The past couple of weeks have been pretty crazy and stressful, but we’ve managed to squeeze some fun activities in between our studying. On October 30, we went rafting down the Río Reventazón, which was a lot of fun, even though I was scared out of my mind at first. I had been told that it’s quite common for people to get thrown out of the raft, so I had the image in my head of being tossed into the rapids every 5 seconds. After getting all geared up, we were listening to the safety directions in Spanish. I stopped paying attention when I realized that our raft said it was made in Grants Pass, Oregon! I was very excited and couldn’t believe that something made so close to home was all the way down here in Costa Rica. I tuned back in to get most of the safety basics and then we were off down the river (which was very brown due to the recent rain and sediments). Most of the rapids were class III, but there was one that our guide told us was a class IV+, though I’m not sure if he was lying and just told us that to make us think it was more hardcore. No one ended up falling out of the raft and I realized that my fear in the beginning was for nothing. Next time I want to go rafting on more dangerous rapids.
Later on in the week, Molly (the other exchange student living in my house) and I made cookies for our host family. They had been talking about us making something for them for a while, and we realized time to do it was running out, so we quickly purchased supplies for chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. There were a few mishaps…I spilled brown sugar all over the counter and floor right away, the oven didn’t have a temperature dial on it, and we put in a few too many cups of oatmeal. Despite all that, most of the cookies turned out pretty well. We had to play with the oven a bit and some cookies were a bit burnt, but our family didn’t care, they seemed to like the cookies anyway. They said the only thing that was missing was that they didn’t watch and learn how to make them themselves, so they want us to make them again sometime. Our host mom showed us how to make gallo pinto after that. For those of you who don’t know, gallo pinto is a Costa Rican breakfast staple. It’s rice and beans mixed up with some sauces, onions, garlic, cilantro, and a few secret ingredients. I’m sure I won’t be able to duplicate my host mom’s, but hopefully I can remember how to make it and practice next semester.
The weekend of November 6th, our group took another beach trip. This time we went to Manuel Antonio, because we had been promised we’d see monkeys and sloths if we visited the national park. We even brought Glenn along, a volunteer from Seattle who came to teach English for 2 weeks and lived with Mary’s host family. We had our second hostel experience and got in some quality beach time. On Saturday we went to Manuel Antonio National Park and weren’t disappointed. We saw lots of carablanca monkeys right on the beach because people were feeding them, which fyi, we’ve been told not to do because it can rot their teeth and therefore possibly kill them. We also saw 2 sloths. The white sand beaches in the park were amazing. Some beaches hardly had any people on them. It was quite relaxing and a nice break from schoolwork. Later on in the day, we saw a ton of titi monkeys at the restaurant where we had dinner. Most of the group went back to San Ramón on Saturday night, but Kira and I decided to stay one more night and leave on Sunday. That night we met two girls from Oregon who were staying in our hostel room. One was from Amity and the other was from Beaverton and both had graduated from OSU. None of us could believe what a small world it is.
This week has been a bit stressful trying to finish up papers and projects before we leave for Nicaragua tomorrow morning. We’ll be there for a week on a school field trip, and then the next week we have a weeklong Thanksgiving break. We’re all trying to figure out plans and finish homework so we won’t have to worry about it during our break. Some of us are splitting up during the vacation and it’ll be nice to have a break, since we are together pretty much everyday, but I think it’s ending up that we are all traveling to many of the same places. Maybe we’ll run into each other, maybe we won’t. Or we will and pretend we don’t know each other. :) Here’s my crazy Thanksgiving week plans…I’ll be meeting up with family on Monday morning and staying with them for two days until they fly home to Oregon. On Wednesday morning, I’ll be going to Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean side and meeting up with Kira and Emily. Then on Thursday, we’re going to Bocas del Toro, some islands in Panama near the border of Costa Rica. That night we’ll try and see if we can find a Thanksgiving dinner in Panama. On Saturday or Sunday we’ll make our way back to Costa Rica and finally back to San Ramón for our last week of classes and then a week of finals.
I can’t believe we have less than a month left here. Time has really flown by and I have a feeling these next 4 weeks are going to go by super fast with all the traveling and studying we’ll be doing. I’m sad to think this adventure will be ending soon, but I’m also excited at the thought of being home just in time for the Christmas season. I helped my host mom decorate the Christmas tree the other day and seeing all the decorations makes me excited. It’ll be sad to leave, but at the same time really nice to be home and see everyone.
I’ll try and write at least once more before I come home and update you on the country hopping we’re about to do.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!
