Learning Spanish in Playa Samara

What an amazing country! I have been in Costa Rica for a little bit more than a week yet I feel like I've been here for over a month. I arrived in San Jose and only stayed overnight as I arrived in the evening and opted on not traveling solo overnight.

I stayed in a hostel in San Jose, Galileo Hostel, and met a most interesting man who has been travelling by foot for 3 months for peace for all children in the world and intends to walk for 12 years in protest to so many injustices children around the world suffer from. He has a website that i will put on my journal site so people can check out what he's doing. Most fascinating.

a wounded chick, a machete, and a cause...

The next morning I went to Playa Tamarindo and unwound with a friend for a few days. Tamarindo is often called Tamagringo due to all the tourists and rightfully slow. I didn't enjoy it so much so after a few days I decided to travel further south to Playa Samara a few days ahead of schedule. I had arranged to take Spanish classes for a week and stay with a family to better immerse myself in both the language and culture. I arrived a few days earlier and spent some time on the beach at this little run down cabina called El Ancla. It was heavenly listening to the sounds of the ocean and the rain outside my cabina. My days pretty much were filled with writing in my journal, practicing in my spanish workbook, walking up and down (and up and down) the beach and listening and watching the rain come down. Yesterday was actually the first day I've seen sun in Samara but the cloudy days still had this strange comfort about it that I soaked up most eagerly.

On Sunday afternoon, I checked out of my cabina and went over to the school so they could call my family to come pick me up. As I was waiting around the grounds, I saw a family of monkeys travelling through the trees and stopping right in front of me to eat fruit from the branches. It was incredible! I'm sure an every day thing for most of the people here, but that just doesn't happen in my backyard at home!

My family soon arrived and they were and have been wonderful. I have two little siblings, my sister Yohanna who's 8 yrs old and Oscar who's 6. They are so precious and have been extremely patient with my limited Spanish. All they want to do is play and we have a lot of fun. It's been a while since I have played with kids. It made me miss my girls back home quite a bit! Mom is my age and is a student in Nicoya ( a nearby "city") where she's going for Education. Dad is a Physical Education teacher/ coach. They are very friendly and have been very hospitable! The only thing I'm having a hrad time with is the cold shower thing! It's not so bad and I'm sure I'll get used to it, but I love me a hot shower...for like 1/2 hour whenever I have the time. We forget the luxuries we have in the US but quickly remember them when we move into a new enviornment! But all of it has been great!

Last night has been my most unforgettable yet. The kids and I were doing our homework in the dining room and all of a sudden the kids look at eachother and then look at Mom and run outside. The night before a fox had come into the yard and ate one of the chicks they keep outside. Last night he struck again, but only wounded one. The kids were running around counting chicks, mom was collecting all of the chickens, flipping them upside down and holding all 5 or 6 of them in one hand and dad is walking around with a machete and a cause. And I'm just standing there with my limited spanish and a head lamp trying to be of whatever assistance...which of course was none!

I have only 5 more days with my family but they have made me feel most welcome and I most grateful. I'm considering one more week of Spanish classes because there is quite a bit I need to learn. I'll be sitting on it for another day or so. it's going to be hard leaving Playa Samara...