I’m sorry to have kept you waiting, my faithful followers (Sleez, Mom, Kelsey's mom). It’s been a bustling past couple of days, even though we haven’t really
done anything. Except for the ziplining, town fiesta, the two days of “trouble in paradise”, and tackling the monstrous work load in preparation for next Thursday (finals), it’s been pretty low-key.
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| Improv jam sesh |
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| Note Leah's convenient shoe placement. |
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| Swag, Mama Lorena, y yo twerkin in the cocina. Hawt hatz |
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| Sleez doing his homework in a cloud. |
Saturday morning we headed out early for "La Selvatura". At first, we all thought the zip-lining was going to be a bust. As we waited in the pouring and COLD rain for roughly 30 minutes before the first line, we didn't foresee getting anything out of the excursion except foul memories and regret (like most of Ashley Pilsen Knight's Saturday mornings. Jajaja). But when we finally got going, it was definitely worth it. There were eleven lines and as we swung through the canopy of the rainforest, each line was cooler than the one before. The last three lines were incredible! And the very last line was a double, so Ashley and I were dates. She was the man since she was in charge of braking if needed, but thankfully the craziness never called for that. Shamar and She-she saw sparks on their line as they went! Literal sparks, not the kind Sequoia feels for her new legit tico boyfriend Dave. After the zip-lines we followed the trails to the "Tarzan Swing." Literally, when I think of a single object embodying my fear of being suspended at high altitude (hence my hate for rock climbing), THIS was it. You climb these rickety stairs to a platform about two stories high. Once at the top, two guides attach your harness to a rope, tell you to bend your knees, and with little-to-no warning almost PUSH you off the platform into momentary free fall. HOLY MOLY. I was so close to backing out when I got to the edge of the platform, but there was no turning back and it actually ended up being awesome so I'm glad I didn't chicken. The bungee-style rope quickly took effect and you just swing really high into the air, back and forth, until the guides at the bottom grab your ankles (quite aggressively) and bring you to a stop. I survived! I would have even done it a second time had we not been shivering prunes by that point.
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| Watch out for that tree! |
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| Sequoia does sorority squats... what doesn't she do? |
That night was the town fiesta, ¡arriba arriba! It took place at the school down the road and almost everyone from the community was there, including our homestay families! Doña Lorena came up to Swag (Sarah Wagnon was their previous homestay student) and me at the beginning of the dance and told us that before we danced with any boys we had to ask Madre for her permission. Jajaja. We started out with pizza for dinner (nom nom nom), then more or less participated in the bingo game. Sarah She She (the French student) embarrassed all of the gringos when she yelled "BINGO!", thinking
doce meant two and not twelve... Marshall and Daniel won some sweet kitchenware... and then we paid a dollar to enter a raffle for a stuffed pork loin and a bottle of Casique, which is the local liquor slash gasoline. It's comparable to moonshine and would never stand a chance at legality in the States. Anyway, guess who won? ME! I'm pretty sure it's the first time I've ever won anything. I gave the meat to Lorena to take home, and Sarah and I actually just got back from having dinner with the family and feasting on the prize. As for the casique, Marshall and She-she quickly took the liberty of distributing to everyone around us. Thankfully there were enough people around to only allow for about one serving per person. After that, we all danced merengue, cumbia, salsa and bachata. Marcelo, my first homestay hermano was quite the lil charmer and could cut the rug surprisingly well. Unfortunately, unlike Sleez's sense of humor, my lack of rhythm DOES cross the language barrier. A for effort?
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| La escuela |
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| Ant hill, or bowling ball? |
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| Hermano y hermana |
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| Famwich |
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| ¡Miguelito! |
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| Allie's bro Jefferson. More importantly, his hat. |
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| Teeler! |
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| Marshall's new home goods for Kelsey's dog food. |
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| "Supergirl" Marcelo. |
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| RIP, Allistina victim |
After we got home that night Kelsey managed to literally drive me insane talking about the stupid pork loin. You see, there was a second pork loin that was auctioned off later in the night. Tyler has a tendency to believe he's made of money when he drinks, and this caused him to offer 30 thousand colónes, or $60 bucks for the auctioned piece of meat. Thankfully the auctioneer wasn't upset and continued the auction when Tyler realized his pockets were in fact inadequate. However, this series of events was eccentric enough to put Kelsey's brain on the fritz; she couldn't stop talking about the pork loin mix-up, so I finally had to "get ready for bed" in the bathroom long enough for her to conch out.
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| Vaca |
So the trouble in paradise has mostly blown over... thank thuh lawd. The skinny is, our group's un poco loco and needed to get knocked back in line. I personally contribute it to the stir craziness that's resulted from the crummy weather, but that's no excuse for Kelsey to go hanging her hammock wherever she wants, right?
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| The moon! |
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| What I found on my bed when I got back to my cabina last night |
Last night Sleez and Kelsey took a two hour study break to create a beautiful thing. After a series of vague questioning and sketchy secrecy, the two intellectual scientists presented their newest baby to the CR International Studies facebook group: A BRACKET. With the bracket was a supplemental document that described the fictional battles between each pair of students at each level. The fate of the battles was determined by "hearsay, stories...", ultimately ending in Allie's victory. It was a hilarious and much needed relief from the tense ambiance of the biblioteca, where we're currently spending almost all of our time getting ready for our projects' due dates. Thanks, you two. Way to bring one in for the team!
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| The Bracket. |
We're finally getting some much-needed vitamin D. For as ugly and dreary as the weather's been these past couple of days, it was absolutely GORGEOUS today. I'm stubborn to admit that I'm sunburned, but according to Ashley it's true. After lunch today Sarah, Leah, Kelsey and I walked to the grass road I always want to take a picture of when I run. ¡Aquí!
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| Ice cream break |
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| The road |
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| The view |
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| The token banana tree photo |
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| Diva |
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| FaYuL. |
Now it's time to really crack down. I've got five essays due by next Thursday, and Sleez is leaving me in the dust. She-she's currently across from me staring fiercely into her computer screen... not looking good. Crunch time.
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| Sunset from the front porch! |
¡¡¡Chao, y
PURA VIDA!!!
