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