This was at Turu-Bari.
September 05, 2006
Playing catch up
Hello to all! I have to catch up on everything we did this weekend and explain some of the photos I posted. This whole adventure is quite different than Europe, since I actually live here. The days fly by, but it feels like I’ve been here forever too. Alright… let’s recap—Friday after school I went to the beach at Caldera. It’s the same place I went with the surfer group on my second day here. The taxi ride is about 15 minutes. It was so beautiful, and really nice day there. I went with Agata, Derek, Josh (film student from Toledo) and Stephanie (from Ohio also). We all had so much fun swimming, taking pictures, and exploring a little. There are these really bright colored crabs with bluish claws. If you get close they run in holes that are all over the sand. I will try to get close enough for a picture one of these days. It started pouring (about the same time as before) and walking back to the taxi we were attacked by mosquitoes. I could feel them on me, but didn’t really have any bites when we got back. Stephanie got it the worst, her back was covered in bites! We walked around later that night after a shower, and Lauren and I found a dead puffer fish on the sand. It was pretty cool to see. The picture is kinda blurry, but I’ll probably post it.
On Saturday we went on our first group field trip. It was to Turu-bari park and a crocodile tour on the Tarcoles river. We were split into groups of about 10 and we went down into the park in same compartments (see pics of them and the views). Our guide spoke English to us, which helped me and Josh (we seemed to be the only beginners in our group). We went to see the iguanas (which are still eaten in parts of CR) and then the butterfly garden. Oh, along the way, our guide was showing us plants, and he broke off a branch of this bush and he gave it me to look at. I touched it and the sap which he kept pointing to and then passed it on. About 3 of us had touched it when he told us that the sap was poison! Then we asked what it was called—oleander! Had he told me that in the beginning, I wouldn’t have touched it! I tried to keep my hands away from my face all day. The butterfly garden was cool, we met a coatimundi that was eating butterflies named Willy. He was just a baby and so cute. We found out that he is very tame. Outside the garden, Willy followed us and we met Big Willy, the adult version. They followed us on our whole tour. I was excited about seeing the wildlife, but thought it would be more wild! The guide also caught a raccoon going through the trash, he was pretty tame too. We saw so many cool plants and walked through the most beautiful forest. I tried to take many plant/flower pictures for you nature lovers out there. In the middle of the park we had lunch- a huge, delicious buffet. When we left the park, we went to the Tarcoles river for a boat tour from The Crocodile Man. They pointed out many birds and of course, crocodiles. The guide would get out of the boat and play with the crocodiles, they would snap at him and he even rode one. It was pretty interesting. The only bad part of the day was during the boat ride it started raining, and I was sitting on the side that got soaked.
That was it for Saturday.
Sunday, I was going to meet a bunch of people to go to Montezuma (over the gulf and on the pacific side) but in the morning I didn’t see anyone buying tickets for the ferry. I decided to go anyway and ran into 2 USAC kids, TC and Brady. We traveled on the ferry for an hour and a bus for 2. It was SO worth it. We ate pizza quickly in town, and walked up to some waterfalls I had read about in my guide book. Just look at the pictures- I can’t begin to describe how beautiful it was there. The water was cool and felt so clean compared to the salty ocean water. There were three falls, I didn’t really get a picture of the middle ones, except for Brady jumping into them. We wanted to stay longer, but had to come back for class.
That was about it. It is truly amazing here and I may actually be getting used to the heat. I’m able to blow dry my hair in the morning which is a big step forward!
Gotta run. I’ll write more later.
Love ya!
On Saturday we went on our first group field trip. It was to Turu-bari park and a crocodile tour on the Tarcoles river. We were split into groups of about 10 and we went down into the park in same compartments (see pics of them and the views). Our guide spoke English to us, which helped me and Josh (we seemed to be the only beginners in our group). We went to see the iguanas (which are still eaten in parts of CR) and then the butterfly garden. Oh, along the way, our guide was showing us plants, and he broke off a branch of this bush and he gave it me to look at. I touched it and the sap which he kept pointing to and then passed it on. About 3 of us had touched it when he told us that the sap was poison! Then we asked what it was called—oleander! Had he told me that in the beginning, I wouldn’t have touched it! I tried to keep my hands away from my face all day. The butterfly garden was cool, we met a coatimundi that was eating butterflies named Willy. He was just a baby and so cute. We found out that he is very tame. Outside the garden, Willy followed us and we met Big Willy, the adult version. They followed us on our whole tour. I was excited about seeing the wildlife, but thought it would be more wild! The guide also caught a raccoon going through the trash, he was pretty tame too. We saw so many cool plants and walked through the most beautiful forest. I tried to take many plant/flower pictures for you nature lovers out there. In the middle of the park we had lunch- a huge, delicious buffet. When we left the park, we went to the Tarcoles river for a boat tour from The Crocodile Man. They pointed out many birds and of course, crocodiles. The guide would get out of the boat and play with the crocodiles, they would snap at him and he even rode one. It was pretty interesting. The only bad part of the day was during the boat ride it started raining, and I was sitting on the side that got soaked.
That was it for Saturday.
Sunday, I was going to meet a bunch of people to go to Montezuma (over the gulf and on the pacific side) but in the morning I didn’t see anyone buying tickets for the ferry. I decided to go anyway and ran into 2 USAC kids, TC and Brady. We traveled on the ferry for an hour and a bus for 2. It was SO worth it. We ate pizza quickly in town, and walked up to some waterfalls I had read about in my guide book. Just look at the pictures- I can’t begin to describe how beautiful it was there. The water was cool and felt so clean compared to the salty ocean water. There were three falls, I didn’t really get a picture of the middle ones, except for Brady jumping into them. We wanted to stay longer, but had to come back for class.
That was about it. It is truly amazing here and I may actually be getting used to the heat. I’m able to blow dry my hair in the morning which is a big step forward!
Gotta run. I’ll write more later.
Love ya!
September 04, 2006
Old Blog.
12:30am Wednesday night, Thursday early morn 8/31
I had a funny experience tonight. My mom told me yesterday that she was going to do laundry today. So I put out all of my laundry minus my bras and underwear, because in orientation, they told us that girls must wash their own. My brother, Mario, gave me all of my clothes, then my mom came in to ask me why I don’t wear underwear!! When I told her about orientation, we had a good laugh and she said she will wash ALL my clothes. They must of thought of me as a crazy American with no underwear. I had my first dance class today. Since most of the students (67/84) are taking this class, they had to divide it into four groups. It was AMAZING. We learned some merengue, cambio, salsa, and another dance I don’t know the name of. Our teacher only speaks Spanish, but he is an incredible dancer. We danced so much and learned tons. We only have this class once a week, but he told us we have homework—we much go out and dance at the discos. Not to disappoint our teacher, most of us went dancing tonight. We were all eager to practice our new moves. Some of the girls were getting a little too friendly with the Ticos, but the locals are such good dancers! I danced with Lauren, so we could be inexperienced together. I will be speaking Spanish and a master of the dance floor when I get home. YAY. We had another good dinner tonight- rice/beans, leftover pasta from lunch (fetticini with great cream sauce, ham, and tomatoes) and some kind of sausage sauted with other seasonings. My mom’s boyfriend cooks about half of the meals here. If you remember from the first blog- I didn’t know if he was the boyfriend or what, but he is and stays here a lot during the week. Him and my mom asked me who was the better cook. I told them they were both excellent. He laughed and said that was the right answer- the last student, however, said he was better. ;)
Oh- and I haven’t mentioned the grandfather, Fernando Sr. in a while. This is because no one talks to him- I think he may even be senile. He sits on the porch all day and fiddles with the radio. He doesn’t want to watch tv, or eat with the family. He only comes in to sleep. It’s really weird. The family doesn’t really talk to him, but I can tell he is loved and taken care of. The worst part is that his room isn’t next to my and he coughs very loud in the night.
I do wish it was cooler here, but the visiting professor, from UNR has been here a several weeks and he says it took 2 weeks to adjust and then he felt great. Those from the Midwest are handling the heat/humidity better than I am.
Gotta sleep, early morning tomorrow.
Oh- thanks Briana for my first piece of mail here in Puntarenas. In fact, I was the first student to receive anything in the mail! Exciting.
Love you guys,
McKenzi
P.S. I discovered I love plantains. Muy bien!
P.P.S. Friday morning- changed my mind about plantains. When I had them they other night they were fried and tasted like potato chips, but had them yesterday at lunch and they tasted like some weird not as sweet banana that was cooked.
Also- my wireless internet is not working here. So I haven’t been able to post this, or respond to e-mail as much as I would like to. It’s supposed to be fixed on Monday and I will try to post some photos then.
I had a funny experience tonight. My mom told me yesterday that she was going to do laundry today. So I put out all of my laundry minus my bras and underwear, because in orientation, they told us that girls must wash their own. My brother, Mario, gave me all of my clothes, then my mom came in to ask me why I don’t wear underwear!! When I told her about orientation, we had a good laugh and she said she will wash ALL my clothes. They must of thought of me as a crazy American with no underwear. I had my first dance class today. Since most of the students (67/84) are taking this class, they had to divide it into four groups. It was AMAZING. We learned some merengue, cambio, salsa, and another dance I don’t know the name of. Our teacher only speaks Spanish, but he is an incredible dancer. We danced so much and learned tons. We only have this class once a week, but he told us we have homework—we much go out and dance at the discos. Not to disappoint our teacher, most of us went dancing tonight. We were all eager to practice our new moves. Some of the girls were getting a little too friendly with the Ticos, but the locals are such good dancers! I danced with Lauren, so we could be inexperienced together. I will be speaking Spanish and a master of the dance floor when I get home. YAY. We had another good dinner tonight- rice/beans, leftover pasta from lunch (fetticini with great cream sauce, ham, and tomatoes) and some kind of sausage sauted with other seasonings. My mom’s boyfriend cooks about half of the meals here. If you remember from the first blog- I didn’t know if he was the boyfriend or what, but he is and stays here a lot during the week. Him and my mom asked me who was the better cook. I told them they were both excellent. He laughed and said that was the right answer- the last student, however, said he was better. ;)
Oh- and I haven’t mentioned the grandfather, Fernando Sr. in a while. This is because no one talks to him- I think he may even be senile. He sits on the porch all day and fiddles with the radio. He doesn’t want to watch tv, or eat with the family. He only comes in to sleep. It’s really weird. The family doesn’t really talk to him, but I can tell he is loved and taken care of. The worst part is that his room isn’t next to my and he coughs very loud in the night.
I do wish it was cooler here, but the visiting professor, from UNR has been here a several weeks and he says it took 2 weeks to adjust and then he felt great. Those from the Midwest are handling the heat/humidity better than I am.
Gotta sleep, early morning tomorrow.
Oh- thanks Briana for my first piece of mail here in Puntarenas. In fact, I was the first student to receive anything in the mail! Exciting.
Love you guys,
McKenzi
P.S. I discovered I love plantains. Muy bien!
P.P.S. Friday morning- changed my mind about plantains. When I had them they other night they were fried and tasted like potato chips, but had them yesterday at lunch and they tasted like some weird not as sweet banana that was cooked.
Also- my wireless internet is not working here. So I haven’t been able to post this, or respond to e-mail as much as I would like to. It’s supposed to be fixed on Monday and I will try to post some photos then.
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