The Beach... Finally

Sunday, November 29, 2009 | Posted by Kelly

Yesterday I went to the beach for the first time in Manuel Antonio. We took the 10:30am bus ride, which cost 235 colones ($0.50) and takes about 30 minutes with all the stops the bus has to make along the way. It’s a really beautiful bus ride though since it takes a winding mountain road through the jungle until you come out by Manuel Antonio and you can see the coast and the beach from the mountain. It looks like a sunset over the ocean (since I am on the west side of the country) from the mountain would be something that would be breathtaking. The public beach in Manuel Antonio is so different from the beaches that I have been to in the US. First off, there are palm, banana, and coconut trees everywhere along with so many others that I cannot even name. I feel like in the states there are always people bringing or renting umbrellas to sit under since there is no shade on the beach. Here you just find a nice group of trees along the edge of the beach and use them for your shade. I thought that the sand here would be white, like you see in the Caribbean, but it isn’t. It is a sort of gray color with bits of white and black sand in it. I am pretty sure that the black parts are from the volcanic rocks that are allover the place. It wasn’t even the best day to go to the beach since it was a little cloudy but even then it gets really hot on that sand really quickly. The sun here is really intense but luckily it is a lot cooler in the shade than in the sun. It is like you have stepped into a little pocket of air conditioning or something. I haven’t taken any pictures of the Manuel Antonio beach yet though because I wasn’t sure how the area was for tourist theft targeting. But after spending the day there I feel comfortable and will be bringing my camera back to snap some photos for everyone.

Hands down the highlight of my day was getting my first surf lesson. A couple of the people in our group are surfers and my friend Mike kindly offered to give me a free surf lesson. Surfing is really big here in Costa Rica with people coming from other countries to surf, although Manuel Antonio is specifically known for its waves you can definitely surf here and they are decently small which is great for beginners like me! I rented a long board for an hour off a stand on the beach, which included a free rash guard (one of those little shirts you wear while surfing). Mike asked me if I wanted red or blue. I chose red because I thought it would be easier to find me in the water when I was drowning in red. A very wise decision I thought, although it was thankfully unnecessary. I am proud to say that I now know how to paddle out through the waves, how to dive under the big ones that are coming at you, how to get on and off my board, and (in theory) how to choose the best waves and how to stand up on the board. I can’t say that I stood up all the way yesterday, but I did get up on my knees once before falling off and managed to not have the board knock me in the face or any other body part too hard. It requires A LOT of upper body strength to be good at surfing, from paddling out to using your arms to pop up on the board (I am also sure that your legs become important later when you actually stand up but I haven’t gotten that far. Baby steps people, baby steps). My arms (and for some reason my ass but I haven’t figured out why yet) are like jelly today. I am definitely going to be trying in again when my arms get a little bit of their strength back and I can go back to the beach.

Today I went to Manuel Antonio National Park. We started early so that the park wouldn’t be too crowded and we might have a better chance of seeing some wildlife before it got too hot. So by 9:45 some of us were in the park hiking the trails that run throughout it. I can now say that I have seen a number of sloths, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, iguanas, Costa Rican raccoons, and some deer along with lots of butterflies and bugs in general. The howler monkeys were so loud. We were walking through the rainforest and you definitely hear them before you see them. At one point they surrounded us in the trees and no one could seem to spot one. Their howls are really disconcerting because you are expecting to see this huge monkey that could probably rip your head off as soon as look at you, and then you see them. They are so small! I would say the size of a larger house cat. We saw the spider monkeys at the beach and they were just hanging out in trees and totally unfazed by the fact that about fifty tourists were taking their picture. The raccoons I found by the bathrooms and they seemed a little smaller than the ones we have in Texas, but nonetheless very easily recognizable as raccoons. Again the deer we saw looked very similar to the white-tailed deer that I have seen in the hill country, but I am not sure if they are actually the same type. They were walking right along the path we were walking on and seemed very comfortable with us being there. They must be used to all the tourists that come through since Manuel Antonio National Park is one of the most popular in all of Costa Rica because it actually has beaches in it that you can use. In the afternoon we took a break on one of the beaches (which are pristine) and I ended up taking a little siesta under the trees that we were hanging out under. It was a perfect afternoon.

After the beach we all went to a restaurant called El gato negro because on Sundays all their food is ½ off! It is a great deal and they have a pool that you can swim in after your meal. I got a beer, garlic bread, and penne pasta covered with four different types of cheese. Very yummy and only for 5,000 colones ($10)!

Tomorrow though its back to school all day and not being able to go to the beach. Sad. Hopefully I can somehow fit the beach in after class one day and maybe try to surf some more.






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Things I wish I had in Costa Rica

Saturday, November 28, 2009 | Posted by Kelly

  • BUG SPRAY!!! I have soooo many bites on my body right now it isn't even funny. They apparently love me. I bought some at the store on Thursday but it was already too late by then.... As of this very moment I have 34 bites.
  • Cortizone - so that I don't scratch all these damn bites
  • Aloe vera gel for when I get sunburned
  • More sunscreen since bottles here are like $15. I kid you not.
  • A camel back would be awesome to have on the beach
  • More sandals with back straps on them. When you walk here there is always mud and flip-flops flick mud all up your backside
  • A cheap running/sports watch
  • Lots more dresses, shorts and tanktops (everything you wear gets sweaty really fast)
  • My Sigg bottle (I'm so sad I forgot it)

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My first interesting cultural experience....

Saturday, November 28, 2009 | Posted by Kelly

This week has flown by so quickly I can't even believe it! It is already Saturday night and I have been here a little more than a whole week. Sorry I haven't updated the blog much this week. It has been really hectic and I definitely don't have as much free time as I would like. Class has taken up essentially all of my time during the day and it is pretty intense. It's not hard per-se but just very time consuming. We have been starting class at 8:45 every morning and getting out about 4 in the afternoon with an hour for lunch. One or two days a week though we have either had to stay late or come early in order to observe an ESL class being taught by one of the instructors. I am actually going to start teaching a class next Thursday (with a partner) for the first time! I don't know what their level will be yet but I will learn it next week and have to come up with a lesson plan. I never realized how much time and effort it can take to make a lesson plan, and this is just for a 50 minute class! I have a new and profound appreciation for teachers and how hard it can be to actually be a good one. I have also been re-learning (supposedly...) English grammar and how it should be broken down for the students to understand. It is really astounding how many strange and irregular things that English does that we, as native speakers, take for granted everyday. In many instances it can be very difficult for the students to understand the grammar rules for English since there will be a rule, and then hundreds of exceptions for that rule. I know that when I was learning Spanish there were definitely not that many irregular things to learn/teach.
Anyways on to the fun stuff!! Wednesday night some of us went to this bar called Bamboo Jam which is halfway between the town where I live and go to school called Quepos and Manuel Antonio which is where the beach is. It was ladies night so the all the girls were definitely having a good time with not having to pay for drinks. At first there seemed to be a bunch of tourists and not that many Costa Ricans (in Spanish they are called ticos) but closer to midnight they all kind of showed up at the same time and the dance floor filled up really fast. As far as I can tell the ticos are way better dancers as a whole than Americans and I feel way out of my league out there with them. It is still fun though and I am just going to have to embrace my awkward American white girl dancing for the time being (although lets be honest I will probably never be able to get over that).
Thanksgiving/Thursday was my roommate Richard's birthday (turning 27) and so we had a nice family dinner at the house, which of course included Rich downing a third of a bottle of guaro at the dinner table. Have I mentioned guaro yet? I can't remember, but regardless it is my new liquor of choice down here. It is a local type of liquor made from sugarcane that is very popular down here. It sort of reminds me of vodka, but not really. Regardless it goes down very smoothly and is great mixed with coke, or made into a guaro sour, or my favorite a drink they call the guapirinha (a take off of the delicious Brazilian drink caipirinha), which is guaro, lime, and brown sugar. After family dinner we took a taxi into Manuel Antonio and went to Rich's favorite bar right on the beach where he knows all the bartenders. We drank more guaro and ate chips and salsa and guacamole. Funnily enough they were showing the UT vs. Texas A&M football game at the bar so I actually got to watch it from about the 2nd quarter to the end. It was something I was definitely not expecting to see and it made me miss home the most out of anything that day. I mean what would Thanksgiving be without watching that game? Other than that instance though I never really felt like it was Thanksgiving. Not being at home with family and friends really killed the holiday spirit for that one. Also being in such a tropical place makes me feel like it's the summer. Some houses are starting to be decorated for Christmas around here and it is so funny to see Christmas lights and decorations on houses that have banana and coconut trees in their front yards (and yes I currently have a banana tree in my front yard and Mama Tica uses them to cook). After that bar we ended up back at Vista Serena with some other friends until we went back into Quepos to go out. Going out here sort of reminds me of Spain where people are staying out until all hours of the night but it's also different because I would never even consider walking home by myself from a bar here whereas I was comfortable doing that in Spain. The men in Costa Rica, at least so far, are less aggressive than I remember the men being in Mexico when I lived there for two months in high school. So they are more respectful than Mexicans but less than Spaniards. At 2:30am I finally had to end my night though and head home so that I could be at least somewhat alive in class on Friday. Everyone else stayed out though since I was the only one with school in the morning.
I am not going to lie, Friday morning was a little rough on me after getting home so late the night before and having to go to class early at 8:30. However, as I was sitting at the dining room table eating breakfast at about 7:45 Richard and our new roommate Brennan walked through the door. They had been out all night and looked pretty bad. They immediately went to bed and Yorleny ended up having to call Brennan's school (he is taking Spanish classes) to tell them that he was not able to come to school. Ridiculous. Ridiculously funny.
Last night after school I walked home with the intent to take a nap immediately so that I would be ready to go out again with all my TEFL friends. On my route home I pass a small church which has never had anything really going on at it before, but Friday there were selling homemade tamales as a fundraiser and after smelling them I HAD to buy some. I ended up buying una piña which is two big tamales tied together. Now in the United States, or at least Texas, all the tamales I have seen were wrapped in a corn husk and cooked. Here they don't do that. They are wrapped in banana leaves and because of this you can make them WAY bigger. Think about something the size of medium burrito. They were pork and soooooo good. Guess how much I paid for them? 1,000 colones which is about $2 (500 colones equals approximately $1). I don't know about you but I consider that to be a great deal. After my tamales muy saborosos I took a nap (my first one of the week since I am at school all day) and went out last night. It ended up being a chill night involving drinking games at the school with my new friends and then going to a lounge called Musik and then an American bar called Wacky Wanda's where a lot of the Quepos prostitutes hang out. Let's just call that an interesting cultural experience....

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My first day of school

Monday, November 23, 2009 | Posted by Kelly

Hola!!
So on yesterday I woke up at the hostel and hung out for a while until it was time to move in with my host family. I have already read about half of Eat, Pray, Love (with is awesome by the way) and I am hoping that I don't run out of reading material before my course is over in December. While reading outside I saw my first iguana though!! It was cool, but also really gross because it was recently deceased and one of the hostel dogs was carrying it around in its mouth and chewing on it. Yuck. I am hoping that the next one I see is actually ALIVE.
Around 1 I got a taxi to my host family's house and I am not going to lie, upon arriving I was a little nervous as the cab took me up a dirt road, but now that I am here with my host family I LOVE them!! Their house is small, like smaller than my house in Houston, but I think it is about average for a Costa Rican home. There is Yorleny the mom, Juan the dad, Andres the son who is about 16 I think, and Carolina who is 14. I also have 3 dogs named Oso (Bear), Cici, and I can't remember the other one. They also recently got a kitten named Chica who is soooo feisty and frequently tries to climb up my legs. I have my own room which is really nice and I have a fan which is CRUCIAL here because it gets hot and humid. Have I mentioned that yet? I also have two other roommates who completed the TEFL course last month and are staying another month to take a Spanish course. There is Richard (aka Rich) who is 27 and from London and Jeff (aka Jefe) from Canada who is 20. They are very cool and they have made my first couple of days here soooo much easier and less stressful. Sunday night after we ate dinner with the family (which is a family affair) the boys and I went to one of the hostels in Manuel Antonio called Vista Serena where two girls who had also completed the last TEFL course were staying. We hung out with them and had some drinks and played lots of drinking games and it was really fun. The hostel is on top of this big hill and during the day you can look out and see gorgeous views of the ocean, but since it was dark I couldn't see anything. Boo.
My first day of school was yesterday and Rich was kind enough to get up and walk me to the school since I didn't know where it was. I felt like I was in kindergarten and I was being walked to West U. Elementary again. The boys told me the walk took 10-15 min. I have discovered that it takes me 15-20. Damn my short legs. The walk is pretty nice though, half of it is on a paved road and the other half is a dirt road which is ALWAYS going to be muddy because it literally rains here everyday. Nothing ever has to time to dry off it seems. The dirt road part takes you to the outskirts of the city though and there is a gorgeous view of the mountains from the school (don't worry pictures will be coming soon!!).
We have 16 students in our TEFL class with a little more than half living at the school. I have decided that I definitely have the better deal with the homestay though because Mama Yorleny cooks for me and does my laundry and the house is always clean. The students at school have to grocery shop and cook their own food and do their own laundry and everyone paid the same amount for their housing. I also get to have loads of Spanish practice at home which is really bringing back the Spanish skills quickly. I am also kind of teaching Rich and Jeff Spanish too because they both don't really know any. It's actually really fun and it makes me feel smart :). I am the star student of the house! I know.... I am a nerd.
Back to school though. So far I like most of my classmates and almost everyone is young (like 25 and under) with a couple of older women also in the program. Our oldest student is Alice and she is 68. I haven't really chatted with her much though preferring to hang out with kids a little bit closer to my age. The first day we had a teaching assignment for today so I stayed after to prepare and practice a little bit with my partner. This, however, made me get caught at the school in the daily downpour with no rain jacket or umbrella and I ended up having to take a taxi with Rich and Jeff after they got out of their language class at 6. It only costed 2,000 colones which is about $4 so we figured it was worth it. Once we got home we ate dinner and ended up going back to Vista Serena to hang out with their TEFL friends. Rich and I ended up coming back at about 11:30 because I had school today and he hasn't been feeling 100%. Jeff stayed and ended up going out with the hostel people. I mean if I was 20 and in a country where I could go out to bars, I would definitely be doing it a lot more than I would be now. When I got back I took my first shower and discovered that we don't have hot water. Which in other places would be a big deal and miserable but here it is actually fine since you are hot and sweaty all day long that a cool shower feels sooooo good. It is basically the only time all day that I was not sweaty. I have also given up on makeup here. There is NO point besides maybe mascara or eyeliner because everything else you just sweat off in about 10 minutes. So keep that in mind when you are packing to come visit me. Which you of course will all be doing when I actually finish the course and get a job and everything. Hope everything is well with everyone and I will talk to you soon!! Miss yall!!!

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I made it!!

Monday, November 23, 2009 | Posted by Kelly

Hello all!!
Well I made it to Costa Rica. And even better with all my luggage and in one piece. The plane flight was uneventful. I slept for half of it and then watched 500 Days of Summer. It was cute and I really like Zoey Deschanel or however you spell her last name. Once I got to San Jose at about 1:00 I thought that I might sit at a cafe or something and wait until I was supposed to take a taxi to the bus station for my 6:00 bus. However, there were no cafes or anything even close to that in or around the airport so I ended up taking a taxi to the bus station since there were supposed to be cafes and stuff around it. This turned out to be a good thing though because when I went to buy my ticket there was actually a 2:30 bus that I could take direct to Quepos! So obviously I bought that ticket (for a grand total of like $6 or something) and got on the bus. It was about a 4 hour drive to Quepos and there was no AC on the bus so everyone had their windows open. This wasn't a problem until it started raining so everyone closed their windows and it got real hot and steamy in there. Luckily the rain didn't last long. The drive was GORGEOUS. Costa Rica is by all definitions a rainforest and there was so much green everywhere it was amazing. We had to take these real windy mountain roads to get down to the coast to make our way to Quepos and the views of the Pacific and the beaches were spectacular. I even saw a cayman (which is a type of alligator/crocodile) in one of the rivers we crossed and parrots flying around!! It was very cool. It had just turned dark by the time we pulled into the Quepos bus station and I ended up having to ask a taxi driver where the hostel was that I was staying and then walked about 3 blocks with my stupid suitcase over basically a dirt sidewalk. But now I am here and am staying in a dorm-style room with 3 Belgium guys and 1 Swedish girl. Tomorrow I will be moving in with my host family sometime in the afternoon and *fingers crossed* they have internet in their house but if not I will have internet at school on Monday! Hope everything is going well back home and I just want you to take a minute to appreciate your cool weather or AC, whichever one you have at the moment, because I have been hot all day long. It is very humid here and of course I have no AC in my room. Oh well. It will be a nice sweaty night LOL. Talk to yall soon!!
Love, Kelly

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