope when I come back I’ll have some good stories to share, but nothing too good if you know what I mean!

Montezuma

This past weekend I went to Montezuma. Montezuma is a small town located on the Nicoya Peninsula...the very same peninsula where I was robbed last time. So it was a little bit scary returning, but there were 7 of us, and we're all a whole lot smarter.
The total travel time, including the ferry, was about 6 hours, so we didn't arrive until late. And since most of the hostels we had called wouldn't take reservations or were full, we made a mad dash for every hostel around. After about 10 "no vacancies", we found one for $10 a night per person, and we only had to kill a few cockroaches and only Maddie possibly got bed bugs...so it was quite a steal ( ha ha ha).
Anyway, on Saturday we walked along a jungle path and made it to a pretty, secluded beach. There was a French family, a few surfers, and us on the beach. On the walk there we spotted (and heard, obviously) some howler monkeys in the trees above us. There was an adult with a baby on her back. I felt like I was watching the Discovery Channel or something.
After a few hours on the beach we decided to hike to the waterfalls that are in Montezuma. There are 3 of them, but to get to the second two, you have to climb up steep rocks, so we decided the first one would suffice. We were able to swim in the pool and stand on the rock wall behind the waterfall. It was quite refreshing compared to the salt water.
On Saturday night we met up with some other American students that we had met at the waterfall. They were having a bonfire on the beach, and my friend Liza and I had been wanting a s'more for the past three weeks, and we really wanted to expose our Norwegian friend to some high quality American pastries, (tomorrow we're making puppy chow with her) so we had s'mores on the beach for my birthday. A bonfire on the beaches of Costa Rica is not how most Americans turning 21 spend their birthday, but I'm ok with that.
On Sunday we left at 8 since we all had quite a bit of homework to do when we got home. I got home at around 3. I had told my host mom that I probably wouldn't be getting home until later, and when I got home she started calling all the family so they could come over for my birthday. We made some sandwiches and she had corn pudding (like corn bread but softer). A few of the aunts and cousins came over and we had coffee and such. She bought a muffin from the bakery so she could put a candle in it, so I got to blow out a candle even and they sang me "Cumpleaños Feliz." For gifts I got a little jewelry box that says "Costa Rica" on it from one aunt, and from the other aunt I got a purse that says "Costa Rica." From my host sister I got an Old Navy shirt, and from my host mom I got a long-sleeved shirt. So that was really nice of them to do that for me, it definitely made it easier having a birthday away from home. The only thing I was really sad about was not being able to go to Applebee's to get a free brownie..but there's always next year.
This coming weekend, I plan on going to Manzanilla, which is by Puerto Viejo, which is probably about 30 minutes from the border of Panama. I'm definitely taking my bug spray! This will be the first time I go to the Caribbean while in Costa Rica, and I've heard that Manzanilla has got beautiful reefs to snorkel in, so I'm looking forward to that.
Oh, and I probably shouldn't tell people this..but I did lose $16 this weekend. No, I didn't get robbed. I was trying to avoid that actually. I had stored my money in my swimming suit top after buying breakfast, and when we got to the beach I never thought to take it out... at one point I saw a bill floating on the water, and tried desperately to grab it, but the waves were pretty big and I missed it. So like my host mom said, hopefully someone who really needs it finds it.
Well, that's it for now.