Monteverde Weekend Adventure

Quick little post before I start working on my post for the 100% Aventura Zip Lining Tour.

The trip to Monteverde is a four hour bus ride that costs 2500¢ colones...not bad for the comfy seats. The bus leaves at 6:30am or 2:30pm.

We took the bus from our barrio to downtown San Jose & grabbed a little nibble from the same Panaderia as last time, then took a taxi to the bus station. When we were on the bus it seemed like we drove around for bit picking up people at other random stops around town. Then we were on the road.

One tip to any future travelers to Monteverde is when the bus stops for its break, use the bathroom. Don't think about how you don't have to go or that you are concerned you have to pay to use a toilet without a seat, just go. The reason is, the last hour or so of the drive is up a hilly, windy, bumpy, dirt road and the chances are you are going to need to go. Just saying.

Sidebar: the space between the seats was smaller on this bus than the one to Puerto Viejo so we rode with our back packs in our laps. During the break before anyone got back on the bus Aimee leans her seat, "I'm going to lean this back before she realizes it." Talking about the lady behind her. Then she discovered that the seats slide apart & into the aisle a little, so she decides after people are on the bus to slide it out for more room. Apparently she forgot because after the bus started moving & took a corner her seat went sliding! Her face was so funny! Then we both laughed & she said, I thought it was going to slide off into the aisle! Like this button is how they remove the seats. The bus made another turn and her seat clicked back into place.

Pictures:
*Senor Hipopotamo listening to music
*Mountain view from the bus
*Fruit seller on the bus. Usually vendedors (of fruits or bread) just hop on & sell to passengers

Costa Rican Not-Really-Cooking Cooking Class

On Wednesday Spanish Aimee pulled out her inner Phonecian and cut off two otra estudiantes & got our names up on the board for the "cooking class" this week. Turned out only four people signed up anyway.

This anxiously awaited cooking class turned out to be what we call the clase de cortar. We told our profesor it wasn't really a cooking class, we really just learned how to cut things. ...then Aimee laughed & elaborated that the things were actually food, not random things.

Lets just start out by saying there was a class ahead of us. One of the "groups" and the kids were walking out with sour faces & talking about the food they didn't like. Snacking on watermelon...ok what food do Ticos eat that you need to have watermelon as a palette cleanser?

When it was our turn we went in & learned that we would be making a traditional Costa Rican dish called frescos frutas...not fruit salad because that is apparently something entirely different. The lady who teaches the classes elaborated on this in depth...in Spanish.

The entire class was in Spanish. (as are most things) Surprisingly I could understand the gist of what she was saying. And by gist I mean select vocabulary words. She was very expressive. She talked to us about the difference between Frescos Frutas & fruit salad. Then she demonstrated how to cut the papaya, pineapples & bananas. The recipe is really these three fruits, a special syrup & water; these sit for about thirty minutes. We then tried some that was already prepared. After we cut the fruit she had us try several different kinds of frutas tropicales. More on this later.

She told an amusing story about a girl who had mistaken a platano for a banano. I don't know if you are familiar with platano but everyone here seems to think its easy to mistake them, its not. Platanos are huge in comparison to bananos & usually darker in color. This is something Aimee & I were laughing about later on the bus. Aimee says, what was this girl thinking. Man I'm so hungry that I think I'll eat this gigantic banana.

The tropical fruits. There were familiar ones that we discussed such as guava, papaya, coconuts & star fruit. We also tried, yes I tried every single thing offered, pejibaye which was an orange fruit with the texture of a potato. Ticos eat it with mayonnaise limon, muy rico! The other really yummy food was mangas con salsa. Surprise but that was muy rico tambien! I'm going to find out if this salsa can come home with me. The only food that was really disgusting were the nancys. Yuck! Very bitter. Turns out they are used for moonshine!

Hope you enjoyed. I'll be making this when I come home if I can find the syrup. Oh & we met some students that I'm calling Los Solos. Read later about what Aimee & I said that slapped a huge nerd sticker on us.

How I conquered the shower

This is la historia of how I conquered the shower

When we had an informational meeting about Costa Rica at WTAMU, the students who went last year told us about the showers. One student said that the showers had these small water heaters located next to the shower and that you had to be careful with it. Careful not to knock it over and careful not to take long showers or the heater would collapse. To me, collapse is a serious word.

The shower was something I was seriously concerned about, why, I don't know. The day I arrived it was the middle of the night so I didn't receive a tutorial on how to use it. (On Monday I over heard other students talking about how their Mama Ticas gave a demonstration of sorts.) The next day, it was just me and the shower.  The first day it was the quickest and the coldest shower of my entire life. That was ok because it was a little warm outside.

After overhearing the other students talking, I figured out that its necessary to turn the water on a little and then as it heats up increase the pressure. The more pressure, the colder the water. Lucky for me, my water heater was actually a part of the shower head. At first I could tell it was heating up because I could smell it...I figured that was not good for the heater. A couple of days into the trip I needed to shave my legs. Leg shaving could take up some serious and precious warm water time. What to do? Hairy legs or cold shower? 

I know this might be getting too intense for you. This is a serious predicament. 

Here is how I managed to conquer the shower. I turned the faucet on at a decent trickle and as the water was warming up, I sacrificed my legs to the cold water. Shaving as fast as I could yet still taking out the dreaded leg hair. The first time I used this method, I'll be honest, only one leg managed to be shaved. Esta bien. It all worked out. Round two, I managed both legs and arm pits. 

Hope this tip helped any future travelers. :)

Playa Negro - Puerto Viejo

Forgot to post these pictures from last weekend. Aimee & I finally were on the beach, five minutes before we left on Sunday. The day we left Puerto Viejo it was beautiful. Fail.

The Playa Negro is given its name from the black sand which is supposed to be magnetic. I brought a little home for Patrick so we'll test it out.

Most of this section of the beach in Puerto Viejo was beautiful. There was a little portion that was dirty, we found a couch section in the sand. The beach extends way past where we were though. And you can see a little of that in the picture on the top right.

Mi casa en Costa Rica

The highly anticipated post about my homestay in Costa Rica. With plenty of pictures for my solo comment maker, Lorraine. Thank you for the comment "gifts". :P

The first picture is of the front of the house. Most homes in Costa Rica have these "portons" or gates in front. These are usually locked. As a homestay student I get a key because during my stay, I am a part of the family.  Behind the gate is the drive way or garage area. This is where I leave my sombrilla when its wet. Ooh, in the first picture the little cage on the bottom right corner is NOT the mail box as I mistakenly took it for. Its where the basura or trash goes to be picked up. Very handy that its off the ground.

I didn't want to look like a crazy person taking pictures inside the house so we are skipping to the back yard. This is the little garden/courtyard behind the house. Its where the laundry is hung to dry. Behind where I stood to take the picture is the "lavadora" or washing machine.

The next picture is what I'm going to call my casita or little house. The bottom floor has a large open area that houses the bathroom & another room that is a weight room for one of the nietos (grandsons). At least he is the only person I've seen use the room.  Here are pictures of my bathroom for those wondering. I'll make another post about how I conquered the shower.

Upstairs has a common area with two small couches & a TV. I haven't tried the TV yet. Spanish Aimee says that there are funny shows on in the evenings. To the right is a bedroom that was occupied by a Belgium girl up until last week & on Sunday will be the temporary home of a boy from Israel. 

To the left is my room. When you walk in there is a large window to the right that is always open. By that is a desk where I keep my mess (my notebooks, beauty products, pictures, etc...you know me). To the left is an armoire, my bed & a night stand. Very simple but perfect for my stay. On the mirror of the armoire I put up pictures of Patrick.

The last picture is the first picture I took in Costa Rica. It was the view from the window in the common area when I woke up.

Ok. I hope everyone enjoyed the post & pictures. Feel free to leave a comment or email me. Some days are just normal days here as I get into a routine. I'm sure once I get used to the rhythm of life it will be time to leave. :)

Puerto Viejo - Bread & Chocolate

The other food place that I really enjoyed on our trip to Puerto Viejo was a little cafe called Bread & Chocolate. They served breakfast & lunch todo el dia (all day).

So of course this was my favorite place & we ate here twice, once for lunch & once for breakfast.

For lunch Aimee had a crazy delicious Jerk chicken sandwich & I had the Mattwich. This sandwich was cream cheese, avocado, tomato & bacon on a bagel with yummy potato salad on the side.

For breakfast we both had creamy scrambled eggs with avocado, bacon,  fried potatoes & a bagel. 
We also had French press coffee con leche. Even Senor Hipopotamo enjoyed breakfast. Muy rico.

Puerto Viejo - Cabinas Guarana

This is the hotel we stayed at in Puerto Viejo. The people here were very nice. They let us look at the room before we rented it. The cabinas were very spacious. Each Cabina had its own patio with hammock & other chairs to hang out on. The beds had mosquitos netting around them. Our room had a double & a single bed. I slept on the single & kept getting stuck in the netting! :)

Reasons why we picked this location:
*Each room had a safe
*A huge fan that was fast
*The hotel property had a wooden gate that locks @ night & tenants use a key to get in
*We didn't use it, but there was a kitchen available for guests to buy their own food & cook
*flexible with how many days you can stay with 24 hour advance notice
*Porch
*Private bath
*Mesquito netting