I can barely describe the events of the past week and a half on one blog post, let alone make it concise enough to keep your interest! Also, you may be wondering why it has been so long since my last update.. Unfortunately my iPad became disabled a few days ago (along with my camera), and I only managed to factory reset and restore my iPad yesterday. Fortunately I did not lose too much data from my iPad!
I might as well start off by talking about gigantic, palm-sized purple grasshoppers. We just happened to stumble across one in the jungle next to the Pacuare river. Fortunately our group is extremely open-minded and open to trying new things, however in this case, perhaps too open-minded.. One of the students had the brilliant idea to show his "open-mindedness" by popping the gigantic, palm-sized purple grasshopper into his mouth, chewing, and promptly swallowing. I was of the opinion that such creatures, that are too fat to move, are alive for a reason; and not because they taste bad. I was right, and needless to say, the unfortunately open-minded student spent the next several days throwing up pieces of a gigantic, palm-sized purple grasshopper.
The trip down the Pacuare river was incredible! We threaded our way through 20 miles of dense rain forest, valleys, rapids, and a canyon or two. On the way, we beached the rafts several times and hiked into the jungle along tributaries until we came across swimming holes. The swimming holes in the jungle had crystal clear water, and one had a waterfall plunging into the pool. I found it quite fun to swim directly under the waterfall, at which point I would be pushed under the water before I would pop up to the surface again in some unpredictable part of the pool.
After one day of rafting, we spent two nights in jungle bungalows that were situated directly adjacent to the river, and surrounded on all sides by jungle. During the day we went on a zip-line course through the jungle and then hiked out to a waterfall deep in the jungle. On the hike back it started drizzling, then raining, until it was a torrential downpour. There was a harmless little stream trickling through a ravine between the bungalows, however this stream soon became a raging, mud-filled torrent! Unfortunately my "waterproof" camera seems to have failed in its promise, and I was unable to turn it on after it became water damaged. I will upload pictures of the jungle bungalows and the rafting trip from someone else's camera when I get the chance in my next post.
Right now I am in a relaxed surfer town called Samara. Samara is situated directly on a beach, overlooking an island and the ocean. Every day for the past week I attended spanish classes at Escuela Intercultura from 8 till 12, after which I would either hang out in the town center or go body-surfing. The school is in perhaps the best location imaginable: 30 feet from the beach, so during school breaks everyone would run out of the school down to the water. Today was our last day in Samara, and we kicked it off with a Kayaking and snorkeling trip around the Island.
This week was also our first Home-stay, so I have been living with a wonderful Costa Rican family. Since my Homestay family only speaks spanish, and I study spanish 4 hours every day, I think that my english will be a little bit rusty after I leave Samara.. My family here has cooked incredible meals every day, and I have spent a lot of time with them watching "Tele Novelas" which are very popular TV shows in Latin America. Here it is a custom that the mother or wife in a family does all the cleaning, cooking, and work in the house. Nonetheless, after I insisted on helping, my host mother finally relented and allowed me to wash dishes. But, let me tell you, it was a struggle to get her to allow me to wash the dishes.. (I bought her some chocolate to make her feel better about me helping.)
Tomorrow we are taking a bus to San Miguel, where we will spend our next week on a turtle conservation project. Till next time! Pura Vida!
