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.