River Rafting!

Again my apologies for not blogging for awhile and being tardy.  March has been incredibly busy, with all my travels and classes finishing up.  Anyways, finals are basically over with and I still want to blog about my life for the past few weeks.

Pacuare River

Two weekends ago I went on a river rafting day trip with my program. We traveled to the Pacuare River, about 2.5 hours away from San José.  The river has been named as one of the top 10 rivers by National Geographic, and was incredibly beautiful.  We didn't see any wildlife besides birds, but the surrounding forest is supposed to have jaguars and monkeys, along with other wild animals.  Basically the only civilization we saw would be a few bungalow/cabin type housing, scattered along the river.  Overall the scenery was so tranquil and beautiful--I definitely felt like I was in Costa Rica, because somewhere so full of ecology and natural beauty isn't found in many other places. 

So after eating a hearty breakfast, of eggs, gallo pinto, fruit, coffee and toast we headed off to the river to set of down the river.  We broke into groups, with each raft having 5 students and one guide.  Our guide Diego, told us the rules, gave us our equipment and got us started down the river.  At first I was so nervous!  I feel like I always get that way before doing something new or something a bit out of my box.  I was so excited but the feeling of my stomach tossing still was there. Quickly the feeling went away, and I only focused on the surrounding beauty and the rapids ahead.

Our first stop in the raft was a group of rocks about a minute away from the start of the river.  Everyone had to get out of the raft, climb up the rocks, jump into the water and then swim back to the boat.  Not exactly sure why that was all necessary, but I grudgingly did it.  I'm not really the type to want to just jump of rocks.

After that, we took off for 2.5 hours of rafting.  We probably went through at least 15-20 rapids during those two hours, they all ranged from a 2-4 on a scale of difficulty--5 is the highest rating.  The river didn't have any of those.  My group got through many with ease and others not so gracefully.  One rapid in particular we got stuck on a group of rocks--and we were stuck good, like it took both of the guys in the boat to push with their feet against the raft and us girls to jump in the boat to shake it loose.

Imagine that one of those people is me.

A few times during the trip our guide let us jump out of the boat and swim around where the water was calm and not near a rapid.  It was so relaxing, just floating along the river with the current, and taking in all the beauty.

After 2.5 hours of rafting, we stopped for a wonderful burrito and fruit lunch, prepared by the guides.  It was so tasty, especially because I had been wanting a burrito or some type of mexican food for awhile now.

We continued on down the river to battle larger rapids, a lot of 3-4s.  It's amazing what the guide does throughout the whole trip.  He has to tell us which way to row and if he see's danger ahead he makes sure we are in the right position going down the river. Also, he kept it fun on the raft--cracking jokes and leading in paddle high-5's after each rapid.  One rapid, Diego said, "ok, guys this is called the 'Dancing Rapid', want to know why? 'Cause you all have to get up and dance." So we all stood up and attempted at dancing while going over a rapid. We all made it through the rapid in the boat.

Paddle High-5's

At the end of the 4.5 hour river trip, I was ready to finish--I was a bit tired.  Looking back at all of my other trips and activities I've done in Costa Rica so fa, the river rafting is definitely one of my favorites.  It was so much fun, and something I probably would have never done if it wasn't for me being in Costa Rica. 


¡Pura Vida!

Weekend trip to the Caribbean

   

It's been awhile since I've last posted, sorry about that.  Anyways, a few weekends ago I went to Puerto Viejo, a town on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica for the weekend with one of my friends. It's about a 4-4.5 hour bus ride to Puerto Viejo. The town of Puerto Viejo is uniquely different than any other town in Costa Rica I've visited. The weekend I spent there was probably one of my favorites because the atmosphere of the town, and the beach was so different than my past excursions.

Puerto Viejo is a colorful, laid-back town full of Bob Marley worshipers. In general the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, is different than the rest of Costa Rica.  There is Costa Rican culture and then there's the Caribbean culture. The Caribbean has more black people, which makes a lot of difference in terms of culture. The food, music and atmosphere are all different. In the Caribbean there are African, Jamaican and Costa Rican influences all in one--it's an interesting place. Reggae music, spicy meat served on the street, languages with a mix of English, Spanish and French and lots of people on bikes are things that you are able to experience in Puerto Viejo.

The beach at Puerto Viejo was beautiful.  There was clear blue water, palm trees and lots of reef along the beaches. The current wasn't too strong, so I was able to swim, and not get pummeled by waves. This beach was what I imagined all Costa Rican beaches to be like. Even the sights under the water were beautiful. The friend I was with had her goggles so we took turns swimming around underwater looking at the tropical fish and reef. It was so cool.

You are able to learn so much about the culture of a place by walking around, observing and talking to people. The town was so full of life. Everyone was out on street corners and benches, talking to their friends and hanging-out outside. Before dinner time, there were so many different smells filling the air.  Kabobs cooking on street corners, a whole pig roasting outside of the restaurant and fresh fish were common smells.  We opted for a cross border European style dinner, having tea, crepes and pizza.

After walking around the town, taking photos, exploring souvenir shops and having dinner we headed back to the hostel. We stayed in a popular hostel amongst International Veritas students, called Rocking J's. It had many options for accommodations--hammocks, cabins, dorm rooms, suites and tents.  It's places like that, that make me realize I'm in Costa Rica.  Anyways we chose to spend $5.00, for a sheet, locker and a hammock.  It wasn't the most comfortable night's sleep I've ever had, but you can't beat only spending $5.00 for a night somewhere. The hostel was geared for the young traveler. It was colorful and decorated with glass mirages along the floors and walls. There was a restaurant, bar and beer-pong table for night entertainment and a gazebo with seating for hanging out during the day. 

The next day was filled with spending time at the beach, taking photos and a hunting for a house that sold cocoa butter and home-made chocolate products. My friend had heard about this house near by Puerto Viejo from her friends that visited before, and wanted to find it to buy some cocoa butter.  We asked probably about 20 people in Spanish and English trying to find the location of this house. It was frustrating because no one knew what we were talking about. After about an hour of asking around we found a taxi driver who knew where the place was.  He took us to this house owned by an indigenous woman.  The woman makes her own chocolate and chocolate based products. I bought a little chocolate bar with vanilla and my friend bought her much desired cocoa butter.

Overall Puerto Viejo was great.  It was a cool, unique town with friendly people. If I get another oppurtunity to visit other Caribbean towns I would jump at the chance.

¡Pura Vida!

Mis Comidas Favoritas en Costa Rica

So after being in Costa Rica for eight weeks I've found those foods that I like and dislike. I've been able to try a lot of new foods here, and most of them are my favorites here.  I'm looking forward to cooking with my tica mom and learning how to prepare them myself.  Anyways here is my list of my favorite foods.

Cas: So I've mentioned cas briefly in my previous blog posts, but I couldn't have left it off my favorite food blog post. I never get cas juice at my tica house, so whenever I go out to restaurants and cas is an option, it's always my choice.  It's a tropical fruit, which unfortunately can't be found in Minnesota or Iowa.  It's green, delicious and has a bit of acidic/citrus flavor. I read that it is typically used for juice, jellies or pie filling. I've yet to find cas pie or pastries, but I'm looking forward to when I do.

Gallo Pinto: This is a staple dish of Costa Rica and other Latin American countries. It's rice and beans but better. It's typically served with diced onions and cilantro--well at least that's how it's prepared in Costa Rica.  It's great and I wish my tica mom made it once in awhile for us. For some reason she never prepares it for my roommates and me.  The name of the dish completely depends on the country that you're in, and sometimes it even differs by region. In Costa Rica it's referred to as Gallo Pinto by most people. Along Costa Rica's Caribbean coast though, it's called rice and beans, and it's actually prepared with chocolate.

POPS Ice-cream: In Costa Rica, there is the most amazing ice-cream chain--it's called POPS.  POPS stores are littered across Costa Rica.  I think it even has locations in other Latin American countries. In my opinion it's better than Coldstone or Ben and Jerry's.  I'm not quite sure why I like it so much.  It's really rich and they have tons of flavors. Cas, pineapple, chocolate, mint etc. My personal favorite is Chocolate-Almond.

My tica mom's Spaghetti: I love spaghetti, especially my real mom's spaghetti.  It's the perfect balance between meaty and saucy, and really I don't enjoy it anywhere else.  I have to be perfectly honest though, and say I really enjoy my tica mom's spaghetti too--it's definitely up there with the best spaghetti I've ever had. It's very different, so I can't compare it to the spaghetti I've had in the States. The sauce is more like a soup consistency, and it's cooked with lots of vegetables and fresh tomatoes--it's amazing, especially with cheesy garlic bread. 

Mora: Mora is the Spanish word for Blackberry.  I've become mora obsessed recently.  Mora jam, mora juice, pastries filled with mora, along with anything else I can get my hands on containing mora.  I've tried blackberries before coming here and I can't say that they have tasted this good.  Actually it's pretty common for fruits to taste a bit different in Costa Rica than in Minnesota. I'm definitely going to keep my eyes open for blackberries this summer so I can make mora juice.

Arroz con Pollo: Rice and chicken--yum. It's a common dish in Costa Rica. It's rice, chicken and chopped up vegetables. I've had it other places, and it doesn't compare to my tica mom's--she is such a good cook. The first time I had it, there was ketchup out on the table, and I had no idea why I would have needed ketchup for that meal--I thought it was just out on accident.  My tico brother had a plate of arroz con pollo and put ketchup all over it. I tried it and it was delicious, totally adds to the flavor!

Tres Leches: Where to begin with Tres Leches. It beats POPS and my Grandma's apple pie (it's hard to beat, trust me), for the title of favorite dessert.  It's a cake made with three different milks, hence the name tres leches (three milks). Sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and heavy cream. It's by no means healthy, it's just rich and wonderful.  The cake is soaked in these milks, leaving it with a wet texture, but not so wet it's soggy.  There is also a whipped cream frosting.

Yuca: Potatoes are the closest thing I can compare yuca to.  It's starchy and the inside of a yuca looks like a potato.  I've had it prepared, where the yuca is mashed up and spread out on a baking sheet. Then vegetables are added, and cheese put on top and baked. It's great, and tastes like something I would have in Minnesota--it's a hot and homey kind of dish. I love it!

¡Pura Vida!

My Morning at the Court

This morning I walked to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, with my Human Rights professor and a few of my classmates. It was so interesting. I've never seen a legal system in action before, and to be able to see first hand how it functions, was fascinating--maybe I'm a nerd for government related things.

The Organization of American States (OAS), is an organization consisting of member states from  North and South America.  According to Article 1 in the charter it was established to achieve, “an order of peace and justice, to promote their solidarity, to strengthen their collaboration, and to defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity, and their independence.”  35 American states are members of the OAS.

A function of the OAS is to promote human rights and find the injustices happening in the Americas.  Within the OAS, there is the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (it's seated in San José, Costa Rica), which solely hears cases on human rights violations from OAS member states.  It's composed of judges from member countries of the OAS.  Though every state belonging to the OAS is allowed to bring forth cases to the court, not all have ratified the American Convention, which gives the court jurisdiction in their country. The United States has yet to ratify the Convention. This leaves me questioning the motives behind that decision. 

It looks like the White House.

The case being presented today was between an Ecuadorian military colonel and the State of Ecuador. Here's a quick run down of the case. The military colonel, wasn't allowed to be promoted to the general position, even though he was well deserving of it, and the military officials wouldn't tell him why.  He began to start questioning why he wasn't able to be promoted, and then Ecuador started to threaten him and his family. The military colonel started to have mental illness because of all the negative effects it had on him.  He is accusing Ecuador of a violation to proper legal representation along with other things. 

The hearing was all in Spanish, it was very challenging to understand everything that was going on.  Throughout the whole thing I was concentrating so hard to tune out everything else and just listen to the Spanish, and at the same time wishing I would've arrived early enough to get a headset for the English translation.  I picked up bits and pieces, but it helped significantly that my professor; who is fluent in Spanish, was there taking us aside and explaining the happenings.

Inside the court room.

Seating area.

Besides everything being in Spanish, it was still cool to see the procedure of the court room and the formality of it all.  Instead of the case being presented by the victim's lawyers it was presented by the victim himself.  It's a pretty unique thing for the victim to present his own case, but I felt that made the argument more profound.  He was well versed in the legal terminology, and able to sound educated-- making a good argument.

Days like today where I'm able to do something I enjoy and do something completely new, makes me appreciate being in Costa Rica. It reminds me that I'm here for a reason, which is to learn about the culture, meet people and see new things.  I'm hoping that I'll go back to watch another court case, but I'll make sure to get there early for a headset with the English translation. 

¡Pura Vida!

History Lesson: Juan SantaMaría

Juan SantaMaría Statue

Since I've been here, I've become quite the history buff.  I find Latin American history much more interesting than that of the United States.  There is only so much I can take of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. They are pretty cool and did amazing things, but I prefer Che and other Latin American revolutionary leaders.

In the US our heros did very significant things, such as free slaves, lead a revolution for freedom and independence, defeat the axis powers, and fight for civil rights for all people.  In Costa Rica it's a little different, they have one main hero, and his name is Juan SantaMaría. I briefly mentioned him in my last blog, but I wanted to give a little background information on his story.  

Juan SantaMaría was born on August 29, 1831, in the city of Alajuela (that's the city I visited in my last blog post).  He joined the Costa Rican military, when Costa Rica was at war with Nicaragua/William Walker.  SantaMaría joined as a drummer boy for the military.  During the Second Battle of Rivas in Nicaragua, Walker's military had a big advantage because they held command of a house in the center of town.  There were several attempts by Costa Rican soldiers to take over the house, but it only ended in blood and death.  SantaMaría decided to give it a try, and took of for the house with a lighted torch.  He was successful, but ended up dying in the process.  The success of SantaMaría, led to the Costa Rican victory of the Battle of Rivas.  SantaMaría is now commemorated as a national hero in Costa Rica.  He has a plaza, statue, museum and the international airport named after him, along with a national holiday--April 11th, the day he died.

The statue calls home to Alajuela, his birth place.  Interesting fact about the statue, it was made in France.  The French sculptor, who made it, replicated it after a French soldier in a French uniform, not SantaMaría.  Even though the statue doesn't look like SantaMaría it doesn't stop the Costa Rican people from being proud of it.

¡Pura Vida!

Juan SantaMaría Museum (it used to be a jail and army garrison)

Replica of the Juan SantaMaría statue

Closer look at Juan SantaMaría Statue

Exploring Alajuela

The view from the Juan SantaMaría Museum.

Saturday, I decided to leave the house and travel to the city of Alajuela.  Here's the summary, 6 Americans who just wanted to get out of San José with no set plans and eager to explore a new city--it was great.

We were living the tico life during the trip, care-free attitude with no sense of time.  Our plans were to meet up at 9:30am to catch the bus to downtown.  After nearly missing two buses and picking up a fellow American on the way, we finally made it downtown at 10:30am. Nobody really cared that it took us nearly an hour to get downtown, which was the best part.  There was no rush or hurry.

I would describe Alajuela as a mini-San José. It's the capital city of the province Alajuela, so it's a popular and busy like San José, but not as quite that bustling.  It has parks, museums, plazas, stores and everything a big city has.  Other than size the different climates sets apart, Alajuela and San José.  Alajuela is much hotter than San José. It was about 90 degrees and sunny in Alajuela, while 80 degrees in San José.  

We decided to check out the local farmers market, when we arrived. It is supposed to be one of the largest and best markets in Costa Rica.  Hundreds of people were there buying and selling fresh produce.  It was living culture.  We walked around looking at all the fruits and vegetables, stopping at some stands to ask what the names of some things were.

Alajuela Farmers Market

Sometimes being a foreigner has it's perks.  See people pay more attention to you just because you look different. Several times we were offered free samples of fruits and vegetables.  One time I went up to talk to a man selling small, green banana-looking fruits.  I asked him what they were and what not.  He ended up giving me three of them, to try.  I offered money, but he said this to me in Spanish, "it's free to you because you are a foreigner." I'll take it.

When we were done at the market, we walked through the town to the central park.  There was not an open bench to be found, the park was filled with families, couples and kids.  Seeing people spend their day in a community spot is a common sight in Costa Rica. After finding ice cream and McDonald's, how much more American can we get, we sat down and watched kids sing and dance to Disney song's in Spanish.  "Honor to Us All" ("Nos vas a brindar honor"), "Under the Sea" ("Bajo del Mar") were my favorites, and I attached the links to the Spanish YouTube videos.

The Juan SantaMaría museum was directly across the street from the central park, so we went and
checked it out after the music ended.  It housed military artifacts from the Second Battle of Rivas and artwork spanning from colonial art depicting the Second Battle of Rivas to satirical pop art.  The Second Battle of Rivas was fought between Costa Rica and William Walker, a man who at the time was trying to control Nicaragua, and had a future goal of controlling all of Latin America. The battle also gave Costa Rica their national hero, Juan SantaMaría.  Walker was an American, and has very interesting endeavors in Latin America.  


After a day of exploring a new city, it was time to head back to San José.  At the end of the day, I'm always excited to get back to San José, back to my host family and house (I know it's not my house, but it feels like it is).  
¡Pura Vida!

Back to Monteverde: Ecological Photography Rendition

 
                                                         
A few weekends ago, my ecological photography class took a field trip to Monteverde.  It was quite suiting that an ecological photography class went to Monterverde, because it's a cloud forest with mass amounts of nature. It was a short two day trip, that ended up being one of my favorite weekends in Costa Rica. It was free, relaxing, and the only obligation I had was to take pictures--it wasn't too bad. 

Saturday morning we left for Monterverde.  This was my second time going to Monteverde.  The first time I went, was my first weekend in Costa Rica.  If you remember back to my blog post about the trip, you will know that, the travel up the mountain to our first stop was not enjoyable.  This time I was better prepared, and was able to enjoy the gorgeous view of the mountains.

Amazing Rainb

After getting to the hotel, we set off to lunch and explored the town.  We climbed hills, ate our weight in casados, explored cute craft stores, saw an amazing rainbow, and took pictures. I felt like I could have found the pot of gold if I would have walked a little more--it was so close to us.  Overall it was a great afternoon.

After a few hours of looking around the town, some of us girls decided to get a snack and smoothies from a cafe next to our hotel.  The restaurant had a bunch of hammocks surrounding the building, with a grill and picnic tables sitting outside.  It had a homey feel to it.  It looked liked someone's kitchen when we walked inside.  If you sat inside the restaurant you would have been able to watch the cook prepare the food--it was pretty cool. It was unique and fit well with the town of Monteverde.  Monteverde is filled with art and craft stores and one of a kind restaurants/cafes--it's definitely a quaint, unique town.  It takes special kinds of people to want to live in a the mountains and live hours away from real civilization. 

Anyways at the cafe, we ordered smoothies and the most amazing cookies.  If they wouldn't have cost $1.00 per cookie, I would have walked out with a whole bag.  They were a combination of honey, oatmeal, almonds and chocolate--delicious.  It was a lot of fun, and we were able to get to know each other better during that time.  Most of us, hadn't known each other very well before going on the field trip, because we were all in different programs. Also, this was my fifth week in Costa Rica, so a change of people to hang out with for the weekend was also refreshing.



That night consisted of dinner and going out.  It was relaxing and filled with great food.  The memorable thing about the night, was that on our way to dinner we saw a one-handed sloth make it's way down a power line and into the trees.   It was a pro.  Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with, so I couldn't take any pictures.  Sloths are the one animal that I really wanted to see while I was in Costa Rica.  I've seen sloths I think three times now, and have never been able to capture a decent photo of them--it's weird.

The next day the group went on a hanging bridge tour through the cloud forest.  I was so excited about this, because last time I went to Monteverde I only went zip-lining, so I wasn't able to see much.  Our group had a guide who took us on a 2.5 hour tour through the forest, and pointed out plants and animals.  He spoke mostly in Spanish, that was a challenge.  I don't even know plant names and science terms in English, how would I even begin to understand in Spanish.  While he talked, I took pictures--it was a much better alternative.

Cloud Forest

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hanging Bridge

Overall it was a great trip.  I'm so glad I got to go back to Monteverde, it is such a neat place with so much personality and nature. The relaxing weekend was much needed.

¡Pura Vida!