A good Monday

Monday was one of those days I was on..... I kicked but in my spanish lab today and I rocked my yoga class. Im thinking its that I am finally in balance, although I was a little shakey on the mo ped while Mac was driving. A night stroll to the supermarcado led me to find the cutest little puppy. He was a black lab probably only 10 weeks old, gesh I miss Teah :( Oh and if you guys are interested in some funny clips check out the links below, some of the swiss students showed us these clips, I think they are pretty funny.
 Two dogs in a restaurant   Bad monkey, poor frog

Tortuga Island

The day began with a 2 hour boat ride aboard a yacht to the beautiful Tortuga Island. On the yacht we were given fresh fruit and a rum beverage that was called happy juice, while we all rocked out to Bob Marley! I spent most of my time sitting on the upper deck of the boat taking in the beautiful scenery and enjoying the warm breeze of the ocean. Before we got to the island we took a detour to a doc that was positioned between two large rocks (or two small islands). There we went snorkelling and saw tropical fish, star fish hermit crabs, sea cucumber as well as other tropical water species that I cannot remember the names of. The island itself was beautiful; it was a white sand beach with crystal clear blue water. We were served bbq chicken for lunch and later tried out the banana boat ride lol. We were also aloud to jump off the 14 foot boat deck into the ocean....so fun! On the boat ride back we saw dolphins  in the water by our boat and watched the sunset until it was taken away by the clouds. I did however manage to snap off a few sunset pics first J

Creatures of Costa Rica

As I was looking through the fantastic Frommer’s guide for Costa Rica that my momma bought me I stumbled upon a particular animal that live in the Central American area. It is called a Coatimundi, which we say in Mexico at Brits wedding. I think the names we came up with were more appropriate lol. Also today I almost stepped on a giant iguana, thank god it ran away. Thinking this story would be better if I got a picture I then ran to get my camera from my room and chased it around the back of the school. This was alot cooler than the spider encounter I had onmy first night at the school. I found a huge (i'm taking like toonie size body and 3 inch long hairy legged, black and white) spider in the bathroom sink! Sorry I was too scared to get a picture of this one lol.

Another few cool things happened today, my Spanish teacher said that she is going to teach me a song in Spanish that I can sing with my guitar!!!! Not sure how good I will sound but I am sure excited to try it out.  Also I found a sustitute for my red liccorice withdrawal I have been having. I have been looking everywhere for liccorice but it is no where to be found and today when I saw a sign that said Costa Rican Liccorice I bee lined it to the store and was pleasently surprized to find out that Costa Rican Liccorice is dried pineapple with spices. It is the perfect combination of chewiness and flavour and it is the perfect snack. Though if anyone comes to visit me and they dont bring me nibbs, I'm not going to be very impressed lol.

Sweet and Salty!

Today  was pretty amazing, the school took us on a hike to this beautiful waterfall where we were able to jump into the crystal clear water! On the hike I saw a beautiful purple butterfly (mariposa es bontia y morado).  After the excursion Carlos, one of the teachers, introduced us to a cacao fruit that is used to make chocolate. You take out the seeds which are covered in a sweet fruit goo, then the seeds are crushed and used as one of the ingredients in chocolate. We tasted the goo and it was the most natuarlly sweet tasting fruit I think I have ever had! Check out the link below "How chocolate is made".How chocolat is made

In the afternoon I went for a solo walk on Jaco Beach, then made a pit stop at the beachfront diner. As I was sipping my pina colada a tico approached me and made me a heart out of pom tree leaves! Mom I was thinking of you today as I awoke from my nap in my hammock to see a beautiful, tiny little humming bird drinking for the flowers in the tree above me! It was so peacefull.

Mi gusto bailar la Salsa!

Starting this post by saying Happy Birthday to Jenna!!!!! Xoxox

Getting up for a 730am yoga class was rough after a night out, but today’s class was The Bikram Yoga series which I am familiar with so it actually went pretty well. I also won at our Spanish game in class!

In the afternoon after a nap pool side I went for my first salsa dance lesson. We didn’t get to dance with boys yet, we had to use gi belts tied to a ballet poll, but we named them and let me tell you Antonio showed mea good time lol. Salsa comes from your hips, it is fun, sexy and makes you work hard to keep up to the speedy Latino beats. My dance instructor Laura is in the photo below teaching ballet (she is also my Spanish professor and probably my favourite person I have met on this trip thus far).

Though it is no where near what we are doing in class, I posted a link (Amazing salsa dancing) to a salsa competetion below, this shows just how beautiful, challenging and fun the dance can be :)

Amazing Salsa Dancing!

A New Week

Monday was my first yoga class (flow yoga) and it was amazing. The teacher gave everyone in the small class so much attention and helped us achieve the proper poses and her mix of music was relaxing but also included Bob Marley! I sure did feel the yoga the next day though lol. Monday night was yet again ladies night at a local bar called “Tabaccon”(ta-bass-yon), it’s really hard to turn down free drinks so a bunch of us hung out and played foose ball while listening to the DJ’s mixture of reggae and top 40. The picture is of me and my friend Morgan and the bar and I dont know who that guy on the wall is supposed to be maybe Jesus?????

Sunday "SUN" day

Today was all about working on my tan.... Mac and I laid around the pool, did a little grocery shopping followed by a sushi dinner with some of the girls from school. Don't worry though momma I did make flash cards for my Spanish class, so I am studing like a good girl.

Yoga class starts tomorrow, cant wait!

Pura Vida,

Bre

Hermosa Beach

There was a surf show in Hermosa Beach just of side of Jacco, the surfers were good but the sunset was better. I was lying on the beach watching the sunset listening to Red Hot Chilli Peppers while the cutest little kids were playing in the sand. Oh and I was sipping on a very expensive yet tasty Pina Colada! It was a really nice and very much needed afternoon after the morning I had. Besides my killer hangover I found out that the pool turned my hair green, scuffed my sandal, lost my leather bracelet and watched my forehead peel off L.

The Weekend at Last

March 18th 2011

Our Spanish lab today was at the local market where we were allowed to shop and our teacher made us say the things we saw at the market in Spanish. There my teacher ordered me a coconut milk. At that point the farmer took out his machete in one hand and in the other he made two slices on my coconut then gave me a straw. Never have I ever had anything so fresh J. In the evening we all went out to some local nightclubs that had ladies night, best thing ever by the way.....ladies night means that chicas drink for freeeeeee!

Watch Out!

The last two days have been about surfing, burning from the hot sun and crocks. I finally went past the white water waves in my surfing lesson today only to almost drown in a huge wave. I would have also lost my bikini bottoms as well if I didn’t have the leash on the board. One of the outings at the school was a crocodile tour, not only did the guides guarantee us that we would see crocs but they provoked them with chicken meat. I tried to touch them as they were sooooo close to our boat but my arm was a little too short.  

The School of the World Jaco Beach

As a very Catholic Christian practicing country almost every store was closed on Sunday, so we travelled by bus (4 hours) to Jaco Beach where the School of the World was located. The school is very relaxed and surrounded by plants hammocks and a central pool. I am currently sharing a room with Mac, our room has a private bathroom and a partial kitchen with a fridge. We spent the night absorbing the laid back atmosphere with the other students while consuming Pilsen cerveza (the local version of Pilsner lager).

http://www.schooloftheworld.org/

Taking in the Culture

Museo Nacional De Costa Rica, the countries national museum featured butterfly gardens,  pre Columbian history, indigenous gold artefacts, barrack cells, wood and jade jewellery, carvings and artefacts, ancient tombs, magic symbols of nature as well as stone metates as symbolic sculptures.

On a side note there was a butter company that was celebrating their anniversary and was giving away free cake to everyone as the cake was almost the entire size of the stage. I guess it was beter to do cake tasting instead of butter tasting (excpt if you my sister lol)

In the evening we headed to a local flamingo show at the theatre, although it was all in Spanish the band and the dancers were fabulous and very entertaining. On the way there we saw some street musicians and I have to say I am getting very interested in learning how to lay the traditional Spanish guitar.

San Jose

After arriving in Costa Rica I had to get to Hotel Capital alone because Mac was unreachable and unavailable (this is where the plan B would have come in handy).As I tried to ignore my nervous feelings about getting tipped off by a cab driver they were interrupted by the shock I felt about the hotel I was staying at. All the windows had bars and there was an extensively gate surrounding the door. Was this part of town so bad that all of these precautions were necessary? The room had missing windows and tacky drapes to say the least. Wondering if Mac would follow my lead I took a nap and too my surprise I was awoken by her sweet voice.

Our first night on the town in San Jose was interesting for sure. Mac and I took the advice of the Frommer’s guide and enjoyed a meal and vino on an outdoor patio, followed by drinks at a karaoke bar. I did work up the courage to sing “Don’t Speak” by No Doubt and it was there that Mac introduced me to my new favourite Central American drink “caparina” (vodka or white rum, raw sugar, fresh lime and I think a little magic). On a side note we did meet an interesting bunch of locals that night as well.