What a Difference a Day Makes

We had big plans yesterday. We didn’t get to almost any of them. Which is the beauty of vacation. We could hardly bear the thought of leaving our mountaintop paradise overlooking the volcano so we had planned to stay there until our noon checkout, tear ourselves away only when they dragged us kicking and screaming, then go zip lining over the rainforest, spend a few hours in the hot springs at the bottom of the volcano, then make the four-hour drive to the beach. Well, one out of four ain’t bad.

We started off well, getting up early to be at breakfast by 8:30. It all went pretty much downhill from there. The plan started to take a serious nosedive when we asked for and were granted a late checkout. After that, in a nutshell, we floated around in the pool for the next several hours. Somewhere in that time, we decided not to “overexert” ourselves by trying to do so many things in one day so agreed that we would save the zip lining for another day and just go spend a few hours in the hot springs before leaving for the beach town.

Which also quickly changed. We got to the spa to inquire about spending a few hours at the hot springs and they offered to give us a free tour of the facilities before we made a decision. By the end of the tour, we had decided to spend the night. More floating. But this time in really, really hot water. There were approximately 8-10 different pools of varying temperatures and layouts, all set at the foot of Arenal volcano amongst the rain forest and beautifully manicured grounds. Let it be said, I am not a person who notices flowers so if I’M noticing the vegetation, it must be preeeetty impressive.

There were also some waterslides thrown in there. They looked all innocuous but when I got to the top and was about to sit down, I should have known something was up when the guy that worked there just sort of smirked to himself. I can explain it no other way than to used the phrase “bat out of hell”. Or, for those of you familiar with National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation movie, picture the scene where Chevy Chase first launches down the mountain on his greased-up sled. Yeah, it was pretty much like that. I hardly had a second to process what was happening to me before shooting out the bottom with a raging headache. It’s pretty much all a blur but I do seem to recall a fraction of a second while I was in the slide and remembering that there was HUGE cement fountain in the middle of the pool where you come out and wondering how long I would have to be in a full body cast after slamming into it. We stayed in the pools/springs until they closed at 10 pm, went to sleep in our beautiful room with its cushy bed, then got up and did it all over again today.

We finally dragged our wrinkly butts out of there around 2 and decided it was time to head to the beach. What would have probably been about a 3-hour trip in the US took us 5, due to the roads here (and here I use the term “road“ loosely. Very loosely). Good times. Finally made it to Tamarindo Beach and it was…. pouring. Not raining, but POURING, like torrential rainforest rain pouring. And, as if that wasn’t insult enough, we basically went from a four-star resort to a dirty college dorm within the span of a few hours. A dirty college dorm with no hot water, I might add. Or door on the bathroom. Or clean pillows (ew!). Or internet (the guy chuckled when I asked). It actually allows for a whole new level of cousinly bonding (as if not having a bathroom door didn’t take us to a whole new level in and of itself), as we have literally nothing to do here but sit in our shared 8x10 square of a white-walled room and sit on our cots and look at each other. Prompts a lot of conversation, I must say.

We’ve decided that we’ve been living faaaar beyond what either of us had imagined we would be doing before coming down here so tonight is our one night of penance and “roughing it” before we go to the place we have booked for tomorrow. Details to follow, provided we survive the night. It's looking iffy.

So what are the chances of outrunning lava?

Oh. My. Gosh. Every day just keeps getting better and better. At some point it's going to become impossible to surpass the day before so I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should just quit while I'm ahead and head home now. Yeah, not very likely...

My newly revised plan from yesterday could not have gone more smoothly. I woke up bright and early at 6 am, had one last fabulous breakfast in Quepos overlooking the ocean and hopped in my teenie tiny little car for the nearly 3-hour drive to the airport to pick up Niki. This time I totally enjoyed the drive (even the Bridge of Death amused me this time around); I'm not sure if it's because I was excited about meeting up with Niki or just that I've now totally assimiliated and am just enjoying the simple things like the scenery and people I see along the way but, either way, the time seemed to fly.

As did I, apparently. About two hours in, I got to get up close and personal with one of Costa Rica's finest. Doh! Apparently I was doing 88 kmh in a 60 zone. Oops. Let's just say that I have enough experience with getting tickets in foreign countries to know that it is a MAJOR hassle to get taken care of and, well, let's just also say that I got out of it. The hows and whys present a moral grey area for me which I am still mulling over. (okay, not really, I'm just still feeling guilty about it!)

So, after having slowed my speed considerably, I continued on to the airport. Having left Quepos at 7:30 and not really knowing an exact timeframe I'm surprised at how perfectly it all worked out: Niki's flight arrived at 9:53, I got to the airport at 10:17 and she came out of customs at 10:30. Come on, I totally rock! She had taken the red-eye and arrived to me, well, red-eyed so she slept most of the 3 hours we spent driving from the airport to our first destination: Volcan Arenal (Arenal Volcano). I used the time to take in more of the country and to marvel at their road system. Especially at the parts where it just ends. Seriously, ends. Let me now avow that I will never again complain about PA roads and let me also say to all of my fellow Pennsylvanians: you should leave your homes right now, this very minute, find Governor Rendell and give him a big, fat, sloppy kiss on the lips for what beautiful and smooth roads we have. Turns out it really is all relative.

But, I digress. We arrived in the town where the infamous volcano is (it is still very active, most recently killing 2 people in the year 2000, but is most famous for its 1968 eruption that killed 87 people and left 3 towns completely buried under what is now a huge lake) and, as usual, had no gameplan. We asked around and, long story short, ended up in, I am NOT exaggerating, the most stunning hotel I have ever stayed in. Not even because of the hotel itself so much but due primarily to the view. It sits atop a mountain of its own and is made up of charming little cottage-like buildings that all connect with pathways and from our hotel balcony we overlook a huge valley as well as both the lake AND the volcano. We spent hours in the gorgeous swimming pool, staring out over the scene and watching the sun set and then had dinner in the open-air restaurant, watching lava flow while dining on a-ma-zing food ("pollo tropical" with mango, pineapple, papaya and orange, mmmm) and wine. As I write this, I am sitting on my bed which faces the huge plate glass window that takes up a whole wall and can see red hot lava flowing down the mountain. We decided we didn't even want to do anything else or go anywhere else tonight as we literally wanted to enjoy every single moment of being here. We're also planning on staying until the last possible minute tomorrow. In all the hotels in all the places I have been, this one is hands down the most amazing. It's simply breathtaking.

I told Niki we shouldn't have done this on her first night because it'll all be pretty much downhill from here. Either way, we have lots of other fun things planned for tomorrow and no doubt we're going to have a great time, no matter how crappy any future hotels will seem in comparison. Presuming we survive tomorrow's activities (literally), I shall post more then!

(Also, Niki brought down her cable to get pictures from the camera onto the computer (yes, of course I forgot mine) so hopefully tomorrow can start putting up my own pictures... yay!)

Howler Monkeys and Surfing Dogs

Simply put, days like today are the whole reason I came to Costa Rica. After shaking off the big city yesterday and immersing myself in more of the "real" life of the country, I decided that today was beach day.

I got up relatively early (okay, early for me), packed up my stuff and had a liesurely breakfast at the hotel in their open-aired restaurant that overlooks the ocean. Starting my day off with that view alone could almost have made the day a complete success. I could have gone home happy right then and there. But I perservered. Perhaps I shouldn't have. Let's just suffice it to say there was me, my car, a huge downhill slant, an oddly tall concret curb and a loud slamming noise.

But I perservered again. I drove the approximately 8 kilometers to the park which, taking into account the insanely winding mountain roads (I'm sensing a theme here), took about a half an hour. The views from the top of the mountain looking out over the rainforest and the ocean were breathtaking. Literally. Based on the recommendation of an ESL student of mine who has been in Costa Rica, I coughed up the dough (12,500 colones, or roughly $25USD) for the guided tour of the forest. I usually avoid at all costs the idea of "playing tourist" but this time it was SO worth it. I would never have spotted any of the things he was able to show us and teach us about: 3-toed sloths, howler monkeys, Jesus Christ lizards (I'm not making the name up; it comes from their ability to walk on water), bats, 7-colored grasshoppers, huge lizards, 2-toed sloths, white faced monkeys, a variety of birds and all sorts of other exotic creatures. The tour lasted over 2 hours and wound through the forest and onto several magnificent beaches that were hidden away deep in the reserve. A. Ma. Zing.

One of the nice things about traveling alone is that you're very rarely alone. There were four other people on my tour, all Americans. By the time it was over, it was like we were long lost bosom buddies. And then, after the tour I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon at one of the magnificent beaches and met two other ladies who kindly agreed to watch my bag while I went for a swim. Which, I might add, was divine. The water was clear and oh-so-warm and every time a big wave crashed over me I felt actual surges of pure joy at simply being right there, at that moment, in that magnificent place.

Random side note: in comparing notes with both groups of others who had also driven down from San Jose, all I had to do was mention "the bridge" and I was met with shrieks of horror, people doing the sign of the cross and terms like "Bridge of Death". Yeah, I'm really looking forward to going back over it tomorrow...

And then I saw it. I didn't believe it at first, but it was undeniable. I saw a dog... surfing! I actually watched as the guy and his dog ran along the beach, the surfboard under the guy's arm and the dog running alongside and barking eagerly. The guy set the board down and, I kid you not, the dog jumped right on and off they went out into the ocean. I watched them for about a half hour, along with most of the rest of the beach. I couldn't believe some of the waves the dog made it over. On the ones that knocked him off, the guy just picked him out of the water and put him back on the board and they waited for the next one. And, yes, I have video to prove it.

At some point I had to come back to claim the suitcase the hotel was kindly holding for me; I was thinking that Niki's flight comes in at 7 am tomorrow so I was planning to make the drive back to San Jose tonight and find a hotel there. I had a gut feeling that it wasn't my most brilliant idea of all time to make the treacherous drive back through the mountains in the dark, but I wasn't about to leave the beach early. But then I checked her flight info. one more time and realized she doesn't actully get here til 10 am... so I decided to stay here another night and head up early in the morning instead. It's great as now I can avoid the city altogether and just head straight to the airport. Woo-hoo! This also gave me time to have one last great dinner at the open-air restaurant here and to go for a swim in the pool. Would it have been easier if I had just checked her flight information earlier so I wouldn't have bothered packing up this morning and checking out and having to recheck in and unpack again? Yes, it would have. But that would have been FAR too easy.

Day Two in Costa Rica was far more productive than Day One, that's for sure. After breakfast, I left my cushy hotel (cushy being a relative term... here I am using Costa Rican standards) and decided to go check out San Jose on foot to really get a feel for it, thinking that maybe I would be more impressed with it if not just seeing it from inside my car. Yeah, turns out it's just as unimpressive while walking. I have to say, I have been to a lot of cities in a lot of countries and I am pretty sure this is the one I have liked the least. It's hard to pinpoint but the bottom line is that it's just so remarkably unremarkable. In addition to being dirty and crowded (neither of which would bother me if it was an otherwise cool city), there is just nothing to do. That being said, everyone I talked to was extremely kind, friendly and helpful.

Since my super cool Panama plan was quashed, I decided maybe I would just find another hotel in San Jose while waiting for Niki to get here Wednesday and take some day trips. I had decided that if I was going to really experience the country, I had to get out of the nice place I was staying and go to a 'real' Costa Rican hotel... no chain names, no coffee makers in the room, no American style breakfast, no hotel staff that all speaks English. I think when I arrived yesterday I was just SO tired, I was unable to search long and took the first place that looked familiar and clean. So this morning I found a place that looked reasonable and quaint (read cheap and small). It took me nearly 45 minutes to fight the San Jose traffic to move the approximately half mile to the new hotel. By the time I FINALLY got there, I was so annoyed that when I pulled up, instead of feeling immense relief at having finally found it, I instead thought to myself 'I cannot stay in this city one more minute'. So I got back in my car, opened the guidebook and picked a town by the beach to head to.

What should have taken about 2 1/2 hours took over 4. And that was WITH a GPS. If I hadn't had one, no doubt, I would still be circling the block in San Jose. For those of you familiar with my navigational skills, you will understand why this trip could NOT have taken place without a GPS. You will also not be surprised to know that I STILL got lost with it... several times. But, in my defense, I don't think it was all my fault! At one point, as I was sitting at a 'T' intersection where I could only turn right or left, it was telling me to continue to go straight for 2 more kilometers. We compromised: I turned left, it recalculated, and I eventually ended up where I was headed. Of course, not without 45 minutes sitting in city traffic, an hour long traffic jam in another area, nauseau inducing winding roads through mountains and a life threatening bridge to cross near the end (no joke, if I hadn't seen the other cars crossing it with my own eyes, I would have NEVER even dreamed of trying to take a car over it. Just think tinny, flapping metal slats covering the holes in the bridge). But about an hour before arriving, just when I was getting cranky and tired of being in the car (oh, the car is a whole other post all its own), I saw the ocean. The beautiful, expansive ocean, as far out as I could see. At that point, I turned off the AC and rolled down the windows, turned off the English music station and cranked the Spanish tunes. And for the first time instead of just counting down the minutes til reaching my destination, I really started enjoying the scenery, the sounds and the smells of it all, the people I was passing along the way... and then I realized as I was driving that I was smiling. Just smiling.

So now I'm in Quepos, a quaint little town along the southern coast. Tomorrow I am going to what is supposedly a fabulous beach set in the middle of a reserve. Tonight I had dinner at a restaurant that overlooked the ocean. Aaaaah. The server was a cute young guy who was very eager to practice his extremely limited English. So much so that he got in trouble a couple of times for lingering too long at my table. This is the kind of town I like. Not the big city where everyone speaks English and you can live just like in the US if you go to the right places and spend enough money, but where my Spanish is NEEDED to get by, where the hotel offers free internet but it doesn't work, you share a cracked marble hotel balcony with two other hotel rooms, where they serve you rice and beans for breakfast and where practically the whole town comes out to sit on the shore and watch the sun go down over the ocean. Yep, I think I'm getting closer to discovering the real Costa Rica....

Viva Costa Rica!

Yikes, it's been over a year since I've written on this blog. Which means that it's been over a year since I've been out of the country. Which is waaaay too long but I'm planning on making up for it during my 10 days in Costa Rica. Wa-hoo!

But to back up for just a minute, last year's blog was considered "Part I" of my post-fulltime job life and at that time I truly had NO idea how it would all turn out, how I would support myself, find work, pay my mortgage... all I knew was that it was time for me to make a major life change, to ditch the office job and start living a life I was truly excited about. It was a leap of faith but what I've found since then was that if you do what you're supposed to do, it all works out one way or the other. Long story short, I have been amazed by how things have just fallen into place. While I have done everything over the past year from painting to leading groups of international students to working at market to selling flowers, the best part is that the certificate I received in Chile last year paid off and I have also found work teaching ESL as well as more recently finding work teaching Spanish, which I looove. So it's an interesting life and I still have months where I wonder how I'll pay my mortgage... but it always works out and I love the variety of it all (no two weeks are EVER the same) and, yes, even the unknown aspect of it. But mostly, I love the freedom it allows me. Hence, back to me being in Costa Rica...

My cousin who lives in LA recently passed her boards for work (yay, Niki!) and we decided there was really no better way to celebrate that fact other than to take a trip to Costa Rica. Why not, right? She arrives on Wednesday so I decided to come down a few days earlier (again, why not... another benefit to not having a full-time job!) to get the lay of the land and chill.

Those of you who know anything about me know that I travel with no plans, ever. To me it's another part of the adventure to just wing it and figure things out as I go. My only plan upon landing yesterday morning was to rent a car and drive to Panama and be back in time to pick Niki up at the airport on Wednesday morning. But when I got the car they told me I wasn't able to take it out of the country. Doh!

So instead I decided to just check out San Jose for the day and get a hotel room there to sleep since I had only slept 45 minutes the night before leaving (you're lucky I like you, Ali!). I drove around the city for about an hour to check it out and found that, really, there isn't much to check out. So I found a nice hotel, got to my room and... passed out. Guess I can't get that far on 45 minutes of sleep after all.

I was so disappointed in myself to have wasted my first afternoon here! So today I plan to start making up for it. I am moving hotels (time to start living the cheap Costa Rican life, as opposed to the nice hotel I'm in now) and plan to do some day trips this afternoon and tomorrow to start getting a real feel for the country.

I shall post more later... hopefully. There is a very real possibility that, with the types of hotels I'm imagining myself in from here on, internet will be only a fond memory of days gone by... we shall see!

Headed home

Wow. It's actually here. For 2 months I've had the date of April 3rd in my mind as the end of my trip but it always seemed soooo far off. And now it's here. And I have to go home. And I don't want to. It may sound strange, or even perhaps a bit cold, but I don't get homesick... ever. That doesn't mean that I don't miss PEOPLE but that, during my two months here, I can honestly say that not once did I wish I wasn't here or wish to be back home instead. I don't know if that's normal or not, but that's how I am. BUT, now that the moment is actually becoming a reality, that it's nearly tangible that I'll be back in my own cushy bed at this time tomorrow (and that I'll get to have a HOT shower!) and since I've been in contact with my friends/family about making plans for this weekend and the coming week (it still seems totally surreal to me that THIS weekend I'll be hanging out with people in PA), I am getting really excited to see everyone! Especially the kiddos. I had a conversation with my sweet niece Alison via IM last nigth and it made me REALLY miss her... and all the kids. They're good stuff, I say!

As for my last day in Bogota, I spent it dreading the trip home, organizing my stuff and buying coffee. Lord only knows how I will manage to carry what feels like 150 pounds of coffee beans but no doubt I'll find a way and it will ALL be worth it once I'm home and drinking a fabulous cup of cafe with the official seal of Juan Valdez on it.

This evening Lina had a meeting to attend so one of her friends that I had met previously, Cristian, took me out. We went to a cute little outdoor place in a historic section of town that I hadn't seen before. And I had a brownie! It's been a mighty loooong time since I've had a brownie and it was goooood. I also had a glass of hot, steaming wine. Mmmmm.

I've made a few observations since I've been here. Of course, I have forgotten half of them (why, WHY don't I write things down?!) but here are the ones that come to mind at this point:

1. Here they have a soup man. Think of the ice cream truck but instead of a truck with ice cream and tinny piped-out music, it involves a guy on a bike riding around town tooting a bicycle horn vending piping-hot, homemade soup. Not sure why, but it cracked me up.

2. Because cell phones are very expensive here and most people can't afford them, some very ingenious people have come up with the idea of "selling" their cell phone use on the streets. Everywhere you go, you see people just hanging around, with a sign advertising the price they will charge you to use their personal cell phone per minute. The first time Lina used one, I wasn't really paying attention and all of a sudden I see her walk up to a stranger and he just hands her his cell phone and she starts chatting away. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why a complete stranger would just hand over his cell phone and I just stood there, incredulous at the kindness of the Colombian people. And then I saw money being exchanged.

3. From Lina's own lips, if you are told something will take one month (for example, if you place an order from a store or for a service to be done), it will take at least three. Time seems fairly irrelevant here, as it was in Chile. It seems the same rules apply here in that if you invite someone to your home for dinner at 8, you would be shocked if they showed up before 8:30... and you sure wouldn't have anything prepared until then. Yeah, I can dig the way time works down here.

4. I've already mentioned the 'pico y placa' thing (the driving restrictions) and the system of paying all of your bills in person at each office. But they merit mentioning again since I can't get over either of them (and because Betty spent a couple hours this afternoon going around to the various places to pay her bills so it made me think of it again)!

Also, the random picture of the food is of the breakfast I had most mornings here: FRESH squeezed orange juice, eggs, FRESH bread from the neighborhood bakery, arepas (a traditional item here made of cornmeal: oh so good), caldo soup and coffee. Sho' beats Corn Flakes!

I dig Colombia. And, mostly, its people. Lina and Betty couldn't have been nicer or more welcoming and hospitable to me. They went out of their way to accomodate me and offer me a great experience while I was here. They provided me a place to stay, cooked for me, drove me around, took me to their country house, showed me how to make the Colombian hot chocolate and arepas (oh so good) and they gave generously of their time to spend it with me and include me in their lives. It just seems innate to them to be hospitable and to make guests feel both completely honored AND like a part of the family, all at the same time. It's a great quality to have. I will certainly miss them... but I will just as certainly be back to visit them! For now, back to Lancaster....

A trip to the country...

Beatriz (Lina's aunt) has a fabulous house in Villa de Leyva, a super-quaint, cobblestone-streeted little colonial town about 4 hours outside of Bogota. The plan was to leave Sunday morning at 9 am, sharp. We left at 1 pm sharp. I, still apparently being in somewhat of American mode, was ready at 9 am sharp. Will I never learn? Because of COURSE if the plan is to leave at 9, you don't even think of leaving the house unti nearly 11. And then you have to stop to drop something off "on the way" at a friend's house and hang around and talk for a half hour. And then you have to "pop in" to visit someone at the hospital. So we were on our way only four hours later than planned... made me laugh.

I normally hate car trips but this one was fabulous. Through lots of little villages and up winding mountain roads with unbelievable scenery. I didn't take my eyes away for even a minute, literally. There were a thousand things I wanted to take pictures of but it's kind of hard to do when you're careening around a switchback on a mountain at what feels like 70 miles an hour! And, also, the vast majority of the pictures I wanted to take were simply of the people we passed along the way. It was everything that you would think of when picturing tiny little towns in Colombia: people dressed in the old traditional garb (people not wearing it for fashion but for real practicality... these are people that can pull off cowboy hats without even a hint of looking like they don't TOTALLY belong in it); there were cows and horses and goats and sheep grazing randomly all along the edges of the highway, groups of little old men leaning against buildings, wearing their ponchos and hats and shooting the breeze, little boys leading donkeys down paths, farmers hoeing their fields by hand, sweet-faced little kids running around in their mini-ponchos, run-down little towns full of people hanging around at the outdoor tables at the town restaurant, little old ladies carrying buckets of water up hills, dogs sleeping in the middle of the streets (you just swerve around), herds of cows crossing the roads... amazing. But there is somehow always an odd feeling of being rude when wanting to take a picture of a person and so, being hesitant, I missed a thousand pictures that would have fit right into National Geographic... and I will always regret it!

Once in Villa de Leyva, Lina and I went out late that night to have some hot chocolate at one of the little outdoor places that surrounds the main plaza. Totally charming. While we're there chatting, all of the lights go out in the whole town, every single one, and no one made even a slightly surprised sound or a comment, no "What's going on?", not even a slight breath of a pause in the conversations. Everyone just kept on talking as if nothing at all had happened, as if we weren't all suddenly sitting there in complete and pitch blackness. And eventually the lights just came back on, and no one even blinked. Pretty funny.

Monday morning I woke up to the sounds of Kenny Rogers BLARING from the stereo. Yes, that Kenny Rogers. Somehow I never expected to be woken up by "The Gambler" while in Colombia. Turns out Betty is a big fan. Who knew Kenny Rogers still had any fans?

Then we took another road trip, about two hours to another little town named Nobsu. Equally amazing drive and equally quaint town. But of course, because it's my personal curse, we started having car problems as we were nearing it. We stopped into a mechanic's and, also of course, when he got in to drive it around it didn't show any signs of the problem. He couldn't find anything wrong with it. Some things are the same worldwide, eh? So he poked around, fiddled with a few things and then sent us on our way with his phone number in case we had any more problems that day... all for free. On the way back through, Betty stopped and bought him a little gift as a means of thanks. I thought that was cool... and classy.

That night back in Villa de Leyva we had dinner at "Don Jorge's" little restaurant. It's Betty's favorite restaurant there and she and Don Jorge have known each other for about 15 years. It's the type of place where you walk in and say (or, rather, yell out through the little window into the kitchen) "Do you have dinner tonight?" and he says either yes or no and, if it's yes, you ask what he has. And that's what you have. It's kind of like going over to your grandparent's for dinner, because they're only making one thing and you have to eat it and everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is homemade. No lie, I ordered a glass of fruit juice (maracuya, mmm) and it took him like 10 minutes to get it, which I couldn't understand. Until I looked back in the kitchen and could actually see him making it... not mixing up a powder or opening a bottle, but squeezing the fruit. Whoa, to die for. And Don Jorge not only makes the juice, but he waits on all of the tables and takes the money (for which there is no bill and no receipt, he just comes back to your table at the end, glances over what you had and adds stuff up in his head) and helps with the cooking. We had 3 amazing, homemade dinners of chicken, fish and beef as well as salad, potatoes, plantains, rice and fresh-squeezed fruit juice for what worked out to be just under $11. Total. We went back for every subsequent meal.

And then we went home and listened to Kenny Rogers together. It's worth mentioning that we're not talking about Kenny Rogers CDs or even tapes here, but actual records... Betty's a serious, long-term fan! Funny that she has loved him for all of these years without being able to understand even one of the words. So we listened and I translated and now she loves him even more ("Lady" is her new favorite, now that she knows what it says).

Today we took it easy and hung out in the town this morning, having breakfast at Don Jorge's and doing a little shopping. And then another amazing scenic drive home. Remember that thing I mentioned the other day about how certain people aren't allowed to drive at certain hours on certain days? And how I thought it was a great idea? Right about 5 pm tonight as we were coming back into Bogota and Betty remembered that today she's "pico y placa" (on driving restriction) and we then had to kill 2 hours sitting outside the city limits until she could drive again legally in the city, I started to rethink my position on the whole thing.

So we found a little chicken restaurant in which to kill time and Betty ordered the bowl of soup at right. What you're seeing is a bowl full of chicken broth... and chicken hearts and livers and necks and... ready?... chicken feet. See those two little pointy things sticking up towards the back of the bowl? Those are little chicken claws! Yeah, I've been pretty adventurous with my eating here but not THAT adventurous. It was about all I could do to take the picture!

And more waiting.....

Yesterday was an interesting lesson about life in Colombia. Lina had some errands to do and, since the full extent of my motivations while here in Bogota is to just "hang out", I went with her. First we went to the bank... and waited in line. But at least here they use the take-a-number system so we were able to sit down and hang out in some chairs while waiting. Then we had to go to the office where health insurance is handled. It turns out that here you don't pay ANYTHING by mail, for fear that the postal service will either lose or rip off whatever it is you're sending. So every month you go down to the office in person, where you take another number, sit in another chair and wait to be given your monthly statement of balance due. But you can't pay it there... no, no, that would be far too easy. So then you take your statement, go back to the bank, take another number and sit in another chair. And wait. And then you make an electronic transfer of funds from your account to the insurance company's account. And then you come back next month and do the whole thing again. And you also do it for every other bill you pay: electric, gas, phone, cable, water, etc.... EVERY month. In person. To each company.

And then we had to go to one of the offices that she has done some work for to find out about when she'll be paid. The payment schedule seems to be sketchy so you have to stay on top of it yourself. And, again, you have to go in person to pick it up because noone would ever send a paycheck in the mail.

I have to say I found the whole thing very interesting to observe. But, then again, I probably found it interesting because *I* don't have to do it every month. If I did, I'm quite sure I would have another word for it.

And then Lina had an appointment at 5. I tagged along and asked the lady how long it would take; she said just about an hour and a half. Great, I say, I'll just go for a leisurely walk around the neighborhood. Needless to say, more than three hours later I had walked the entire neighborhood, had my eyebrows waxed and read every single magazine the place had to offer. And that seems to be life in Colombia. Nobody really hurries to do anything and everyone is cool with it, just hanging out and enjoying the time chatting. So I'M cool with it, just chillin'.

Then we met up with a couple of her friends, Cristian and MaLu (Maria Luisa), for a fabulous Japanese dinner... in a Japanese restaurant where they played rockin' Latin music. Kind of killed the mood but at least the food was great. We then went to a club where they were having a traditional eastern Colombian music group playing, along with dancers. I'm tellin' ya, the Colombians know how to get down! I'm pretty sure it's just embedded in their DNA at birth.

Today is grey and rainy and stormy. Lina and Betty are in the process of moving so, since we can't be outside doing anything, it seemed like a pretty good day to make some headway with the packing process. Moving is an overwhelming prospect... and it's not even MY stuff!

This is a picture of the 'caldo' soup we had yesterday. It's a broth soup with potatoes and big hunks of some kind of red meat (note the wishbone). And we had it for.... breakfast. Ah, the breakfast of champions: eggs, orange juice, bread and... meat soup!

Bogotá, baby!

Well, the official countdown begins. I am in my last week in South America, which I will be spending in Colombia. My hopes of going to Machu Picchu were brutally dashed when I went to buy the tickets from Santiago to Peru and then on to Bogota. I don't know what the difference is because flying to and within Chile/Argentina was relatively inexpensive but the flights to Peru and Colombia were EXORBITANT. Like, 5 times the price exorbitant. It was a maaaaaajor disappointment and took me a few days to stop being bitter about but let's just say that, for a girl with no current job to speak of, it would have been a pretty foolish decision to spend the money. It was a tough one to make as that was one of my big things I was planning but, at some point, reality has to come into play. It became a matter of either going to Machu Picchu for 3 days or eating for the first 3 months after getting home. So here I am in Bogota. Machu Picchu will have to wait til the next time.

I am visiting my friend Lina here. She came to the US through AHLI in 2000 to spend 5 months learning English. Since she spoke almost no English back then and I was the only staff member at the time who spoke Spanish, we spent a fair amount of time together and became good friends. We stayed in contact and she has been gracious enough to have me stay with her both when I came here for the first time in December 2006 and again now. So I will spend my last week in South America with her and her aunt, with whom she lives. My last week... yikes!

After getting just 3 hours of sleep the night before, I made it up in time for my flight yesterday morning and got to Bogota in the afternoon. When I stepped off the plane it was grey and there were intermittent raindrops. I almost started to cry. It is going to be one hard adjustment for me to go back to a life that isn't sunny every day. But since I've been here it's been off and on grey and then sunny and then raining for 5 minutes and then sunny again. So maybe this is just the right thing for me... to ease me back in to yukky weather slooowly. I can handle 5 minutes at a time of grey skies!

Anyhow, Lina and her aunt Beatriz (Betty) picked me up at the airport and the first question they asked me was of course if I was hungry. I said I wasn't, just a little thirsty.... so we went immediately for dinner. Because that's what you do here; you feed your guests. And in the end I was cool with it because we went to a yummy crepe place. And then on the way home Betty needed to stop into the salon for "just a minute"... and Lina and I ended up waiting for about an hour, just hanging out. That is also what they do here, lots of waiting (this morning we waited at a doctor's office for Betty for 3 hours!).

For lunch we went to a restaurant that was in a humongous transformed warehouse type of building and which I can only describe as a restaurant full of meat. Lots of meat, big huge helpings of it coming out on steaming metal plates. Mmmmm.

And then we went to the salon because, I'll be honest, after walking around for nearly 2 months in sandals every day, I needed a pedicure. Bad. Lina recommended the place, the really upscale one that she goes to, and the charge for my hour-long pedicure was the equivalent of $7. Seven dollars. So then of course, what the heck, why not throw in the $5 manicure? Which only also inevitably leads to the.... ready?.... $6 haircut!! And keep in mind this was the EXPENSIVE place. She said most places charge around $3 for a pedicure. Do you know how much *I* would charge to touch someone else's feet???

So, yeah, Colombia is unbelievably cheaper than Chile. But of course I would have had to choose the MOST expensive South American country to spend the majority of my time. Not that I have any regrets, mind you, I would just have a lot more money left!

Oh, and one random side note: because there is so much traffic congestion here they have implemented a system whereby each person has certain days a week (2-3 per person, I think) where they can not drive between the hours of 6-9 am and then again from 4-7 pm. So this morning Betty needed to leave for something around 8 am but forgot that it was her day to not drive, so had to wait an hour. Isn't that wild? Although, if you think about it, it's pretty smart as it causes people to carpool, take public transportation or ride bikes. Although, there still seem to be a billion cars on the road!

P.S. This picture is of homemade hot chocolate Lina made tonight. Made from REAL chocolate squares boiled in milk. Oh. My. Gosh. It was to die for but the real reason I took the picture was to point out the other ingredient... see those little yellow squares floating in there? That's cheese! Yep, hot chocolate with cheese thrown in. Which of course gets all melty and gooey. Try it, you might just be surprised!

My LAST day in Santiago (insert sobbing sounds here)

Wow. It has actually arrived. My last day in Santiago. When I left the last time after my classes ended it wasn't so tough since I knew I'd be back. But now I'm leaving and I don't know when I'll be back. And it's sad. I've come to really love this city and its people and I've grown very comfortable here.

But I made the most of my last day! I was able to arrange one final lunch with my super-cool classmates (who are just as super-cool as when I last saw them!) and catch up on what's been going on with them these past few weeks. They have all jumped right into teaching, have found places to live and are beginning to build lives here. In a lot of ways, I'm envious of them. But mostly I am really proud of them. They have all made the big leap and, while there are some struggles, they're doing it! We formed such a perfect little group and I'm so happy for them that they will all have each other to help get through it together.

Then Megan and I went to see the Bodies exhibit I mentioned yesterday. Still just as amazing as the first time. And, as a bonus, I learned a lot of anatomical terms in Spanish! I must say, the human body is truly an intricate, wondrous thing. Again, I would encourage any of you who get the chance to go see it. You will never look at yourself the same way again!

I then did a tiny bit of shopping for some gifts and then headed home for my last evening with Edgar y Maria. We spent is as we most often did: sitting around the kitchen table talking and laughing. Maria talked just as fast as always, Edgar gave me the same funny looks as always and I felt just as genuinely happy with them as always. Man, I am going to miss them. I have an open invitation to return "home" to 1952 Polobanda, Santiago anytime, but that won't make flying out any easier tomorrow.

Clean clothes!

I realize that clean clothes are not all that exciting. Unless, that is, you have been wearing the same 3 pairs of pants for just a day shy of 3 weeks. I realize it's disgusting and not really something I should admit out loud but, there it is. I should clarify that I've tried several times to get my laundry done during that time but, without boring you with all tedious details of my dirty clothes, it never worked out. Until today. I have never been so happy in all my life to sniff my pants! Okay, I know that's gross.

Random picture warning: This is the cup of cappuccino I ordered yesterday; note the little pill-like thing next to it. That is the sweetener they use here. And that teeny-tiny little thing actually sweetens the whole cup. Bizarre, no?

The parents are headed home...

Well, I just left my parents at the aiport. They're on the overnight back to Florida and I am back in my room at Edgar y Maria's. We had to be out of our hotel by noon so we had the whole afternoon to kill before needing to be at the airport. Which mostly translated into us sitting at Starbuck's, then sitting at a nice little outdoor Italian restaurant for lunch, then sitting at the airport restaurant... you get the idea.

I think they enjoyed their time here; no doubt it was sometimes a struggle for them to not be able to speak the language or have any idea what was going on around them but we got to do a lot for the little time we had and I know that Mom was particularly impressed with the kindness of the people here. Even without being able to speak the same language, people constantly showed her kindness in both big and small ways and it made a big impression on her. Dad remains impressed with the huasos (cowboys).

Since our hotel was in such a lovely, tree-lined area of the city (sometimes you totally forgot you were even in a city) which also happened to be just a few blocks away from where I took my classes the first month, we also spent some time walking around there so I could take some pictures. This was the area where I spent every day for a month, where I hung out with my friends and caught my bus and ate lunch and shopped and meandered about, and it made me kind of sad to realize today that this was the last time I would walk through it.

So we chilled today, which was nice. It was beautiful and sunny and warm (low 80s) and it was nice to be able to just walk around and enjoy the day and appreciate being able to sit outside. I'm afraid I've become spoiled by a month and a half of sun EVERY day (I'm not exaggerating) and the constant warm temps. I think that if I have to go back to PA and put on anything other than short sleeves and sandals, it is going to be VERY ugly.

I was thinking that I would also fly out of Santiago tonight or tomorrow to move on to my next adventure but, looooong story short, I'm still in Santiago and will be here until Wednesday morning. The one upside to this is that Edgar y Maria were gracious enough to have me come back to their house so I get two more days with them! It was strange to walk back in here tonight and have it feel just like I still belong. I thanked them for being kind enough to let me come back and I was met with a "Don't thank us. This is YOUR house". And they meant it. Wow.

So two more days here... two days of laundry, going to see the "Bodies" exhibit which happens to be in town (I saw it in Florida but am dying to see it again. FAS-ci-nating. If you get the chance, go see it!) and trying to organize all of my junk and figuring out how on earth I'm going to carry home the humongous clay vase I bought. It practically needs its own seat on the plane.

It was a little sad to see Mom & Dad walk off into immigration tonight, but then I realized that I'll seeing them back in PA in just about another week and a half. Which is it's own kind of sad.