Panamá

I had a great weekend this weekend in Panamá, but first, I want to share with you the game from last weekend - I went to a Costa Rican soccer game.

Everyone gets excited for the games

Everyone had jerseys (at the game as well)

The stadium

And on an unrelated note, this is what the inside of a tamarind looks like

And now for... Panamá!

We stayed on an island and passed these cute little huts on the way (we went via boat)

Playa de Estrellas (Starfish beach)

Starfish!

The water was so clear and there were a lot of starfish

Water bike!

Bocas del Toro, Panama is so pretty!

Dolphin!

Dolphins (delfines) in real life

Cool corals

Birds (who were basically pets)

Little crab!

And... that's when my camera died.

But it was a great weekend! We spent a lot of time on the beaches near/on the island we were staying on, Isla Colón and saw a lot of cool wildlife. By the way, Isla Colón is named after Christopher Columbus, whose name in Spanish is Cristobal Colón. (That's also why Costa Rican currency is called colones)

I want to let you guys have the opportunity to ask any questions you may have about Costa Rica - my experiences, the culture, the food, etc. If I don't know the answer I will ask my host family. =)

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!

Taxis, Coches y Autobuses

(Taxis, Cars and Buses)

Taxis are actually pretty cheap in Costa Rica and are a great way to get around if you don't have a car and there is no bus stop nearby. Most taxis are red - you know they are legit if they have a yellow triangle on their front door, usually with a number and the city(ies) they work in.

Drivers are crazy in Costa Rica. So are pedestrians. The animals (dogs everywhere) are actually pretty smart though. Basically, it's like driving in America but without the rules. Lane markings are only suggestions, red lights are only suggestions (and there's not that many stoplights anyway) and jaywalking is a normal occurrence. If you can do it, it's okay. The animals for some reason seem to be the only ones who understand that they may get run over and they will wait for a car to pass. The only driving or walking rule in Costa Rica seems to be "don't crash".

So Costa Rica is very green (literally and figuratively) and they do something that I think is really cool in order to be ecologically friendly. They can only drive their cars 6 out of 7 days of the week. If your license plate ends in 0 or 1, you can't drive on Monday. If your license plate ends in 2 or 3, you can drive on Tuesday, etc. This encourages people to walk or take public transportation such as a taxi or bus. And the bus system is pretty good here. Lots of stops to everywhere, and often times the bus will pick up people along the way at non-stops and will drop people off on a side road if they request. It costs 45 US cents to take a bus here.

What I ate:
Desayuno: Eggs (huevos), Gallo Pinto and a Corn Tortilla. And also, coffee. I'm afraid I'm going to be addicted to caffeine when I get back to the US.
Almuerzo: Croissant sandwich with ham and cheese, lettuce, tomato and pesto sauce (Croissant con jamón y queso) and iced tea.

Puerto Viejo y más

(Puerto Viejo and more)

I had a long and fun weekend - so prepare for a long post with lots of pictures!

Another picture of my school

On Thursday (Jueves) we went to downtown San Jose. They have Payless stores here!

A typical Costa Rican meal - At the bottom a mix of potatoes, going clockwise, fried plantains (platanos), rice (arroz), chicken (pollo), beans (frijoles) and salad (ensalada).

This is what you get when you ask for an enchilada. This has potatoes inside, and sour cream (in Costa Rica - natilla)

Off to Puerto Viejo!

This was by the bus stop - I just think it's funny they tried to mimic Starbucks

Driving through rainforests

Banana Farm

Views of Puerto Viejo. There are a lot of bougainvilleas here, but also a lot of tropical plants, such as bananas.

The Carribean!

Pretty photos =)

Breakfast on Saturday - Toast with butter, guava jam and cream cheese. Yum!

Coconut Palm

False Bird-of-Paradise Plants

This tree grows grapes

There's a monkey (mono) in the middle of this picture. We saw about 10-ish of them climbing through the trees on our walk to the beach.

It's a bit hard to see, but there is a sloth chillin' in the middle of this photo. I saw three sloths in the wild in the National Forest!

Sloth again - he's looking at you!

This iguana is a master of disguise... he's in the center of the photo and is bright green. Even though I saw him in person (it took a couple  minutes to see him) and I knew I took this picture, it still took me a while to find him!

More pictures tomorrow!! Puerto Viejo was a lot of fun!