Red and Black.

I had a wonderful time with my friend Anais’ Family over the long Easter weekend!  They were incredibly welcoming and fun loving people!  They also ‘rolled deep’ as we coined it… meaning they brought/bought so much alcohol, food, fruit, and even spices to cook with!  Anais’ mom is an aaammazzing cook!  I HIGHLY enjoyed all the more so American style home cooked meals that we had.  We were in a different area of Tamarindo than the last time that I was in Tamarindo so it did not feel repetitive either.  Regardless of the beautiful beach I really just enjoyed their company!  Of course I always have a “family style” surrounding with Vero and her family but as mentioned before the culture is a bit different and it was nice to feel like I was just at a friends house for the weekend.  It was also nice to get away from home and Vero (not in a mean way) because we are basically together 24/7… live together, work together, go to futbol games together, etc. and I can only imagine that she is just as sick of me.  In Tamarindo I also received some incredible news and was happy to have company (who would really understand) to share the news with.  I applied for a two-year full tuition scholarship back in February and I did not think I really had a chance because it is very competitive but I GOT IT!  I was so happy and Anais’ family were so happy for me and congratulated me which was great to have someone to celebrate with!

Rolling Deep... So much food (for three days)! ... I finally figured out how to make the pictures bigger!

           
 While we were in Tamarindo we went zip lining which I had already done once but couldn’t turn down a second chance to go.  This time was a bit different than the last and it was a smaller group so they let us do more “tricks” if you want to call it that haha

They let us go upside down!

The group! Anais’ brother Gabe, Anais’ father Doug, Me, Jessica Anais' friend, Anais, Anais’ cousin Marium.  Anais’ mother had hurt her foot the day before and was unable to go zip lining.

Anais’ friend, Jessica from High School came with her family for the week and she happens to go to Northeastern University too!  This is our “Northeastern” picture haha

I recently bought a nice SLR camera and I had played with it a bit in San Jose but had not really used it yet and Anais’ father Doug is really into cameras too so he showed me a few new tricks and helped me understand the camera more which was really helpful!  Doug, Marium and I went out one night right before sunset and too a ton of pictures of the beach and the view from the roof top deck and here are the results... 

Beach Sunset!

Views from the roof!

The Beach!

A crab in the coral.

Since I live in Pavas I am a “ligista” or I route for La Liga, a soccer team within the professional soccer league in Costa Rica.  La Liga had their play off game at their home stadium on Wednesday and Veronica, Natalia and I went to the game… boy was it a different experience than the other games I have gone to!  All of the other games that I went to were at the National Stadium rather than at La Liga’s home stadium.  So we were walking from the parking lot to the game and I noticed that I only saw La Liga things for sale (jerseys, flags, etc.) and I was just like weird maybe the other side of the stadium is the other teams gear.  Nope.  When we get to the stadium I only see red and back, which is La Liga’s colors.  There was one TINY section that was of the other team and the entire rest of the stadium was for La Liga so I asked Veronica where the other team was from and she said a town that is only about an hour away from the stadium … I couldn’t believe it!  The fans were also crazy! I almost felt bad for the other team because they were so intense!  La Liga ended up losing so we are out of the finals but it was still definitely and experience.

It is all red and black.

Fans climbing down from the fence after La Liga scored (I was not quick enough to get them while they were up)

Lazy days.  Other than going to dance class (two days a week) and Spanish lessons (one day a week) and obviously work, I have zero responsibilities and it is kind of nice!  On weekends that I do not do anything or go anywhere I am able to go on long runs, the gym and a long walk to the nicer grocery store and I must say it is nice but admittely I miss the hectic college life even classes and learning.  I have been on an NPR kick to get my daily knowledge hahaha  I am a little limited on what I can do on weekends because I do not have a car to go places but I always seem to find something to fill my time!

La Feria.  I finally remembered to take a picture of la feria.  This past Saturday was especially crowded!  I am going to miss weekly cheap and fresh fruit!  

The stands line the street.

My latest favorite fruit, Papaya!  I never realized the inside was a star before.

America.

Miami.  Not a fan of the city but I was America’s biggest fan for the weekend.  I went off the rice and bean diet for the weekend and indulged in some American food while enjoying English and a little bit of shopping and last but not least I DRANK SO MUCH--- milk!  Milk in Costa Rica just is not the same and I don’t exactly drink it very often or at all here so it was probably what I missed the most in terms of food/drinks. I also enjoyed a hearty salad a day at Panarea Bread (everyday) and I even found myself a Gluten Free Pizza in South Beach, Miami.  I was in American food heaven!   

Thank you papa Durante for working for American Airlines!  My friend Chelsea was able to fly in for a little over 24 hours before she had to get back to classes.  However, in the time that she was there she had a bit of a cultural experience… when she took the bus from the airport to North Miami, which passed through lovely “Little Havana” and if you are not familiar with “Little Havana” it is not the best part of town.  She at one point informed me that she was the only Caucasian on the bus and was excited to tell me that a “fellow white man” joined her on the bus but soon got off. Hahaha I had a good laugh at this after being the only “white girl” for the last 3 months.  Any how, I was incredibly grateful that she could come and it made me a little sad that I wasn’t home or in Boston with all of my friends but all the more sweet it will be come fall! 

I tired.  I really tired to make it 6 months with out depending upon Americans to hang out with or help me out here but at the end of the day you just get along better with the people in your own culture.  I hate to admit it but it is just the way it is.  However, I am proud that I gave it a shot and made it 3 months on my own and I did attempt to meet Ticos but it is a really difficult culture to infiltrate into.  The US is very unique compared to other cultures.  In the US there are colleges that are basically huge playgrounds for students from ages 18-23 where there are no supervisors or parents and complete freedom!  This also means that you have thousands of people to hang out with and make friends with on a daily basis.  Most of the time it is also people from all over the country and sometimes world.  It is not the same in Costa Rica.  Compared to Americans ticos have very few friends and mainly hang out with their childhood friends that grew up in their neighborhood and their family.  They are also not very interested in making new friends and are content with what they have… which made it extremely difficult to make friends here.  I also understand that it is my environment too because cities are always a bit harder to meet people.  With this understanding I decided that the next American that I ran into I would introduce myself and possibly try to reach out and make a friend.  So two Saturday’s ago when I was at the feria I heard a couple of girls speaking English so I took my 20 seconds of courage and introduced myself, and I am glad I did.  One of the girls has been in the peace corps in Costa Rica for 2 years and just renewed for another year!  The other girl, Anais (First generation Cuban-American) has lived here for a year and a half and works for a Micro lending company in San Jose.  I was surprised when Anais called me a few hours after exchanging numbers to hang out.  Since, Anais and I have gone to see the Hunger Games and lunch at TGI Fridays (yes we had to embrace our American-ness but it wasn’t even that good) and she even invited me to go with her family to Tamarindo this weekend!  I tell her that Karma is just building up for her kindness and she just accredits her kindness to “knowing what is like to be alone in Costa Rica” because that is what is was like for her when she first got here.  For me, it feels weird to have an American friend after fending for myself the last three months but I’m ready to be somewhat social again! haha

On the Walk to TGI Friday's.

Hard. Knock. Life. Two three day weeks, going to the beach, 80 degree weather… poor me. Haha This week from this past Monday to Sunday is La Semana Santa or The Holy Week in Costa Rica.  Most businesses close for the entire week and some only have Thursday and Friday off and of course my company is only off Thursday and Friday, which I will admit is better than nothing!  As mentioned above I am off to Tamarindo Thursday morning with Anais and her family and very much so looking forward to it!

Sorry for the lack of pictures this week… I will be sure to take extra this weekend in Tamarindo! 

WATCH OUT…

Molly’s got some new moves! (Excuse my extremely punchy mood right now)  My latest and greatest adventure… Dance Classes.  Oh yes full out salsa, punta, socca, mambo… etc.  There is a dance studio about ¾ of a mile down the road from where I live and every time I drive or run past it I considered the thought of signing up but then I think of my gringo dancing skills and the weekly hour and half class of looking like a fool and I reconsider and weiney out of it.  Not this time!  I, Molly Stevens, danced the night away for an hour and a half on Thursday night…  and when I say danced the night away I mean like looked like a fool for all 90 minutes.  Good news though… it is a beginner’s class and everyone was pretty much just as bad as me so I didn’t feel quite as ridiculous.  I was hoping to also make this embarrassing task as an effort to meet more people, my own age.  However, the class was mostly older people and one other girl who was probably 16 or 17.  To torture myself more I decided to pay the extra $6 and go twice a week with an additional 2 hour class on Saturday.  Saturdays class brought a little more of a younger crowed which was cool but made it more embarrassing… you can never win! ;)   However, by the time I get home I hope to be some what of a competent latino dancer. hahah 

Work.  Lately, I have been receiving daily complements from customers at work.  One customer said that Trackit was lucky to have me on staff; another said that my contract should be extended forever, and one even said that I was “one in a million”! Who wouldn’t want to go to work every day… I wish it worked like that haha   However, there are perks… this weekend I will be going to Miami to get products for the business and to fix our inventory at Amazon.com!  I feel a little awkward that I am going back to the states for the weekend from Costa Rica but twist my arm!  I am surprisingly really excited to go back for the weekend and indulge in some American food and shopping… clothes are sooo expensive in Costa Rica!  I have never been to Miami so I am also excited to see what it is like! Last but not least… I am excited to buy my first legal alcoholic drink in the US!  Since I turned 21 in Costa Rica the excitement of being 21 has not really set in yet since the drinking age is 18 here so I am excited to feel like a big kid for the weekend! 

La Sabana.  The Sabana is a huge park about two miles from where I live.  It houses the National Stadium and many annual festivals.  The last two weeks have been the “Cultural Festival” where there are different food venders with typical Costa Rican food an also other Cultural food.  There was different artwork and crafts for sale and also a few rides and cool activities for people to do.  There are also many free concerts and shows during the festival.  Last Friday was “Calle 13” which is an Argentinean band that is one of my favorite bands of out of all the Latino music that I was introduced to in Costa Rica.  There were heaps of people at the concert and it was a ton of fun!  Over all I really liked the festival and saw a lot of really creative and different things that was definitely made it world the trip there. 

Panama did not work out last weekend but I am hoping to make it there some time in the near future as for it is so close to Costa Rica!

It is probably really hard to see but it is a man riding a really high bike around the festival. 

 A "recycled tree"

 "Brian twister" game... Each game has an objective like getting a ball in a hole, connecting something etc.

 A cool looking statue.

 The Korean center.

 A picture of part of the fair.

 An exhibit at the Korean center.

 These funny bikes and shooters for people to ride/try to drive.

 The view from the hill that I run to.

Rocky Road Rafting!

It has been and eventful week!  Emma arrived to San Jose last Thursday and we got a rental car that turned out to be the last car left... a HUGE SUV.  We did need a 4x4 to go to one of our destinations so beggars could not be choosers and we were off with a huge car that we soon named, The Boat.  After grabbing some snacks we hit the road for Monteverde, a popular tourist destination in Northern Costa Rica.  It was about a 4 hour drive and when I told my boss that we were driving there at night he was like "Really?!" and I thought it was strange that he was surprised so I asked if it was a bad idea to drive at night and he said, "well I guess not but some of the roads are rough" so upstate New Yorker me, took it with a grain of salt and we left for Monteverde.  After about 3 hours into the trip I said to Emma, "This isn't bad it is just really hilly and curvy"... little did we know.  About 15 minutes later we were on very narrow, gravel road with a bank on one side of us and a cliff on the other.  Prior to the trip Emma had asked about possibly going whitewater rafting because it is relatively popular here but it was a little to far out of our price range so we opted out.  However, after about 30 minutes on the gravel road that was taking us straight up hill Emma declared that, "This is like whitewater rafting it is so bumpy and our car is Boat!" We soon came up with "Rocky Road Rafting!"  hahaha  and it wasn't long after that we wished for the rafting to be over… by Monday our necks were so sore from driving on so many bumpy gravel roads!  

                                                      The Boat!

On the narrow gravel road to Monteverde we started to get a little more nervous when cars started to come down the hill that we were going up with a cliff on the side of us.  At one point a huge truck was coming down the hill and were very grateful to see that the cliff was his side of the road! haha We made it to Monteverde at about 9pm and were shocked to see how small the town was.  

The next morning we were set to go horseback riding at 9am!  When we arrived at the farm we learned that it we were the only ones going on the tour.  We started out on a good foot when our tour guide was bucked off his horse!  He was not hurt but was a little startled.  We later learned that it was his first time falling off a horse in 13 years!  After his fall he took a little time to recover and was soon back on his horse and showing me a picture of all of his children and about 8 pictures of his dog. haha  He did not speak very much English but was very patient with us to make sure that we understood everything in Spanish.  Emma has not taken Spanish since high school so the delay in understanding things and speaking in Spanish was a little slower.  It is hard to get used to only speaking Spanish and it had been so long since Emma has used Spanish that I was impressed with how much she remembered but I couldn't help but giggle at a few things.  When we were at the farm she was amazed at how clean the white horse was and wanted to ask how it was so clean.  However, when she did so she asked why her head was so clean, cabeza (head) instead of caballo (horse).  A few more cabeza’s were used for horse, house and various words starting with C and it soon became the joke of the day and gave us a good laugh.

Emma and I on the horse's! Whiskey and Johnny... mine was Whiskey... he was a little sassy. 

                                                    A pretty view from the Hike.

We saw a Tucanito.. a small Tucan! ... it is a little hard to see...

Later in the day we went in search of a hike, Cerro Amigos “Friends Hill” that I had read about in review about things to do in Monteverde.  Before Emma left her mom said that between the two of us we should have a whole brain good enough to get around safely, turns we got around safely but not very accurately... After driving around for an hour looking for the start of the hike we soon found out that it was about 100 meters from our hotel, where we had first set out to find it.  While we were looking for the hike we stopped and asked for directions and a kind Tico explained the directions and then asked if we were "fit" and we were like yeah we are runners etc. and he proceeded to tell us that it takes about 45 minutes to get to the top.  We started the hike and it was soon obvious why the Tico had asked us if we were in shape.  It was not a “hill” it was a mountain and the trail did not curve around the mountain it went straight up the mountain and we were dying after about 10 minutes.  However, we redeemed ourselves and made it up the hill in only 35 minutes!  When we got to the top there was a beautiful view of the Pacific gulf and supposedly could see Nicaragua from there too.

                While we were looking for the hike for an hour we did come across MONKEYS! 

 
                                                   The view from the top of the mountain!

The view from the other side of the mountain.  If you look closely you can see the Pacific Gulf... it is the tiny white sliver... that is water.... it looked much better in person.

                                                                              Emma!

It was a close one! 

We also saw a waterfall on the hike too!... this is actually about 8 inches big hahaha... it cracked us up!

   

On Saturday we were off to Arenal, which is famous for its lake, volcano, and rain forest.  On our way to Arenal we stopped for lunch at a relatively sketchy restaurant that turned out to be delicious and Emma's favorite meal of the week.  Sometimes the best things come from the most unexpected places.  At Arenal we did a "Canopy Tour" which included 12 zip lines and 1 "Tarzan Swinging." The Tarzan Swing was literally swinging off of a 40 foot drop... It was "optional but you have to do it" as our tour guides told us haha We had a blast on the tour and was well worth the trip to Arenal.  

                                                      Emma and I all suited up!

Emma harnessed in to swing like Tarzan! 

                                                                   Me Zip Lining!

There was a comments book at the Canopy Tour company that we were looking through and we came across this comment.... it gave us a good laugh. 

Pictures of Arenal Volcano and Lake. 

                       On the drive home saw a Coati in the road! They are in the same family as a Raccoon.

Windmills on the mountain!

After Arenal we were off to Tamarindo, one of the most popular beaches in Guanacaste, Costa Rica.

The adventures of traveling...  I made a reservation at the hostel that we were going to stay at in Tamarindo a couple weeks prior to the trip but when we showed up to the hostel it was full.  I told them my name and they had the reservation but they had accidentally over booked but they offered to put us up in a Hotel just down the road that was nicer and included breakfast!  They said that they would pay the difference so we happily obliged and were happy with the upgrade.  The owner of the hotel met us when we got there and showed us the room and said that we could have it for $40 a night instead of $50.  When we told her that we were told that we could have it for $30 a night and they the hostel was going to make up the difference she was a little shocked but agreed.  So the next morning when we got up we went to go look for where breakfast was served and when we stepped outside looking confused the owner came down the stairs and asked where we were going and when we said we were looking for breakfast she said "you think you get breakfast for $30 a night" and the looks on our faces must have been priceless... talk about an uncomfortable situation!  Apparently there was a little confusion in what the situation was or this lady just did not like the fact that we were only paying $30 a night.  Whatever the situation was we no longer felt very comfortable staying there and hit the beach! 

Surfing is really popular in Tamarindo. 

"Everything is an adventure, except when you are tired and cranky!" ... The drive from hell.  I work for a GPS company and I felt as though I was pretty prideful in our map... this was until we had the drive from hell.  We were driving from Tamarindo back home to San Jose and the GPS said 6 hours and we heard people say that it only takes 5 to 5.5 so we figured that the GPS just had slower calculations.  After we realized that we were driving around Arenal and going the long way home it was too late to turn around so it took us a lovely 8 hours to get home and did not get home until 1am and by that point we were pretty cranky and cursing my boss left and right.  However, back at work my boss solved the problem and the map is as good as new now... there was a "broken" road drawn on the map so it did not direct us the right route because the other route was incomplete... at least we were the ones to find the mistake rather than a customer. 

After this 8 hour drive our luck went down hill from there… on Monday we drove to the Volcano that was about 1.5 hours from San Jose and once we got there the man at the park sent us back down the mountain after he informed us that because it was so cloudy we would not be able to see anything… we were bummed but moved on to our next destination, lunch and the Cartago Ruins but things did not look any better… after lunch we made it back to a car with a dead battery and had to ask someone if they could jump us.  Luckily, it is a law in Costa Rica that everyone must have jumper cables in their car so it was not too hard to find someone to help us.  After we were up and running again we made our way to the ruins only to find that it was not open… shit luck.  The sign said that it was open M-F 8-4 but it was 2pm on a Monday and the pad locked gate did not look very open.  At this point we cut our loses for the day and just drove around cartago for a little bit and then back to San Jose to return the rental car.

                          What we did get to see on Monday... The beautiful Basilica in Cartago.

It was really great having Emma here.  I am glad that I was able to introduce all of the different foods, which we had a steady schedule of what foods needed to be tasted! haha It was also great just to have someone to understand what it is like here and have a full understanding of where I am living and met the people that I see the daily basis.  I was sad to see her off at the airport but I am incredibly happy that she was able to come!  For now I am back to the daily grind until I head off to Panama next weekend! ... hard knock life!