Midterms, Homestay family dinner and a weekend at Manuel Antonio

The week of October 4^th contained quite the variety of activities, ranging from studying for midterms to experiencing an earthquake to helping prepare a dinner for 200 people to relaxing at the beach in Manuel Antonio. Both Monday and Tuesday were pretty much consumed with reviews and studying for our midterms. On Wednesday we had our TE midterm in the morning and then the NRM midterm in the afternoon. It was a bit of a stressful day, but that made it feel even better once it was over. Then on Thursday we had our Econ midterm in the afternoon to wrap everything up. We were able to talk Gerardo, the center director, to extend our curfew to midnight if we made him cookies. So, I made some cookies. Liz and I were able to crank out a double batch of Snickerdoodles before dinner, which was really fun and everyone enjoyed them. Then we were able to go out and celebrate being done with exams.

The table settings that I helped make

All the girls in the program before the dinner

Friday entirely revolved around the Homestay family dinner that we hosted for all the families who hosted us the weekend before. I was busy from 9 am until 3 pm nonstop working on place settings, decorations and preparing food (I poured the flan in the cups and diced onions until the cooks started laughing at me because I was crying). Our cooks were amazing for putting together a wonderful menu for almost 200 people – rice, meat, a vegetable stew type thing, soy meatballs, flan and juice. The only problem was I wasn’t able to eat at the same time as my family because I was helping serve the dinner. It was nice having time to talk to them before and a little bit after dinner as well. We had quite the shock though when part way through dinner we had 5.9 earthquake.  A few people jumped up and started running out of the outdoor classroom where we were eating, but my host family said that earthquakes like that aren’t that uncommon. I have to say that it took me awhile to realize that the earth was shaking and that it wasn’t normal. It definitely added some excitement to our night. We also put on a talent show for the families, and it was pretty entertaining. We had a group perform a couple of songs, some guys doing some soccer tricks, people telling jokes, and then a dance competition modeled after Bailando por sus Sueños that was judged by our professors. We also had some activities for kids, like card games and a piñata. I took Issac, my host brother, over to the games and we played Uno and he also smashed open the piñata. People started leaving around 9.30 and then we all did a quick cleanup and went to bed because most everyone was planning on leaving early the next morning for the weekend away.

The view from our hostel, Vista Serena

Surfers on the beach

Sunset Saturday night

The public beach at Manuel Antonio

Saturday saw me up and out of the center by 6.30 so we could take the 7.00 bus to Manuel Antonio for our weekend trip. I traveled with Sara, Elissa, Meagan, Courtney and Anna., and then two of our other friends, Laura and Liz, were also going to Manuel Antonio but they were staying at a different hotel. The bus ride took just about three hours, so when we got to Quepos (the town just outside of Manuel Antonio) we had plenty of time. We grabbed some snacks in town and then took at taxi to our hostel, Vista Serena. The place definitely lived up to its name, the view was wonderful. We dropped our stuff off in the dorm style room we were staying in (for only $10 a night!) and then took the bus into Manuel Antonio with a guy who was staying at the hostel who offered to show us around. It was a nice sunny day so we immediately hit the public beach for some sun, sand and waves. There was supposedly a surfing contest going on, but we didn’t make it that far down the beach. We met up with Liz and Laura on the beach and we all stayed there to watch the sunset, but the clouds foiled our plans. We all decided to go get dinner after that together at a restaurant called El Avion, which is built around this old airplane from WWII that the owner bought and then reassembled in Manuel Antonio. The last time we were in Manuel Antonio, we stayed right beneath the restaurant, so I had an idea of what to expect, but everyone else didn’t. It was a fun, relaxing dinner with all eight of us. After dinner we took the bus back to our hostel and got there just before it started pouring. We had a minor crisis when Elissa picked up her backpack and saw that it, and her bed, were covered in little bugs. She immediately jumped to the conclusion that they were bed bugs, but I went and did some research and they were definitely not bed bugs. Someone at the hostel said they were just little ants that were attracted to sweet things, so Elissa probably just had something in or on her bag that attracted them. She switched beds and everything was fine. The hostel had a main house/reception area with hammocks, couches, tables and a tv, so I went down there first to use the internet, but then I met some people who had been there for awhile. I tried to pick their brains about what would be the best to do the next day, but no one had any really great suggestions. We did find out that we needed to get bus tickets in the morning since the office closes at noon on Sundays. It was a relaxing evening spent in a hammock talking with other travelers (from Colorado, California and New York) and listening to good music.

Me, Courtney, Anna, Meagan, Elissa
and Sara at the waterfall

Squirrel monkey

White faced monkeys at the beach

Sunday morning we had talked about mobilizing by 7.00, but we weren’t all up then, so that didn’t happen. We had to check out, grab a little to eat and then Meagan and Courtney went into Quepos to get the bus tickets and the rest of us walked all the way into Manuel Antonio, which took about 45 minutes. We had a bit of a miscommunication on my part because I said we should all meet by the bus stop by the entrance, but you actually had to walk down a little path a couple hundred meters to get to the entrance. It was hard not having cell phones now, but we waited at the entrance for awhile and we were all able to meet up. Once in the park, we decided to do one of the short hikes off the main trail before going to the beach and we all decided that the waterfall hike would be a good choice. It was. The hike itself was under two kilometers, but it took a bit longer than expected because we had to wade through at least four pretty good sized streams. I was really glad that I wore my Chacos instead of hikers, because I would have had very soggy shoes. The waterfall was gorgeous and we were the only ones there. It was definitely worth plodding through the mud and water. Once we made it back on to dry land (i.e. the main trail) we headed straight to Playa Espadilla Sur, the most popular beach in the park. It is a gorgeous white sand beach that’s in a fairly sheltered cove that also hosts a very aggressive and outgoing population of white faced monkeys and raccoons. We snacked a bit and then immediately packed our food away in our heavy backpacks with all our stuff that we had been carting around all day. It was a good choice to pack the food away, because the people that were sitting next to us had a monkey come up and steal a bag of food and sprint off. He jumped up in the trees and ate a banana while watching everyone take pictures of him. We only spent a few hours at the beach reading and relaxing in between chasing off monkeys and raccoons. Everyone decided that they wanted to hike to another beach so we set our sights on Playa Escondida and Playa Las Gemelas. Las Gemelas was really close so we kept going on the trail to Escondida but that trail ended up being closed. We realized that after we made in down a really steep, poorly maintained section of the trail. It was definitely an adventure. We ended up back at Playa Las Gemelas and sat there for awhile before the incoming tide pushed us off the beach. At that point we hit the main trail again, and just at the right time. We saw a tour guide point something out to a group, which turned out to be a sloth! Then we hadn’t walked 50 meters before we saw a bunch of squirrel monkeys right on the side of the path. Luckily we had decided to leave a bit early, because the animal sightings caused a bit of a delay. We made it out of the park and then caught the 4.00 bus from Manuel Antonio to Quepos and that got us to the bus station just in time. We had been at the bus station long enough to bump into Laura and Liz again and then our bus to San Jose pulled up. It was reassuring to know that we already had our tickets so we didn’t have to stress and jump to the front of the line to make sure we could get on the bus. All eight of us made it on and at 4.45 started the trip back to Atenas. The bus system here is quite different from anything I’ve seen in the U.S. because at one point we turned down this dirt road and made a detour to drop a couple of people off on a road not on the route. It was a pretty easy bus ride back to Atenas, no problems other than the state of my neck after trying to sleep in those seats. We were back at the center at 8.30, plenty of time before our 10.30 curfew. A very rewarding trip after a long week, now back to the grind.