Playa Tamarindo

I returned from a weekend at Playa Tamarindo a few hours ago. It was a very pretty beach. It's apparently very touristy for a beach in Costa Rica, with lots of little souvenir shops that seem reasonably priced for beachy tourist shops. The prices in most of the stores were in American dollars, and the restaurants were mostly in colones.

The ride there was extremely long--we left San Jose at 1:30 and arrived at about 7. It's quite a ways to go anyway, but we also had an almost hour-long hold up at a bridge construction site (very scary! A bridge with holes in it, without sides, with workers walking all over the place and people honking. And we were riding in a huge 50 person motorcoach). San Jose is about in the middle of Costa Rica and Tamarindo is in the northwest corner. Here's a map I found to show the relationship between the two. (I'm also planning on visiting Tortugero, Arenal/Monteverde, and Puerto Limon eventually, and whatever else might come my way.)

Luckily, even though our hotel was a tiny bit ghetto they still had air conditioning in each of the rooms. Thank goodness for that. But unfortunately our toilet didn't work very well and would run for hours without filling up. My roommate invariably had to take a crap at six in the morning, waking me up with the sound and smell, and then the water would continue to run and run and run. This morning I had to use the lobby bathroom because she had used the toilet and couldn't flush a second time. Ugh!

Friday we arrived late enough that there wasn't really anything to do. I went out with some people to Subway but I wasn't hungry. On Saturday, I, my roommate and two other friends woke up fairly early and were at the beach by 9 am. A surfing competition was already in full swing. (Tamarindo is an international surfing hot spot.) Me and Liz, one of the other girls, rented a surf board for a few hours. Sheesh! Surfing is soooooo hard! Also I learned why a lot of surfers prefer wetsuits. The waves can't really pull a wet suit off your body, but if they're strong they can almost rip off your swim suit. I had a few close calls. The water was super salty, enough that when I got it in my mouth I immediately spat it out and felt that gross overly-salty taste in my mouth.

And even though I reapplied sunscreen at least twice, and even though we left at about 11:30, I still got a pretty bad sunburn. At first I thought I had escaped the wrath of the sun because all I could see was a bunch of new freckles. But later on in the afternoon, I saw my reflection and realized that under my new freckles was a lovely shade of lobster red. Luckily my face didn't get burnt at all, but my collarbone area, upper back, and legs are pretty red right about now. I was wearing my bathing suit without shorts and the skin of my upper legs basically never sees sun... that was a recipe for disaster. I think I need to make a trip to the store to buy some more lotion. I hope I can find something meant for sunburns specifically. I almost bought a set from Clinique (lotion and post-sun help) before I left but it's pretty pricey so I figured $9 Neutrogena sublock would be okay.

After the beach, but before I realized how sunburned I was, the four of us walked around and visited some of the shops. I bought a few souvenirs but wanted to go back to my room that had lotion and air conditioning as soon as I realized my burn level. I slathered my skin with lotion, took an aspirin, and took a nap. The other three went back out and did stuff. I was kind of grumpy so it was better that I was by myself. I joined them back at the beach as the sun was setting and got some cool pictures. The good ones are in the pictures slideshow but I'll post a couple of my favorites on this page for easy viewing.

Saturday night three of us went out to one of the local discotheques. There were more Americans there than locals and I think a lot of them were students on the same trip as me. In total, I think 4 50-ish person motorcoaches went to Tamarindo, although the people in the other 3 were with ISA and stayed in a different, more expensive hotel. Some of the locals tried to dance with us, but even beyond cultural differences, they were a teeny bit creepy. Latin Americans, in general, have a much smaller personal bubble that people in the United States. But these guys worked in teams and egged each other on and watched each other as one of them danced with someone and that was something I did not want to be part of. Besides I already have an awesome boyfriend so I'm not interested in dance-floor pseudo-sex. Needless to say, we told them "no gracias".

Today, Sunday, I slept in. I packed my stuff and walked around town a little more with my roommate. Then we loaded on the bus at 1 and I was back at 7:30. Overall it was pretty fun but I do regret getting so sunburned. On me, sunburns can take weeks to go away. I also have a bunch of new bug bites that are driving me crazy. Another reason I want to go to the store is to buy wart medicine. It's my secret weapon against itchy bug bites. You're really only supposed to use it on warts, but on regular skin the formula is strong enough to eat away the upper layer of skin that itches. It doesn't really hurt and it doesn't leave scars, unlike untreated bug bites that itch for weeks and develop scabs that turn into scars. Usually one tiny coat is all that's needed to stop a bug bite from itching. Then the skin can start to heal.

Here are my favorite photos from this weekend:

First days of school

Monday was supposedly the first day of school. But all we did was get our photos taken for our identification cards, have an oral interview, and attend a somewhat unnecessary assembly. I was done by about 1. I tried to figure out how to buy an excursion package from the school's mini travel agency but all they could tell me about was the trip happening this weekend. They didn't have a list of options, or where I could go in the future. I was frustrated by the disorganization and that seems to be a common thread here.

Yesterday was the first real day of classes. The online test placed me in Avanzado 2 and after the oral interview, my interviewer placed me in Avanzado 1. After two days in the first level, I'm really glad that I didn't insist on trying to be a smarty pants. Already I know I'm going to have to work several hours each night just to understand all the material. This is way different than Spanish at Central. This is real. It requires a lot of brain power and concentration (at least for me since languages don't necessarily come easily for me).

Why is my class so difficult? Our homework for today was to describe certain prepositions. How do you define por, hasta, or con without translating? It's hard! So el Diccionario Real Academico Española is my new best friend. It had most of the answers I needed. I had more homework for tonight that is mostly done; I just have some more reading to do, maybe check some of my answers, and perhaps read ahead if I get bored. I don't have a lot to entertain myself with other than the internet, and things that are fun time sucks, like watching movies or tv shows, aren't available to me unless I go to the hacker websites... which I have absolutely no talent at navigating. Going outside after dark is not really an option. Walking around by myself is not really an option. So that leaves me the dregs of the internet, fuzzy tv, homework, and socializing with the other people in my house.... when they're home.

Three of the other girls in the house, Stephanie, Kristi and Roscio, are all nursing majors from Wisconsin. I'm out of school by 3 and them at 6. Without boring you with further details, suffice to say our schedules only overlap during the lunch hour and after dinner.

Yesterday I was supposed to have my first day of photography class. All of us in it showed up, sat down, and waited 20 minutes for the professor who never showed. One of the kids caught a school employee and she told us that he wouldn't be coming. We learned today that he was in a car crash. I guess everything is okay. He honestly looks like he belongs at Evergreen. He's very artsy looking, with a semi-maintained beard, hair to his chin, a lot of woven bracelets, and jeans that were somehow skinny but baggy at the same time. He's also young, only 24, and I know at least two of the students are older than him. It appears as though the class is aimed at beginners, which might be a little boring at first but I can keep myself occupied by composing an eloquent "shut the hell up" speech to an extremely annoying girl who insisted on sitting in the front and talking to the professor in Spanish. He was replying in English and after a few exchanges he asked her to only speak in English because it wasn't fair to the beginner-level Spanish students and later on in the course it would be harder to translate the photographic vocabulary. (The class is being taught in English.) This didn't stop her from interrupting him to ask questions that were only relevant to her, or to add a personal aside, or to try and clarify something he said that was completely obvious to everyone else. This happened throughout the class. Me and those near me exchanged incredulous looks each time she was rude enough to add something irrelevant or completely personal. When he spoke about overexposure and underexposure, she took out her camera to show him one of her photos and ask him what she could do to make it better. I was blown away by her audacity to think that she was in a private tutoring session rather than a class of 20. What an imbecile. Anyway, it will be good to review the basics of photography before I find time to go out and explore the city with my camera.

A schedule of excursions wasn't available to me in advance but almost everyone I know/have met here is going to Tamarindo Beach this weekend. The trip is being offered through the school's travel agency, Tico Viajero, and so since I have no plans and should only have a tiny bit of homework, I decided to go. It cost $110. At first it seemed really steep, but I took two days to think about it and there's no way you could go to Ocean Shores or Seaside for three days for $110. When Rey and I went to Seaside, we spent $500 on gas, lodging, food, and thought that was a pretty good deal for a long weekend. So today I paid for the trip. It includes transportation (about 4 or 5 hours), a few meals, and a place to stay. I get the feeling that we're staying in some kind of little bungalows. We leave Friday at 1 and return sometime on Sunday. I doubt I'll be able to blog from there (and I'm definitely not taking my computer) so it might be Monday or Tuesday before I can post about it here.

Also, today is Rey's 23rd birthday. Happy Birthday from Costa Rica!

My first oops

After breakfast today, the other girls went to an orientation put on by their program. I had a brief conversation with my host parents about the differences between coming here independently vs. through a third party program. We agreed that it was cheaper and more streamlined. Probably the most significant difference is that the other companies provide a lot of comfort to worried parents and their main purpose is to hold the students' hands and tell them where to go. I don't really need that and I don't want it either. I'm glad my parents are of the cool kind and let me figure everything out on my own.

Leti agreed to take me to the grocery store. It was especially important that I go today because last night I dropped my toothbrush in the toilet. We took several detours first: We drove by a farmer's market-type open air market that had many vendors selling mostly fruit and vegetables. It's only open on weekends and is in one place on Saturdays and another on Sundays. Then we drove around town looking for a pharmacy that was open, because Leti needed to buy cough drops for her 31-year-old son. We went to the market. I was surprised at the number of American grocery products. They had all kinds of American candies, crackers, cereals, sodas, cookies, even string cheese! So I sort of blindly bought some Costa Rican crackers, two individual boxes of juice, some type of fruit snack bars, and I couldn't resist the string cheese. I didn't buy very much because I don't yet know the value of the dollar here. Later this afternoon I will do some research on what a good exchange rate is. After that we dropped off the meds at her son's work and returned home.

But for my "oops". I didn't say anything offensive. And I really hope I never do, but I'm sure my host family would understand. They've been hosting foreign students for 16 years, so I'm sure they've heard everything before. My oops was that I was at the mercado, buying food, and I didn't buy anything substantial enough to make a good lunch. My program fees only cover breakfast and dinner, so I'm completely on my own for each lunch. I don't think it'll be a very big deal during the week when I'm in class because there are restaurants nearby and I think they have some kind of food court at the school. But today... it's noon and I'm snacking on crackers and cheese but they certainly won't fill me up. I think I'll just have to eat a lot at dinner.

AND another thing I just remembered that I forgot is that I need some sort of alarm clock. I have no way of waking myself up in the morning, although with all the new sounds here I was up at 6:30 and had to roll over and close my eyes for another hour. But once I get used to them I will definitely need something to jar me out of my sleep.

Estoy aquí finalmente & getting settled

No hubo problemas y todo de mi viaje fue normal. It's hard to believe I am finally in a place I have wanted to visit for such a long time. My room is SUH-WEET! I have it all to myself. It's on the second story of this cool house that is kind of built around a driveway, more or less. I have a kitchenette with a sink, a microwave, a coffee pot (that will never get used) and a grill. There's also a mini fridge. As soon as I walked in I was thinking about how much more I could have brought. Right off the entrance door is a mini alcove with a table and chairs and a window. I'm also lucky enough to have my own bathroom with a sink, toilet and shower (and it even has hot water!) The house is so close to the university you can literally see it from the sidewalk outside. I'm all unpacked and it looks like someone's in the process of moving out.

My Tica family is amazing. I can already tell. The mom, Leti, talks a lot, but she doesn't talk too fast. That's awesome because I've been able to understand 95% of what she's saying. The dad, Juan, is kind of gruff-on-the-outside-but-marshmallow-inside kind of guy. He's got a really low voice that is nice to listen to. He works as a landscaper for many gardens around the San Jose are. Leti is a part-time children's dentist who has been taking more time off recently because she's about to have knee replacement surgery. Their house has a part of it that's like any other house, with living, dining, and kitchen, as well as, from what I can tell, 4 bedrooms in the house and 4 mini suites like mine that all have their separate entrances. One is home to Leti's mother, who is just under me (I think). Her daughter and son-in-law live across from me. There's a student from Venezeula who's studying design at the university and she lives in another separate unit.

I was the first of the American students to arrive and I didn't see the other rooms until after two of the other three girls showed up. Two of them who arrived together have fairly small bedrooms at the back of the house. They share a hall bathroom. The last one to arrive, just before dinner, got a room at the front of the house that is a smaller version of mine without the kitchenette. I was trying to figure out how I got so lucky with the nice second floor suite and then I found out that the other three girls all attend the same school in Wisconsin (wiss-caahn-sin, they say, so cute!) and went through the same program. So it makes sense for them to stick together in the house with more or less equal rooms and I get the big one. I'm certainly not complaining!

Leti took us girls on a mini tour of the attractions that are within walking distance. Today we drove because it was raining pretty hard. There are so many things so close by! There are two malls, at least one of which has a movie theater, the National Theatre, the National Museum, a downtown area that's pedestrians only, many restaurants, bars, and clubs, an artisans marketplace, a bunch of government offices, a beautiful park and two cathedrals, among other things. I definitely have a lot of exploring to do.

I think once I get use to the road noise--cars make different sounds here, and the house is on a somewhat busy street--I'll be perfect. The rain is very lulling. It was very humid when I got off the airplane but right now it feels exactly like Washington on a spring night. The rains starts and stops just as suddenly as in Washington. I'm getting tired and it's barely 9 pm local time. I'm a little confused about the time difference between here and home because all the time zone maps I find say that Costa Rica is two hours ahead but my internet-connected computer reads only and hour ahead of PST. Also, when I landed in Houston I set my watch to local time. However, when we landed in Costa Rica my watch was an hour ahead. Strange. I'll get it figured out here soon.

And just a few minutes ago I found out the hard way that Hulu and Pandora don't have the rights to publish content outside of the United States. I'll probably be too busy to veg anyway.

Houston, we have lift off.

I'm in Houston. I have 45 minutes of free internet. Cheap bastards. What crap. At SeaTac it's free and unlimited.

Sooooo. Last night was a mess. My mom took the night off work to take me to the airport. Parking at Rey's house is limited, so I decided to leave my car at my parents' house. I drove down in the afternoon and Dad took me out for pizza. Then there was an assortment of last minute things to do, like printing out all my flight information and contact information for when I'm down there. And taking a shower.

I knew my suitcase was heavy, but I was just crossing my fingers that it was less than 50 lbs. My parents, being the experienced world travelers that they are, told me that my suitcase was too heavy and I needed to check a second one. I was trying to save money, but a look at Continental's baggage policies scared me out of taking a risk. It's $30 to check a second bag but $200 if you go over the 50 lb weight limit. Sheesh! Funny thing is, once I got to SeaTac, my big suitcase and my small one together were exactly 50 lbs. So I would have been okay with just the one, though it would have been extremely unwieldy. Now I have more room to buy more stuff once I'm there. (Too bad I don't have the money to buy lots of stuff!)

Have Skype? Add me! reesa.nelson. Real simple.

OMG my hands are so dry, I'm parched, and my hair is all static-y. While I'm not a fan of 93% humidity (yesterday, in San Jose), I need some moisture in the air to be comfortable. I'm about to rub chapstick on my hands. Enough with the complaining, I'm going over to the Jamba Juice to see if they will give me water for my water bottle.

Hasta luego!