I´m way behind

I´ve been in the midst of a very, very busy week, coupled with expensive and archaicly slow internet access. Nevertheless, I left off last Saturday...

SATURDAY

We crammed about 8 of us in a tiny boat, and enjoyed a 45 minute bumpy ride the the legendary Isla Tortuga. On the way we saw several empty sand beaches, and even a waterfall releasing into the ocean. Very pristine, very beautiful. We went snorkling for close to 3 hours in all. I held a purple starfish, saw a school of about 60 stingrays, an eel, a needlefish (whose jaws open sideways), and a pufferfish, among others. We had a break on the beach, and a domesticated wild boar (functions like a dog comboed with Babe the Pig) blobbed along the beach looking for beer, coconuts, and cool sand to toss on herself. Very funny. I didn´t have my camera, but I need to show you a picture of her. We went back around 4 pm after another round of snorkeling. We had swordfish, rice, potatoes, and a couple Imperials for lunch. A night of drinking casually on the beach enjoying the gorgeous stars. You can actually see the ghost of the Milky Way here, and hundreds upon hundreds of stars. Absolutely no light pollution. It was amazing.

SUNDAY

We headed to Playa Samara on an even worse series of roads than before. We had to go a longer¨"calmer" route because of our clunky bus, but it turned a 3 hour ride into close to 6 hours. I´ve mastered sleeping on the bus, so I was only aware of a little bit of it. Mainly the huge bumps would either wake me up, toss me out of my seat, or both. Again, no worries. We arrived around 6 pm and went our separate ways. We had to option of staying with another host family for the week, a cabina (house turned hotel, like a cheap motel), or a hotel. I went the hotel route and ended up at the Samara Beach Hotel in a room with Morgan Carl, Todd, and my best friend this week, Air Conditioning. The only exciting thing Sunday was a bat that flew into the room at midnight as I worked on my paper. The other guys were out cold. I woke up Todd, shaking him at the bat grabbed hold of the wall above my head. It was the size of a baked potato. He didn´t really seem to care and thought I was waking him up to brush his teeth (which he proceeded to do like a zombie). Morgan looked up at the bat after I shook him, gave a nod of approval, and immediately fell back to sleep. What was wrong with them?!!! Couldn´t they see a rabid, evil, parasite-filled creature of the damned was trying to have a slumber party?! I hid in the bathroom with Todd as he brushed his teeth. When we opened the door the bat was gone, and we managed to get through the night without any blood loss.

MONDAY

I got moved to the Avanzada Alta class with five other students (Chiam, Tiara, Kristen L., Katie, and Danielle), which is the highest Spanish class at Intercultura. I´m only probably the fifth best out of six, but it´s cool. Our teacher´s name is Jesús, and he´s flaming gay. I like him, because he speaks normally. You can easily tell by his dress and his mannerisms. Another obvious sign is all of the girls think he´s "so hot" which is common sign. I think it´s because they don´t fear he´s going to sleep with them. Anyways, since three of the girls are going to be teachers, our topic for the week is the Education System of Costa Rica. I absolute despise it, but what the Hell. At least it´s only conversation and no more grammar.

SURFING!!! I took lessons this afternoon around 300 pm with Morgan C and Emily, and did pretty well. I logged close to three hours in the water, and got up several times (as did Emily, who is easily the best chica surfer from our group) as did Morgan. I loved it, and am going again later this week.

We went out to Las Olas, one of the popular bars here, and one of our guys got about 30 free drinks. He has a way of doing that. I was the unfortunate victim of a couple of the free tequila shots, and ended up paying for it Tuesday.

TUESDAY

I had afternoon classes today, ended up being hungover, and got stuck in a classroom without AC. I went surfing for an hour with Morgan, even though the conditions weren´t that great. I switched to a shorter board, which proved pretty tough. I called it a very early night because I felt exhausted. Definitely not drinking very much this trip, and I feel much better as a result, haha.

More to come!!! I´ll recap after I head back to Heredia Sunday afternoon!