Studying in Spanish

The coast along the road to Manuel Antonio park is a steep slope. The views are fabulous.

posted by Oren @ 2:10 PM 0 comments

Walking through the jungle near Manuel Antonio we came across a family of Cara Blanca (White Face) monkeys. They didn't seem quite friendly, but certainly not agressive. It was great watching them move, both on the ground and in the trees. This one was particulary photogenic.

posted by Oren @ 3:52 PM 0 comments

First arrivals...

So, Im back in the blogger world. For all those who havn't been touch, life has treated me well. I was living the beautiful San Jacinto Mountains in Southern California most recently, working as a science and astronomy instructor. It was a fantastic experience, and certainly influenced my desicion to study in Costa Rica. I felt I need the natural world as part of my life, and that working to conserve it would leave me feeling more than satisfied.

I arrived in Costa Rica on July 9th, and yes, have been deliquent being in touch so far. I don't have too much time to spend on the internet, since my host family lacks the convience. We do have free access at school, but between the free dance classes and socializing after language class there isn't much time to write before I have to be home for dinner.

Im living with a very friendly and warm family. Two parents, three daughters, all ages close to mine. It's a great opportunity to practice my spanish and a great way to feel at home in a foreign land. Not to mention shes a fabulous cook (not as good as you are mom, of course). The daughters are all friendly, and the mother very motherly, though I don't interact much with father, and I wonder if this is a cultural thing. I almost never see him in the house, and when he's home he's rarely with the rest of the family. Though I don't attribute this to marital problems.

School is a short and easy bus ride from home. The buses are practically free for foreigners. The change you'd find in the couch would do it. Taxis are really cheap as well, though, not for locals.

I don't know why, but school is totally full of germans. There are other nationalilities here, most notably americans and swiss, but it feels like we're in germany. Its pretty strange if you ask me. There must be some cultural reason why? Any ideas?

So yea, theres class, 4 days a week, 5 hours a day. Having three day weekends is great. Last weekend we went to the carribean coast, and stayed in a town called Puerto Viejo, known for its carribean culture and its pataois english. Though I felt the most notable trait was tourists, and foreigners living there. The town itself wasn't really for me, but the nearby beaches are beautiful. There was a surf contest the day we were there, which in my opinion was really pretty boring to watch, but lots of people came out.

On sunday I woke up early, and along with two fellow students went a bit north to a smaller town called Cahuita. There's a beautiful national park there, right on the beach, with the only coral reef in Costa Rica. We were extremely lucky with the weather, and animal sightings as well. We saw a sloth, two racoons (though, should I be excited, they looked the same as the ones I see in upstate NY, at least they weren't eating garbage) and a family of howler monkers, along with countless small lizards, and enourmous line of leaf cutter ants.

posted by Oren @ 3:08 PM 0 comments