Since it’s been a long time since updating I will just highlight some bigger events in the past month (plus some)…
One of the bigger things I did this past month was go to Costa Rica and Panama. This idea came about because one of my good friends Susan decided to do a summer course in Costa Rica so she proposed the idea to me and some other friends that we meet up in Costa Rica and travel a little. At first it was just a crazy idea but in the end it became reality :D It ended up being just three of us who all lived together last year. Susan, me and Laura. We all came from different places and hadn’t seen each other for almost a year. Laura S. his volunteering in Honduras and I’m in Chile and Susan has been going to school in Milwaukee so it was great to reunite! I took a crazy flight plan to Costa Rica and had a layover in Atlanta so Susan met me there and we flew to Costa Rica together. Laura joined us a few hours after we got to Costa Rica (after a long bus trip from Honduras). In Costa Rica we went to San Jose (capital) and Monetverde. We decided that San Jose wasn’t very interesting as we saw pretty much everything you would care to see in less than one day! We went to the central market, a museum, saw a bunch of plazas, a few churches, etc and still had time to waste. Monteverde was a small town about 4 hrs outside of San Jose. We had a good time there and did canopy and a coffee tour. Both of those were a lot of fun. For the canopy you were actually flying through the jungle which was really neat. We learned a ton on the coffee tour. In addition to coffee plants they also had sugar cane, bananas and plantains. We got to see the whole coffee process and taste some at the end. We also got to see how they process the sugar cane and make some candy :D On our last day (after coming back from Panama) Laura left early in the morning and Susan and I went on a tour that took us up to the top of a volcano and on a river boat ride. The volcano was neat and had a real cool blue green pool in one of the craters. On a clear day you can see both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans but unfortunately the clouds rolled in as we were reaching the top of the mountain. On our boat ride we saw lots of animals such as huge crocodiles, a sloth, some monkeys, lizards and birds. We also got to go on a short horseback ride, see some cool frogs and snakes and eat lots of delicious traditional food.
We made the 15 hour bus trek to Panama and spent a few days there. The bus ride itself wasn’t too bad, especially on the way there when they fed us breakfast and lunch. We also took the overnight bus so we got to sleep a lot. We stayed in Panama City were there was a lot more to do than in San Jose. We spent the days touring different neighborhoods and going to the Panama Canal. We saw lots of stuff such as the presidential palace, ruins of the old city center, hiked through the Metropolitan park (didn’t see as many animals as they claimed to have!), went to a big international artisan fair, the Bridge of the Americas and lots of other buildings and plazas. The Panama Canal was neat and we got to see a cruise ship and an oil tanker go through so that was fun. It makes a lot more sense when you actually see the canal in action rather than just reading about it. We also road on the Panama Canal Railway which goes along the canal and has a glass domed ceiling so you get a really great view. A funny anecdote about Panama is that it is one hour ahead of Costa Rica. We didn’t know this fun fact until about 6 hours before we were leaving Panama!! Good thing we eventually figured it out or we may have missed our bus back to Costa Rica!!
By the time our trip ended we had ridden just about every form of transportation possible: plane, train, buses (public and coach), taxis and a boat. Not only did we ride all forms of transportation but in many different ways. For example: on the bus back from Monetverde we got standing room only tickets and ended up camping out in the wheelchair ramp area. It was actually pretty comfy and we could stretch out our legs. Also, on another bus ride there weren’t any seats left so they just pulled out these stools and we sat in the middle aisle on our stools (which were really 5 gallon pails covered with fabric and a cushion).
Recently Sarah and I celebrated the Fourth of July. We made all sorts of good food (hamburgers, chicken wings, baked beans, potato salad, broccoli salad, veggies with dip, cheesecake and a red, white and blue cake). We invited some friends over and had a royal feast. Luckily it was a sunny day and we actually took off our jackets and enjoyed the meal outside. It was not the same as celebrating at home but it was a good day.
I continue to play tennis and we had another match a couple weeks ago. This time we played at the Montessori School where my first Chile coach is now working. It was different because they have cement courts there and now I’m used to playing on clay courts. Also it was right after I got back from my travel adventures… I didn’t win my games but the coach said he liked how I played so it could have been worse. After that match it rained and the courts were a mess for a good week and a half (almost two weeks) so we just started playing again on Thursday. I was very happy to start playing again! I played a set today against the coach and almost beat him!! (at one point I was 2 points from winning but then he started pulling out all these tricky shots with different spin and such so he ended up winning). Oh well, it was a good match and a couple months ago I would not have been close to beating him!
We just finished up a semester of workshops at Domodungu. Everyone left my cooking class very content. Last week we had the end of the semester celebration and many of the classes participated by singing, showing their paintings, modeling crochet garments, a yoga demonstration, several dance performances, taste testing food, etc. It was a good celebration and a lot of people showed up! We were pleased by the number of people who came because it was a very chilly afternoon and that tends to make people stay at home.
