Hotel California Manuel Antonio National Park

... to dinner, but we were on vacation and we were being flexible).<br><br>When we got back to the hotel, Parker and Shaeleigh wanted to go shopping in Quepos. Oscar took Necia and the kids and I back to Quepos to shop. Malesa, grandma and grandpa stayed back at the hotel. When we got to Quepos, it was just about sundown. I took a picture of the kids near the beach just as the sun was going down. <br><br>Quepos is a fairly large town and the shopping ...

... from a roadside vendor. One of the disappointments for them this trip has been the price of Cuban cigars, which was about $40 at one supermarket. The cigar maker also showed us a big rhinocerous beetle he'd captured. I'm glad we don't have to be concerned with exterminating those in FL. <br><br>We arrived at Manuel Antonio tired and after checking in to our hotel we made our way to a local watering hole to enjoy their Happy Hour margarita ...

... We soon got the hang of his instructions, although when the going got tough it did begin to get a little difficult hearing what he had to say for himself. I was never quite sure if he'd just shouted "get in!!" or "paddle!!" so on more than one occasion I found myself in some hairy situations... The woman from Miami broke all records on screaming as we hit rapid after rapid in quick succession, even bursting into tears when it was her turn to sit at the front ...

... seeing all these little shells with legs slowly walking across the beach en-mass. It's like watching a grazing heard. If you venture close to have a look it's a bit like being part of a cartoon... legs disappear, shell drops like a stone onto the sand and you know by the way they sit motionless, occasionally peeking from under the shell and wishing you would go away Several jelly fish. Although we didn't actually see these ...

... and and rodents that look like a Capabarra but smaller but we really wanted to find a sloth.. that is what everyone goes into that park to find. We did end up eventually seeing one but not on our own. There were 3 or 4 tour groups who had telescopes set up to view the animal in the tree they let us look through and take pictures even though we were not part of the tour. I don´t have any pictures it didn´t work unfortunutly. After I ended up staying the rest of the day on ...

... Spencer said he thought it looked like snot. Though the seeds were kind of crunchy to eat, the "gelatinous sphere of transparent pulp" was actually pretty tasty. Inez also sent me to school one day with two caimitos. I ended up bringing one of them home to take a picture of that night. Inez says "macha" or "mancha" and points to her mouth after eating. "Mancha" is "stain/mark" -- but it does not leave one. "Macha ...

Montana Linda (which means "beautiful mountain" in Spanish) boasts that it is the second-cheapest language school in Costa Rica. I'm not sure which school is the #1 cheapest, but I don't care, either. ;-) It's hard to know if my needs would be equally well met if I were brand new to the language, but with six years in junior high and high school, and a semester in college, this place is meeting my needs very well. At $31/day for breakfast, dinner ...

... I will update this entry soon with a picture of an Orosi classroom of students. <br><br>I'm off to see if they need assistance teaching community English classes tonight. (Yesterday they told me they may be "full" with "teachers" right now. The organization of the classes seems a tad on the loose side.) My next entry will be more "journal-like," sharing what I'm eating, what I'm doing, etc. Suffice it to say, I'm eating and sleeping well and am very happy with the journey thus far.

We are almost ready, we are getting a little bad weather due to Hurricane Dean and we are ready for the sunny skies of California. I apologize for the delay in posting that last entry from Indonesia/Singapore. Jim and I have been busy with our new puppy, Chocolatte. I will include a few photos here of him - this is our first time leaving him for more than a couple of days - but he will be staying out on ...

... popcorn blew. We also felt a little out of place being 2 of only about 9 people in the entire theatre that weren't furiously clamped to each other's faces. It wouldn't have been quite so disturbing if they all didn't slowly wobble their heads in Stevie Wonder-ish fashion while making disgusting fish-like motions with their cheeks. I can now see why I've never reached my full necking potential, having my tongue reach all the inner recesses of the lucky lady's gums, palate ...