What a couple of days it's been!
Our weekend in Quepos y Manuel Antonio was so much fun! We left Friday afternoon at about 1, thinking the ride would take about 5 to 5 1/2 hours. I'm starting to think that what Costa Rica really needs is a good ol' fashioned interstate. The winding roads, while beautiful, make it difficult to get anywhere directly. Apparently, they are also pretty hard on the cars here. Our driver Max informed us about an hour into the trip that the van needed a new part and we would have to stop. He said it would only take about 30-45 minutes. I guess we should have realized that in "ticos time" that could be anywhere from 1-2 hours. We wandered around the town for a bit before finding a permanent spot in la plaza, where after an hour, we started to wonder if we would ever see Max again. I confess I thought the worst --Max had all of our stuff and wasn't coming back and we would be stranded in some out of the way town with no way to get home. How could we be those stupid Americans and trust that he would come back, etc. Needless to say, I felt pretty badly for doubting Max when he returned, much later, but nevertheless with the part we needed.
On Friday night we grabbed a quick dinner before heading to a bar which played live music and then a discoteche. Both were so much fun. Costa Ricans are definitely excellent dancers. They salsa'ed and meringue'ed and never seemed to want to sit a song out. Minus a 50 Cent, Eminem, and Usher song at the discoteche, almost all of the music was Spanish which was neat. I'm still not sure when if ever, the discoteche ever closes.
It's funny, I realized this weekend that no matter where you are or with whom you're speaking, the mutual language always seems to be English. We met a group of German tourists, a bunch of Costa Ricans and Central Americans, and all spoke English. I wish language was as emphasized in the States as it is elsewhere!
On Saturday, we woke up really early so we could spend the whole day at the beach. After applying and reapplying sunscreen, (before even leaving the hostel) we rode the bus down to the public beach. The sun here is definitely much stronger but the beaches are absolutely gorgeous. Vendors line the beach selling towels, sarongs and jewelry, while others sell fruit, pina coladas and coconut milk to sunbathers right on the beach. I spent a lot of the day in the water, and though there weren't many waves to catch, the water was so warm it was hard to get out.
Manuel Antonio was definitely a tourist town. I noticed the prices were much higher and as in La Fortuna, everyone spoke English, accepted credit cards and even US dollars. I also noticed a fair share of Canadians, Americans and Brits probably trying to escape winter.
On Sunday we went to the national reserve at Manuel Antonio, which was beautiful. The trails went right along the beach and into the rainforest. I gotta be honest, 90% of the reason I was there, was to see some monkeys, and after a pretty good hike, I was a little downtrodden when we were heading to the exit and I had only seen a sloth, a woodpecker and a racoon. Two of which I could have found in my own backyard. When we got to the picnic area and saw lots of people frantically snapping their cameras and pointing, I figured we had hit the jackpot. There must have been 7 or 8 monkeys all hanging the trees above the picnic area, biding their time before they could swipe a tourist's picnic lunch. One succeeded in grabbing a bag of fruit out of the trash and ran up a branch to eat it, taunting the park ranger whose job it is to make sure the monkeys don't eat people-food. The monkey proceeded to drop the empty bag on a sunbather's head and throw the leftover fruit at the tourists who were taking his picture.
After a great weekend, I woke up this morning both nervous and excited for my first English lesson at AMURECI. During the morning I helped make paper, and because my lesson was in the afternoon, Mayra, one of the women who founded AMURECI invited me to stay for lunch. During lunch, Mayra talked a lot about her family and I learned that she has relatives living near Lancaster, Pennsylvania! We then chatted about the Amish and agreed that we could never live an Amish lifestyle and give up modern conveniences. We also talked a lot about music, and strangely our conversation ended up on the topic of Britney Spears, and how she could have gotten so loca. Mayra wisely pointed out that you can have all the money in the world but still not be happy.
The English lesson in the afternoon went pretty well. We reviewed what they had been working on for the last few weeks and tomorrow I will begin with new material. From their previous test scores, Mayella and Giselle definitely have the most knowledge of English, but it seems like they all really want to learn. After the lesson we all commiserated on how difficult it is to learn another language.
It's rainy in San Carlos today, but I am glad to be back after a fun weekend and looking forward to the rest of the week.
Pura Vida!
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