Sickness

Last week I finally felt the cold hand of reality . . .

That´s right, 12 hours of hugging the toilet and throwing up everything I ever ate in my whole life. My host mother is not the warmest of women. The most she usually says to me is ´Food´s ready´ or some dirivitive of it. But she mustered up all the motherly insticts she could and got me Tico remedies for my stomach and tried to find some foods that I could possibly hold down. The next two days consisted of lots and LOTS of sleeping. I would wake up, eat a tiny bit of food, and then collapse back into bed. I went to the doctor here and they said it was just a case of ´gastrointestinitis´ so I´ve been eating lots of boring foods and drinking lots of water. And don´t be alarmed - I am feeling MUCH better now and have resumed my regular schedule.


One little thing about Costa Rica that I´ve noticed so far is this little quirk in their dialect. Usually when i say the spanish word ´ahora´ it means right now. However, in Costa Rica it means ´later´ or ´in a little bit´ this can get really confusing! Here´s a sample dialougue (real life example translated for your benefit).

Tico: Raul would like to see you
American: When? Ahora ("now")?
Tico: No. Ja (which is the Tico word for "now")

Well that´s my language lesson for the day!
-Kari

Volcano

This weekend we went to La Fortuna and saw the Arenal Volcano. We were very lucky because we got a clear day. Apparently it is very rare to see the top of the volcano and we had a wonderful view!!


We did a short hike to a beautiful waterfall and swam around. The water was really cold. It was amazing to feel the power of the waterfall - it´s quite overwhelming.

The hostel we stayed in was so cute! Very rustic and minimilistic but for $7 a night I´m not complaining! The woman who owned it was the sweetest! She made us breakfast and sent a bag of oranges with us for the hike!




We came home in time to watch the Super Bowl and find out that Costa Rica has just elected their first female President. It is a time of change here! Everyone was very excited about the elections.

That´s all for today!