Pura Vida!

I know it's been a while since I posted a new blog, but that's because I've been so BUSY! Let's see, at last update, we were about to go out to Nova for Marisol's birthday. That night ended up being CRAZY! At Nova, Wednesday is ladies' night, which means that after the cover charge, ladies get free drinks with vodka until 11. I got a vodka cranberry, and didn't really like it. We danced for a little bit, but I got tired around 12:30, so I took a taxi back home with a couple of other people and ended up in bed at 1.

The next morning, I did a stupid thing and didn't wake up, since I forgot to set my alarm the night before. So I missed work (I swear, completely unintentionally) and ended up just going down to Maximo and hanging out for a bit before walking down to the mall. I really wanted to have some home food for lunch, so I broke down and got McDonalds. It tasted like home and was the most amazing thing ever. I wanted to go see a movie after that (Los Pitifulos or The Smurfs in English) but there wasn't an english showing until 9:30. All the movies are either dubbed in Spanish, which would mean I don't understand anything, or in English with Spanish subtitles. So I didn't end up going to my movie and just wandered back home to do laundry. Overall I had a lazy day. That night Eric and Sumar were going out, and at first I was planning on going with them, but by the time they were leaving, I was already settled down with Marisol, a tub of ice cream, and a chick flick. So that night, I chose sleep over partying.

Friday, I was able to get up for breakfast and make it to my project. I only had to watch the kids for about 20 minutes though, and then it was bible story time. I really didn't understand anything. All the kids were sitting around a table, and I sat there to make sure they behaved and paid attention, but I was totally lost. There was a woman telling a story and essential giving sort of a Sunday school lesson. I already get lost when it comes to religious stuff in English, make it in Spanish and I just zoned out. Then after bible story time they all decided to watch Rio the movie. It was, of course, in Spanish, but it was animated so I sort of was able to follow it. Then about half an hour into the movie, I had to leave so I could make the but to Puerto Viejo.

So I rode the bus home really fast, packed my stuff, and caught a taxi to the bus station. I had an adventure trying to buy my ticket, because each of the like 6 ticket windows had a sign that said Puerto Viejo, but apparently there are TWO Puerto Viejos; one on the coast and one on a river. So I had to find the right window to buy my ticket, and by that time all the seats on the bus I wanted to take were sold, so I ended up with a standing room ticket. It wasn't too bad, though. I ended up sitting on the floor in the spot usually reserved for handicap people with a wheelchair. It was a 5 hour bus ride to Puerto Viejo, then Marta met me at the bus stop. Marta was one of the people working on the turtle project in Parismina. Most of the people from Parismina were there, and we all piled into two cars and drove to Manzanillo, another little coastal town. We found a hotel for the night, and went out to dinner where I got ceviche and french fries which were delish!

On Saturday, we all woke up and walked down to the dive shop were we got snorkels and fins for our trip. Then it was a half an hour boat ride to the snorkeling site. At our first stop, a few of us jumped in the water, and we decided that the current was too strong, so back in the boat and on to another spot. Here, the current wasn't as strong, but there wasn't really much to see, and the water was kinda opaque. It's the equivalent of winter here right now, which is really just the rainy season, which means that all the water is churned up and you can't really see anything. Since that was kind of disappointing also, we ended up going just back to the beach my the town and snorkeling there. There was actually something to see, and I got a couple of pictures of some pretty neat fish, but of course the water had stuff floating in it, so the pictures didn't end up very good. (my camera is dead right now, so I can't upload pictures, but I will tomorrow once my camera is charged)

Then, lucky me, I didn't end up having to ride the bus back to San Jose. Kristie (one of the volunteers from Parismina) and her fiance had a rental car, and they were driving back to San Jose anyways, so they gave me a ride. I got back around 11:30, took a shower, and went to bed. This morning, there was a new girl moved in, Tina. She's from New Jersey and is going to be here for two weeks. She taking the bed in the same room as mine, so no more room to my self :( ...JK.  There isn't any work today, because it's Sunday, or tomorrow, because it's Mother's Day in Costa Rica, and I don't really have any plans. I might finally go see the Smurfs down at the mall, and I want to go visit the Art Market in downtown San Jose. Other than that, it's just relaxing and catching up on sleep.