Hola

Hi! I'm continuing to have a great time. I just haven't had much Internet access. Its been another fun week. This weekend I'm going to the beach with some friends. I'm looking forward to seeing monkeys this weekend in the wild.

Insert cleverish title here

Well it's a rainy Sunday afternoon and I'm watching my third futbol match of the day, and decided to update my blog. (I'm also trying to avoid napping so I'll sleep tonight... but its really hard with the rain against the metal roof!

Friday, I went to school early and Eric and I worked on our homework some. David showed up a little later and we all conferred to make sure we understood one part. The three of us went to lunch. Eric had left Jenee at home when he came to study. We got a bit worried when she wasn't there when class started, but her bus had gotten stuck in a traffic jam. She eventually got there.

After class we all went to get something to drink and make plans for Saturday. I had dinner with Isabel and Jorge. Isabel and I talked for like 3 hours. I was very tired when I went to bed.

Saturday, Eric, Jenee, David, and I met to see Harry Potter. I live the closest to the theatre, so I got there early to buy tickets. You actually select your seats when you buy them, so that was kind of nice. I enjoyed the movie.

After the movie, we went to an exhibition about DaVinci. It included a bunch of his machines. All the signs were only in Spanish, which we could read, but we were all exhausted when we were done.  We then headed home.

Once I got home I watched Uruguay beat Argentina in the quarterfinals of the Copa America!  Soy Celeste!  It was nerve-racking though as it came down to penalty shots.  When Jorge and Isabel came home from Mass, we went out to eat with her sister and brother-in-law.

This morning I went to church.  The preacher spoke in mind-numbingly fast Spanish.  The rest went fine.  I didn't stay for class as my brain was already melted.  I stopped at the mall near our house on the way home.  They have a store called Universal that is more or less a department store without clothes.  They had books including textbooks INCLUDING a Biochem book in Spanish written by the Professor I worked for in grad school.  I seriously considered buying the Spanish version... until I realized it was almost $100.  It was funny... but not that funny.  I just did not expect to look down in a store in Costa Rica and see "Victor W. Rodwell" written on anything.

This afternoon while trying to stay awake, my afternoon has been filled with futbol.  I watched Paraguay beat Brazil.  (It's been super fun to watch the "Guays" take out the big boys of South American futbol.)  I also watched Japan beat the US to win the Women's World Cup.  Actually I was flipping back and forth between those two.  Now we've started watching Venezuela and Chile.  I think I'm rooting for Chile.  

I should start working on my homework, so I don't have to do it all in the morning.  We don't have a tour tomorrow.  So now you are caught up.  :)

A rolling stone gathers no moss... a sloth on the other hand...

Today (Thursday) we went to the Baurilo Carrillo Rain Forest.  It is about an hour drive from the city. 

We crossed El Rio Sucio (the dirty river).  Its called that because of its yellow color due to sulfur from Vocan Irazu

 

We were warned that we might need jackets again.  Unlike the trip to the volcano, we did NOT need our jackets.  It wasn’t actually that hot, but it was super humid and sticky.  Ana Maria had warned us that we would mainly see plants on this trip, not to expect a lot of birds.  So what was hanging out over the parking lot??? A sloth… my new favorite animal.  This one was a three toed sloth.  They are cute too.

So cute.  Notice how her arms are greenish.  (I actually have better photos for the color.)  Well, moss actually grows on the backs of sloths.  It helps camouflage them from predators.  They certainly aren't running away.

 

We then headed into the rain forest.  We were warned not to get off the trail or we could be lost forever.  I’d believe it.  It was pretty dense.  Because it is a virgin rainforest, I expected not a lot of undergrowth.  That’s not how this one was.  It was pretty dense.  There was lots and lots and lots of green.  The predominant sound was cicadas.  The trail we were on was the closest to the road, so we didn’t see any more wild life except a frog, a lizard and LOTS of bugs and spiders.  EW…  I was slow on the trail because I was taking too many pictures… but there was NO concern that I’d get off the trail.

A few of my favorites:

David, Jenee, Eric, and Simone

 

After we were all thoroughly gross and sweaty, but happy after our hike, we piled back in the bus.  I was very grateful for air conditioning.  It is about the only place I’ve had AC in Costa Rica.

In class this afternoon, we did an activity where we were reviewing the use of direct and indirect pronouns.  The teacher set up a Jenga tower and if you messed up the sentence you had to play.  After a bit though, we decided if you got it right you got to play.  Once we were through with the sentences, we kept playing while Hazel was getting ready for the next thing.  The problem was it had become a heated game and no one wanted to quit.  Hazel changed it so that we had to come up with words for whatever letter in the alphabet the person before us chose.  Then a sentence that started with a letter the person chose.  We were too good at Jenga.  The game lasted 45 min until someone, I think John or Eric tried to pull one of the bottom pieces.  I, of course, eventually pulled out the camera for pictures.

Rob's turn.  Hazel, our professor is in the background.

Things got precarious for David.

After class David, Simone, and I went to get something to drink.  Simone’s Costa Rican sisters joined us.  One of the sisters was an exchange student with Simone’s family a few years ago.  I then headed home.  Isabel’s sister and brother-in-law came over and Mauricio, the son that lives in the house, was home too.  I was too tired to even make much of an effort to participate in the conversation… but I at least understood some of it.

Friday mornings, we don’t have excursions.  While I really enjoy excursions, I’m excited to sleep in a bit tomorrow.