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!

Man, I gotta rash.

It is SO HARD to put these pictures in order so I'm not even going to try!

Me in my NEW family in San Jose- Carlos and Cecilia didn't have room for me! ¡Qué lástima! My face is sooo much better now.

Sapo grande in Pochote. ¡Me asusté mucho!

Rest stop on the bus ride from Pochote to San Jose. Pretty cool, no?

The sun was setting as I was taking the ferry on my way back to San Jose... It was so beautiful I almost cried.

The relationship between Sangeeta and Edvaard is flourishing.
They even shared a Titanic moment together.

Me, enjoying my music, the breeze and the beautiful sunset during the ferry ride.

Last day in Pochote with Edvaard and Sangeeta!!

At the school. Twins Mikel y Juaf.

New friends Simon and Cornelia!

Amor de mi vida, Tango.

Bunny ears behind someone's head never gets old.

Turn away if you're squeamish! That is a sideways picture of my right leg. (Or left... no, right.) This wasn't even the worst of it.

¡Vea! ¡Ay yi yi como me duele! It has gotten mucho mejor, as you can see by the first picture.

March, already??

Sorry for the lack of updates! The internet is expensive here and I am lazy.

Due to lack of funds, the restaurant has still not opened. Por eso, I have been spending my time working at the three-classroom community school. The semester started last month and the students had to take diagnostic exams. I have spent the last few weeks grading and organizing los examenes de ciencias, estudios sociales, español y matemáticas. I also had to proctor some of the exams and make sure the kids sat in their seats and didn't copy off each other! If I can play teacher in a Spanish-speaking classroom, I think I will be able to teach Spanish in the U.S. just fine.

Unfortunately, something in the environment here has been setting off my allergies for the past several weeks and it is just unbearable. Maybe it is all of my new four-legged friends Cha-Cha, Luna, Tango and Shakira but it is causing my skin to flare up in red bumps and upraised rashes. The other day my face swelled up so bad that I could hardly move it and I couldn't feel it. I decided that this was my tipping point- I sucked it up and went to the clínica. My tica amiga Jenny (who lives and works at the music school where I am staying) took me to the clinic and graciously waited with me the whole time. I was so proud, though, because I told her I did not need her help translating and I did it all by myself! I figured out the insurance, the payment, the prescriptions and I described my symptoms to the doctor! They gave me an injection, some Prednisone, some Hydrocortisone and Rose creme. I cleared up after a day! I felt like a new person! My skin was normal! My eyes were open all the way! I hadn't felt this good in months! It only lasted a week. I am back to being miserable so I decided I need to leave Pochote early. I will return to the warmth and comfort of Cecilia and Carlos' home in San Jose as soon as all the arrangements are made.

Some observations... You know you aren't in Suburbia when:
-You see a gigantic lady with her midriff showing chopping down a bunch of bananas with a machete.
-Your dog follows you to class and sits with you the whole day and no one bats an eye. (I never knew I would appreciate a dog's companionship so much as I do now. Tango is my buddy.)
-While walking through town you see a lady harvesting some strange fruit off her tree with a harvesting implemented made of a cut gallon-bottle fashioned to a broomstick.
-Students call the teacher by her first name, or just call her Mamí or Mamá.
-The head teacher is also the principal, the secretary, the counselor, the janitor, the curriculum designer, and the recess supervisor.
-Tiny little kids can wield gigantic knives at school to cut up their fruit.
-The lunch room consists of a two tables with a couple of benchs and one lady serving homemade food from two big pots on the stove and then cleaning all the dishes herself.
-Tang is served with the school lunch out of a giant bucket that has a "Corrosivo" sign on it.
-Somehow you and your friend end up having a jam session with nature-instruments with some crazy 70-year-old Coloradan and as he hands you a sturdy bamboo shoot with a stick he exclaims "This thing is a fucking gas to play!"
-You hike a trail to a hidden beach and howling monkeys surround you and start making so much noise that you almost pee your pants.
-A puffer fish and a pelican were the last two dead animals you saw.
-You watch the sunset while jogging on the beach with your favorite perros.

Newest plan: Stay in San Jose for a couple weeks, working on social projects there, then travel with Jimmy for a week!!! Yayyyyyyyyyy

Paradise

Nature Trail at the Curu National Refuge. We were promised monkeys but we didn't find any there.
Killer Trail with Matt and Joe. We decided not to go on that one.
Botched Panoramic of part of the Bahia Ballena.
The truly hideous paint job that we completed to try to make the restaurant look better.
Me and Sixto the groundskeeper. He is actually a pretty good pal now. He quit hitting on me.
Beach volleyball on the Isla Tortuga with my German BFF Kerstin.
Me with Starfish, after snorkeling. Behind me is Juan, our guapo tour guide and next to me in Matt, on his way to becoming a little less pasty white.
Monkey.
How lucky am I, right?Joe and Me after our hike to this secluded beach which was supposed to be all white sand..... It was just a lot of rocks.

Settling in

I LOVE IT HERE.

We went to Paradise yesterday, AKA Las Islas Tortugas. Lonely Planet says it has the most beautiful beach in all of Costa Rica. The beach is really small and touristy but we loved it! Joe and Matt (the two guys in the first picture from the last post) and Katrine, a German volunteer, and I went together. We first had to walk through a National Park, where I saw my first monkeys of Costa Rica!!! And then we hired a boat to take us over to the island. The boat tour included snorkeling and fresh fruit! Qual! While snorkeling, I saw a huge Sting Ray and it was so majestic. Then we went over to the island, met up with my BFF Kerstin (a former volunteer who works on the island now), played some beach volleyball, swam over to another beach, came back, ate a picnic, and just soaked up the beauty of the whole day. Along with a lot of sun. We all came back well burnt- the first burn I got since being here.

And last weekend we went on a hike to another beach on the opposite side of the bay! We saw millions of tinnnnny hermit crabs!

Among all the monkeys, crabs and sting rays I have seen, I have also seen several frogs, tons of pelicans, several Macaws and a boa constrictor.
Not so cool wildlife= a gigantic cockroach that was living in my room, the five daddy long legs in my bathroom that I named after each Spice Girl, and all the ants that live in the sugar that provide a little extra protein in my coffee each morning. I am really starting to love the dogs here. There are four and I know all of their names. I spend a lot of time with them, which is probably why my eyes are red all the time, but this is the first time I have actually had a relationship with animals. They take walks on the beach with me and now they even sit calmly with me while I do my yoga (most of the time.)

Another creep-o local is starting to become infatuated with me and from what I can gather, his name is Gravy. Apparently he hasn't yet got the memo that I'm a heart-breaker.

We play a lot of beach volleyball now and when we get too hot we just go for a refreshing swim! I run when the tide isn't too high and swim when the tide is too high. Lots of ejercicio here!

Powdered laundry detergent is the all-purpose cleaner around here. We use it to clean the floors, wash our hands, and do the dishes when we run out of dish detergent. We wash the floors a lot. Probably every other day.

We got TWO NEW CDS so we don't have to listen to JUST Bob Marley! Jethro Tull and Kiss - not bad!

At night, there is plenty of free entertainment. We watch movies some nights, have beach bonfires, learn pool (one local is teaching me pool and Spanish, telling me to keep the cue straight (ni por aqui ni aca) and to hit the ball in el puro centro), we had a party one night with live music and sing-alongs and sometimes we take the bus to neighboring towns for other adventures. I just love spending time with all of the other volunteers, they make anything fun! My two English pals are teaching me new phrases to bring back to the US. They are adorable.

I am trying to ween myself off of using the internet so I will update in another week or two! With more pictures too!!!

Pics of Pochote!

It is taking so long to upload these so here are just a few!

So lucky to have la gripe!

First and foremost, Edvaard is doing great. He made so many friends last week and was so sad to see them leave so soon! But there will be plenty of pictures of him as soon as those friends post them on Facebook and I can relay them to here. I would post pictures but my camera is no longer mine!

Biggest adventure of the week:
After bragging about being completely healthy, I came down with a horrible case of the gripe, AKA Montezuma's revenge, or any other euphemism for stomach problems which cause lots of pain, cramps, and an inability to keep food inside my body. I spent all night awake in the bathroom. How fortunate was I, though, because while awake, I heard some creaking.. And then the doorknob into my room turning. I was pretty sure that I had just heard my roommate rolling around in her bed but then I heard the door creak open. I got up to see why in the hell my roommate would be leaving the room at 4:30 in the morning. It was pitch black in my room so I tried to get my bearings. I walked to the door and sure enough it was open! I looked out the door and thought I saw a figure running away. I scrambled for the lightswitch, hoping to confirm that it was just my roommate who had opened the door and that my brain had just imagined the figure running away. I switched on the light only to find my roommate in her bed, confused as to why I had turned the light on. Someone really did try to break into our room but was scared off! I was trembling and freaked out, but my stomach pains had completely gone away! If I hadn't have been sick, maybe all of our stuff would have been stolen! ¡Qué suerte! We make sure to lock our door every night now.

There is so much wildlife here, it is amazing! Last night I was enjoying the moonlight on the beach when a herd of cows scampered past! The dogs chased after them, barking, which scared the cows into picking up their pace. Also, I have seen so many baby animals, baby cows, baby chickens, baby geckos! And the other day I was walking on the beach when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a lot of scurrying. I looked over my shoulder to find hundreds of red crabs. They stopped in my presence. I took a few steps towards them and with each step more and more crabs would dive sideways into their holes. So funny!

There are a lot of very itchy things here though and my skin looks like a warzone of mosquito bites, sun allergy, blisters, and scabs from scratching so much! I cut my nails all the way off so I won't scratch so much while sleeping!

The project is going well. So far we have done landscaping, painting, stucco-ing and cleaning cleaning cleaning! It feels good to be productive!

I have been eating pretty well- not as good as Cecilia's cooking, and WAY more rice and beans, but I still really enjoy all the food I eat. My two new favorite foods are plátanos (plantains) and papaya!

We play pool every night as it is the sole form of entertainment at the volunteer center (the volunteer center IS the restaurant and the music school and the community hangout place). The other night this little Costa Rican kid taught me how to play and I won because of him! He was pretty much a Costa Rican version of Indiana Jones' Short Round (You call him Docta Jones!)

I love all the comments and e-mails, they really help with the homesickness! Thank you so much for all the love and I will do my best to respond as quickly as I can! I miss you all but I have really found a good groove here and it won't be hard to stay at this project for another 10 weeks! The best part about it is being able to ditch out on at least ONE Illinois winter!