Las Musas

Day 5 9/1/12

            This was quite a day! So much happened. We took our first taxi to Las Musas Water Park! Driving through the country we thought we were going to die! The roads were narrow and the cars were driving so fast. We kept swerving and there was an endless supply of bumps. But the further we drove the more beautiful it became. Now this is what I thought of when I imagined Costa Rica. Vast rainforests with green that goes on for miles. Muy bonita. Blue skies and lush trees and greenery.

            When we arrived at the “park” the Maria (the taxi meter) didn’t stop! It just kept adding on and on as we sat there trying to collect our money! It was taking forever for us to add it up so Hillary just ended up paying for it so we wouldn’t end up paying a fortune. I’m pretty sure that they are not allowed to do that, but of course, us gringas didn’t know what to say.

            We could see the whole park from up on the hill and it was so pretty! There was a giant pool with a big slide in the middle of the rainforest and we could see a breathtaking waterfall in the distance.

        

    So the group headed straight for the waterfall. The water was flowing off the cliff like sand in an hourglass, so smooth and weightless. It was splashing and sending mist in every direction.

            We had to cross this tiny rickety bridge that would have been SO much scarier if it were more than four feet off the ground. I got right into the water when we made it to the waterfall. After swimming in the Green River on a not so hot day this summer, I’m pretty sure nothing is cold to me. A bunch of the girls were screaming and freaking out saying how freezing it was. The bottom was a little gross with lots of mud and leaves. But we swam across and a few of us went behind the waterfall and jumped through! It sucked because of course I was wearing my glasses because of all these stupid eye issues I’ve been having, but I won’t get into that. The mist made it impossible to see. I was in some major need of some glasses shield wipers. When I would take my glasses off, I was basically blind. Therefore, it was a lose lose situation. But I managed. When I jumped through I was a little scared because I didn’t know where the rocks were, but I just went for it (almost scraping my knees on the rocks, whoops).

  When we were done there, we went in the pool and Syd and I went on the slide. It was fun but was kind of painful at the same time. It hurt your back all the way down. And Chandler sucked at taking our pictures…

            After swimming around we ate lunch at the restaurant. The worker guy was a little creepy. He was just a little too nice. He kept asking this one girl in our group questions and bringing us free samples, and taking our pictures. He kept winking and touching and telling this girl how beautiful she was. It was a little weird haha.

            The food wasn’t all that great, but what can you expect at a water park I guess. As we are all eating, this drunk guy comes out of nowhere behind me and starts whispering in my ear. It freaked me out! He was crouched down and I thought he was a worker asking me a question at first. I couldn’t really understand him, but he smelled like straight up alcohol. I thought I understood what he was saying, but I was just so confused about the situation. We were all just staring at him, scared and confused. He asked if we spoke Spanish we said a little. Then he asked his question again, if I/we wanted to leave with him and his friend or something! I’m just like hold on! WTH!? Drunk guy, slurring words, 12 in the afternoon, 13 gringas eating lunch, whyyyy is this happening? I was beyond creeped out. I looked up at my friends with terrified eyes and then said, “no gracias, lo siento,” for everyone. And he said ok and left. Few, thank God! We all just started laughing so hard.

            Later, as we were waiting for the bus that never came to pick us up, two, somewhat nicer or more normal looking guys started talking to us. Although they seemed cool, I think they may still be stocking some of the girls from our group, so they might have been a little strange after all. We ended up taking 3 taxis home and ours of course took an alternate route. Our driver took a different turn away from the others and we were all freaking out! He kept saying “la calle, la calle?” And we were just like, the street? “No, el centro, el centro, la iglesia!” And he says “San Jose?” And we are all just like “no! San Ramón!” haha He couldn’t understand what we we meant and had to radio the other taxis to figure out where we were going. “El parque,” he said. Oh… right you know where the park is, but not the church or el centro where this is all located. But finally we ended up making it back.

            My family wasn’t going to get home until late, so Chandler and I walked from my house to hers after dark. These creeper guys started walking behind us. Of course everything is scarier at night. So we grabbed onto each other which I’m sure made us look even more vulnerable. Chan was freaking out and started fumbling for her pepper spray. My heart was thumping and I started to think, “omg, this is it. This is how we are going to go. That or I am about to stab someone, that is if only I could find my damn pocket knife!” But we crossed the street and they went a different direction. So plan avert death was a success.

            At Chandler’s house we chatted with her mom and the Tías as we call them. I told them my major and they said that if I write a book I can dedicate it to my second family in Costa Rica. Chandler’s niece, Valentina was running through the house like a crazy animal, eating hot chocolate powder and screaming and laughing at the top of her lungs for a little attention. Of course, I indulged, and laughed every time, only enticing her.

            We ended up playing cards with Valezca and Valentina. It was so much fun. We tried to play Go Fish, but we couldn’t remember exactly what all the rules were. (Sorry Grandma Dorothy!) It was crazy to think that a 6 and 9 year old were teaching us how to play card games in Spanish. It was really interesting and we learned new words. It was really fun.

            Isa, one of the Tías, made us fresco, something really good she whipped up in the blender. She placed a plate of cookies on the table, and I thought Chandler was going to die as she saw a tiny ant scuttle across the plate. So I instinctively started trying to kill the ants with my fingers so that all would stay calm haha.

            Overall, it was all just another great adventure in Costa Rica J

More to come!

Chau! 

Day 3

Day 3  8/30/12

            Oh another adventure! We didn’t have to meet for class, so it was strange having nothing set that we had to do. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to go the fiesta with my family or with my friends. So I asked my tica mom and she said no! no! Go with your friends! So I went to my friend Chandler’s house to go with her and her family.

            I absolutely love Chandler’s family. Every time I go over it feels like a sitcom. They are so hilarious. She literally lives with 7 women. Now imagine 4  women, 2 little girls, 1 man, and one bathroom. Now imagine how much women tend to talk. Then multiply it and translate it into Spanish! Basically we only understand about half of what they say because they talk so much and so fast, but oh how we laugh. Laughter is the same in every language. Thank goodness. So Chandler’s tica mom is an older woman who lives with either 2 or 3 of her something like 15 sisters/siblings! They all look very similar and talk very fast to one another. But they are a hoot. Somehow, Chandler didn’t actually get introduced formally to the sisters so she doesn’t know their names. But we have slowly been learning them through paying attention to conversations. And more and more sisters and family members keep appearing! It’s really entertaining to watch. Especially when Chandler comes running over to my house to tell me she met another sister (she’s running over because she has no Internet AND no phone. It’s like the olden days or something). Ania’s (Chanlder’s tica mom) daughter May also lives at the house with her two daughters Valezca (9) and Valentina (6) and her husband, but he is almost always working.

            One of the sisters (who we recently found out is Isa) said that their house is pura  mujeres (pure women). She is soooo funny. Ania said that I like to go over there because I live with all men and I need to be around them haha. I really do love going over to Chandler’s house though. It’s like having two families here in Costa Rica. It is crowded and everyone is always saying something, but they are so caring and so good to us.

            So once everyone was ready (which takes a long time with so many ladies) we walked to el centro and found a spot to stand for the parade or the entering of the saints. We waited for a while, but eventually the parade started. In Costa Rica they have what people call Tico Time. People don’t get as worked up about time like they do in the US. So nothing ever really starts at its designated time. (Dad I don’t know what you would do if you lived here. At least we would be early to events.) When the parade started, the priest and others dressed in traditional clothes welcomed everyone. There were tons of floats, but they were different from floats here. I’m not even sure if that is what you would call them. Basically groups of people carried decorated wooden frames over their shoulders that held up all the saints that were returning to San Ramón. Some people drove cars and even tractors decorated with beautiful flowers. Many people wore red and white for the entering of the saints, and all of the floats were meticulously decorated. There was great music during the parade as well. Some high school students played modern music and the older groups played more traditional music. It was really fun to watch.

            It was crazy how many people were there. I think school was out for all of the kids. It was really interesting how the parade went. There were people just walking within the parade who weren’t a part of it. Chandler and I found this really weird. It was like instead of standing behind the barrier, some people walked through the parade to get wherever they were trying to go. We laughed to ourselves thinking about how that would never happen in the US. Police or security would make everyone stay behind the barrier. Things are much more laid back here. Chandler and I ate some cotton candy and it was oh so amazing. Thank goodness for universal foods.

            When I walked home after the parade I walked into the house and found a funny scene. My whole family was sitting down for lunch. This was surprising because it was only the second or third time I’d seen my youngest host brother. My tico dad was sitting at the table shirtless and my older host brother was wearing an Italian t-shirt as my mom calls it (a wife-beater to anyone else). The reason it was so comical is that our director told us we shouldn’t even to walk around our house in our pajamas. So seeing everyone else so laid back was surprising.

            After lunch, Chandler and I went with her tica mom to try and get sim cards for our phones! Phone adventure round 3! It was QUITE the adventure and very overwhelming. We showed up and Chandler’s mom starts to talk to the people. We went to this store called Gollo with a giant chicken on top of the sign. It was kind of an odd place. They had phones, electronics, furniture and appliances. So this guy with the most beautiful eyes was talking to us wayyy to fast and we had NO idea what he is saying. He just kept smiling at us as we stared back at him with confused eyes. So every time he spoke we looked from him to each other to Chandler’s mom, and she repeated it slower so that we could somewhat understand. So we bought these damn chips and had the hardest time paying. For some reason we had to use cash. Not sure what this was about. We hope we didn’t do anything illegal. But we have no idea how much it cost in colones or how much our bills are worth! It was so confusing. All the dollars are different colors but they are by the thousand and coins are even more confusing. So we bought the chips and I put mine in my phone. I was so excited! Yay! Finally I have a phone… and all of a sudden a screen pops up asking for a pin to unlock the phone. Great. What the hell. I was so beyond pissed. And the woman who put the chip in my phone was just so utterly confused on why it wasn’t working. Eventually she told me that it wouldn’t work and that I would have to have someone in the US call T-Mobile to unlock my phone. Well that was just lovely.

Unfortunately, Chandler didn’t have much luck either. They cut her sim card to fit it in her iphone and then the woman told us it was incompatible. Whatever that means. But really? She couldn’t have realized it wouldn’t work BEFORE we bought the stupid chips!? So Chandler looked at phones to buy from the shop but they were all extremely expensive because they were smart phones that use internet, and we paid for internet on the chips that we bought!

            So, eventually, we walked out of the store flustered, laughing, upset, and maybe even about to cry. Chandler’s mom, Ania, laughed and said, tienen chips pero no teléfonos! (you have chips but no phones!) It cheered us up to laugh. Well, just a little bit. When we got back to Chan’s we told the tías about the story and they laughed and laughed. Apparently our sad lives and lack of Spanish speaking abilities are quite entertaining. Ania said that it was all ok because the guy who was working with us was muy guapo :P.

            Later we went to the fiesta again and there was a concert. They played some American songs like “Shake Your Booty” and then something called Chicky Chicky? Everyone was dancing in the street. We wanted to dance but didn’t really know how. Then I reminded myself I usually only dance in the comfort of my home surrounded by my oh so talented best friends.

            Later on we saw our friends Hillary, Sydney, Mariah, and Alysa. We bought these weird things called Chorreadas Ducles. It was like a flat grilled corn type food with natilla on it. I knew I didn’t like Natilla but everyone was buying it so Chan and I shared one and with a Coke. I ordered for the first time and gave the right amount of money. SCORE! I was so proud of myself. The woman next to me asked me something and I thought I heard something about sugar. So she put some sugar that’s in a bowl on her food and then a guy gave her some packets. SO I decided to put some on ours too and then I joined our friends in the park.

            Most of them didn’t like the chorreada too much. Without the natilla it wasn’t too bad. Chandler tried it and made a horrible face. I was laughing at her and I mixed the sugar in and told everyone how WE put sugar on ours. Then I tried it and instantly my face scrunched up and it was the most horrible horrible taste. I almost threw up. Then I shouted, “It’s not sugar! It’s SALT!” and everyone busted out laughing. It was very unpleasant.

            After, we walked Alysa home and it was really far away. It started to get dark and rain and everyone laughed at me because I still had the tag on my umbrella and it was semi broken. (Thanks a lot mom! Just kidding, but really!) It started raining harder and harder. We were all getting soaked and it was completely dark. I could feel blisters forming on my feet and I was wearing a stupid dress. Chandler came over and I felt so bad because we were soaking wet. We dried off a bit and watched PLL which was so good! We used headphones because my host mom was watching her Telenovelas, but we kept screaming and gasping! I think she might have been laughing at us as we were glued to the computer.

            Later on a skyped my parents which was so great. They met my host dad and it was very funny. It was really hard to flip back and forth between Spanish and English though. My host dad said my dad looked good and like he lifts weights. Haha just what he needs to hear :P. Anyways it was great to see them!

I know this is way overdue! I’ll try to write more soon! This is old!

Hasta luego,

Kristin 

            Today we went on a tour of San Ramón. We broke up into small groups of 5 so there wouldn’t be 15 gringos walking all together. However, people did still stare. It was very strange being the other, something most of us have never experienced before. People just stare at us like we are  from another planet. It is somewhat entertaining, but weird at the same time. We saw the gym, las tiendas (stores) the bank, Doña Mayra’s office, and more. A few of us went to El Ray and made our first purchases! It was scary when we checked out because we couldn’t understand how much it cost. Luckily we could use our debit cards. I bought shampoo/conditioner and folders for school.

            Chandler and I got lost AGAIN before lunch. We thought for sure we knew where we were. We had been using the Church as our safe/home spot. As long as we can see the church we know relatively where we are and if we get confused, it’s where we return to so we can get home. I guess you could say God is calling us back! It has been very useful so far. But landmarks are not always that useful if you get turned around and think they are something different… Somehow we got on the wrong side of the park and church and we thought it was a different park. I don’t know how this happened. I think in the back of my mind I must have known that this had to be the park. There wouldn’t be two parks that look the same next to a church in one city. But somehow we convinced ourselves that this was the wrong church. We could see another church way off in the distance and decided to walk there. AGAIN, we saw someone from Chandler’s family and she asked if we were lost. We told her no, thinking we were on the right track. Oh how wrong we were. We walked ten blocks in the wrong direction, only to realize it was in deed not the right church. It looked nothing like the correct church, and the more we stared at it the more the previous church started to seem familiar. We looked through the pictures on my camera (something we should have done before but weren’t smart enough to think of) and realized that the last church was the correct spot.

            So we walked back the 10 blocks, sweating all the way. I remembered that the park needed to be on our right so we walked back to the church and museo where we go to school and I followed the directions my host mom had told me the first day and we managed to make it home safely- thank God.

            After lunch we went back to class. We met our history professor and he was very nice and funny too. He was asking everyone their names and repeating them and he couldn’t even try to say Chandler. It was very entertaining. It started raining for the first time while we were in class and it was like nothing I have experienced before. It rains hard in Seattle, but I don’t think it can compare to this. I understand why they call it a rainforest. It was so incredibly loud nd hard that everyones’s eyes got huge and we couldn’t concentrate on the teacher. It sounded like the roof was going to cave in and it was hailing giant blocks of ice or something. We were all laughing in amazement and our professor told us to go look. So we ran out to see and it was so cool. The raindrops were bigger than marbles and they were warm too. It was so different than back home.

            After class I walked around with Sydney, Chanlder, and Hillary. They are all super nice and not too outgoing or too shy (which is good for me!) Chandler and I attemped buyging sim cards or “chips” for our phones. Boyyyy was that a trip. We went to an electronics store that had really nice phones. I don’t know why, but I guess we didn’t want to go into a shop that sold shoes and phones… I’m not sure why we had that instinct. Chandler showed the guys her phone and explained what she wanted. He explained that her phone was locked. So we showed him mine and asked if it would work and he said yes!  We were SO proud of ourselves. Well, I basically coppied what Chandler said, but still, the guys understood me! So that’s a plus. He told us the guy that sells the chips would be back in about ten minutes. But of course when we returned, no one was there, and then no one came back to help us. So that was a major downer.

            After our first try, we decided to give it another go. We went to another little shop on the way home that said they sold the sim cards. We walked into the incredibly small and cluttered store with looks of confusion on our faces. There was stuff everywhere. Purses hanging from the ceiling, shoe boxes all over the ground, and not a cell phone in sight. We said something about phones loudly and a man who worked in the shop overheard. He directed us toward this squatty woman looked rather unhappy to be working. We tried to tell the woman what we needed. I decided to take the lead this time. Bad idea. I probably said something like, necesito un chip o sim card para mi telefono. Which probably came out something like need chip card telephone for me. Haha, no not really, but it’s possible. She started talking so fast that no one could understand a word she was saying. She was hitting the counter with her hand and I think my eyes enlarged two sizes as I looked worriedly from Chandler to Sydney, lost and confused. (I think many ticos have seen me make this face. When I don’t understand my eyes just seem to get bigger and bigger. For some reason it doesn’t actually help. I wonder why?) She wanted or rather demanded to see my passport, which eventually I understood and I showed her. Then she wanted to know which company I wanted. But I didn’t know which was which so we tried to ask what the difference was but she couldn’t or wouldn’t tell us, I’m not sure. Sydney tried to help and started speaking to me in English but then I think the woman thought she was a translator and started talking to her. So then Chandler tried to explain that she was speaking in English because I couldn’t understand her. And the woman started shouting I know! I know! And then she was just speaking louder and louder but never slower! (Why do people think we can’t hear them? We are not deaf, we just can’t understand a single word they are saying! Slower is much better than louder).

            Finally I just went ahead and chose a random brand. She called the company to set up a phone line but no one answered. So she simply told us, no one answered, you can’t buy it. I just stood there and stared at her for a moment. Seriously lady? After all that trouble we are going to get nothing? You can’t even call a different company? But I think our brains were mentally exhausted, and therefore, we decided to give up. As we left the store, more confused than ever, we noticed a woman behind us trying not to laugh after assessing the situation. I think we started busting out laughing before we reached the door. Needless to say, I’m pretty sure the woman hates us now, and I am never going back.

            After the “phone incident” we walked around to each other’s houses and found out we all live within 5 blocks! I brought my friends over to show them my house. I wasn’t sure if that was ok, because our instructor told us not to have people over without asking first. But Guillermo and Tita (my grandma) were watching a soccer came and told us all to come in. Tita told me to offer them “un fresco” and Guillermo told me that my friends are always welcome, which was really nice.

            Later we went to Hillary and Sydney’s houses and met their families. I just can’t believe how nice everyone’s families are. Every family makeup is so completely different, but they are all so kind and caring. Everyone here is super nice. Well, accept maybe the lady in the phone shop. We told Sydney’s family we were going out, and asked how to take a taxi. Her mom explained it to us and wrote down a bar nearby so the driver would know what area to take us to. Then her brother told us about going out at night (it gets dark at 6). He told us that it’s not dangerous, but you always need to be careful. Carry your purse or backpack in front, because otherwise, people can grab them. So hearing that was a little scary, but it was nice to get the advice! He said stay in groups! Don’t walk alone!

            So we decided to walk to el centro, next to the park, church, and las fiestas. Lightning lit up the sky all night. We were only a liiittle bit scared walking at night. We decided to eat in the small restaurant near el centro. We weren’t sure what to order, so we all just got the same as Sydney. Arroz con Pollo and passion frut fresca (chicken with rice). Of course, I was thinking, really guys? More rice? I mean isn’t it enough that we eat it at home for breakfast lunch and dinner? Haha But it was so good! Muy sabrosa!

            The rain started to pour while we were eating. As in buckets an buckets. The lightning got closer and closer as the thunder grew louder and louder. It cracked so loud and close that we all jumped and screamed. It sounded like a firecracker going off right in your ear. I’m sure everyone was staring. Then we started dying laughing. But lightning struck again and ALL the lights went out. All as in in the restaurant, in the street, in the houses, everywhere! We couldn’t see a thing. We all grabbed for each other and of course my first thought is, “Oh shit! I don’t have my flash light!” haha But a few seconds later the lights came back on. It was such a relief. But I’m guessing people would have paid money to see our faces. It would have been a great picture.

            After dinner we walked to the fiesta. There were all these men on horses doing some type of performance. The streets were bocked off and there were tons of people watching. The men made the horses do this sort of high knees like dance. They marched forward and backward, and a sort of side to side too. It was really entertaining.

            When we finished watching the horses we bout chocolate covered apples and churros. The walk home in the dark was a little scary, but we made it. We had to drop off Chandler first because she can’t find her way anywhere without me. She is even worse than me with directions, here at least. (I know, hard to believe, right?) I got home and everyone was either asleep or out. I’m not exactly sure. Everyone goes to bed early, or at least they go into their rooms fairly early. They go to bed early and get up very early. Which just happens to be the opposite of my sleeping pattern. Stay up late, sleep in late. But Doña Mayra says that there is no such thing as a night person in Costa Rica. Everyone is a morning person. It was hard to unlock my gat in the dark. I almost didn’t figure it out, but I  eventually succeed. Of course later  I found out there is a light…

            I gave my family their gifts earlier in the day. I think they really liked them. It was perfect because it was Tita’s birthday. I am looking forward to sleeping to the sound of rain. It reminds me of home.

More soon to come!

Kristin