You Know you´re living in Costa Rica when...II

You have a huge set of keys and you have to unlock 4 doors/gates before you can get to your room.

Mayonesa en todo. Mayonaisse (i think that´s how you spell it in eng.?) on everything! Well, maybe not EVERYTHING...but let´s see....breakfast "SAHNweetch" (white bread, MAYO, ketchup, bologna, lettuce, tomatoes), papas fritas (french fries), fish, potatoes, hamburgers, I´m blanking on the rest!

You collect your clean clothes on the clothesline which is right outside your door in an outdoor covered area.

You ask "¿que?" (what) approximately 20 times a day.

When you dont´realize the bus coming towards you is yours and you frantically dig through your backpack to find the small coin purse to dish out 200 colones, and it takes too much time that the conductor tells you to sit down, and later puts his hand out for the coins.

Every day, usually at lunch, you discuss with your classmates what you would like to be eating right now. Today it was peanut butter M&Ms. Usually it´s Cold Stone, or froyo, or pizza or spaghetti. When you have to stop yourself from dreaming about American food because it will be a while ;)

When you have to write a 3 page bio paper in Spanish....which leads me to....

gotta go! ;)

Hasta pronto!

Susan

Rio Tempisque····Barra Honda

Well...now that I have a little free time...:)

Friday at 7:00 am sharp we took off and headed off to Rio Tempisque. After stopping for breakfast, we arrived about 4 hours later. We went on a boat tour of the river, really close to the shoreline, and we got to see lots of cool animals, etc.

Jill and I...ready to get going! PS...like 5 of us bought the same pink shirt so we would be matching :)

Ready to start the tour of Rio Tempisque....Dad, you would´ve liked that bridge

Birdies everywhere!

Some fruit the guide plucked off a tree

Can you guess what these are? Look closely...bats!! Kind of creepy

I guess someone thought it would be a good idea to take a boat out

Oh yah, crocodiles everywhere...no big deal

Various sized and colored iguanas everywhere you look!

Oh yah..and MONKEYS....no big deal!

One of my fave pics of the river!

Nuff said...

Of course I had to take pics of all the food!

Cows in the Rain

All the restaurants are outside (covered)! And EVERYWHERE you go...WORLD CUP!!! On the bus, playing at full volume, at the restaurants and bars, on the large screen in the cafeteria....yep.

Gallo pinto (rice and beans) salchicha (sausage stuff) and huevos revueltos (scrambled eggs)...

plate of fruit...yummmm

A huge toad chilling by the path

View from the mirador--viewpoint. We had to hike about 2 miles up to the caves (which luckily I got to catch a ride in the back of the truck for part of it--thank you asthmatics :)

Kind of ghostly picture

Some more friends: Nicole, Teresa, Joanna and Amber

El grupo (1/4 of the whole group)

Nice view

:)

Yep...pretty much I had to descend 50 ft. with rope and harness into the dark cavernous caves...which henceforth went into my top 3 terrifying moments of my life.

Me in one of the most terrifying moments!

Slowwly but surely!

The ceiling of the caves

Trapped inside a cave

Basically we had to fit in spaces barely wide enough for one person to pass through! You could say this was pretty overcoming being extremely claustrophobic AND not fond of the darkness..

Angela (our leader), Joanna y yo

Mud like you´ve never seen! That was the dirtiest I have been since I was like 5! Head to toe!

Heading down

This was the "after" picture I was promised...as we took the pic from above I told Angela, ¨this is the last picture we´ll ever take (alive) and she said "nooo"

You can´t see the extent of the dirtiness here...but ohh it was so fun!!

Una cascada...waterfall..muy bonita!

Well, what else...today I am 20 YEARS OLD!! :) A nice, relaxing day, not going to school (although still being sick) and catching up on life in the US.

Pura Vida for now!

Ciao!

Susan

You know you´re living in Costa Rica when...

Your perfume is bug spray!

When you wake up actually craving rice and beans!

When your umbrella is your constant companion.

Well, it´s been an exhausting but AWESOME weekend which I will talk about TOMORROW, on my birthday, because I´m staying home! By the way I have a bit of a cold (sore throat, cough, achy, etc.) so I have more of a reason to stay home tomorrow. Nothing to be worried about though.

Until TOMORROW!

Susan

What to say on Red Lipstick Wednesday...

Hola a todos!!Well, let me take you today on a little photographic journey. Sit back and relax.

My bedroom! Now there´s a dresser instead of that nightstand.

Bathroom.

 The rest of my room.

Funny statues at the UCR (my school)

This building is the equivalent of Dixon. (a gym)

The taxis here.

The national tree-flower I think!

On the way to Coffee Tour

Taking us on a tour of the Coffee Estate!

There was a butterfly exhibit there with tons of pretty (and ugly) butterflies!

Kids chilling outside.

Beautiful views!

Ximena! On the way to Orosi!

Jose Andres!! "el chichin"

Mi amor

Xime and I at the hot springs pool in Orosi

Swinging bridge in Orosi!

Maricruz, my Tica mom

= = = = = = = =

A few things because I´ve already spent way too much time on here:

-I successfully rode the bus to school and back today! I didn´t die or get robbed or anything :) Jill rode with me yesterday..we have the same bus stop and live pretty close!

-Going on my first excursion this Friday and Saturday..I think to Barra Honda and Rio Tempisque or something?

-My biology (culture) class is going to be a little (ahem, a lot) challenging!

-There was so much thunder and lightning yesterday in class that we couldn´t hear the teacher and I nearly had a heart attack!
-My Tica mom was shocked that I wanted water with my lunch...Que raro!
-There are now 5 students total in my Spanish class. I love it and have already learned a lot!


Well, until next time!
Susana

How am I feeling right now on this Red Lipstick Wednesday?