Costarricense!!

I think the last year was what I'd call a money's worth year or in other words a full-on paisa vasool Bollywood entertainer! There was separation, drama, happiness, laughter, loneliness, fun, friendship and so much newness. Visited three new countries and in one of them as I write this. We are in Monteverde, Costa Rica now. It's been a week since we landed in San Jose and 14 frijoles y arroz (beans and rice) later, I can say that I'm looking forward to the next six weeks.

I am so happy here that I had to analyze the feeling. I have concluded that it is because this place reminds me of home so much. It's hot, sweaty and tropical green everywhere. I already have a pimple on my forehead and an uneven tan. We walk an hour everyday uphill and downhill to and from Instituto de Monteverde (MVI). Right next to it is The Cheese Factory that has icecream and shakes but we are trying to keep the visits weekly. Our walks are in single file with Caitlin periodically calling, "A la derecha/esquierda" when vehicles pass, Yamuna clicking pictures of every interesting thing she sees, Kotrina with her cute "Pinto" a dog who has taken her as its owner and me dreaming of watermelons! We've seen caimans, vultures, a toucan, white-headed capuchins, hummingbirds and countless chihuahauas.

Costa Ricans live life at their own pace, are very friendly and one of the tiquismos (local expressions) is "pura vida". Very touristy but what the hell. This Costariccense is taken out of context in funny ways too. We wanted to do yoga here since Ernesto told us about the studios, but since the cheaper and better one was closed on Saturday, we went to the expensive one called "Rio Shanti", already strike one! We enter to meet two breathy ladies who used "that is so awesome" in the most irritating falsettos 3 times in the same sentence, strike two! And they hugged and said, "second hug, see you tomorrow morning at 9", strike three!

Downtown consists of shops and restaurants and can be navigated in 5 minutes. There is a hippy resthouse with the token hippies strategically placed along the banisters, the SuperMercado (supermarket), the souvenir shops, the local watering hole called Bar Amigos, out of whose back windows we "chicas" were hollered and catcalled at as we went home and there is another bar which we haven't tried yet which is the chica-friendly one.

The project that I'm going to be working on looks very promising and Ernesto, my adviser and teacher here at MVI is a Costa Rican from heaven! He is doing research on food insecurity and nutrition and health impacts of eco-tourism and integration into the market economy in the community. I will be doing a literature review on public health program models and their adaptability, talking to people in the community and even trying to work with them if possible in the fields or at the workplace. I will be able to improve my Spanish and talk to people, see what life here is like and live like a Tica for awhile! On the weekends, we plan to go on hikes, drive up to Mt. Arenal, hang out at the Common Cup which is the local coffee shop that sells coffee from the farmers in San Rafael, and visit the famous Cloud Forest Reserve at some point. This is excellent.

Estabien,
To life