First Impression (the first week)

First impression of La Escuela Del Mundo... "I can't wait to bring my friends here!"
Saturday was orientatation. Sylvia, one of the managers, explained the jist of the school to me and I met some of the kids staying there. I met Charlotte, an adorable German girl, living in England, but travelling around the world for 8 months, and we immediately became great friends. We went to go meet our homestay families together and it turned out that we live right next to eachother. My family is so sweet. The mother, Anna, is a wonderful cook and is very patient with me and my spanish. Her daughter, Joyce, is nice as well and talks at a snails pace around me so that I can understand her. She is funny and very Tico in the way she acts. The father, Oledemar (or something like that), works for the Red Cross from 7pm to 7am and always comes home in the morning with a story. The other day he explained that a land dispute in Herradura led to 19 people being serriously injured and one dying. Or at least thats what I drew from it.

Anyways, Monday classes began. My teacher, Sergio is this hillarious surfer dude that comes to class barefoot and sandy every day. We have this little ongoing joke about me not being able to drink and going to the local bars to ordering CocaCola. Its pretty funny. Every day after class (or before, depending on the tides) we load up the vans with our boards and drive south to a less crowded streach of Playa Jaco. José, Fish, and the other surf instructors help us noobs out. In the beginning of the week there was a fatty swell that made it diffucult to paddle all the way out to the farthest break so I surfed the white water and perfected turning. Gah! Surfing is so fun! droping down the face of a wave, and then turning...! Sooo amazing! Monday night I went to a bullriding fiesta outside of town with Charlotte and her family. That sport is gnarlly. It wouldnt be so bad if you didnt have to worry about being stomped on after falling off. David, one of my guides from my rafting trip was sitting right next to me so I struck up a conversation. He told me that he bullrode the day before and fell off onto his knee. He was super suppourtive of me learning spanish and told me that his english was so good because he lived with a family in Oregon for a year. He asked me how old I was and when I said 16 he was shocked. "I thought you were older than me!" he said. And then he offered to take me out surfing. I told him that I wasn't really sure what my plans were yet and that I'd probably see him around town in the next few days. And I did. Jaco is so small, everyone knows everyone and it's really easy to run into people. On Wedensday, feild trip day at my school, we went kayaking/snorkling and he was my guide agian. We chatted and he hooked me up with a kayak so I could race one of the other guides back to shore. I got a fatty 8 inch jellyfish tentacle to the thigh snorkling and I had to spray vinegar on it. It was that or having one of the men there pee on me.

Tuesday night a few of my amigos and I went to The Jungle Bar for "Ladie's Night" and played pool, danced and mingled for a couple hours. Thursday was a normal day, and Friday night I went to a man-pageant thing with Joyce. Eight guys strutted their stuff in front of three judges, and there were hip hoppers and break dancers in between acts. Her friend Henry won which was exciting. After the crowning we flooded the stage and broke out in dance. I felt extremely gringoish but shook my culo as best I could.

Saturday, today, I didnt have class so I woke up late and went surfing. Craig and a bunch of my school buddies randomly paddled out in the exact same spot as me and I met a girl from Oakland who I got along with really well. We had a conversation about the Hyphy movement and our stance on just paddling out to sit on your board and chill. Anyways, I'm here now at my little cafe and I'm about to go get some dinner. Tootaloo!

Rafting / Manuel Antonio Natl. Park

Oh God, it has been a really long time since i last posted so I have a lot to say. Last I posted, I really wasnt digging Jaco. It was empty and sketchy and I wasn't sure what I was going to do with myself for 7 weeks! Since I've started school, all of that has changed.

My father and I decided agianst sportfishing. Instead we did a whitewater rafting/Manuel Antonio National Park tour. I'm ususlly not one to do the whole "tour" thing, but this one turned out splendidly! An enourmous van filled with our guides, a few floridians, some virginians, and a woman from L.A. picked us up at our hotel room at 7 o'clock sharp to haul us up to the river rapids. The tour provided us with a scrumptious little breakfast of piña and toast and then it was off agian, up the bumpy dirt road to where we would begin our voyage. A quick intro to rafting was all the prep we needed. Flying down the river, amidst the luscious rainforest was thrilling. I was beaming the whole way down (mostly from laughing at my dad who kept trying to scientifically figure out how the "coxwaine" figure in the stern could get us stuck under a rapid so that the boat would fill with water and get him all wet). Our van was waiting for us at the end of the river to take us to Manuel Antonio around noon. We feasted at the place where they store the boats and then set out agian, through Quepos and into Manuel Antonio National Park. The park was beautiful. White sand beaches with thousands of herimit crabs scurrying about, iguanas basking in patches of sunlight squeezing in through the canopy, and monkeys making love in a tree (Ms. Maxwell's: "saaaaaayy...MONKEY SEX!"). There were sloths and butterflies and bright rainforest lizards as well. We arrived home around 5 because there was a traffic jam on the road back to Jaco. Tractors were working to remove a semi from a gorge next to the road. DONT DRIVE DRUNK!

:)

Hello everyone. I am so sorry I haven't been able to post in the past few days. I just want to let all of you know that I am safe and very sound! I love my homestay family and the people at the school are great! ttyl :)

Playa Herradura

My mom is right. I really shouldnt spend so much time on the computer.

Today my dad and I woke up late and caught a taxi to the nearest beach, Playa Herradura. There wasn't much to do there but walk and talk along the beach. The feisty little crabs and fatty iguanas were entertaining though. We hopped on a bus at 2 and rode it all through the residential area and back to Jaco for some ceviche and a refreshing bottle of agua. The surf right now is pretty bad because the high tides are really early in the morning and late at night and there is a strong wind coming from the west that is blowing the waves down and chopping up the water. The safety around here is questionable. There are a lot of poor people and a few of them have offered my dad and I weed. We've heard from numerous people that after 8pm I shouldnt walk outside alone. That is so different from my experiences in Mexico. People party and socialize into the early morning in Puerto Vallarta and even Isla Mujeres, but here bedtime is around 8:30. Maybe its the culture or just the off season, but it was the same way in San Jose.

Hopefully my dad and I will go sportfishing out on a boat tomorrow. The guys at the tour kiosk said we could catch marlin and mahi-mahi which would be really fun to fight (and we all know (with a little help) I can fight a fish (sting ray)!) But my dad's not sure he wants to get up at 7am to do so.

Peace amigos!

I'm In Jaco!

I am in Jaco. We arrived yesterday afternoon by taxi. The town is tiny and really Americanized. I was expecting a quaint little zocalo and diverse parts of town but this is alright. The beach is nice, huge, and has great waves at high tide. Basically there's one street with a few bars and restaurants and tourist shops on it, but other than that there's not much to do but chill by the pool. I can't really compare it to anything ive seen before. It's neither developed nor rural, but somewhere in between. Construction and signs are everywhere advertising huge condo complexes and hotels. Its kind of sad. But I have to make the best out of it for the 7 weeks I'll be here. I'm pretty sure surfing will keep me occupied for most of the time... It better. There are snorkling tours and sportfishing expeditions that I will probably be able to do as well. I'll know more once I start school.

We visited "La Escuela Del Mundo" today and talked with the owner, Bryan. It seems like everyone there is a lot older than I am. That could've been expected, but I just hope they're as pale and bad at spanish and surfing as I am so I don't feel too young. The campus is beautiful with a pool, hammocks and bikes to ride to the beach. The family I'll be staying with knows I'm here and maybe we'll meet them tomorrow. I'm really excited.

I love you guys!

Cena... mmm... bueno!

Dinner was delicioso! Gallo pinto con carne y arroz. I'm going to bed now. Adios.

Hola de San Jose

Hola mis amigos. I had a safe and completely tolerable voyage from SFO to Dallas to San Jose, Costa Rica today and I'm not tired at all, just hungry. From San Fran to Dallas I sat between a soccer player and his coach. The player, whose name I did not catch was from Palo Alto and the Coach lives in San Francisco. The coach was adorable, Danny, though older than his name suggests, and super friendly. He kept cracking jokes and calling us sardines because we were so squished. He was brushing up on some usefull Portugese phrases for his trip to Brazil and came across "beautiful young girl" and couldnt resist throwing it my way I guess. I figured this was fine. I didn't flirt back. The guy on my left, a senior at Palo Alto High, finally struck up conversation way after things turned awkward. He was nice. We chatted about sports, travel and college before playing a game of cards- crazy eights, which I owned him at. We said goodbye at DFW and I hopped onto another plane finally for San Jose. That ride was an hour longer but I was totally occupied reading "The Golden Compass" and listening to my iPod.

Right now im sitting in a quiet computer room in my hotel with free internet access. I can see, wow, a KFC and 3 cantinas from where I'm sitting. Not exactly my kind of city, but it works. And the spanish is coming along. So far I've said "salud", "buena noche" and "gracias" a few times, but everyone else wants to speak english! I'm about to run out and get some comida with my dad who's waiting for me down the street. I'll try to hop on a computadora manana but if I can't make it, we plan to catch a bus after tooling around here for a while to head out to the coast. I miss all of you and wish you were here.

Much Love

last minute thanks...

I leave in a bit to go catch the Marin Airporter with my dad. But before I left I wanted to thank Carroll and the rest of the Yandell gang for the "His Dark Materials" trilogy and the cute little note left along with it. That was so sweet of you to think of me. I've already read a bunch of "The Golden Compass" in between packing and before bed. I can't wait to continue reading it on my 13 hour plane ride! I need a little daemon to come along with me for company. One in the form of an iguana who speaks fluent Spanish and can test giardia levels in tap water :) yeah... that would be helpful. Thank you so much you guys. That was too nice. Stay in touch, Liv

I'll Be Back

In two days, I will be surfing in warm, perfect waves. No more of this wetsuit business, "My head... is fr-freezing" or my favorite from Jackie: "I feel like I'm going to die, I'm so cold," and Dan: "Well, if I could feel, period, I probably would too." Just beautiful, warm Costa Rican water.

Today I went surfing with a bunch of my best friends: Tobyn, Mikayla, Laura, Jackie and Dan, at Stinson. We all met at Woodlands and Jan rode his bike over from Ross to say goodbye. He will be returning to Spain on Thursday after a year of living in America, but I have a feeling that that wasn't the last time I'll ever see him. We're going to keep in touch. I'm really glad I met him this year. We all drove out to Bolinas, our original destination, scoped out the surf there and decided agianst surfing there. It was cold and the waves were too dinky. We all hopped back in the car and backtracked south to Stinson. The weather there was a little less foggy and the waves looked great for Stinson. We chilled on the beach and ate our sandwiches before hitting the waves. Jackie and I took the surfboards and everyone else had some form of a boogieboard. I paddled out to the furthest break and caught the first wave I paddled into and C-Mo'd it, as Andy would say. The next few waves were as easy to catch as the first one, which was strange, because as of last Tuesday, I was sucking. I kept improving with each wave, and after about five, I was standing up and bringing my feet forward like I was taught :). The best was when Jackie and I caught the party wave together. Haha. That was suuweeet!

The day was great. We left la playa at 2:30, my friends got picked up and I said my goodbyes. Later that day I took my new iPod to Tobyn's house and we loaded her library onto it because my laptop has a virus. I'm listening to the most random African tribal music right now. It's amazing! Tobyn is so eclectic when it comes to her music! I said goodbye to her agian.

One thing I've learned in these past few days is that goobyes and thankyous never last long enough. Droping Andrew off at the airport went by way too quickly. I had been dreading that day for 3 months, but when it actually dawned, and he was walking towards his terminal and away from his family I, I felt like I should've said more than "goodbye, have a fun and safe trip, and stay in touch." I also should've thanked him. But there just wouldnt have been enough time. I would've said something along the lines of, "Thank you for your love, your hospitality, and your cheerfulness. Thank you for being laid-back but driven, finishing high school and teaching me what you've learned so far. Please continue to teach me more throughout college. Thank you for helping me pass my spanish final, teaching me to fly fish, surf, and shoot a gun. Thanks for being that extra arm I needed to reel in that sting ray, and someone to talk to no matter what the occasion. Thank you for being inspirational, cooking, and carpooling, and being and amazing person altogether. I hope you have an idea of how crazy in love i get when I think of you. Have a safe trip, and have fun. I love you." That sounds better, eh? The list goes on forever.

Saying goodbye to Ari, Chris, and William is strange too. We've been through a lot together. And tomorrow I'll be saying goodbye to my mom, and in a few days, my dad. All of my friends have wished me the best and have given me the ole' tata, but I dont want to say goodbye. I guess that's just the person I am. I love my amigos and I want them all to come with me. I'm only leaving for a few weeks everyone. "I'll be back."

Getting Ready

Yesterday, my mom, Sarah, and I ran to Best Buy and the Village Mall in Corte Madera to take care of a few last minute things before my trip. We spent almost an hour in Best Buy complaining to the Geek Squad that I had been promised a new iPod many times in the past, but because of some internal issue, they wouldn't give it to me. Later that day, the old one Best Buy had refurbished got stolen, right out of my moms car. I shouldn't have left it on the middle console, but my mom also forgot to lock the car. Anyways, that kind of blew, but I was too tired to care. After two overnights and staying up untill 2am each night, I crashed on top of my bed and all of my stuff to pack at 6:30pm. I woke up at 10am today. My mother and I set out to finish our errands at the mall agian this morning. I bought some tank tops, a new pair of shorts, a spiral notebook for spanish lessons down there, and deoderant (hence the humid, 90 degree weather). I also bought a new iPod for the trip. My belated birthday present from my dad. I'm back home now and I'm finally going to resume packing. Before I leave, I heard a story about three 20-something surfer brothers, friends of ours, who just had a very unfortunate experience in Costa Rica, only a few minutes away from where I will be staying. They were walking along the beach at night with a couple girls, when four banditos robbed them at knifepoint. They survived, but I overheard that the girl, did not. I do not know how she passed, if it was of shock or she was shot, that I did not catch, all I know is that my mom told me half of this story as a lesson. I have to be extremely cautious while I'm down there. I'm a blonde, attractive, gringo who looks like she has money... i.e. I'm a target, and I need to be smart and safe to stay out of trouble. Anyways, tata for now. Olivia