Christmas Anyone???

Ya that's right, you read correctly: Christmas is here. I came home from the gym today and there was a Christmas reef lit up on the front door. SO WEIRD! Don't they know we haven't even had Thanksgiving yet??? Oh wait...that's right...no, they don't, because they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here! Makes sense I suppose...that whole pilgrims and indians thing didn't really happen here in Central America. On a different note...I'm running out of money! Quickly! lol. I just need to make it 4 more weeks! But with a trip every weekend, It's going to be tight. And may I just say budgeting is NOT fun while you are in a foreign country and trying to do as many things as possible while you're there!!! Therefore, I'm pretending I have more money than I actually do. I mean hey, that's what credit cards and overdraft protection are for right??! (I have a feeling my Ma and Gma are grimacing right now. :-) And on the note of spending money, I'm going to Panama this weekend! To Bocas del Toro, a series of Islands that is suppose to be like paradise. Surprisingly, it's only costing me around120 for three nights. Not bad. Then the next weekend is Nicaragua! I'm gonna have three countries under my belt after this semester! Awesome. And then I only have two weekends left. Maybe I'll use one to go back to Jaco and surf again! That was so fun last time. Hopefully our last weekend here all the girls that were here with me the first month are going to do a last trip sort of thing. Not sure where to yet.
Alright, well I have to go work on homework. I have a ton. As usual. Love you all!

Random Thoughts

Sup yall. So I have a lot of time to think here, and these are just some of the things that tend to pass through my head:

Why, please tell me WHY, in a country where it rains SOOOO much, do they put tile that becomes dangerously slippery when wet ALL OVER THE CITY?! I mean really?! Does the city get pleasure out of being constantly sued?! Actually, come to think of it, I bet the city of San Jose isn't even held responsible for stuff like that. There are random pot holes in the sidewalks every other step, various dangerous items strewn around the city like broken computers and downed trees, random holes in the street, jagged metal pole stubs....etc. Basically, when you walk around here, you must stare down at the ground directly in front of you to avoid killing yourself. Oh and how could I forget the perpetually slimy, slippery, sidewalks due to the mildew/algae stuff growing everywhere. I suppose this is understandable considering it's wet quite often here.

Why does EVERY single male you pass on the street or that drives past in a car (taxi drivers included) feel the need to say SOMETHING to every girl they see? I mean, I understand that it is acceptable here and all the ticas are used to it. So technically I shouldnt be complaining about it. And for the first month I think I handled it rather well. But now it's just utterly annoying. I AM NOT a piece of meat. I am a person, with a mind and a personality IN ADDITION to my physical appearance. Oh gosh...they have me sounding like a hard core feminist now! I think I have just reached my quota of "oh baby"s and "mamacita"s. I mean, I'm all for people being friendly with each other and saying hello on the street and such, but saying something that is equivalent to "you're hot and I want to bang you"...not so cool.

Every country has their "Mexicans". What I mean by this is that in the States, we have a large population of Mexicans (and others) that enter the country illegally and provide cheap labor. They do the jobs that US citizens dont want to do. I can't imagine how quick our economly would collapse if the undocumented migrants ( i would say illegals, but my human rights teacher hates that term and gets on us if we say it) were deported. Last week, I visited a coffee plantation and I learned that Nicaraguans are the "Mexicans" of Costa Rica. I had already had my suspicions of this since every single maid here seems to be Nicaraguan, and many Ticos have quite a bit of prejudice towards Nicaraguans. But at the coffee plantation, my inklings were confirmed. Nicaraguans constitute nearly the entire coffee picking labor force. And let me tell you, picking coffee is NOT easy. They work sun up to sun down in the blazing sun, filling huge baskets with coffee seeds. The baskets weigh 30 lbs when full and they get to lug this around with them. A really GOOD picker can pick up to 25 baskets a day. At the end of the day, they get paid 800 colones for each basket. That's about $1.50. So on average, they make $30 a day. How do you live off that? Although I do have to admit that the coffee plantation provides the workers with housing and electriciy and water. But who knows of what quality? Anyway...I just thought i would share.

How does a country with such an amazing reputation for environmental conservation have such a dirty capital city?! There is trash EVERYWHERE! And don't even get me started on the air pollution. Even though the emissions testing in the States screwed me over this past yr, I could not be MORE grateful that we have it than I am after being here in San Jose for 3 months. I think I might have smoker's lungs by the time I get home. And where are all the recycling containers? Shouldn't that be a priority here?

And last, but so, so not least, the internet. I understand that I am not in the US. I understand that internet is not always reliable. However, that does not change the fact that my internet crapping out on me constantly grates on my nerves. It makes it rather difficult to do homework considering all my classes are research oriented or require power point presentations with pictures and info from the internet. It also makes it quite difficult to keep in touch with people back home. For instance, I had attempted emailing J's dad about FOUR times before i actually got a message to go through. Thus, it took me a month to actually get my message out since every time one failed, I was too frustrated to try again right away. And facebook hates me. But I knew that already.

Do my teachers not understand the concept of organization? You know, the idea of handing out a syllabus or at least giving students a heads up on when exams will be? Or even just giving exams at all? I really have no idea how I'm doing in ANY of my classes right now because I have gotten NO feedback on any of the work I have done. We all know how much I LOVE to be completely clueless...especially about something as unimportant as my grades. I swear all we do in class is sit and talk about disjointed topics, random tangents, and irrelevant information....but then surprise! We have a test over all this random, unrelated info in a few days, oh and dont forget the five papers you have to write as well. Ok cool. Great. I suppose it is just obvious to them that I came to Costa Rica to do homework 24/7. That makes sense. Why would I come to travel and experience another culture? That would just be silly.

Ok I think I'm done sharing my thoughts with you for now. Not exactly because i WANT to be, but because I have homework to attend to. And then I'm going to see a spanish movie later! Gestacion. It was actually made in Costa Rica! Love you all.

My Host Family

So I realized I havent introduced you guys to my host family and I have been living with them now for a month! First I'll explain the dynamics. There is a Mom named Sonia and I'm not sure how old she is, but if I had to guess I would say 50 something. Then there is Aldo, the son. He is 26 and is a lawyer. The daughter's name is Laura. She is 24 I think and is an architect. The last person that actually lives in the house with us is Rosa. She is the maid from Nicaragua. She can't read or write, and her children still live in Nicaragua with her mom so she hardly ever gets to see them. It's sad. At first I didnt know how I felt about her because when I tried to talk to her, she seemed a little rude. But that was before I knew anything about her. It's amazing how learning about someone's life can change your perspective of them. She must be so sad and uncomfortable all the time. She has only been living here for about 7 months, so she may not be used to everything in Costa Rica yet. I know I'm sure not. The other day for the first time, she came into my room and had a conversation with me! She asked who were all the people in my pictures that I put up in my room so I got to tell her bout everyone! She told me J was really handsome and that Jimmy and Jack were super cute! So true. Lol. I like Rosa. It's still uncomfortable for me to have a maid. I don't like it at all because I just feel bad when I come into my room and stuff is straightened up. Plus I know where everything is in my slight disorder...but then she moves it. Lol. Oh well. I'm just happy to have met her.

Ok so back to the rest of the family. There is a dad. His name is Mario and he is Italian. But he and Sonia are separated. He visits for dinner every wednesday and friday night. Its a little strange that he still comes over to me, but I guess if they are happy like that then rock on. I don't really talk to Mario much. As for Sonia...sometimes I think she is ok and sometimes I just flat out don't like her. She can be mean and rude in my opinion. She is very moody. And at first we didnt get much food, but now its better cause we had our program say something to her. Mostly i'm disappointed because I expected to be more intergrated into the family. If my family hosted a student, we would include them in our lives. But for Sonia, it seems like its all about the money. We pay quite a bit of money to live here and she can make decent money off us, especially if she skimps on food. She has been hosting students for 15 yrs though, so they may have something to do with it. I just feel like we are a hassle for her and we are just something to be put up with so she can get her money. But oh well. I'm making the best of it. I was considering moving out because my roommate was going to. We were going to move in with a different family and hope it was better. I decided over this past weekend that I wasnt going to move though because I love my tico brothers (yes i know i only told u bout one...i'm getting to that). And then when I got home yesterday, my roommate had changed her mind bout moving. So we are both staying. Its only 7 more weeks.

Aldo is my ACTUAL tico brother cuz he lives here, but Alberto practically lives here. Lol. He is here like four times a week to watch some sort of game on the big tv. He is Aldo's best friend. They joke with me alot and I love it. It reminds me of my family back home, especially chris since he always messes with me. I give it to them right back though! I feel like I have the best bond with them outta of the girls that live here with me (there are three other gringas) because I'm always down there watching the games with them: football, soccer, baseball, whatever. And alot of times Aldo has other friends over like Jonathan, Diego, Cucho, Rashid, Juan Carlos, and Jose. They are pretty cool. They dont seem to mind me hanging around them. It just makes me feel more at home. And of course they give me grief for being from st. Louis and having the Rams as my football team. How embarrassing. Lol.

Laura actually isnt here that much so I really never talk to her. Mostly what keeps me from talking more is the hassle of being misunderstood. But i'm slowing getting over that. I actually talked to Laura last night bout how badly burned my face was. Ya...its bad. I didnt wear sunscreen this past weekend and normally that wouldnt be a problem, but I didnt realize I was surfing for 3 straight hrs and so the sun was reflecting off the water right onto my face! Ouch. One more member of the family to comment on....Isaac....the ugly poodle. Gosh I hate small dogs. He is so annoying too! Always whining and pooping and peeing ALL over the house. It's really gross. I have stepped in pee quite a few times...and u all know how often I walk around barefoot. Ya...ick.

Speaking of ick, the house has a spider and cockroach problem in addition to those tasty little ants I already told u about. I killed two spiders on the wall by my head last night as i was laying down to go to sleep. Awesome.

And did I mention the left side of my bed is permanently sunk in? Lol. Its an old memory foam type mattress and I think it has lost its will to return to it's original shape. When I lay down I automatically roll left. Lol.

There is also a weird, old, pagan, renainssance looking painting hanging in my room. The colors are pastel and faded, and it's framed in a cheap metal that looks spray painted gold. Definitely not my taste. And its always crooked! Drives me nuts. The rest of the room is very old fashioned. Think country home-ish. Robin egg blue walls, wallpaper, old wooden desk, heavy dark curtains, etc.

I never did tell you guys bout Isla Tortuga!!! We went a few weekends ago and it was really fun. It took awhile to get there and we only got to stay on the beach for four hours, but the trip there involved a nice boat so that was cool. On the island we played sand volleyball, which I rocked at! I showed up almost all of the other girls and a majority of the boys too! It was fun....wow I'm competetive. Lol. I ate ceviche which is barely cooked cut up fish soup. It was really good. I kayaked with Dani out to a big rock in the OCEAN!!! and I rode on a banana boat which is really just a big inflated tube that you straddle with like 5 other ppl and they pull you around behind a boat and flip you off a few times. It made me miss going to the lake every summer.

Well I'm gonna take a break for now. I feel like this post is long enough. But I might write later tonight to tell you bout this past weekend in Jaco for Halloween! It was crazy. Good times. Love you all!

-Meg

Volcan Arenal

Volcan Arenal was SOOO amazing! Its one of the active volcanoes here, but unfortunately it was too cloudy the night we were there to see the lava and the dragon spitting fire! I'm just kidding bout the dragon. The first day we were there, we went up into the mountain to a resort called Baldi Springs. It was huge and luxurious...quite different from what I have been used to here. It had 25 pools, hot springs, and swim up bars! Plus three AMAZING water slides. When i first saw the slides, I thought no big deal. They arent anything special. We have way bigger and scarier ones in the states. Oh, was i wrong. I chose the middle one first which turned out to be the craziest one! You literally flip around inside the slide. It's pitch black, you have no idea where you're going, you are thrown around like a rag doll, and then at the end there is a huge drop! Its so steep that you hardly touch the slide as you fall. lol. I actually head the back of my head really hard on the slide right when I came out. I had a slight headache and a little knot ALL day. Then I went down like 7 more times. Lol. It was great. So after this bodily abuse, I lived it up in the hot waters (for as long as I could stand, which wasnt really that long. Yall know how i am with hot tubs) and then cooled off in the cooler water. And now for the best part...I got a hour long massage and facial in the cutest little spa right there on the side of the volcano...for fifty bucks. Oh yes. And it was great. Needless to say, after some hot spring action and a lil rub down, my body didnt remember how harshly i had treated it earlier that day. Lol.

The next day we headed to the base of the volcano once again, but this time to the most amazing waterfall I have seen since I have been here. I can hardly explain it. It's like the waterfalls you see in the movies. The really tall, powerful, loud ones. And we swam in it. I was one of the first ones in. I couldnt wait. I kid you not, It was a full cardio workout swimmin in that pool. The waterfall was so powerful that you were constantly being pushed around, hit in the face with waves, slammed into rocks. It was amazing. We swam around behind the waterfall and climbed around on some rocks. One of the boys with us had a waterproof camera so he got some pretty amazing pictures I have on facebook. All in all, it was an amazing weekend once again. Then I returned home to the drudgery of San Jose: class, gym, eat, hw, sleep, class, gym, hw....well you get the idea.

Well until next time! Mucho amor a todos!

-M

Oh and I forgot to tell you! On the way to arenal we stopped in the cutest little town with amazing landscaping in the central plaza and the cutest church. And that's what the pics are of!

SORRY!

ok guys. I don't know whats wrong with me, but I just don't feel like posting anything lately! I'm so tired all the time from class and working out and going places on weekends! lol. I promise I will try to tell you more soon. I love you all!

Puerto Viejo

Que pasa? Last weekend we went to Puerto Viejo which meant we finally made it to the caribbean side of the country! Puerto Viejo is a beach in the province Limon, which is mostly a province of people of Jamaican heritage. They speak a weird mix of languages that I couldn't understand, but it sounded sweet! It was extremely hot and I was basically sweating the entire time, but our room did have air conditioning. That's right, AC. Amazing. First time I have seen AC (except for the ATM in Manuel Antonio) since I have been here!

Friday night we went to a really good Italian resturant and then some of the girls went out afterwards. I just walked along the beach and then hit my bed. We had to get up early saturday morning for...SNORKELING!!!! I think thats how u spell it anyway. We took another hike through the rainforest to a boat that took us out to sea! It was SOOOO cool. The water was much more clear in Puerto Viejo than the other beaches I had been to so it was great for snorkeling. I saw the coral reef, lots of ameobas, and LOTS of fish. My favorite kind of fish was this bright blue one that then had even BRIGHTER phosporescent blue spots! It pretty much just glowed in the dark! How do all of them not get eaten?? lol

After that we chilled for the rest of the day, shopping at jewelry stands on the street, and laying on the beach. Sunday morning I went for a run with Dani and then got on the bus to go home. All in all, Puerto Viejo was pretty sweet. Another very hippie beach town.

I still have yet to take surfing lessons! I better get on that! Though I think we are going to Jaco for halloween weekend and that is suppose to be a great place to surf. So maybe then! Love you all

Montezuma Beach

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay. This is actually going to be about last weekend´s trip to Montezuma, a little hippie beach town on the pacific coast. However, before I start describing what is sure to be a long and involved story, I want to say I miss you all and I will be super happy to see you all in a few months. I have realized how much I rely on my family and friends to get through life! But in general, I will also be happy to be back in the US. Funny, I have grown to appreciate my own country more while exploring another. I suppose that´s common. I can´t wait for hot showers again (my showers here consist of literally 2 minutes of warm water. I have become a MUCH quicker showerer!). And while the extra protein IS appreciated, I will be happy to come home and eat food SANS insects. As well as sleep in a bed that is SPIDER free. Oh ya. Spiders. And yall know how I love spiders. I have bites EVERYWHERE. Its a constant part of my life now. However, I am no longer deathly afraid of them for the simply fact that I cant possibly be constantly jumping on top on couches, screaming, or refusing to hike through the jungles. Lol.

So on to Montezuma. We arrived late Friday night after 6 hours on two buses and a ferry (from which we got to see the most amazing sunset), hoping that our keys were there waiting for us since the hotel office closes at 6 (by the by, Ticos dont like to work long hours, if any at all. It´s hell trying to make travel plans because no one ever answers the phone!). I had talked to someone earlier in the week and told them we would be coming friday night, but they said to call back thursday just to remind them (how proposterous! The GUEST calling to remind the HOTEL that they were coming! That´s how we do down here tho. lol). So I called thursday, and as i suspected, no one answered my ten calls. So I faxed them and prayed they would get it. Sure enough, the keys were there for us and all was well. We had some good food and went to bed.

Saturday for God knows what reason I woke up at 6! So I snuck out the the beach to go read on the rocks. I watched some men fish for awhile with just a reel of line in their hands, no pole, then went out to the rocks where I found a TON of little cute shells to make some cool jewelry (if i get around to it lol). Some of the rocks looked alive their were so many crabs crawling around on them! I tried to get close to take a cool pic, but those suckers are quick! They must feel vibrations or something cuz they knew i was creepin on them. lol. Once everyone else was up we got breakfast (french toast! I was so stoked. They get tourists there often, so they had US food). Then we set off to find....THE WATERFALLS! We probably hiked about 7 miles, asked 5 different ticos for directions, and STILL failed. Miserably. We did find some cool secluded jungle spots with vines that we promptly began to climb. There are some cool pics from those spots. We also found little waterfalls, but not the big ones we were searching for. So we called it a trip, hit the beach, showered, dinner and so forth. And all of a sudden its night and the street (one of two in the town) was FILLED with ppl! Some tourists, but mostly locals. Blaring music from cars, drinking, hittin on the girls, dancing, eating, smoking. Pretty lively bunch. So I only stayed for about twenty minutes. Lol. Not too much into being stared at 24-7. That´s something I still havent gotten used to. It still bugs me. And its not that I´m pretty, its just that I´m white. Thats seriously it. They stare at all of us ALL THE TIME. I think its like a sport or a game for them. I honestly think they might have invented a drinking game with it like everytime u spot a gringo (white person) u drink. lol. Wouldnt surprise me in the least.

Sunday I slept in a bit till 8 and then got breakfast. Then four of us headed out to try once again to find those elusive falls! We headed out down the path that we had tried taking the day before because everyone ASSURED us that was the way to go. But we KNEW from yesterday that it dead ended! Incorrect. The path does not dead end persay...it just sort of ceases to be a path. Therefore, we pressed on through the jungle. I´m talking like rambo stuff. I felt like such a BA (for the generation that might not know this acronym...ask a youngen). After 45 minutes, but what felt like a day, of climbing steep rocks, dodging trees, catching spiders in the face, dripping sweat nonstop (its too humid in the rainforest for ur sweat to evaporate off ur skin in the least, so it just condensates on u instantly), and getting undescribably filthy...the gushing sounds of running water reached our ears! We knew we were close! My feet were aching for the cool touch of the water, not to mention the chance to be rid of bearing all my weight for a little while! Mind u, I hiked the whole way there barefoot. Oh yes...barefoot. Why would someone do such a ridiculous thing, you might ask? Well lets say that someone had simply walked around in her special hiking shoes yesterday (bought in Costa Rica for 100 dollars because everyone told her they were worth it...liars) and procured a huge blister on her left pinky toe. So the girl obviously didnt want to wear her hiking shoes again and didnt bring any tennis shoes. Then lets say that someone told her she would have no problem hiking to the falls in her flip flops. Naturally, the girl would wear flips flops. This is all hypothetical of course. I would NEVER do something this insensible. Ya....right. Ok so there I am in flip flops which honestly was working out great until I got drenched in sweat and covered in nice slippery mud (curteousy of the storm the night before). Then my shoes didnt feel like staying on my feet. Ergo...barefoot it was. Thank God for south city alley feet, eh guys?

Back to the story. We heard the water and two minutes later reached our first sign of civilization! A ziplining stand! We didnt care that no one was there, just that we were still close to human contact! lol. At this point, a snake decided to crawl across Dani´s foot. Luckily it was rather small and looked harmless and just wanted to get away from us. So we went on our way. Soon...EUREKA! Waterfalls! I immediately start stripping down, not at all deterred by the murky, muddy water I´m seeing in the swimming area. I tell the girls I´m going to jump and they all look at me like I´m crazy. Who knows if there are rocks down there! But I had heard ppl jump from the second waterfall ALL the time...I just wasnt quite sure we were at the second waterfall. So I go to the edge, look down, and....move down to a lower ledge. I look down again, and....move down to yet a lower ledge. By now I´m fairly confident that if i jump and hit a rock I prolly will just break something and hopefully not my back. So I jump! I´m all in one piece. No worries. Then the others follow. By the time they get down there I´ve found the rope swing! Very fun. But once it got caught up on the back of my arm and well....needless to say I have a nice bruise. Totally worth it. Then I see a blue rope leading straight UP the mountain. Well if there is a rope, it must be because ppl use it to climb right?! So off I go! Barefoot of course. I kid u not, I literally free climbed a mountain at a 80 degree angle barefoot. So great. It didnt really lead anywhere that we could find though I KNOW there was suppose to be a way to get down to the other big falls below the one we were swimming in...besides jumping from the top of our waterfall of course. Even I wasn´t up for that one. It was quite a long ways down. Anyway, we packed up, headed back, and make it in time to eat something before, get this....our horseback ride!

So I was really excited to go riding because I hadnt been in awhile and I do like horses. We were going to go across seven beaches and reach a more hidden, less visited waterfall. All I could think of was those commercials of ppl horseback riding on the beach having the time of their lives. Well, I should have known it wouldnt be that way! lol. Very naive of me. When I first saw the horses, my gut reaction was to not even go. Just to say sorry but no thank u. The horses were small, skinny, bug infested, scratch up, worn down, and very skiddish. I felt horrible for those poors animals. I´m used to riding big, muscular, healthy horses that are happy and like to run. These didnt even wanna walk, much less run. But we got on and went for about 15 min, the horses stumbling their way along the paths because they didnt seem to be able to see very well, until I couldnt take it anymore. I just felt so bad. The guide wouldnt even let them drink any water! It was so hot out there! So I told him I was going back and that I would return on foot if it was a problem. He told me to take my horse with and just tie it up when I got back to the starting point. So me and two others turned around and walked our horses back, letting them go at their own pace and drink from the fresh water streams. When we got back we tied them up in the shade and took off their saddles and blankets which we probably weren´t suppose to. Oh well. I´m glad it only cost me 35 dollars, but it was still a disappointment. Live and learn.

After sleeping a bit on the beach (and getting mauled yet AGAIN by mosquitoes...bug spray DOES NOT WORK!), we had dinner, half of which I ended up feeding to the cute, disgustingly skinny stray dog that had adopted me for the weekend. The animals in costa rica make me sad. So many strays and mistreated ones. Oh and speaking of animals, ticos have some sort of obsession with poodles. Ick. Get a real dog ppl.

During dinner the storm rolled in. I have never seen anything so spectacular in my life. We went to our deck to watch the lighting dance across the sky over the ocean. Sometimes a series of bolts would hit that looked like a lace pattern across the entire sky. It lit up the beach like day time, and the thunder shook our little beachfront hotel. For my storm lovers back home, you might have cried it was so beautiful.

Sorry for the abrupt stop before. A class came into the computer lab and I got kicked out. Where was I? Oh yes, the storms. After the storms we went to bed and awoke to a kick butt sunrise. I'm more one for the sunsets, but this was pretty sweet. We had to catch the bus by 6 to go home and as a few of us were waiting at the stop, Amy walked around the corner with disbelief all over her face. She held only a bra and a camera case in her hands. She said "ok so i'm just trying to roll with this right now, but I got robbed last night and this is all I have left". We couldn't believe it. It turns out that two girls staying in Amy's room had left late at night to walk around while Amy and Nicole were still in the room sleeping. They left the door unlocked and cracked open. Someone must have come in during the night and just grabbed whatever bags were closest to the door. Those bags turned out to be Amy's and Nicole's. They were already packed up with everything they had brought too since we were leaving so early. That's probably the 5th time since I have been here that one of our girls has gotten robbed. Once it was at gunpoint. I'm not sure if I'm gonna make it back without being robbed. At this rate, it doesn't look promising.

Well that was a long post. Hope I didn't bore anyone! Love you all!