April is the warmest, driest month of year in Costa Rica, and the past few days have certainly demonstrated that. Every day this week has been clear and not a single drop of rain has fallen. After a few days of dragging my umbrella around and no rain, I finally left my umbrella at home even though I know one of these days that I do not bring it, the rain will come.
Tuesday was Sanne’s last day in La Fortuna, thus, after having breakfast and hanging out with the police for a while, I met up with her to enjoy some goodies from our favorite bakery one last time and visit a bit. I then helped her pack up all her stuff and move her big bag to Francsica’s place at the time she had to check out of her room. We visited with Fran a bit, then went to her old office where I met Marjiory, a girl from Nicaragua who is taking Sanne’s place for a while and I spoke to her about an upcoming tour to Nicaragua that I am going to partake in. I have heard such wonderful things about Nicaragua from Sanne and some others, especially the fact that it is much less developed and more naturalistic than Costa Rica. To get to Nicaragua we will also be going on a boat ride on a lake and river that is filled with wildlife, so I am very excited for what we might see. I also really wanted to go to Nicaragua for the stamp in my passport, not only for the stamp, but also to ensure that I don’t run into any trouble when I come home on the 24th, as I made a mistake when scheduling my flights by not counting the exact number of days I would be in Costa Rica. The 24th is technically my 91st day in Costa Rica and as a tourist I am only allowed 90, although I’ve tried to find out what exactly the repercussions for this would be without any luck, I would rather be safe than sorry, so I am off to Nicaragua tomorrow morning! After Sanne and I met with her, she and I went to the apartment of the nice Jehovah Witness family from Indiana also living here to say our goodbyes. After talking with them, we went to a nearby soda where we got a plate of pre-made, but yummy food and some fresh juice for only $3. On the way to this little restaurant, we ran into to of my female tourist police officers in the park. I had to laugh when they interrogated me as to why I was not at the station for lunch. Sometimes the officers can be very nosy if I don’t come by the station as often as I usually do, but I am certainly glad they are look out for me. After eating, we went back to see Fran in the jewelry store and visit there for a bit. I then said my final goodbyes to Sanne in the park. I am certainly sad to see her go, and am very glad that we lucked out to meet each other that weekend in Jaco and be in this small town in Costa Rica at the same time. I am excited to go visit her in Holland someday in the future. After leaving her, I went to the gym and biked for a while, and then headed back to get ready for class. I was so happy when I got to the station to find that Victor had made my favorite “black soup” and had two big bowls before another class of review for their upcoming exam.
Yesterday started out nice and early as I went on a good morning run at 5:45am with the supervisor of the group, Daniel. We did my favorite run up the road to the waterfall and cutting through zone 3 on about a 6 mile run. It was certainly one of the longer, tougher runs he has done in a while, so I enjoyed encouraging him while also having a little bit of English practice while chatting through the run. While eating breakfast with the officers, they explained to me that it was a federal holiday in Costa Rica called Juan Santamaria Day, also called National Hero’s Day, commemorates the day that national hero Juan Santamaria defeated American invader William Walker at the 1856 battle of Rivasto. After visiting with the officers, I went on to the gym to bike as I want to use up as much of my month membership as possible. When I got back to the house, Evi and Jimena were there as there was no school. I relaxed with them for a while and talked with Jimena about colors in English before going to the station for some lunch. After my rice and beans I also enjoyed some delicious fresh papaya and watermelon. When I went to thank Victor for lunch, I found him out behind the station building watching some iguanas. I thus joined him and was amazed as some very large iguanas, including some males with large neck flaps that were somewhat similar to the waddle of a rooster. It was so neat to watch the miniature dinosaurs graze on some of their preferred leaves to eat in this field. I’m a bit disappointed I’m just now realizing that this cool iguana hangout had been nearby for so long. After visiting with him, I headed downtown to get some good reading and sun time in the park, as well as treat myself to my favorite ice cream treat of Costa Rica that Evan introduced me to rightfully named “Trits.” While walking home, I decided I would stop at some local stores do get some last gifts. I passed by an artist named David that I knew is a friend of Lindsay’s and had a nice talk with him about culture, life, love, and art while he very kindly let me try to work with some of the clay that he uses in his art. I then headed back to get to the station for dinner and class. When I get back home I’m going to have to play some charades as I’ve been doing a lot of acting out to explain words I’m not sure about in English with the text comprehension practice we have been doing. I am really proud of the work that this group of officers is putting into class. Although it was technically a holiday and the Costa Rica soccer team was playing Honduras, they were all there, ready to work. After class, I was happy to have some fresh coffee and also have some time to skype and catch up with my Dad. When I got home from class, I was surprised to find Evi watching the movie “Jackass” on television. Although I really find the program stupid and unentertaining, it was entertaining to watch Evi laugh at the ridiculous actions of the group of guys.
Today was yet another beautiful, clear, and warm day. It is one of the few days that when I woke up and headed out to the station for breakfast, the Volcano was completely clear. The night before was not a very good one, as the mosquitoes are still absolutely horrible in our apartment. In fact, I got bitten on my face 3 times! I certainly can’t wait to get away from these pesky critters. After a yummy scrambled egg with tomatoes and gallo pinto breakfast, I had some good skype conversations with loved ones back home. After talking with them, I am certainly getting excited for my return home. I then spent a good amount of time with my “Tico Boyfriend,” Victor as one of his grandchildren is ill, and he is taking vacation time to take care of him. Although Victor was certainly one of the officers who has joked with me about my boyfriend and how we should get married, it is for that reason he and I have gotten closer than I have with other officers. After joking around a bit about who my new boyfriend would be with his absence, we had a good, serious chat. He told me that he sincerely appreciated all the work that I had done with them and that he thought I was a wonderful, smart person and that I would go far in life. He was so sweet and told me how he would miss me and that the all of them were my family and if I ever come back, I always have a place here. It was so nice to hear him say what I had meant to him, and really made me feel that although sometimes I have felt like I haven’t been any help, I have had some impact with the officers. We said our final goodbyes and I got a big hug and kiss. We also took some photos together which I very unfortunately deleted accidentally while taking photos in Fortuna later. The camera date mark must have been off so it deleted the wrong photos, something that upset me greatly when I realized. I spent some time in the park taking photos of the perfect day and reading after making some final booking for my Nicaragua trip tomorrow. I also took the day to get some video of Fortuna with my Hero camera; although I held it in my hand to be a little less conspicuous, I still got some interesting looks. After doing a little prepping for the trip tomorrow and photo/video downloading/saving, I went to the gym for a bike ride and quick run. I then had a nice dinner that included some yummy yucca, and tonight’s class went well as I went over some more grammatical stuff with this group as well as a little conversation practice. I’m excited for tomorrow morning, as I will head out bright and early for Nicaragua!
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