Huge Pizza

This morning it was tough getting up early for class. For breakfast I had bread, eggs, fresh pineapple and orange juice. In class, we went over vocabulary and pronouns (me, te, lo, le...). After class, a group of us went downtown San Jose to go to the National Museum. It was closed for some reason, so we went to a pizza place to eat. It was $2 for a slice of pizza the size of my head and a Jamaica drink. It tasted like cranberry juice, it was good!

This weekend, the excursion is to Monteverde!! I have been waiting for this trip since I signed up to go to Costa Rica. It's a weekend excursion. We will go to Monteverde, which is a rainforest a few hours away from San Jose. I think I can even ride horses through the rainforest! We'll also visit Arenal Volcano, natural hot springs by the volcano, waterfalls, and go ziplining. I'm terrified to go ziplining, but I think I'm still going to do it.

Tonight for dinner I had rice with chicken, lemonade, and potato chips. I did quite a bit of homework after dinner, too. There's a lot of homework for class!

Kaydee and I. I had pizza with canadian bacon and mushrooms.

Time to Go Home

Today we got up early again and had the same breakfast at Pan Pay. After breakfast, we took a 15 minute bus ride to another beach. It was a surfing beach! The waves were pretty big and there were a lot of surfers. I would have taken surfing lessons, but there was only 1 instructor and it was 50 dollars. Plus, they said the waves were really dangerous today. So, I didn't. But I'm glad I didn't, the waves were too big. Evan, a friend of mine in our group, was in the sea where the water was about to his waist. The current kept taking him farther and farther away from the shore. He kept trying to swim to shore, but he couldn't. The waves and current was too strong. He kept getting farther and farther away! Finally, the lifeguard had to go out and get him. Thank goodness the lifeguard was there!! It was pretty scary.

After that incident, we went to a different part of the beach with less waves. We were only at the beach for 2 hours. After the beach, we went back to the hotel and got on the bus to drive home. It took 5 hours again to get back to San Jose. It was a very quiet bus ride, everyone was tired.

When I got home, I unpacked and ate dinner. I had pasta and juice. It was so nice to have Angelis' food again! We also have two more girls from Arizona living in the house. Their names are Carly and Angela. Now there's 8 students living in the house. I did some homework later then went to bed. I was exhausted! It was a fun and exciting weekend.

Sloths in a tree along the highway. Not even in the forest!

Banana trees along the road. They grow banana trees here like we grow corn. There were miles and miles of them. Yum!

A shark?!

Today we got up early and had breakfast at 8am at a restaurant called Pan Pay. I had scrambled eggs, bread with a tomato spread on it, gallo pinto, and awesome orange juice. I did not like the tomato on the bread, though, it was too weird. After breakfast, we took about a 20 minute bus ride to a beach to go snorkeling! Snorkeling was the coolest thing I have ever done. It was so pretty and it was amazing seeing all of the fish and the coral reef. We took a boat far away from the shore into the Caribbean sea, so I thought it would be really deep. But, it was really shallow because it was a coral reef. It was probably only about 10 feet deep in our area.

At some spots in the sea, the coral was less than a foot away from me. I accidentally rubbed my knee on it a few times. It was sharp and rough, but it wasn't too bad! We had to get a buddy so that we wouldn't go out too far. I was buddies with Kaydee and we saw a stingray, Dory from Finding Nemo, a ton of really colorful fish, schools of fish, and I think we saw an eel. It was either an eel or a huge fat snake. I swam away too fast to know for sure! A girl from our group saw a baby shark, too. I didn't see it. It would have been cool, but I would have freaked out! There were also 2 huge uprooted trees on the bottom of the sea. We asked why they were there, and the guide said because the current can get so strong that it uproots trees on the shore and brings them to sea. They were huge trees, too. I also saw a peacock flounder fish. It's really flat and looked like a rock, but it was actually a fish.

After snorkeling for about an hour, we took a boat ride to a little island. There, we walked around for a while and ate fresh pineapple and watermelon. By far the best fruit I have ever had. On the island, there were monkeys and sloths. And of course a ton of hermit crabs and lizards.

Next, we went back to the beach outside my hotel and had a free day at the beach. We swam and laid on the beach until the sunset. The water was luke-warm, so it felt good! On a part of the beach, there was "black sand" that is sand/ash from the volcano. It was actually black, it was weird!

After the beach, we ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant. It was the most disgusting dinner I have had. Yuck! Then we went to a local bar/club and did some dancing. We did the salsa and merengue, which is what I learned in my dance class! The sun was extremely strong in Puerto Viejo and the bugs were horrible. But it was fun!

Snorkeling in the Caribbean sea!

A monkey on the island

Left to Right: Chelsea, Raychael, Kristine, me, and Grace.

Coconut water!



A panoramic view of the shore from the boat.

The First Excursion

Today was the beginning of the first excursion! After class, I ate a quick lunch at the school and we left for Puerto Viejo. There was a group of 17 American students that all went together with Victor, one of the guys who works at the travel office at Veritas. We took a small bus and it took 5 hours to get there. We had to go through the mountains, it was beautiful! Puerto Viejo is a small town in the Caribbean, on the East coast of San Jose.

We arrived at Puerto Viejo around 6 pm. We checked into our hotel and got our roommates. I roomed with Kaydee and Kristine. It was a small hotel, but pretty nice. Then, we went to a small restaurant to eat dinner. I had a chicken wrap, but it wasn't very good. It made me kind of sick, actually. After that, we went exploring and went out to a bar/club called Mango. It's the Caribbean bar for gringos/white people :) They played a lot of American music and they love Rihanna in Costa Rica. They also played some local Spanish music.

Puerto Viejo is sort of like Jaimaica in a few ways. A lot of the guys have dreadlocks and big hair.

My hotel.

Honk Honk!

Buenos dias a todos! Today for breakfast I had scrambled eggs with tomatoes and onions in them, bananas and watermelon, coffee, and crackers. So of course I put butter on the crackers and dipped them in my coffee! Also, there's a plant that is in the hallway outside my door to hold open the door to the backyard. This morning, it was in the middle of the hallway, I tripped on it, it fell over and shattered. The dirt/soil was everywhere. Why am I so clumsy?! I felt terrible, but Argelis said it was no big deal. I'm still going to try to find another pot for her plant that I broke. We saved the plant and its roots!

In class today, we reviewed the past tenses again and reviewed other grammar, such as how to correctly say "It's been one week since I arrived in Costa Rica, but before then I had lived in Iowa." (Hace una semana que yo llegué a Costa Rica, pero antes, yo había vivido en Iowa.) I also had to give my presentation in class. It went well!

After class today, I went on a bike riding tour with someone from Veritas and about 6 other students. We went biking through downtown San Jose for about an hour and a half. It was nice because we got to see a lot of cool parts of the city, but it was so hot and dangerous! Picture riding on bikes with helmets on the actual streets of New York or Chicago. We rode on the streets with the cars. About every car honked at us (hence the title of this post Honk Honk!). It was scary! And, there were 3 huge hills. I had to get off my bike and walk it up the hill. While cars were passing me! But, I lived and my legs are most definitely going to hurt tomorrow.

After the tour, I grabbed a quick snack and sat in the Veritas cafeteria and made some new friends. One is from Kansas but goes to Iowa State, and the other is from California. We just sat and relaxed for a while. We all went on the bike tour together, so we needed to rest! Then I came home and am now getting ready to do homework. Or take a nap.. :)

I did homework. I think this is the first day that I didn't nap! I just got back from dance class not that long ago. It was fun tonight! We reviewed the merengue and salsa again, and learned the bachatta. It's a workout. A lot of moving your hips.. it's a lot different than line dancing, that's for sure!

I am going to quick finish homework then pack for Puerto Viejo this weekend! It's in the Caribbean. It's about a 4-5 hour bus ride there and back. We leave tomorrow around 1 and get back Sunday around 6 or 7 pm. So I won't be able to blog until Sunday night! Ciao!

Kaydee and I at Veritas before the bike tour. We're such Gringos! (White people/tourists)

Caccoons in our backyard. They will soon be butterflies!

A friend was waiting for me in my room when I got back from school.

Where is our stop?!

Hola! This morning I got up extra early again so the electrician could come to fix the outlet in my room because it doesn't work. I have to go in the dining room to charge my computer, it's annoying. But he didn't come, so I don't know when it will get fixed. Hopefully soon! This morning for breakfast I had eggs, gallo pinto, pan and jelly, coffee, and bananas and watermelon. I finally figured out what flavor jelly it is.. it's guava jelly and my goodness is it delicious. Best jelly ever.

The other students in the house offered to take Bethany and I to school this morning in their car, so we said yes. But, the neighbor's car was parked in front of theirs and we couldn't get out, and it took forever to have them move it. So we were about 5 minutes late to class. We are allowed 3 tardies and after that we fail the class. Thankfully, it's "tico time" here, which means that they are extremely relaxed and have absolutely no sense of time, and the teacher was 15 minutes late. So we were ok. From now on, we're walking!

Class today went well. The class is very laid back. Today we reviewed the past tenses. I learned them in all of my other classes that I had before, but I need to review and practice! My teacher is really nice. Her name is Eugenia Yglesias. I wish it was Enrique Yglesias! :) After class a few of us went downtown. We took the city bus this time. It was only aboug 50 cents each way, cheap! We got there fine. We went to a little bakery to eat. I got a calzone type thing with ham and cheese. Delicious! Then we went to the art market, like the one in the Bahamas, except way nicer. I want to go back, they have a lot of cute things there!

On the way back home, we took a bus. But, we missed our stop because we thought it'd stop at the same place it picked us up.. yeah, not the case. So after staying on the bus for about half an hour, we got kicked off because we can only stay on for one round. We got on another bus and finally got home. At least we now know how the bus system works!!

Bethany and I are in the same class, and we had a presentation to write about the Costa Rican artist Francisco Amighetti. We did that, then I finished 6 pages of homework. The class is nice, but more homework than I expected.

Evan and I at the bakery.

Pizzeria verde by my house! Today I had a banana/orange/strawberry smoothie.

My neighborhood.

My shower at night. Look at all the bugs! Ew! Most of them are dead by the morning.

Bailamos!

For breakfast I had papayas, which I didn't really care for, mangos, scrambled eggs, coffee, and pan and jelly. It was my first day of actual classes today. I had class from 8 am - 12 noon, with a 30 minute break at 10. There are 6 people in my class. Me, Bethany, Raychael from UNI, Jack is from Arizona, Alexa, and Renee is from Colorado. My teacher is Eugenia Yglesias. She's really cool. The class is really laid back. Today we just talked to each other, introduced ourselves, interviewed others to get to know them, and talked about Latin America and Costa Rica. It's going to be reviewing verb tenses and vocabulary. The only homework I have today is to do 1 page of an activity and read about verb tenses and vocabulary, so it's not too bad. Kaydee, another UNI girl, is in Advanced I and has to do 10 minute presentations, a ton of vocabulary, quizzes and tests. It sounds hard!

After class, a few of us went to Las Lenitas for lunch. It's really close to Veritas. It's a little mexican restaurant and I had chicken tacos with queso. It cost about $6. It's harder to order in Spanish than I thought it would be, especially since there's so many foods and ingredients that I don't know the names of. And, most of the time you have to go up to the counter to pay when you're done eating. We were sitting at the table waiting for the check, but then we found out that they don't do that.

Now I'm sitting in my room ready to take a nap. Today it's so cloudy, the mountains are hard to see. My favorite thing about Costa Rica is the mountains. San Jose is surrounded by mountains, so everywhere you look there's mountains. It's beautiful.

I just ate dinner. Tonight we had roast beef, potatoes, lemonade, and a broccoli/tomato salad. Yum! We ate with the ticos tonight, and they all spoke so fast to each other. It's hard to follow along. They need to slow down!

Now, Bethany and I are getting ready to go to our first dance class at Veritas! It's an hour and a half long. I'm pretty sure a lot of the Iowa and Illinois students are going. And it's pouring right now, so we're taking a taxi. Hopefully the Veritas bus will take us home when it's over. Luis and Victor are the guys at Veritas who take care of the "foreigners." :) They are awesome! They're the ones who picked us up at the airport and brought us to our families. They are also bringing us on our excursions. They're pretty fun.

I just got back from my dance lesson, it was pretty fun. We learned merengue, where you move your hips a ton, and salsa, which is mostly steps and turns. We also learned cumbia, where you do kicks and jumps. It was a workout! Bed time now. Buenas noches.