Costa Rica Days 3, 4 &5

Sunday, May 31, 2009 - Day 3

I left San Jose to go to Dominical. The roads here are kind of miserable. So traveling the country takes a lot longer than it should. There were 2 sisters, Lesley & Jessica who were traveling with me to Dominical. We got on a bus that took us to San Isidro, where we would be picked up by a driver to take us the rest of the way to Dominical. It´s a 3 hour trip to San Isidro and a 45 minute trip to Dominical. The bus was nice. But there are little things that made the trip uncomfortable. I had a window seat and the guy in front of me leaned back. The corners of the armrest or the chairs were kind of painful to lean on. And the woman next to me was a little Costa Rican woman who looked like a monchichi doll... who kept staring at me as I sat there. I took a lot of pictures... but the ride was so bumpy I tried to sleep... We stopped at a rest station on the way and I had a little snack: ¨Papas¨ which are little empanadas stuffed with potatoes. It wasn´t a lot... but it was tasty. I accidently tried to go to the ladies room, because the signs said damas & caballeros, which is ladies & gentleman. I didn´t recognize those names at all. A nice costa rican woman corrected me gently. Hahahaha...

When we got to San Isidro, it got chaotic. Everyone wanted to be our taxi. It was hard to kind of avoid all the drivers that were asking us if we needed a driver. We finally met our actual driver, Alvarro. Alvarro was good peoples. He didn´t speak much English at all, but we bonded. We had to drive across the mountains to get to the beach. The views were amazing. It was really cool to feel the climate change as we came out of a landlocked city, into the mountains, and down into the seaside town. As we got into Dominical, all sense of civilization started to drop of. And the tiny town began to appear. It was a dirt road with all these tiny little shops and stores that clearly catered to surfers and beachgoers. There are open air restaurants everywhere with surfboard rental shops everywhere you look. There are huge palm and coconut trees and fruit markets everywhere you look. I got dropped off at my cabina, where I waited for the landlord, a guy named Billy Bob. That´s right... Billy Bob. Before I got to Dominical, I was planning for the worst. I knew I would be near the beach, but I didn´t know what the facilities would be like. They said, I might have a roommate & they had said that if I wanted AC it would cost $50 more a week. I had decided in my head, that I was going to try to rough it and go without AC. So I was a little nervous about what the cabinas would be like. When I got there, I noticed 2 things. 1) I was really really really close to the beach... as in a 10 second walk... and 2)the building I was staying in was quite decent. When Billy Bob showed up and took me to my place, I was really pleasantly surprised. It was small... but the bed was full-sized... I had no roommates... and it was quite clean with a good ceiling fan.

I settled in, got changed into comfortable clothes... and headed to the beach. The ocean in Dominical is pretty impressive. It´s a brown sand beach with an incredible open, barren view. The surf is really impressive. Lots of small and medium waves with very large waves further out. There really is no other beach that I´ve ever seen that looks similiar. I strolled along the beach and into the town, where I made my first and most important purchase in Dominical... insect repellent. The mosquitos & flying bugs in this are quite fierce. I got this cool all natural costa rican spray called green screen. It smelled good and made me feel good about buying green and buying local. I was pretty hungry, so I went to the most unpolished, local looking place I could find. They call little eateries, ¨Sodas¨here. I went to Soda Nanyoa. I got a little snack instead of a whole meal because it was kind of late. It was called a Gallo con carne and was basically stewed beef with 2 small tortillas and a tiny salad. I also had a pineapple smoothie. The whole thing came out to $4.50. On the way out, I noticed they had a fruteria (fruit market) and I saw that they had one of the items on my ¨to eat¨list... a coconut. I introduced myself to, Juan, the owner of the fruterria, and got a coconut for the grand total of $1. Juan put a straw in it for me and I was on my way. Coconut milk is interesting. It´s not that sweet. It´s not that thick. It´s not that cold or cool. But it´s... very refreshing... It was really very good. I felt cooled down and happy after I was done. It had no lingering after taste at all. I have been told that it can be a laxative. It did not have that effect on me. I then walked over to the school to officially check in. I met up with the sisters again and also met a couple named Elliot and Sheri. We got to talking and it turns out that Elliot just graduated from Med School as well and was going into Peds. Even cooler, it turns out he´s friends with one of the residents that I´m friends with from Fairfax Family Practice. It was pretty cool... but I guess I shouldn´t be surprised to run into 2 degrees of separation anymore... even when it happens a world apart. We had dinner that night at a Thai restaurant and it was quite good. I slept very happy.

Monday, June 1, 2009 - Day 4

I slept pretty well despite no AC. The ceiling fan really helped... as did the cold showers before I slept. God is good. I walked to the school taking the scenic route along the beach. It´s hard to put into words how beautiful this town is. The sound of roaring ocean is something I will not soon forget. I did not want to stay with a host family in dominical for 2 reasons: 1) I kind of felt like I wanted a little break/vacation at the beach and I knew the cabinas offered that. 2) I wanted a week of spanish under my belt before I stayed with a family. So since I wasn´t staying with a family, they had breakfast for me at the school. I met my pseudo-Costa Rican mom, Anais. She gave me a plate of Gallo Pinto and a fried egg with some great coffee. I really didn´t think I would be able to eat rice and beans every day, but I have to say, I think it´s great. After breakfast, we took placement tests... of course I was placed in low beginner. Our class had 8 people, because we were all beginners and not enough teachers. Our teacher was an adorable woman named Senia. She´s a 24 yo single mom who speaks no english. She was great. I found that I was able to understand a lot more because of 2 years of Italian and having studied 4 different languages. Speaking is a whole other story. It was really hard to keep the Spanish straight from the Italian. Our classes go from 9-1:30. We have 15 minute breaks where they give us snacks. I love the cookies here... and of course... the fruit. I could live off of pineapple alone. We had orientation afterward followed by some errands. It´s really a pretty town. There are a good amount of Americans and foreigners here... mostly to surf. There aren´t a LOT of shops and only a handful of restaurants. It was a pretty hot day, so we decided to hit the beach! The surf is very intense and the beaches are basically empty. I had so much fun just getting rocked by the waves. I went to dinner that night with Sheri and Elliot to the local sushi place... it was... less than great... but oh well... We ran into the sisters on our way out and decided to go get dessert at this place near the cabinas called Hotel Domilocos. We ran into another couple from the school, David and Alyssa. I decided to get Banana Flambe since I love Bananas Fosters. The presentation was amazing... and it tasted great. I´ll try to post the video later. Another great day in Costa Rica... tomorrow... surfing.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009 - Day 5

I love walking to school. It´s so incredibly beautiful. Anais made me an omelet with brocolli. She´s really great. She has 2 girls in their teens and a 2 year old named Franklin. Her and her husband both work with the school. She really treats me like her son. My teacher asked me if I was comfortable in the class. She thought maybe I might want to move to a more advanced class. I was flattered... but I knew that I needed the basics and that I was only good with the bits and pieces. I needed structure to bring it all together. We now had 6 in the class, because 2 of the students had studied more spanish. I have to say... it is fun to be learning a language again. I really enjoy it. Because I am able to understand Spanish well, I am the official class translator. It´s a good job, because it´s forcing me to be on my toes.

I had my first surf lesson in the afternoon, so I needed to eat quick. I was supposed to meet the instructor in a restaurant called Tortilla Flats, so we decided to just eat there. Tortilla Flats is a restaurant right on the beach itself. It is clearly a favorite with the surfers. It´s owned by an American and there are American waitresses there that don´t speak a lick of spanish. I had a Mahi sub... which was delicious... but it´s kind of sad to see so many American owned rather than Costa Rican owned places. We met Ronny... our surf instructor. Ronny is from Dominical... and has been surfing since he was 4. We had to go get the boards... but for some reason... I thought the boards would be nearby... so I left my flip flops behind. Walking across rocks to get to the surfstore was NOT fun... We practiced getting on the board a bit before we went out... and then we got into the water. I almost got up on my first run... it was definitely tricky... but I got better. It was pretty amazing to be sitting there and realizing that I was surfing in Costa Rica. It started to rain and it just added to the experience. Something about surfing in the rain... on an isolated beach in Costa Rica... is just too amazing for words. We surfed for 2 hours. I got 5 really good runs... and a handful of so so runs... it´s very tiring... but the most important thing... is that my last run... was a good one.

After we washed up, we went to a placed called Marakatu. It was a local vegetarian restaurant. I got the Mahi Mahi special with a pineapple smoothie (sense a pattern here?). It was so delicious. For dessert, I had a brownie with ice cream. Afterwards, we went to Coco´s. Coco´s is a local Tico restaurant and bar. It´s one of the first restaurants ever opened in Dominical. We were having our welcome drink with the director. We had Fresca... which is almost the same as Fresca in the States... except it´s not sugar free. They added Cacique... a local liquor made from sugar cane. I just had Fresca. Afterwards, we did a little Karaoke. It was kind of ugly at times... I sang a few songs... Britney Spears, Feliz Navidad, and Girls Just Want to Have Fun. It was a late night for me. Usually I´ve been sleeping at 9-9:30. I went to bed at 11. I was BEAT.

Tomorrow... I start medical spanish... and I go ziplining!