My abuela and I have had many adventures this past week. I had to climb on the counter to change the batteries in a clock. I taught her how to make good egg salad. And we've just had the best conversations of my whole time here. Pretty fun stuff. I accidentally broke her patio chair, but she says not to worry.
The week's classes were uneventful, but depressing. If you have time, watch "The Cove" documentary. It'll be an eye opener.
I went on a ton of walks with Isaac this week, funny enough. We had some interesting talks about life and art and such. Him and I have similar minds. Which is funny, because I really didn't expect it. Walking around San Ramón at night is peaceful (as long as you have a buddy).
The real fun (as always) started at the end of the week. We had a MASSIVE soccer game. We had full teams (11 vs 11). Two tico guys even came and played. There were some spectacular shots. Katherine absolutely killed a long kick, getting past the goalie and scoring. Eleanor had a great assist to me from across the field. Overall, the best soccer evening of the semester.
After that, Jenna, Isaac, Jeff, and I had a little family dinner at the Corner Pub. They had some delectable chicken fingers. It was written on the menu as Palomitas de Pollo. Which means chicken popcorn. I took that to mean that they put chicken in popcorn, and I was horrified. However, Jenna informed me that it meant popcorn chicken. Family dinners are so fun with my peeps. We literally do not stop joking around. Later that night we met up with some of the Europeans that also live in San Ramón. The Swedish girl was leaving the next day, so we had a little going away party. She was the first Blanco we met here, so it was honestly a little sad.
The next day was THE BEST. We went on our program trip to Tortuga Island. I honestly had the most fun of any trip here. We headed out to Puntarenas first, and we took a BOAT to the island (obviously). Isaac, Jenna, Caleb, and I got to sit on the upper floor front half of the boat on a mat sort of thing. We just got to chill and look at the waves and feel the sun and joke around. Jenna said it best while we were sitting there. Our little group feels like siblings. Caleb kept trying to grab us with his weird toes. The boat crew also served us some banging fresh fruits. Jenna ate like the whole pineapple.
On the island was even better. The beach was white and clean. The water was a crystalline blue and you could see straight down. All around the beach were palm trees and cliffs. It was truly a movie set. Complete with coconuts! We went snorkeling first. There were tons of sea urchins along the ocean floor. What little fish were around were bright yellow and blue and orange. They were small but mighty. It was really refreshing to splash around the boat. The boat also had a WATER SLIDE attached to the back. But, it wasn't dangerous enough, so we started climbing the railings of the boat and jumping. I tried to convince Caleb to do a flip. But unfortunately the captain said no. We had a delectable lunch at the island. The salad was huge, and had all types of veggies.
The afternoon was spent going between chilling on the beach and chilling in the surf. We climbing the cliff next to the beach and found all sorts of mollusk shells. Caleb kept squirting water at me, Jenna, and Isaac in the surf, so we chased him and dunked him in the water like 5 times. We actually got a beach volleyball game going, and a girl from California working a fishing charter came and played too. She had really cool Pit Vipers. There were tons of funky animals on the island. Jeff and I saw a Peacock! A real peacock just strutting around. And wild boars, crabs, and weird looking birds. In the end, we had a leisurely ride back to the mainland in the boat.
Getting home to San Ramón was an Ordeal. We hit standstill traffic in the bus on the way to the town. We sat there for so long we had time to stream the entirety of Madagascar. That movie is so much better when there's 8 people crowded around an iPhone in a bus. We finally got back though, and I passed out.
Saturday was a trip as well. Ben, Ally, Jenna, Isaac, Max, and I (phew that was a lot of names) took a day trip to see Cartago (the original capital of Costa Rica). There were ruins of old buildings, and just regular nice old buildings being used for businesses and such (it gave mad Charleston vibes). The big statue of the angel lady in the square was stunning. Especially as the metal reflecting the afternoon sun. And the Church! It was the grandest Catholic Church I have ever seen. It sprawled across a plaza, with ornate decor pieces on the outside, and a huge sweeping ceiling on the inside. The stained glass in the windows was incredibly detailed as well.
It was a solid trip. We got some ice cream, because the day was so hot. Idk what they put in their Neapolitan ice cream, but that was delicious.
Sunday was a day as well. San Ramón apparently has a whole parade that celebrates cowboys and the ranching culture around the city. The street were FILLED with people out to see the cabellos (horses). I got a free empanada at one point. My sweet abuela gave me a cowboy hat to wear to the festivities so I would look the part. There were literally so many horses. Like. I've never seen so many. And little kids doing lasso tricks in the parade too! It rained on us during the last portion. But thanks to my abuela's cowboy hat, my head remained dry.
So yeah. An amazing weekend overall, with many a twist and turn. A mini-adventures everywhere.
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