So my final weekend in Costa Rica is over and I have to say, it's been one of the most memorable. I had some people invite me to the beach, but my favorite place in the whole country is at the Tobogan, so I opted to stay in San Jose and dance the night away with Dougie, Robert, Mandy, Alex, Jason and Jayme. I have to say, there's something about salsa dancing that's so much more rewarding than any other Friday night activity. I think it's the fact that you're connecting with your dance partner, you're accomplishing something together. You just get this high off physically exerting yourself, learning new moves, having that "perfect" dance with someone. Freesyle dancing is great too, but it doesn't take the effort, practice and dedication that salsa does. Maybe that's it, it's an effort to be good, so it means more.
Saturday morning was spent loafing around until four or so. I tried to bake brownies for the barbeque at Doug's but my oven here sucks so they didn't quite bake. Ok, so it was more like they were cooked around the edges but the center was liquid, but they were still good. Chocolate is chocolate. Doug, ever the chauffer, picked Rachel, Jason, Robert and I up and then we went to his house in the mountains. This man has the most amazing home I've ever been to. The view from his place is incredible and there are all these windows everywhere to take full advantage of it. You can see San Jose, all the way down to the ocean. This house just had the most peaceful vibe I've ever encountered, chimes tinkling and fairy lights everywhere. We caught a gorgeous sunset and just fooled around taking pictures, learning new dance moves, playing the guitar, singing and talking.
Later we built a huge hot air balloon out of tissue paper and let it fly off into the mountains. Well, it actually caught on fire and landed in a tree. Luckily no damage was done. JuanRo and Alex joined us in time for burgers but left pretty soon after. Game junkies that we all are, we played crazy Uno for like three hours. Let it be known that I kick ass at Uno :). We finally left at about 2AM. You'd think that 10 hours with each other would be enough, but oh no. We stopped at Denny's and didn't get home until 4:30 in the morning.
The best thing about this night was that it was the first time I've felt at home here. I mean, that is exactly my favorite kind of night, one where people just chill and enjoy themselves without having to impress each other or get crazy drunk or try to hook up with everything in sight. It was just people relating to each other.
Sunday, March 21, 2004
Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Last week in Costa Rica
Well, I'd say my time here passed like a gimpy bird: it flew, but dragged at the same time.
All my slacking is catching up with me and I have to try to get some papers written using the ridiculous educational system in Costa Rica. The NATIONAL library does let you check out books, you have to read in their AC-less dungeon. Apparently the book theft here was sky high. Well, then you make copies right? Wrong. You copy things by hand. Tomorrow will be spent in the dungeon with note cards and a pen. Man, to have DSL again...sigh.
On the upside, the concert sleezy Ramiro sprung on us last night at 6PM was a success. I made some fliers and did some last minute promoting, and the whole thing went really well. This amazing steel pan player had a mini-concert in the middle of the school and he played souka, reggae, calypso and some hip hop. Outcast and Nellie sound better on the steelpan than on the radio!
I finally found a job I really want, problem is that I may be underqualified. But I've never let that stop me before, so perhaps, just perhaps I can finagle my way into the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Doesn't that sound like the perfect organization? So, everyone wish me luck, and if you happen to know anyone at MALDEF, let me know!
All my slacking is catching up with me and I have to try to get some papers written using the ridiculous educational system in Costa Rica. The NATIONAL library does let you check out books, you have to read in their AC-less dungeon. Apparently the book theft here was sky high. Well, then you make copies right? Wrong. You copy things by hand. Tomorrow will be spent in the dungeon with note cards and a pen. Man, to have DSL again...sigh.
On the upside, the concert sleezy Ramiro sprung on us last night at 6PM was a success. I made some fliers and did some last minute promoting, and the whole thing went really well. This amazing steel pan player had a mini-concert in the middle of the school and he played souka, reggae, calypso and some hip hop. Outcast and Nellie sound better on the steelpan than on the radio!
I finally found a job I really want, problem is that I may be underqualified. But I've never let that stop me before, so perhaps, just perhaps I can finagle my way into the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Doesn't that sound like the perfect organization? So, everyone wish me luck, and if you happen to know anyone at MALDEF, let me know!
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
It's been a while
I think my last post was something like a month ago, so I have a lot to catch up on. My favorite people on earth (minus the little Indian) came to Costa Rica to visit. Now, I know that I'm not exactly in Siberia and Costa Rica is an amazing place to visit but it meant a lot to me that my loved ones would come all the way down here to see me. That just goes to show what amazing people I have in my life.
All in all the vacation was great, everyone played nice, and aside from the 32 hours on the bus, I enjoyed every minute of it. We went to Manuel Antonio Beach where we rented a villa that we thought was really overpriced. That is, until we checked out the balcony where we could see all the stars in Costa Rica's sky. We lugged the mattress up there and spent the night outside and woke up to this breathtaking view of the ocean. The day was spent on the beach getting a little too much sun, then we headed to Monteverde to hike in the cloud forest and chill. We got really lucky and rented little cabin in the woods where we got to watch a fantastic sunset and play with a really friendly monkey. He peed on Tara's head though. Sorry, that still cracks me up.
Tara headed out at the same time that Tracy arrived, then Tara came back due to flight trouble. We rented another overpriced hotel, this time in San Jose. The redeeming factor was supposed to be that they had a jacuzzi. Well, they did have one, and it was cute, problem was it was FREEZING! We all stood outside in our swimsuits taking turns sticking our toes in and pronouncing, "it's definitely getting warmer." After half an hour of this we came to the conclusion that it was "solar-heated". I tried to get the concierge to get us into the Holiday Inn next door to use their heated hot tub but all my effort was for naught.
After Alex left Tracy and I went white water rafting on the Rio Pacuare, which has class 3 and 4 rapids. The excursion was really fun, but four hours in the rain and icy river gets to be a little much and we got a case of raft butt, which is just bruising and numbness but it's much more fun to say "raft butt". The Caribbean was next on our list but we got rained out and I got a rash from the banana plant so that leg of the trip wasn't the greatest. We did, however, spend lots of quality time talking and catching up and looking forward which was priceless.
Eventually my friends had to go home, and here I stay in San Jose. My money is running out, papers are coming due and I'm getting ready to head back to Houston. Only 9 days folks.
All in all the vacation was great, everyone played nice, and aside from the 32 hours on the bus, I enjoyed every minute of it. We went to Manuel Antonio Beach where we rented a villa that we thought was really overpriced. That is, until we checked out the balcony where we could see all the stars in Costa Rica's sky. We lugged the mattress up there and spent the night outside and woke up to this breathtaking view of the ocean. The day was spent on the beach getting a little too much sun, then we headed to Monteverde to hike in the cloud forest and chill. We got really lucky and rented little cabin in the woods where we got to watch a fantastic sunset and play with a really friendly monkey. He peed on Tara's head though. Sorry, that still cracks me up.
Tara headed out at the same time that Tracy arrived, then Tara came back due to flight trouble. We rented another overpriced hotel, this time in San Jose. The redeeming factor was supposed to be that they had a jacuzzi. Well, they did have one, and it was cute, problem was it was FREEZING! We all stood outside in our swimsuits taking turns sticking our toes in and pronouncing, "it's definitely getting warmer." After half an hour of this we came to the conclusion that it was "solar-heated". I tried to get the concierge to get us into the Holiday Inn next door to use their heated hot tub but all my effort was for naught.
After Alex left Tracy and I went white water rafting on the Rio Pacuare, which has class 3 and 4 rapids. The excursion was really fun, but four hours in the rain and icy river gets to be a little much and we got a case of raft butt, which is just bruising and numbness but it's much more fun to say "raft butt". The Caribbean was next on our list but we got rained out and I got a rash from the banana plant so that leg of the trip wasn't the greatest. We did, however, spend lots of quality time talking and catching up and looking forward which was priceless.
Eventually my friends had to go home, and here I stay in San Jose. My money is running out, papers are coming due and I'm getting ready to head back to Houston. Only 9 days folks.
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