Me encanta Monteverde!

WOWZA I cannot believe I have not blogged since February 22nd...more than two weeks! Oops.

Febrero 22 continued...

I was very happy to find that dinner was only a sandwich. I realized I was not that hungry, but I still need to tell my mama to give me less for dinner. I forgot it was Oscar night, so watched that a bit after dinner with mi familia, then moved the party into mi habitacion. T'was the first time I turned on the little television in my room, very interesting to watch the Oscars in Spanish (even if it was more background noise for doing homework!)

P.S. Go Patricia Arquette!

Febrero 23

Woke up at 8:00am, showered, desayuno, the usual. Started working on my spanish homework. The weather here has been unusually chilly for this time of year, so I was happy I remembered to bring a scarf to class to use as a blanket.

In Community Engagement, we discussed poverty and the lengths people are willing to go to project a facade to society about their lives. The fact that we are driven by desire and once one desire is filled, we have a need to find a new one which leads to a vicious cycle. On another note, our professor, Joaquin, also commented on people texting during class, which can be summed up in one statement, "Nobody looks at their crotch and smiles"...so great.

After Community Engagement, ate some yummy goodies from the market for lunch while reviewing a climate change article we had to read for Spanish quiz. I did well - only three questions. We received our grades for the oral presentations we had done the previous week, my grammar killed me - but I did relatively well! (Thank goodness I went 7 minutes over the minimum time limit because I got bonus points! woo woo.) After the quiz, we reviewed pronouns (direct, indirect and reflexive) quick and then got out early for once!

Shimmied on home to start studying for my Rural and Urban SD midterm (which I didn't end up starting until way later).

procrastination selfie.

No idea what I do with myself while procrastinating (snapchatting pey), but after a tasty dinner of chickpeas, papas, and pollo, I got to work finally. I settled on the questions concerning growth vs. degrowth and my position in the debate for the following class, deep ecology (kill two birds with one stone). When I went out into the kitchen and discovered there were no more Soda Crackers (my late night study snack), I called it quits and went to bed.

Febrero 24

Two midterms day!

In preparation for Rural and Urban, I outlined a bit from the notes I organized the night prior and headed out the door for the exam. It consisted of our choosing two open-ended essay questions from a list of ten and answering them in class. Luckily Helen decided last minute to give us the entire period (2 hours) rather than just one like she had done previously. I ended up taking 1 hour and 45 minutes.

I came home (flushed with a cramping hand from writing so vigorously) intending to study for my Environmental Issues exam in a few hours, but opted to listen to my "relax and unwind" playlist on Spotify and curl up in a ball on my bed. Around 1:00pm I began to get hungry so I took my granadilla and went to the ICDS office for lunch. Wendy was super nice and let me make a PB&J with her Goober and Bread supplies.

Our exam was proctored by Jorge, the director of ICDS, because Yanina had broken her ankle and needed surgery. The exam was very straightforward, just so much to answer in such a short time period! It was open book and could be typed and emailed to Yanina once we were finished, but even with typing, I was freaking out about how I could answer all the questions sufficiently. There were five open-ended essays with multiple questions within each essay. It is safe to say, the first question was the most detailed and then I quickly realized I needed to be more succinct in answering the others if I wanted to get through all of them in time.

As a reward for getting through my first two midterms, May, Hannah, Katie and I went to POPS. I got a scoop of galleta (cookies and cream) and a scoop of birthday queque (ice cream always puts me in a good mood). Then it was time to study for my Spanish midterm, but I felt worse for Katie and the others in the lower level because they were somehow already on the future tense, as well as needing to know the present and preterite tenses!

Some fish for din din with some cheesy squash (drool), and booked tours Monteverde!

Febrero 25

Obnoxiously texting and snapchatting Sara for Bebe Updates! So began my morning ritual with that. So scared he was going to be born while I was in Nicaragua with so-so wifi access.

Not really sure what I did with the rest of my day other than attending Community Engagement and completing my Spanish midterm (which turned out to be much much better than I anticipated, got a 97%). Also, it seems I have a pattern of getting a chicken empanada right before a big Spanish test or presentation, maybe tis goodluck!

Febrero 26

Had a debate in Rural and Urban SD, which created a really great platform for the students to teach the material instead of Helen (not that I dislike Helen's lectures, it was just a nice change of pace for class). Hannah and I were assigned Deep Ecology, while others defined and defended Marxist Ecology, Ecofeminism, Strong Sustainability, and Ecological Modernity. A lot of the theories overlapped, except for ecological modernity, so I wish we would have brought more diverse ideas into the discussion.

Normal break between Rural and Urban and Environmental Issues, decided I would take a quick power nap half hour before Env. Issues started (not a good idea), almost missed the beginning of class! But, since I live like a hop skip and jump away from the ICDS office, I was still the first one there, jaja. Yanina was still recovering from her surgery, so Jorge sat in on our class as we watched the Cove. I had watched this documentary years ago with my friend Alannah and her momma, but I forgot just how awful it was. Dolphins slaughtered in masses in a secret cove in Japan. A very sad truth, but everyone should see it.

Afterwards, I found out Ilana was awarded the CLS (Critical Language Scholarship) she applied for way back in the fall, where she gets to study Hindi in India for the summer for free! So a big group of us went to get french fries to celebrate. Around sunset, walked back home and started packing for Monteverde.

Febrero 27

Started the day with community service! May and I FINALLY got the buses down, so happy!

cows holding up traffic

Seems so minuscule but it was such a big accomplishment to get dropped off and picked up right outside IPICIM. Since we had completed the borders for the new vegetable beds, our task was to take inventory of the plants and label the beds.

It was great because I learned a lot of vegetable names and got to bask in the smell of romero and albaca (rosemary and basil) all. day. long. (literally, stuck my head in the plants non-stop).

We left from our volunteer site for the bus station, but not before making a quick stop at a panaderia for some pizza pastries. Once we arrived at the bus station, in Barrio Mexico - a few blocks from the school we had painted the mural at - we met up with Katie and Ellie and decided to get some pre-departure drinks.

Everyone else arrived in pairs from their volunteer sites and soon we were boarding the bus for the 5 hour ride to the cloud forest! 

We stopped about half way for bathroom and snack break, super sweaty.

About 20 km from Monteverde the sun set, so it was dark and we were heading up this insane mountainside in a coach bus 2 ft from the cliffside. It was incredible (and a bit scary), the wind was howling, dust was flying everywhere, and the moon lit up the mountains rolling in the distance.

The bus arrived in a surprisingly developed little town and a guy from our hostel was there to greet us and escort us to the right place. Quick check in and then we were off to find dinner somewhere in town. The first place we came across was the Tree House Restaurant: live music + a tree in the middle of the place = we were sold (at least a few of us were).

Sam, Danielle, Jean, Hannah, May and I stayed and enjoyed some great tunes with our quesadillas. When we got back to the hostel, it was time for some shots, Jenga, and fireworks!

We may have gotten too rowdy and yelled at for disturbing others staying at the hostel, but it was a good time. Meira, Kip, Ellie and I went on a walk about to explore the area, even had a dog escort that reminded me of my Aunt Carly's pup Jinxy.

Meira and Kip decided to wander down an unknown trail while Ellie and I backtracked back to the hostel (was not thrilled with their decision, but they survived). When we got back, some of the crew was still awake so we chatted, gave and received back rubs, then called it a night.

Febrero 28

The group that was going on the Canopy and Suspension Bridge Tour signed up for breakfast at 8:40am, we woke up to wind and rain, scared our tour would be cancelled.

Luckily by the time we finished our eggs and fruit it had calmed a bit. Since our bus wasn't picking us up until 10:30am, we decided to hit up the grocery store for some wine, snacks and water (since I drank all of Ellie's water the night before). Chloe and Stecy arrived right before we were about to leave for the tour so Chloe joined in on the adventure while Stecy joined the other group who were going to hike!

First up was the Suspension Bridges, saw some howler monkeys in the beginning, beautiful views and moss covered trees throughout.

I do wish we could have seen more wildlife, but the tour was amazing anyway. Then we had our Canopy Tour, which was incredible. I lost track of how many cables there were, but the views were beyond gorgeous and the guides were very friendly.

At the end there was a tarzan swing that was as equally terrifying as it was exciting (I was so nervous I was going to pee on everyone since I was the last to go and had a full bladder).

note my facial expression...

After the Tarzan swing was the last cable, super duper long and exhilarating. We needed to do this one in tandem because more weight was required to get all the way to the end of the cable, so Ellie and I flew over the cloud forest together.

As if all of that wasn't enough, then we explored the hummingbird garden...AMAZINGGGG. At one point I had five little guys on my hands. I cannot describe how happy I was, they were so beautiful and delicate.

About an hour later, we began to realize none of us had eaten anything other than chocolate covered raisins and cashews since breakfast, so we told the Selvatura Tour people to call up a bus to take us back to town. It was past 4:00pm, but we thought we would try to get our bus tickets before heading back to the hostel, so we had them drop us there. Much to our dismay, it was already closed, so we walked back in the direction of the hostel - ended up at Taco Taco for some much needed delicious food. Fajita Burrito, nom nom.

Back to the hostel to clean up, really hot shower which was a great surprise, but my stomach was a bit upset so took some Pepto and laid in bed for a bit while others gathered in the common room to hang out. I began to feel better so I joined them for some wine and Madagascar watching (made myself a bed out of stools and brought my pillow out). Once everyone returned from dinner and grocery runs, we played a heated game of spoons, followed by a cockroach crawling on Chloe and me, then some more Jenga. The group that had gone ziplining and such were invited to meet up with our guides for some drinks, so Chloe, Danielle, Ellie, Meira and I went out to meet them. However, Jenga got the best of us so we were an hour late and they were no where to be found. So, we decided to find a place to dance and gave up on meeting up with them. We came across a place called Taberna, great music and no cover charge - we were in. The only thing was no one was dancing except for this one really awesome couple. Consequently, it was us five gringas and one really awesome local couple on the dance floor.

A french guy came out and joined us after a bit, and a local sort of challenged Danielle to a break dance-off...I guess she won cause he ended up breaking his toe on a chair while doing some sort of trick? oops (I hope he is okay). In any case, it was a great night - especially since we knew we would never see these people again so we could act as silly as we wanted, I wonder what all the locals were thinking...gringas tontas.

Marzo 1

The morning began similar to the day before, very rainy and windy - but it didn't let up. I started out the morning clogging the hostel toilet and hunting down the front desk lady to get the plunger (por supuesto). The group that went hiking the day before told us about some ficus trees that they climbed, so after pancakes and fruit, Chloe, Hannah, Ellie, May and I set out for those. First we had to make a stop at the bus station for our return tickets later that day - success. We got a bit lost going off the directions we had gathered the night before, and ended up stumbling upon some capuchins hanging out at a hostel nearby.

After admiring those little guys for a bit, we went back to Taco Taco to get Ellie some breakfast and ask for proper directions (got a map and all, so nice).

Up and up and up some pretty steep hills, and we finally came across a trail that looked like what the guy who gave us the map described. We found one big enough to climb. Once everyone else gave it a go, I decided to go in last. But Ellie was still in there and I wanted to go to the top, so we switched mid-tree, which was quite tricky but worked out (surprisingly)!

Such a cool experience. I later found out that we missed the big big ficus tree that would have been even sweeeeter, but I am happy that we found the one we did :)

We backtracked down the hill after following a little trail in the forest, and went back to the hostel to hang out before our bus at 2:40pm.

Even though we had to check out, the hostel was nice enough to let us store our bags there while venturing out in the morning, and also even let us use the kitchen to cook some ramen noodles for lunch. Power went out at the hostel so we just napped and lounged around, very cold and damp, luckily Ellie lended me a dry sweater.

headlamp to use the bathroom with no electricity!

Decided we needed some hot chocolate, tea or coffee pre-departure so we hit up this cute little coffee shop. The hot chocolate was much different than I was expecting - but then I added a packet of sugar and all was great, jaja.

Stopped at Taco Taco for a quesadilla for the road then jogged to the bus stop, worried that we were cutting it close. The bus ride back to San Jose wasn't too shabby, I was a bit sad I was not on the side of the bus that was best to view the ride down the mountain, but tis okay (still got some views in there).

There was some taxi chaos when we got back to the bus terminal, but Hannah, May and I shared one to downtown San Jose to catch the other bus back to San Pedro, no problema.

I had called my host parents and told them that I would be back for dinner - but once we got back to San Pedro I realized I was very full and not really wanting food. Then, my host mom was so nice and left me some chicken tortilla soup with avocado and stringy tortilla-crisps that it was too hard to pass up. I went to bed exhausted with a full belly.

Marzo 2

Monday shock to the system (I imagine). Not much jotted down for this day. In Community Engagement we reviewed for our midterm on Wednesday. In Spanish we reviewed pronouns more extensively! Then we had a meeting about Nicaragua departure with Luis, got us all super excited for the weekend ahead!

For some reason, I was super full that night at dinner (I think all the food I had eaten the past few days caught up with me and my body was just like, "no more") so I asked my mama if I could save most of my dinner for lunch tomorrow. She didn't seem too thrilled at the idea, hopefully she did not take offense, but she grilled me a bit about what I had for lunch and didn't seem convinced that fruit salad was all I had...jaja. In any case, I pulled out my "Jenna esta llena" joke and she laughed for a while, saying "que comico" :p

Marzo 3

Rural and Urban, reviewed our quiz from a few weeks ago and the SD spectrum theories. Worked on some research for Environmental Issues - individuals and/or NGOs that have had an impact in a certain field. Also looked around the WWOOF websites, thinking of possible adventures for this summer (I've got the travel bug). Leftovers for lunch (mashed yuca casserole with a layer of cheese and cooked vegetables, que rico).

__________________

Since I am a bit behind on posting, I will stop here for now so it will not be a HUGE post...but another one talking about Nicaragua and mi sobrino coming soon!

Buenas Tardes a Todos!