Más y más

(More and more)

The more I do, the less time I have to blog! Bear with me, as I will try to continue sharing my stories and pictures. =)

Green/black poison frog (center of picture)

Un natillera (bread with butter and sour cream)

Last Tuesday I went to Museo del Oro (Museum of Gold)

They had a feline exhibit with different pre-historic statues of felines.

Interactive Game!

Most of the gold had influence from the nature around - here are some frogs (ranas)

Crocodile

Frog with a moustache?

Ceramic Crocodiles!

And now onto interesting foods! Or at the very least, delicious foods!

Interesting candy

Watermelon smoothie!

Arroz con pollo

My roommate Barbara and the cooking teacher - who brought cake and ice cream for her birthday.

It seems as though Costa Ricans celebrate birthdays the same way we do. =)

Oh, you want to know how to sing "Happy Birthday" in Spanish? Well here goes (to the same tune):

♪♫ Feliz cumpleaños a ti, feliz cumpleaños a ti, feliz cumpleaños a (name), feliz cumpleaños a ti ♪♫

And now, off to the wood factory!

These pieces are from a Guanacaste, the national tree of Costa Rica. It is illegal to cut down trees anywhere in Costa Rica without a permit - and for every tree you cut down, you have to plant seven more. The Guanacaste can't even be cut down with a permit - you can only obtain its wood if it falls on its own.

Bead-making machine

Cool wood statue

Step-by-step process of making a mug

Aren't these fun?

Wood chips in a spinner

Finished product

Walking tree! It's roots are above the ground and they move too



That's it for today! Stay tuned for adventures at Costa Rican soccer games and Panama!

Aventuras

(Adventures)

Whew! It's been a long week and I haven't had much time to share my stories with you. So here's what I did:

Tuesday
I went to Teatro Nacional (National Theater) they were doing a piano concert with Guiseppi Gil as the performer - he is only nineteen years old and is originally from Columbia but has been studying in Costa Rica for quite a while. He has studied at Juliard and performed at Carnegie Hall and in Paris. The concert was fantastic and I quite enjoyed it.

Wednesday

While waiting for cooking class I tried this drink called a "granizada". It was.... waaay to sweet. Sort of like strawberry milk but with way to much sugar. It is made with slushy stuff, powdered milk (the bottom layer of white that you see) and condensed milk (on top). I've seen these at other restaurants as well.

Then I went to cooking class and we made pineapple emapanads. Yummy! I will (hopefully) post the recipe soon. And I will definitely be making these in the US as well.

Yum!

And then, I went to the movies to watch Los Vengadores (guess what movie that is! =P) It was difficult to understand, but still a great experience. And it was super cheap - tickets are normally about $4 US, and Wednesdays or 2 for 1 at the movies all throughout Costa Rica. I also got some fun popcorn that was half salty (saldadas) and half sweet (dulces). Yum!

"Boletería" means "Ticket Booth"

Palomitas! Popcorn!

Thursday

I didn't do anything especially exciting today. I did manage to get to downtown using the bus system and then ask a random department store employee how to get to a craft store. Which I think is successful. =P

Friday

And thus begins my trip to Quepos!

Bought this at the bus stop - fun fact, these are illegal in the US. It is basically a chocolate egg with a toy inside - it is illegal in the US to fully submerge a non-edible item in food.

Soccer fields are everywhere in Costa Rica!

A "traditional" cart in Quepos

Also, if you so desire, you can buy a "Tequila SunRice"

Saturday

The hostel where we stayed. Pretty nice, but there was no air conditioning, so it was a bit hot and sticky.

Then I met up with my friend in Quepos and it was off to the farmer's market!

Right next to the beach (the Pacific this time)

This fruit is about the size of a cherry and has a texture and flavor sort of like a pear and an apple combined.

Guava (Guayaba)

Mango

Chayote (A sort-of-squash)

Guanábana! (Or soursop in English) This is a common flavoring in Costa Rica. It is a melon that is white on the inside. I wouldn't say it's sour, but it does have a tang to it.

Papaya

Yuca - this is the potato/sweet potato starch that I described in one of my earlier posts.

Tamarindo - These things are crazy. Inside are seeds covered in fuzzy looking white stuff. Turns out, the fuzzy looking white stuff is delicious. I bought one today so I'll try to get a picture of the inside later.

Crocodiles! (Cocodrilos) There's a bridge close to where I was staying where the biggest crocodiles in Costa Rica like to chill. There were about 12 of them and some keep popping up in the water, frogger style. Don't worry, I was far (far) away from these guys.

Then, we went to a place called Pura Vida (the national motto). Here are some pictures from that:

These are two macaws (lapas). If you look closely you can see their color.

And... my computer doesn't like me right now. So more will be posted tomorrow!