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.