The afternoon after we went ziplining ingas host aunt and grandma took us to a repression in the river to go swimming. The water was very tranquil and cold which was refreshing after the heat of the day ( although monteverde where we went ziplining had been chilly). To get there we walked through a path in the woods. It seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere but when we got there there was already a family swimming. They were very white and blond and were speaking English this was a little surprising giving the remoteness of where we were. We just got in the water and started swimming as well, and I had to ask if they were from the US as well. Funnily enough they were originally from Minnesota but had lived in Costa Rica for the past 6 years with their three small children. The littlest looked about three and was talking a mixture of English and Spanish. The zipline place as well had been over run by foreigners. Largely Germans as well as a school group from the US. Before our swim we had also helped the aunt to make empanadas filled with some syrupy sticky and very fiberous fruit, which was a dark brown, unfortunately I don't remember the name. That night after dinner we drove 45 minutes through curvy gravel roads to pools. They were naturally warm fed by volcanic water or something like that. It was lovely. We didn't get there till 8:30 or 9 and it was totally dark. We were the only ones there plus the workers. There were candles on the sides of the pools and a huge full moon above. There were four different pools ranging from degrees of hotness. I think 33-45 degrees celcius. The air was also extremely hot. We just relaxed in the pools which were fairly small and a worker brought us drinks. I had a fresco natural de mango, which is pretty much like blended mango and juice ( the fruit juices are heavenly here). There was also a sauna if you cared to get any hotter, and a shower which was "cold" in comparison. The next morning after another extremely hearty breakfast of gallo pinto and tortillas we set off for guanacaste. There is nothing that keeps you full like gallo pinto its like a brick in your stomach especially when paired with homemade tortillas. We drove for what seemed like forever and crossed a bridge over a muddy dries up inlet of ocean. Guanacaste looked like death, the grass is all dry and the trees look dry too. Some of the hills are blackened from forest fires. We drove through Santa Cruz a small yet sprawling looking town. Eventually we came to Potrero which doesn't look like a town just a few streets in the woods. We dropped our stuff off at the house we stayed at there and got on our swim suits. From there we drove to playa brasilito. Here we ate lunch at one of the sodas clustered on the edge of the beach. The road closed by is also lined wih tents selling beach trinkets like bracelets. The soda was full of foriegners. The lady that served us was obviously from the states. I have gotten very good at recognizing the thick American accent that I too have when talking in Spanish. The lady we learned was from Chicago originally and had moved to Costa Rica to open the resturaunt with her husband and small son. The entire family of her husband had also come along for the ride and were all living near by in Costa Rica. She explained that they were from Indiana and there is nothing in Indiana so why not. Apart from the resturaunt they had also opened up a fishing or boat tours. Her Spanish was still not perfect and it was nice to hear someone make the same mistakes I do every day in Spanish. People from the states have very obvious accents in Spanish, they just let there words flow together and we like to separate them and make everything sound more harsh, I can hear my own accent but in the time I have left I doubt I'll ever be able to get rid of it. As we were sitting eating lunch ingas host mom spotted some of our other exchange student friends who just happened to be at the same beach going to the same soda. We talked for them then headed to the beach brasilito which was beautiful with warm water. The surf was perfect for body surfing gentle but potent enough to carry you a little ways. After a while we drove to conchal beach. Which is white and made completely out of shells. It's gorgeous wih clear turquoise water. Here we spent the afternoon with the other students. The next day inga and i took a walk in the morning. we saw a gormeous bird with a long vivid blue tail, we also heard what i think was a monkey. it sounded like a dying dog, but it was coming from the trees, at any rate ehatever it was didnt sound too friendly. after breakfast at the same soda as the day before we went to use the swimming pool at a hotel on flamingo beach. A friend of the husband of ingas host mom had gotten us in for the day. It was the most luxurious hotel I have evr been to, and was full of foriegners. In the center was a huge pool with a bar so that you could order drinks and food and eat them on stools in the pool. There were a also photographers that were just hanging around taking pictures of everyone to try and sell at the end of the day. One came up to us and started a photoshoot session directing us to do all these different poses. He was Italian and his Spanish wasn't perfect because he just had two months in Costa Rica. Ingas host mom bought a cd of a few of the pictures. We sun bathed slathered in sun block 50%, and got drinks in the pool. We later went to the beach to meet another exchange student a friend of ingas who is also from Iceland. We went back to the hotel and bought lunch the. Returned to the beach. I wasn't quite as enthusiastic about the ocean after it was on the news the day before that sharks were spotted on a nearby beach the day before. The surf was also very powerful. The waves were way bigger and the ocean a little colder. Although we were in fairly shallow water when the waves came you were swept completely off your feet aand it suddenly got very deep. If you ended up in the wrong spot the whole thing crashed over you shoving you down which kind of hurt. We eventually just went I walk on the beach. It's one of the more touristy beaches on the far side there are mansions which belong to foriegners. As we were walking some guy came up behind me and gave me a hairtie. I was like I didn't drop this and he was like no its a gift it was really wierd.. Then we walked
for about a mile trying to find an ice cream shop mislead by long directions and a typical guanacaste under estimation of distances. That night our Icelandic exchange student friend also stayed the night. They talked a lot in Icelandic, which is a very interesting language to listen to. In the morning we went to breakfast at the house of a friend of ingas mom. The house was lovel. I got to listen to them talk politics and my friends talk Icelandic so all in all not the most exciting morning. Then it was a long trip back to cartago in car. We stopped for lunch in puntarenas at a sea food resturaunt which was practically overflowing with people. Everyone was heading for the beach as we were coming back. Here in puntarenas it was more ticos rather than foreign tourists as these beaches are closer to the more densely populated central regions. I tried shrimp on my spaghetti for the first time, it was interesting. It was a great couple of days and I feel like I know more of Costa Rica now. School starts again tomorrow...
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