So a family emergency came up that I cant really elaborate on, but I am officially returning to Pennsylvania, and should arrive around 1230 tuesday night. Lets just say I have been in a bit of a frantic frensy trying to pack up, say goodbye to my friends and tica familia, and coordinate everything with my classes. It seems like evyerthing should be fine with my classes, all I really need to do is force myself to sit down and focus, and finish up my work. A lot is going through my mind right now though. I went out yesterday and saw a bunch of my Tico friends. There was a week long festival at UCR and it was the last night of activities, and the bars were packed. It took me ages to find Pablo, but once I found him I ended up catching up with a lot of friends, including esteban, paulo, alejandro, andres, and of course junior. Im making them all come out monday night for my last night, and hopefully my study abroad group too.
I love travelling, but moving some place for four months at a time can be hard, making so many friends, and starting to feel comfortable, and then its time to leave again. Im hoping that my friends from Costa Rica and Turkey visit me in Boston. I always tell them, my door is always open. I think Im ready to settle down in boston for a year or so now. Im looking forward so much to living with katie, and probably one other person. We are going to have a pimped out apartment.
I really should go back and finish packing, and swing out to the store to pick up one or two more things I want to bring home for family and friends. Its time to go home.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
another manuel antonio fantastic weekend
So I went to Manuel Antonio for another amazing weekend, but not before i spent thrusday night out with some of the study abroad kids. We went out in currdibat and had a a good time, had a few beers, you know, just a very chill night out. Friday I headed to manuel antonio to hang out with my boy alex. Upon arrival, as per usual, there was an interesting crowd of travelers at vista serena, and i hopped in on one of the most fantastic hostel dinners yet. it was red snapper, steak, and tuna, in a curry sauce and a wine sauce, vegetables in a curry sauce, and rice. AKA heaven for 3,000 colones.
Alex eventually showed up, and we ended up hanging out, catching up, and of course being up to no good. We snagged the dogs miga and chloe who are the coolest pups in the world. love them to death. They had the silliest haircuts though, i almost didnt recognize them when they were shaggy. Miga is about a year old, white, and and chloe is almost 8 years old and black- dark brown. They both had the hair on their bodies cut really short, with their faces fluffy, and their little tails. So adorable/hillarious.
Saturday I hung out on the beach, and ran into to girls i met the last time i was in manuel. I ended up chilling with them all day, and various other friends of theirs, and once in a while dropped in on my boy reggae stephen. it was a good day for meeting people, that night i was pretty tired, and ended up hanging out at the hostel with a few of the other guys i made friends with. Oddly enough, an older man named john stayed in the hostel for two nights. He was at least in his 60´s, had suffered a heart attack a few years before, and then was staying in a youth hostel. Yeah, he def. was a little crazy, but trying to be adventurous, he partook in some drinks with us, and i watched him try marijuana for the first time in his life. He was soo excited, and bearing his heart to all of us. It was funny, but also a little liberating to see an older man, get out there and try something new. I feel sure he was going through something back hom to suddenly be in costa rica studying spanish, staying at hostels for the first time and trying marijuana. I will say however, he ate all my muffins and acted like he didnt, and that was a tad upsetting for me, cause those were supposed to be my breakfast.
My friend Anthony told us a stumper of a riddle saturday night and now i offer it to you to see if you can figure it out. You must email me, facebook me, or talk to me in person if you want the answer, or think you know. vaneen.b@gmail.com
There is a room, which has no windows, one door, and one light in the room. No light eascapes from the room. You are on the outside of the room, and next to the door are three switches. One turns on the light. You may fiddle with the switches all you want, take as much time as you need, but once you open door, you must be able to tell me which switch turns on the light. Once the door is open you may not touch any of the switches.
Hint: the answer is not the first one, or the middle one, or the last one, but is rather more like an explanation of how you would figure it out.
good luck!
Let just say that kept us stumped for a good part of the night, but i will ssay in my defense, one part i missed, and thus was more confused then i should have been.
Sunday started out with rain, so i spent the first half of the day hanging out with a few people in the hostel, and johny, a tico staying at the hostel and an artisian selling his wares on the street taught me how to make some different kinds of bracelets. I made one for myself, and one for him to sell, and im planning on picking up that kind of string, and making many many more, and being an artisian bum in boston, maybe sit outside fenway park and sell my goods. It seems like a good option for my return to boston if finding a waitressing position fails. I could sell sarahs hats, and there are these cool hippie pants i saw in guatemala im pretty sure i could make. This could be my future were talking about ladies and gentlemen. Hmmmmmmm. It holds a certain rustic appeal, but for somereason i feel that it wont be making a very good use of my college education... but then again does waitressing really? if i do though, i will update you on where i decide to hang around a sell my hippie goods, and you can all come by and make me rich.
Anthony, Brandon and I headed back to the beach for some sun, swimming, and exploring. The sun was pretty brutal, so i used lots of suntan lotion, but was able to walk away with a pretty good tan. I finally want a tan, because i feel it would be very depressing to return to boston pale, but also, i just really like the sun. Living here is a dream, with some of the most beautiful beachs only a few hours away in almost any direction. I could live like this forever, and I now completely understand why my friend shelia was scared i would come down here and never comeback.
Sunday night I made my guacamole dip, which is pretty bomb actually. i think i have my recipe down. We backed cookies, and drank free alcohol that some travelers left because they had to return to the states. Monday morning i hopped a 930 bus back to san jose, and was of course late for my 1 oclock class. I had literally 2,000 colones in my wallet and not a single taxi would take me to ulatina for that, so i hualed ass through downtown with my backpack, until i walked far enough, that i could convince a taxi driver to take me. i used the puppy dog eyes, and said, Ulatina para 2,000 colones. Tengo classes ahora and solomente tengo 2 mil. It worked luckily and i eventually made it there, although i spent the rest of the day sleeping because i wasnt feeling well.
Today I had my spanish oral examination. i basically just talked about my experience in costa rica, things i did, things i liked, things i didnt liked. I just learned past tense, which is pretty tough for me, but i think im getting the hang of it. i hope so, i have my final exam for spanish on thursday, and im a bit nervous i wont lie. i also have a quiz tomorrow, and huge paper i need to get truckin on. It seems like there is soo much to do, but i only have around 3 weeks left. I havent even seen most of my tico friends for weeks, and there are still so many places i want to go. this means i must return. however, now i must go, because i have so much studying to do.
=)
Alex eventually showed up, and we ended up hanging out, catching up, and of course being up to no good. We snagged the dogs miga and chloe who are the coolest pups in the world. love them to death. They had the silliest haircuts though, i almost didnt recognize them when they were shaggy. Miga is about a year old, white, and and chloe is almost 8 years old and black- dark brown. They both had the hair on their bodies cut really short, with their faces fluffy, and their little tails. So adorable/hillarious.
Saturday I hung out on the beach, and ran into to girls i met the last time i was in manuel. I ended up chilling with them all day, and various other friends of theirs, and once in a while dropped in on my boy reggae stephen. it was a good day for meeting people, that night i was pretty tired, and ended up hanging out at the hostel with a few of the other guys i made friends with. Oddly enough, an older man named john stayed in the hostel for two nights. He was at least in his 60´s, had suffered a heart attack a few years before, and then was staying in a youth hostel. Yeah, he def. was a little crazy, but trying to be adventurous, he partook in some drinks with us, and i watched him try marijuana for the first time in his life. He was soo excited, and bearing his heart to all of us. It was funny, but also a little liberating to see an older man, get out there and try something new. I feel sure he was going through something back hom to suddenly be in costa rica studying spanish, staying at hostels for the first time and trying marijuana. I will say however, he ate all my muffins and acted like he didnt, and that was a tad upsetting for me, cause those were supposed to be my breakfast.
My friend Anthony told us a stumper of a riddle saturday night and now i offer it to you to see if you can figure it out. You must email me, facebook me, or talk to me in person if you want the answer, or think you know. vaneen.b@gmail.com
There is a room, which has no windows, one door, and one light in the room. No light eascapes from the room. You are on the outside of the room, and next to the door are three switches. One turns on the light. You may fiddle with the switches all you want, take as much time as you need, but once you open door, you must be able to tell me which switch turns on the light. Once the door is open you may not touch any of the switches.
Hint: the answer is not the first one, or the middle one, or the last one, but is rather more like an explanation of how you would figure it out.
good luck!
Let just say that kept us stumped for a good part of the night, but i will ssay in my defense, one part i missed, and thus was more confused then i should have been.
Sunday started out with rain, so i spent the first half of the day hanging out with a few people in the hostel, and johny, a tico staying at the hostel and an artisian selling his wares on the street taught me how to make some different kinds of bracelets. I made one for myself, and one for him to sell, and im planning on picking up that kind of string, and making many many more, and being an artisian bum in boston, maybe sit outside fenway park and sell my goods. It seems like a good option for my return to boston if finding a waitressing position fails. I could sell sarahs hats, and there are these cool hippie pants i saw in guatemala im pretty sure i could make. This could be my future were talking about ladies and gentlemen. Hmmmmmmm. It holds a certain rustic appeal, but for somereason i feel that it wont be making a very good use of my college education... but then again does waitressing really? if i do though, i will update you on where i decide to hang around a sell my hippie goods, and you can all come by and make me rich.
Anthony, Brandon and I headed back to the beach for some sun, swimming, and exploring. The sun was pretty brutal, so i used lots of suntan lotion, but was able to walk away with a pretty good tan. I finally want a tan, because i feel it would be very depressing to return to boston pale, but also, i just really like the sun. Living here is a dream, with some of the most beautiful beachs only a few hours away in almost any direction. I could live like this forever, and I now completely understand why my friend shelia was scared i would come down here and never comeback.
Sunday night I made my guacamole dip, which is pretty bomb actually. i think i have my recipe down. We backed cookies, and drank free alcohol that some travelers left because they had to return to the states. Monday morning i hopped a 930 bus back to san jose, and was of course late for my 1 oclock class. I had literally 2,000 colones in my wallet and not a single taxi would take me to ulatina for that, so i hualed ass through downtown with my backpack, until i walked far enough, that i could convince a taxi driver to take me. i used the puppy dog eyes, and said, Ulatina para 2,000 colones. Tengo classes ahora and solomente tengo 2 mil. It worked luckily and i eventually made it there, although i spent the rest of the day sleeping because i wasnt feeling well.
Today I had my spanish oral examination. i basically just talked about my experience in costa rica, things i did, things i liked, things i didnt liked. I just learned past tense, which is pretty tough for me, but i think im getting the hang of it. i hope so, i have my final exam for spanish on thursday, and im a bit nervous i wont lie. i also have a quiz tomorrow, and huge paper i need to get truckin on. It seems like there is soo much to do, but i only have around 3 weeks left. I havent even seen most of my tico friends for weeks, and there are still so many places i want to go. this means i must return. however, now i must go, because i have so much studying to do.
=)
Monday, April 13, 2009
How I made it back to Costa Rica
Alright, so from the get go, I can tell you my mother is not going to be very happy about this post, but I am posting about a day in the life of cheese, so I must tell. After my last post, I went on to find out about buses out of San Pedro and back to Guat city for my flight early the next morning. Well they were trying to overcharge me, and I decided that would just not do, so I figured I would hop a boat across the lake, and could get cheaper prices in the large city of Panachal. Oh little did I know, with my (what I thought was improving greatly) spanish, and the different accent, was that the lady was actually telling me the last bus left at 4 and arrived at the airport at 8 at night, not that the last bus was a 8. So I hung out for the day in San Pedro, basking in the sun, the beautiful hippie town, and my foresight to avoid the overpriced tourist agencies. Oh little did i know.
I arrived in Panachal around 10 after 5, and a nice guy on the boat with me showed me where to go. The tourist agencies on this side were just as overpriced, so I made my way to the other side of town where the chicken buses left from. That is where I discovered my grave mistake. The last collectivo left at 4, same as the last shuttle through a travel agency. The earliest bus the next day was at 6 am, but at the time I should have already boarded my flight. Uh oh. The kind man who informed me of this offered me a taxi ride for the low low price of 100 dollars, 200 dollars cheaper than I would be charged elsewhere he claimed. Oh but of course, because of my lack of credit/debit card, I had only borrowed a little more off of Dave that I thought I would need, and even then about double what I expected would be neccessary just in case.
There I was, trapped in Panachal, with just under 300 quetzales on me, low and behold about 35 US dollars give or take. There were no more buses or shuttles running to the city, I was about 3 hours away (depending on the vehicle) and had under 12 hours to figure out how to get there. First I wandered the small city freaking out, but trying to hold it together. I had no way of getting a hold of dave as he was on the other side of the lake, and I wasnt even sure if he was still in San Pedro. The internet cafes were closed because of Semana Santa, and I was well, trapped and doomed, and did not want to have to call my parents to bail me out unless I absolutely had to. So I started stopping large shuttles and buses that were driving through the main part of town and asking where they were going. They were privately run, so i thought maybe I could explain my problem, pay the money I had, and hop on some tour groups bus or van. One van said they would be back in a half hour as they drove past, so I settled myself on a corner to wait, and continued asking other shuttles. Two guys were on that same corner, artisians, selling their wares on a table and asked what was going on. I explained my difficulties, and they sympathized, ¨Una problema muy grande¨ They let me stash my bigpackers bag under the table, because it was pretty heavy and awkward to get through the crowd with. Did I mention that because of Semana Santa the people were out in droves, tables lined up and down the street selling traditional items, to homecrafted things, to manufactured tourist gimics you can find around the world. There were police whistling cars and people through, music and food. An religious processions farther down the street with colored sawdust on the streets, and fake jesuses being carried on platforms. If I hadnt been so stressed, I would have really enjoyed the atmostphere.
I was talking to a busdriver who was trying to help me out, and call up other drivers he knew to see if he could help me out of my situation, when the two guys from the table on the corner started hollaring ¨chica! muchacha! aqui! aqui!¨ They found me a car going to Guatemala city. To be honest I barely though twice, but rather saw a woman and a man, and a younger guy in the back seat with a reggae hat on, grabbed my bag, and hopped in the car. The wasnt really a lot of time because the police kept whistling and trying to keep the traffic moving. I had hopped in with a family, Jorge Senior, his wife Glenda, and their sun Jorge junior. They were extremely kind. Jorge Senior told me he was a dentist, and specifically an orthadontist, and was telling me this to make me feel safer. They were extremely kind. Jorge junior wants to go to med school eventually, and he spoke amazing english and hes only 15. Oh how much I was I could speak another language that well when I was his age. We stopped for hot chocolate, and Glenda gave me a pink, purple and blue bracelet which I have not taken off. Everytime I see it, it reminds me how kind they were. They dropped me off at the airport, made sure I was inside safely, and hugged me goodbye. I have their address, and they made me promise if I ever return to Guatemala, I will visit. I plan on keeping that promise.
Now I know how dangerous hitchhiking can be, but this isnt my first experience with it. Its more common in Latin America, and well, I hopped in with a family, a family who was probably thinking, if one of my children ever got stranded, I hope someone would do the same for them. I honestly felt safe the whole time. I spent the night sleeping on the airport floor, and made it back to Costa Rica safe and sound, where I spent my last two days of break vegging out and relaxing. Im really sad that I only have about a month left, spring break was kind of the crossing point, the beginning of the end of my journey abroad. Papers to write, a few last places to visit, and some last drinks with friends. I keep managing to make it through without serious bodily damage, so hopefully I can make it one more month right? Until next time....
I arrived in Panachal around 10 after 5, and a nice guy on the boat with me showed me where to go. The tourist agencies on this side were just as overpriced, so I made my way to the other side of town where the chicken buses left from. That is where I discovered my grave mistake. The last collectivo left at 4, same as the last shuttle through a travel agency. The earliest bus the next day was at 6 am, but at the time I should have already boarded my flight. Uh oh. The kind man who informed me of this offered me a taxi ride for the low low price of 100 dollars, 200 dollars cheaper than I would be charged elsewhere he claimed. Oh but of course, because of my lack of credit/debit card, I had only borrowed a little more off of Dave that I thought I would need, and even then about double what I expected would be neccessary just in case.
There I was, trapped in Panachal, with just under 300 quetzales on me, low and behold about 35 US dollars give or take. There were no more buses or shuttles running to the city, I was about 3 hours away (depending on the vehicle) and had under 12 hours to figure out how to get there. First I wandered the small city freaking out, but trying to hold it together. I had no way of getting a hold of dave as he was on the other side of the lake, and I wasnt even sure if he was still in San Pedro. The internet cafes were closed because of Semana Santa, and I was well, trapped and doomed, and did not want to have to call my parents to bail me out unless I absolutely had to. So I started stopping large shuttles and buses that were driving through the main part of town and asking where they were going. They were privately run, so i thought maybe I could explain my problem, pay the money I had, and hop on some tour groups bus or van. One van said they would be back in a half hour as they drove past, so I settled myself on a corner to wait, and continued asking other shuttles. Two guys were on that same corner, artisians, selling their wares on a table and asked what was going on. I explained my difficulties, and they sympathized, ¨Una problema muy grande¨ They let me stash my bigpackers bag under the table, because it was pretty heavy and awkward to get through the crowd with. Did I mention that because of Semana Santa the people were out in droves, tables lined up and down the street selling traditional items, to homecrafted things, to manufactured tourist gimics you can find around the world. There were police whistling cars and people through, music and food. An religious processions farther down the street with colored sawdust on the streets, and fake jesuses being carried on platforms. If I hadnt been so stressed, I would have really enjoyed the atmostphere.
I was talking to a busdriver who was trying to help me out, and call up other drivers he knew to see if he could help me out of my situation, when the two guys from the table on the corner started hollaring ¨chica! muchacha! aqui! aqui!¨ They found me a car going to Guatemala city. To be honest I barely though twice, but rather saw a woman and a man, and a younger guy in the back seat with a reggae hat on, grabbed my bag, and hopped in the car. The wasnt really a lot of time because the police kept whistling and trying to keep the traffic moving. I had hopped in with a family, Jorge Senior, his wife Glenda, and their sun Jorge junior. They were extremely kind. Jorge Senior told me he was a dentist, and specifically an orthadontist, and was telling me this to make me feel safer. They were extremely kind. Jorge junior wants to go to med school eventually, and he spoke amazing english and hes only 15. Oh how much I was I could speak another language that well when I was his age. We stopped for hot chocolate, and Glenda gave me a pink, purple and blue bracelet which I have not taken off. Everytime I see it, it reminds me how kind they were. They dropped me off at the airport, made sure I was inside safely, and hugged me goodbye. I have their address, and they made me promise if I ever return to Guatemala, I will visit. I plan on keeping that promise.
Now I know how dangerous hitchhiking can be, but this isnt my first experience with it. Its more common in Latin America, and well, I hopped in with a family, a family who was probably thinking, if one of my children ever got stranded, I hope someone would do the same for them. I honestly felt safe the whole time. I spent the night sleeping on the airport floor, and made it back to Costa Rica safe and sound, where I spent my last two days of break vegging out and relaxing. Im really sad that I only have about a month left, spring break was kind of the crossing point, the beginning of the end of my journey abroad. Papers to write, a few last places to visit, and some last drinks with friends. I keep managing to make it through without serious bodily damage, so hopefully I can make it one more month right? Until next time....
Friday, April 10, 2009
Guatemala....
So recently all my plans for spring break fell through... tentative plans for montezuma and solid plans for nicargua were off in one simple day, through a few facebook messages. I had no idea what to do for spring break, all my other friends had plans, and I really didnt want to get stuck in san jose for an extended period of time. So I worked it out with my mom and got plane tickets to guatemala to visit pennsylvanian dave. Last minute decisions seem to work out for me. We have been on a whirlwind tour of the country, we spent our first night in guat city, meeting up at a hostel.. where i randomly met two americans studying abroad at UCR, the university right down the street from me in san jose. They also happen to be on the same return flight. We chilled out, and saturday morning tried to exchange my colones for quetzals. Lets just say there is not a single place in guatemala that will exchange costa rican colones. Be forwarned. The one place we finally found was of course in the sketchy part of the city, and ther were going to take about a 100 dollars cut. Eff that. Ended up borrowing from dave the whole week and we figured out a way to transfer money to his account. We then hopped on a 12 hour bus ride up to tikal in the northern highlands of the country. Through mountains, through desert, through farms, with people crammer in the aisles, random food vendors hopping on, and for the first two or three hours, the bus pulling off to the side because it thought it was breaking down. It was however well worth it, because Sunday was the most amazing day in guatemala.
We headed off to Tikal bright and early and wandered around the mayan ruins. It was in the jungle with huge trees springing up everywhere, spider monkeys, howler moneys, birds, lizards, spiders, and tons of other wildlife in the midst. There were five large pyramids or temples and we were able to climb three of them for spectacular views, and there were several other smaller pyramids, but still immense in size. Temple 4 had an awesome view of the other temples poking through the forest, and temple 5, was the scariest pyramid i have ever climbed. granted tikal had the first pyramids i have played on, this was one frightening climb... but well worth it. The larger pyramids had stairs built for safety and to protect the ruins, but for some reason, temple 5s staircase was more of a verticle ladder going somewhere around 180 to 190 feet in the air. Did I mention to anyone what a klutz I am? oh yeah... my heart was pumping, when dave and i got to the top we were both hugging the wall, but it had an amazing view of the jaguar temple and some of the other ruins showing through the forest. It was breathtaking. So was going back down. But I made it, no slips, no falling (for once) and we moved on to further exploration.
We made a few friends along the way, including two crazy brits who had found the best view in the ruins, climbing up to a random spot right by the central plaza where you could see basically everything large and everything close by that was all cleared out. Luckily there were cool guys, because when we got the last microbus back were literally crammed on top of them. Lets just say we were friends real quick.
We spent the night eating some of the best vegetarian food I have had. It just happened that our hostel had the only vegetarian restuarant in north guatemala, and the food was bomb. Hung out with a couple of different people we met that night at the hostel, very chill, very fun night, lots of random stories and the normal crazy happenings when a bunch of travellers hang out who have never met before. Good stuff.
We hopped on a micro bus down to semuc champey next, which I really had no idea where we were going. dave said it was cool, and i was down for whatever. We were going down windy dirt and rock roads through the mountains, had to switch to a pick up truck which we rode guatemalan style in the back in the baking sun, picked up a few other travellers (kids from spain, poland, germany.. random assortment) and the chuttle dropped us off at the hostel that the shuttle driver just happened to own. There was a sweet bridge to jump off of which was about 40 or 35 feet high and the hostel was right on the river so you could go swimming right there. The hostel had the scam set-up. Not only did we get dropped off there,, but if you didnt eat there you were charged more for a room, so they basically forced you into eating there, but luckily the food was wicked good, and it was a good chance to meet the other kids staying in the hostel. Oh and they put everything on a tab, and if you didnt have enough money you could pay them when they return you back to town because they would take you right to an ATM. Can you say scam? It was good though, and at least they werent scamming expensive things. We threw back a few beers, I joined the hombres de españa and jumped off the bridge at night, and eventually called it a night. We got up nice and early for a tour, which dave ended up bailing on because he spent a few too many quetzals on beers the night before. My new friend Karen, the girl from Germany, and the three spanish guys, along with our guatemalan guide went tubing down the river, which waas wicked chill and pretty (although you had to be careful not to run into rocks). He then took us hiking through the park, we went up to a pretty look out of the river and all the natural pools, which was actually a decent hike, showed us around a little and then took us to the cave.
There wer other caves but this one was under the waterfall so in order to get there you had to swim to a rock, and from the rock you dived off and swam as hard as you could across the river before the river would sweep you into the rocks. It looked and sounds scarier than it ended up being. Well it was a little sketch, but we all made it across. Then you climbed up the rocks next to the waterfall, and crossed over the waterfall into the cave. Note that everything was a little chilly and very wet because it had been lightly raining that day and was cloudy all day. Carlos then took us into the cave which didnt go that far back, and were all very confused as to where were supposed to go, and I was wicked nervous about slipping and falling into the rapidly flowing river down below. Next thing you know he points to a hole in the cave wall and says we are going down there. Karen and I were like youre joking. But nope, we climbed down an almost sheer face to the lower part of the cave, were there was a spot you could sit and look into the cave, see the river below you, and watch all the bats flocking around. It was pretty much awesome. To return you climbed back up the sheer face into the upper part of the cave, crossed to the other side of the waterfall, walked or climbed down half the waterfall, scootched over it again to a good spot to jump, and jumped into the river, where once again you had to swim very quickly to the rock on the other side in order to not get swept away. This description does nothing for how spectacular this place was. Afterwards, Dave and i quick went back to the hostel, packed up our stuff, and hopped on the back of another truck back to the town crossroads, hopped in a microbus heading to cobon where we chilled for the night. It was rainy and cold, and to be honest were both pretty beat from all the travelling and the full days of activities, so after a drunken man would not leave us alone we just crashed out.
The next day we started taking a series of buses, a to get to chichicastenango, a very cool traditional town that has an awesome market on thursdays. We ended up just buying a bottle of cheap guatemalan rum and hanging out on the roof playing cards because the town doesnt have much of a nightlife, but we woke up wicked early and spent the next morning exploring the market, spending too much money on very cool traditional handmade items. Everything was actually pretty cheap... but too much money when youre travelling on a budget. We made friends with a 13 year old guatemalan boy who showed us some of the mayan ritual sites, where to get stuff the cheapest, and was the sweetest kid. I was really proud of my spanish and how much we were able to communicate with him. We took him out to breakfast as a thank you, but i wish i could have done more. He had 4 brothers and sisters, his dad was passed away, so he helped out and worked after school. Good kid though, he wasnt begging, just sweet and hardworking. I wont lie, I def. bought a few extra things from him and his family, but i think it was well worth it. plus i love the belt his mom made... wearing it right now in fact.
We hopped on a chicken bus to panachal next where we got right on a boat to san pedro on lake atitlan. We ran into daves friends meadow and kyle right away, and a few other kids we had met in our travels. Its a very hippy town, lots of foreigners just hanging out, good live music, great places to eat, with the guatemalan town mixed in, but more traditional the further you get from the coast of the lake. We really just ended up hanging out, but it was awesome here. We got burritos from the best burrito place with meadows friend lindsey. i was about 3 dollars for two large burritos, and it was the best food i think ive had in guatemala. SO DAMN GOOD. We walked up to the upper parts of town and watched a procession for semana santa which had this crazy smelling incense going, lots of people in traditional costume, and then groups of guatemalans would carry these large and heavy looking wooden structures with crosses, and jesus statues on them. It was very cool. We checked out the buddah bar which had live blues music, and another small latin dance bar, where omg, these kids could dance.
So todays my last day in Guatemala and we were going to head to antigua because its where semana santa is supposed be the largest, but dave isnt feeling to well, so we decided to hang out in san pedro. Its a pretty sweet town however, and I think Im just going to catch a direct shuttle to the airport and hangout over night till my flight. I have a 640 flight in the morning, so hopefully it wont be too bad. I know one other guy doing the same, so im figuring theres worse things to do, and its nice to relax my last day. Im actually going to go buy my ticket for that shuttle right now. Update again when i return to costa rica!
We headed off to Tikal bright and early and wandered around the mayan ruins. It was in the jungle with huge trees springing up everywhere, spider monkeys, howler moneys, birds, lizards, spiders, and tons of other wildlife in the midst. There were five large pyramids or temples and we were able to climb three of them for spectacular views, and there were several other smaller pyramids, but still immense in size. Temple 4 had an awesome view of the other temples poking through the forest, and temple 5, was the scariest pyramid i have ever climbed. granted tikal had the first pyramids i have played on, this was one frightening climb... but well worth it. The larger pyramids had stairs built for safety and to protect the ruins, but for some reason, temple 5s staircase was more of a verticle ladder going somewhere around 180 to 190 feet in the air. Did I mention to anyone what a klutz I am? oh yeah... my heart was pumping, when dave and i got to the top we were both hugging the wall, but it had an amazing view of the jaguar temple and some of the other ruins showing through the forest. It was breathtaking. So was going back down. But I made it, no slips, no falling (for once) and we moved on to further exploration.
We made a few friends along the way, including two crazy brits who had found the best view in the ruins, climbing up to a random spot right by the central plaza where you could see basically everything large and everything close by that was all cleared out. Luckily there were cool guys, because when we got the last microbus back were literally crammed on top of them. Lets just say we were friends real quick.
We spent the night eating some of the best vegetarian food I have had. It just happened that our hostel had the only vegetarian restuarant in north guatemala, and the food was bomb. Hung out with a couple of different people we met that night at the hostel, very chill, very fun night, lots of random stories and the normal crazy happenings when a bunch of travellers hang out who have never met before. Good stuff.
We hopped on a micro bus down to semuc champey next, which I really had no idea where we were going. dave said it was cool, and i was down for whatever. We were going down windy dirt and rock roads through the mountains, had to switch to a pick up truck which we rode guatemalan style in the back in the baking sun, picked up a few other travellers (kids from spain, poland, germany.. random assortment) and the chuttle dropped us off at the hostel that the shuttle driver just happened to own. There was a sweet bridge to jump off of which was about 40 or 35 feet high and the hostel was right on the river so you could go swimming right there. The hostel had the scam set-up. Not only did we get dropped off there,, but if you didnt eat there you were charged more for a room, so they basically forced you into eating there, but luckily the food was wicked good, and it was a good chance to meet the other kids staying in the hostel. Oh and they put everything on a tab, and if you didnt have enough money you could pay them when they return you back to town because they would take you right to an ATM. Can you say scam? It was good though, and at least they werent scamming expensive things. We threw back a few beers, I joined the hombres de españa and jumped off the bridge at night, and eventually called it a night. We got up nice and early for a tour, which dave ended up bailing on because he spent a few too many quetzals on beers the night before. My new friend Karen, the girl from Germany, and the three spanish guys, along with our guatemalan guide went tubing down the river, which waas wicked chill and pretty (although you had to be careful not to run into rocks). He then took us hiking through the park, we went up to a pretty look out of the river and all the natural pools, which was actually a decent hike, showed us around a little and then took us to the cave.
There wer other caves but this one was under the waterfall so in order to get there you had to swim to a rock, and from the rock you dived off and swam as hard as you could across the river before the river would sweep you into the rocks. It looked and sounds scarier than it ended up being. Well it was a little sketch, but we all made it across. Then you climbed up the rocks next to the waterfall, and crossed over the waterfall into the cave. Note that everything was a little chilly and very wet because it had been lightly raining that day and was cloudy all day. Carlos then took us into the cave which didnt go that far back, and were all very confused as to where were supposed to go, and I was wicked nervous about slipping and falling into the rapidly flowing river down below. Next thing you know he points to a hole in the cave wall and says we are going down there. Karen and I were like youre joking. But nope, we climbed down an almost sheer face to the lower part of the cave, were there was a spot you could sit and look into the cave, see the river below you, and watch all the bats flocking around. It was pretty much awesome. To return you climbed back up the sheer face into the upper part of the cave, crossed to the other side of the waterfall, walked or climbed down half the waterfall, scootched over it again to a good spot to jump, and jumped into the river, where once again you had to swim very quickly to the rock on the other side in order to not get swept away. This description does nothing for how spectacular this place was. Afterwards, Dave and i quick went back to the hostel, packed up our stuff, and hopped on the back of another truck back to the town crossroads, hopped in a microbus heading to cobon where we chilled for the night. It was rainy and cold, and to be honest were both pretty beat from all the travelling and the full days of activities, so after a drunken man would not leave us alone we just crashed out.
The next day we started taking a series of buses, a to get to chichicastenango, a very cool traditional town that has an awesome market on thursdays. We ended up just buying a bottle of cheap guatemalan rum and hanging out on the roof playing cards because the town doesnt have much of a nightlife, but we woke up wicked early and spent the next morning exploring the market, spending too much money on very cool traditional handmade items. Everything was actually pretty cheap... but too much money when youre travelling on a budget. We made friends with a 13 year old guatemalan boy who showed us some of the mayan ritual sites, where to get stuff the cheapest, and was the sweetest kid. I was really proud of my spanish and how much we were able to communicate with him. We took him out to breakfast as a thank you, but i wish i could have done more. He had 4 brothers and sisters, his dad was passed away, so he helped out and worked after school. Good kid though, he wasnt begging, just sweet and hardworking. I wont lie, I def. bought a few extra things from him and his family, but i think it was well worth it. plus i love the belt his mom made... wearing it right now in fact.
We hopped on a chicken bus to panachal next where we got right on a boat to san pedro on lake atitlan. We ran into daves friends meadow and kyle right away, and a few other kids we had met in our travels. Its a very hippy town, lots of foreigners just hanging out, good live music, great places to eat, with the guatemalan town mixed in, but more traditional the further you get from the coast of the lake. We really just ended up hanging out, but it was awesome here. We got burritos from the best burrito place with meadows friend lindsey. i was about 3 dollars for two large burritos, and it was the best food i think ive had in guatemala. SO DAMN GOOD. We walked up to the upper parts of town and watched a procession for semana santa which had this crazy smelling incense going, lots of people in traditional costume, and then groups of guatemalans would carry these large and heavy looking wooden structures with crosses, and jesus statues on them. It was very cool. We checked out the buddah bar which had live blues music, and another small latin dance bar, where omg, these kids could dance.
So todays my last day in Guatemala and we were going to head to antigua because its where semana santa is supposed be the largest, but dave isnt feeling to well, so we decided to hang out in san pedro. Its a pretty sweet town however, and I think Im just going to catch a direct shuttle to the airport and hangout over night till my flight. I have a 640 flight in the morning, so hopefully it wont be too bad. I know one other guy doing the same, so im figuring theres worse things to do, and its nice to relax my last day. Im actually going to go buy my ticket for that shuttle right now. Update again when i return to costa rica!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Field Trip Weekend
So this past weekend was absolutely fantastic. Everyone should be extremely jealous because usually school field trips kind of blow, but this one def. rocked my socks off. We started off by going to Earth University which is on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. It is an international school which has 400 students from around the world, only 100 students per class. Everyone takes the same courses, and they do a lot of field work on the organic farm, research, and in there third year they go out in the field and work with rural farmers implementing different techniques to help improve their farm, increase income, and the farmers in turn teach the students while in the field. We were shown around the university by rosta david who later that night gave me a natural tattoo. he climbed his way up the tree like a money.... which was this wicked skinny tree and grabbed three fruits for me... but then i sadly forgot to grab them from him before we left earth university.
we also got a tour of the banana planation they had there, which is currently 70 percent organic, and they are working on making it more. Also exciting information was that all theyre exported product goes to whole foods and whole foods only!! ive eaten their bananas before! and will again. They showed us the process they used with the banana leaves and how they are trying to reuse everything and making banana paper. it was fascinating.
That night we had an awesome cultural show where students from the university from all over latin america played traditional music, showed us dances, and wore the traditional wear from their countries. a lot of fun, and they were really good. after that i went out to the bar with a few of the students, but the really awesome part was when the davids (rosta david and switzerland david) and francesco (suck at spelling names) took me to the river at night. it was pitch black.. couldnt see a thing walking down the path, and then you had to walk down a hill slash steps to the actual river. im surprised i didnt wipe out considering my normal klutziness. it was awesome though... i ended up swimming in my clothes because i didnt have a bathing suit on, but you could see the stars peaking through the treetops. there was a rope swing which i wanted to do, but it was so dark i figured id kill myself so i wisely withheld. it was def. a high point of the weekend.
The next day we woke at 5 in the morning to go work on a farm. Kaitlyn and I were put on composting, where we were shown around by the head guy carlos, who only spoke spanish... so lets just say i really got to practice my listening skills. We learned a lot though, and then did some shoveling of compost into bags for the fields with a two students from panama. We shoveled and talked with the boys, and later got a tour of the farm. Carlos took us to the buffolo and I got to pet a buffolo! They are huge, but they had theyre horns cut off for safety, but its insane to have seen the enormatity and intensity of such a large animal up close. We learned about some small scale agro systems for subsistence farming, which i took a particular interest in the mandela system and the biointensive system. I def. want to look more into it at some later point.
We spent Saturday afternoon touring local farms nearby, and got to see a chocolate farm!! chocolate in its original form is weird btw. We then separated into groups of 2 or 3 and each spent the night and the next morning with a different rural farm. My friend Monroe and I were put on a farm that wasnt really a farm anymore. He recieved money from the government to protect the water resources on his land because he had two large rivers that combined into one. He did however have a cat, a dog, a pig, 4 cows, three birds which talked, and wait, heres the kicker... a baby jaguar. He rescued it at the end of 2006 so it was a little over 2 years old. It was by far the coolest thing i saw the whole weekend. I was entranced i wont lie, because i have never been able to get so close to a wild cat. Her name was Condesa, and she was in a cage, and no i did not hold or pet her... I like my arms and hands thank you very much. They have permission to take care of her, but will soon have to give her to another organization because as she gets bigger she will need much more room to run and roam. Dont worry people... i took a video.
We spent our morning helping out on the farm. he had a porch which was rotting and needed to be replaced so monroe and i got our stress out by literally just destroying the porch bit by bit. Hard labor... but i could def. handle it. Afterwards, we drank one of those wonderfully freshly squeezed juices and then hiked through his property... and when i say hiked i mean it... through primary forest past trees over 200 years old.. past a rotting tree that is the home of a huge boa constrictor.. over 5 feet i believe from how he described but i wasnt actually trying to see it up close in person.. and through the scrub. He was often using his machetti to forge a path for us.. and then we got to this beautiful river.. water so clean you could drink it. we were playing in some rapids he literally had to pull us through cause the current was so strong it could have easily swept us into the rocks. We hung out there for a few hours until we had to make our way back to the house and get picked up for our return to san jose.
we also got a tour of the banana planation they had there, which is currently 70 percent organic, and they are working on making it more. Also exciting information was that all theyre exported product goes to whole foods and whole foods only!! ive eaten their bananas before! and will again. They showed us the process they used with the banana leaves and how they are trying to reuse everything and making banana paper. it was fascinating.
That night we had an awesome cultural show where students from the university from all over latin america played traditional music, showed us dances, and wore the traditional wear from their countries. a lot of fun, and they were really good. after that i went out to the bar with a few of the students, but the really awesome part was when the davids (rosta david and switzerland david) and francesco (suck at spelling names) took me to the river at night. it was pitch black.. couldnt see a thing walking down the path, and then you had to walk down a hill slash steps to the actual river. im surprised i didnt wipe out considering my normal klutziness. it was awesome though... i ended up swimming in my clothes because i didnt have a bathing suit on, but you could see the stars peaking through the treetops. there was a rope swing which i wanted to do, but it was so dark i figured id kill myself so i wisely withheld. it was def. a high point of the weekend.
The next day we woke at 5 in the morning to go work on a farm. Kaitlyn and I were put on composting, where we were shown around by the head guy carlos, who only spoke spanish... so lets just say i really got to practice my listening skills. We learned a lot though, and then did some shoveling of compost into bags for the fields with a two students from panama. We shoveled and talked with the boys, and later got a tour of the farm. Carlos took us to the buffolo and I got to pet a buffolo! They are huge, but they had theyre horns cut off for safety, but its insane to have seen the enormatity and intensity of such a large animal up close. We learned about some small scale agro systems for subsistence farming, which i took a particular interest in the mandela system and the biointensive system. I def. want to look more into it at some later point.
We spent Saturday afternoon touring local farms nearby, and got to see a chocolate farm!! chocolate in its original form is weird btw. We then separated into groups of 2 or 3 and each spent the night and the next morning with a different rural farm. My friend Monroe and I were put on a farm that wasnt really a farm anymore. He recieved money from the government to protect the water resources on his land because he had two large rivers that combined into one. He did however have a cat, a dog, a pig, 4 cows, three birds which talked, and wait, heres the kicker... a baby jaguar. He rescued it at the end of 2006 so it was a little over 2 years old. It was by far the coolest thing i saw the whole weekend. I was entranced i wont lie, because i have never been able to get so close to a wild cat. Her name was Condesa, and she was in a cage, and no i did not hold or pet her... I like my arms and hands thank you very much. They have permission to take care of her, but will soon have to give her to another organization because as she gets bigger she will need much more room to run and roam. Dont worry people... i took a video.
We spent our morning helping out on the farm. he had a porch which was rotting and needed to be replaced so monroe and i got our stress out by literally just destroying the porch bit by bit. Hard labor... but i could def. handle it. Afterwards, we drank one of those wonderfully freshly squeezed juices and then hiked through his property... and when i say hiked i mean it... through primary forest past trees over 200 years old.. past a rotting tree that is the home of a huge boa constrictor.. over 5 feet i believe from how he described but i wasnt actually trying to see it up close in person.. and through the scrub. He was often using his machetti to forge a path for us.. and then we got to this beautiful river.. water so clean you could drink it. we were playing in some rapids he literally had to pull us through cause the current was so strong it could have easily swept us into the rocks. We hung out there for a few hours until we had to make our way back to the house and get picked up for our return to san jose.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Good Week!
So last Sunday I went surfing with Pablo, Tuti, and Eduardo at this place in Puntarenus (dont know if i spelled that right) but it was insane. You parked outside of an industrial park and had to walk down this long road that only huge diesal trucks were driving on, carrying surfboards, and periodically walking past other surfers. Eventually you get to this beach which you walk all the way down to the left, and climb over rocks until you get to the end where there are around 30 surfers and few people scattered on the beach. Everybody was either there to surf, or was with the surfers, there were no simple beach chillers in this cove. The waves were huge, and since i had my waterproof camera i got some beautiful pictures. Facebook the group Sunday Surf Sessions and you can see some of the pics. I even got up!
St Pattys day was kind of a bust... but i did wear green all week, and we found an irish pub where there was live music and they sold guiness.n i then went to manuel antonio this weekend... i think its one of my favorite places in costa rica. Vista Serena is the chillest hostel, and i have so many friends there. we spent the first night chilling out with conrad and stephen, and then on saturday hunter i went exploring all over the park. it was beautiful, although i was sweating so much, and breathing so hard from hiking around. i def need to get into a little better of shape... i was a little ashamed. we spent saturday night hanging out with alex... the P I M P.... he made bomb grilled chicken and potatoes... it was sooo good. went out to a club.... danced a bit... and then had an interesting encounter with a crazy bitch, which was rather amusing.
When we got back to the hostel, this girl had called the police because her friend went left her cell phone and hadnt checked in. its costa rica! the girl was out drinking tequila shots and just didnt come back till morning. it was funny.. cause everyone wanted to know the story then of what she was doing the night before. Sunday morning was spent getting french toast... and then the rest of the day being a lazy ass bum and watching a movie and napping on and off. i was going to go surfing.. but i didnt have enough money to get down to puntaranus again and get back because they didnt have room in the car for me. sad... but a chill sunday was good for me. i have to go study though.. midterm this afternoon and another one tomorrow.
St Pattys day was kind of a bust... but i did wear green all week, and we found an irish pub where there was live music and they sold guiness.n i then went to manuel antonio this weekend... i think its one of my favorite places in costa rica. Vista Serena is the chillest hostel, and i have so many friends there. we spent the first night chilling out with conrad and stephen, and then on saturday hunter i went exploring all over the park. it was beautiful, although i was sweating so much, and breathing so hard from hiking around. i def need to get into a little better of shape... i was a little ashamed. we spent saturday night hanging out with alex... the P I M P.... he made bomb grilled chicken and potatoes... it was sooo good. went out to a club.... danced a bit... and then had an interesting encounter with a crazy bitch, which was rather amusing.
When we got back to the hostel, this girl had called the police because her friend went left her cell phone and hadnt checked in. its costa rica! the girl was out drinking tequila shots and just didnt come back till morning. it was funny.. cause everyone wanted to know the story then of what she was doing the night before. Sunday morning was spent getting french toast... and then the rest of the day being a lazy ass bum and watching a movie and napping on and off. i was going to go surfing.. but i didnt have enough money to get down to puntaranus again and get back because they didnt have room in the car for me. sad... but a chill sunday was good for me. i have to go study though.. midterm this afternoon and another one tomorrow.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
chillllin
hola! i experienced my first earthquake on wednesday. There was a little one around 11 and another one around 3 in the afternoon. They werent actually that small, but they felt small because the main part of the quake was somewhere deep in the ocean, but it was kind of cool to experience my first earthquake, especially since there was no serious damage. Its amazing how the earth can shake beneath your feet!
Other than that, I have been pretty sick, so I have been resting a lot. Hanging out in san jose this weekend to save money since im having so many stupid issues with my atm card. i hope it takes less than a month to get here. Nothing else too exciting has been going on here... just chilling... went out with hunter and jaclyn the other night for a friends birthday. hopefully im going surfing tomorrow! wicked stoked for that, and im working on hunting down an apartment in boston for september. leves and i are looking in mission hill back bay area... anybody know of anything?
its beautiful here though... im wearing shorts and a tanktop and my speed racer avaitors. i have a nice little tan going. kind of curious if its still snowing in boston but mostly just really happy im here. im starting a research paper on security and the environment... so if anyone has any good sources they would like to pass on... please feel free to email me!
Other than that, I have been pretty sick, so I have been resting a lot. Hanging out in san jose this weekend to save money since im having so many stupid issues with my atm card. i hope it takes less than a month to get here. Nothing else too exciting has been going on here... just chilling... went out with hunter and jaclyn the other night for a friends birthday. hopefully im going surfing tomorrow! wicked stoked for that, and im working on hunting down an apartment in boston for september. leves and i are looking in mission hill back bay area... anybody know of anything?
its beautiful here though... im wearing shorts and a tanktop and my speed racer avaitors. i have a nice little tan going. kind of curious if its still snowing in boston but mostly just really happy im here. im starting a research paper on security and the environment... so if anyone has any good sources they would like to pass on... please feel free to email me!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
I am really bad at updating these things... because im usually too busy experiencing than wanting to ever sit down and write it all down. where to start? Kelsey and her friend nicole visited me last week, and it was a wicked good time. we went to manuel antonio for a few days, hung out on the beach, the girls got a nice burn going on. sun tan lotion is must for anyway coming to costa rica from boston. the park was beautiful.. it cost 10 dollars to go in, but then had the most beautiful beaches, blue water, white sand, dark rocks to play on... forest to explore... monkeys trying to steal peoples food. it was amazing. we went out for dancing and made friends with a lot of the locals. our hostel was perfect... with this amazing view of the ocean, hamocks.. and lots of chill travelers to hang out with or get tips on whats best to do locally.
We made friends with beach boy stephen from georgia, regge steve, dancing vas, willy the guy with the bomb restaurant, and jorge among others. by our last night... we knew half the town. i like making friends... it was a really good way to practice my spanish!
kelsey and i fell in love with the fajita man outside the club we kept going to get late night munchies in between dancing and hanging out on the beach. the one night stephen and i snuck up to the roof for ten minutes (sweet view) but then the bouncer came up and kicked us off... of course.
hmmm what else.... kelsey got some cubans and we tried those... very smooth. we were just passing one around the table at the hostel... they make you feel kind of manly since they are so enormous. you just wanna your feet up on the table with a pair of shades puffing on one of those. yummy. kelsey and nicole on our last night went home early... and by early i mean like 3 or so... because they did a canopy tour the next day. i on the other hand was out to a ridiculous 6 in the morning hanging out with a hillarious brazilian man and my two new stephens.
it was a crazy week, my friend john was visiting with 4 other northeasterners... one of which was my old TA, and in a restuarant i ran in two guys darren and tyler who i used to run into at northeastern all the time last year. it was a northeastern spring break party in manuel antonio.
Saturday i died... i saw the girls off and then went back to bed until 4 in the afternoon. yes im a bum... but sometimes a girl needs her beauty sleep.
Saturday night was a tico party with my friends melo, andres, pablo, and a bunch of others. it was a wicked good time... we watched some soccer had a few beers... and i pretended i could spanish... youll notice a trend..... i always try and practice my spanish when i go out. i think its getting better... at least i hope. sunday i went with tuti and pablo to the beach... playa hermosa... and they taught me how to surf. i guess i didnt do too bad.. according to tuti... playa hermosa is a hard beach to surf... and i learned on a short board instead of a long board.. im planning on trying again next weekend on our sunday surf sessions.. ill keep you updated on my progress.
in other news.. i am having major issues with my atm card. long story... it got blocked and now im tearing my hair out trying to get a new one sent to me. i hate banks and money and really truly wish you could through the world with just love and hugs. what happened to love and hugs? hopefully ill get access to money soon... until then... love and hugs... thats all i got.
We made friends with beach boy stephen from georgia, regge steve, dancing vas, willy the guy with the bomb restaurant, and jorge among others. by our last night... we knew half the town. i like making friends... it was a really good way to practice my spanish!
kelsey and i fell in love with the fajita man outside the club we kept going to get late night munchies in between dancing and hanging out on the beach. the one night stephen and i snuck up to the roof for ten minutes (sweet view) but then the bouncer came up and kicked us off... of course.
hmmm what else.... kelsey got some cubans and we tried those... very smooth. we were just passing one around the table at the hostel... they make you feel kind of manly since they are so enormous. you just wanna your feet up on the table with a pair of shades puffing on one of those. yummy. kelsey and nicole on our last night went home early... and by early i mean like 3 or so... because they did a canopy tour the next day. i on the other hand was out to a ridiculous 6 in the morning hanging out with a hillarious brazilian man and my two new stephens.
it was a crazy week, my friend john was visiting with 4 other northeasterners... one of which was my old TA, and in a restuarant i ran in two guys darren and tyler who i used to run into at northeastern all the time last year. it was a northeastern spring break party in manuel antonio.
Saturday i died... i saw the girls off and then went back to bed until 4 in the afternoon. yes im a bum... but sometimes a girl needs her beauty sleep.
Saturday night was a tico party with my friends melo, andres, pablo, and a bunch of others. it was a wicked good time... we watched some soccer had a few beers... and i pretended i could spanish... youll notice a trend..... i always try and practice my spanish when i go out. i think its getting better... at least i hope. sunday i went with tuti and pablo to the beach... playa hermosa... and they taught me how to surf. i guess i didnt do too bad.. according to tuti... playa hermosa is a hard beach to surf... and i learned on a short board instead of a long board.. im planning on trying again next weekend on our sunday surf sessions.. ill keep you updated on my progress.
in other news.. i am having major issues with my atm card. long story... it got blocked and now im tearing my hair out trying to get a new one sent to me. i hate banks and money and really truly wish you could through the world with just love and hugs. what happened to love and hugs? hopefully ill get access to money soon... until then... love and hugs... thats all i got.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
quick update!
hey guys! i dont have a lot of time to update, but i figured i should post before i go away for the week. i spent the weekend in san jose mostly, went out with the group and dani on friday night. Jefe got punched by a huge asshole who is very insecure about his masculinity and kaitlyn and i of course wanted to go over and kick the guys ass for breaking jefes hearing aid. but we didnt... so everyone is alive and well. We spent sunday on the beach, which was beautiful, only to discover monday in class that it is the most polluted beach in costa rica. woot playa jaco. woops.
I had my spanish midterm today and i actually did okay, which is awesome considering i was out until 3 last night dancing and partying with mi prima (my cousin kelsey) and tico friends, and study abroad friends. lets just say it was the place to be last night, and wicked ass fun, and since i was drinking i was still practicing mi espanol. but now i gotta jet because im leaving for manuel antonio with kelsey and nicole and meeting up with john and friends there! ill update on the adventures soon, a much better one i promise.
I had my spanish midterm today and i actually did okay, which is awesome considering i was out until 3 last night dancing and partying with mi prima (my cousin kelsey) and tico friends, and study abroad friends. lets just say it was the place to be last night, and wicked ass fun, and since i was drinking i was still practicing mi espanol. but now i gotta jet because im leaving for manuel antonio with kelsey and nicole and meeting up with john and friends there! ill update on the adventures soon, a much better one i promise.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
CARNIVAL!!
So the last weekend was spent enduring some very long busrides for one of the best weekends yet in my study abroad. Jefe, Kaitlyn, Rachel, Paul and I made our way down to Panama City for Carnival 2009! 15 hours later we arrived in what we only discovered later was one of the most dangerous parts of the city to discover our booking was mixed up, and that we in fact did not have a hotel room waiting for us at 5am in the morning. Exhausted we wandered, and eventually found the backpackers inn, where we each paid about 16 dollars a night for one full size bed and two singles. Yes kids, Kaitlyn and Rachel rotated sharing a bed with me, but dont worry everything stayed PG.
After passing out for 3 hours we made our way to the Panama Canal on these old yellow school buses that were painted over in crazy funky colors, jam packed, and sweltering hot. The Canal was cool to see but a little anti-climatic as Rachel likes to say. We watched a ship from Malaysia do the transfer, and the tax it had to pay was 297,000 dollars! There was a crazy man who once swam the canal and even he had to pay a few dollars tax. Its really an incredible feat of engineering though.
We went back to our hostel, but not before picking up some food from the grocery and the cheapest handle of bacardi i ever bought in my life, and we pregamed for carnival with some drinking games, and rapping about IBs. (dont ask) Carnival was awesome. There were tons of little tiendas selling shish kabobs which I ate way too many of and very loud thumping music along a massive street full of people. People were throwing confetti, which was really little white hole punched pieces of paper everywhere, the nice little kids throwing them in your hair, and the rude machitos throwing them directly in your face, along with spraying cans of odd foamy white stuff everywhere. Basically, if you go to Carnival, plan on getting very,very dirty. We made friends with a bunch of little girls, and danced, and they covered us in confetti. So much fun. Beers were 60 cents a pop... not lying.. they really were.... we would get upset at the stands that tried to charge us a dollar... (returning to US prices is going to be really painful, I know)
Paul and the girls went back but not before our little vegetarian (no names) went after a mcdonalds chicken sandwich with bacon. ¨Its just a title! i can eat meat if i want!¨ hahaha, dont worry i have a picture to prove it. Jefe and I stayed and danced the night away. We pretended to be brother and sister so that way we could dance and meet people but he could still easily protect me from those crazy latino boys. He then picked up a hottie who managed to get him to take his shirts off (half naked yes) and spin them over his head while dancing. Even more hillarious... one of the girls we were dancing with that night recognized him in the middle of downtown Panama city, pointed at him and pretended to wave clothes over her head. How did such a large city become so small?
We spent Saturday at Panama Veijo, checked out some old ruins, bought some cool indigenous crafts, and then went to downtown where we found the cheapest shopping ever. I bought a dress for 99 cents, shirts for 1.90 among many other things in our little shopping craze. The boys abandoned us because they quickly realized we would be a few hours. Saturday night we met up with the Pennsylvanians Dave and Matt (odd random connection through my moms tennis coaching partner... very cool guys though) where we pregamed again and then went to carnival. Saturday was way more packed than Friday and there was a huge line to get in, which we waited in for a while... and then we just snuck up front and cut the entire line. Im talking about at least an hour wait. The girls slipped through quickly but the guys had to wait a lot longer on the other side. It was really odd because you got into Carnival and there was a huge line of girls waiting for their guy friends or boyfriends, or just male family to get through security.
Saturday night was full of dancing, confetti in the eye, and searching for our good friend paul. The girls made there way home early again, and by early i mean 3 in the morning, while I and the boys decided to hang out. When we were cutting through a very large crowd, our friend paul starts dancing with a girl. we move a few feet away, hollaring to him to come with us, and then we start talking to some Latin kids. we see paul moving away, who has obviously lost us, and we start hollaring for him. Our new friends chased after him, calling out his name, but Paul, being Paul, brushed them off and booked it faster through the crowd. More on his shennanigans later. Dave goes off trying to find him in his typical forest tracker style, and in the meantime another guy takes a swing at a national guard soldier. The national guard and cops swoop in, and people are frightened. The crowd parts in an instance because the people there are obviously very scared of the national guard. We lose Jefe and I hang onto Matt being like omg i cant lose you too! Luckily we quickly recover Jefe, and Dave appears at our sides like he was never gone, and we spend the rest of the night searching for Paul inbetween drinking beers and dancing.
You may be wondering... what in the world was Paul doing this whole time? Well apparently the girl he met was actually a hooker, which he discovered when she started asking for dinero and prices. We got some very good advice later that weekend ¨If shes prettier than you, shes probably a hooker¨ remember that boys, it is very good advice. At some point he tries to pay for one of those 60 cent beers with a 100 dollar bill, (he thought it was a one) and before he realizes his mistake the person rips it so he only has ´2 thirds of a bill now. Then wanders, very far away from Carnival and somehow gets himself in a cab ride for 10 dollars to get back to hotel. He arrives where Kaitlyn and Rachel are sleeping, and wakes Rachel up saying I need money, because of course he has no other cash. Shes half asleep, very confused, and not happy when she hears a very deep and angry voice, ¨dinero, dinero ahora¨ The cab driver ended up in our hostel room doorway, because despite the fact that the hostel does not allow visitors, the woman told him our room number and the door was unlocked. They gave him 3 US dollars and 4,000 colones (costa rican money) and had to convince him that it was real money and he could go to the bank and exchange it. Oh paul. The other boys and I arrived back only about 10 minutes after all this.
Sunday was spend in Casco Veijo, another old part of the city which was absolutely beautiful. We walked around, grabbed some lunch and then went back to Carnival in time to dance in the rain and watch the parade. The parade was awesome. It was how you picture carnival to be, with everybody in costumes, confetti, water, dancing and just a lot of fun. Sunday was the best day because we really enjoyed the city and carnival, and got to see all the traditional costumes and dances. We ended sunday listening to matt play the banjo (he taught me a little bit) and the scariest taxi i have ever been in. it made the most frightening noises and we kept waiting for the tire to blow and to crash and burn. When we asked him if we should pull over he just said ¨esta bien¨ and turned the music back up to cover up the noise. The busride back took 24 hours because our first bus broke down for 7 hours. While that was pretty torturous Carnival and Panama City was so good, that we considered it well worth it.
Pictures soon I promise!! particularly a bunch from Carnival. It seriously was amazing... a little bit of a shit show... but def. completely worth it.
After passing out for 3 hours we made our way to the Panama Canal on these old yellow school buses that were painted over in crazy funky colors, jam packed, and sweltering hot. The Canal was cool to see but a little anti-climatic as Rachel likes to say. We watched a ship from Malaysia do the transfer, and the tax it had to pay was 297,000 dollars! There was a crazy man who once swam the canal and even he had to pay a few dollars tax. Its really an incredible feat of engineering though.
We went back to our hostel, but not before picking up some food from the grocery and the cheapest handle of bacardi i ever bought in my life, and we pregamed for carnival with some drinking games, and rapping about IBs. (dont ask) Carnival was awesome. There were tons of little tiendas selling shish kabobs which I ate way too many of and very loud thumping music along a massive street full of people. People were throwing confetti, which was really little white hole punched pieces of paper everywhere, the nice little kids throwing them in your hair, and the rude machitos throwing them directly in your face, along with spraying cans of odd foamy white stuff everywhere. Basically, if you go to Carnival, plan on getting very,very dirty. We made friends with a bunch of little girls, and danced, and they covered us in confetti. So much fun. Beers were 60 cents a pop... not lying.. they really were.... we would get upset at the stands that tried to charge us a dollar... (returning to US prices is going to be really painful, I know)
Paul and the girls went back but not before our little vegetarian (no names) went after a mcdonalds chicken sandwich with bacon. ¨Its just a title! i can eat meat if i want!¨ hahaha, dont worry i have a picture to prove it. Jefe and I stayed and danced the night away. We pretended to be brother and sister so that way we could dance and meet people but he could still easily protect me from those crazy latino boys. He then picked up a hottie who managed to get him to take his shirts off (half naked yes) and spin them over his head while dancing. Even more hillarious... one of the girls we were dancing with that night recognized him in the middle of downtown Panama city, pointed at him and pretended to wave clothes over her head. How did such a large city become so small?
We spent Saturday at Panama Veijo, checked out some old ruins, bought some cool indigenous crafts, and then went to downtown where we found the cheapest shopping ever. I bought a dress for 99 cents, shirts for 1.90 among many other things in our little shopping craze. The boys abandoned us because they quickly realized we would be a few hours. Saturday night we met up with the Pennsylvanians Dave and Matt (odd random connection through my moms tennis coaching partner... very cool guys though) where we pregamed again and then went to carnival. Saturday was way more packed than Friday and there was a huge line to get in, which we waited in for a while... and then we just snuck up front and cut the entire line. Im talking about at least an hour wait. The girls slipped through quickly but the guys had to wait a lot longer on the other side. It was really odd because you got into Carnival and there was a huge line of girls waiting for their guy friends or boyfriends, or just male family to get through security.
Saturday night was full of dancing, confetti in the eye, and searching for our good friend paul. The girls made there way home early again, and by early i mean 3 in the morning, while I and the boys decided to hang out. When we were cutting through a very large crowd, our friend paul starts dancing with a girl. we move a few feet away, hollaring to him to come with us, and then we start talking to some Latin kids. we see paul moving away, who has obviously lost us, and we start hollaring for him. Our new friends chased after him, calling out his name, but Paul, being Paul, brushed them off and booked it faster through the crowd. More on his shennanigans later. Dave goes off trying to find him in his typical forest tracker style, and in the meantime another guy takes a swing at a national guard soldier. The national guard and cops swoop in, and people are frightened. The crowd parts in an instance because the people there are obviously very scared of the national guard. We lose Jefe and I hang onto Matt being like omg i cant lose you too! Luckily we quickly recover Jefe, and Dave appears at our sides like he was never gone, and we spend the rest of the night searching for Paul inbetween drinking beers and dancing.
You may be wondering... what in the world was Paul doing this whole time? Well apparently the girl he met was actually a hooker, which he discovered when she started asking for dinero and prices. We got some very good advice later that weekend ¨If shes prettier than you, shes probably a hooker¨ remember that boys, it is very good advice. At some point he tries to pay for one of those 60 cent beers with a 100 dollar bill, (he thought it was a one) and before he realizes his mistake the person rips it so he only has ´2 thirds of a bill now. Then wanders, very far away from Carnival and somehow gets himself in a cab ride for 10 dollars to get back to hotel. He arrives where Kaitlyn and Rachel are sleeping, and wakes Rachel up saying I need money, because of course he has no other cash. Shes half asleep, very confused, and not happy when she hears a very deep and angry voice, ¨dinero, dinero ahora¨ The cab driver ended up in our hostel room doorway, because despite the fact that the hostel does not allow visitors, the woman told him our room number and the door was unlocked. They gave him 3 US dollars and 4,000 colones (costa rican money) and had to convince him that it was real money and he could go to the bank and exchange it. Oh paul. The other boys and I arrived back only about 10 minutes after all this.
Sunday was spend in Casco Veijo, another old part of the city which was absolutely beautiful. We walked around, grabbed some lunch and then went back to Carnival in time to dance in the rain and watch the parade. The parade was awesome. It was how you picture carnival to be, with everybody in costumes, confetti, water, dancing and just a lot of fun. Sunday was the best day because we really enjoyed the city and carnival, and got to see all the traditional costumes and dances. We ended sunday listening to matt play the banjo (he taught me a little bit) and the scariest taxi i have ever been in. it made the most frightening noises and we kept waiting for the tire to blow and to crash and burn. When we asked him if we should pull over he just said ¨esta bien¨ and turned the music back up to cover up the noise. The busride back took 24 hours because our first bus broke down for 7 hours. While that was pretty torturous Carnival and Panama City was so good, that we considered it well worth it.
Pictures soon I promise!! particularly a bunch from Carnival. It seriously was amazing... a little bit of a shit show... but def. completely worth it.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Its about time
Its about time I start a blog, with all the traveling I do. This is for you, my friends and family, and for this time abroad, Im required to keep a journal, and to be honest, I havent been keeping up well enough when I just write at home. Costa Rica is one of the most beautiful countries I have been to, the people are incredibly friendly, and I live with this amazing family, who likes me despite the fact that the first day I showed up I couldnt speak a lick of spanish. Thats improving I swear. I dont think I ever studied this much in the states as I have here. Most of my classes are amazing, I have a wonderful spanish teacher all to myself (yes im in the special class) and my environmental classes are extremely interesting. My poverty and human development class... well lets just say im not too happy about that one... but dont worry, Im sure ill have stories soon.
This past weekend I was in Arenal, thats where one of the volcanoes is, but the weather wasnt very good for seeing it so we spent the day in the hot springs instead. May I just say a day in hot springs is one of the most amazing and relaxing things one could ever do for themselves. Were def. planning on returning. Then some Tico friends of ours came and picked us up and took us to a fiesta nearby, where we camped out, drank, and I obnoxiously tried to practice my spanish. I think I get an A for effort... I hope. There was this awesome pool there that instead of being clorinated, it was constantly fed by a fresh spring, so if nobody swam in it for a while, supposedly it was fine to drink. Intriguing right? Also there was a mini lake with a crocodile in it, which i was paid ten dollars to jump in, go under water, and hop back out. Technically a Caymen actually, but I of course, having spent to much money on this trip already, was like okay! and hopped in. Actually Hunter and Katy still owe me. Hmmm.... currently in the works, planning a trip to Panama for Carnival. Basically Latin Americas Mardi Gras... Sadly we wont be able to be there for Tuesday which is when it gets really insane, but the whole weekend is supposed to be nuts. Ill keep you updated.
This past weekend I was in Arenal, thats where one of the volcanoes is, but the weather wasnt very good for seeing it so we spent the day in the hot springs instead. May I just say a day in hot springs is one of the most amazing and relaxing things one could ever do for themselves. Were def. planning on returning. Then some Tico friends of ours came and picked us up and took us to a fiesta nearby, where we camped out, drank, and I obnoxiously tried to practice my spanish. I think I get an A for effort... I hope. There was this awesome pool there that instead of being clorinated, it was constantly fed by a fresh spring, so if nobody swam in it for a while, supposedly it was fine to drink. Intriguing right? Also there was a mini lake with a crocodile in it, which i was paid ten dollars to jump in, go under water, and hop back out. Technically a Caymen actually, but I of course, having spent to much money on this trip already, was like okay! and hopped in. Actually Hunter and Katy still owe me. Hmmm.... currently in the works, planning a trip to Panama for Carnival. Basically Latin Americas Mardi Gras... Sadly we wont be able to be there for Tuesday which is when it gets really insane, but the whole weekend is supposed to be nuts. Ill keep you updated.
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