Blue Eyes, Bad News

The end of another week has come and gone and I can't believe how fast the time is flying.  On Wednesday I will have been here for a month already, with only one month left to go.  This weekend was...interesting.  Not as crazy as last weekend going out in Madrid, but maybe it's a different kind of crazy?  I will let you be the judge.

Friday night, another language assistant who lives in Madrid sent me an e-mail and invited me to meet up with her and another girl at 7 in the Plaza Mayor, which is basically just a big square that seems to attract a lot of tourists.  We were supposed to meet at the statue right in the center.  Well, we had some communication issues because I had thought I wouldn't get there until 8 and said I would call them when I got there.  But, of course I got there just after 7 and, hoping that they just hadn't gotten there yet, I decided to sit on a bench, people watch until they came, and if I didn't find them, go home.  It was prime people watching hour since there were a ton of tourists groups, several of them American high school students.  I got a kick out of watching them wander around and at one point a few boys sat near me and since I have a bad habit of eavesdropping, caught some of their conversation.  "What do you want to do?" "I dunno...I'm confused" "I think there's like some big market thing over there *pointing in the wrong direction*" "I thought it was over there *pointing in another wrong direction*"  "Man...I don't know....I'm so confused."  I smiled at myself for not feeling like such a tourist anymore.

I had been sitting for about 3 minutes when in my right peripheral vision I saw an old Spanish man approaching the area holding a newspaper.  I would guess he was probably in his late 60's.  He stopped, looked towards my direction, then made a bee-line for the bench and sat RIGHT next to me.  Unnecessarily close since there was an entire circle of hot cement bench he could have sat on.  Oh, yeah that's the other thing.  This "bench" is basically just a circle of stone around a light pole made to sit on, however it was so hot.  I thought my ass was going to start on fire.  Anyway, I continued to scan the square watching for Amanda and this other girl, hoping my obvious attempts to be looking for someone else would discourage this old man from trying to talk to me, but could feel him staring at me.  He started talking to me anyway.  He had one of those "I've been smoking for most of my adult life" voices.  I was immediately reminded of those terrifying movies they showed us in D.A.R.E. of people who have to breathe through a hole in their neck.  I felt a little bad ignoring him, so I said hello but tried to use body language to get my point across that I wasn't about to have a conversation.  He kept talking to me, but I basically just answered whenever there was a pause  with "si si" and didn't really engage or listen.  Then at one point he said something and then was looking at me as if waiting for a response, so I said 'I'm sorry what?'  to which he replied 'Do you want to go?  With me for a tea, coffee, just a little place over there.'  I had to think twice if he was really, actually asking me to go with him to get a tea, coffee and quickly rejected this odd offer with 'No no thank you I am waiting for some people.'  Then he kept telling me something about he was going to leave and go for a walk.  I just kept nodding, thinking to myself 'Good for you...I am not going with you, Grandpa Weirdo'.  But he just kept staaring at me.  That's when I realized it was because he was trying to see my eyes because I was wearing sunglasses.  Finally he asked if he could see them so I pushed them up for a quick second.  After saying something about blue, skies, angels and some other weird stuff, he said he was leaving. After awkwardly lingering, still staring, he finally got up and left.  At that point, I thought I should probably just go before things got weirder.  But, I still was hoping to find the girls so I told myself I'd wait a little longer and leave at 10 to 8.  All this time in the square there are character people, like the people on Hollywood Blvd dressed like celebrities, taking pictures with tourists.  Near me was a Jack Sparrow impersonator who was going around bothering the little high school girls, taking pictures for and with people.  Not 5 minutes after Grandpa Weirdo left, he came and asked if he could sit down in the open spot next to me.  I nodded yes, and tried the scanning tactic that didn't work with Gramps in hopes that maybe this guy wouldn't talk to me.  Do I have to say that it failed?  However, he was less creepy (not hard to be) and seemed to just want to chat while he took a little break from prancing around in the sun.  We had a nice casual chat, but he too kept staring at me.  Then, just like the old guy, asked what my eyes looked like since I was still wearing my sunglasses. So I took them off but immediately felt weird.  There's something about wearing sunglasses that makes you feel like people can't actually see you.  Is there some book that teaches Spanish-speaking men phrases to say to women with blue eyes?  Because he basically said the same things about blue as the sky, angels, heaven blah blah just like Grandpa Tea, Coffee.  But, then he got up and went back to his Jack Sparrow antics and we said farewell.  After a few minutes I decided enough was enough and I should get out of there while I could.  As I was leaving, Jack Sparrow yelled after me and came and said "You're leaving? If you wait a little while we can go get a cup"  I definitely did not want to be in that Plaza anymore so I said "Oh that would be nice but I should really get going. I live kind of far away," so then he said "Well let's get lunch tomorrow! Why not?"  I paused.  Did one of those quick evaluations of the situation and my curiosity of this person who makes a living as a Jack Sparrow character got the best of me, so I said "Yeah..why not?" and agreed.  I promise he was not nearly as creepy as the old man.  Once I got home, I began to think "What the hell?  Why did I agree to that?"  But I couldn't bring myself to ditch out the next day and afterall, I wanted to meet some interesting people while I was here.  Just in case, I planned out some retorts in the event that things took a turn for the worst: "Excuse me Mr. Sparrow, but do I look like a bottle of rum to you?!?"  "*Face slap* You scallywag! I'm no bar maid!"

So I went back yesterday at 1 and there I found the Jack Sparrow man, not dressed as Jack Sparrow.  We went to a little restaurant he knew and had a nice lunch.  He's actually a pretty interesting person. I learned his story, that he's actually from Colombia and came to Madrid 6 years ago, a few months after his girlfriend/wife came, only to find that she had gotten with another man.  They have 2 daughters in Colombia and now the woman has 2 children with this new man.  A few days before had been his daughter's birthday, he said, and it was painfully obvious how hard it was for him that in order to try to make a better life for them he had to be so far away.  We talked a lot about what the U.S. is like, Colombia, a little politics (Che, because I said if he ever gets bored of Jack Sparrow he could probably pull off a Che Guevara), how he ended up as Jack Sparrow, music, among other things.  He was very nice, a little too liberal with the compliments but I decided to chalk it up to him being Latino.  When we parted, he gave me his phone number, but I still haven't decided if I will contact him again.  

Then last night the neighbors, Ibana and German, had a party.  Another language assistant, Kyle, just got to the area last week so they wanted to introduce him to me and Daniel, their tutor.  Kyle is from Minnesota and has been out of school 3 years teaching 3rd grade in South Dakota.  Poor fellow doesn't speak a lick of Spanish so he was glad for the English break with Daniel and I.  He was very nice -unfortunately, though, a Vikings fan.  At about 12, where most parents would be calling it a night, Ibana put on some music and everyone started yelling at the "Americanos" to get up and dance.  They started putting people into a line-dancing sort of formation, the men in a line on one side and the women on the other, paired up with a partner.  I was partnered up with Kyle who had less of an idea than I did as to what was happening.  Next thing we knew, everyone was doing some sort of Flamenco dance and randomly yelling "Ole". But for the most part, it looked like no one really knew what they were doing, or there had been a few too many vinos consumed by the masses.  So we created our own dance, a mix of "Flamenco", the Macarena, and Cotton-Eyed Joe.  After a while, the line-dance broke up, the Dads went to the table of liquor and the Moms continued to dance in a circle to some Spanish 80's pop, music from "their time" they kept saying.  By 1:30 a lot of the kids were begging their moms to go home.  Most people didn't leave until about 2:30, including me, at which time most of the kids were still up running around. 

I'm off to the pool now.  It's a heat wave here, although I didn't know it could get hotter! 

Hasta la proxima!

The Skinny

A shout out and thanks to the love of my life Daven Raj for inspiring this title.  Since it's been a couple weeks since I posted anything, I'll give the best "skinny" I can and spare all the boring details, while still trying my best to entertain, mostly for Araceli and her hubby :)

Last time I wrote, I was planning my first bus excursion.  And indeed it was.  It was my first weekend and I wanted to get out of the house so I went to Madrid on Saturday afternoon, my host mom dropped me off.  There I met with my good friend Camila Pinzón's sister Maria who lives and works in Madrid.  Even though I was a little nervous, it all went stupendidly (until the return, but I'll get to that).  She met me at the random place I was dropped off at (still couldn't tell you where it was) and took me on my first metro trip to get to her apartment which is right in the center.  We met up with a friend of hers at a little restaurant for some drinks and conversation and after 2 tintos de verano went to the next place.  I am absolutely obsessed with this drink.  It's red wine mixed with club soda and it's soo good.  Summers are incredibly hot here and so this drink is really refreshing and probably going to become the best friend I will make during the next month and a half. We went from place to place, I got to see a good view of a different part of the city called Lavapies which is known for being where a lot of immigrants live (and we all know how much I enjoy my foreigners!) and then eventually her boyfriend met us after he finished work.  The best place was a bar/restaurant that was on top of a University library.  It was such a cool looking building with lots of character because it used to be a monastery and they kept all the old stone bricks in the new architecture.  However, I can't imagine much studying, or productive studying, would get done knowing there's a relaxing bar right above you.  I wonder if Student Senate would go for a new proposal for McIntyre...
Long story skinny, I had a really nice time with them and am really appreciative that they let me stay with them without knowing me beforehand.  Got lots of practice on my Spanish and got out of suburbia.  Sunday was the French open finals and we watched the match where, CLARO, Nadal won.
Then it was the true test of my ability to return to Wisteria Lane now that I had left.  The metro was super easy.  Then it came to the buses.  I had conflicting information because I remembered my host mom telling me that I should take either bus number 653 or 4 and Maria and her boyfriend had suggested 651 or 2.  All four buses go to Majadahonda which is a little town near my house and from there I have to take another bus to Boadilla which is the part I live in.  I chose the 2...but once on I started to realize all the bus stops are the same and since I don't know where to get off, I can't push the little button that lets the driver know to stop.  So a woman sat down next to me and I asked her "Which stop do I get off at to take bus number 567?" (That is my connecting bus number) She stared at me like I had just spoken Mandarin and in my head I rolled my eyes and thought 'Seriously..it's not that hard to understand someone who speaks WITHOUT a lisp..' so I rephrased and repeated myself to which she told me the next stop was the one.  I got off, took a look at the bus schedule that is on each bus stop seating area and as I saw that 567 would be coming any second, and turned to see it approaching.  Then I realized I didn't know if there was a secret signal you should give to have the bus stop.  A hand wave?  A hip thrust? I wasn't sure.  So I opted with no signal and thought making "eye contact" with the bus itself would solicit a stop.  Wrong.  Since it was a Sunday, the buses come less frequently, of that I was sure.  So I took my lended cell and called my host mom.  When she asked me where I was it was a long pause before I said "Uhhhh...Majadahonda?" "But where? What is near you?"  "Uhhhhhh....a white building that says De Diego and a round-a-bout." These are not very distinctive landmarks since there are as many round-a-bouts as there are people.  She frantically said she would try to find out where I was and hung up.  I wasn't worried since I knew I was in the right general area... I just didn't know how far I was from the right destination.  After a second phone call when I had found a person nearby to tell me what street I was on, which was Avenida España but I didn't understand that when they told me so I mumbled to my host mom 'Abenahialaa *trail off* España', my host dad pulled up and I was on my way to safety.  It should be noted that now, 2 weeks later, I have completely conquered the bus system as well as most of my way through Madrid.  My directional ability has either improved with age or maps got easier to read. 

The week that followed was uneventful, quite boring actually.  My host dad and brother and I went on a really fast trip to an old monastery called El Monasterio del Escolar.  I took just a few pictures because my host dad had a dentist appointment and was in a hurry. 

 

Last Monday, I was on babysitting duty and of course managed to get us locked out of the house.  Luckily the neighbors now have their tutor who is a guy from New York and he was able to find a ladder at his house and climb into one of the open windows.  I also attempted a tour/visit of Patricia's school on Tuesday, but it didn't go so well as the "boss of studies" of the English department was confused as to why I was there despite the fact that my host mom had spoken with the secretary the day before to OK everything.  She apparently had cleared it with a different "boss of studies" so the English woman (who was actually English and appeared offended when I insisted to speak Spanish to her not recognizing her accent right away) was less than helpful to show me around or take me to an English class.  

The English teaching has proved not difficult but not easy.  I'm finding it hard to explain why things are the way they are because...well I just don't know.  Being one of the rare grammar-nuts there are in this world, it comes easy to me and I've never needed to why things are they way they are so now I don't how to tell anyone else.  The mom and I have been having fun talks.  She is very interested in the US education system because she does not like the way Patricia's school works.  For example, she is just finishing this week her last week of school.  She is 13, in the 7th grade, and has to study for cumulative finals in all of her classes.  I don't know how many 13 year olds are able to memorize that much material for one test, but that's exactly what she does: sits with her book, reads it in her head trying to memorize the words on the pages rather than actually ever learning anything.  This is a trying task for most college students.  I can see Oli's frustrations.

Overall observations: one of the strangest things is the milk.  It was something I also noticed in Costa Rica, but they do not refrigerate unopened milk.  It's also sold in packages in stores and on shelves instead of in refrigerators.  Out of an entire isle, there was just one small section with a fridge of fresh milk.  Milk is already pretty gross to me, but milk that sits in a cupboard until you open it??? What is that!?  I was also expecting to eat more fresh meals/less processed food than I do at home but so far it has been about the same.  Most of what we eat is processed.  However, my mom isn't the greatest cook so that may be a factor.  She really likes to make a lot of things into a "puree" which I thought was just something mashed but in her technique it becomes a texture comparable to baby food.  Some days it's orange, and I'm only guessing from taste that it was something with carrots, and other days it's white/cream colored, something like potatoes.  I find it's better not to ask.  They also keep insisting I try this disgusting vegetable juice. 

As for the biking.  Up until Thursday I had managed to dodge all offers for bike rides, mostly from my host brother.  I think he is more relieved than I am when I reject his offers with something like "Ohh I was just going to take a shower!" or "Ohh, noo all of my shorts are in the laundry! (not)" since my skills on hills aren't up to par.  But when the dad offers I have a harder time saying no and it's good to have some kind of force making me go and do something.  Luckily, the chain broke and so I only had to suffer through 45 minutes of discomfort.  It must have something to do with the amount of years it's been since I habitually rode bike (in other words, the amount of pounds gained in said years), but I do not remember it being so damn uncomfortable in the buttox region before.  I did a little happy dance in my mind when after several mishaps throughout the ride, my host dad noticed it was broken and I got to walk the rest of the way.
I have gone on a couple runs which is actually a lot better.  But I think at this point anything I do will be better than riding a bike.  However, I need to go on a lot more of them because my host mom is more obsessed with ice cream than I am, which I had no idea was possible.  I actually fear I might die of Haagen-Dazs poisoning before the summer ends.


That's the skinny, sorry it's kind of still a fat one anyway.  Maybe more frequent updates will make for less of a task for my dear readers, if I still have any by this point of the blog.   

Vamos en Bici

Yesterday was my first day actually doing what I came here for (aka teaching English).  Oli wanted me to start with Jose, my "host brother" who is 18, at 10 am with our first one hour English lesson.  I had a little trouble waking up when my alarm went off at 9:30 because I am still trying to adjust to the time change.  I do fine once I'm up, but then after a few hours I feel like I haven't slept at all.  So I met with Jose who will have his English exam in September, as well as Math and Chemistry which he failed this year.  He has to take the exams over in Sept in order to get a good enough grade to go to University.  His summer is going to be spent doing a lot of studying.  We went through his English book and I realized I need to do some studying as well.  I asked him to tell me which units/topics he has the most trouble with and he said "I have trouble with the passive impersonal and the causative." And I stared at him like ".....the what?..." So I will also be doing a lot of studying of my own language while I'm here.  We did a few exercises but without being able to explain exactly what these tenses mean or why use them, it was a little difficult.  After lunch, I watched TV with my host mom, tried to stay awake, but alas took full advantage of the siesta time.  When Patricia came home from school we had our first hour together.  She "forgot" to bring home her English book so we had to use the notes she takes to study.  Her exam is in 2 weeks and it's on everything they have been studying since September.  She is 13, so I tried to follow the advice of my TEFL adviser who said 13 year olds will like gossip magazines and talking about boys.  Yeah. Right.  Practicing comparatives and superlatives (better/worse than, the best/worst) I said "Who is the cutest boy in your school?" She just stared at me.   Maybe older boys?  "Are any of your brother's friends cute?"  "My brother's friends are....mmm...feos"  So I thought, well she must think there are some cute celebrities? "What famous people do you think are cute?"  "I don't know any famous people" she replied.  I went on google images and typed in Brad Pitt.  Wasn't impressed.  Oookay still in the "boys have cooties" stage, I take it.  Thank you wise TEFL adviser.....
Then I thought okay maybe it's easier for her to identify that girls are pretty.  So I typed in Angelina Jolie and then Tina Fey.  Without hesitation she chose Angelina Jolie as being prettier than Tina Fey.  Haha.  Then I let her have the last 10 minutes for what I thought would be something fun and went to Youtube to find a clip of a 13 yr old appropriate American tv show.  Hannah Montana?  She doesn't like Hannah Montana.  I didn't protest.  So the only other thing I could think of was Suite Life of Zack and Cody.  I laughed...she stared...even though she said she could understand what they were saying.  When the hour was up she wanted to show me a video.  It was a 30 second cartoon on Youtube in Spanish. Something about a boy that didn't want to eat his dinner, the mom was this big scary lady that looked like a human version of a rhinocerous who came running at him yelling something in a deep voice and then chopped his head off.  Fin.  No wonder she didn't think Suite Life was funny....

Before dinner, Jose, Jose Antonio (the Dad), Patricia and I went for a bike ride.  Well, they first asked if I wanted to run since I had asked where I should go if I wanted to run.  And considering that the dad is a triathlete I thought I ought not embarrass myself right away by trying to run with the man.  They wanted to show me the "camino" (path) where they run and ride bike.  So I got on one of their bikes then quickly realized that I couldn't even remember the last time I rode a bike.  But I figured it wouldn't be so bad.  Well the "camino" was like a path only hardcore mountain bikers ride on.  Hills, sand, more hills, trees, divets in the road from rain.  Have you ever tried riding a bike in sand?? It's frickin hard.  Jose Antonio ran while the rest of us were on bikes.  I almost ate dust...or dirt rather...more than a few times and the chain kept falling off.  But overall it wasn't so bad of a ride.

Today, Jose and I had "class" again at 10 and we decided that Fridays would be a "free" day where we could just talk about whatever and not study from his book.  We mostly talked about sports and what he likes to do, and showed each other videos on Youtube of what we were talking about that one of us hadn't heard of before.  He told me he wants to go "base jumping" and showed me this crazy video of people jumping off of some of the highest cliffs in the world and just flying through the air in wingsuits forever before opening a parachute.  Insanity. 

After that I had my first session with Oli, the mom, who showed me on Google Earth where we are and explained some bus things to me.  Then I showed her Wisconsin and all the towns I live in haha.  Then she said "Now, go out and get some air with Jose. Go for a bike ride." Oy vey.  Another bike ride.  Well I couldn't say no.  But my god the minute I got back on that thing I realized how much my butt hurt from yesterday.  I had to pedal standing up for the majority of the first 45 minutes.  Not just because my butt hurt but also because that was the only way to get anywhere when riding through sand.  He wanted to show me a different way, the one he usually goes on I guess, which was much longer, and way..way..harder.  For the majority, we were going downhill.  Easy peasy.  Until he stopped and said we were going back and I realized that meant we had to go all the way back uphill.  Did I mention that pedaling in sand is really hard?  Did I mention it's even harder when going back up the way you've just come down?  I walked. A lot.  But it was good exercise.  Can't wait to see how great my butt feels tomorrow...
At 5, I had my hour with Patricia.  We worked on tongue twisters and pronouncing 's' and 'sh' which sound exactly the same when she says them. So, "She sells sea shells by the sea shore" sounds like "See sells sea sells by the sea sore".  Darn that Spanish lisp.  After our lesson she wanted to play badminton, so we played for a little while but there was too much wind.  Then she tried to teach me this game they have in their yard which is a smaller version of tether ball, but she hit me in the face with the ball.  So not only will I have a sore booty tomorrow, but also probably a black eye.  We went inside and played a safer game.  Monopoly.

I have weekends free so I am going to try to attempt to go to Madrid tomorrow using the buses.  I haven't used them yet but Oli has explained them a lot to me and I have to do it at some point. I am going to meet my dear amiga Camila's sister once I'm in the city.  I will hopefully take more pictures and meet some more people this weekend (unless I do in fact wake up with an egg for an eye tomorrow, then all bets are off).  Next weekend the American tutor will be here for the neighbors and hopefully we can do some exploring together.

And now....España

Buenos días!  Last year was an amazing year in my life because of the incredible experience I had studying abroad in Costa Rica - memories I still think about constantly.  Here I am, Summer 2011, and I am fortunate enough to be spending it in Madrid, Spain.  Well...almost Madrid.  I am living with a family, to be their English tutor, in Boadilla del Monte which is just outside of the city. 

I left on Tuesday, May 31, from Madison at 7am and got to O'Hare with 2 hours to spare before my flight at 12:45.  The lines were crazy, I think there was a group of about 30-40 Italians in front of me for check-in and they were also on my flight.  I arrived to Atlanta at 3:30 and misread my ticket which meant I went to Gate A when I was really supposed to go to Gate E to board my connecting flight at 4:05.  Needless to say... I was running.  If there is one thing I dislike, it is running.  If there's something I dislike more, it's running through airports.  I looked like a fool I'm sure but I made it just in time.  The lady next to me on the flight was very sweet.  She and her family are from Georgia but live in Madrid doing some sort of mission work and we had some nice chats about jobs and travel and teaching.  When we landed she gave me her contact information if I ever needed a "change in scenery".  The line through customs was also long and once I got to the baggage claim I thought that my larger suitcase was lost, but it turned out it had just fallen off the roundabout thing and the same woman on the plane helped me find it.  My host mom and dad were waiting with a sign that said "Katie" and they had been quite worried since the flight technically landed at 7:30 and I didn't get out to meet them until 9:00am (Wednesday).  They brought me to their house and we chatted along the way and I know already I am going to get along great with them.  They are very, very nice and easy going.  I was completely exhausted since it was technically 3am for me so when I got to the house they let me nap until lunch at 2.  When my mom came to wake me up I felt like it was a different day and I was still totally exhausted.  I had my first Spanish meal.  Not really sure what it was.  Two different kinds of pasta, one made with a tomato kind of sauce and the other was a bit like tortellini.  I made the mistake of telling my host mom when she asked me if there was anything I didn't like to eat that I didn't like milk so now she thinks I won't eat anything that's even made with milk.  She could not believe it when I told her.  "But...everyone likes milk, no??" I laughed and she said "No really....in Spain everyone likes milk."  So the tortellini pasta she told me not to eat because it is made with milk. I laughed and had to tell her that I CAN and like to eat things made with milk, I just don't like to drink it by itself.  We had a nice lunch, talked about lots of different things, mostly in Spanish but sometimes in English.  I see that Spanglish will be quite popular in the household while I'm here.  My mom, Oli, is so cute and we already have had a couple funny misunderstandings.  She asked me what time was it in the US and I didn't know because I didn't know what time it was at that moment in Madrid.  So I asked her what time it was and she thought I didn't understand her question.  So she kept trying to tell me "No I mean in the US" and I kept saying "I know, but what time is it here?" and back and forth. Finally we got it cleared up.

After lunch I unpacked, took a shower FINALLY and changed into different clothes.  Then Patricia came home from school and I got to meet her.  Oli says she is very shy so she made her show me around the house and yard.  She at first tried talking to me in English but was nervous.  Then her brother told her that I speak Spanish and that made her excited that she didn't have to try to communicate only in English with me.  Could be a downfall in my success as their teacher.  I'll have to lay down some laws.   Then Oli took me to see the train station and the bus stops that I can take to get to Madrid.  Then we went to the mall nearby where I quickly came to the realization that I did indeed over pack and will most likely be buying another suitcase for all my new purchases. No bueno.  Better to stay away from the mall for now.
It was not much different than any mall in the US, or the ones in Costa Rica, except it also has a grocery/Wal-Mart type store in it.  We bought some groceries, she tried to get me a card for the cellphone they are lending me but couldn't find one, and I bought a new watchband.  She also bought us ice cream so we are pretty much going to get along splendidly.   We ran into a problem with my laptop charger because I didn't bring an adapter with me.  While we were grocery shopping, Jose Antonio, my host dad, was trying to find a store that sold them but he couldn't find one.  On the way home, we had an idea to ask the neighbors across the road who have an English tutor coming in a week and a half to buy one and bring it with him when he comes.  Ibana, the neighbor, actually already had an adapter that an American who lived with her before had bought so she lent it to me for the time being, until we can find the place that whoever it was bought the adapter from because apparently they bought it here.

Now I'm finally in my room relaxing.  It's almost 9pm and its still very light outside so it feels a lot like home.  It also feels like 5 days have passed instead of just two.  I am reallly tired still, but trying to stay awake to get used to the time change.  Tomorrow Oli wants me to start doing some English lessons with Jose.  Haven't explored too much or taken any pictures yet but hopefully soon!

Field Trip to Nicaragua

Guanacaste/Nicaragua

Wednesday April 14^th 2010

I’m currently sitting on my newest bed in Central America in my newest house of my newest family.  Seems my bad luck has finally run out because they are so far very nice, very friendly, and there’s actually children and other family members.  We just finished eating our first lunch with them, Susie and I, where we talked about health care and education systems in Nicaragua and the US.  Health care is free here, just like Costa Rica, and school is too, even the universities.  Our host mom said she pays more for transportation for her kids than for the actual school.  Then she asked why people in the US don’t like the new health care systems and I said because a lot of people think it seems like socialism and she just started to laugh. 

So far, I’m really excited about being here for the next couple days.  Nicaragua is a really cultural place with lots of history and history with the US as well, which is something that Costa Rica doesn’t really have. 

On Monday morning we left San Josecito and spent our first night in Guanacaste, which is in Costa Rica but near the border with Nicaragua.  We drove down to a beach there and we were basically the only people there besides a little family and some fishermen.  Then we went to dinner and relaxed at the hostel where we had the most beautiful view of the ocean.

Then yesterday we left at 5:30 am for the border, went through migration quickly, but then had to wait for an hour or more at customs.  Finally, we left and made our way to San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua, a small, beachy, toursity town.  Our hostel was awesome – a pool, air conditioning, and CABLE TV!  I got to watch CNN and reruns of America’s Next Top Model.  I don’t even really like that show, but it was like heaven.  Later that night, we went out to a bar close to our hostel.  I called it a night after one of the girls drank a little too much and needed help getting back to the hostel. 

Thursday April 15^th

So last night we met up and went out to explore the nightlife in Granada.  We first went to a little bar where mojitos were 2/$1, daquiris 2/$2, and a liter of beer for $1.  Everything is cheeeeaaaap here.  So cheap.  Almost unbelievable when I talk to Kelsey in CA and she tells me drinks at a bar run for $9 and here I could get good and drunk for $9.  Anyway, all the seating at the bars is outside here.  So that was nice, we just sat and relaxed for a while.  Lots of children came up to our table asking for money or trying to sell us things.  A boy about 11 years old asked us for money but Holly and Kinsey told him they would just buy him food if he wanted.  So Kinsey ordered a chicken sandwich but then he kept saying he needed it in a bag and our waiter kept telling him to leave and told us that he just wanted to sell it.  So when the sandwich finally came, Kinsey took a bite out of it before she gave it to him so that maybe he couldn’t sell it.  I watched him walk away- He gave the bun and lettuce to another boy on the street and the chicken to another and hid the fries behind his back as he immediately went up to two gringo guys and started asking them for money.

Then later, the skinniest woman I have ever seen appeared by our table.  She honestly looked like she had just stepped out of a concentration camp and she was holding a one year old baby boy.  She lingered around our table obviously wanting money.  When she came near me I asked her if she needed food for her son, who was crying, and she said yes.  So after we paid our bill, Holly and I walked with her to another restaurant to buy her a hamburger and fries.  While walking, she was talking to me telling me that she was homeless, but that’s about all I caught because she was mumbling so terribly I could barely understand her.  That’s when I decided she wasn’t a starving woman, just a drug addict.  I was holding my money in my hand because I hadn’t put it back in my purse yet, and her son, who had stopped crying, saw it in my hand and started crying again and reaching towards my money.  A one year old.  Already knows what money is and that he wants and/or needs it.  We still bought the food for them just because of the baby.  Before we left I asked her if she was going to buy milk in the morning for him and she said that she didn’t have any money, which was a lie because Ana gave her money when we were still at the table for her to go away.  I felt so bad afterwards for that poor baby.  We went to a dance club afterwards but I just really wanted to go because I felt so depressed.  Already, only one year old, that baby has no future.  It reminded me of my last program with PDE last semester where the group of students kept claiming that anyone can be successful, it just depends on what they do with the “hand they are dealt”.  What chance does that child have to ever make it anywhere?  Where in the “hand he was dealt” does he have any cards that could turn in his favor?  He’s growing up on the street, being raised by a mother who uses him to get money so that she can buy drugs and who knows if maybe he was born addicted to something as well.  He will probably never go to school or learn how to write or read.  Anyway, it was a fairly depressing evening after that.

On a lighter note, today we went to la Laguna de Apoyo and hung out at this gorgeous resort/restaurant type of thing called La Abuela (The Grandma) because the woman who owns it insists that everyone call her Abuela.  Laguna de Apoyo is a huge lagoon that was once, thousands of years ago, a giant volcano.  When it erupted, it left a huge crater, which eventually filled with water and became the lagoon.  We spent all day there, jumping off the dock into the water, swimming, and floating on rafts in the water.  Then they served us lunch and at about 2:30 we left for a market to buy souvenirs.  

Again, lots of children there were trying to sell us things.  We started talking to a group of about 4 or 5 of them who were so adorable.  When we had to leave, Ana told them to make a line outside the bus and she would give them each an apple.  But when other kids saw this they all just made a swarm for our bus.  A woman trying to sell DVDs also followed us with her children along side, one of whom had Downs Syndrome and was in a wheel chair.  I gave him my juice and he was so happy, he drank it so fast like he had never tasted juice before. 

April 16^th

Last night, we met up to go out, and got a very creepy vibe from the streets.  Of course, it doesn’t help that we meet in this park where all the street people hang out as well as all the taxi drivers who are currently on strike.  So we walked to this bar/club that was supposed to be $2.50 to get in, and then you could drink for free once inside.  Well when we got there they said it was $5.00 so some of us decided not to go because we didn’t want to pay $5.00 and not even drink once inside.  Some people stayed, but most of us decided to leave and go to a bar called O’Shea’s, an Irish pub.  When we got there, my seat was wet, so I went to the nearby table where 2 attractive guys were sitting.  I wasn’t sure if they spoke Spanish so I just said (in Spanish) “Excuse me, Sorry..”  and went to take a few napkins and one guy said (in English) “You can take the whole thing..” and I said “Oh! You speak English” to which he replied “Yeah, very well actually.”  (Turned out later that he was from New York.)  So I laughed a little bit and then went back to my table.  So then Beth and I started talking about how easy on the eyes they were.  Once again, there were a lot of little kids selling baskets of cigarettes, candy, and gum on the streets.  I noticed one of them at the table of guys, and they were talking to them for a little bit longer than normal, but not buying anything.  Then I see the little boy looking at our table and pointing towards Beth and I.  Then he starts running towards me and whispers in my ear in Spanish 

"That guy told me to tell you that you're all really pretty."

"Oh really?" I said "Which guy?"

"The one in the blue and white." (He was by far the cutest).  So then I told the little boy, Jorge, to go and tell them that we thought they were cute too.  Well then Jorge just went nuts.  He started running back and forth between us, and then decided that I was his novia (girlfriend) and was kissing me and hugging me and yelling at the guys "Está celooooso! Está celosooo!" (You're jealous, You're jealous!)  He wrote "Te amo" on a napkin for me and also the names of all his family members.  And for the rest of the night he hung around our table, sometimes left his basket of goodies at my feet and ran around in the street, braided hair.  He was such a character.  I asked him why he was selling things in the street and he said because his mom tells him to.  I asked if she had a job and he said no.  Then I asked if he went to school and he said yes, but smiled when I asked if he went everyday.   Finally we had to leave and he was all quiet and sad.  I gave him a hug and told him to be careful and go to school the next day.  

Saturday April 17th 

We're on our way back now to Costa Rica.  Yesterday afternoon we took a boat ride on Lake Cocibolca to see the small islands that are there.  I think there are about 365 of them (This lake is gigantic) and a lot of the ones we saw were owned by rich foreigners.  There was one tiny island that had a family of monkeys on it.  I think someone just dropped them off there and now that's where they live.  Poor monkeys.  Then we stopped to swim for a few minutes.  I have now swam in a river, the ocean (both coasts), a lagoon, and a lake here.  

After the boat ride, Susie and I went to the top of this old church that is by our house here and got the most amazing view of the city.

Last night we went to a show of cultural dance with traditional Nicaraguan dress.  It was really cool, but really loud, so we only stayed for a half hour or so.  

Then we went to have a few drink at the Irish Pub again and guess who found us?  JORGE!  Oh he was so happy.  It was funny.  But then he got a little annoying after a few hours, and he attracted a ton more little kids who wanted to sell us stuff. 

Then a few of us walked down a little farther on the street where a live band was playing.  We sat there and listened to them until 1 am, played maracas from our table, and one girl, Kim, asked the drummer if she could play the drums during one of their breaks and he said yes.  So she jammed out on the drums and after the drummer bowed to her.  

Now we're on our way back to Costa Rica.  So far, this has been one of my favorite trips. 

Less than 3 weeks are left...It seems like I'm in a dream that I'm not going to wake up from.  But I know I am and I can't even believe it.

Welcome to the Jungle

We returned last Saturday from our 10 day Service Learning trip with the indigenous BriBri community in Yorkin, Costa Rica.  There is next to no electricity in the community, so I took a journal with me to write down everything that happened each day.  Here are the entries, ENJOY...  [If you want more information on what the project was meant to be, I posted an earlier blog about it in January.] Sorry it took so long to post; took me about a week to get this written.

Monday March 1st
Yesterday we arrived in the community, finally, at about 4 pm, but not without difficulty as per usual.  It has been raining in all of Costa Rica on and off for about a week and a half now.  Our original departure was supposed to be this past Saturday, but because of all the rain, the river that we needed to take by canoe to the community was too high and dangerous.  So yesterday we left at about 7:30 in the morning and it rained for the entire day.  We got held up after an hour of travel in traffic because of a mudslide covering half of the road.  After 3 more hours, whilst it continued to pour, we got to a town nearest to the place where the canoes were to pick us up.  Ana and Maria told us they weren't sure if we'd be able to make it due to so much rain and that we may have to stay at a hostel and try to arrive today instead.  I'm not sure how it came about, but they decided to go for it anyway and so we continued in our private bus towards the canoe pick-up.  After driving down the raggedy, bumpy road for 15 minutes, we suddenly couldn't drive anymore -- Because the road was no longer a road but a raging stream of water.

In the background, where there are people crossing water, that's where the road is supposed to be

After taking pictures and waiting for Ana and Maria to decide our next step, we backtracked to another place where the canoes were finally able to come and meet us.  Thank God for my ginormous rain poncho, because we sat in the motorized canoes for an hour and a half as they traveled up stream in the raging brown river.  Several times I was sure we were going to tip over and about a mile from the final destination our canoe ran out of gas.  Luckily they were prepared for an occurrence such as this and had another can to fill up the motor.
Finally we arrived at the landing and unpacked all the black garbage bags of our travel backpacks.  Each of us were paired up with a roommate to live with with a family in the community.  After all the families had arrived, we all followed our families home.  Susie and I's "parents" are named Leyner and Emily...And they're 19 and 22..Kiiinda awkward.  We ate dinner at about 5:30 (rice and plantains) and by 6:30 were in bed quickly falling asleep.  Since there's no electricity and it gets pitch dark by 6:00, this wasn't too hard.

My food...pretty much everyday

Now on to today : First official day complete! It was pretty boring actually...We woke up at 8:15 and trudged through the muddy (and that's an understatement) trail to the main lodge of the village.  Once we finished going through introductions of the women who started and now run the organization STIBRAWPA, we split into 2 groups: One to pick medicinal herbs and the other to clear a space for a garden in which to plant the herbs.  In all actuality, I felt that things were a bit unorganized, at least today (but it IS only the first day..).  I was in the medicinal herb group and we followed this guy Julio around the forest with plastic bags and he picked random plants and put them in our bags.  Then we walked to the space for the garden to help out.  I did some raking of leaves and dirt along with another girl whose rake was made out of two sticks and some nails.  At 12:00 we went to our homes for lunch and then returned to the lodge at 2:00 where more unorganization occurred.  After walking to see a bridge nearby the lodge, we returned and sat and waited until Ana and Maria were able to force someone to give us lessons in BriBri, the indigenous language of the village.  The girl seemed much less than enthused to be teaching us, and to be honest we weren't feeling much enthusiasm either.  At 6:00 we left the lodge to return to our homes and eat dinner with our families.  Our family (Leyner and Emily) made us dinner but didn't eat with us or talk to us really.  New day tomorrow.

Tuesday March 2nd 
7:00 am
I effing hate roosters.

7:30 pm
Well day 2 is complete.  A little more eventful than yesterday.  We divided into 3 groups this morning: One to clean one of the lodges because a group from Ohio left this morning, Another to continue planting the gardens, and another to work on a septic system near the high school.  I was in the cleaning group.  It wasn't too strenuous of work, if you can imagine.  Actually we got done in about 15 minutes.
After our afternoon break, one of the girls was really sick and so I took her spot helping at the spot near the high school.  We were putting these huge rocks into a big pit and then after lunch we went back to fill it in with "dirt" which was actually mud so it was almost impossible.

Then we had another break and I took a much needed nap at the house that Michon and Beth are living in.  It's so weird.  We're always so exhausted here even though we go to bed by 8 and wake up at 7.  It might be the food (because we're also always starving) and that it doesn't give us a lot of energy or it may be the heat.  I'm not really sure.

So at our house, there is hardly anything here.  The toilet is an outhouse - and that's lucky.  Other people's houses just have a hole in the ground more or less.  The shower is also outside.  And inside our house there are two hammocks and our beds, basically.  There's no table and the only "chairs" are two tree stumps.  Susie and I can't quite figure out if our mom is pregnant or not.  Our parents are actually not married but in a civil union sort of thing, which means if they ever want to get a divorce/split up, they can.  Here, if you get married you are not allowed to get a divorce.

The "living room"

The stove

Bathroom..

Shower..

The days are going by so slow..Doesn't really even feel like they're that excited for us to be here.
8 more days!

Wednesday March 3rd
Well...It rained again today.  Awesome.  Today we divided into two groups : One to build a sidewalk at the high school and another to haul rocks to the site for the new lodge.  I was with the rock group.  We had to go down by the river, find medium sized rocks, and make 25 piles of 15.  Well, everyone thought the best idea would be to find the rocks and throw them towards the flat part 15-20 feet away.  I tried to voice my opinion that this was probably not the most effective way.. but my ideas weren't considered.  So we finally got the piles made and then proceeded to bag the rocks in potato sacks and carry them through the muddy trails, up the hills, to the site.  Let me remind you that it was POURING RAIN THE ENTIRE TIME.  And the site is about a 7 1/2 minute hike away from the river.  We had our break, and then afterwards Jenna, Susie, Tia, and I helped wash laundry in the river.  Now I know why washing machines were invented.

Afer that I didn't feel well so I tried to nap. 4 other people are also sick, but they're throwing up and I thankfully haven't done that yet.
After lunch we learned how they make chocolate because caocoa grows EVERYWHERE here.  Then, for the rest of our freetime we played a game called "Mafia".

We're feeling a little disappointed in the trip so far because we don't feel like our work is that greatly appreciated or needed.  We talked about wanting to stay a night or two in one of the tourist lodges and Ana overheard us and told us that we shouldn't be asking that because it may appear that we are not appreciating our host families because they are really happy to have us.  I don't know how true that statement is...
7 more days..

Thursday March 4th
7:30 am
It's currently pouring rain out.  It has been raining like this ALL NIGHT.  This day should be interesting..

Afternoon
Woke up this morning and it was still raining outside.  There has only been one day since we've been here that it hasn't rained.  Today we got to the lodge at 8:15... and since it's been raining so much we couldn't do any work.  So right now it's 2 o'clock...We've been sitting in the lodge since 8:15...Doing nothing.  I feel bad because I'm frustrated with this trip, but I don't know how else to feel.  I know that the rain isn't something we can control so I'm trying not to let that frustrate me, but everything else unfortunately is.  First semester last year, I saw a video of the study abroad trip to Costa Rica.  There was a part when they were on their service learning trip and they were leaving the village after the 10 days and everyone in the village was standing there crying- the kids, the adults, everyone -- and everyone on the bus too.  And because of seeing that video, I guess I was expecting a similar experience.  The place we are has people coming to visit and help them all the time.  Us being here is just like every other day for them.  And the work we've done has not been hard.  The hardest thing was hauling rocks in the rain, and that took 30 minutes.  It doesn't seem like they are that excited for our help.  So I'm starting to lose all motivation.
We still have a week left.  I really just want to go back to San Josecito.  I don't feel like I'm getting anything out of this trip and I'm very, very disappointed.  Not even the teaching art or school has really happened.  Yesterday they asked for 2 volunteers to do math tutoring... Well we all know I'm the last person for that task.  And today they asked for 5 people to do an English class.  5 people volunteered right away.  And so here I am.  Bitching on this piece of paper.
This trip is the first time that I've felt homesick for my real home.

Friday March 5th
7:50 am
It's still raining.  Hasn't stopped in over 24 hours.  Once again we won't be doing anything because of it. What an awesome trip.

6:00 pm
So today we didn't go to the lodge until about 9:30 because of the rain.  Ana and Maria told us that if it was raining, we didn't need to come to the lodge until lunch time.  At around 10:30, it wasn't raining that hard, so we went to try to do some jobs.  We went to the tourist lodges and Ana told us to clear out all the extra wood in the newer lodge.  Well that took about 15 minutes... Then we waited for another job.  Soon a whole bunch of villagers came to start making the roof covering out of palm leaves.  They let us do a few weavings but I rathered that they do it since they are pretty much professionals and our work isn't as good.  Don't want a leaky roof because the gringos helped out.

So then we were given the job of sorting the leaves into piles of "pequeno" (small) and "grande" (large). BUT the problem was that nobody really knew the difference between the two sizes.  Basically when we DO work, we're just given [pardon my language] the bitchwork and our help usually makes the job last longer than it would if they just do it themselves.  That was all the work we did.

Tonight we're staying in the lodge together.  I'm not sure, but I think someone might be killed in their sleep because we have been spending way too much time cooped up together...

Sunday March 7th

Friday night we slept in the "tourist" lodge.  I ended up only getting 3 or 4 hours of sleep because Kim, Susie, Diego, and Daniel (a kid from Costa Rica who is here volunteering also) were so loud all night on the porch of the lodge.  Ana told us that it had been decided that our families would bring some food to the lodge for breakfast Saturday morning, but then some peoples' families told them to come home for breakfast so there was more confusion, as normal.  Low and behold, yesterday morning no one came with any breakfast just like we kind of thought would happen.  Ana also told us that we were going to work from 9-12, and at 9:30 there was still no one at the main lodge and one of the girls' parents told her that no one works on Saturdays because it's a holy day or something similar for them.  Finally, Ana and Maria showed up and told us there weren't any "materials" for working.  So once again, we spent the whole day in the lodge playing cards.  I tried to help with our afternoon snack which was empanadas.  For my cooking skills, they didn't turn out half bad.

Most of us didn't eat dinner because our digestive systems are so backed up from eating plantains with every meal [they're from the same family as bananas, if you didn't know].  We spent our second night in the tourist lodge Saturday and then this morning went to our homes for breakfast.  After, Susie and I went back to the lodge to help clean it up.
Today was our "free day".... So we spent it doing exactly what we have done the past 4 days.... Sitting around...Playing cards....Twiddling our thumbs.....And braiding hair.

Ana told us that tomorrow we are going to do something even if it rains.  And by the way :  It hasn't stopped raining yet.

Monday March 8th
Today it only rained a little bit!  And we actually didn't spend the whole day in the lodge!  In the morning, we spent more time sorting the leaves.  Then we had our break and afterwards the jobs were digging holes again, which had also been a job in the morning, or cleaning the lodge.  The groups stayed the same, so I stayed to clean the lodge which took, oh about 10 minutes.  For lunch, Michon and Melissa made pizza which was a nice change.  After lunch, Germ, Tia, Jenna, Susie, Kristina, and I went to finish digging the holes.  Also, we were told a group of French people were coming today for a visit.  This morning, we saw a group but it turned out they were from Michigan.  Then tonight, another group came and we weren't sure what to say if they were the Frenchies.  Then it turned out they were from Pennsylvania.

Wednesday March 10th
Last day completed!!  But I didn't write about yesterday because I wasn't feeling well last night - So yesterday, THERE WAS SUN!!  ALL DAY!!  It was great.  We had 3 groups : 1 to clean, 1 to put the roofing pieces in the sun, and 1 to dig 5 more holes.  I was in cleaning group again and again it took us about 10 minutes.  There was no one at the site to dig holes who could give directions so we had to wait a while for that.  Finally we split into two groups: One to dig the 5 holes, each 2 feet deep and one to dig out and level an area of ground.  I was in hole digging, but first we had to carry the rocks that we brought there earlier last week to each one of the holes that had already been dug.  It wasn't fun, but the distance wasn't far so it was okay.  Then the guy in charge of the site had us dig 5 holes, each about 2 feet deep and it SUCKED.  But we did it.

After our lunch break we went back to help the group who was trying to level out a different area.  Their job was NOT easy at all.  They had to dig out a huge area of grassy mud and make it all the same level.  After we did what we could with that, we returned to the main lodge.

We learned how to make bracelets which was really fun.  I didn't feel well yesterday afternoon so when Susie and I got to our house I just went right to bed.  I think it's probably because I'm dehydrated because they don't really drink water here.  They use it in the frescos that they make, but otherwise they drink coffee, tea, or hot chocolate.  Plus, the water here tastes so gross, I can't even drink it on its own if I wanted to.

Today, our only job was to take rocks from the river (once again) and fill in the pit that we leveled yesterday.  Today was another sunny, blazing hot day.  After hauling rocks on the 7 minute path (aka hike) for 2 hours, we took a short break for "water" and juice.  We weren't even a 1/4 of the way done at this point.  After that, we worked for another hour and a half, and got just about over 1/2 of it done.  It was definitely the most difficult job, and we couldn't finish it.  We had lunch after and then went to swim in the river.

Tonight, before we left to go back to our houses, the little kids put on a play for us.  It was really cute, but hard to see and hear.  It was something about 2 tribes fighting and one tribe kills the chief of the other who was reincarnated as a tiger and killed everyone from the other tribe.  But I'm not really sure.

Tomorrow we're leaving at 10:00 and spending the next two days in Puerto Viejo at the beach.  Then Saturday, we'll be back in San Josecito!!

It's so weird to think that all the while I've been here, life has been happening as normal both at home and in San Josecito.  Things that I cared about missing out on are happening and I hardly even remember or care.  It just goes to show that you should never stop yourself from going places or living life just because you're afraid you'll miss out on something while away.  You miss out on so much more if you never take the chance to do something different.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Alright, so that's ALL just from my journal.  After leaving Yorkin, we spent two days in Puerto Viejo which is on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica and it has a pretty high population of Jamaican people.  I kind of felt like I was in Jamaica for a little while.  We stayed in a really nice and colorful hostel and ate REAL, almost, AMERICAN food.  Hot dogs, potato salad, spaghetti, cereal... We felt like we had died and gone to heaven.  Not much to report from those 2 days... So here are a few pictures.

Girls' Weekend!

So last weekend, all 12 girls decided to take a little viaje (trip) to Manuel Antonio.  Another beach, but there is also a National Park with one of the rainforests there too.  Alex and Jerame, the boys, decided to stay behind probably because they are going crazy from being surrounded by estrogen all week long.

We didn't have classes on Friday, so at 4:30 in the morning all 12 of us caught the bus to San Jose, and from there another bus to Manuel Antonio.  The ride was about 4 hours.  Well, things didn't start out so well when, on the bus to San Jose, Susie told us that she had forgotten our sheet of directions.  Courtney had given her a typed up paper with directions to our hostel (called Pura Vida Hostel) and where to get off our bus and just basic necessities that none of us had any prior knowledge of.  Okay, not a problem, there's 12 of us - We can figure it out right?

So we reach Quepos.  We see a sign that says "Manuel Antonio 6".  Well this of course is not our stop since this is Quepos and not Manuel Antonio.  Everyone gets off the bus except us.  The 12 gringas.  As we start to wind up the narrow, curvy, steep mountain roads we see a hostel that says "Pura Vida Hostel" and one of the girls says "I think that's it!"  But we have been driving for only 2 or 3 minutes so most of us have doubts but how many hostels can there be with the same name?  She pushes the stop button and the driver stops, but since there's 12 of us, there's mass confusion as to if we should really get off or not.  So we don't.  And he keeps driving.

Pretty soon we come down a big hill to see the beautiful beach and Pacific Ocean...and then we also see a little loop that the bus is about to take.  There is no more road.  And no Pura Vida Hostel.  So we get off at the last bus stop and ask a random man nearby where it may be.  Turns out it was the place called "Pura Vida Hostel" that we decided NOT to get off at.  So we wait for the next bus.

Still not sure exactly where we're going or where we should get off at, we tell the bus driver we need to go to the Pura Vida Hostel.  After getting off at the wrong place, and then all quickly jumping back on before he drives away, he pulls over to the side and yells "PURA VIDA HOSTEL" so we all scramble off hoping to not make more fools of ourselves than we already have.  The place he drops us off at does not have a sign.  Or an open gate.  And lying on the ground is a stack of about 30 untouched phonebooks.  "Great," I think, "Pura Vida Hostel doesn't even exist."  Well what can we do?  So all 12 of us start to walk in a single file line down the side of these crazy roads.  12 gringas.  12 traveling backpacks.  On a slippery side of the road.  2 girls slipped and fell in the ditches by the side.  It was actually really hilarious and every time I replay it in my head I laugh out loud.  After walking around two curves we FIND THE PURA VIDA HOSTEL.  All is well.
So the rest of the day we spent lounging on the beach and then decided to get dressed up and go out for dinner.  Quepos was actually a lot closer to our hostel than Manuel Antonio, only a 10 minute walk down the death road, so we decided that it might just be easier to find someplace to eat there.  The lady that owned Pura Vida told us a good, cheap place to go, so we began, once again to walk, 12 gringas all dressed-up, in the dark down the road.  It was terrifying... but we made it to lit sidewalks safely.
But then we got lost.  Again.
And Quepos is the creepiest place we have been to yet.  All the buildings were dark and dirty and everyone was staring at us (which isn't really new) but we definitely got a lot more cat calls then normal. We finally found a restaurant and made it back safely to the hostel that night.

This random guy at our hostel wanted to take a picture with us. 

Saturday:
Saturday we went to the Parque Nacional to check out the rainforest.  There was one main huge trail that everyone takes, but as we were walking we saw a little sign that said "Catarata" which means waterfall.  So of course we decide to check it out.  It was a small path cut through the rainforest and it ended up becoming a legit hike.  Most of us were in beach dresses and flip flops because we were going to the beach afterwards.  About halfway through, we encountered a little clan of monkeys up in the trees.  We've heard a lot of stories about them throwing poop at people who are too loud or too close, and they were swinging through those trees a little too close to us for my liking.

At the end of the trail, we found the waterfall.  It wasn't very big at all, but it was still exciting.  We were all dripping in sweat because it was so hot and we were legitimately hiking through the forest, practically swinging on vines to get where we needed to go, so the fresh cold water was nice.

After that, we trekked back the way we came and went to the beach inside the Park.  Definitely my favorite beach we've been to.  There were no waves so it was great to just relax and swim in the water.
That night we bought bread and peanut butter and jelly and just hung out in the room.  We had our fill of walking around creepy places in the dark for one weekend.

The next morning, half the group (including me) took the bus back at 6 am.  The bus station was in Quepos so we walked down at about 5:15.  We sat at the bus stop and time started to tick by... 5:30... 5:45...5:50.. 5:55.. No bus.  Damnit.  All of us began to worry that we didn't have the right bus station.  After the rest of happenings of the weekend, that would have fit in just perfectly.  While waiting, we had a little entertainment across the street when a big hairy Tico without a shirt started a fight with a skinny white guy.  We weren't really sure what happened, but the next thing we knew the Tico was grabbing the guy and throwing him on the hood of a taxi that was rolling backwards because the driver wasn't inside and it wasn't in park... Then they were hugging and best friends.... Then the Tico was yelling and trying to drop kick a garbage can... Then he tried to punch the other guy again... And finally the white guy and his girl got in their taxi and left and the Tico found his shirt again.  Definitely an interesting start to the morning.
The bus came a little late, but it came so we were very thankful.


So we finally arrive back in San Jose.. Nearly home.  As we were walking through San Jose, we came up the central street when a homeless person came out of nowhere and asked Tia (one of the girls) for "1,000 dollars!!".  Tia didn't see him and freaked out when she realized he was standing right next to her.  She screamed and jumped out of the way, which just drew more attention to us.  It was actually really funny, but only because nothing bad happened.

So we're feet away from our bus stop, when this raggedy looking kid walking up the street towards us starts making weird growling noises at each of us as we walked by and walking up into our faces.  He didn't do anything to me, probably because I'm so intimidating.  Finally we got to our stop and breathed a sigh of relief.  What else could possibly happen to us!?  When suddenly I look and see this older white guy in khakis and keens running towards us.  He's panting and says really quickly "You guys are from Eau Claire? Yeah I studied there too. You're in a really freaky part of town right now, I'm just going to walk with you to your hostel."  We all looked at each other and I said "No, no we're fine we're just waiting for the bus." And he said "Oh okay." And turned and sprinted up the street.  We were not in a "really freaky" part of town.  We were at the bus stop that we go to every time we go to San Jose.  I don't really know what his intentions were, if he was trying to help someone else rob us or what, but I'm really glad we didn't find out.

So that was my weekend in a nutshell.  I've definitely had my fill of traveling for a while.