Cheap Mud Bath

On Mondays, we only have class, no tours.  I got to school around 10 and most of my friends arrived then or shortly after.  We did a pretty good job on Monday of only speaking Spanish.  About the only time we switched away from it was when we had no Spanish work arounds or those who had less Spanish really didn’t understand.  Monday was the first day that it was really raining hard when we left class.  John, David, and I decided at first we were just going to walk.  After a couple 100 yards we decided that was crazy.  We were getting really wet, even with umbrellas, so we took the bus.  Even with taking the bus most of the way the bottom 8 inches of my jeans were soaked.

When I got home I played with Mathias, the 4 year old.  He “helped” me with my homework.  He quizzed me over numbers and drew pictures in my notebook.  We had a big time until I ACTUALLY had to do my homework.  It was a good bonding night for the two of us.

Sometime in the last couple of days I took pictures of my room… so here they are.  Those of you who know me really well recognize something strange about this picture.  That’s right my room is clean. 

View #1

View #2

View from my window

 Oh one interesting thing.  Most of the roofs are tin.  This is a nice neighbor, so its not because people are poor.  They used to all have tile roofs, but there are enough volcanoes and volcanic ash in the area that it is easier to clean off tin.  With tile, they'd have to take it apart to clean it.

Tuesday we went to the Central Market for our tour.  It was fine.  We did stop by a place that roast coffee beans to suit people’s taste which is pretty cool.  After that we went to the Jade Museum.  Northern Pre-Columbian Costa Ricans wore a lot of jade (which I think I may have mentioned when we went to the National Museum.)   No one knows where it came from, but the pieces were pretty cool.  There were also several Pre-Columbian stone and pottery pieces.

After the museum we stopped by the National Theatre which is a beautiful building.   

 

 When we got back to the Institute, a group of us went to lunch, then it was time for class.  After class, Jenee, Eric, David, and I stopped at El Rio to get something to drink.  We did not do such a good job of staying in Spanish all day today.  I think we were all really tired.

On my walk to and from the bus stop/ main road to/ from which I have to walk whether I ride the bus or walk to school, there is a part where the sidewalk is torn up and all mud.  Well, tonight (Tuesday) when I got to that part I went to walk in the street and managed to step in a hole in between the sidewalk and street and fell in the mud.  I’m fine, not even particularly scraped up, but I knew when I got home, it would freak out Isabel.  My entire right half was pretty muddy. So the last couple blocks home, I had to think of how to QUICKLY explain in Spanish, that I’m fine… just dirty.  Basically, I ended up saying that in Spanish about 5 times to assure her.  But I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t fall down every so often.  As my mom said when I was a teenager... that’s why she named me Fall…