I AM BACK!!!

After waking up at 3am for a ride to the airport, a 6am flight to Ft Lauderdale, a 20 minute layover with an emergency bathroom break, a flight to San Jose, and a God-send pick up from my principal, I'm here!

Goodbye Chicago!

Hello swampy Florida!

I am officially moved in with my tico family also, and all is well! Manuel Enrique is my new "tico dad" and Blanca is my new "tica mom". Judit, my "tica sister", is 25 (I think) and studying architecture. I also met their other daughter, Rebecca, and her husband, Rodrigo, when they came over for lunch.

Oh, funny story. I slept 11 hours last night (I needed it soooo much!) and woke up at 8:15am. I knew from talking last night that they were leaving for church at 8am, so I was bummed that I had missed them. I went to take a shower and (background information: showers here often have a side window for ventilation. You can open or close the window slats with the lever... I had the window open just enough for fresh air.)... okay, so I'm in the shower and I hear Judit's voice through the window "Hermana! Necessito una ducha!!" ("Sister, I need a shower!) I peeked out the window and she was looking at me kind of grouchily. Ha, her hairdo told me she had just woken up :). I said "Buenas!" and she said "Kate?" She didn't know I had arrived yesterday so she was surprised to find me in the shower... she thought I was Rebecca! Ha, we told the story during lunch and everyone was laughing. :)


I am quickly remembering feeling lost in conversation but wanting so much to talk and understand. They are so patient with my really bad Spanish, ha. I HAVE SO MUCH TO LEARN!! (I say that alot in Spanish, and it fits to say it in English too. :))


We had "sopa azteca" for lunch (Aztec soup), and I was able to help a little bit. It was a little strange not to have to make my own lunch, but I was able to work on making verb flashcards (nerdy, I know, but necessary for remembering a language!) while Blanca


Here are some photos of my new room:

Up the stairs... under the stairs, you can see the "storage room".

My messy room :). I'm working on the organization. They bought a brand new bedspread for me! It's beautiful and so comfortable... oh yeah, and it's nice to have a bed all to myself :).

The view from my window! It's gorgeous.

The Internet at my house isn't working, so I'm at Tricia's house right now. If you've tried to contact me, I'm sorry I haven't gotten back to you!!! Hopefully the Internet will be fixed within the next few days.

Wildlife Photography... attempts anyway :)

Living and vacationing in Costa Rica brings many opportunities for photos of birds, insects, etc., in their natural environments. An added bonus to my repertoire!

The hummingbird was guarding his tree.

On the butterfly tour, the guide explained that butterflies who eat rotting bananas and pineapple as their diet staple are often "drunk" from the fermenting fruit. Ha, I'm pretty sure this butterfly was drunk because I picked him up off the ground and he could hardly stand straight for the picture!

A waterfall off a cliff... I know this doesn't quite fit into the animal category, but it's still pretty, huh? :)

A hornet's nest... Yikes, stay away!

I have no idea what this bird's name is, but it reminds me of blue jays in the States.

We saw lots of monkeys, but they're very hard to capture on film... I need a longer zoom lense to be more successful with these guys!

12.20.08 and then... :)

While Janna took a shower, Jason and I were bored. Here's the results....

Janna's hat made a good prop...
And our water bottle also made a good prop...

Jason's best bored look. Ha, vacation should have some bored moments, right?

12.18.08 through 12.20.08... Playa Brasilito & Playa Conchal

Hello beach! Yeeeesssss! One of my favorite parts of living so close to the equator is the beaches. Year-roud tan minus the tanning beds! :) We literally laid on the beach for about 7 hours a day. Amazing!

Ha, this was right before a wave came a knocked me off my feet! I didn't last very long in the water after that experience...

Beautiful landscapes.

The sand at Playa Conchal was crushed shells... I got some history on the beach from a local and he said that the beach used to be a large coral reef that has now broken down into the beautiful sand. I had never seen sand like it!
Janna and Jason will love me for posting this on the blog... aren't they cute? :)

Another sand photo.

and the sunset on Playa Brasilito.

12.17.08

ZIP LINING :)
Janna whizzes through the trees.

Janna prepares for the Tarzan swing... She was the only brave one. Jason and I were chickens.

Jason ready to go.

Woohoo!!!

My bed was really wobbly and I was scared.

12.16.08

We took a "Jeep Boat Jeep" tour from La Fortuna to Monteverde... except the Jeep wasn't really a Jeep: Yup, looks like a van to me... Is this a Jeep anyone? And here's the boat waiting for us...
Some landscapes. You might have to tilt your head for this one.

And another landscape. Blackbirds are hiding in the bushes.

When we arrived in Monteverde, we headed over to a butterfly garden for some great photo ops.

The "stained glass" butterfly was really hard to focus on. I was satisfied with this shot.

12.15.08

Day 2: We hiked to see Vulcan Arenal. The volcano was playing peek-a-boo with clouds and smoke, so we almost saw the volcano completely. Here it is hiding a little.

I think my Nikon takes good portraits. Do you agree? :)

The three musketeers during this part of the trip.

Quite a few people Janna and I met asked, "So how'd you girls meet?" Uh.... when did we meet? Gee, I think when I was born. Ha. It was funny explaining that she's my aunt... people thought she didn't look old enough to be my aunt!

Trish taking photos... she didn't know I was taking pictures of her :)

We found a good lookout spot for waiting patiently on our peek-a-boo playing volcano.

Here's Lake Arenal in the distance... we'll cross over that tomorrow on our way to Monteverde.