Elissa's Travel Adventures: ¡Ay ay ay!

I apologize for the long delay between updates, I had planned on writing sooner, but technological difficulties have held me up. As some of you know, about 3 weeks ago, my laptop died on me. For some reason, even though I haven´t had any major problems with my Mac, this was one of my worst fears coming down here. After an initial reaction of panicked distress and an express delivery of my software discs thanks to my family, I think I´m hopefully on the right track to getting a new hard drive installed. The thought of my computer having such major surgery in Costa Rica scares me a little bit, but luckily there are a few Apple distributors in San José here that can handle the situation. I´m very grateful to our program director here for letting me borrow one of her laptops in the mean time. I hope to have my own computer back in about 2 weeks (cross you fingers for me please)! Writing e-mails in Spanish about computer issues was definitely challenging. This experience was not one I had hoped to have this semester, but it has taught me to have patience. Let this be a lesson to all of you: beware of improper shut downs and remember to have patience with technology. Also, I think when I come home, I´m going to invest in an external hard drive to back up all my documents, music, and pictures…better late than never I suppose! Oh well, life happens, and as they say in Costa Rica, ¡pura vida!

A lot´s happened in the last few weeks, so this may be a bit lengthy…

When I wrote my last update, we were planning a trip to the beach. That weekend, we went to Jacó, about 3 hours from San Ramón. We had heard it was very touristy and developed, but it was close and we figured it would be a good first trip to plan. We got there without any major problems, but at our 1st bus stop, we got some help from a man named Robert aka ¨Gilligan.¨ Originally from Chicago, he now helps confused tourists such as ourselves for tips ¨to buy dinner, a cabina, and cigarettes…all you need, really.¨ :) He was nice and helpful and had even been to Portland before. If you´re ever near the bus stop in Puntarenas, ask for Gilligan and he´s got you covered. When we first got to Jacó, it was pouring rain and the streets were literally flooding from so much water. At dinner, we lifted our feet as a car drove by and water flowed onto the floor of the open air restaurant. We stayed at Cabinas Antonio for about $12 a night per person. It was a simple, but cute place for being so cheap. After the rain stopped, we waded through the water to go for a night walk on the beach. When our feet first touched the water, we couldn´t believe how warm it was! When we came back to our rooms, the water had magically disappeared from the streets and the next morning we found bright sunshine outside our door. We got an early start and rented surfboards that we all shared. I was super nervous to try it out at first, but it was a lot of fun and after awhile I could even stand up on the board on some baby waves. Sitting on the beach, watching the waves, I thought about how blessed I am to be in Costa Rica right now enjoying this amazing scene. Even though we all payed the price for so much time in the sun, it was a fun weekend at the beach.

The next Monday (September 14), we participated in the ¨Desfile de Faroles,¨ a lantern parade that children and families participate in. It was the night before Independence Day and we had made our own plastic faroles the week before out of plastic soda bottles. It was neat to experience the culture that way, though we were a little embarrassed of our simple faroles compared to the more elaborate ones the kids had. We were stared at as the ¨Gringas con faroles,¨ but one little girl said, ¨¡Que lindos!¨as we passed by, so it made me feel better that at least someone appreciated them. The next day, we watched the Independence Day parade. That included lots of school bands and baton twirlers. I didn´t feel like a tourist watching the parade, but a member of the community, as the whole city lined the streets to watch.

The next week, on Thursday the 24th, we went on a field trip to San José and the surrounding area. We went to the national museum and national theater in San José and the next day visited old historical churches. It involved long tours and note taking, but it was a good field trip that also included lots of good food and a nice hotel. The day after we got back, San Ramón´s soccer team was playing at the stadium right by my house. Luckily my host mom had an extra ticket and invited me along. We tied 1-1, but it was fun to watch all the crazy fans shouting at the refs and players.

On Monday, the 28th, we had our last dance class. With 4 classes, we learned to meringue and salsa, but it definitely left me wanting to learn more. We were all sad when our last class came to an end, but we now have a basic understanding of the steps and twirls, which I may or may not have forgotten already…hopefully it´s now ingrained into my subconscious. :)

This last weekend, we went on our 2nd beach trip, to Santa Teresa. We had been told that it is a beautiful beach because it isn´t crowded. Though it´s a long 5-6 hour trip, we figured it would be worth it and left early Friday at 7 in the morning. We got on a direct bus that goes on a ferry to cross over to the Nicoya Peninsula and then continues on to Santa Teresa. On the ferry on the way over, we saw a man decked out in head to toe University of Oregon gear and found out he and his family from Portland decided to take a leave of absence from their teaching jobs to live here with their kids for 9 months. We probably wouldn´t have talked to him had he not been showing his school pride, but it goes to show what a very small world it is. We arrived at our hostel, Tranquilo Backpackers around mid-day. It was my first time in a hostel and I was a little nervous at first, but it was definitely a good experience that recommend. We payed around $11 a night each and the rooms and bathrooms were simple and not the cleanest, but it was so cool to meet people from all over the world there. We made our own dinner and a few friends in the communal kitchen and lounged around in hammocks. For some reason, the Santa Teresa area has quite a few Israeli tourists there, so we met 3 guys from Israel at our hostel. It is amazing how first impressions can change so much after talking to someone for awhile and getting to know them. It is neat to hear the travel stories of people who go from beach to beach, country to country, drifting around and surfing. We taught the Israelis some card games and English slang phrases and they taught us some card games and a few Hebrew words – I now know a few words other than ¨mazltov¨ and ¨shalom.¨ Unfortunately it didn´t offer us a lot of opportunities to practice our Spanish, but it was a cultural experience. Saturday morning, we rented surfboards again, but it wasn´t as successful as my first experience. The waves were choppy and we got all got pretty thrashed. I ran into a rock and scraped up my leg and feet, but I attempted one more time after that. Luckily the blood didn´t attract any sharks and I made it through the day attack free, though I unfortunately can´t say the same for the mosquitos. Luckily the sun was nicer to us this time, but it feels like it isn´t a trip to the beach if we don´t come back beat up, burned, bruised, and scraped. The beach there was so beautiful and peaceful, I´m really glad we got to experience it. It´s a really laid back, sleepy area that attracts a lot of surfers. There were even a few yoga places, but unfortunately I didn´t come prepared. Yoga overlooking the beach would have been a perfect addition to the weekend. One exciting highlight was when saw a family of monkeys up in the trees bordering the sand. We were all very excited for our first encounter with Costa Rican monkeys. Before coming here, I most wanted to see monkeys and now that I have, I finally feel like I´m in Costa Rica. On Saturday evening, we walked on the beach and watched the sunset, it was really heavenly and once again I realize how blessed I am to be able to enjoy such amazing sights. We left paradise bright and early Sunday at 6 a.m. to catch the bus back to San Ramón to start homework and prepare for the upcoming week. It was a quick trip, but definitely one to remember.

Sorry this update was so long, I had a lot of experiences to catch you up on. Thanks for sticking it out and I´ll try and keep up on this more often. I can´t believe it´s October already! Until then, ¡hasta luego amigos!

Renting surfboards and attempting to look like actual surfers...