Well, I once again allowed myself to get behind this week on writing; with each day I missed it had a snowball effect and gets larger and larger, thus, here is yet another very long post about my past two weeks. I apologize ahead of time for the length and suggest you break it up while reading.
These past weeks have been overall pretty great. Although it did slightly feel like coming back to reality after having so much fun with my family for a week, it wasn’t near as bad as it normally would be as I was essentially leaving vacation with them for another vacation of my own. The Monday before last was certainly something of a recovery day as I spent the morning catching up with my police officers over breakfast, using the internet to skype with some friends back home and upload the hundreds of photos I had taken the previous week to my blog. In the afternoon, I stopped by the post office to mail a few more postcards, and then stopped by Sanne’s office to chat for a bit. I then went on my normal run up the road to the waterfall which I had been missing the past week. I could also tell that I had not run it in a while. After my run, I cleaned up and headed to the station. It turned out to be a crazy evening at the station as some of the officers were already returning home a bit early and others were busy with other tasks. Thus, I simply visited some more with the officers over amazing coffee, and used the internet a bit more. I also got a text from Lindsay wondering if I would want to climb Cerro Chato the next day as she was off work- so I also invited Gabe who had yet to see the place, and went home to rest up!
Last Tuesday was yet another beautiful, clear day in La Fortuna, just as perfect to climb Cerro Chato as it had been the day before. Lindsay and I met in the park at 7am to make the hike even better by adding another 5km to walk to the trailhead from there. I enjoyed a treat from the bakery and some strawberry juice to energize me for the walk. When we got to the trailhead, we waited a bit as Gabe got a ride from his host father, and then we headed up the old volcano. It was a perfect day for a hike. Clear but just overcast enough that it wasn’t too hot, although our shirts were still soaked by the time we got to the top. After making it to the lake and sitting for a bit, we hiked the trail around to the other side of the lake. We also decided to switch it up and go down the other side of cerro chato to the observatory hotel on a new trail for me. It was an awesome hike. This trail is a little less traveled, thus, there were sections that made you think a bit more. When we reached the bottem of this side of cerro chato, we were all taken aback by the incredible, completely clear view of Volcan Arenal. This side is definitely closer to the volcano as well, making the view even more amazing. We walked to the observatory hotel whom runs this trail, where we found a deck with an absolutely breathtaking view of both the volcano and lake Arenal; therefore, we sat and tried to take in the amazing surroundings before we were forced to continue on. We walked another couple kilometers to the main road where we hitched a ride with a nice mother, son, and daughter group on vacation from N.C. We then got a ride from a van from Ecoglide that Lindsay knew the drivers, and finished the trip to Fortuna with a taxi driver that Lindsay knew- bottom line, it’s much easier to hitchhike with a nice girl like Lindsay that knows everyone in town! After eating dinner at the police station, I was completely zonked. Only two of the officers were around to have class, so we had a little conversation practice as I tried not to pass out at the table. I went home and was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Wednesday was just the opposite of Tuesday, a dreary, rainy day. I thus, spent most of the day indoors either using the internet at the police station or visiting with the officers- Victor, who now claims to have the title of my “Costa Rican boyfriend” is here this week, thus, I always have someone to joke around with. I also spent some of the morning watching Evi’s favorite telenovela La Vida for some entertainment and Spanish practice. I think I can pick up more now than I could when I first got here. For lunch, Sanne came to the station to take advantage of a free meal, and all of the officers were more than happy to have a pretty girl to talk to at lunch. Later that afternoon all I heard was “Kisa, your friend is so pretty.” I walked Sanne back to her office with my umbrella and then we visited for a bit while I waited for the rain to die down a bit. We talked about music and found another shared interest the Twilight series and felt a little less silly as we got excited watching a preview for the last film together. When I got back to the station, I used the internet a bit more just before we lost power, so I enjoyed some afternoon coffee and conversation with the officers. At late evening, the rain had finally let up and I was able to get in a nice after-rain run before class. Class went extremely well as I now have an example copy of the test to use to help teach. We practiced more reading comprehension as I first clearly read an example text and then wrote out each sentence on the whiteboard. After completing that we went over some questions following the text.
Thursday morning after breakfast and my morning internet use, I headed into town to visit my little gym above Burger King. On the way, I was really wishing I had my camera as there was a huge iguana hanging out in the middle of the road right down from my house. He was also super relaxed as I got right up to him and we just stared at each other for a bit- awesome moment. I had not been to the gym for a few weeks as my monthly membership had run out and I knew I would not be going at all during the week with my family. It felt so nice to be back in the familiar place and get a good workout on the bike. After enjoying my cold shower, I ate a big bowl of rice and beans at the station while watching the 1pm national news. I was surprised to see a story come on about the problem of obesity now increasing in Costa Rica. It was easy to quickly recognize the subject of the story with the images of extremely overweight individuals; however, unlike the U.S., they did not make the effort to not show the faces of these individuals. They went on to have a section of the story in which an on-the-street-reporter grabbed individuals on the street, took them up to a nearby gym where they were weighed and body weight tested, and if the individual was obese, they told them straight up and then flashed the word “obese” on the screen with dramatic music. Once again, I found it interesting the different news values here as the story was not only a bit insensitive, but also extremely long around 10 minutes long. Thursday night’s class also went very well as we did more practice-exam material. One of the texts we practiced with was a sample letter of someone in the U.S. writing to someone outside the U.S. about how Christmas is in the U.S. Thus, we also had fun comparing our own Christmas experiences; I especially had fun explaining what a “White Christmas” is like.
Last Friday started out early as I woke up to go on a 10K run with two of the officers at 5:30am. It was a beautiful morning. I had forgotten just how lovely it is to watch the sunrise while running. It also felt pretty cool to be running in between two police officers, the fact that I’m still much taller than both of them really didn’t matter. Toward the end of the run, I spotted two bright green parrots sitting in a tree beside the road and almost fell off the road looking at them. When we got back from the nice run we had our favorite gallo pinto breakfast, and then I went back to shower. In the afternoon, I walked to the park to get in a nice read. I also stopped by a little stand that I had wanted to visit for a while that sells green mangos that are shredded up and topped with whichever sweet or salty toppings you’d like. I got a cup with chocolate and caramel syrup as well as sweet milk, and when you have that much sugar and a yummy fruit like mango, even not ripe, it’s going to be good. Friday’s class was also successful as we practiced more of the exam. I had a little bit of difficulty explaining the differences between homophones and homographs, but we eventually got it clear, and we finished it off with one my favorite parts of class, a good cup of coffee and good small talk with the officers.
Saturday was a great adventurous day as I went canyoning or rappelling down a canyon and its waterfalls with Sanne and another girl from Holland doing an internship in Fortuna named Michelle. I lucked out extremely as Sanne and Michelle could both go on the tour free as they worked for other tour companies in town, and because Sanne asked for me, I also got the $90 tour for free! After having my gallo pinto breakfast, I met up with Sanne and Michelle at the tour company’s office where we then were picked up by a shuttle already carrying around 20 other people to take us to the canyon. Before we reached there, we had to switch to 4-wheel drive trucks with benches in the tail bed to take us down the last rocky, bumpy road. After getting all of our gear and helmets put on at their station, we got in the trucks one more time to the start of the canyoning tour. There were 4 actual rappels that we took part in, the first was around 25ft high, the second was around 150ft and included a large section of complete free fall, the next was another smaller 20ft rappel, and the last one finished the rappelling off well with a 200+ ft drop and a very long section of complete free fall. The rappels were certainly a rush, especially during the free fall; however, the larger portion and some of the prettiest parts of the trip were just walking through and climbing around this gorgeous canyon. We certainly got wet on several occasions as the canyon fills with water, even during dry season. Some of the guides were sure to splash us when possible, and other parts that we walked through were up to our waists. At one point, we were instructed to jump into a pothole that brought the water up to my eye-level. At the end of the tour, we arrived back at their station where we changed to dry clothes and enjoyed a big buffet lunch. We were then taken back into town by early afternoon. After relaxing for a bit, I went back into town and visited the gym. I finished the day off with a nice police station dinner and skype date with Austin.
I spent this past Sunday exactly how I like to spend a Sunday: starting with a good long run, this time around 9 miles up toward where the hotel I stayed at with my parents is located, back to a nice shower (even though cold), read for a bit, fall asleep reading and took a quick nap, woke up to go into town and hang out in the beautiful park with some good friends, enjoy a great fresh fruit smoothie, more time in the park, escaping an afternoon rain and watching a good movie with my friends (in this case Horrible Bosses on Sanne’s laptop with Dutch subtitles, which from what I have read and heard of the language from Sanne and Michelle I believe that if I were able to try to learn Dutch, I would utterly fail), a nice dinner at a the local 24/7 Parada Soda of vegetable rice, and finishing the warm evening back in the park enjoying some cool yummy ice cream. There’s a nice run-on sentence, day summary for you.
This Monday was another one of my favorite types of days- yet another wonderful Cerro Chato day! Lindsay had Monday off from work, and although we briefly discussed perhaps going Sunday night, we were not sure if we would be able to, but we both are too fond of this little old volcano to miss an opportunity to hike together. We also were really interested in hiking cerro chato starting at the side of the observatory to also check out some trails around that side. Thus, after waking up to a phone call that was at first a bit alarming, but turned out to be a nice surprise call from Austin, I woke up Lindsay and we planned a time to meet. We bought some fruit and snacks and then got a taxi ride from a friend from Lindsay’s to the Observatory Hotel which is near El Castillo on the other side of the volcano. We were both so glad we switched it up to come on this side as there were two nice hanging bridges along a few small trials, and most impressive, a fairly large waterfall and small river that also sits on the hotel’s property. After checking out their property, we headed up cerro chato on the backside. Although I think this trail is a bit shorter, it is certainly more of a challenge to climb, which was fun for us. When we got to the lagoon at the top, we were happy to find the shore on this side empty and enjoyed a nice, peaceful picnic and relaxation time to ourselves. At the lake the frogs were the most active I have ever seen! They were everywhere and really chirping away. After a bit, we hiked around to the other side of the lake, and for the first time in my six times hiking, this beach was also empty, so we took another little break and attempted to take in more of this incredible place. We then started hiking down on the normal side closest to La Fortuna during which we were lucky enough to have a toucan fly right over our heads. We also saw some large, green parrots flying around and squawking loudly from some nearby trees. I was also a little freaked out as I heard thunder for the first time since I’ve been here as we were walking down this side. It had been cloudy all day, but the clouds were not very bad, so I assumed it was Volcan Arenal getting ready to explode and that is also why the animals were so talkative. Luckily, this action-movie thought was not the case, and it was simply thunder. We walked back into town going down a road through a different section of town, and by the time we made it back, our feet certainly had that nice numb, tired feeling. I am so glad that we went on the hike at the last minute. I truly love cerro chato. Even though it was my 6th time to hike it, every time has truly been different. It’s really sad that all the locals think that Lindsay and I are absolutely crazy for going so often and most have not even seen this magical place once; they don’t know what they’re missing out on. I got to the station a bit late because of the hike, and after dinner, was informed that big boss of the tourist police from San Jose and a couple other officers from that station were going to be coming that evening for a meeting with them in the morning. So, I had a bit more pressure teaching that night, as they were my extra audience; fortunately, my officers and I must work well under pressure because it was definitely one of the better classes we have ever had.
This Tuesday was one of my rougher days here in Costa Rica. The night before the mosquitoes were pretty bad in the house, and I got a couple good bites and was woken up by a high-pitched whining of their wings in my ears. When I got back from breakfast and internet morning time at the station, I came back to the house to discover that a little bit of money of my host family and I’s were missing. Although it was really a small amount of money, it was enough to make me a bit uncomfortable, especially after Evi explained to me that they had been robbed before. Although I’m still really not sure what exactly happened in this case, I don’t feel that my belongings or I are really in danger; nonetheless, I am certainly being a bit more precautious with my more valuable items and locking the door more often. Fortunately, my afternoon was a bit better as I had a delicious yummy sushi lunch with my fellow Missourian friend William. After sushi was also had some ginger and chili spiced chocolate along with cumin-spiced coffee, all of which were more than tasty. It was nice to enjoy some different food along with some nice conversation about William’s different world experiences, philosophy, religion, and life in general. I also got to visit with Sanne at her office and having some good girl-talk, venting is always a guarantee to make you feel better. Tuesday night’s class with the other group of officer’s went fairly well. As their exam date gets closer, now a little over a week away, I am getting worried for some of them that are at a lower level. I hope that my few months here have helped them in some way.
Wednesday was a better day as I spent all of my morning at the gym getting some good time on the stationary bike and a good little run. While biking I watched a really green iguana crawl around the fence just below the building. Our police secretary William also was super sweet and brought me a bag of a new fruit to me called Jacota (not sure on spelling) as well as a different type of smaller mangos, both of which are extremely tasty. After lunch, I went into town and visited my friend Francisca who is working at her uncle’s jewelry/art store to buy a few gifts, read in the park a bit, and then went and visited with Sanne while I still could as this is her last week at her internship. I also ran and got us a little treat from our favorite little bakery and some mango-juice boxes that we all are addicted to which made the afternoon better. Dinner that night at the station was a bit frustrating as we had our normal rice and beans and they also had a different hotdog type meat, which I of course, did not eat. One of the officers asked me why I didn’t want to eat it, although he certainly knew, and then went on to lecture me about why I needed to eat meat. Although he did not truly upset me with his opinion, I think the most frustrating part was that my Spanish is still not strong enough to really argue well. During class that night, I finally remembered to give this group of officers a little gift from the U.S. my parents had brought- some pencils for class and some microwavable Kettle Corn popcorn. They had never tried a sweet/salty type popcorn and were really animated when trying it, which was quite entertaining. Although the popcorn interrupted class a bit, I think it was certainly worth it.
Yesterday was interesting day as it started the long weekend for Semana Santa, or holy week. All this week schools have been closed, and starting yesterday, most of the businesses also closed and no alcohol is sold. Having said that, I have also noticed and been told that this weekend is also a time for a lot of big parties for many families and they have made sure to stock up on their alcohol. Because businesses are closed, most people have vacations from work as well. For La Fortuna, this also means a large influx of local tourists. In fact, to deal with the large influx of visitors, four officers from the other group at the tourist police station are working extra this weekend. Yesterday morning, I went to my gym not thinking about the holiday. When I got there, it was certainly closed; however, the stationary bikes are located out in the open foyer, so I decided it couldn’t hurt for me to use one as I have paid for my month. Another guy wanting to use the gym also arrived and following my example used some elliptical machines also in this area. When I finished riding and was cleaning my bike he also stopped so he could stare at me creepily, something I guess I should be used to by now, but it still surprises me at how obvious men can be here. After a few laps at the track, I went back home, showered, had lunch with my officers. The Costa Rican television stations are playing really old Biblical story movies from the 50’s and 60’s, and I find the off-synced Spanish voice-overs comical. After lunch, I skyped for a bit, and then went into town to see Sanne again, enjoy some smoothies from one of the restaurants still open. When I got back for class, I was informed that the officers wanted to give me the night off, meaning they were tired from the long day of work. So after helping Berta, the cook this week, by cutting some tomatoes for dinner and making juice, I had dinner, and then used the evening to have some more skype conversations. I realized last night just how truly thankful for technology. As my time here is coming to an end, I know I really wouldn’t have had the experience I have had here had I not been able to still share it with some of my loved ones back home.
Today is a beautiful day, although the weather lately has been pretty crazy going from sun to rain and back again. Just during my walk to the station for breakfast I noticed some Catholic displays with saints and flowers for the continuation of the Holy Week. I used the nice weather for a good, warm run on my favorite road. During my run I saw 2 large iguanas, one of which was the size of a small dog! I also noticed many people out and about going to nearby rivers and the local pool with a large water slide to enjoy the holiday and warm weather; it reminded much of Missourians on Memorial Day or the 4th of July. I then enjoyed another good rice and bean lunch with the officers. Going to get some time in my beautiful little park this afternoon with my kindle. This evening, we once again will not have class because of the holiday, and I am glad, as I will get to have dinner with Sanne and her father and his wife who are on a tour in Costa Rica and will be in La Fortuna today.
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