Arenal volcanoes the same?

Well, I survived my weekend at one of the most active volcanoes in the world, the Arenal volcano in Northwestern Costa Rica. After I got done with class at 12:30 p.m. last Friday, our group promptly left the school in our small van/bus which had "turismo" conspicuously labeled on the side, just in case anyone was wondering who was inside the van. After a windy, curve-filled 4-hour drive, we finally arrived at our lodging for the weekend, the Hotel Los Lagos, which is situated right at the base of the volcano (about 3-4 km from the peak).

The hotel's landscape was absolutely magnificent, with their houses of 8 rooms/building sprawled out among almost a hundred acres of lush rainforest-filled hillside. Our rooms were some of the closest to the volcano that exist, so that was pretty amazing.

We were blessed in our entire trip that it was sunny and clear almost the entire trip. Usually during the rainy season the peak of the volcano is rarely visible, as clouds normally cover it. But, for our entire weekend we were incredibly fortunate to have the weather be clear AND there were an unusual amount of eruptions (I think around 8 or 9 in total)! It was an incredible display of God's creation as we gazed into the night sky to see stars littered throughout the black backdrop, with the moon shining brightly upon the volcano's peak, revealing bright red/orange lava flowing down the side. Since the lava only flows down one side of the mountain, I was only able to see it flowing down once, and regretfully I didn't have my camera :'(


The hotel we stayed at had some divine pools complete with water slides and also a naturally heated hot springs pool that had a sweet swim-up bar nestled under a tiki hut. I definitely adopted the motto "When in Rome..." and ordered a piña colada served in an enormous carved out pineapple, which I enjoyed immensely. The Saturday we were there, we went ziplining through the rainforest canopies; a stellar experience. Saw some monkeys swinging in the tree tops about 140 feet above the ground, and was immaturely entertained by watching their feces fall the entire distance to the ground, probably reaching terminal velocity...
After ziplining above the unbelievably exotic rainforest, we saddled up on some horses for an expedition around the volcano. Donning my obnoxiously red Papi tank top, I was given a pony named Tequila for the trip. At first I was a bit uneasy, but we soon became friends and he agreed to listen to my commands (although he didn't agree to not chafe my legs and make my buttocks extremely sore afterwards...) The horseback ride was spectacular, taking us on trails all around the volcano where a village once stood before the large eruption in 1968 which wiped the entire thing out. We got as close as 2 km from the peak when our guide told us in Spanish that if the volcano would have a large eruption, the ash/lava/toxic gas would travel so fast we would be consumed within seconds, so if we tried to gallop away on horseback we would only die tired. Super encouraging- thanks Pancho, for that helpful tidbit.
After the activities, our group was famished so we returned for lunch of fresh ceviche and Tilapia, which was followed by a refreshing 3 hour pool sesh on my part. Unfortunately I fell asleep by the pool, so I got a little bit charred, but nothing too bad.

We had our own church service in a tropical garden with the volcano in sight, and then returned home. I took a few photos of the volcano, and even got a few of it erupting. Enjoy!

In other news, we started studying Costa Rican art/literature/poetry this week. Hard to believe I only have 2 weeks left :/


pura vida!

rainy days, thursdays always get me moooody

Yup- still raining. So how bout that walk around the city today? Guess that's why they call it the "rainy season"...

Finally forced myself into going for a run this afternoon, although it did start raining :( So, to top off my workout I came back to my room and did a yoga workout I found via Podcast. If you're fishin' for a morale booster, I would not suggest yoga. Watching 50 year-old women execute athletic maneuvers you can't do is not the best idea for motivation.


Today for class my other classmate, teacher and I met in front of the Teatro Nacional (National Theatre), one of the only old buildings remaining in San Jose. The theatre was built in the 1890's, and according to Costa Rican's was built by coffee. Not literally, but the funding for the theatre reflected the newfound wealth of teh country solely from the exportation of the coffee bean. After walking all around San Jose, seeing beautiful old colonial buildings and a cornucopia of flora and fauna, we walked back to school after lunch. I met another student named Newton from Amherst College in Massachusetts, whom had just arrived to Costa Rica last night. He is here on a grant from his college to conduct a study on interracial relationships in Costa Rica, i.e. interaction between Ticos, Nicaraguans, and Afro-Caribbeans. A very cool dude- dad is from Jamaica. We went out for a very cheap lunch on the UCR campus, then chatted awhile. He is like me in that he doesn't have a very strict schedule while he is here, so he might come with me on some future weekend adventures!

Yesterday morning, my alarm clock "sounded" in the form of a medium-sized earthquake, which conveniently woke me exactly 2 minutes before my alarm clock was set to go off, but did so in a more graceful manner!
Tomorrow I leave for the Arenal Volcano with the group from New York wooo! We're staying in a pretty nice hotel I think, seeing that I handed over some serious dinero for this excursion (my pockets are weeping.)

(A passionfruit flower)
Hard to believe I've been here over 2 weeks already! I'm enjoying myself immensely, and I feel as though my Spanish is vastly improving, as well as my understanding of Costa Rican history and culture.
Hope you all have a great weekend and pray that the volcano doesn't explode on me! :D
(but seriously, it erupted earlier this week and they had to shut the park down... hahaha) Don't worry mom I'll be fine!

take a mental picture

Here are some fotografias of my stay here so far:
This is my room at my host family's house


An up-close shot of a coffee bean plant. The coffee is just beginning to grow now-they harvest in February I think?


Some bags from Cafe Britt



At the moment, I am quite "blogged" down with homework, preventing me from being persevering in my posts as before. But, I did try out my new french press today and broke up open a bag of ground espresso- the results were magnificent. Although I forgot the fact that usually espresso is taken in shots, not by the mug like normal coffee, so lets just say I was probably more excited than I should have been to be studying the Spanish past imperfect tense...

Listened to a lecture today on religion in Latin America- its quite interesting to hear how exposure to other denominations is causing a huge shift from the previously dominant Catholic church to other Protestant religions; 25-30% of Latinos are Protestant currently. Although, the exposure also has many negative effects as well, leaving room for false cults and sects to spread.

I am also in the process of planning a hiking trip to a huge rainforest Southwest of San Jose. It starts at the top of a mountain where rivers that go to both the Pacific and Caribbean originate, and I would cover about 38 kilometers in two half days. The trails weave through rural villages and jungles, and are home to countless species of animals like monkeys, parrots, tropical frogs, over 100 species of birds including the sacred Mayan quetzal, and possibly even a jaguar or two (don't worry, that would be highly unlikely haha). The hike ends on a bus route that would take me to a famous beach, Parque Manuel Antonio, where I could get my tan on and rest after my strenuous excursion.

This weekend I'm headed north to the famous Arenal volcano, which actually was on the news yesterday for having a semi-large eruption. !
The place we're staying has several hot springs, naturally heated by the volcano, with swim-up bars and options for zip-lining and horseback riding. yeehaw!

let the rain fall down

hola! Contrary to popular belief, I have not been kidnapped here- I indeed am still alive and a free man.

Sunday afternoon and the clouds are makin it rain out here! I have never seen it rain this hard before, I can barely hear myself think over the pitter-patter of the gigantic raindrops assailing the metal rooftop. The sky is dark and cloudy, giving no hint that it will subside any time soon. Good thing I got a run in this morning while it was still sunny and warm! For those of you who don't know, Costa Rica basically has two seasons: the rainy season (May-November), which is like winter; and the dry season (December-April), which is summer and temperatures tend to climb. In the current rainy season, or "winter", it is usually warm and sunny in the morning (often 80 already by the time I walk to school at 7:30 a.m.), and then the thunder clouds roll in around 1 or 2 in the afternoon. This is quite the opposite of what I'm used to in California, where many days consist of cloudy/foggy mornings of which the sun burns through by the afternoon. Because of this concept of weather patterns, I have been duped by the weather here many times, waking up to clear, sunny skies. I throw on some shorts, tank top and begin my sultry (the non-sexual meaning of the word, of course!) walk to school. Then, the weather decides to throw me a curveball and sends in swaths of clouds over the mountains to surround me on all sides, leaving me without proper rainwear and sans umbrella. Fool me once, shame on you weather. Fool me 12 times, shame on...me? Maybe one of these days I'll get it right.

Lets see, what have I been doing the last 5 days.
Wednesday: -learned how to make empanadas from a local Tica woman
-finished reading "Every Young Man, God's Man" (highly recommend it to all
dudes out there!)
Thursday: -studied por/para for about 3 hours, after which I wanted to break/destroy
something. If you weren't aware, "por" and "para" are both Spanish
equivalents of the English "for", but are used in different situations.
There may or may not be claw marks on my desk.
-Went for a lengthy run through the UCR biological preserve, joined in on
a yoga session that was goin on; not sure if that was kosher =]
Friday: -Went to downtown San Jose to walk around for a while
-experienced a 6.2 earthquake that hit in the afternoon while I was taking
a nap; shook my entire bed for a good 20 seconds! made all the
earthquakes I've felt at home seem like child's play
-finally figured out a way to watch Glee here (woop)

Saturday: -woke up early and got picked up to go to Cafe Britt, a famous Costa Rican
coffee plantation nestled in the hills surrounding San Jose. The place is
owned by a quirky, older American who has started the business 25 years
ago as a way to keep decadent Costa Rican coffee in the country, not
exported like most of it is. Tour was awesome- I learned a lot about the
coffee-making process and the sustainability practices being used.
Also, I got to taste some outstanding coffee-definitely the best I have
ever had before. I'm afraid
I will become a coffee snob now, refusing to drink potty water coffee
because I've been tasted the sensational nectar they serve here. Its ok,
I cleaned out the gift shop before I left and intend to bring home 8 bags
of fresh coffee =D Got back from the tour around 4 in the afternoon, and
walked around downtown for a while, buying a fresh fruit smoothie from
Fruitilandia to rehydrate myself after drinking the equivalent of about 7
cups of coffee. Came back and watched 2012, an entertaining movie at
best. Went out with host brother Leo and his friends for his birthday,
then came back for pizza and Spanish karaoke afterwards. bomb!

Well that was an exhausting list of my activities of late-time for some homework! Rain is still pounding away, and an occasional thunder boom rattles the house. I would dare say it has rained 2-3 inches in the last hour and a half. Hopefully I can upload some pictures from Cafe Britt sometime soon.
gonna make a cup of organic, shade-grown coffee in my new french press :D

doie doie~!

Mango + ice cream = (my)ce cream

I just want to quickly describe the ambiance going on right now; a little five senses checklist. I see the city lights of San José dotting the lush hills out of my bedroom window to the left. I hear my ticapadre Berto trying to sing along to Simon & Garfunkel (he's obsessed with 70's and 80's music from the U.S.) combined with an occasional neighing of a horse (my ticamadre just discovered Farmville, an internet game where you harvest crops from the looks of it??). I feel my laptop burning my lap. Seriously, the name laptop is so deceiving- it should be more like "conveniently fold-able computer that will singe your mid-section" I smell my Old Spice Fiji deodorant, which tantalizes my olfactory receptors. Also, my room just has a humid musk about it. Finally, I taste the creamy mango ice cream I got at Helados POPS, the best ice cream in Costa Rica. Not really, actually, but I wish I still tasted it. Actually my mouth tastes like a blend of the ceviche (raw fish "cooked" in lemon juice acid, served with peppers and celery) and the Altoid I ate a few minutes ago. snarf!



Today the group from New York came. It was a clear, hot and humid day and I think I literally think my pores closed up for the day a few minutes ago (seems to be a common theme, ya?) After class we traveled around the city for a while, seeing most of the main attractions the downtown has to offer. If you ask me, the group from New York did nothing to try to blend in- their habit of taking a picture of everything they saw was rather conspicuous, and ill-advised by the natives (its faux-pas for tourists to flash their "things" in public; its pretty much a free invitation for thieves to relieve you of your belongings) Had my double cone of guanabana-flavored ice and mango ice cream, which gave me another what I like to call "Ratatouille moment" (named after the movie...basically when you eat something so delicious you close your eyes and music starts playing in your head. some cultures know it as "euphoria")



Gotta finish my homework quick and then I can get back to Robinson Crusoe. great book! Also making reservations to visit a world-famous coffee plantation this weekend w00t!

stay thirsty my friends!

Got milk?

Yes, yes, the rumors are true: I did indeed drink an entire liter of milk for lunch today. Leave me alone, it was my first time having milk since I've been here, and you know how I love my milk...It came in a convenient liter "box", something akin to the milk boxes we got at lunch in school, but in a much more sensible size. It looks like I photo-shopped the milk box into my hand because of my pincer-like grip on the box, but I assure you its forreals.

Today was another sweet day- studied the subjunctive tense for most of class, which left me with a sizable headache by the time nooner came and I got to go home. Group from New York comes tonight, which excites me because I will be able to meet some other young folk who desire to venture off into the unknown jungles and beaches of Costa Rica.

On my walk home from school (in which I once again did not fail to break out into a vicious/waterfall-like sweat), I stopped at the AM/PM to snag some lunch. After browsing around a while, I finally decided on: seasoned banana chips, chicken burrito, and a liter of deliciously creamy, nectar-of-the-gods Dis Pinos milk. I ate the chips on walk home, which turned out to be a bad idea because the walk is mostly uphill (and in hot & humid weather, mind you), hence I nearly vomited up the chile y limon flavored dried banana fragments...They were good though- I convinced myself they were good for me, even though they tasted exactly like Doritos.

This past weekend was not extremely eventful- I fell asleep around 10 Friday night while I was waiting for my host brother Andres to go out for the evening. Apparently he came and knocked on my door to come and get me to leave, but I was already in a mild coma. I think he's lying because I never fall asleep early before the fun starts, but that's just me. Gotta keep an eye on that Andres. Woke up twelve hours later and went out to the city center of San Jose to explore- very interesting things to be seen there. The Costa Rican soccer league championships was last Saturday night, and San José's team "Saprissa" was in the title match (and heavily favored to win). Thus the streets were pretty crazy, with street vendors heckling passers-by to buy obnoxious purple fan gear, which was anything from pirated jerseys to giant plastic purple blowing horns. I saw some cool old buildings from San Jose's earlier days, such as the Teatro Nacional (National Theatre), some exotic city parks, various open and closed air street markets, and some interesting "art" throughout the city (one in particular was statue of an extremely obese woman in an awkward position).



Saturday night I watched the championship soccer game, in which Saprissa destroyed San Carlos 3-0. I tried to get tickets to the game, but they had been sold out since Tuesday. Looking at the crowd that was at the game, it probably was a good thing I probably should have been there- jumping up and down, screaming in Spanish and waving a purple jersey is kinda my style :D



Yesterday (Sunday), I went to church at a local Methodist church which was about a 25 minute walk from my house. The morning started out beautifully bright and sunny, thus I elected not to take my umbrella with me (this is what literary scholars like to call "foreshadowing"). After an excellent service filled with contemporary praise music translated into Spanish, which was pretty awesome, I talked with a few of the members of the small congregation and set off for my journey back home. It was amazing to hear people's testimonies in a different language- sometimes I forget that God doesn't just speak English! weird, I know. On my walk home, about 5 minutes before arriving at my destination, the sky started to leak. This wasn't any ordinary sprinkle like I'm used to in Escondido- it was an absolute downpour. It literally felt like someone had a fire hose and was purposely (is that a word?) trying to make me as wet as possible. After breaking into a light jog, I finally made it safely to my house, dripping rainwater everywhere (at least it wasn't sweat this time! :D :D)
That afternoon I went with my ticamadre Flori to her sister's house, which was somewhat like a Dutch family get-together, except everyone was short and firing off crazy stories to each other in Spanish. After eating a traditional Costa Rican afternoon snack of KFC and iced tea, I headed off to the movies with Flori's three college-aged nephews, whom I had known for approx. two hours. After traveling all the way across town and trying to follow their crazy stories filled with slang and heaps of laughter, we finally arrived in Escazú, the Beverly Hills of Costa Rica where most of the rich coffee barons and U.S. retirees reside. Despite being a luxury movie theater, a ticket to go see Robin Hood in Spanish was still only 3.000 colónes (about $6). I thought the movie was highly entertaining, although I felt a little bit guilty after the movie for taking such enjoyment out of seeing conniving Frenchmen being slaughtered by the mighty hand of Robin Longstride. Oops.
I had a lot of fun hanging out with these three amigos and they loved practicing their English on me. Basically everything I said was about 100x funnier to them, for reasons beyond me; I'm pretty sure I was their hero last night. Our last stop before going home was a pizza parlor named Oteros, where you can order decent pizza while watching hit new movies (we had Avatar!) The waiters at the joint had Salmo 23:1 on the back of their shirts, which I thought was pretty cool ("Jehová es mi pastor; nada me faltará"). Traded contact info with the guys and they seemed pretty adamant about taking me out this coming weekend, so we'll see what happens...

Haven't taken many pictures outside of my house yet, as most of my explorations have been solo missions, in which case it is rather dangerous for me to bring my rather large Nikon d3000 () with me.

Welp, its about time for a siesta, cafecito, and then a walk through the park!
¡Pura Vida!

I'm divin' in (i'm goin deep?)

No, not quite like that, Steven Curtis Chapman. But here I sit again, satisfied after another tasty meal from my ticamadre. She made barbudos, which is green beans fried in egg batter. "Barba" in Spanish means "beard", but I'm not sure how the the food relates to facial hair...pretty good nonetheless. Also, dinner was served with fresh guacamole (!), fruit juice, and rice and beans. for those of you who aren't familiar with latino beverages, their juice is fruit, sugar, and water mixed together and beat to a pulp, literally. Superdelicioso! I'm impressed my stomach is staying somewhat happy with me, considering I've had rice and beans (they call it "gallo pinto") for breakfast the last three days *fingers crossed*!


Goin along with the title of this post, I'm really living like a Tico now, sipping on Imperial and listening to Malpais. My teacher Wilmar has been showing me the ropes of everything Costa Rican the last two days of class, and he suggested that I try the national beer of Costa Rica, Imperial- tastes like your standard Mexican beer (Dos Equis, Pacifico, Modelo...), which happen to be my cerveza of choice! que sabrosa! =] (sorry mom.)Definitely refreshing after a day full of walking in the superhumid weather.

As for Malpais, Wilmar said that they are one of the most well-known and beloved bands for Ticos. The band definitely expresses the mood of the country well(from what I can tell thus far), and captures the essence of the Costa Rican mantra "pura vida", which literally means pure life. Since it kind of hard for me to describe pura vida, I had to resort to Wikipedia: "...Costa Ricans use the phrase to express a philosophy of strong community, perseverance, resilience in overcoming difficulties with good spirits, enjoying life slowly, and celebrating good fortune of magnitudes small and large alike." Back to Malpais- the multipiece group has many instruments, ranging from guitars, flute, violin, mandolin, marimba, piano, etc. All of the elements combine for very relaxing, yet lyrically intense music. Although, I must admit that I probably made a mistake buying their "En Vivo" album (Live). Let me explain my thinking when I made the heinous error- the cd case said that the cd was the best of Malpais, so I thought "sweet! I can familiarize myself with their best music." Nope. The sound quality is not that great, and half the cd is 35,000 half-muted Costa Ricans screaming their lyrics instead of them singing it...grand. Oh well, it will make for a cool souvenir?

Walked around a lot today- walked to and from school ALL BY MYSELF. Not a big deal. Was a bit embarrassed when I got to class soaking wet with my own sweat, but that's beside the point. Later, I walked to downtown to go the mall, where I got my Malpais CD, ate some "Aztecan" tacos de carne asada, and was given weird looks by just about every one there. Except for that guy with the parted hair and tight white jeans...odd. Maybe it was my bright yellow tank top? Who knows.

Time to watch this week's episode of Glee and see what host brothers Andres and Leo got goin on this lovely evening. Bailamos! (<3 u Enrique Iglesias)

Feliz fin de semana!

El primer día de clases (first day of class)

Ahhhh, I'm lounging on my bed, sipping some ice cold té frío de melocotón (cold melon tea) whilst I drip sweat from my walk home. It's about 4-5 kilometros from the Mesoamerica langauge school- the school I am studying at- to my host family's house, which is a mildly lengthy walk when it is 86 degrees Fahrenheit outside with lots of humidity. Coming from a place where weather is a main staple of conversation (Sioux Center), it is odd that it never is talked about much here, except when there is a tropical storm or something. The weather here is very constant- its always in the 80's, always humid, and always raining. So, I have the fan in my room on the highest it will go, trying to dry my misty brow.

On my way home, I made a stop at Mas X Menos (More for Less), a popular supermarket here. I nabbed a cream filled pastry, a bunch of bananas, and 1.75 liter of Cristal for lunch. I also fell victim to the ingenious Tican marketing, buying a magazine preview for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa in Spanish. Things are about to get downright (Lionel) Messi before my napcito ;)

Today was my first day of class, and despite being 20 minutes late because my ticamadre and I thought it started at 9 (8, actually), it was a very informative first day. To no discredit of my Spanish classes at Dordt, I feel like I've learned more from 4 hours in a classroom here than I did in 2 weeks at Dordt. My instructor, Wilmar Ovares, a Tican man from the Northern San José area of Alajuela, is a very intelligent dude who can tell you pretty much anything about Costa Rica. During our break, he spent about 25 minutes telling me all about coffee production in Costa Rica, and I think either this weekend or next, we are gonna go on a day excursion to the coffee plantations near his hometown. He explained that at the plantations, people taste-test coffee (una catación) like they do wine in other places- swishing it around in the mouth to get the rich taste and then spit it out. I laughed, because most of the time at home I guzzle down the potty-water coffee in hopes that I get a mild caffeine buzz, not because it tastes good! But here, the coffee is "muy rico" (very rich), and its actually enjoyable to drink? No, that's not a question, it is delicious. My only classmate right now is an older-looking woman named Maruel (sp?), who apparently is a professor at a university in Salt Lake City. She is from Switzerland, but I couldn't figure that out until she started speaking English to me during our break, which is when I first heard her accent interfere. Although I am more fluent than she is in Spanish, I humbly admit that she wins because she is fluent in German and French also (4 languages > 2)...


I am starting to plan my weekend excursions and looking forward to exploring the city more. Right now, this is my "to do" list:
-see the Orquesta Nacional de CR perform (CR's biggest band)
-go hiking in Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve to see the famous quetzal
-tour an operating coffee plantation (and trying some too, por supuesto...)
-Parque Nacional Tortuguero, where the endangered green sea turtle lays eggs
-visit the active volcano Arenal
-Parque Nacional Corcovado, described by National Geographic as the most biologically intense place on earth (shibby?)
-hit up Playa Tamarindo
-kayak through Sarapiquí
-drink a cup of coffee and watch the sunrise over the Caribbean in Limón, then drink a cup and watch the sunset over the Pacific in Puntarenas
-play fútbol with the locals (if they'll accept me)...there's a pitch 150m from my house

pues, time for some homework. and maybe a siesta.

buenas tardes mis hijos

Bienvenidos a San José

I made it! After much exhausting traveling, I finally have arrived in San José, Costa Rica. My parents brought me to the airport in San Diego last night, and I landed here around 5:45 a.m. this morning, being greeted by what could have been arguably the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen. There was a little "comic" mishap yesterday: when I got my ID out for check-in, I noticed something was missing from my wallet- my ATM card. After changing my underpants, I realized that I had left the card in the ATM deposit machine at the bank in Escondido. So after a few frantic telefono calls, my older bro Levi rushed my card to the aeropuerto, which ensured that I wouldn't have to live off the $46 I had in my pocket for the next 5 weeks. Said goodbye to the parents, waited for the connecting flight to Denver, which was 45 minutes late causing me to almost miss my flight to CR. But, alas, the shoddy Denver weather came to my aid and delayed the second flight because of snow and thunderstorms (its May 12 btw).

When I landed and got through customs, I was picked up by a lovely Tican gentleman named Manuel Acuña, who brought me across the city to my host family's house near El Parque Sabanilla. During our ride, Manuel told me a bit about the history of Costa Rica (in Spanish, mind you)- the Spanish first named it Costa Rica because they initially thought there was a ton of gold here, but it turns out once they went inland, there was no indigenous treasure to be found. So, they took many of the female indígenas back to Spain as slaves and killed the men. Sounds pretty just, yeah? Anywho, there is a very, very small indigenous population in Costa Rica today, with most inhabitants coming from European descent. For this reason, many costarricenses consider themselves to be "white". The costarricenses look quite a bit different than most of the immigrants I am accustomed to seeing back home, who are usually short, darker complexioned Indians from Mexico and such. But, the people here are more fair-skinned and taller because of their mixed descent from Italians, Spaniards, and other Europeans.

Got to my house around 7 this morning and my Tican mother, Floribeth, was eagerly awaiting my arrival. She showed me my room upstairs and then made me some hot breakfast accompanied by a delectable copa of roasted coffee, Costa Rica's specialty; Probably one of the best cups of coffee I've ever had, partly because I had been up all night and partly because the coffee here is unmatched elsewhere. Coffee was the source of Costa Rica's economic development in the 19th century, and distinguished it economically from the other Central American countries. Apparently, Costa Rica's soil and climate make it perfect for cultivating the coffee bean, so the industry took off and brought many immigrants to the country to get involved in production. My Tican madre Flori told me that a lot of German immigrants came to improve the business side of the industry. Also, she said that coffee has been a successful and fair industry because the production has remained in the hands of small farmers rather than a few huge landowners. This is because coffee cultivation is a painstaking process, so coffee barons monopolize the processing, marketing and financing of coffee production. So where was I going with this? Oh, yeah, Costa Rica has awesome coffee. Mos def gonna bring some home with me!

After breakfast, I took a 5-hour nap then hit the town with ticamadre Flori. We walked around the mall for a short time while she gave me a crash-course introduction to Costa Rican culture. On Wednesdays at el cine in the mall, movies are 1000 colones, equal to about $2 U.S., so Flori went to see Iron Man 2 en español. great flick! After the movie, it was already dark because Costa Rica doesn't have daylight savings time, so we returned home by bus and ate dinner of rice, beef and some vegetables in a seasoned sauce. For dessert, we had homemade ice cream popsicles my ticamadre made with some fruit only found in Costa Rica (starts with a "z"...).

Now, I'm off to bed- I start class tomorrow. The group of 15 from Houghton College in New York don't arrive until Saturday, so I will be ridin' solo until then! Gonna read under the stars and watch airplanes in the night sky from my roof! that sounds kinda familiar...hm

God has been good to me so far on the trip! I already am amazed by the beauty of His wondrous creation here. Pray that he will continue to bless my time here~ buenas noches todos!