Cortez Azul Alajuela

... for a day. I watched a bit of the US v Brazil game with my Tica family as well…the US lost…of course. I didn’t do much else during the day…I watched Ice Age 1 and 2 with my Tica mom and Tica sister in Spanish that night though because Ice Age 3 is coming out and my Tica mom wants to see it but I never saw 1 or 2 yet. They were alright and I understood more than I thought I would.

Monday, June 29 – I’m on my lunch break ...

... is free at that time. The system is quite complicated, more than my very simplified version and I’m not sure I am grasping the whole concept completely, but I hope so--we’re learning a lot about it, but the EBAISes are the primary care center in La Caja – people go there first; or it comes to them, with the ATAPs. We first went to the wrong EBAIS and we waited for the doctors for over an hour – just standing there in the hot sun because ...

... hoch. Ich kann nicht, weil ich kein Kamerakabel habe und seine Kamera macht eh die besseren Bilder. Auf dem Bus zurueck waren der Fahrer und eine Mitreisende auch wieder wirklich freundlich und haben uns die besten Tipps fuer Costa Rica gegeben. Wenn bemerkt wird dass man etwas spanisch spricht oder es zumindest versucht, dann freut sich hier jeder. Wenn man dann noch sagt dass man aus Deutschland kommt, dann freuen ...

... and Laurie (just kiddin' honey!). I had a massage, but true to TicoTown the guy didn't show and I was almost relieved because we didn't have much time left to go to Manual Antonio. Sean and I lounged by the pool for a bit and I had yet another round of cheese sticks at the hotel restaurant. Nothing like a little buttery fried cheese to get the arteries workin and the blood movin! Of course I had an Imperial to wash it down. Then we headed to Manual Antonio to ...

... bed the next morning. We had to go to the bus station early to try to get out of lovely, but money-sucking, Costa Rica. One negative I´m finding to being the only one who speaks Spanish is that I have to go everywhere to do the translating!! Ticabus was very expensive ($21/each) to go to Rivas (the Nicaraguan town 30 min from the border) and all buses for that day were full already. We´d heard of another company called Transportes Deldú that was cheaper so we decided we´d ...

... steam rising from a vent near the lake. I can't believe that it is safe to be so close to a volcano!!! I am going to another research station up in the mountains tomorrow, and I won't have internet access. Hopefully, by the time I get back, I will have some more fun stories to share.

Its the night before I go home and wow has this been an adventure. The last few days in Mal Pais were great. I saw some amazing sunsets, have a nice tan, and read some really good books (thats right plural). For those of you who truly know me know that I don´t read that much, so you must know I was really relaxing and vegging ...

... we were able to convey to each other the more important stuff. And yes, I didn't prepare for this, as I thought the whole time I'd be with my friends. You should all see the proud smile in my face as I struggle to converse with the cab driver, asking what I can do for 6 hrs, explaining I have 6 hrs to kill, blah blah blah. It's mostly trying-hard-portuguese-with-spanish-acc ent kinda thing. And it just ...

... spoke only broken English but was fantastic. He knew exactly what to tell us at every point, and did so with such gusto and enthusiasm. All the staff members there clearly loved their jobs.

After we successfully navigated through narrow passages, around huge rocks, and over deep holes, we stopped for "high fives" and cheers, putting our oars together in the air.

One of the guides is on the national team, and said he may get to go the Olympics in China if the sport is ...

... C'est notre dernier message en direct du Costa Rica. Nous essaierons de mettre quelques photos à notre retour. Il y a aussi quelques anecdotes que j'aimerais noter pour ne pas les oublier. Nous serons de retour dans le froid, la slushe et la neige dans la nuit de lundi à mardi. Nous espérons que vous avez apprécier nos récits. À bientôt! Melanie et Yannick (avec une pensée pour Marie-Ève, qui est déjà dans le froid!)