THINGS I MAY NOT HAVE EXPERIENCED IF I HADN'T BEEN ON THE BUS FOR 16 HOURS THIS WEEKEND:

1) There are lots of narrow, one lane bridges around Lake Arenal. When we came up on one, there was a small herd of cows on it. A teen aged boy had to chase them out of the way and up into a nearby driveway.

2) We traveled most of the way to Liberia with a woman, her daughter and their Chihuahua. It had its own little travel box.

3) We stopped to pick up passengers at a tiny airport. It was so small and empty that most of the workers were just sitting around outside.

4) Laura and I were in Tilaron on the way back for 3 hours between busses. We ate lunch at a soda where the waitress was apparently the local amazon goddess. Men just periodically came in the restaurant to ogle her and flirt.

5) The same restaurant had homemade hot sauce, decoratively displayed on the table in an old hair gel container.

6) My watch alarm hadn't been working, so I got it repaired and a new battery for less than 2 dollars at a local watch shop.

7) I also bought a three inch long switchblade from a nearby jeweler. It cost 5 dollars. I wanted something to peel fruit with and ended up with a deadly weapon. Now I can shank anyone who gives me problems.

8) The landscape in Guanaste (the province above the one I live in) reminds me of Africa. It is really dry and scarcely vegetated. All of the cows there were white.

9) We saw a parade as we passed on town on a side street. I'm pretty sure that it was a Tope, a kind of agricultural procession to show off livestock. There were tons of gaited horses, cattle, and several ox carts. The music was pumping.

10) I began to notice that nearly every town and city here is set up similarly with a central park backed by a large catholic church. They have numerous geometric paved walkways and cement benches every 10 meters. There are usually vendors selling pipas frias (coconuts to drink) and chicharones (fried pig skin).

11) There are lots of random vendors around bus stops. People sell tooth brushes and sandals from duffle bags.

12) In another town, I bought a pumice stone from a little old abuela. Laura said that she'd seen her for the past two years and that this is all she sells.

13) Busses just don't transport people. Apparently through some kind of prior arrangement, our bus dropped off a shipment of chain-saws, weed whackers and other yard/construction equipment. It must have filled the entire space under the bus.

14) One of our bus drivers was flying around the corners and an older lady fell out of her seat and into the isle. Everyone around jumped to help her and everyone else yelled and glared at the bus driver.

15) I saw my first wild parrots - a flock of 5 medium sized green ones.

*16)When I got back in to Ciudad Quesada, I saw a group of teenaged boys awkwardly passing a football (American) around in their back yard. As the bus passed, they were charged by another boy riding a horse.... also in the yard... in the middle of the city!

Mariachi Mia

My propietario, or land lord, the Mariachi, is back from the hospital (he'd been having trouble with his diabetes) and has been working on repairing the apartment next to mine all day. He's singing to the radio, so I feel like I'm getting a free serenade. The best part is he's not wearing anything except for white boxers! No shoes, no shirt, no pants. This was also the case when he was cleaning the canary room earlier this am as well. I love it!

Soda el Jardin

This morning, after running, I headed out to cancel my lost debit card (the ATM in Liberia ate it), all by myself (like a big girl), and then eat lunch at an outdoor Soda that Adam and I really liked. I managed the pay phone with out any hitches, which is an accomplishment in itself, but when I tried to go eat, my soda was closed and my other favorite, Soda Lorena, was suddenly under construction.

I walked down hill, away from the city center, to look for another small soda that had caught my eye in the past. Soda el Jardin is one of the smallest places I've ever eaten (only about 6 small round tables) and in spite of its name, does not, in fact, have a garden.

However, it may now be my new favorite. The women working there were extremely nice and the cook even sat down with me to talk. She helped correct my spanish (which few people seem willing to do) and told me about a really amazing waterfall and hike that I should do in La Fortuna.

The food, typical Tico fare, is even cheaper than usual and my grand total for a heaping pile of Gallo Pinto (literally spotted rooster - basically seasoned rice and beans), jamon y heuvos revueltos (ham and scrambled eggs - and we are talking like 3 eggs here), a side of natilla (sour cream, which sounds gross but is absolutely amazing here) and dos tazas de cafe con leche was less than four dollars. I'm so full that I had to come home and rest for a bit before heading back out so that I don't throw up!

My agenda for the rest of the day: go talk to the shoemaker down the road, visit the saddle shops, buy a machete for Adam and hang out in the park and read my spanish vocabulary book until someone comes up and starts speaking to me in spanish. Tonight I'll type up and submit all of my lesson plans and reflections for last week and next week and go to the movies. Trying to decide between Alicia en el Pias de Las Maravillas and Como a Entrenar tu Dragon. (Alice in Wonderland... again... or How to Train your Dragon). Kids movies are just my speed :)

Tilaran y Lago Arenal

It was really nice riding the bus with Laura because 1: she knew where we were going and 2: she knew a lot about the areas we were in.

I had heard that Lago Arenal was significantly enlarged after the volcano erupted in the 60s and that it was used as a hydroelectric source of power for Costa Rica. I had not heard that it provided most of the water for the dry regions to the north or that it was man made.

I also had not heard that there was a town underneath! Apparently when Arenal erupted, most of the people in the nearby town of Arenal died. Even though there wasn't that much damage to the town itself (the gasses, ash and smoke were enough to wreak havoc), no one wanted to move back because of the bad memories. Some people even thought it was cursed. So, the ICE, which is the electricity monopoly here, bought up all the land and damed up a nearby river, putting the entire town underwater!

When it is really dry and the water is low, you can supposedly see the church steeple out in the middle of the lake and the graves of a cemetery near shore (many are above ground cement deals here). An underwater ghost town - pretty creepy!

Tilaron, which is the big town on the other side of the lake, has a large hill that they suspect to be a dormant volcano. You can see the volcanic rock all over it and there are tons in the area, so it's possible that it is. To protect and bless themselves, the people of the town erected a huge cross on top of it. I'd be worried to, especially if I had lived long enough to see what Arenal had done to my neighbors!

Lastly, a picture of of some of the hundreds of wind turbines in the area. They are also owned by ICE and work really well because it is ALWAYS very windy in that region. It has something to do with the lay of the land and the added flat expanse of lake. Lake Arenal is supposed to be one of the best places for wind surfing in the world.

Busses and Beach

The public bus system and Costa Rica may be cheap and a bit of an adventure, but it is certainly not the most time efficient means of travel. To get from San Carlos to Liberia, I had to take 4 different busses. With time spent waiting in towns along the way, and at paradas (bus stops), the entire trip took about 7 and a half hours.

The trip, however, was very scenic and got us where we wanted to go. There are no (reasonably priced) hotels near the beach that we went to, so we stayed in the city of Liberia in a really neat little rustic hotel with shared bathrooms. It had a tiny courtyards filled with random things (ancient bicycles, oxen yokes, water pumps, hay bales, papaya trees, fish tanks and christmas tree lights) and our room was decorated with a lamp made out of an old sewing machine, frayed ship ropes, and an antique meat grinder.

We arrived around one thirty in the afternoon and based on the bus schedule, did not really have time to go to the beach that day. After settling in, Laura gave me the tour of the town, showing me where she used to work, live and eat. We wandered around looking for sandals and shopping for our picnic the next day. It was very hot there and we bought some pipas frias (cold coconuts) to drink and eat (they cut a hole for a straw in them with a huge knife).

The next day, we headed for the beach as early as possible, changing busses in Tamarindo before arriving at the coast. The beach that we wanted to go, Conchal, had been taken over by a large resort style hotel and the only way to get to it now is to travel to a small nearby town and walk about half a mile down the beach. The initial beach looked pretty good to me, but once we rounded the corner, I could see why going to the next was worth the added effort. The water was an amazing turquoise blue, the beach was lined with trees, and in many places, there were crushed shells so deep that you sunk in up to your ankles when you walked through them.

We swam, sat under our tree, read the news paper in Spanish, napped, swam, people watched, talked, ate, looked for shells, laid around and swam some more. It was pretty amazing and definitely the most beautiful beach I have ever been too.

This bird came over and enchanted me for about 15 minutes. He was not shy at all and was paying close attention to us. Then I realized that he wanted our watermelon (sandia). Don't worry, I don't feed wild life ;)

Playa Conchal y Liberia

Headed North for part of Semana Santa to Liberia with Laura, my coworker and former "muffy" (St. Lawrence). She used to live in this city and says that one of the nearby beaches, Conchal, is one of the best in the country. Instead of sand, apparently the beach is made up of tiny shells. I'm headed to the bus terminal a little before six tomorrow morning and meeting her outside of La Fortuna on the way. We should get to Liberia around one, where we will spend at least two nights, going to the beaches by day. After I get back, my Aunt Cindie and Uncle J will be arriving in San Jose early Wednesday afternoon. Life is good.

apartamento

I'm renting an apartment in the city for 54,000 colones for one month. For a little over 100 dollars I get a room the size of a college single (plus small bathroom), wireless internet, hot water and access to a kitchen and washing machine. My room is one of seven and is safe, relatively clean and surrounding a tiny courtyard behind the owners house. Other teachers have stayed here in the past and the landlady, Ana is very nice. Her husband is a handy man / mariachi who also breeds canaries in his spare time. The building that the kitchen is in houses about 40 canaries and four finches in a room bigger than my apartment. They also have a very pregnant little dog.

There are lots of lizards around (I've seen geckos and little brown ones with bright orange heads), probably because there are lots of bugs around. I've seen Ana spraying for bugs, but there are still tons of dead roaches in the kitchen and thousands of tiny ants in my room. Haven't had any major problems yet, but I'm wary!

My room gets cleaned once a week and garbage changed and I didn't sign a lease and had to ask them to take my money. My shower is heated by electric coil and you can tell when the water is about the get warm because the lights dim. I'm still doing my best to remember to put my toilet paper in the trash, but still slip up sometimes. The washing machine gets filled by hose and you have to manually change the cycles. There is also a separate machine to spin dry. Then you hang every thing up to dry... The bed has a beautiful wooden headboard (all of the wooden furniture I've seen has been beautiful), really stained sheets, a flat pillow and foam mattress. Its kind of comfortable.

Anyways, overall its an experience, and while I was taken aback at first, I kind of enjoy it now. I would have preferred a home-stay, but whatever!

Zarcero: Parque Fransisco Alvarado

This place is pretty whimsical - just being there made me smile :)

The bushes are in Zarcero - worth a stop to look around! Probably one of the first place I've been where I've actually seen Ticos taking pictures too.

Also, random cowboys show boating on their Paso Finos down the middle of the road.

Sarchi

is a little town famous for its traditional oxcarts that was not too far out of the way when I was returning from bringing Adam to the airport. They used to be the main method of transporting goods in the 19th century and this town was famous for its intricately painted ones. They make a ton of furniture and souvenirs there now and the whole towns is decorated with geometric and floral patterns. I didn't get to see where they actually still make the carts (the rental car was having a hard time starting and I wanted to get back), but hope to when my relatives come down if they are interested.

This town is nestled among beautiful hills and mountains, and of course, the roads were super hilly and windy with no shoulders. There were so many cyclists out (hundreds) that I asked some one if there was a race, but apparently that is normal on the weekends there. They must be masochists.

I had hoping to go to a nearby coffee plantation as well, but it only gives tours during the harvest season, which ended in may. There were lots of coffee fields around, however, and I did take a picture with the car running :)

Sunset Cruise

Nothing like a sunset cruise in the Gulfo de Nicoya.....

Unless it's a 2 dollar ferry ride in a boat with a bar and disco!

Adam and I had been told that the ferry to Naranjo (one of the other major beaches in the region) was a good day trip from Puntarenas and kind of had it in our mind as an activity. The weather was beautiful, everyone loves a nice boat ride and tickets cost 890 colones. The boat to Guanacaste wasn't running, so we took another one, figuring it would go somewhere cool as well.

My cooperating teacher / director of English, Paul Gray, had suggested that we bring a cooler with snacks and beer because the beer at the bar (!?) was expensive (like 2 dollars US). Although the idea was intriguing, having a picnic on any ferry I've been on, let alone drinking on the deck, was just too strange of an image to consider.

The boat took about an hour to load and there were everything from cars, motorcycles and 4 wheelers to oil trucks and stock trailers on the deck. There was about a 10 inch gab between the dock and the boat. They put some wooden beams in it, but it was still scary to watch the vehicles to drive across.

Once the boat got underway, the music started pumping and people on the top deck (there were two levels above the parking area and two below - the very lowest being the "disco") started congregating around the bar. We figured "when in Rome..." and bought a few Imperials. The ride took a little over an hour and was very scenic because the shoreline of the gulf is very mountainous and full of cliffs and islands. Sitting on the open air part was really nice, but I had to retreat to the shade before to long (the sun is INTENSE at the beach).

When we got to the other side, we walked away from the ferry for about 10 minutes before realizing that the nearest town or beach was like 70km away. We didn't want to be stranded anywhere after dark and headed back to the dock to catch the ferry before it returned. The whole situation was a little ridiculous, but we enjoyed it overall and made the most of it before returning to Puntarenas for a seafood dinner.

LA PLAYA

Driving in Costa Rica!

Driving in Costa Rica was an experience. You definitely get where you are going a lot faster than by bus and it is nice to have the freedom of a car. However, the roads had no shoulders, were very windy and in areas, full of pot holes. Lanes merged with about 10 meters' warning and we had to slow down to about 10 km going up hill behind busses and trucks. There aren't a whole lot of signs, but there are lots of cool things to see on the way. The responsibility of having the car made me a little nervous however, and I was glad when it was back safely at Adobe.

* The Dos Pinos truck was significant because the company is based right out of my area and provides awesome dairy and juice products. Ice cream, yogurt, cheese, fresh OJ, you can't go wrong with Dos Pinos.

Life in Ciudad Quesada

Arenal Volcano and La Fortuna

Catarata La Fortuna

Mas Cosas Extrañas

1. Today I went to the social security office with one of the teachers who was signing up for health insurance and there was a woman there who was wearing tights (like nylons) and nothing else on the bottom. You could see her white granny panties completely.

2. We were on the bus and there was an accident. After about 2 mins of waiting and honking, our driver proceeded to back up and then drive over the median. We continued down the other lane for about 70 meters before reaching the intersection.

3. We ate breakfast at an open air "Soda" and got to watch "Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers" in Spanish.

4. When we were eating lunch in La Fortuna, a woman came in with grocery bags full of underwear and bras and proceeded to sell them to our waitress. It seemed planned.

5. When we were at the "fiesta" on Friday, Doña Vilma (principle) gave a speech and when she was done, someone else threw hand fulls of chocolates shaped like soccer balls on the floor. Apparently they are good luck.

Sarpullido

UPDATE:

I went tot he pharmacy where they are basically like doctors last Tuesday and got some kind of medicine and cream that I took twice a day for about a week. It started to clear up pretty quickly and at this point my skin is just a bit blotchy.

The conversation was in spanish, but it apparently was more of a reaction to chemicals either on the fruit or actually in its skin than an allergy. Either way, I will be washing, peeling and washing all fruit from now on.

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One of the best things about being in a country where English is a second language is all the unexpected opportunities for new vocabulary.

For example, I now know that the spanish word for rash is sarpullido and that I must tengo alergia a algo.... must be allergic to something! ... Obviously.

One of the older kids asked me about it today and was like "I don't know how I say this polite, but what is wrong with your face?" However, for the most part, the kids were surprisingly tactful.

Hopefully, one of the kids parents (like half of them are doctors) will look at it tomorrow. For now, I am going to check out the pharmacy. Apparently they do more than hand out medicine here.

So far, our suspicion is that it is a reaction to the chemicals on a mango I ate, Adam washed his, I didn't, I have a rash, he doesn't. So I guess while here, I will be washing everything from now on....

P.S., this started last Tuesday. Getting worse by the day! whoooo!

Termales del Bosque

We went to this semi resort style hotel to swim in the hot springs last Jueves or Thursday. Adam met me at the bus station when I was done with classes with bathing suits and we immediately hopped another bus towards Aquas Zarcas.

Termales del Bosque is only about 5k outside of the city limits so it didn't take long to get there at all. Unfortunately, our arrival coincided with that of about 50 students from the University of Florida. This was pretty depressing because not only did we have to wait forever to pay our entrance fee, but we also knew that the pools would be packed. We got a ride the half mile to and from the springs in and walked the forest trail there and back. It was really neat on the way back in the dark and the whole place is pretty magical (even with drunk college kids) after dark.

The pools line a river and are varying temperatures. You can also go in the river to cool down, although Adam was pretty insistent that I was going to get bitten by a poisonous snake. The night culminated with me dropping my locker lock through he cracks of the deck and trying to explain what happened to the assistant bartender in spanish - roughly translating too "I'm sorry, the lock, it fell me under the floor near the locker number 28."

Andar a Caballo and Partido de Fútbol

On Saturday, we woke up early because we wanted to try to go horseback riding in a town north of Cuidad Quesada, called Muelle and then go to a soccer game in a town east of here called Pital. Busses for Muelle only left every hour, so we decided to take a taxi from the bus station. I can't remember how much it costs, but it wasn't very expensive. Anyways, in Muelle, we went to a working cattle and stud farm and wildlife preserve called La Reserva Biológica La Garza. To enter the reserve we had to cross a swinging bridge over a river. The reserve has a restaurant, bar and a pool that day use guests are free to use.

We had a short 20-25 minute wait while our horses were being tacked up, then we were ready to go. I haven't ridden that much, but I felt pretty relaxed as my horse was very layed back and he had very smooth gait being a Paso Fino. We rode on dirt and gravel roads through the farm that cultivates sugar cane as far as the eye can see. Riding on the roads was fun and there was a lot of good scenery, but our guide also took us through forest trails which at first didn't even seem to be trails. Even on the more established trails, he had a machete out and he was chopping off branches and vines. We had to cross through several mud pits and at one point Steph and her horse sunk so far down that her jeans got dirty half way up her lower leg. What's really cool is that we even got to see monkeys that were trying to hide far up in the trees. After riding we returned to Cuidad Quesada so I could shower and change clothes before the soccer game. I felt like I was pushing my luck since my allergies weren't acting up at all.

We caught a bus from the Cuidad Quesada bus terminal at 2 PM for a game that started at 3 PM in a town called Pital (probably only a 40 Km drive). The bus was not only really old and in bad condition, but we stopped probably 30 times between here and there. Since this was the case we ended up getting to the game at 3:30. Don Manuel somehow is an important figure in the local professional soccer world and he had given us his soccer ID badge to get us in for free. He told me to cover up the picture and not to say anything. I didn't want to get his badge taken away, so we paid for the tickets which were probably around $8-$10. After paying we went through a small chain link fence. Inside the fence everybody stands around another chain link fence that is close to the field. The only seating inside this soccer field was a very small grandstand, probably slightly bigger than half the size of ours at Longwood University. Also, I couldn't see any scoreboard or clock anywhere, so we had no idea how much time had passed and what the score was. Another interesting thing was that Steph had to pay 100 Colones to use the bathroom.

At half time, as Paul had instructed us, everybody scrambles to get stamped and leave the stadium to get a drink. There is a bar right outside of the entrance to the stadium because it's illegal to drink inside a stadium in Costa Rica. Paul was actually one of the first people I saw run out. He got my attention because of his British sounding Spanish accent. I couldn't believe the number of people piled around the bar to buy a drink. It seemed impossible, but after a while I managed to buy one each. By this time we had to drink it fast and race back inside for the start of the second half.

The second half was uneventful, but the atmosphere was very good for such a small venue. There was a lot of yelling and cursing at mistakes by the home team and wrong doings by the other team. Before the second half wound down we made sure to purchase our grilled steaks before concessions packed up for the day. Of course they ran out of tortillas, so we just stood by the fence eating a huge hunk of beef with our hands. We then got to take the long bus ride back to Cuidad Quesada which was made even longer by the awesome driving in Costa Rica. The police here don't care much about minor traffic infractions, which is nice, but at the same time it can be more dangerous. After being stopped dead for about a half an hour we passed two tractor trailers that had collided head on. They were directly in the middle of the lane, so obviously one passed when he shouldn't have.