Wow.

Kristin and I are probably the luckiest people in the entire world.

This past week we did some really awesome traveling. It's hard to put it all into words, and I WOULD add pictures, but well, you know...

So I guess I'll start from the top!

Saturday morning, bright and early at 6am we got on the bus in front of USAC and left for Nicaragua. My eyes were closed for most of the trip, but we got to the border 3 or 4 hours later and spent just as long waiting in a very unruly, restless line. It was kind of funny, and definitely worth the wait! When we finally got our passports stamped, we crossed over to Nicaragua! We stopped at the border stores and got some cheap stuff, then went to Granada, which was about 2 hours away.

Granada is absolutely gorgeous. It's a city, but it doesn't give off the overwhelming city feeling that San Jose or any other city does. The buildings are all very well maintained and they are painted beautiful, bright colors. Our hotel was located on the outskirts of a little cultural center where a poetry festival was going on. Pretty amazing! We spent the night eating pizza from an incredibly delicious restaurant, and then walked around and shopped for a while.

We went on a tour of the city the next morning by horses, but luckily we didn't have to be ON the horses... just in a carriage. We saw a lot of really cool buildings and learned a little bit about the history of Nicaragua. We climbed a clock tower in a church, at the top of which you can see the whole city all 360 degrees, all the way to the giant lake in the middle of the country. The view was incredible- Kristin got some very amazing pictures!

I'm pretty sure that we spent the afternoon in tiny little fishing boats touring some islands that has gorgeous yurt-like houses on them. They were selling some. If I don't come home, you'll know where to find me...

The trip blurs together a lot due to an excessive lack of sleep, but I'm pretty sure that the next day, the first thing we did was go to Volcan Masaya. COOLEST. VOLCANO. EVER. Once again, it's hard to describe, and even the pictures might not do it justice, but it was so amazing. There was just this enormous hole in the earth, and red-orange sand, and a giant cliff drop thing... words aren't really helping me out here, but just trust me, it was amazing. I'll ask Kristin to post pictures!

After that, we spent the afternoon at the Masaya market place and shopped forever. It was a really, really overwhelming little marketplace, but Kristin got some really cool gifts, and I got a shirt for someone! The coolest part is that is was so, so colorful. There were SO MANY bags, and hammocks, and other really cool stuff!

We went out to dinner at a really nice little restaurant back in Granada, and we dined like kings. That night, since Danger and Kristin and I somehow ended up with a huuuuge VIP suite-like lounge room, we had a little wine gala, which was really fun, and then we went out on the town and danced for a little bit at a neat little salsa club.

The next morning, we left for San Juan del Sur, a town close to the border of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. It is a really scenic little place! It's basically located inside of a cove, surrounded by cliffs on each side, with the Pacific rolling in on the half-circle shore. On the top of the right side of the mountain, there was an enormous statue of Jesus himself. It really shows the Christian influence on the country! Here is where we met the craziest monkey lady ever.

We wandered around until 2, got some lunch, and then went on a boat tour to a very remote, secluded beach. The boat ride over was really fun, and definitely interesting- they were fishing boats, and the guides were actually fishing. They caught 8 on ours, and they were pretty big fish. It was kind of gross, we watched them hold them in the guts and they got all oozy, then we had to hear them fight for life under the boat floorboards until there was silence. The fishermen loved it though! We spent the afternoon playing frisbee and just hanging out at the secluded beach, I think it was called Playa Blanco, and it was really nice to be there. We rode back to San Juan del Sur in the sunset. There have not been very many times where I've felt so relaxed.

That night we went out to dinner pretty late, and it was delicious. Some people even got lobster! I went back to the hotel pretty much right after dinner with Kristin and Danger and we went to bed early because Danger, Zak, and I decided to wake up early and run to Jesus the next morning! We got up a little after 6 and ran through the sunrise to the summit of Jesus where we were promptly shunned and turned away. Silly us for not thinking of the possibility that a sleepy Nicaraguan man might live inside of Jesus with a guard dog and not like visitors when the gate is closed at 6:30am... woops. Still though, the view from the top was incredible! We were just on this hill looking over the whole cove, and could see trails on the other side, and houses on the hillside, and the ocean, and the lights but also the sun, and it was just really amazing.

After the trek down from Jesus, we jumped in the ocean and swam for a little. It was great.

After leaving San Juan del Sur, we went to the border and only waited for an hour and a half this time. We went on to an amazing little lodge in Rincon, Northern Costa Rica, called Buena Vista. It was way up in the mountains and and we were basically just living in the jungle. It was a really, really incredible establishment. It was a resort with a hot springs spa, way too many horses, ziplines, canopy walk bridges, tons of cute little wooden rooms, fields, lakes, and a giant waterslide. That night we got some free time since we arrived too late for the zipline, and I honestly can't even remember what we did. We probably just hung out by the pool.

The next day we woke up early for the hot springs! We took horses (scariest experience of my life) to the springs, and first went into the hottest steam room ever, then covered ourselves in exfoliating mud, then hosed off and relaxed in a mix of hot tubs and pools for a few hours. I'm almost 100% certain that the devil sent my return horse straight from hell, and I pathetically rode back in the shame wagon after being incapable of actually staying on my horse.

Then we ziplined!!! This zipline was extremely tame in comparison to the last one I did, so it wasn't scary at all, and I had a blast! Everyone loved it, for the most part, and it gave us a great adrenaline rush. At night, we borrowed our bus driver's guitar and listened to/played music at the restaurant/bar thing for a few hours. It was such a nice night! How can it get better than being completely exhausted from traveling and ziplining, and then just spending the night hanging out with your friends in a tropical paradise listening to a live Spanish musician and trying to sing along? I just don't think it can.

So we left the next morning- some people did the water slide, but Kristin and I decided to lay out by the pool instead. We took off after lunch and got back to the Punt around 5, as expected, then planned our next adventure for this weekend- Volcan Arenal!

We're leaving in about an hour, so I should go, but we will try to post some pictures soon! Overall, everything was incredible and it was a pretty awesome trip.

Nicaragua!! and Northern Costa Rica

We don´t have much time to update, but we just want to let you all know that Nicaragua is amazing and gorgeous! Long story short, we saw Granada, had a VIP suite hotel basically, bought way too many gifts, went to an amazing beach town, ran to Jesus and got turned away on the top of a giant mountain overlooking the beach, rode on cool fishing boats, went to a secluded beautiful Pacific beach, came back to Costa Rica, and spent hours at a beautiful mudbath spa today, then flew through the jungle via zipline!

Essentially we are having the time of our lives here. Just wanted to check in and let you all know that all is well! More details when return to the Punt, which is tomorrow night!

My Family (by Kristin)

I liked Kate’s description of her host family and their lives, so I’m going to steal her idea and describe mine, since they’re pretty different.

    My family is very traditional, but they do not push their traditional views on me, which is good for everyone. My host sister has a strict curfew, but I’m allowed to stay out as late as I want to, etc.

    Here’s a brief version of their history, as I understand it: My mother was about 27 years old, working as a teacher (I think), and still lived with her parents in Puntarenas when she met my father. This was normal at the time, and still is for many: women do not move out of their parents’ homes until they’re married. My father is from Cobano, which is a little town on the Nicoya Peninsula. To get there from here, one must take a one hour-long ferry ride across the gulf, then a 2.5 hour-long bus ride to the town. My host parents dated for about two years before my dad proposed, and they somehow managed to buy a home literally three houses down the street from my mother’s parents’ home. My mother is 48 years old now, and my host sister is going to be 18 in June. My mom told me that she and my dad had trouble conceiving my sister, and they’d almost given up when my dad’s father died. Then, like it was a gift from her father in-law’s grave, she says, she discovered she was pregnant. My host sister had a rough start: she had some kind of appendicitis or something, then developed an awful infection at the site of the surgery, one that required three more surgeries to repair. She was in the hospital for about 2 months, and doctors told my mom that a person going through what my sister went through normally would not have survived. So, my host mom calls my host sister a “milagro,” just like my real family in the United States calls my little sister a miracle. :)

   We live in a small, but very nicely furnished home on the safer side of town, only three blocks from my school building. The tiled floor in our home is honestly the nicest floor I think I have ever walked on. It appears to actually have real wood in it, and my mom told me that it was super expensive. It’s allegedly 4 years old, but I almost don’t believe that, because it looks brand new and doesn’t have a scratch on it anywhere in the house. Like I mentioned in a previous post, my mom spends lots of time cleaning, and about half that time is spent cleaning the floor alone. Each room except the bathroom has a really gorgeous, solid oak door. They’re heavy and very beautifully crafted. We have fruit trees and many other plants (some flowering, some not) in our yard. We have every appliance I know to be in existence (even a Panini maker and a blender), except for a toaster. So, although my family lives modestly day-to-day, I gather that they save up to afford very nice investments.

    My dad, Velli (pronounced like "Belly"), reminds me a lot of my dad in the United States, actually. He is patient, hard-working, and loves being a family man. He’s also really funny, and likes to joke around. He wakes up at 5:00am and goes to work on every day except Thursdays. He works as a security guard on the pier where cruise ships come in. He’s paid by the town, and his shifts end at 1:30 every day. The family typically eats lunch when he gets home, but since I’m usually in class or doing something away from home at that time, they let me eat when I want to.

My mother, Albany, is very, very maternal. She is sweet and understanding, and very traditional. My family is religious, but they don’t go to church. My mother is very thankful to God for all that she has and loves in the world, so she wakes up at 6:00am to pray/do the rosary thing in her bedroom each morning. I get up at 7:00am on the days I have class, and she used to pour my cereal with bananas and make my tea for me, but now we sort of switch off, because I don’t mind doing it myself most days. My mom spends lots of time sweeping inside and outside, and mopping, washing laundry and hanging it outside to dry, ironing my dad’s work uniforms, and most of all, COOKING. She is an awesome cook, and I eat everything she makes. We eat lots of rice, red beans, chicken, other meat, plantains, and fruit. For snacks, my family only eats watermelon, mango, ice cream, or delicious homemade breads that my dad’s mom sends to us. My dad makes breakfast and dinner on Thursdays, when he doesn’t work, and he’s also an excellent cook. He makes awesome cheese burritos and some kind of pasta dish that involves chopped up hot dogs. However, my mom is definitely not a slave to her housework. She enjoys some downtime each day. Although she’s lived here her whole life, the heat is really hard on her, and she complains of it every day. She sweats all day, and take naps in the afternoon. The heat really can be so incredibly draining sometimes, especially since we don’t have air conditioning. Luckily, since our house is little, when there’s wind, it blows right through the house and is very refreshing. My mom embroiders colorful edges onto face cloths, and sells them. I gather that she’s actually very crafty, and sews a lot. She makes some of her own clothes.

    My host sister, Maria, has been on the Costa Rican version of summer vacation from her private high school since I’ve been here, so she wakes up around 9:00am or 10:00am most days, and spends lots of time in the house with her mom, or down the street with her cousins. She is very helpful, and patient, and funny. She’s also sort of doting, like her mom. At night, she takes walks on the beach with her new boyfriend, Luis Miguel, who is such a sweetheart. She is super fashionable, and has a collection of trendy sandals that I envy! Her classes actually start up again tomorrow.

    In the evenings, after dinner, my whole family spends time down the street at my mom’s mom’s house, chatting with all of her siblings and their children and spouses, etc. The “primos” (cousins) I’ve met range in age from 14 years old to 2 and a half years old, and they’re all really good kids. I’ve already convinced two of them to make me paintings before I leave Costa Rica. The youngest one, Brittany, is a very beautiful girl who was adopted by relatives of my mother…I’m not 100% sure if I understand the story, but I believe that her mother was a prostitute, and she gifted the baby to some relatives of my mother, who already have a ton of children and don’t really do a great job raising her. My parents used to babysit her all day long, but one day, she called my dad “Papa” in front of her adoptive father, and when he corrected her, saying, “No, that’s Velli. I’m your Papa,” and she answered, “No, you’re Miguel. He’s my Papa,” the guy flipped out and wouldn’t let her come here anymore. My mom told me that the baby lost a lot of weight after that because her parents don’t feed her as much as mine did when she was at our house during the day. It’s a sad story, but we still see her a lot, and she’s a really happy, affectionate, busy, curious little girl. 

    Anyway, like I said, my family is traditional and a bit religious. They hate the annual “carnaval” that comes to Puntarenas because people go wild and, in the words of my mother, “drink a lot, and have sex on the beaches…very ugly things.” She told me that in Costa Rica, if a woman wants to have sex, she has to get married to the guy first. She said that men can do whatever they want, until they’re married, at which point they’re expected to be faithful. This is a very traditional viewpoint, since many Costa Rican women actually do not wait until they’re married (my mom calls them “chicas malas”), and many married men cheat on their wives. It’s just like the United States, in that regard.

    While male students report never even having the option to do their own laundry, and being scolded for bringing their used dishes to the sink after eating, most of the female students are either expected to or permitted to clean up after themselves. My host parents tried to do everything for me at first, but I’ve slowly convinced them to allow me to wash my own dishes and prepare my own breakfast. They let me do my own laundry, but almost every week, my mom beats me to taking my dried clothes off the line, and I find them folded in my bedroom. Anyway, I adore my family, and I feel so fortunate to live with them. They’re really good to me, and they help to make my life in Costa Rica muy tranquila.

Startling Awakenings 1: Reasons to Sleep With Your Clothes On

This morning was ridiculous.

I was peacefully sleeping in my bed with my fan blowing on me, and sleeping only in a light sheet since it is over 100 degrees here just about every day.

All of a sudden, I wake up to what sounds like thunder. I see bright flashes and I think, "Oh, it must be a thunderstorm!". I take out my ear plugs to see if I can hear the rain, but I notice that it is not raining. All of a sudden, another loud burst of light and sound echoes through my house, and I start to get a little concerned. I sleepily try to reach around for my flashlight, but I can't find it, so I just lay there for a few more moments.

And then my fan stops moving, and I realize that the power has cut out.

As more and more loud blasts and bright balls of light filled the streets and sounded throughout my bedroom, I started getting a little bit nervous, so I reach for a night sleep shirt and find my flash light. I open the door, and Jennifer opens her door, and we hear Lidieth downstairs and she says something about "light" and I tell her I have a flashlight if she needs one, and I am just now realizing that I completely misinterpreted her (surprise!).

Lidieth leaves and Jennifer and I are really unsure of what's going on. By now the disturbances are more frequent and we can smell a little bit of smoke. We try to see if Carolina is awake, but she somehow managed to sleep through this incredible display of noise and light.

"Help us, the Gringos are confused!" Jennifer desparately calls to no one.

Now, I'm starting to get kind of really concerned. Our host mom is gone and we are all alone in a dark house. I start to think, "Is this an attack? Are there gunmen in the street? Should I turn off my flashlight? Am I a target? Are they terrorists? Who the hell would terrorize Costa Rica? That's just some straight up bully horseshit," and I can't figure out what's happening. All the while, I'm half cracking up thinking about the insanity of the moment.

Finally, Jennifer suggests the possibility of fireworks.

"Oh."

Finally understanding, we walked to the gate of our little complex and watched a very pretty display of fireworks over the sunrise, laughing to myself about the whole scenario. We only caught the last part because we were too confused for beginning of it, and too busy fearing for our lives. Did I mention that this happened at 5 in the morning?

"They probably meant to start at midnight, and just tico time'd it," Jennifer suggests. The funny thing is, she is probably very right.

My favorite part was going down to the kitchen this morning after waking up for real. I ask Lidieth about the "juegos de bombolos", and she casually mentions that they do this every year when Carnival begins. It is absolutely hilarious what they find normal here, and what Americans would consider completely unacceptable.

My other favorite part is that literally just LAST NIGHT I was telling someone how my newest goal was to see a fireworks display in Costa Rica, but I didn't know if they would have some here. And the friend I tell this to says, "Well, if they fireworks, they'll definitely be at Carnival!" ....Got what I wanted, I guess!

Well... Happy Carnival, then! If this is how it starts, I'm pretty pumped to see the kind of craziness that will occur this weekend.

Life Day to Day in Puntarenas

Day to day life here is very different, but I feel like I still haven't really processed it yet. But a lot of people have asked about what life is like for Costa Ricans in general, so here's what happens in my house!:

Things I have noticed about my host mom, Lidieth: Firstly, Costa Ricans wake up early. Very, very early. (I woke up at 10:30 the other day and they were shocked at how late I slept in- typical waking time for me here is between 7 and 8:30am). Lidieth wakes up at 5 every morning and goes running for an hour along the beach with her friends. She claims that because of this, she never gets sick. It probably also has something to do with the fact that she eats very healthily and rarely snacks. The few times that does have a glass of wine before bed, she either hides it from us or offers us a glass. During the day, she is very busy with small errands and with her housework, which consists of making clothing for women. She says that she doesn't like to make clothes for men, but she has a plethora of female clothing laying around the sewing room at all times. Since I've been here, I've seen her work on and complete at least three or four wedding dresses. She is widowed, but she says that she enjoys the freedom and does not wish to re-marry. When she isn't cleaning the house or working, she is running errands or visiting friends and family around town. People here are very open to guests in their house. They are very welcoming and friendly. Even outside of the house, they are very welcoming. When I wanted to help teach an English class at the local college, Lidieth just called Tita and asked her if I could go. Lidieth seems to know everyone in town- she has endless connections. She knows where to get us cakes, bathing suits, and hobbies. She is extremely laid back and understanding, and she has a heart of gold. She reminds me a lot of my mom at home- always working on something, and very, very caring for everyone in her life.

Carolina, 26, is my host sister. She is awesome! I think she's a good representative of the typical Costa Rican 26-year-old female who does not choose to get marry and have children too early in life. She works very long hours at a bank Monday through Friday, and every other Saturday, too. She has a group of male friends that she hangs out with regularly, and they stay in and make mojitos, or go out and get drinks at the local bars. Sometimes we'll see her at "Happy Days", the local dance club typically inundated by the gringos, but I've yet to see her dance. She's adorable and her friend Carlos is desperately in love with her. She has a very sarcastic sense of humor, and she's a lot of fun to joke around with. Apparently my roommate Jennifer was telling her about "your face" jokes that we use in the states, and she thought it was hilarious. Carolina used to live in San Jose, but she has returned to Puntarenas, and for now I think that she is saving up to get a house when she is ready to.

The perception that people have of the US is pretty funny. Sometimes it has accurate pieces, but other times, not so much. I haveot go to class but I'll write about it later.

Around the house, things are pretty different. First of all, we don't have internet, although some families do. There is no air conditioning, despite the over-100-degree weather every day, but it honestly doesn't feel bad. We just use fans and everything is fine. We have an oven, but I have never seen anyone use it- it's been stuffed with plastic bags and extra things for the house since I've moved in. Lidieth and Carolina use a crock pot, a blender, a tiny hand-held grill, and the stove top to make all of their delicious meals. As Kristin mentioned, the houses are very open. We usually eat with many ants running around the table, but it's not bothersome. Sometimes a mouse will run through the kitchen, but that hasn't been a problem lately. I've seen a bat fly through the living room very late at night once, and I've also recently chased a gecko out of my room. It's wild! These things are totally normal to the locals, but I have heard Lidieth shriek in terror of the mouse once.

The street life is different, too. I live in the centro area, far away from the school, but everything is close enough for a 10 minutes or less bike ride. Kristin mentioned the cat-calling that happens, and it is really excessive, but they warned us about it before we came, so I've tried to just accept it as part of the culture and find ways to laugh about it. Sometimes we flash them our creepy smiles, and it just feels rewarding, haha! I asked Lidieth about the cat-calling, and she, a 50-something year old woman, has the same problems that we do. The Tico males don't discriminate- they do this to everyone! She said that when they say "Hola" or "Adios, bonita", or "Ay, hermosa!" she'll take it gracefully as a complement and say "Gracias!", but when it's a whistle, a bird call, a hissing sound, or anything like that, it's considered to be very, very rude, and she doesn't say anything back to them. It's frustrating to her at times, but other times, it's just a compliment- it's just the way of life.

This week begins the highly anticipated 'Carnival'; a raging outdoor fiesta that will begin this Thursday and last for 2 weeks. We've heard crazy, crazy tales. People come from all over the country. They party all day, all night, and eventually end up sleeping on the beach. Apparently the weekends are the craziest part, and there are many cultural events, as well as music, food, and other general things that you find at fiestas. I am very interested to see how it all works. Kristin's family seems to severely fear Carnival, but my host family is just kind of like, "Oh yeah, it's a little crazy, there's a lot to do!". Maybe the difference comes from me living in the slightly more "dangerous" part of town, and Kristin's family living in the safer end. Who knows!

This weekend we went to Poas Volcano. It was incredible! We have pictures on Facebook. We were above the clouds, and the bus ride of was on the edge of the curviest, steepest hill I've ever seen, but it was so beautiful. I'll try to put some pictures up on here, and maybe even a video!

Speaking of videos, Danger and I wrote a fantastic song the other day, and us plus Kristin made a music video last night. It's a fine work of art. We'll be sure to keep you posted about it. We call it, "La Casa de los Caballos", not to be confused with Cebollos or Cabellos... which I sometimes do.

Observations, by Kristin

• I have learned that a plátano is a vegetable that looks exactly like a short, fat banana, but tastes exactly like a potato. It’s delicious.
• In the newspapers here in Costa Rica, nothing is sugar-coated. Nearly every page has photos of bloody corpses at the scene of an accident, or dead bodies covered by sheets. The articles also include details that I think would typically be omitted in American newspapers. It’s sort of nice to feel like they’re not keeping secrets because it makes me feel like I’m being treated like an adult, capable of handling harsh or upsetting news. Our news in the U.S. can be very biased, or aim to persuade or fool us. That could be true here, too, but I’m saying that it doesn’t feel that way here.
• There is a different standard of cleanliness here. So that people can survive the heat, most of the houses are very open-concept, and because of this, it is impossible to keep ants outside. Dirt, too. It just blows right in with the breeze. I am fortunate to live with a mother who cleans the house pretty much all day, every day. I have to sweep my room every couple of days, and each night before I get into bed, I need to shake the dust/dirt from my fitted bottom sheet. Each morning, we fold up our blankets and place them beneath our pillows for the day.
• I like the houses here. There doesn’t seem to be any pressure on people to decorate inside their homes, or coordinate their bath towels, or paint the rooms in any sort of theme. My host mom has lots of little decorations and trinkets, but none are related to one another, and she puts them wherever she wants to. The exteriors of many homes are painted really bright and fun colors, which I’m also a fan of.
• Menus in Costa Rica are amusing to me because they are very vague. “Queso” is all-encompassing, whereas in the United States, a menu will list cheddar, mozzarella, american cheese, etc. Also, menu items will merely list “carne” as an ingredient in a dish; carne translates to “meat” in English. They do not tell you which animal you can expect to be eating!
• Costa Ricans are incredibly patient. When our bus was involved in a very minor accident with another bus on our way to Puntarenas last month, the accident stopped traffic in both directions on the winding mountain path. Instead of being upset and furious as they would be in the United States, the Costa Ricans on the road put their cars in park and walked up the hill to check out the (nonexistent) damage and socialize with one another during the nearly two hours it took for the police to arrive. All of them were smiling and joking, and nobody seemed even slightly inconvenienced. It was bizarre to me! I think it has to do with the fact that Costa Ricans, when traveling within their country, plan for delays. Which brings me to my next point:
• Time is a completely different concept here in Costa Rica. When agreeing upon a time for a meeting, one must understand that that time can vary by 30 minutes to an hour. And if we’re talking about a journey by bus or by car, the set time is give or take anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours. Costa Ricans refer to this as Tico Time. Tico/Tica is the nickname of Costa Ricans in Latin America. Anyway, it seems that Ticos expect the unexpected, and therefore don’t take delays as seriously as we do in the U.S.
• Today, for lunch, my host mom gave me a cold sandwich…it was on (delicious) submarine-style bread, and consisted of blocks of mystery cheese and at least a pound of butter.  You can bet I ate it. Most of it, anyway.
• Also today, for roughly 9 hours, all of Puntarenas is/will be without water and electricity, intermittently and in periodically-changing sections of the city, while workers repair some water tanks or something. Only the American students seem at all inconvenienced by this. The locals, not so much. Some host families didn’t even deem it important enough to warn the students about. (Mine warned me.)
• PEOPLE ARE INSANE DRIVERS in Costa Rica! Taxis literally go 50mph in the crowded, poorly-paved city streets, and actually, everyone speeds. A lot. They also tend to drive on the wrong side of the road, fast, around corners. The combination of narrow, poorly-paved/dirt roads, old, beat-up cars without seatbelts, and fearless drivers here makes me wonder how there could ever possibly be a fatal accident in the United States, where people have safer cars, and drive them more carefully on better roads.
• Life is much simpler here, and more economic, too. About 20 times a day, I hear “tranquilo!” which means, “calm down,” “don’t worry about it,” “tranquil/calm,” etc. It’s used as an adjective, and as a general expression. Es verdad: la vida costaricense es muy tranquila.  We hang our laundry outside to dry, and still actually wash many clothing items by hand. I have not seen one dishwashing machine in the country. But, because of the ants everywhere, we can’t let dirty dishes pile up, anyway. So we wash each dish as we finish using it, and there’s really no need for a machine. I like it!
• In spite of all of these differences, the United States influences Costa Rica greatly, and there are tons of American products here: clothing, toiletries, foods, electronics, etc. I have a professor here who claims that Costa Ricans admire people from the U.S., and that the Costa Rican people and government tries to do everything that we do in the States. I have seen TONS of American clothing for sale here, and locals dressed as though they are straight out of the United States. They have most of the same electronics we do (cell phones, laptops, hair straighteners, blenders, toasters, microwaves, etc), and for cheaper prices. American music is played everywhere, constantly. My host sister’s iTunes library is filled with Lady GaGa and Katy Perry songs. My host family certainly has endless questions about my country and my life back home. But they definitely have their own culture preserved here.
• Living in a city is new to me. Puntarenas is a pretty small city, but it lacks none of the typical city-like qualities. I like the fact that most any place I want to go is only a walk (or a short taxi ride) away. Puntarenas is a great location in general, because lots of other cities (including the capital city, San Jose) and beaches are merely a bus or ferry ride away.
• I LOVE THE HEAT. The climate here is ideal. I mean, sure, I sweat more on a daily basis than I ever could have imagined in my wildest dreams, but I love being able to sleep with my windows open, never needing a sweatshirt to leave the house (not even at 7am!), and I love the fact that EVERY DAY is a beach-appropriate day.
• Speaking of which, Wednesday is Beach Day for me because I don‘t have any classes. Every week. Jealous? J
• The cat-calling…..Kate tolerates it much better than I do. I think she finds humor in it. But it drives me insane most of the time. I can’t walk anywhere at any time of day or night without hearing tons and tons of guys, sometimes young, sometimes old, sometimes very young, and sometimes VERY old, calling to me in Spanish or in English, or making creepy cat/bird-like sounds, or making sexual sounds. We’re told that in this culture, they honestly believe that they’re being flattering…sometimes I don’t fully believe that, but I certainly don’t feel like I can respond rudely, or flip them off. So I just completely ignore them. Sometimes, a man will make a sound that legitimately catches my attention, because I don’t realize it’s a human making that sound until I’ve already looked. And he feels that, by getting me to look at him, he’s won something. Well, sir…you’ve won this battle, but you will never win the war! I don’t find it flattering, and I’m already really tired of feeling like I can’t make eye contact with anyone when I’m outdoors. If any guy in this city thinks that he’s making me realize for the first time that I’m pretty, he’s wrong. They’re not helping me or flattering me in any way. I hope to get used to it soon, and it’s pretty much the only thing I’m looking forward to leaving behind when I go home to the U.S. But, to lighten the mood, Kate, Danger, and I are working on writing a song, mocking cat-calling. Hehe 
• Animals play a very different role here in Costa Rica than they do in New Hampshire. Since it’s always warm, and since most houses have a gated-in, secured outdoor/front lawn sort of area, it’s safe and acceptable (and common) for dogs to live mostly outdoors. Many families have dogs as pets. I haven’t met a family with a pet cat yet, though I’ve encountered hundreds of stray cats, and even some stray tiny kittens. The animals seem to survive well here, and none are emaciated. I quickly grew accustomed to seeing stray animals on the streets.

Santa Teresa, Montezuma, and life in the Punt!

I didn't take this picture, but here is the waterfall: Here's the view from the top of the second waterfall- it's hard to get perspective, but it's really high up- you can sort of see what it's like if you can find where the first waterfall begins:

So life here just continues to get better and better every day. Every single day is a surprise. Something unexpected but awesome happens all the time. For example, this past week I was supposed to be helping a lady who they call Tita teach an english class for Costa Rican college students, but she wasn't there, so my Tico conversation partner (Juan) brought me to his class instead, and it was really fun! It's awesome to sit in- the teacher is great, and I actually learn a lot of Spanish from it. So now every Tuesday I help teach, and every Thursday I sit in on a class. Random things like that are an every day occurence. One way or another you're going to end up doing something you never even knew could have been a possibility.

Life in Puntarenas is starting to settle in. Classes are decently easy and some of them are fun, particularly the dance class! Kristin and I have been learning salsa, bochata, and... another one which I can't remember, and it's a blast. It's every Monday, and I look forward to it every week. The weeks are flying by- I can't believe it's already February! I thought time was going to pass a lot slower here, but it's going way too fast. Every minute is definitely full, though. We haven't been wasting any time not doing something new and exciting.

Speaking of new and exciting, this weekend was AMAZING! Saturday was easily the best day I think I've ever had. I'll start from the beginning- on Friday afternoon, we caught the ferry to the Nicoya Peninsula and took a surprisingly inexpensive taxi to Santa Teresa. Santa Teresa is an interesting little town with a beautiful beach of rolling waves as far as the eye can see, and it is all the way west so it is a prime location for a beautiful sunset, but other than that, it didn't have a lot going on in my opinion. It was really touristy and there were very few locals, but we did stay at a neat little hostel and had a bunch of fun! We traveled with our friends Peligro, Michelle, Zak, and Andrecito.

The next day we woke up very early, got an amazingly delicious breakfast, and headed to Montezuma, which is the most amazing place in the world, I'm convinced. It is a lively town on the cove of a breathtakingly beautiful white-sand coast. The waves there crash on rocks where the cove winds in to the right and left, but the center is sandy and perfect for swimming. There are also tons of vibrantly colored seashells and beach glass pieces. The town is tiny but it feels bigger than it is because of all of the cute shops and street vendors, and the locals there are awesome- it's a touristy town, but they will continue to speak Spanish to you as long as you don't switch to English!

The best part of Montezuma is the waterfall area. I guess I should add in that Montezuma is at sea-level, but you drive down some extremely steep roads to get there. The surrounding area is pretty mountainous, so when you walk towards the western edge of town, there is a dirt road that leads to a great hiking path, which eventually leads to a waterfall. I didn't bring my camera, so I didn't get any pictures, but I know Kristin has some from the bottom of the first waterfall! The waterfall is gorgeous, and it has a little 10-foot thing that you can jump off of to swim around in the basin, which we all did. It was weird to feel some cold, fresh water, since we've only been going to salty beaches!

Peligro, Zak, Andrecito and I hiked up this crazy path where you need to grab onto tree roots and random cords to pull yourself up, and it was a really fun adventure! At the top of the first waterfall is a second one, and you can jump into the basin, but it's a 30-40 foot drop (the actual number of feet is heavily debated). The top of the second waterfall also has the basin on the third waterfall, which is a small one that's maybe 15 feet tall if you jump off of it. The top of the second waterfall also has a rope swing. After using the rope swing, Peligro and I decided to explore past the third waterfall, and we walked for a while barefoot on a bunch of rocks, and it was beautiful. It's kind of like walking around Kid's Kove, but more extreme and with more amazingness.

After we were done exploring, we turned back and found that Andrecito and Zak had already left, so being extremely overheated and dehydrated, Peligro decided to jump off of the really, really big waterfall and it looked terrifying but I wanted to do it too, so after cowering in fear for about 5 minutes, with the persuasion of some Ticos and Northeastern students that know Becca (small world!), I actually jumped! It's really impossible to describe the adrenaline rush that you feel before and after, and how far away the bottom looks before you close your eyes and jump, and how badly your feet sting after you hit the water below, and the view from where you're standing in general, but it was easily one of the amazing experiences I've ever had.

We didn't take the same trail back to the bottom because some people told us about a different way, and we got lost, but thank god we did, because we stumbled upon the most amazing cliff ever ever ever and I hate that I didn't have my camera with me for any of this! But I guess just try to picture being completely drained and exhausted and shaky from crazy hiking and jumping off of waterfalls, and having sore muscles and not having a whole lot of energy left but being too excited about the feat you just accomplished to care, and then you're walking through a tiny, dusty little path trying to find your way to the bottom of a giant hillside in the middle of the forest, when all of a sudden you decide to go straight instead of left. And you don't realize it's the wrong way until there is a huge clearing in the sky, and the trees open up into this tiny field of grass and flowers, and for some random reason there is a geodesic dome sparkling from the sun. And it's right at the beginning of twilight so everything has that amazing orangey-yellow hue with the contrast of shadows and a piercingly blue sky, and you walk up to the edge of the opening in the woods, and you look out to see miles and miles and miles of ocean with little rocky archipelagoes with waves crashing over them in the distance, and you can see so far right and left that you see the curve of the earth, and you are so high up that you can see the cables of ziplines below and the tops of all of the trees lining what feels like the edge of the earth, and all you can do is stand there in amazement and wonder how you got lucky enough to get lost at the top of a waterfall in Montezuma in January. Nothing I can say to describe it, or pictures I could have shared if I had my camera, would effectively capture just how amazing that piece of time was. I don't think I've ever felt quite so full of life, though. And for that reason, Montezuma is the most amazing place in the world.

The rest of the weekend was kind of a blur. We spent the night in town and on the beach drinking wine of questionable quality and met up with some other USAC-ers. Sunday we went to the beach all day and jumped in the waves and just enjoyed being there. It was beautiful! Overall it was an awesome weekend, and I definitely plan on returning to Montezuma more than once.

Sorry that this post is a million miles long! Pictures soon! Miss you guys and hope all is well :)