Murphy's Law

<--Puerto Viejo (sunny the day we left)

I feel like this past weekend ended up being a pretty good example of Murphy's Law.

For my first non-IFSA sponsored trip out of Heredia I went with a bunch of the girls in the program to Puerto Viejo de Talmanaca in Limón (Limón providence). I'd been missing the beaches ever since Liberia, so I jumped at the opportunity to soak up some Central American sun: it's common knowledge that Central American sun is different than North American sun. After all, it's not like there is only one sun which the entire world happens to revolve around, that'd just be weird.

After about 5 hours in total on two different buses we arrived, just a little bit tired and hungry; most of us hadn't eaten since 4am that morning and we arrived about 10:30-11. As we were in line to buy our bus tickets home, I proceeded to realize that I had left my wallet on the bus... Now I didn't really have that much money in it, but my credit and debit cards were in it so that was a bit of a problem :/ We talked to the bus people and found out that they had found my wallet, but that it was on it's way to Limón (the city). After dropping our bags off at our hostel, Rockin J's, and eating lunch, I took a 1.5 hour bus ride up to Limón where I then took a taxi to the bus station. I got my wallet and then had to take another 1.5 hour bus ride back to Puerto Viejo. Now this wouldn't have been too bad. After all I got to see more of Costa Rica, even if most of it was by bus or taxi; it was still just a small adventure. Also, it rained most of the day so it wasn't like I missed out on the beach.

However, I had about half an hour left of the bus ride left from Limón to Puerto Viejo after my "little" adventure, when fate decided to extend it into a big one. We were driving back and I saw this really dark cloud of smoke rising up ahead of us. It turned out to be from a car that had gone off the road and crashed in the sidebrush. I was wondering why we couldn't just pass by it; after all, it was way off the road and there didn't seem to be anything leftover on the actual road. Nevertheless, apparently the car was still smoking and they were afraid that the fire would reach the engine and the car would explode. Fun, right? So because of this we waited about 40+ minutes for the firefighters to arrive and put out the fire.

Now you would think that a delay of 40+ minutes wouldn't be that bad, especially not for someone used to city or Michigan summer traffic. And it wouldn't be, if it hadn't been for the fact that the 40 extra minutes brought us back after dark. Without the stop I would have gotten back with enough daylight to walk back to my hostel. However, in Costa Rica and ESPECIALLY in the providence of Limón (where I was) you DON'T walk alone at night.

So here I was back in Puerto Viejo, alone, at night, and freaking out just a little bit because of it. I walked about a block or so back to the bus station where I was kind of hoping maybe my friends would have a couple of people waiting (though I knew it was a long shot). No one was there and the bus station was closed. However, there were some payphones across the street. I had my phone card number memorized so I called Sarah L. (who is the only friend who's number I also have memorized). I knew I needed a taxi but the taxi numbers are different depending on you location, and I definitely didn't know the one for Puerto Viejo. She spoke with her older sister who gave me the Costa Rican information number (113), which I'm definitely going to remember for the future. When I called it though, the woman told me there wasn't a number for taxis in Puerto Viejo.

I called Sarah back and her sister gave me a taxi number that she had found. Unlike the 3-digit number I knew I wasn't going to be able to count on my memory for this one and I didn't have a pen. However, it had rained that day so I wrote the number down in the mud in front of me. After calling that number twice and only getting a busy signal I called her back again. By this point I was beginning to get just a bit nervous. Her sister told me to go first to the Soda (kind of like a small pharmacy minus the drugs) nearby first and ask for a taxi number.

So I got the number for apparently the only taxi rojo driver in Puerto Viejo -There are other taxi services, but they are private. Taxi rojo are public and generally much safer- By this point my phone card was giving me issues; while I definitely had plenty of minutes left, it said that it wasn't working and that I'd have to try again later. Well it wasn't like I could wait, so the lady at the Soda was very nice and called the guy for me. After a 5+ minute drive for 1,000 colones (approx. $2) I finally made it safely back to Rockin' J's.

Moral of the story, don't leave your wallet on a bus.

Reflection

<-- view from my house

It's hard to believe that I've already been in Costa Rica for over a month. I've been keeping pretty busy as is evident by my lack of blog posts, but I'm working on getting on top of things here. It doesn't help that I'm just as easily distracted here as I am in the U.S.

Seeing as how I've been here for awhile I've come to adjust to a lot of the cultural differences from the states. For one, dogs are everywhere here. Now I know you're probably thinking that dogs are everywhere in the states too, but it's really not the same. For one, here they're always wandering through the streets by themselves. There are no such things as leash laws, and people don't pick up after their dogs so you sometimes have to watch where you step. They also go places they wouldn't be allowed in the states. There are these certain dogs that are always wandering through the cafeteria at my university here. When we first got here, all of us thought wtf? There are dogs in the cafeteria? Now, it's just part of the daily life at UNA (Universidad Nacional Autónoma).

So while I enjoy my classes here, they can get a bit boring. This isn't because the subjects themselves are boring, but because the classes are so long. Here every class is a block class. So while you only have the class once a week, each time you meet it's for 2.5 - 3 hours. Luckily most everyone here, including the professors, are on tico time, so the classes usually start anywhere from 15-30 minutes late. However, that's still only a dent in a 3 hour class...

While I have adjusted a lot to the country, some things, like mutant ants, I don't think I'll ever quite get used to. I swear the ants here are on some kind of acid. They are either ridiculuously huge, or incredibly smart. I once put a coffee mug down and an hour later they were swarming it!

So because of classes and such I haven't really gotten out to see much of Costa Rica since orientation, although last Friday I went on the IFSA trip to Cerro Dantas, a forest animal reserve near Heredia. While I definitely enjoyed myself, I don't think I've been that muddy or tired in awhile, we walked for 5+ hours up and down hills. Also, the boots I borrowed had absolutely no traction so needless to say I fell alot...

Now, I don't know who in the U.S. told me that Costa Ricans have an easy Spanish accent to understand, but they don't. Maybe they meant easier than Argentinian accents? Because that I could understand. For the first couple of weeks I got here I had to watch people's mouths when they spoke (discreetly of course). It was particularly hard when I was talking to people for the first time. Now I'm getting better at understanding the accent, which of course I'm extactic about. I've really started to fall in love with Latin America and thinking that perhaps I did choose the right major after all :)

¡Hasta luego!

A gringa in Heredia

<- view of a sunset from my house

So last week I forgot to mention that my first week in Heredia (my 2nd in Costa Rica) I went and saw the new Harry Potter movie with my younger brother, dubbed in Spanish. I was really glad that not only had I read the book, but that I had read the book numerous times. It made it really easy to follow the plot. Also, you never quite notice how often a movie uses a particular word until you are watching the film in a foreign language. For instance, Harry Potter used the word "obscuro" a lot.

It may seem strange, but I keep forgetting that I'm in a foreign country. Aside from the obvious differences (most everyone is darker than me and don't speak English) there are a lot of similarities. Most of it is just how things are structured, that I look down the street and see McDonalds, Burger King, Papa Johns, etc... But then I look further and see the blue ridges of mountain tops and I remember where I am.

Despite the similarities there are a couple of really interesting differences about Costa Rica. For one, addresses here are completely different from those in the states. There are street names (sometimes) mostly in downtown Heredia, the two directions being either Calle or Avenida with a number after. However, no one ever actually uses them. Addresses are more to do with what is around the location relatively. For instance, when I was in Liberia my address was the name of my barrio and that it was in front of a minisuper named Gaucalito. That was it. Sometimes they will also add some amount of meters north, south, etc... but for the most part its just relative terms. It makes it difficult to get your barings on where you are. One day one of the program students wanted to know where to buy a map with streets and such and one of the program advisers summed it up pretty well: "We are a culture more of asking for directions than of detailed instructions."

Classes started last week and so far I am enjoying them, though I only have two days to read 70 pages in Spanish for my business class...There is a cultural and legal difference that as a student, I actually happen to like. Textbooks are really expensive here, so instead the professor will tell you the name of a copy shop (there are tons here) and you will go there with the professors name and they copy the book for you. The book for my business class cost me 3500 colones or a little less than $7. As a broke college student, I am definitely happy about this.

As for the classes themselves, they are pretty much the same structurally as the U.S. although there are lot more people who arrive late to class without the professor even really blinking (Tico time). Also, most students start out at the university in whatever carrera they plan to spend their 4 years in. They don't spend a year or more on general studies (not typically). Interesting tidbit from the day, a girl from another exchange program came up to me today to ask me a question about class and she didn't realize that I was also in an intercambio. I thought that was amusing because I feel like I stick out so much as an American (North American).

Please let me know if there is anything that your curious about in regards to Costa Rica, its culture, the people, etc...

¡Hasta Luego!