Between a Crocodile and a Poisonous Snake...

Dear Dr. Thacker,

I've had a lot of interesting experiences so far in Costa Rica, but this weekend definitely wins the award for most exciting experience of my life...

Hannah and I had a long weekend because today is a Costa Rican national holiday (el Día de la Anexión de Guanacaste). We've been wanting to go to the beach (cheap entertainment!!), so we decided to pack our backpacks and head for Manuel Antonio, a beautiful beach and national park on the Pacific Coast.  On Friday morning we took the public bus from San José to Quepos and then a smaller bus from Quepos to Manuel Antonio. Fairly non-eventful so far.  

When we got to the beach, we wandered around the town for a while, trying to find our hostel. Our friend Liz, who's staying at the house with us, was able to make reservations through her language school (our school doesn't do that...jerks. lol), so she had made the reservations for us. However, she somehow failed to tell us (and we somehow failed to ask) the name of the hostel. So we had to show several people the receipt before someone recognized it as the Tico Lodge and told us where it was. Lesson #1: Make sure you know where you're staying when you go on vacation.

We got checked into the Tico Lodge, put on our swimsuits, and headed for the beach. We spent all afternoon in the ocean and on the sand, and it was glorious. Later we went back to the hostel and changed then looked around for somewhere to eat dinner. We took the advice of a local who told us where to go, and it was amazing. Lesson #2: Listen to the locals.

At the restaurant, our server was this tall Costa Rican guy named Judah who had, no joke, the most amazing dreadlocks I've ever seen. They came all the way down his back, but they were contained in a long ponytail, so it didn't look sketchy or anything. I can't really do it justice with my feeble attempts at description, but that guy had seriously the coolest hair in the entire world.

After dinner, we went back to the hostel and went to sleep after talking for a while.  Saturday morning, I woke up early and went down to the beach. I walked around taking pictures and just basking in the glory of being at the ocean. After about an hour, I went back to the room to find Hannah awake, and we went to breakfast. 

Pretty typical vacation so far.

After breakfast we hit the beach again and spent some more time swimming in the ocean and playing in the sand. Hannah discovered the presence of hermit crabs on the beach, so we spent quite some time capturing some with the intention of taking them home...hey, there were no signs that said not to! However, they were a pain to try to contain, and we eventually let them go. Lesson #3: Hermit crabs are incredibly adept at escaping from hollow coconut shells.

We had to check out of the hostel at noon, so we headed back, showered, and packed all our stuff back in our backpacks. After checking out, we went to the national park, which was right by our hostel. And that's when it started to get interesting...

The Manuel Antonio National Park is a beautiful rainforest with hiking trails and white sandy beaches along the coastline. Hannah and I started out on one of the trails, but we wanted to see some wildlife, so we soon ventured off the trail and started walking up a stream. I felt like Indiana Jones or something as we trekked through the rainforest with our backpacks. We came across a little trail and followed that for a while, which led us to several vines, which, of course, we climbed and swung from like monkeys. (Pictures will be on Facebook very soon.) 

We didn't think it was a problem to leave the trail because a) there were no signs or anything indicating otherwise and b) one of the guides who worked in the park saw us leave the trail and didn't say anything. The entire time we were off the trail the first time, nothing bad happened, and the most interesting wildlife we saw was a couple of lizards and some strange tree crab things.

We eventually made it back onto the trail and walked to one of the beaches. Since our swimsuits were wet and gross from swimming that morning, we didn't get back in the water, but we just hung out on the beach for a while. Then we went back into the rainforest. Once again, we started out on the trail, but we saw another little stream off to one side, so we headed off down the stream in search of more adventure and more wildlife. We found both.

I was walking ahead of Hannah, picking my way through the fallen branches and wet stones of the stream. I looked down, and what I saw didn't register at first. But I suddenly stopped short when I realized that the gray thing directly in front of me was not another tree branch. It was, in fact, the tail of a crocodile. If I had taken one more step, I would've stepped on it.

I just stared at it for a few seconds. It was light gray and at least as long as I am tall. It wasn't moving, so I think it was asleep. Hannah was coming up behind me and asked what it was. I slowly turned toward her, wide-eyed. "It's...a...crocodile." 

Saying it out loud seemed to help me register what was going on. I finally started moving away. I had a vague idea that I should take a picture, but rapidly decided that a hasty retreat was the far better option. We quickly and silently headed back up the stream until we were a reasonable distance away. We stopped and looked back, and I saw it move, so it was definitely alive.

We just stood there in shock for a few minutes, registering what had just happened. I had almost stepped on a sleeping crocodile. That would've been really bad. After calming down and recuperating for a few minutes, we decided to head back upstream, away from the crocodile.

I started walking first, and I hadn't even taken 5 steps when I felt something jab the top of my foot. I guess now is as good a time as any to tell you that I was wearing my TOMS and shorts. Lesson #4: TOMS are not a suitable substitute for hiking boots.

When I felt the jab, I thought that a branch had snapped back and hit my foot. I jerked my foot back and looked down. 

It wasn't a branch. It was a snake. 

I saw it all in the same instant: the coiled snake, the triangle-shaped head, the dark and light brown mottled skin, the bite marks on my foot, and the blood. That was the most terrifying instant of my entire life.

"I...just got bit...by a snake." I gasped. Then I started to run. Hannah and I ditched the stream entirely and took off through the rainforest back toward the trail. We were both panicking.

We made it back to the trail, where Hannah made me stop so she could tie my hair band around my ankle. We later discovered that you're not supposed to do that; it's a myth. Lesson #5: The Discovery Channel lies.

Then she made me sit down in the trail while she ran for help. We were both screaming for help at this point. The park was just closing, and a lady was driving by in an SUV. Hannah flagged her down and told her what had happened, and she motioned me to get in the front seat. She drove me at high speed toward the park entrance, which was further away than I had thought.

When we got to the park headquarters at the entrance, they took me inside and had me sit down on a couch while they called an ambulance. They brought a guide who spoke English (usually I would've been ok with Spanish, but I wasn't exactly thinking clearly, so the Spanish wasn't quite working) who started talking to me and calming me down. He told me that they had antivenins for every kind of poisonous snake in the area, so I wasn't going to die. 

After I calmed down, he started asking me what the snake looked like. I tried to describe it, and then they brought me pictures of all the different snakes in the area. From the pictures and my description, we figured out it was a fer-de-lance (terciopelo in Spanish), which is venomous. Goodie. However, my foot still hadn't started swelling up, which they said was a really good sign. 

Hannah caught up with me before the ambulance arrived, which was good...not sure what we would've done if we'd gotten separated. When the ambulance got there, they took us to the hospital in Quepos, about 20 minutes away. No one at the hospital spoke much English, so Hannah translated a lot for me. Thank you, Dr. Thacker, for teaching her medical Spanish! You would've been proud of her.

They did a blood test to see if there was venom in my blood. The first one came out negative, which means that I jerked my foot away before it had time to inject venom. Lesson #6: God is awesome.

However, they wanted to do another test 6 hours after the bite just to make sure. So we had to wait around in the hospital for hours. It was ok at first, but as time went on, my foot started hurting...a lot. It just kept getting worse and worse and worse...it was the most intense pain I've ever felt. The doctors and nurses kept saying they were going to give me something for the pain, but they never did. It was awful. They did the second blood test at 10pm, and then we waited about 4 hours for them to tell us the results. Lesson #7: Never take the US's health care system for granted.

When the doctor finally came in around 2am, he found both of us asleep in the hospital bed. He woke me up to tell me that the second blood test showed no venom, so I could go home. However, he said we could stay in the hospital for the night since we didn't have anywhere to go.

Then this crazy nurse lady came and made me follow her (walking was TERRIBLE) to another room where she gave me a shot for the pain and another shot to prevent infection. Then she wanted us to leave. I explained that we didn't have anywhere to go and that the doctor had said we could stay until morning, and she very reluctantly agreed that we could stay until they needed the bed for another patient.  Jerk.

I went back to bed and slept until the crazy nurse came in and told us that it was 6am and we needed to leave now. After a very confusing payment process, we made our way out of the hospital. There was a bus stop right by the hospital, so we took that bus to Quepos, where we looked for somewhere to eat breakfast. Since it was before 7 on a Sunday morning, everything was closed except for the restaurant in the good ol' Best Western hotel. Yay for US-based businesses understanding that people need to eat in the mornings.

After an excellent breakfast, we walked back to the bus station to buy our tickets to San José. The next bus wasn't until 10, so we had a couple hours to wait. We ended up reading by the ocean...not a bad way to kill 2 hours. At 10, we boarded the bus for the 4-hour ride home.

The moral of the story? When stuck between a crocodile and a poisonous snake, go for the snake.

Standing Room Only, and Not Much of That...

Dear Dr. Thacker,

Public buses are interesting things.  For 200 colones (40 cents), one can secure the right to ride the bus until he or she wants to get off or until the bus reaches the final stop on its route.  I usually walk, but today I took the bus to downtown San José and back because I wanted to get home before dark.

           

There is a bus stop just a few blocks from our house.  When I reached the stop, there were a few other people sitting on the bench, waiting and looking around nonchalantly.  I didn’t want to sit down just yet, so I stood to the side of the benches and watched down the road for the bus.  I stood there in the warm sunlight and the refreshing afternoon breeze, just enjoying being there and being alone for a change.  When the bus pulled up, I was the first one on and secured a seat at the front. 

I rode the bus all the way to the last stop: downtown.  After eating at Quiznos (I had skipped lunch earlier to finish preparing for a presentation…typical Rachael procrastination), I searched through 3 different bookstores before finally finding the book I needed for class.  Then I grabbed some Menta Chocolate ice cream at POPS, the best ice cream place ever (after Polly’s Freeze), and walked the few blocks back to the bus stop.

When I got to the stop, there was a humongously long line of people that I couldn’t quite figure out.  I finally realized that they must all be waiting to get on the bus, which hadn’t even arrived yet.  I made my way to the back of the line, but then I got confused again because it looked like the people further back were waiting for a different bus.  I couldn’t tell where one line stopped and the other started, so I went back to the line I knew for sure was for the bus to Sabanilla and nonchalantly and unashamedly cut in front of a couple ladies.  They didn’t seem to mind, though, so I didn’t feel too bad.

After a couple minutes, the bus showed up.  Then another bus pulled up behind it.  People from both lines started getting on both buses.  The one closer to me said “Sabanilla” on it, but it looked much different from any other bus I’d ever ridden on that route.  I hesitated, but the other bus, the one that looked familiar, was already full and pulling away, so I boarded the new bus and prayed it was the right one.

I sat down right behind the driver’s seat and waited as the bus filled up with passengers.  They just kept coming and coming until every seat was full, and still they kept boarding.  We finally pulled out, and I peered anxiously out the window to try to determine if we were indeed heading toward Sabanilla.  I didn’t really recognize anything, but I’d only taken that bus once before, so I wasn’t too worried yet.

At the next stop, even more people boarded, including a mom with a little girl.  The woman next to me gave up her seat for them, so I gave up mine too so they could sit together.  Now I was one of several passengers standing in the bus. 

This wasn’t so bad except for the fact that now I couldn’t see out the windows anymore.  I tried to lean down and look out, but I couldn’t see anything but sidewalks and pedestrians.  Not particularly helpful in determining my location.  So once more, I just held on and hoped for the best.

At every stop, more people crammed into the bus.  There were so many people packed into that vehicle that there was hardly room to move.  It was then that I started reflecting on the strange phenomenon that is a public bus.

All these people were crowded together in such a small space, all moving at exactly the same speed in exactly the same direction.  But all of them had different destinations, and barely any of them knew each other.  For example, the woman to my right and the man to my left were both physically very close to me, but I had no idea who they were, where they came from, or where they were headed.  Somehow that fact struck me as incredibly strange.

It’s so weird to think about all the people that we come into contact with every day whom we know absolutely nothing about.  Every person in a crowd is a person, an individual with a unique personality and a unique story.  Often we are so narrow-minded that we look at a crowded bus and simply see an inconvenient number of bodies instead of an incredible number of stories all crammed together in an exciting blend of humanity.

I guess life is kinda like a public bus.  People get on and off at different times.  Sometimes there are a lot of people crowded close to you, and sometimes you have plenty of room to yourself.  Countless people are alive and headed in the same direction as you are at the same time as you are, but you’ve never met most of them, and you probably never will.  The trick, I suppose, is to stop looking at people as just a bunch of bodies and start looking at them as human beings who are just as unique as you are, who have just as many problems and just as many hopes and dreams.

The end of the story is that I finally figured out that I was indeed on the right bus, and I reached my house with no problems, half an hour before sunset, with a new book in my hand and a new perspective in my heart.

Rachael's Adventures in Wonderland

Dear Dr. Thacker,

Saturday, I went to Volcán Poas with Stephanie and Alexandra, two German girls who stayed at the house for a week.  We got up early, ate breakfast, and took the bus to downtown San José.  After nearly sprinting to the other bus station (one of gazillions in San José), we discovered that the bus schedule we’d found online was wrong and the bus actually left half an hour later than we’d thought.  So we wandered around making sure that we were in the right place then settled down to wait. 

While we were waiting, Alexandra pointed out a sign that said “Prohibido las Escenas Amorosas,” and asked me what it meant.  I then proceeded to explain the concept of PDA in English, which they’d never heard of before.  Quite amusing. 

Then we got into a lengthy discussion about the differences between the school systems in the U.S. and Germany.  Apparently in Germany, when kids are ten, their teachers decide which career they should take, and if they want to change later on, it’s hard.  Interesting, indeed.  When the bus arrived, we boarded, paid our fare, and settled in for the 2-hour ride to the Poas National Park. 

Staring out the window of the bus, I was as enraptured as I always am when I escape the dirt and noise of San José and see the paradisiacal landscape that people generally imagine when they think of Costa Rica.  It was a misty, rainy morning, but far from masking the beauty of my surroundings, the wisps of fog floating among the trees and mountains lent a mysterious intrigue to the shadowy rainforest.  I spent the entire bus ride totally enthralled.

When we arrived at the National Park, we paid the $10 entrance fee and headed for the volcano.  The rain had let up a bit, but the fog and mist had thickened, and it was much colder than I had anticipated.  Stephanie and Alexandra were afraid that we wouldn’t be able to see the volcano because of the thick fog, but we hiked the short distance to the crater anyways, hoping to see the volcano.

Their fears were confirmed when we reached the main crater.  The fog was so thick that we couldn’t see more than a few feet into the crater.  We stood in the rain for a couple of minutes, wondering what to do.

We saw a sign for a trail that said it led to a beautiful lake created by the volcano.  Since we couldn’t see the volcano, we decided to hike the trail and see if we could catch a glimpse of the lake.  However, after the short, wet hike to the lake, all we could see was fog.  Disappointed, we stood around for a while trying to stay dry under a shelter house.  Then we decided to hike through the rainforest, since there was nothing else to do.

Stephanie and Alexandra were ahead of me, occasionally lamenting the fact that we couldn’t see the volcano.  At first I shared their disappointment and prayed hard that God would let the rain stop and the fog clear just long enough for us to see the volcano.

Suddenly however, I realized that the very fog that was preventing us from seeing the crater was just as much an intricate work of art as the volcano itself.  Once I stopped praying that God would part the fog and started just thanking Him for the fog, the rain, and the beautiful rainforest, a whole new world opened up to me. 

I began to just be thrilled that I had this opportunity to hike through one of God’s most amazing creations. The huge trees twisted their trunks and branches together over my head to create a long, dark tunnel.  Rich greens and browns seemed to saturate the very air.  I felt like I was breathing in the color green.

It was raining harder now, but the giant leaves overhead drank up most of the cool water before it reached me.  The drops that did make it to my upturned face were far from annoying.  They just made me feel even more a part of this world of exuberant life.  Far from being a wasted trip, I felt incredibly privileged to be there.

The only way that I know to describe the rainforest is to say that it is incredibly alive.  The life-giving rain falls on every surface and allows an unfathomable number of plants to flourish in even the smallest spaces.  Even the rocks are alive with mosses and ferns. 

I didn’t see the rainforest; I felt the rainforest.  As I realized that the swirling, dancing, passionate life of the rainforest is only a dim reflection of the Life that created it all, I felt an incredible awe of God.  I rejoiced in the fact that this incredible life is the same life that God blesses me with every single day.  I felt like I could explode with the same exuberance that I saw all around me.  By this time I was soaking wet and cold, but I’ve never felt so alive.

After this incredible hike, we reached a fork in the road: we could either go back to the park’s gift shop or back to the crater.  Stephanie and Alexandra suggested going back to the gift shop since we wouldn’t be able to see anything at the crater.  However, I had this feeling that if we went back to the crater, God would let us see it.  So I suggested we try one more time, and they somewhat reluctantly agreed.

As we approached the crater, I knew it was going to be different this time.  And sure enough, just as it was coming into view, the fog cleared and there it was: the huge, smoking crater of the active volcano.  It was an incredible sight.  People around us were saying “How lucky!  I was sure we wouldn’t be able to see it today.”  Stephanie was shocked; she’d read that it’s very unlikely to be able to see the crater clearly after 10 in the morning; it was about 1:00.  “We got lucky!”  No, we got blessed.

The crater stayed clear for about 15 minutes: just enough time to get tons of pictures and take in the glorious view of the majestic volcano.  As the fog started rolling back in, we turned around and headed back to the gift shop.  By now we were thoroughly freezing, so we got some café con leche and queque de vanilla y chocolate at the coffee shop.  Then we wandered around the art gallery and the museum until it was time to get back on the bus and head back to San José.  I came back soaking wet and cold, but it was a fantastic day nonetheless.

Teatro Nacional

Yesterday (Tuesday), MLSA took us to downtown San José to see the Teatro Nacional, or National Theater, which is the most beautiful building in all of Costa Rica.  It was finished in 1897, and it's absolutely stunning.  (I still can't figure out how to post pictures on here, but they'll appear on Facebook soon.)  The building is ornate and very Baroque, with beautifully painted ceilings, huge marble staircases, and gorgeous chandeliers.  Every single part of that building was incredible.

After the tour of the Theater, we had about an hour and a half to walk around downtown San José.  I hadn't been downtown yet, so it was quite the experience.  It's a lot more modern than San Pedro, and has all sorts of cool shops and restaurants.  We didn't have enough time to explore it sufficiently; I'll have to go back at some point....

From Paradise to Class...

Dear Dr. Thacker,

Ok, let's see if I can get caught up on this thing...

Sunday I went on a one-day cruise to the fantastically beautiful Tortuga Island off the Pacific Coast.  I got up at 5 AM to take a taxi to La Casita, the MLSA headquarters.  We got on a nice tour bus and rode an hour and a half to the port city of Puntarenas, where we had breakfast.  Then we got on a catamaran and set sail through the gorgeous Golfo de Nicoya.  The boat ride lasted about an hour and half, and for most of it I sat at the very front with two other students, talking, taking in the amazing view, and enjoying the feeling of being on a boat.  The catamaran was great; the crew members kept walking around and offering everyone fruit and stuff.  It was pretty amazing.

As we approached Isla Tortuga, the first thing I saw was palm trees, and I knew I was going to love it.  As the white sand and clear turquoise water came closer and closer, it looked like something you'd only see in a travel brochure.  I didn't know such beautiful places actually existed.

We got off the catamaran, and our awesome tour guide, Erica, told us the rules of the island.  Isla Tortuga is a private biological reserve, so we couldn't go into the mountains; we had to stay on the beach.  However, I had more than enough to take in at sea level.

The first thing I did was go snorkeling, which I'd never done before.  They took us out in a boat to a place a little bit offshore and turned us loose.  After I got my mask, snorkel, and fins adjusted, I stuck my head underwater to see hundreds of brightly colored tropical fish inches away from me!  It was incredible.  I chased the fish around for a while; I got so close to them but never actually got to touch one.  In some places I could see the ocean floor, and when I dove down to get a closer look, I was able to see coral and starfish and even a manta ray!  It was incredible.

When we got back from snorkeling, the gourmet 4-course lunch was served.  The fish salad (a lot better than it sounds), coconut chicken, rice, vegetables, and bread were unbelievably good.

After lunch I wandered around the island and took about 300 pictures (which I finally just put up on Facebook, and I'll try to figure out how to post them here soon...) of the island.  I took so many pictures of palm trees....I'm kind of obsessed.

Later I went on a "banana ride," which was like a giant tube shaped like a banana that 7 people could ride on.  We were pulled by a little motor boat, and we got flipped over several times.  It was basically tubing on the ocean, and it was fantastic.

All too soon, however, we had to get back on the catamaran and leave the gorgeous island.  On the way back I sat on the front again and enjoyed the warm sun and fresh breeze.  When we got back to Puntarenas, we got back on the bus and headed home.

The next morning, classes started.  Hannah and I walked to UCR (Universidad de Costa Rica), which is about 2 miles from our house.  I'm taking Composition II and Conversation II.  I really like both of my professors, and I think both classes are going to be really good.  There's been a lot of review in the first couple of days, but I'm hoping they'll get more challenging soon.

Monday after class, Hannah and I and our new friend Nathan walked to the organization where we wanted to volunteer while we're here.  We talked to the guy in charge, and he said that in order to work with them, we'd have to pay a "small fee" of 100 dollars!  So I guess we'll have to find some other way to get involved.

Walking home, we got caught in a torrential downpour...without umbrellas.  They're not kidding when they tell you to never leave the house without an umbrella!  We were completely soaked by the time we got home; I don't think I've ever been that wet, even swimming!  And since it's so humid here, it took all of Tuesday for my stuff to dry out completely.  Lesson learned: umbrellas are my friend.

From Disorientation to Orientation

Dear Dr. Thacker,

I'm sorry these posts are so late...I haven't been able to get internet for the past couple of days, so this was actually written on July 2. Therefore, "yesterday" means July 1, and "today" means July 2. Just fyi....

Yesterday and today we had orientation to the culture, the program, and the school, but before all that we had quite a disorienting experience…

Yesterday, we didn’t have to be at the school until 2, but we were up at 7:30 for breakfast (it’s not as miraculous as it sounds…we’re still operating on Indiana/Vermont time, so it felt like 9:30).  Since we didn’t know what else to do, we decided to explore the area around the house.  Our primary goals were to find a place with free wi-fi (apparently very few and far between here) and to find a bank to change our money.  We accomplished neither of those goals, but we did have an interesting adventure. 

Our host family lives in a neighborhood called Sabanilla, which is about 2 miles from the University.  We wandered around for a while, admiring the brightly colored houses and the beautiful vegetation.  Then we started realizing that we had very little idea as to where we actually were…

The streets in San José don’t have names.  There are no street signs and very few directional signs at all.  That, combined with my innate lack of sense of direction, got me very lost, very fast.  Luckily, Hannah is better at remembering where we came from and places we had passed, so we found our way around…sort of.

After wandering around for a few hours and stopping at a supermercado to buy shampoo and body wash and stuff like that, we somehow wound up back at our host family’s casa.  We ate lunch, and then our host mom rode the bus with us to the University for orientation. 

After orientation, Cindy (our host sister) came and picked us up.  On the ride home, she taught us some street Spanish.  We learned that “mai” means “dude,” “tuanis” means “cool,” and “pura vida” means, basically, that life’s good.

When we got home, we relaxed for a while before dinner.  The food is excellent; our tica mom is an awesome cook.  As Hannah said, “It’s like living in a free restaurant!”  After dinner we talked to Cindy some more.  She’s 25 and really awesome.  She was joking with us and warning us to look out for the “Costa Rica ninjas.”

This morning we woke up at 7:30 again for breakfast, then went to the University for more orientation.  We learned about the classes and profs, got a tour of the HUGE campus, and got to see a Costa Rican dance team perform for us.  It was pretty cool, but kinda strange.  They make these high-pitched noises with their voices at random times during the dance; it freaked me out at first because I thought it was some kind of siren.  But once I got used to it, it was kinda cool.

After we ate lunch, I had to take a placement test; Hannah escaped that fate because she signed up for the grad-level classes.  How does that make sense? 

While I was taking the test, she found a flyer for a volunteer organization that was having a meeting today.  We miraculously found where it was and knocked until someone let us in.  They were in the middle of some meeting where some representatives from the Red Cross (Cruz Roja) and some children’s hospital were talking about the ways they volunteer.  During a break, we talked to several people, including the director of the organization (I think), who told us that if we came back on Monday at 2, we can meet the guy who organizes volunteer opportunities for people who are here for a short time.  So hopefully we’ll get to do some volunteer work while we’re here!

After we left from there, we walked back to Sabanilla, where our family lives.  On the way, we passed a clinic and stopped in to see if Hannah could shadow a doctor there.  She’s probably going to get to observe in an ambulance!  Sounds scary to me, but she’s really excited. 

Also on the way back, we stopped at an ATM, where I got some colones.  Then we stopped at a supermercado called Mas X Menos (Mas por Menos) so I could pick up a few things and get some smaller bills in change.  While we were standing in the crazy-long line, we met this random girl from Texas who’s also studying here.  She’s an elementary school teacher and really nice.  Hannah instantly bonded with her (I don’t know what’s up with her and elementary school teachers…it’s like instant bff-dom), and they ended up making plans to go to a volcano tomorrow!  I would go too, but I signed up earlier today to go on a one-day cruise to Tortuga Island tomorrow!  I’m pretty excited about that.

After coming back to the house, we ate dinner, then went out again so that Hannah could change her money.  We went back to Mas X Menos, and she tried to buy a couple things with a US $20, but two cashiers wouldn’t take it because it had a tiny tear in it!  It was kinda ridiculous.  But then she went to the Western Union inside Mas X Menos, and they changed it with no problem.

We walked back home and collapsed.  With all this walking, I’m going to be in such great shape at the end of this month!

The Journey

Dear Dr. Thacker,

Yesterday was spent traveling: a 2-hour drive to Lexington, a 1-hour flight to Atlanta, and a 3-hour-and-fifteen-minute flight to San José.  Hannah and I had a joyous reunion in Atlanta and spent the 2-hour layover riding the tram between concourses like it was a thrill ride, racing up and down escalators and moving sidewalks, and generally basking in the glory of being together again.

We were supposed to sit next to each other on our flight to San José, but we gave up our seats to a father who wanted his little girl to sit next to him.  Hannah and I ended up sitting across the aisle from each other, which was still close enough to draw pictures for each other, laugh about the ridiculous things in Sky Mall, and share a blanket across the aisle.

Since I’d only gotten 3 hours of sleep the night before (teach me to put off packing until the last minute…), I tried to sleep on the plane a little.  I didn’t have much success, so I was pretty exhausted by the time we landed in San José.  It was already dark, as we had realized before we landed…

Me: “How is it dark already? It’s only 7:30!!”

Hannah: “Maybe we’re above the sun.  No, we’re probably in the eye of the sun.  That would make more sense.”

…so we didn’t get to see much of Costa Rica from the air.  After landing, we went through customs (aduanas), which was not as scary as I thought it would be, then went to the baggage claim (reclamo de equipaje) to get Hannah’s checked bag.  I, my dear grandmother, am proud to say that I packed for 6 weeks in a small carry-on suitcase and my trusty orange backpack.  However, I have stopped making fun of Hannah for bringing so much stuff since realizing that she brought a lot of useful and entertaining things that I neglected to think of...

After finally getting Hannah’s bag, we made our way out to the pick-up place outside the airport where we were met by a guy waving an “MLSA” sign, who pointed us to a lady waving another “MLSA” sign.  (ß space after that period provided by Hannah N. Smith)  We checked in with MLSA (Modern Language Studies Abroad – the program we’re studying with), then waited….and waited…and waited….for the other American students to arrive.  We talked to a few of the other students while we were waiting, but we were mostly too tired to do much more than stand there staring around blankly.

My first glimpses of Costa Rica outside the airport consisted of a patch of dark sky, a palm tree, and rain.  I was expecting the rain, since I discovered last week that July is smack in the middle of the rainy season…

After all the MLSA students finally arrived, we all piled into a bus and drove to some random place (we still can’t figure out what it had to do with anything) where we were supposed to meet our host families.  It was pretty chaotic, as all the families were calling out the names of the students that were assigned to them.  After several minutes, I heard a lady calling my name and went to her.  She asked if I knew who Hannah Smith was, and I reluctantly answered in the affirmative (just kidding).  Apparently there was also supposed to be another person named Jordan staying with us, but we never found him/her/it, so we eventually left with our host mom Noemi and her daughter Cindy.

We followed Noemi and Cindy to their car, crammed all of our luggage into the trunk and backseat, and squeezed into the small car for the ride to their house.  When we arrived, Noemi showed us around her beautiful, spacious, and awesomely clean house, told us the rules, and showed us to our separate rooms.  Once she left us to ourselves, however, Hannah and I decided we’d rather share a room, since one of them has two beds.  We’ve been apart for far too long; we need to be roomies again.

After we got settled in and unpacked a little, we collapsed.  And thus concludes Day 1.