Being alone; it can be quite romantic.

Where to begin? I spent my last night in Pochote with two French girls I met. They live in Pochote but I did not meet them until my last day! ¡Qué lástima! Using counterfeit wristbands, we snuck into the all-inclusive resort nearby for free drinks and dancing! We danced like crazy people.

I really had to get out of Pochote, though. So, I left Pochote, absolutely sure that my rash was caused by all too much exposure to the four dogs combined with the excessive heat. I could not WAIT to get to my new house where I could fully recover. En route from Pochote to San Jose, I truly embraced every aspect of the trip. If I were with anyone else, I wouldn't have been able to fully absorb all of the beauty of the ferry ride or just the beauty of being alone, listening to my own music, looking like a total creep taking pictures of my stuffed animals (ha!). I got into the bus station and I found myself my own cab, negotiated with a cab driver in Spanish so that he wouldn't think I was just a dumb tourist and charge me too much, and I safely arrived at my new host family. (Taking a cab by yourself is SO SCARY THOUGH! I knew that I needed to find an official San Jose taxi and do my best to look self-assured and not too obviously a tourist but after all is said and done I still needed to trust that he wasn't going to abduct me! Terrifying.) I gave him a big tip because, por dicha, he did not in any way abuse his power as a taxi driver. But upon arrival to my new house, I was first greeted by an Alaskan Malamute that is bigger than me and is the fuzziest of fuzzy dogs. AND I TOLD THE SCHOOL I WAS ALLERGIC TO DOGS! Oh well, one more week of suffering and I will be out of there.

My new host Mom, María, is really chill- not as over-bearing as my last host Mom, Cecilia, but in turn not as warm. The house is way more modern than Cecilia and Carlos' and they have Diet Coke with dinner and Splenda for coffee (which I think is SO GROSS now and I'm only going to use real sugar from now on) and they watch TV with the meals. I eat breakfast with María and her adult daughter, Marcela, while watching the morning news. María eats a little dinner with me but neither her husband nor Marcela eat dinner with us. I think that is just the custom here. I also think that Maria and her husband hate each other but are too religious to get divorced. I don't even know his name... He has begrudingly said a total of three words to me "Hola" and "Buenas noches." He makes me really miss my former host Dad, Carlos, who was such a sweetheart. (By some strange coincidence I ran into Tanya, my former host sister, yesterday so we decided to pop by and say hi to Cecilia and Carlos! They are sweet as ever but I'm actually really glad I got a chance to experience a different Costa Rican household.)

Maria, though, thinks I am really dumb. She thinks I don't know any Spanish even though all of my responses to her are in relatively good Spanish. She uses grand hand gestures and speaks really slowly- sometimes she even uses English words! Come on! Day by day, though, we are becoming a little more attached to each other. She is such a genuine, caring person, it just took me a view days to see that side of her.

I took classes at the Costa Rican Language Academy all week, instead of starting a new volunteer project. Five hours of conversation a day is the best thing I could have done to round out my trip and improve my Spanish. There is one know-it-all in my class, though, and I'm gonna sock him. He tries to prove to us how worldly he is all the time and I think he has some affliction where it is physically impossible for him to say "Estados Unidos". When referring to the United States, the ONLY term he uses is "Gringolandia" .....as my fist gets closer to his face.....

I met back up with Simon and Cornelia in San Jos! We went to the movies together (Wolfman!) and I took the bus in the evening by myself like a real city girl. I was so proud of myself that when I arrived at the mall where the movie theatre is, I bought myself an ice cream.

I only have to wait one more day until Jimmy comes! And then I have just about one week left in Costa Rica. (More of a three-month adventure instead of a six-month adventure) I'm trying to soak it all while I can- mostly by gobbling up all the fresh fruits I see!