Hola! So I have been in Costa Rica now for almost a month and I am loving life here. Though there are some struggles life taking the bus everywhere, people smoke everywhere and men whistling at you as they pass.
Anyway, two weekends ago the LASP group went to Limon, which is a province on the Caribbean coast. The weather was very humid and hot. On the bus ride there we stopped at a coffee plantation. I tasted a bean right of the bush and it was kinda bitter. Then we went to a Del Monte banana plantation and saw the whole process from field to shipment. Everyone in the State should be thankful for our bananas because there are some high standards for this fruit. Such as if there is but one brown spot it is labeled as 3rd class and the most aesthetic bananas can be shipped to the U.S. and Europe. We stayed at Hotel Miami in Limon, it was very pleasant to have a change from the daily routine of San Jose.
We got to talk with a women who won teacher of the year and who was a member of the Costa Rican government. English was spoken a lot in Limon so it was great to not think as hard while I speak. Then we went up the road a ways to the indigenous tribe Bri Bri and spoke with a leader of that community. They have an iguana preservation project so we got to see various sizes of iguanas and learn how they are protecting this animal. After that we went to the beach...finally!!! The beach we went to was Playa Cahuita, it was beautiful. The water was turquoise and the sand was tan. I found a whole coconut on the ground and had one of the guys open it. I shared the milk and meat inside, it was so sweet! Saturday night we went dancing at a club for one of the professors birthday! We danced to reggaton so that was lots of fun!! Then on Sunday I went to an Episcopal church and had lunch with some members and their kids. After a long hot weekend in Limon we went back to the city.
On February 2nd we meet with two people from the U.S. Embassy and learned what their jobs looked like and their prospectives on U.S./Latin American relations.
This past weekend me, a bunch of girls from LASP and my 2 host sisters went to the beach in Puntarenas which is on the Pacific coast. It was great. You pick up the bus in San Jose, it lasts for only 2 hours, then we stayed in Hotel Cayuga. Very cheap for 2 nights. Now in Costa Rica it is very common to have ketchup and mayo with your french fries. So here is where I have slipped into the culture even more. It tastes great. they do not have mustard here so the mayo works well. At this beach I got my first sun burn, it is not that bad, but it will work just fine for a base tan! lol
This is my last week of language school and then next Monday we all leave for Nicaragua!
Love you all!!
Monday, February 05, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
