Last Saturday marked 3 months of being in Costa Rica. I can't believe that time has gone by that quickly!! I've made so many amazing friends and memories here, it's hard to think about leaving! We all had a great time this weekend when we went to the country! It was actually an organized trip with our exchange group and about 7 of the girls out of the group came. We stayed at this gorgeous little hostel right next to a little river where we could go wading. We didn't wade for long, though, because I think we saw like 3 snakes within a 5 hour period, lol, not poisonous, but they don't make for the best company in the water. The food was pretty good, homemade cheese and tortillas! The first day we went to a tiny coffee plantation and had some really fresh coffee. The second day we went to a little dairy farm where we learned how they made the cheese. It was neat but I don't think we were that impressed, lol. 4 of us were from Tennessee, 1 from Nebraska, 1 from North Carolina, and 1 from Illinois that goes to school in North Carolina...we know what cows look like, lol, and a farm is a farm anywhere. It cracks me up how everyone down here thinks that all of the people from the United States come from big cities. It baffles them that the majority of people in the U.S. actually live in rural areas where they have....cows and farms, lol. Oh the silly Costa Ricans...gotta love 'em!
The rest of my week will be pretty easy. I only have 2 more classes because Thursday is the Costa Rican version of Labor Day, so no classes. I was going to go traveling this weekend, but I think we decided to just stay here and relax, maybe catch some movies or something. The next weekend I'll be going to Montezuma, my most favorite place in the world!! I'm trying to make the best of the time I have left here. Part of me is ready to come home and the other part just wants to keep traveling so I can see everything! I've already made plans for all the breaks I have during the school year next year, lol. Now I just have to find a job so I can support all those plans...lol.
Hope all is well for everyone! Good luck to all of those that have finals in the next couple of weeks and hope you have a great start to the summer!
Pura vida,
Amelia
Monday, April 28, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Festival Imperial and homework abounding
Things seem to be going okay at the moment. This past weekend some friends and I went to a music festival called Festival Imperial. Imperial is THE Costa Rican beer and they were the sponsors of the whole event. I found a new band that I really like from Mexico, Cafe Tacvba, and there were several others there as well. The headliners were Incubus and Smashing Pumpkins, both from the U.S., the influence from the U.S. is just crazy sometimes. The Costa Ricans absolutely love both of these bands apparently. I'm not a huge fan of either, but Incubus was pretty good. I think if I had known more of their songs I would have enjoyed it more. Smashing Pumpkins, however, are definitely not one of my favorites. I guess I've never really heard them, but half of their concert was just really noisy and screaming, not my thing. I got out of the crowd before they started. A couple of friends and I were squashed up against a metal barrier in the very middle of the crowd, and we had been standing for about 9 hours. I told the security guard that I couldn't take it anymore and he had the medics come pull me out of the crowd, there was no way to get through the other direction. Imagine being stuck in a sea of 25, 000 screaming, pushing Costa Ricans...not a pretty sight. Anyway, after they gave me a bottle of water at the First Aid tent I was fine, and one of my other friends that wasn't stuck in the middle of the crowd came running to find me after I called her. I just seem to get myself into the silliest situations, don't I? All in all, though, the festival was pretty fun, next time I think I'll just hang around on the outskirts of the crowd, though, especially when I'm not extremely fond of the bands that are playing.
Other than that, I really didn't do much this weekend. I had to write an 8-page paper over Daily Faith and a Horizon of Participation...yeah, not fun, but I finally got it finished. Now I just have to focus on tons of assigned readings and a presentation I have to give on Thursday about Political Ethics in the U.S. Whew...I think I'm ready for school to be over, lol. It's a little sad for me to think about coming, though. I only have about 2 months left! Oh well, that means I can eat pickles and ranch dressing with my french fries again!! :-)
Hope everyone is doing well out there!
Paz,
Amelia
Other than that, I really didn't do much this weekend. I had to write an 8-page paper over Daily Faith and a Horizon of Participation...yeah, not fun, but I finally got it finished. Now I just have to focus on tons of assigned readings and a presentation I have to give on Thursday about Political Ethics in the U.S. Whew...I think I'm ready for school to be over, lol. It's a little sad for me to think about coming, though. I only have about 2 months left! Oh well, that means I can eat pickles and ranch dressing with my french fries again!! :-)
Hope everyone is doing well out there!
Paz,
Amelia
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
I'm not sure if the stamp was worth it...
So, I will preface this blog with this disclaimer:
We were very stupid Gringa girls for getting ourselves into this mess, and my God is a powerful and faithful God.
Now to the story...Elena, Amanda, Brittney, Renee', and I left our town of Heredia on Thursday evening for a city on the Caribbean coast called Puerto Limon. Upon arrival I immediately decided it was the sketchiest place in Costa Rica and I couldn't wait to leave for Panama on Friday morning. The hotel wasn't exactly 5 star, understatement...but it had beds and a lock and it was 10:30 at night, so we weren't complaining. (Side note: We later found out that one of the girls lost her shoes in this hotel and upon calling the owners several times, they told her that she would not be getting her shoes back. Great place, huh?) So, we got up on Friday morning, "refreshed", and ready to hit the Panamanian border! After 5 hours or so we were finally there, and made it through with no problems. We had another stamp in our passport, yay! We then hopped on a bus to a town on the Caribbean coast in Panama and then we took a boat to get to the main island of Bocas del Toro. Once we got there, though, we decided to stay on one of the smaller islands nearby because it was cheaper and less touristy, so we then took a water taxi to get to it. Our hostel on this island, Isla Bastimentos, was comfortable and the owner was a sweet woman whose son took us everywhere in his boat. We enjoyed a nice evening of island life on Friday night with no clue what was to come on Saturday...
We had been told that there was a beach on our island and that you could get to it by walking on a little path for about 15 minutes. So, Saturday morning, we got all geared up to go to the beach: swimsuits, food for lunch, towels, flip-flops...your basic beach needs, and we headed for the trail. We walked to the end of the sidewalk and up a huge flight of concrete steps and ran right into a cemetery...looking back, this could have been foreshadowing of what was to come. None of us doubted that we were on the wrong path or even thought for a second that we should ask for directions. Hence, we were very stupid Gringa girls. So, we're walking on this pretty steep, muddy trail tripping and falling when we come to a little stream with a log over it to cross. Elena and Brittney walk across it first and both slip and fall into the stream. Elena's leg gets stuck in mud up to her knee and both of Brittney's flip-flops break, so she is now shoeless. For some reason though, we didn't turn back. We thought, oh, the beach is really close, you can get all cleaned up there. So we kept going. At this point we had also picked up an old woman from Canada that was studying Spanish by herself in Central America and saw us walking into the jungle and thought we knew where we were going...she turned out to be much more of a hindrance than a help. So, we continue walking through the jungle on a dwindling path and don't think anything of it. Thirty minutes later we were lost in the Panamanian jungle and the panic started to set in. There were spiders as big as our fists everywhere and we expected to see a snake at any point. Everyone started to freak out a little bit. There was no way we could go back because we couldn't remember where we had come from and everywhere we looked was pretty much impassable. Having no choice, we continued to trudge through this jungle, barefoot, and praying the whole time that we would somehow get out of this. We walked for about an hour and found a sign that said: Private property of the Tom family, bought in 1987, don't touch what isn't yours. There was a little Nazi symbol underneath it. I'm pretty sure we were all pretty pissed. What the crap is a Nazi sign doing in the middle of the Panamanian jungle and how in the world will they know if someone has touched their stupid mud and spiders!? Everyone's terror was continuing to mount the longer we were in there, so I started moving as fast as I could. At this point, we were all pretty much barefoot because flip-flops don't have that great of traction in the mud, and I shudder to think of the things that I stepped in and on running through the jungle. We came to a little marsh eventually and the 5 of us booked it across it in fear of the snaked most likely living there, but the Canadian woman had other ideas...it took her 45 minutes to cross the thing!! Brittney and I were standing on a tree limb to keep from standing in the muck and the other girls were attempting to stay out of the marsh as well with little success because we still hadn't run into solid ground yet. I was pretty mad at this point because we were burning daylight, standing still in the middle of the jungle, and were still completely lost and terrified. I just started praying, "Lord, please get us out of this. Guide us to the beach and to safety. I have no clue where I'm going." We eventually got the Canadian out of the marsh, and I ran until I could find solid ground. The sound of the ocean was getting louder and louder and the trees started to thin out more and more. I finally broke free out of the jungle and I've never been so happy to see anything in my entire life. Brittney and I just started sobbing and praising the Lord. Everyone else did the same as soon as they walked out. I know all of you back in the U.S. are probably reading this and thinking that I'm exaggerating, but I assure you that this is the closest I've ever come to a near death experience. We were lost in the middle of the Panamanian jungle for 4 hours without the proper footwear and poisonous spiders at every turn. Words cannot describe our fear. By some miracle, we all came out of it with only scrapes and bruises, no broken bones or major bites. The worst part was that when we came out the policemen patrolling the beach came over to us and told us that the path we should have taken was about 50 or 100 feet away from where we came out. So, yes, we were ridiculously stupid, but God got us through it.
There were a few times when Elena pulled out her camera so I will try to post a few of those pics so you guys can see just what we went through. After this ordeal we continued to try and enjoy ourselves so on Sunday we went on a guided tour where we saw dolphins, went snorkeling, and enjoyed a different beach on a different island where the waves were awesome and we rented a boogie board to play around with.
I can honestly say that this trip was a huge learning experience, and although if I could do it again I would do things differently, I'm really glad that we went. As the title suggests though...I'm pretty sure the entry stamp on my passport wasn't worth what we went through once we got into Panama.
Hope everyone is safe and sound in the U.S. I'm super happy to be alive and out of the Panamanian jungle!! Saturday marked our halfway point, so I'll be home in 2 and a half months!
Appreciating the blessing of life,
Amelia
We were very stupid Gringa girls for getting ourselves into this mess, and my God is a powerful and faithful God.
Now to the story...Elena, Amanda, Brittney, Renee', and I left our town of Heredia on Thursday evening for a city on the Caribbean coast called Puerto Limon. Upon arrival I immediately decided it was the sketchiest place in Costa Rica and I couldn't wait to leave for Panama on Friday morning. The hotel wasn't exactly 5 star, understatement...but it had beds and a lock and it was 10:30 at night, so we weren't complaining. (Side note: We later found out that one of the girls lost her shoes in this hotel and upon calling the owners several times, they told her that she would not be getting her shoes back. Great place, huh?) So, we got up on Friday morning, "refreshed", and ready to hit the Panamanian border! After 5 hours or so we were finally there, and made it through with no problems. We had another stamp in our passport, yay! We then hopped on a bus to a town on the Caribbean coast in Panama and then we took a boat to get to the main island of Bocas del Toro. Once we got there, though, we decided to stay on one of the smaller islands nearby because it was cheaper and less touristy, so we then took a water taxi to get to it. Our hostel on this island, Isla Bastimentos, was comfortable and the owner was a sweet woman whose son took us everywhere in his boat. We enjoyed a nice evening of island life on Friday night with no clue what was to come on Saturday...
We had been told that there was a beach on our island and that you could get to it by walking on a little path for about 15 minutes. So, Saturday morning, we got all geared up to go to the beach: swimsuits, food for lunch, towels, flip-flops...your basic beach needs, and we headed for the trail. We walked to the end of the sidewalk and up a huge flight of concrete steps and ran right into a cemetery...looking back, this could have been foreshadowing of what was to come. None of us doubted that we were on the wrong path or even thought for a second that we should ask for directions. Hence, we were very stupid Gringa girls. So, we're walking on this pretty steep, muddy trail tripping and falling when we come to a little stream with a log over it to cross. Elena and Brittney walk across it first and both slip and fall into the stream. Elena's leg gets stuck in mud up to her knee and both of Brittney's flip-flops break, so she is now shoeless. For some reason though, we didn't turn back. We thought, oh, the beach is really close, you can get all cleaned up there. So we kept going. At this point we had also picked up an old woman from Canada that was studying Spanish by herself in Central America and saw us walking into the jungle and thought we knew where we were going...she turned out to be much more of a hindrance than a help. So, we continue walking through the jungle on a dwindling path and don't think anything of it. Thirty minutes later we were lost in the Panamanian jungle and the panic started to set in. There were spiders as big as our fists everywhere and we expected to see a snake at any point. Everyone started to freak out a little bit. There was no way we could go back because we couldn't remember where we had come from and everywhere we looked was pretty much impassable. Having no choice, we continued to trudge through this jungle, barefoot, and praying the whole time that we would somehow get out of this. We walked for about an hour and found a sign that said: Private property of the Tom family, bought in 1987, don't touch what isn't yours. There was a little Nazi symbol underneath it. I'm pretty sure we were all pretty pissed. What the crap is a Nazi sign doing in the middle of the Panamanian jungle and how in the world will they know if someone has touched their stupid mud and spiders!? Everyone's terror was continuing to mount the longer we were in there, so I started moving as fast as I could. At this point, we were all pretty much barefoot because flip-flops don't have that great of traction in the mud, and I shudder to think of the things that I stepped in and on running through the jungle. We came to a little marsh eventually and the 5 of us booked it across it in fear of the snaked most likely living there, but the Canadian woman had other ideas...it took her 45 minutes to cross the thing!! Brittney and I were standing on a tree limb to keep from standing in the muck and the other girls were attempting to stay out of the marsh as well with little success because we still hadn't run into solid ground yet. I was pretty mad at this point because we were burning daylight, standing still in the middle of the jungle, and were still completely lost and terrified. I just started praying, "Lord, please get us out of this. Guide us to the beach and to safety. I have no clue where I'm going." We eventually got the Canadian out of the marsh, and I ran until I could find solid ground. The sound of the ocean was getting louder and louder and the trees started to thin out more and more. I finally broke free out of the jungle and I've never been so happy to see anything in my entire life. Brittney and I just started sobbing and praising the Lord. Everyone else did the same as soon as they walked out. I know all of you back in the U.S. are probably reading this and thinking that I'm exaggerating, but I assure you that this is the closest I've ever come to a near death experience. We were lost in the middle of the Panamanian jungle for 4 hours without the proper footwear and poisonous spiders at every turn. Words cannot describe our fear. By some miracle, we all came out of it with only scrapes and bruises, no broken bones or major bites. The worst part was that when we came out the policemen patrolling the beach came over to us and told us that the path we should have taken was about 50 or 100 feet away from where we came out. So, yes, we were ridiculously stupid, but God got us through it.
There were a few times when Elena pulled out her camera so I will try to post a few of those pics so you guys can see just what we went through. After this ordeal we continued to try and enjoy ourselves so on Sunday we went on a guided tour where we saw dolphins, went snorkeling, and enjoyed a different beach on a different island where the waves were awesome and we rented a boogie board to play around with.
I can honestly say that this trip was a huge learning experience, and although if I could do it again I would do things differently, I'm really glad that we went. As the title suggests though...I'm pretty sure the entry stamp on my passport wasn't worth what we went through once we got into Panama.
Hope everyone is safe and sound in the U.S. I'm super happy to be alive and out of the Panamanian jungle!! Saturday marked our halfway point, so I'll be home in 2 and a half months!
Appreciating the blessing of life,
Amelia
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Panama Bound
After a long week of homework and my first test in Costa Rica, my friends and I have decided to take a little trip to Panama! It seems somewhat surreal to me, lol. If you had told me a year ago that I would be taking a quick trip to Panama I would have probably laughed. We're going to a place called Bocas de Toro, a series of islands on the Caribbean side of the country. I've heard it's absolutely gorgeous and I plan to do some snorkeling and dolphin watching while I'm there. I'm little nervous of the border crossing and how it will be different from Costa Rica, but it's an adventure! Because of this trip I've fallen in love with traveling, lol. I'm already planning trips to take once I get back to the U.S.
So, when I get back I'll have lots of pics and I'll try to post a few of them on here. Hope all is well in the U.S.! Say a prayer for mine and my friends safety in Panama if you think about it!
Pura vida,
Amelia
So, when I get back I'll have lots of pics and I'll try to post a few of them on here. Hope all is well in the U.S.! Say a prayer for mine and my friends safety in Panama if you think about it!
Pura vida,
Amelia
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Love in Action
Today I had the opportunity to do some translating. It was my first hands-on translating experience. The people in my exchange program received an e-mail about a week ago telling us that if were interested, just let them know. So, today three other friends and I got picked up by a bus and taken to a beautiful little ranch/farm about 20 minutes away from our town. I was almost immediately taken aback at the kindness of the people we were with. They all worked for a foundation called Christian Foundation for Children and Aging which is was founded in the Catholic faith, but doesn't judge based on a person's religion. A lot of them were people from the U.S. that sponsor a child down here for about $30 a day. Because of this money, they are able to buy things like school supplies when they would have no other way of getting money to pay for them. I was so amazed at the love that these Americans had for the families that they sponsor down here. After writing letters back and forth and supporting them, they were finally able to meet. It was incredible. Some of the stories were just heartbreaking and I had tears in my eyes at one point. Today was a day for them to just get together and enjoy each other's company. Everyone played games, ate lunch together, and did a little Latin dancing, lol. So, our job was to translate between the sponsors and their families. It was just so amazing, there aren't even words to describe. I could just feel God's love pouring out of these people onto the Costa Rican families and children. I think all of us were extremely touched. We spoke to the founder of the foundation and got his business card. We're going to see if we can help out some more while we're down here. I feel so blessed after today. It's an amazing organization that is making a difference in the world one child at a time. Incredible...
Also, I learned that I can speak Spanish, lol! I know that sounds crazy, but most days I come home feeling completely stupid because I couldn't understand half of what was said to me, but today, I feel like I accomplished something. It was definitely uplifting and encouraging, and it made me feel like I'm actually learning the language more than I thought I was. Good day, good day...
Website: www.cfcausa.org Check out the foundation's website!
Con amor,
Amelia
Also, I learned that I can speak Spanish, lol! I know that sounds crazy, but most days I come home feeling completely stupid because I couldn't understand half of what was said to me, but today, I feel like I accomplished something. It was definitely uplifting and encouraging, and it made me feel like I'm actually learning the language more than I thought I was. Good day, good day...
Website: www.cfcausa.org Check out the foundation's website!
Con amor,
Amelia
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
