LAST NIGHT we saw a TWO TOED SLOTH, a tarantula, a wolf spider, a scorpion that glowed purple like a blacklight, bioluminescent wormy things, crazy vines that do strange things, a grey fox, porcuipines, a coati, racoons, and a ton of other things, all IN THE WILD
It was awesome.
Today we zoomed for miles in the rainforest on ziplines.
The computers are extrememly slow here....so I´ll write more later.
WE LOVE YOU ALL
oh also our classes and teachers are wonderful and we´re learning loads of spanish. And our family is amazing as well. Super nice. We don´t understand why no one is returning our emails )estamos muy tristes=
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
MONOS
I can´t believe that I forgot to say that yesterday we SAW MONKEYS just hanging out in trees while driving to our school. Just hanging out on the side of the road, like cows in Texas. They were howler monkeys. There were also little baby monkeys and they played with each other a lot. SO cute. There were several hanging from their tails, too. SO ADORABLE!
There were also leaf cutter ants here....it was a little hard to get good pictures because they were pretty high in the tree, but I will now try to post some pictures.
There were also leaf cutter ants here....it was a little hard to get good pictures because they were pretty high in the tree, but I will now try to post some pictures.
July 30th
Our family, los Arroyos, are marvelos. They have a precious 2 year old son that Deborah and I couldn´t stop playing with. There is also a daughter. The food has been excellent.... for breakfast gallo pinto, fresh pineapple, and an egg.
when we arrived, our family led us down a chalky bumpy road to our little house in the dark, and our madre tica, or costa rican mom, told us not to worry if the house seemed to shake in the night because of the wind, that it was completely normal.
We went to sleep listening to a drum circle and woke up to roosters crowing at the dawn.
Deboarah HATES insects which I find hilarious. We have amused ourselves by spraying bug spray on the walls and watching the bugs run away. Deborah has been awesome...she is embracing everything and living in the moment. She is very adaptable and I am very impressed.
We live about one block away from an ice cream store )that is the actual address, and about a 5 minute walk from the school.
Classes are great, I think we both got good teachers and we were put in the right level. We took a written an oral test this morning.
Then we had an orientation. The school gives us a snack each morning for free. Today it was a little donut, fresh pineapple, papaya, and watermelon, and of course, coffee. Costa Ricans LOVE coffee.
Our school makes it very easy to sign up for activities, and so far we are signed up for a night hike through the cloud forest tonight, rain forest zip lines tomorrow, and the free dancing classes the school gives.
We walked down an incredibly huge and steep hill to get to this internet cafe, and I am not looking forward to the climb back up it, so I hope everyone appreciates this!! haha It´s good exercise.
I love all of you, especially Jared, and will see ya´ll soon stateside. Take care, your are in my prayers.
when we arrived, our family led us down a chalky bumpy road to our little house in the dark, and our madre tica, or costa rican mom, told us not to worry if the house seemed to shake in the night because of the wind, that it was completely normal.
We went to sleep listening to a drum circle and woke up to roosters crowing at the dawn.
Deboarah HATES insects which I find hilarious. We have amused ourselves by spraying bug spray on the walls and watching the bugs run away. Deborah has been awesome...she is embracing everything and living in the moment. She is very adaptable and I am very impressed.
We live about one block away from an ice cream store )that is the actual address, and about a 5 minute walk from the school.
Classes are great, I think we both got good teachers and we were put in the right level. We took a written an oral test this morning.
Then we had an orientation. The school gives us a snack each morning for free. Today it was a little donut, fresh pineapple, papaya, and watermelon, and of course, coffee. Costa Ricans LOVE coffee.
Our school makes it very easy to sign up for activities, and so far we are signed up for a night hike through the cloud forest tonight, rain forest zip lines tomorrow, and the free dancing classes the school gives.
We walked down an incredibly huge and steep hill to get to this internet cafe, and I am not looking forward to the climb back up it, so I hope everyone appreciates this!! haha It´s good exercise.
I love all of you, especially Jared, and will see ya´ll soon stateside. Take care, your are in my prayers.
First Impressions
I´m trying to quickly type up journal entries, so please don´t look for eloquence or flair here
July 28th,
Been up since two thirty AM, couldnt´t sleep last night for excitement and nervousness
Jared and I left at three thiry to pick up debs. Got to airport about 4, went through security at 5.
7.30 and we´re still in Houston waiting for our plane to Costa Rica!
Rolling into Costa Rica the pilot veers unexpectedly to the left, comes on the intercom and says, ´Some of you are probably confused, and that´s understandable. One of the disadvantages of travelling in this part of te would is the air traffic controllers don´t know what they´re doing' we noticed another plane in our runway taking off so we decided to get out of the way
upon landing, we sit still, and the pilot comes on again and says...yeah, the aiport´s really a mess today...thgere´s a few planes in between here and our gate so we´re just going to sit tight for a bit.
Heridia is a charming town, with green everywhere and mountains, there was a gorgeous sunset and you could see twinkling lights dotted through the trees.
We met a blind traveler named Caleb who was traveling alone. He lost his sight when he was accidentally shot in the head by his younger brother when he was 19. I told him he must be very braved to travel so far alone without being able to see and he simply told me that life is too short not to do something you want to do.
There are several medical students here
In costa rica, they do not use the tu form and are offended if you use that form. I messed up pretty quickly but it is actually easier to only have to remember the usted form.
I led caleb through the town of very bumpy and uneven gravel...there were lots of holes and I was amazed at how adept he was.
500 colenes equals one dolor.
It is very difficult so far to find internet cafes or banks or phone cards.
I saw leaf cutting ants!!! Breakfast was fresh mango and pineapple, gallo pinto, and fresh coffee. Gallo pinto is delicous. I told the lady at our B/B that I thought so, and she brought me into her kitchen and showed me the recipe. It is, and I highly recommend that you try it,
Black Beans
White Rice
Mixture of chopped garlic, onion, tomato, parsley, cilantro, maybe celery
put a little oil in the pan, cook onion mixture, pour in beans and rice and mix together.
This lady also tried to talk to Deborah even though we told her that Debs didn´t know much yes, she still tried to talk to her for at least a half hour while we were waiting for the bus. Very cute and fleshy woman....
Right now I´m sitting under a mango tree and there is also a papay tree and banana tree within view. There is also a very odd species of cow. Big long ears and a camel like hump. We can also see horses from our B and B
there was a large festival going on in the town in which children were dressed in elaborate costumes with huge, cartoonish masks.
There are absolutely no street signs here. The streets literally have no names. physical address are given in references to well known landmarks, which is completely useless to me. Even on maps, streets are labelled numerically and very haphazardly.
I met the most amazing girl, my age, named michelle. She´s from Manchester and has been travelling for four months. She volunteered in an orphanage in Bolivia for children with cleft palletes and also in a jungle in Peru. She is staying for at least another 3 months, more if she can find work. Right now it is winter in Bolivia and is frequently 40 below.
She was traveling with a friend, and they went ice climbing, river rafting, body rafting, parasailing, multi week trekking, and then her friend slipped while walking in a village in a crevice and fell 30 feet. She broke her spine in six places, her hip in two, both of her arms, and her foot. Michelle looked down and thought her friend was dead, and she was unconcious and unresponsive. She waited for an ambulance for an hour and a half and they did not have proper neck braces, and travelled for two hours on an unpaved road to the nearest hospital with Michelle holding her friend´s leg and the paramedic holding down her shoulders so she wouldn´t be paralyzed. They had to operate in Bolivia and she was tied to a board for a week and had to stay in the hospital for three weeks before she could be flown back to London. Amazingly, she is not paralyzed. It just shows you how anything can happen anywhere, when you least expect it. They had done so many dangerous things and then got hurt while just walking.
July 28th,
Been up since two thirty AM, couldnt´t sleep last night for excitement and nervousness
Jared and I left at three thiry to pick up debs. Got to airport about 4, went through security at 5.
7.30 and we´re still in Houston waiting for our plane to Costa Rica!
Rolling into Costa Rica the pilot veers unexpectedly to the left, comes on the intercom and says, ´Some of you are probably confused, and that´s understandable. One of the disadvantages of travelling in this part of te would is the air traffic controllers don´t know what they´re doing' we noticed another plane in our runway taking off so we decided to get out of the way
upon landing, we sit still, and the pilot comes on again and says...yeah, the aiport´s really a mess today...thgere´s a few planes in between here and our gate so we´re just going to sit tight for a bit.
Heridia is a charming town, with green everywhere and mountains, there was a gorgeous sunset and you could see twinkling lights dotted through the trees.
We met a blind traveler named Caleb who was traveling alone. He lost his sight when he was accidentally shot in the head by his younger brother when he was 19. I told him he must be very braved to travel so far alone without being able to see and he simply told me that life is too short not to do something you want to do.
There are several medical students here
In costa rica, they do not use the tu form and are offended if you use that form. I messed up pretty quickly but it is actually easier to only have to remember the usted form.
I led caleb through the town of very bumpy and uneven gravel...there were lots of holes and I was amazed at how adept he was.
500 colenes equals one dolor.
It is very difficult so far to find internet cafes or banks or phone cards.
I saw leaf cutting ants!!! Breakfast was fresh mango and pineapple, gallo pinto, and fresh coffee. Gallo pinto is delicous. I told the lady at our B/B that I thought so, and she brought me into her kitchen and showed me the recipe. It is, and I highly recommend that you try it,
Black Beans
White Rice
Mixture of chopped garlic, onion, tomato, parsley, cilantro, maybe celery
put a little oil in the pan, cook onion mixture, pour in beans and rice and mix together.
This lady also tried to talk to Deborah even though we told her that Debs didn´t know much yes, she still tried to talk to her for at least a half hour while we were waiting for the bus. Very cute and fleshy woman....
Right now I´m sitting under a mango tree and there is also a papay tree and banana tree within view. There is also a very odd species of cow. Big long ears and a camel like hump. We can also see horses from our B and B
there was a large festival going on in the town in which children were dressed in elaborate costumes with huge, cartoonish masks.
There are absolutely no street signs here. The streets literally have no names. physical address are given in references to well known landmarks, which is completely useless to me. Even on maps, streets are labelled numerically and very haphazardly.
I met the most amazing girl, my age, named michelle. She´s from Manchester and has been travelling for four months. She volunteered in an orphanage in Bolivia for children with cleft palletes and also in a jungle in Peru. She is staying for at least another 3 months, more if she can find work. Right now it is winter in Bolivia and is frequently 40 below.
She was traveling with a friend, and they went ice climbing, river rafting, body rafting, parasailing, multi week trekking, and then her friend slipped while walking in a village in a crevice and fell 30 feet. She broke her spine in six places, her hip in two, both of her arms, and her foot. Michelle looked down and thought her friend was dead, and she was unconcious and unresponsive. She waited for an ambulance for an hour and a half and they did not have proper neck braces, and travelled for two hours on an unpaved road to the nearest hospital with Michelle holding her friend´s leg and the paramedic holding down her shoulders so she wouldn´t be paralyzed. They had to operate in Bolivia and she was tied to a board for a week and had to stay in the hospital for three weeks before she could be flown back to London. Amazingly, she is not paralyzed. It just shows you how anything can happen anywhere, when you least expect it. They had done so many dangerous things and then got hurt while just walking.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Eve of Departure...
AGH!
I'm less than 8 hrs away from leaving for Costa Rica....on what is seemingly my endless quest to become fluent in Spanish.
This is my first trip out of the country with my youngest sister, and so I'm excited about getting to know her better and share in an adventure with her.
First we are staying in a cloud forest in Monteverde with a host family. The father is a construction worker and the mother is a housewife. In Spanish housewives are called alma de casa, which translates to 'soul of the home,' which I think is much nicer. They have two daughters, ten and two years old.
I had read in the guidebook that Costa Rica has a pretty unreliable mail system, a problem which the author of the guidebook claimed was exacerbated by the lack of street addresses throughout the country. I thought maybe he was exaggerating until I received the "address" of our home which we will be staying in, which is: 100 meters north of the ice cream shop.
So I guess he wasn't exaggerating. I personally think it is awesome that my address is 100 meters north of the ice cream shop, which incidentally also serves coffee as well.
It is my mission to see a monkey while in Costa Rica (hence the web address, although it isn't really a jungle, but rainforest was taken, so). That, and several birds to add to my life list. And to learn Spanish (of course).
AH! So excited/nervous.....
Peace.
I'm less than 8 hrs away from leaving for Costa Rica....on what is seemingly my endless quest to become fluent in Spanish.
This is my first trip out of the country with my youngest sister, and so I'm excited about getting to know her better and share in an adventure with her.
First we are staying in a cloud forest in Monteverde with a host family. The father is a construction worker and the mother is a housewife. In Spanish housewives are called alma de casa, which translates to 'soul of the home,' which I think is much nicer. They have two daughters, ten and two years old.
I had read in the guidebook that Costa Rica has a pretty unreliable mail system, a problem which the author of the guidebook claimed was exacerbated by the lack of street addresses throughout the country. I thought maybe he was exaggerating until I received the "address" of our home which we will be staying in, which is: 100 meters north of the ice cream shop.
So I guess he wasn't exaggerating. I personally think it is awesome that my address is 100 meters north of the ice cream shop, which incidentally also serves coffee as well.
It is my mission to see a monkey while in Costa Rica (hence the web address, although it isn't really a jungle, but rainforest was taken, so). That, and several birds to add to my life list. And to learn Spanish (of course).
AH! So excited/nervous.....
Peace.
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