In Costa Rica!

Hola!

All is well here in Costa Rica!  A little bit about the past couple of days:

Things went smoothly traveling on Thursday, and I met up with some of the other EWH students at the San Jose airport.  We were introduced to our homestay host family, and headed straight to their casa.  The home where we are staying is a very unique situation.  From all early appearances, there are up to 3 families (or 3 generations of the same family) living in their own homes, which share a large common dining area.  Flory, our host 'mother', is a wonderful cook and has shown tremendous patience with us thus far.  There are 6 (six!) EWH students staying here (Salman (from the UK), Jens (Denmark), Tom (Louisville), Victor (Duke), Manu (Duke), and myself), and no one speaks more than a few words of Spanish, which makes even the simplest task infinitely more challenging.  Our homestay is actually in San Pedro, which is the town immediately east of San Jose.  We are in the barrio Vargas Araya (I think), which is about a 20+ minute bus ride to San Jose.

Friday, August 18

We got up pretty early on the first morning, and had a breakfast of French toast, pineapple, and juice.  Flory then showed us the nearest bus stop, and rode with us to show us how to get to the ALE language school.  When we got to the school, we met the rest of the EWH students (26 in all), and introduced ourselves.  There are students from all over the US, a handful from the UK, and a couple from Denmark, and at all stages of their college educations, so it will be interesting to learn alongside them.  We talked extensively about do's/don'ts, what to expect, and some other administrative stuff we needed to get out of the way.

For lunch, we headed to a convenience store down the street, and had 'pollo y gallo pinto' (chicken, rice, and beans).  They also threw in a couple of fried plantains, which were really really good!

That afternoon, we discussed the circulatory system, BP monitors (manual and electronic), how they work, and common failure modes.  Our instructor, Billy, is extremely experienced in medical equipment repair training, and was very thorough in discussing how malfunctioning BP monitors can be diagnosed and repaired.  We got out of class and a short lab at about 4.

It should have been clear that things were going a little bit too well :)

Our trip back to the house was something of an adventure, to say the least.  We were able to find the bus stop near the school, which was a small victory in itself.  However, June is the start of the rainy season in Costa Rica, and we found that one out the hard way.  After getting poured on for about 15 minutes at the bus stop, we got on the correct bus, and were on our way.  Unfortunately, none of us were exactly sure where we were supposed to get off.  One of the curious features of the San Pedro barrios is the complete lack of street names and house numbers.  We proceeded to get off the bus about 3 stops too early, and tried to find our house.  This turned into a Homer-esque (either the poet or the Simpson, I cannot decide) odyssey through the residential streets of San Pedro, all in a driving rain.  After about 40 minutes of directionless, clueless wandering, and 2 or 3 stops to ask for help, we threw in the towel and called Flory.  Somehow, it turns out that we were within 50 yards of the correct bus stop, and no more than 200 yards from the house. 

Thoroughly embarassed, we eventually dried off, had a very good dinner, and were asleep by 9:30.  I also learned/made up the phrase 'muchos ropas con agua'.


Saturday, August 19

Today we went for a whitewater rafting trip on the Pacuare river in eastern CR (http://www.costasolrafting.com/).  When we were picked up at the school, we were introduced to our guide Diaz, who turned out to be poco loco.  On the drive to the start of the rafting course, we passed some really remarkable scenery, and had breakfast in a restaurant overlooking a very impressive valley.

 Breakfast: huevos, gallo pinto, pan, banana, y pina

On the river, there were 6 students in each raft, plus one guide.  I was sitting up front, and had the best view of the rapids (and caught the most water).  The river valley was straight out of Jurassic Park. We were surrounded by massive trees, thick rainforest, and gorgeous waterfalls for the entire 3 hours.  In one section, the river narrowed significantly, and the walls on the side seemed to go straight up.  The river was particulary deep, and we all jumped out of the rafts and floated for about half a mile... it was incredible.  I am definitely filling up my mental camera already.  Pictures to follow.

We got back to the house successfully, and had a very colorful and wide-ranging discussion with Maria, who I think is Flory's daughter. They both talk at a normal pace when they are talking to us, although they both know that we understand very little of what they are saying.  We made some noticeable progress over the course of this conversation, though, and were able to pick out words here and there and start to deduce what they are trying to say.  These kinds of conversations are really fun to have, but are also really mentally exhausting.


Sunday, August 20

Today we wanted to check out San Jose, since most of us plan on traveling to different parts of the country every weekend from here on out.  Many of us met at the school, and walked to downtown.  We had hoped to visit the Nacional Museo and Central Market, but both were closed.  We ended up wandering through the streets of San Jose, and I think we managed to see most of the sights in about 5 hours.  (I don't know of a lot to do in the city.  Most travel guides recommend not spending much time in SJ, as there isn't a lot for visitors to do, and not a lot to see.)

I am really looking forward to starting the Spanish lessons, because it is kind of frustrating not being able to communicate with anyone, and the shop owners are usually not in the mood to wait for us to butcher their language.  I think the lessons will be a massive help, along with the conversations with Flory and Maria.