The whole mountain was covered in that pretty much, ornamental plants are underneath, I think our guide said ferns were there
Irazu is one the left with some clouds on it
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
July 28th - Poas
Well, I woke up at 5am and got up at 5:45. Apparently Gabi was in a very deep sleep because she didn’t wake up. So I made myself breakfast. A bowl of corn flakes with banana pieces. When I was almost finished with breakfast Gabriel woke her up and she jumped up real quick and went “Ah! Rebecca! You had to make your own breakfast” lol
I left the house about 6:30ish expecting to wait for the bus again, but the bus waited on me! lol The bus driver waited until I and another lady crossed the street. (Crossing streets here is difficult if there isn’t a crosswalk.) So yet again I arrived at Shannon’s way earlier than I needed to. lol She came down with Kaitlin and we talked while I waited on the tour group to get there. They got there about 7:20ish and I was the first one that they picked up, so I ended up getting a tour of San Jose going to and from all these different hotels picking up people. There were two ladies from Switzerland, 2 women from Mexico, a family from Canada, a guy from Germany, a family from Florida, a gal from Virginia and me.
Since the women from Mexico don’t speak much English, he did the tour in both languages. Our tour guide was bi-lingual (English and Spanish), but he talked at rapid speeds in both languages. And I’m glad he spoke in both languages, if I missed something in English I could catch it in Spanish. lol On our way up to Poas he gave some general information about Costa Rica like most of the guides do and twice he had the driver stop the bus/van so that we could take some good pictures of the Central Valley. We also passed close to where the epicenter of the January 2009 earthquake was. It was a 6.2 or 6.3 on the Richter scale. You could see where one of the bridges was damaged, mudslide damage and also damaged houses.
We finally got to Poas about 10:30ish, which wasn’t the best time since it was starting to cloud up already! After a quick bathroom stop we began the “hike” to the principal crater. (It was a straight paved road all the way to the edge.) We got there and saw an amazing mass of nothing. It was completely white. Which in and of itself was quite impressive. It’s like when you’re passing through a cloud in a plane, but actually standing it in. After a while of staring at the nothingness a wind began to blow and we got a glimpse of what was below. Cheers broke out! And then it clouded up again. Then a few minutes later another strong wind and another glimpse. After 20 minutes our guide called us and told us that we were going to hike to the other crater there.
Although this trail was paved, it was a bit tougher. It was all uphill and stairs the whole way. And being such a high elevation it was a bit rough on the body, but I made it in one piece and quite glad for all the walking I’ve been doing in San Jose. This crater is extinct and is completely filled with water. It’s called the Botos Lagoon because a tribe of Indians lived there at one time known as the Botos. After getting some pictures there we headed back. I noticed that the sun was out so I jogged most of the way back downhill really hoping that I’d get to see the principal crater before it clouded up again.
And I got to see it!!! It was quite impressive. It was huge and this was an active crater. You could see the steam coming from the volcano. This one also had some water collected as well. After getting some pictures we headed back to the bus/van and started to head back down. We stopped at a strawberry store. When we got out the workers came up to us and offered us tastes of Costa Rican wine (made from strawberries) and sparkling strawberry juice. Strawberry wine is just as nasty as grape wine. And I don’t like strawberries to begin with so the juice was nasty to me as well, but better than the wine. After that, I went and bought a good ol’ can of Pepsi. lol
And I got further proof that I do blend in here a bit. One of the workers came up to me trying to sell me t-shirts, but he first asked English or Spanish. When I’m not around other gringos they always ask which language before speaking to me.
After that our tour stopped at a coffee plantation and we got a whirlwind tour of some of the plants and the wet mill and roasting areas before half of us were taken back to San Jose (half-day tour people) and the other half taken to get lunch and then go to a market place…Sanchi? I was with the half-day group so I went to another bus/van and we started back for San Jose. I was told that I was going to be dropped off about 1:30pm, but we didn’t get to the city until 2pm and then it was an hour and a half of driving around hotel to hotel. And I was the last person dropped off. So! I called up to Shannon’s room she came down. I gave her the two bracelets she asked me to buy in the gift shop and she handed me my laptop and my grades from my classes. I got A’s in both!!! :-D I headed up to the mall and had some lunch and then headed to my café and began going through my pictures.
Then I got a Skype call from my parents and we talked a good while. About 5:30ish I went to catch the bus and headed home. Hard to believe it’s one of the last bus ride’s I’ll be having here! Got home and found Ashley and Maripaz here. I got a shower, had dinner, and now I’m off to begin the packing process. Tomorrow is a ceremony of some sort and a free lunch and after that I’m not sure what I’ll be doing. I heard that a gal was looking for someone to go see Harry Potter…I’d go again! lol Well, off I go!
:-) Rek
Monday, July 27, 2009
July 27th
Today was the last day! I had my exam and listened to the rest of the presentations in my composition class. Also got back some of my grades as well. I got a 95 on my second paper, and 86 on my presentation, and a 92 for my class participation. All the other grades I've gotten back have been in the 90s, so I think I've got an A in there or at least an A- depending on how each of the assignments weighs. She gave us two different syllabus's so I have no idea.
In conversation class I gave my last presentation and listened to the rest of the classes. It was pretty much a repeat of stuff we've all talked about before. We were given the topic of "our experience in Costa Rica" but every Monday we'd already talked about the stuff we had done on the weekends, so yeah.
I got out of that class a bit early so I headed up to Shannon's to see if the voucher for my trip was there, but she wasn't there so I headed on up to the mall for lunch. After lunch I found her at her apartment. And the tour company had made a mistake. They had signed me up for the Irazu tour, not the Poas tour! So they said they'd fix it and give the voucher to Shannon sometime this afternoon.
Currently I'm just killing time in the cafe. I thought about going to see Harry Potter again, but I missed the 12:30 showing and the next subtitled one was for 3:30pm. Oh well, maybe I'll go on Wednesday (half-price day). But I've been playing around on the Internet, listened to last week's sermon, and updating my blog, obviamente. Well, tomorrow I'm headed to Poas. Leave about 7:45 in the morning and get back about 1:30 in the afternoon. From what I understand there are two craters to be seen there. One you practically drive up to and the other is a short hike away. I'm leaving my computer at Shannon's so hopefully I can update my blog with pictures tomorrow afternoon. Supposedly Poas is much more pretty than Irazu.
Wednesday we have a ceremony thing. Some sort of graduation type thing. Then we have lunch right after it. Thursday We're meeting at Shannon's place about 10am and our flight leaves around 12ish. It's hard to believe it's almost over! But I've learned and experienced a lot, and it makes me want to travel more! lol
Update: Poas issue taken care of. Voucher in hand!
:-) Rek
Awkward
So the other evening when I was walking to the mall bus stop I noticed a guy standing right off the sidewalk in the overgrown hill thing. _ _/ <--Kinda like that. Sidewalk, a little shoulder and then a fairly steep incline. Okay. I was walking to the bus stop. And this guy was on the shoulder and facing the hill. I thought it was rather strange so I stayed alert. When I walked past him I realized what he was doing. Well, I heard what he was doing...he was peeing in the bushes! Awkward! He was right outside the mall too! Guess he couldn't make it! lol
Molestar
So as some of you know in Spanish the verb “molestar” means “to bother.” But it’s one of those false cognitive words that we learn and all the high school kids giggle about.
Well, our guide when we were doing our turtle-watching tour at Tortugero was a native Spanish speaker, but was conducting our tour in slightly broken English. For a while he was saying something like this:
“We can’t molest the turtles while they are making their nests. Molesting them would cause them to return back to the ocean. That’s why we have turtle-spotters so that our large groups won’t molest them.”
I’m not sure how many noticed he was saying that, well probably not many since several people in our group were slightly more than tipsy. But anyways, I tried my best not to laugh.
Courtesy
It’s refreshing to see such courtesy here. For example, when an elderly person or pregnant woman gets on the bus people immediately begin standing up to give them a seat. And most of the men will give up their seat to a woman. Also, while at my Café Friday the guy that helps the people to park their cars helped an elderly lady out of her car, walked her up the stairs and through the door. I’ve had the fortune to be apart of it as well. At least once a week someone needs my favourite table at the Café more than I do. For example that elderly lady. (The Café is a split level building. with only 1 table on the entrance level aka my seat)
Sunday, July 26, 2009
July 26th
July 26th
So I just got out of theatre, but more on that later. Woke up about 7 this morning, first one up again. But can’t really help it, 9 hours of sleep is all a need, any more just makes me more tired. So I had a small snack and did some studying. About 8am Gabi went out to get bread and after she got back she made gallo pinto and scrambled eggs. I’m gonna miss such hearty breakfasts…well mainly the bread. hahaha The fresh bread is amazing.
After breakfast Ashley and I headed out to the mall to get some wifi, but unfortunately the WIFI we usually use was down so I decided to go get in line to pay for my movie ticket. And that was an exceedingly awkward experience. The couple in front of me was making out the whole time. Not the first time that’s happened, but this time I was in line for about 20 minutes. Anyways, I was actually planning on going to the 2pm showing of Half Blood Prince (HBP), but once I got close enough to the screens I realized that the 2pm showing was dubbed not subtitled. So I bought a ticket for 12:30 instead, and the ticket only cost a whopping $2.80. Since it was still about 45 minutes until 12:30 I went and found Ashley in the food court. She had found another Internet that wasn’t password protected. So I got on the Internet a while, but it started acting up, so I went ahead and got in line for popcorn and a drink. And that only cost me a whole $3 dollars for a small popcorn and a small drink. My whole movie experience cost less than a just a movie ticket at home!
I got my popcorn, but only had 2 options, salted or caramel...I missed my butter-soaked mess. lol But I ended up eating the whole box by myself since I hadn’t eaten lunch. Oh, and they still serve Pepsi in the theatres here. That was nice. Also a nifty thing is they have these plastic tray things that you put your popcorn and drinks in. Although in my case I didn’t really need it, it would be quite handy for larger groups/families. On my ticket it said I was on the 4th floor in room 7. So I got on the elevator and pushed the button for the 4th floor since I wasn’t really sure what floor I was on…but the elevator went down to the bottom floor….I found that odd, but I got off and asked someone where “sala 7” was and they told me it was the top floor. For some reason, I guess the elevators don’t go where you tell them! lol So I got back on the elevator and hit the 4th floor again and waited until I was on the top floor before getting off.
Got off and found sala 7 and there was a huge line outside…apparently you have to wait outside and then everyone goes in at once. And after I had this revelation I realized that my pants were feeling a bit wet. The concessions lady hadn’t fastened down my drink lid and I had spilled some of my drink on my jacket and my pants. After I fixed the lid, I waited in line and got to walk into the theatre at just about exactly 12:30. Got in there and it was pretty small, but the seats were bigger than the ones at home and there was much more leg room. And the seats rocked! You could lean back a bit if you needed too!
There weren’t any ads running when I went in there, but there were plenty after they reel started. A few were even in English. One of the more amusing ones was the 300 ads. That’s what the movie was called right? 300? The one that every seemed to love, but I had no intention of seeing? Anyways, it was quite amusing to see the “This is Sparta” line yelled in Spanish with poor dubbing. lol But the movie finally started! Very exciting!!! I loved it! It was brilliant! The only thing that I missed was the fight in Hogwarts and the wizard’s funeral at the end. Other than that they really captured the book very well! The 2 and a half hours went by quickly. I can’t wait to see it again! (But in the States with my greasy popcorn lol)
Another interesting thing was that you apparently don’t throw away your own trash when you leave…I was paying attention to what everyone else was doing when it finished and everyone left their stuff on the floor...but you know what they say, “when in Rome…”
At the moment I’m in the food court, but the Internet isn’t working anymore so I’ll be heading home soon…hmm…No I think I’ll walk down to Pops and see if they’re open. Their Internet is a bit slow, but it’s better than nothing. I’d like to finished uploading my zoo pictures from yesterday. Also at the moment I’m regretting eating all that popcorn. I don’t think I’ve eaten that much in one sitting in 5 years. I’ve taken some pepto, but still not feeling so hot…but it was my own doing. Well…off to the ice cream place!
:-) Rek
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