Hey all,

Sorry for leaving the blogging world so abruptly. I left the Friday after that last post for Granada, Nicaragua, with the intention of riding a bus for 18 hours back into Costa Rica, and then on into San Jose, get on a plane, and come on home. All of which I did safely :)

So, Nicaragua.
It is a beautiful country, as lush and green as Costa Rica, but better kept, and far poorer economically. Driving in you could see huge houses with wrought iron gates, and signs in English from estado unidense real estate companies as huge amounts of land are being bought out.

The people are very friendly, very helpful, and all of the beggars magically can speak English, interesting. And there is a LOT of begging. Sitting down at a table for lunch, and average of 8 people will come by (often the same person twice) trying to sell you gum, cheap plastic toys, brightly painted wooden birds that can be used as a whistle, candies, bootleg dvd's, whatever. They do seem startled when you answer them in Spanish though :)

The houses are so brightly colored! They have a very strong Spanish colonial stylistic influence with the flourishes and the red tile roofs, but the walls are all painted in cobalt blue, purple, mint green, yellow, orange. It looks like a festival every day. The other huge difference were the streets. In Nicaragua, the streets don't have elephantine potholes!! the Nicos still drive a bit crazy, but nothing near to the Ticos.

You grab a bus to go everywhere, and there are men whose sole job is to hang out the side and call out granaDA!granaDA! and then jump off of the bus, while it is still moving, and try to push more people on. It gets to a certain max capacity, and then you begin to sit in laps, and occasionally up on the dashboard, if you're a small female. It's all very respectful and chill, it's just how it works when you have small transit buses, and a largish population.

We went to the Mercado Viejo and haggled like crazy for all kinds of souvenirs. Believe it or not, the more you haggle, the more friendly the Nicos are. It's a sign that you respect and understand their culture, even though I felt horrible trying to drive the already low prices down in a city which obviously is so very strapped for cash.

After the Mercado Viejo (where I got a Hammock chair which I then proceeded to hand carry during my entire travel back on three buses, two taxis, and three airplanes across 3 countries and 3 states. it was awesome, I got such disbelieving looks adding this huge string wrapped pole to my huge hiking backpack, small book bag, and purses) we caught a taxi out to the coast of Lago de Nicaragua, and went on a boat tour around the multitude of tiny (I mean one house with no backyard tiny) islas that dot the coast of Nicaragua. Our boat guide was mostly board, and quoted the price of every single island that was for sale (which was most) and quoted the name and cost of each occupied island. It felt a little odd...half sightseeing, and half realty tour. But on the way out, we were able to float past thick trees and came out to an inlet where a bunch of Nicos were splashing around, which was fun to see.

We stopped and ate the most amazing friend plantains ever on one of the islands, and watched the owner's little kids play in the hammocks and try to dance, and giggle, and it was just adorable. We also met a couple of parrots who were snuggling and trying to eat our food, alternatively.

When we got out of the boat tour, we went into a museum in Granada, and check it these ancient statues found in Nicaragua that are combinations of men and animals in very odd ways (don't get all dirty on me here) and that were probably some sort of pantheon a long time ago.

On our way back, it began to pour, so we ducked into this huge yellow church that doesn't appear to have a name that had just been remodeled (and when I say huge and yellow, i mean it. You can see this thing from everywhere in Granada. it glows!) and chilled for bit before heading home to our hostel.

As we arrived back onto our street, we discovered that a live band had set up a huge stage right outside the door to our hostel, and that the street was packed with Nicos. It turns out - from talking to a nice old man from Dublin who was opening a pub in Granada - that we had unknowingly gotten into Granada in time for the biggest festival of the year. There were competitions where women danced in shot shorts, lots of sparkly makeup and feathers, lots of live music, marching drums, and men with masks. It was awesome to watch, and as the music was good, it was pretty cool to listen to all night. I would give you more detail, but we had to push through and climb up people just to get the small views I just described. My favorite part was the group of teens out just behind the stage who were having dance-offs to the music from the stage. It was pretty awesome to walk, all that posturing, but really tongue in cheek. You could tell they were having an awesome time. And were also waiting for the contestants to walk by them behind the stage :D


anyways, I got home, and am now getting ready to go drive back up to Washington for my last year of school. I'll do my best to keep updating during school. Maybe I'll even post a couple of pictures of my work.
anyways, for now: tranquilo, y PuraVida.

Bomba!

costa rican culture is awesome. every friday here at interculturea, we have a culture class, and this week's class was about Bombas. bombas are short 4 line poems with end rhymes on lines 2 and 4, that generally make fun of people, or tell a girl you like hyer ina really funny way, or are just totally rediculous. theyre told in these festivals, and are totally unexpected, someone will yell BOMBA! as loudly as possible, and start telling their bomba, and then someone will think up their own bomba on the spot, and they kind of spar verbally back and forth, the whole group getting into it. theres lots of yelling and cheering. theyre kind of like limericks, or yo mama jokes. anyways, during this class, we had to write a bomba, our was about the crazy drivers in costa rica. it goes something like

Bomba!
la gente maneja loca
cuándo ando por la calle
a los conductores digo
"más despacio mae!"
uyuyuy, papita! and then you screma as highpitched and loudly as you can

so my teacher, Ilsen told us that we should yell out our bomba at graduacion (where all of the kids who have finished at intercultura that week get certificates and make speeches and things) so we did. a friend and I, after everyone had gotten their certificates stood up, yelled out BOMBA!!! and all the teachers start laughing. after we performed ours, EVERY teacher up there starts coming up with some, making fun of eachother, of sámara....mostly of eachother though, it went on for about 20 minutes of verbal sparring in rhyme, and by the end, everyone was in stitches. it rocked.

this weekend we braved costa rican roads (they would make you cringe Dad, most of the potholes are bigger than me, sometimes I think there's more pothole than road!) and went up to a little artisan villiage called guatíl where they hand make these HUGE pots out of the local sand and clay, and using all local earth for the glazes. it was just gorgeous, there was this little old man making these HUGE pots (ollas) faster than I have ever seen anyone make pottery before in my life! his tools were a gourd, and an old corn cob, and MAN his hands just FLEW! it was so simple, when I get home, I want to try his technique. he used mostly coils of clay. it was so cool. anywaysd, this weekend was pretty lazy other than that. lots of reading, swimming while the sun set (god I love watching tropical sunset from inside the ocean!) LOTS of schooling people in soccer en la playa (on the beach) and learning pingpong. apparently I rock for a first timer, it such a fun game. the5re was this 8 year old, I kid you not, at the bar, la gondola that has all of the cool games - even jenga! no catan though :( - that was just CLEANING house. I have NEVER seern anyone that good at poot...he even kickes my friend jedwards' ass! and he's EIGHT. holy crap it was fun to watch. anyways, time to finish my book in the hammock and get some more bugspraqy and sunscreen. this will be my THIRD bottle of bug spray since arriving in Sámara. yeah.

pura vida!!

Okay, so I have some praises to sing.

first and foremost, to the wonder and divinity that is fresh fruit in Costa Rica. instead of going to the corner store and buying a soda, you pay tres mil colones (about 50 cents) and get a coconut, with it's top chopped off with a machete, and a straw inserted. who needs artificial beverages when you can sip on coconut juice?! then, there the fresh pineapples, bananas, and mangoes. Ai Dios! the mangoes literally grow on threes here, and if you are so lucky, you may live in a house where monkeys drop the ones they have deemed not to be ripe on your rooftop. i have simply never tasted fruit this fresh or cheap before (well, not tropical fruit which is usually an exotic import). it just heavenly, especially when they combine it with handmade ice cream...mmmmm. can you tell i just finished a heaping fruit platter?

the other praises i really must sing, are those of my amazing host family, Gladys and David Costillo. they're just fantastic. they are such warm, friendly people, and you can feel it the second you walk in their front door. the puppy Pepito is one of the cutest little dogs i have ever met, very soft and friendly, and very committed to protecting his front yard, which is incredibly comical given the amount of large un-neutered dogs that tend to roam freely around here. i actually adopted a pair of them (no worries, i wont bring them home, someone belongs to them) they like to hang out at the school, and i have a tendency to feed them coconut (which they go mad over) so anytime i see them and whistle they come running over for a belly rub. anyways, my family. i have already mentioned that Gladys (my mama Tica) is attempting to kill me with the bounty of her amazing food, but really, we're talking a plate full of fresh fruit in the morning AND eggs, AND gallo pinto, which is black beans and rice and onion together, the staple food for any and every meal in costa rica. and no I'm not sick of it yet, it tasted good and it give you energy to go for HOURS which between latin dance, yoga, soccer, surfing and swimming, not to mention all of my classes you need a lot of (energy that is). in a nutshell, my family is amazing. I have another woman who is about mum's age in my homestay with my, Kathy who is a teacher in Sonoma county, and she's another mother, between her and Gladys, I've been very thoroughly mommied. it's pretty funny (don't forget your bug spray jean!)

and as a grand finale to my week, I scored somewhere between 8-10 goals last night playing soccer. It felt good, I'm getting my touch back, and apparently I'm a wicked forward, which is a first for me. Although I now remember why I haven't played goalie since I was eight. I like to run out of the goal too much, and I'm a little to small to have an effective span. but I made up for the shots I let go by by putting them back in the other goal, so I don't feel too bad.

alright, well i'm gonna head out to help plan a trip to nicaragua for next weekend.

chau, besos.

i'm back in sámara, and have been greeted by the most momentous torenta (STORM) i have ever slept through in my life. one of my friends was ACTALLY hit by lightning. don't worry, he's okay.

so. ziplining. well for starters, it kicks ass. primero, our zipline tour guides jump on the zip line, upside down, and zip across the canopy like howler monkeys. it was an amazing start to an amazing time. to describe the get6up, you wear a harness that's basically the same that you'd use rapelling in rockclimbing, with and extra carabiner to connect you to a contraption that lets you slide along the zip wire, and a pair of thick work gloves that have huge reinforcements across the palms. these zip wires are big mental cables that are strung across valleys, the ground rolling probably about 300 feet below you. i might be exaggerating, but I don't really know becauser the brochure is at home. suffice it to say that the trees are veeeery very small, and that you fly across the valley, feet dangling in the air, with one hand on the cabler attaching you to the zipline, and the other our behind you on the cable, keeping you upright, or breaking as the case may be. you climb up the mountain this way, one zipline to a set of stars to the next zipline, traversing the valley about four times in total, with several shorter zig zags through the canopy of the forest. then (drumroll) you get to the tarzan swing. and ho0ly god, is that ever fun. you stand on a platform, while they secure you to a long cable, you take a deep breath, and jump off. yes that's what i said. you free fall into the heights of the rainforest, until the cables pulls taught and swings you in a huge arc over the forest floor.....actually....quite a bit above the forest floor. it is such an incredible rush, it is flying pure and simple. you swing back and forth, hooting wildly in wide arcs and you friends on the platform above you laugh and cheer. the tour guides on a lower platform then throw what looks like a chain of deflated innertubes around you waist as you lose momentum, and haul you back onto the platform. after this, if you're an intrepid madowman, like yours truly, you take the very last zipline across the entire valley upside down, so you're weightless, and free, and the entire valley is floowing beneath you (while the guide holds your feet, they need to make it safe) it was...just amazing. my words are actually running out, impossible. actually i think thats because i'm a bit sleep deprived, but anyways. ziplining, is awesome.

I have TONS of picures, and several videos, which i'll post when i get home and can load it all on my computer.

next, random thought/rant. it is incredibly frustrating, traveling with an ugly american. when you are stuck, in a van, with someone who is bigoted and ignorant, and insecure on top of it, who thinks that saying "i dont mean to offend you" before saying something offensive is okay. very very frustrating. as an interesting counterpoint to this frustration i was reading How to practice by the dalai lama on this trip. there was lots of centering, and trying to bring compassion and subtle edification on how to be a good person, and trying to let me own anger at his behavior go. it was a fascinating dichotomy, and a good learning experiance.
it was also interesting to look around, and to realize that i have become/am becoming one of the people who thinks before he/she speaks, who dosnt prattle or insist that all eyes are turned to them at all times, and has the presence of mind to respect others opinions, instead of unconciously trying to make everyone agree with me with no regard to their feelings. stating all of this is not very enlightened of me, but it was interesting for me to watch, as it helped me realize how far i have come, and how glad i am that this is the progress that I have made.
these observations made it especially awesome to find a couple of other people with whom to share the wonder of this trip with, and to silently commiserate with over the frustration of wailing through a rainforest wonderland with someone who is filling the air with obcenities, racial slurs, and his anger.
maybe a good experiance to appreciate good traveling mates even more.


anyhoo, on arriving home, i finally got a tico family! gladys and daniel are funny, and kind. thei home is small but very pretty. we watched bridge over saigon, and lord of the rings (two towers) in spanish last night (it made me think of you em :P) while my tica mama tried to stuff my to the brim with fantastic food. god how i love being fed! it also seems, that my family actually likes spices! they have jars full of chilis that would do you proud seanny, and this awesome stuff called machuzca ( i think? i'll ask again tonight) that tasted like this crazy vinegar curry with carrots and potatoes in it that dad would LOVE. p.s. watching american movies dubbed in spanish helps you pick up the language so quickly! as does living with ticos, as the only way to communicate and enjoy yourslef is to talktalktalk.

anyways, there is a nicve old man waiting for the computer, and i've chattered long enough. time to find a hammock out of the rain to nap in.

pura vida

so i left for a weekend trip to volcàn arenal and montverde this weekend, and as i'm halfway through and in a tiny little tourist town (montverde), i figured i'd play on the net.

well, it being the rainy season and all, volcàn arenal was pretty well swathed in nublados (clouds) so we didnt get to see it so much. but, cool facts, it is the third most perfect volcano cone in the world, and the most active volcano in CR. apparently last week it got kind of uppity and lava went everywhere, we could see some dark ground around the volcano, but it was slumbering peacefully while we were there hikling.

now, mom before you get all freaked, NO we did NOT hike up the actual volcano, as in the event of activity, the steam gets superheated and, well, its just stupid to try and hike in that. instead, we went up a neigboring area, through a selva (rainforest) that i swear was straight out of planet earth. from the dozens of vines, and tiny ecosystems on bark and crazy flowers, and plants where you cant tell what's vine and what's root and lush lush green everywhere you turn, to air so thick it makes sàmara seem arid, it was beautiful. it was one of those hikes that restores your faith, in what exactly i'm not sure, gaia, the earth? all of the above?, but all the same, ig ot to the top to see cloudy arenal, and i was simply peaceful.

now, i'm going to tell this weekend all out of order, but i suppose that dosnt matter for stories. so, just before the hike up around arenal, we stopped at las cataratas (waterfalls), just outside fortuna. we hiked up to see them from a hight at the top, then hiked down to the bottom and got in to swim. this was one of the most spiritual experiances of my existance. i swam in the water, heavy tide pushing and pulling at me, cold clear water that felt and tasted so pure, you could bottle it and sell it...and people probably do....i could feel the spray from the waterfall's 150 foot drop, look and see yards away, the water pounding into this clear blueblueblue pool fo water. the tug opf the current there, it had personality, force. it wanted you to go here, and there, and i was staying on the edge. we stayed for over an hour, and i climbed out very reluctantly, tearing myself away from the sheer power and wild beauty, to climb into a car and continue on.

the night before that, the were taken to a hotsprings in fortuna. i dont know what other ones are like, but i was expecting some night hike up to a little stream or pool of warm water or something. wrong! we got ther and it was a full spa and resort. as a group, we unanimously expressed our skepticism as we walked a softly lit path seeing pools of water with people sitting on stools underwater, and drinking cocktails at the bar in front of them while jay-z blared on the radio, and colord lights changed the water in time to the beat. up the hill farther we reached a pool (all tiled) with several waterfalls (artifical) and two waterslides.
hot.damn. we went down those thigns and i dont think i've EVER flown that fast down a slide! it flipped you outsideways, barriling down upwards of 30 miles an hour, and you literally skipped like a stone across the water with a monumental splash. then i swam under the waterfalls and had my first hot shower in two weeks. oh god. it was wonderful. down a level we entered a pool that was a hot tup. the enture huge pòol, ruinged in plants. inside each pool was a jacuzzi looking thing of cold water. whenever it happens that i have a honey moon, i can coming here. fyi. the hot clear water was deliciously sensual, andf the cool pools in the middle kept you from overheating. the next pool down had waterfalls that fell hard, and in pattens so that standing under them gave you a massage. no, i'm not kidding. so we eased out our muscles and went down into the bar section and there, i had the most perfect mixed drink i have ever tried in my life.the bartender "made it for me specially" and wanted me to go to a disco after work, alas, our schedual did not pèrmit such shenanigans. shucks. all the same, the perfection of this drink was worth the fliritng to get it. i can't actually pronounce the name, but it had a costa rican liquer in it called ciquara (i think, i'll write it down better later), and it is a guara based liquer. this drink, literally tasted like the most perfect lime you have ever eaten. oh gods. it was fabulous. so thorougly relaxed and sauced, we made our way back home, and to bed for some very deep sleep.


that's about all for now, but it's been a pretty wonderful two days so far, and zip-lining canopy tours through montverde is tomorrow, so i'm pretty excited.

much hugs and happyness to all....and it's totally exciting to get comments, so thank you!!

life's been busy, and time here - we call it "tico time" - makes everything a languid blur.

how to describe sàmara...

mornign starts early, with monkeys playing on my roof (they dont sound as cute as they look, they sound like possessed harpies getting a tooth drilled). Then theres the inguanas sliging from one slat to another of corrugated iron, and chickens that sound like theyre dying, all at 5:30. It may sound unpleasent, but it's really more quirky, kind of endearing, and true to form, i sleep right through it. I have one of the nicer apartments in the area, which means that my room has a fan, and the floors arent bare concrete. it has been fascinating to see such a diffrent way of living. no one in the town has air conditioning, or hot water, and most homes have roofs solely made of corrugated iron, with gaps between the roof and the walls for air cirulation.

speaking of the air, it is so thick you can taste it down here. you can practically chew on the smell of liush plants breathy, slight tang of the ocean. it sounds romantic, and it is, but you get used to it so quickly. your skin has this permanent glow of sweat that becomes a downpour during yoga, dancing, or god help me soccer. after a game i look like i just stepped out of the sea!

but back to mornings. mornings here are actually the hottest time of the day, because night is when the monsoon clouds roll in with fat thick hot raindrops that drench you in seconds. People will be up, raking up leaves from the banyan trees up off of the beach, opening shops, chatting, making the bonfires which smoulder permanently in huge piles that never burn down fully. at night people will start them up to a blaze, but theyre more fuction than fun, the bonfires are how most families get rid of ther trash, the biomass part at least, and on the beach, with air this wet, fires running out of control are almost unheared of.

the school here is excellent, scholartically, as well as in terms of community. there are students here of all ages, from all around the worl - a lot of swiss and quebequa (spelling?) currently, as well as a lot of southerners from the US. it's been a fantastic experiance in foreign cultures bvetween the school, and the ticos (costaricans).

The school has classes in dance (salsa, meringue, and another whose name i cant remeber for the life of me), yoga, cooking, soccer games, spanish language movies, tours of places in costa rica, you name it, they do, and all in spanish.

at the bars, people dance, but not bootyshaking grinding american style, they dance salsa and meringue. it's like entering a club where everyone knows how to swing, but sexy. i'm in heaven, obviously.

the only thing that i have found dissapointing so far, is the food. and you all know how much i like food. unlike i expected, ticos are really not into spice. it blew my mind, being as huge a fan of flovorful foreign food as i am, but it's the truth, spice is not their thing. that being said, the arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) and enchiladas make me very happy.

the actual speaking part is still hard, althougb understanding spanish is getting easier and easier. granted, ticos are the californians of the spanish language: they speak fast, mutter, and use a lot of slang (although not as much as argentinians), so understanding them speak is a little difficult. I'm planning a jaunt to nicaragua though, so we'lñl see if it's any easier there.


anyways, i need to go home and change before my soccer game (students versus teachers) at a local cancha sintètica, (astro turf field, although it's really soft) whichy is a huge deal for a rural town like sàmara, where you can recognize everyone who lives here after a week in town.


anyways, i'm off, with more updates to come.
Pura Vida

surifng is one of the most fantastic experiances known to man.

¡hola chicos!

well, I'm in Sámara. It's a beautiful place, very small, pretty safe, and really hot and humid. I jumped right into things, showing up at 12.30 and starting class at 1.00 yesterday. then dance classes (the samba) which rocked. I got to do flips, and all kinds of things. learning how to follow in swing, and move my hips in clubs has totally paid off, latin dance is muy sensual! the tica mother( a tica is a local woman) of one of my friends has a resataraunt right across from the school, so we sat down and chatted for a while, then homework, and bed. I{m off to lunch now with some other people, then hopefully surfing, and hitting the bank, so I can go on a trip to volcano arenal this weekend

I love traveling, every day seems like three!
I'm starving, so I'm going to run, but life is good, and fast, and i{lkl write more eloquently later.

Pura Vida

it's amazing the characters you meet on the road.

Carmen, this latin woman with long curly hair, who is a force to be reckoned with was the lady at the front desk of the hotel I'm staying at in Florida. She told me where to find the best food near my hotel (this little cuban hole in the wall: queso, huevos y jamon sandwiches y mango milkshakes, yum!) how to find the bus, and about her loser of an ex husband. and how to swear more in spanish, woot!

this older Indian couple on the bus, Mahel and his wife whose name I didn't catch. They sat down next to me, her in a lime sari, him in a casual suit, and just started talking because I smiled. Within 5 minutes we shared where we came from, where we'd like to be going, and a dozen other incosequential things that give you that warm happy traveling feeling. It reminded me how much fun talking to strangers is, one of the best parts of traveling. They blessed me for my smile, and told me not to lose it.

that being said, I think waiting for the bus yesterday was a better choice than getting into any of the cars that stopped on a highway in miami and asked me if I wanted a ride somewhere. little sketchy. being a woman traveling, some basic caution is definintely necessary. the catcalls still crack me up though. boys *sigh*

time to catch the bus!
and then onto Costa Rica.

hello!

I'm off to Costa Rica, cooling my heels in Miami untill my plane gets here, and on a mission to see Kung Fu Panda before I leave the USA! more posts will be forthcoming, but for now, I'm off again wandering!

pura vida.