Capucine Monkey in Carara
Bienvenidos! This is Sarah writing after finishing our (very tiring, but very fun) 6th day in Atenas, Costa Rica. In general, homestays are all going well. We’ve all definitely had our fair share of awkward moments but are learning that it’s all part of the experience. To be honest, being thrown right into all of this, especially in a
place where we don’t speak the language, was really hard at first. The first night I was here, I understood about 35% of what my host family said to me. Being halfway through our time here, I am pleased to report that my comprehension level has probably doubled (although there are always those times where I have to ask people to repeat themselves once too often…then I just nod and said “Si, bueno.” Sometimes this works. Most of the time I just look silly).
Aside from that, one of my favorite things about being here is the scenery. Especially on the walks that we took today, I’ve been constantly in awe of how much I am surrounded by green. Everything is so vibrant and beautiful that just looking around makes it hard to be upset about anything at all. Today specifically, we visited a national park of Costa Rica and walked a total of (I think) 6 kilometers through the forest. We saw iguanas, monkeys, birds that looked a bit like platypuses (platupi?!), and LOTS of huge trees. The title of this post was the advice we received from Awa after our guide accidentally had us stand under a tree that was home to a massive wasp nest. None of us knew what was going on, but somewhere someone shouted, “RUN!” And thus, without question, we all ran. Since we were down closer to the ocean today, it was a solid 10 degrees hotter than Atenas up in the mountains. By the end of our first hike, the combination of sweat, sunscreen, bug spray, and dirt made us all feel absolutely disgusting. Fortunately, we were rewarded on the second hike when a bunch of us got to take off our shoes and wade in a creek! It was a tiring, long, hot day, but at least we know we’ll sleep well tonight.
Boat-billed Heron
Speaking of which…one more thing. Tonight, a group of us went out to the “Fiestas de Sabana Larga”, which is a festival in Atenas that happens once a year and just happens to be while we are visiting. We saw some bull fights (totally crazy, right?), did a bit of dancing, ate a few churros, and generally had a good time! There is one more day of the Fiestas, so hopefully we will get to go again tomorrow!
I think that’s all for now. Buenas noches!
-Sarah