Out of the Jungle

Time for another update, this time from San Jose.  We’ve been in San Pedro, a city right next to the capital city of San Jose, since Wednesday.  I’ve been living with my host mother, Mayra, her daughter, Christina, and her son, David since we arrived and attending intensive Spanish classes at the Costa Rican Language Institute for five hours each day.  My host family is really nice and helpful, especially David.  He is 18 and speaks very good English, though he only speaks Spanish with me, in order to help me practice.  I’ve learned (not without some adventures) how to walk to school, how to take the buses and how to cross the Pan-American Highway where there are no crosswalks and people drive like maniacs.  It’s hard to tell is my Spanish is improving at all, but I’m certainly getting more comfortable and things I learned long ago are coming back, albeit slowly. 

We visited the national museum, where I found these balls of rock and I’ve spent a little time exploring San Pedro and my hometown, Lourdes, but I decided that I wanted to spend my free Sunday checking out some churches.  Not only are there churches every where in Costa Rica, but they are absolutely beautiful.  They certainly don’t have that Puritan-influenced, New England look that I’m used to.  I asked my host family what time services are held on Sundays for the church on the corner, but they told me I should take the bus to Cartago to see the National Church, which is essentially the basilica of Costa Rica.  Cartago is the old capital of Costa Rica and is about a 30 minute bus ride from the center of San Pedro.  So I set off from my house this morning and spent about 4 hours walking around Cartago.  I got off the bus in front of an incredibly beautiful church and sat inside for services.  I don’t think I’d ever seen so many people in a church.  I walked around and saw the ruins of an old fort, a road race with tons of entertainment, three other gorgeous churches, plus some impressive government buildings.  I thought I was pretty much ready to go, so I spent the next 2 ½ hours looking for the bus stop to go home.  In my wanderings (and I mean wanderings,) I turned a corner and saw what was quite literally a breath-taking sight.  Right in front of me was the basilica.

The other church I had seen was beautiful, but had nothing on the real thing; the basilica stretched on and on and the sheer whiteness of the structure seemed so majestic among the red and orange buildings.  I ventured inside and caught the end of services, then looked around for a while before continuing my quest for the bus, which I eventually found and took home.  I certainly found some churches! The project for next weekend is to find one of the three synagogues in San Jose and check that out as well.  This week also holds (a lot) more Spanish, a trip to visit the Cabecar indigenous group, and more exploring San Jose.

Week One

I'm sitting outside my cabin at the Las Cruces Biological Station, and it's about 65*F and sunny.  Not only is the weather perfect, but the plants and animals in the Botanical Gardens make it all smell and sound wonderful.  To give a quick update on what's been going on over the past few days:  We've been at the field station, taking classes every day but Sunday with field trips interspersed.  We took a tour of the botanical gardens and visited a local health clinic (basically a primary care physician's office).  Yesterday, on our free day, we woke up at 6 like every other day and took a 5-hour hike through the rain forest.  It was the first time I'd been in real, untamed jungle and it was incredible. The coolest thing, besides eating lunch on rocks in a river, was the strangler fig in this photo.

 
The seeds of these trees land at the base of a tree, then it grows up along the tree.  When it reaches a certain height, it's roots begin to grow from the top of the tree down to the ground.  When they reach the ground, they thicken and meld together to form the trunk, ultimately encasing the original tree and cutting off its sunlight (aka strangling the tree).  The original tree dies and you end up with this amazing hollow structure that will eventually fill in and look like a normal tree, but hollow.  The picture was taken inside the strangler fig, looking up.  Besides that great hike, we've spent a lot of time bonding and getting to know our great professors, plus doing more homework than I imagined for a study-abroad experience.  The homework is ok though, because the classes are really interesting.  Tomorrow will hold a visit to a nearby indigenous territory and more class, then back to San Jose Wednesday for our home-stays and intensive Spanish, plus more class and visits to some sights in the capital city.  Hasta luego!

Into the Field!

I'm writing this blog post from my top bunk in the Las Cruces field station.  Las Cruces is near San Vito, CR, in the south.  We are about a stones throw from Panama and everything is absolutely beautiful.  We spent the day making the trek from San Jose, then walking around the beautiful botanical gardens and being introduced to the station.  We (the 12 other students and I) will have our first classes tomorrow.  Now for a few photos:

The Countdown!

I just completed my Spanish placement exam, so I guess it's true.  I'll be in San Jose, Costa Rica a week from today, being oriented and meeting my new classmates!  I've had a great break, seeing friends and spending time with family, but I'm getting antsy and can't wait to be on the plane.  Though I'm not sure how reliable my internet access will be, I'm going to try to update this blog as often as I can, especially with pictures.  I'm hoping to be even better with email, so please keep in touch!  Hasta la vista!