Livin jungle style

Hey y'all,
I can't believe it's already November! Time is flying by like you wouldn't believe. Looking back, I'm amazed at all I've learned, and looking ahead reminds there is still so much to be experienced.

Last weekend, our fall break, was one of the most ridiculously fun weekends I've ever had. Myself and 10 other friends decided to take a trip to Manuel Antonio near Quepos, Costa Rica. Manuel Antonio is a beach town/national park on the Pacific Coast. Two of the people in the group did all the planning, which I was fine with. They told me how much it would cost, and that we'd be staying in some kind of villa. In my mind I was still thinking "hotel" kind of business, which instead turned out to be our own private mansion for 5 days.

I'm not sure I've ever stayed, or even been in the presence of such a place. At first, I was sure it was a mistake, we were being ripped off, or that the 11 of us were sharing the Villa with another family of 20, but no. Just us, on fall break, in the middle of the rainforest, overlooking the beach, from our villa. WOW!

Since the peeps that own it aren't "hurting" financially in the midst of this not so great economy, and because it's the rainy season, they offered us a good deal. Either way we were speechless until the last day, and soaked in every second. It was pure laughter for 5 days straight, and an incredible feeling to be done with classes and do nothing but relax. On the 5th day, none of us wanted to leave. But, of course we did, which is always interesting going from the coast to the city, where things are busier and more crowded. In this case we went from Jungle Villa to concrete jungle, ha. But if anything, fall break was energizing and rejuvenating.

I had a few classes this last week, in preparation for our internships, AND my momma came to visit!!!! I'm sure most of you already know, but for those of you that didn't, she's here RIGHT NOW. To be honest, she really couldn't have come at a better time, between fall break, and before I leave to live with the Bribri. Although we've spent all our time in the city, it's been a blast. We've been embracing our tourist selves and showing Costa Rica a good time.

I leave on Monday, around 6 am, for Puerto Viejo, Limon. Getting nervous for the unexpected, and can't decide if 3 weeks is really long or just kinda long. Guess I'll find out. All in all, I hope this internship shows me a whole new side of Costa Rican life, and that I find myself experiencing and putting into practice new ways of thinking.

Can't wait to see you all in a month or two!!! Enjoy your Nov and I'll return on Nov 25th from Limon with lots of stories. Love you all :)

More fotos...

Amigas

Adam eating our graduation food... before we graduated

Spanish class

Beach in Tamarindo, Guanacaste

Pretty church in Granada, Nicaragua

Mr. monkey chillin on our boat

Touring Las Islas in Grananda

Part of mi familia in Nicaragua

The national sport of Nicaragua is baseball, but everyone still loves futbol!

Finished product

Our church, where I spent most of my time in Nicaragua. The beginning of a sweet paint job.

Old theatre in Managua with a picture of the Revolution in front



The whole group

Found my name in downtown San Jose

Back from the dead

I'm baaaaaaccckkkkk
Some of you might be wondering if I'm still alive here in CR, but most likely I've talked to the mjority of you and that's not the case. I started writing this post last week, but after re-reading it just now I decided to erase it. So now I'm starting fresh, and I don't plan on leaving this spot until I finish this post!

I last wrote to you after going to the beach with my family. Only a week after that we went to Nicaragua. Nicaragua was a two week trip that required each one of us to stay individually with host families. There were a few assignments while we there, but the point was simply to live with them. It was a really really hard trip, but also eye-opening both politically and socially. Although my family and the community I lived in was one of the poorest in Managua, the hospitality I received was out of this world. I went to church everyday, sometimes twice a day, and even had the privilege of giving a sermon in Spanish. Yaaaa, didn't really think of it like that at the time, but looking back it was a good excercise. The two most frustrating things while I was there were the fact that my spanish was horrible, and I got really sick. I think I hit a wall with spanish, as well as the fact that Nicaraguans have a craaazzzyyyy accent. Being sick was definitely not fun either, and made me a bit homesick, but now that I'm better all is good :)

After Nicaragua school got a little more intense with papers and presentations, but of course it all got done in the end. I have now officially graduated from Spanish after 80 hours of class and 60 hours on the bus to get there everyday, and it feels sooooo good. Yesterday was the last day of my program classes and it really helped me sum up a lot of what I've learned here so far, which is...
What I do in my daily life, how I consume, and how I live as an individual in my community really does affect others around me, and in other parts of the world. (I know many of you are thinking "duh," but putting it into practice here has been meaningful to me).

Besides school, I've just been trying to live it up. Two weekends ago a few of us took a beach trip to Tamarindo in the province of Guanacaste. It was beautiful, of course, and gave me a lot of energy to finish my semester here. The area was really touristy, and all the shops and businesses are owned by people from all over the world, but being around so many foreigners reminded me how much I love traveling. I also finally went salsa dancing this last weekend, and now feel complete. I thought I would be doing dancing all the time here, but until now hadn't found a place. Oh well, I'm happy to have done it once.

Anyways, tomorrow starts our fall break. It's a five day break the program gives us between classes and our concentration, which I'm so thankful for. A bunch of us are planning on going to... try and guess... yes the beach! I'm excited to not think about school and kick it with amigos.

That's about it for now. I'm really going to try and make a conscious effort to write more over the next week and a half before I jet out to Limon. But I did find out that there is internet close by the reservation, so now I can update you periodically while I'm there! Until then, I love you and miss you, and hope the majority of you receieved my postcards! ciaochowwww

Carli