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.

Finally, an uneventful weekend!

Well, I´m sad to inform everyone that I had a boring weekend. I didn´t get robbed, I didn´t try to climb a mountain, I just went to the beach and soaked up the sun. Two other girls and I went to Jacó beach, which is one of the closest beaches to San José, but also one of the most touristy as well. Anyway, even though it was very developed and full of gringos like ourselves, it was nice to relax and play in the water. Jacó is actually a surfing town, so the waves were actually quite big, which made it fun. We were on the beach on Saturday from only 8:00 am to 11:30 am, and we had planned on going back out after lunch; however, our very caucasian friend Maddie decided to only apply the sunscreen once during the 3.5 hours. Needless to say, even without her swimsuit on, one could clearly see where it had been.
This coming weekend I´m returning to the peninsula where my robbing took place. We plan on going to Montezuma, which is a less developed beach and is sort of in the middle of nothing. Hopefully Antonio (the robber) isn´t waiting for us when we get off the ferry! There are 7 of us going this time, and we´re all so much smarter.
Interesting side note about this weekend...Although I did not get robbed, my friend Maddie did while walking to the university to meet me to leave for the beach. It was probably about 10:30 am and she was walking on a busy street. She walked past a park and she noticed two guys on a motorcycle talking to a man in a car. To be safe she crossed to the other side of the street; however, when she crossed back she heard yelling behind her and she turned around and one of the guys put a knife to her back while the other one yelled at her to take her bag off. They took her whole bag. Fortunately, we´ve all learned to carry money in numerous locations of our undergarments...in other words, all of her money, credit card, bus tickets, and photo memory card were either in her bra or underwear. So before we could leave, we had to go back to her house and repack..
Anyway, that´s about as exciting as this past weekend got. Hopefully next weekend is just as dull!

Another Weekend, Another Adventure: Climbing Mt.Chirripó

Starting from the top: view from first hostel.
Me wishing I were dead after almost two kilometers.

: Dan and I...Dan was my hero because he carried my bag.
View as we were climbing. Yes, when you are above the clouds, you are very high.
Dan and Liza staying warm under the mattress.



I won’t deny that I’ve had some pretty dumb ideas. For example, following a strange man into the middle of a jungle is a pretty dumb idea. However, this weekend, I did something almost as dumb: I tried to climb a mountain. This would’ve been a good idea had I been in shape or trained for a week or two. However, I’m the girl who takes the bus home because I don’t want to walk up the big hill to get to my house—you can see where this is going. Anyway, this is how the weekend went.
On Friday we left Heredia right after class and arrived at San Isidrio at around 4:00. To get to the hostel we were staying at, we had to pay a taxi about $25. We only got stuck on rocks in the road a few times, and apparently the taxi driver’s favorite word is mierda (shit) cuz he happened to use it a lot. Anyway, we stayed in a nice hostel located smack dab in the middle of nowhere and only 50 meters from the trail head that leads to Mt. Chirripó. We woke up early the next morning to go to the ranger station to see if we could even hike up. Before you hike, you need reservations at the hostel located at the top. They only have 40 spots, 10 of which are kept open for people who just show up and want to climb…like us. Anyway, we got reservations and set out on the trail at approximately 7:20 a.m. After a few minutes of walking, I needed to shed a few layers of clothing, and after a few more minutes I had to take a little break. After about 2 kilometers I was beginning to form a negative attitude towards the whole mountain climbing idea. I thought about turning around, but then I would’ve been by myself and I only had 4 dollars to my name…and there aren’t too many ATM’s in the middle of nowhere…so I trekked on. As the kilometers passed ever so slowly, my will to continue on with life definitely dropped a few notches. In other words, I wanted to cry. And I won’t lie, there were many times I thought to myself, “I think I would rather be robbed.” At 4 kilometers we actually entered into Chirripó National Park. Here the ground leveled slightly and I regained some hope.
When we got to 7 kilometers there was a building, and it had potable water and a picnic table. We sat here to rest and eat some lunch. We saw two young men at this picnic table. Turns out they were from Germany and they were staying in Costa Rica for a few weeks. I asked them if coming down was much easier than going up and they said yes very enthusiastically. Now, when we started this hike, I thought the entire thing was 10 kilometers; however, according to the sign, we still had 7 kilometers to go before we reached the hostel. Turns out the hostel is 10 kilometers from the entrance of the park. I asked the Germans if the rest of the hike was easier than the first part, because I thought the first part was horrible. At this question, they sort of laughed at me and answered with a very firm no. They said the next 2 kilometers were pretty straight up…well it turns out they lied. The next 7 kilometers to the hostel were pretty straight up…There were seriously times I thought death would’ve been so much sweeter than continuing to move my legs. And the saddest part about the whole thing is I didn’t even carry my backpack half the time. My friend Dan, who I used to think I could maybe beat up, had to carry my backpack half the time. (Yes, my self-esteem has plummeted since this experience.)
Anyway, we eventually made it the 14.5 kilometers (a little more than 9 miles) to the top. I don’t remember most of the 8 hour journey. All I saw was the ground and my feet, and all I could hear was my wheezing lungs and the pounding sound of my heart in my ears. Anyway, after 8 hours of mountain climbing, I was done for. The other three decided to climb to Mt. Chirripó, which was another 5 kilometers. However, I seriously thought that if I attempted to climb it, I would not live to see another day. So I stayed in the hostel for 4 hours trying to entertain myself. At 6:30, they shut the generators off, so I lay in the darkness, trying to calculate how many miles were in 14.5 kilometers. Finally, at around 7:00 I heard a knock on the door. When I opened it, Dan and Liza immediately fell onto the beds. Oh, and apparently I made one smart decision: I decided not to climb Mt. Chirripó. Apparently they couldn’t quite make it to the top because it was getting dark, and the last little bit of the trail is hard to find because it’s all rock. And on the way back down, Liza was vomiting up bile, and Dan had to will himself on by taking “baby steps guys, baby steps.”
Ok, so on top of the hiking part being one of the most difficult things I’ve done in my life, I’d also never slept on the top of a mountain without a sleeping bag. Well, now I have. This—I swear—was not our fault. I asked the park ranger before we left the station if we could rent sleeping bags at the hostel, and we’re pretty sure he said yes. Also, the guide books all said you could rent sleeping bags, and the host families said so as well. However, when we got to the hostel, half dead, and asked the man at the desk if we could rent sleeping bags, we got a very straightforward “no.” We also asked for blankets, sheets, bed spreads, and every thing that we knew how to say in Spanish that would somehow keep us warm…but nothing worked.
On the way up, we had met a Canadian family who told us that it was pretty cold there the night before. Apparently the night before it had been -3 degrees Celsius, which I guess is only a little below freezing right? That night I wore 3 pairs of socks, my tennis shoes, jeans and jogging pants, two long sleeved shirts, a sweatshirt, my fleece jacket, gloves, and a scarf. We knew that layering wasn’t going to cut it, so we slept two to a bed. Since there were two sets of bunk beds, we removed the mattress from the bottom bed and placed it over top of us. So with the heat we trapped with the mattresses, and the spooning that occurred, we managed to stay pretty warm.
Anyway, the next day we left bright and early. Dan decided to go back to Chirripó, so he left a little before us. Surprisingly, our muscles weren’t that sore. And, can I just say, that I love gravity when it’s working in my favor. The way down was ridiculously easy. I could breathe, move my legs, and even talk! I actually took some pictures because I had the strength to hold my camera up. Also, we were following a man and his son (yes, even little kids are in better shape than I), and apparently the man is a guide and does this hike every weekend (crazy). Anyway, he stopped and waited for us a few times to show us some pretty cool stuff. He pointed out a Quetzal (an amazingly beautiful and famous bird of Costa Rica) to us and he also caught a poisonous snake that was on the trail. And I would like to add that I touched it…yes, a poisonous snake. (If only I had found one of those on the way up to dull the pain…)
Anyway, It only took us 5 hours to get down, and 5 minutes before the taxi came to get us to take us back to San Isidrio, Dan emerged from the jungle as well. He had decided to run down the mountain—literally. It only took him 3 hours to get down…crazy Dan.
Anyway, I guess I’m glad I decided to climb a mountain, and even though I didn’t make it to the top, it was still a pretty big accomplishment. I would never, ever, ever do it again though, unless by some miracle I decided to get in shape…And even then… However, it did inspire me a little bit. Yesterday I actually walked home from class for the first time. It’s about a mile and a half trek and it’s uphill on the way home. However, my muscles are still killing me, and I thought my calf muscles were going to tear away from the bone, so we’ll see when I do that again. So I guess my advice to everyone is: Don’t climb a mountain unless you’re in shape. Sounds simple, but I’m telling you, there are some dumb people out there who will try anything once.

Boring Weekend...

Hola...So I don't have anything too exciting to write about. This weekend was much more tranquilo than the last. On Friday I went to the movie theatre to see American Gangster. On Saturday I went shopping with the family to find a new watch for me. And on Sunday I went to a Super Bowl party..of course. We even found a channel in English. Much less eventful. This coming weekend I'm going to go to Mt. Chirripó..(spelling?) and I'm going to attempt to climb it. It is the highest point in Costa Rica. It's about a 9 hour hike up the mountain, and then 7 down. We plan on starting really early on Saturday and then hiking down Sunday. We just hope we can get a place in the hostel on the top for Saturday night. It's going to be intense.

Anyway, I'm going to post some pictures of me and my host sister. My host mom is really interesting in finding out if people think we look alike, cuz everyone here does. So this is a short blog...but hopefully next week's will be more interesting.