The sun shines through my window at 5:30 every day, but i can usually force myself to sleep in another couple of hours. Unfortunately, today I woke up at 5 itching all over. Jellyfish (or medusas) are a big problem among surfers down here. After a week of soid surfing, I'm basically covered from head to toe in red splotchy bumps. I scrambled out of bed, still scratching my stings, eager to find the anti-itch cream and get back to sleep. While I was at it I poped a Benadryl which knocked me right out and I slept in late.
We departed Jaco at 8:30 in the morning. Oldemar, my homestay father drove us waaay out into the boonies, between mountains, over rivers, and through dense forests. We passed hundreds of cows, chickens and bananna plants on the way up. When we reached our family friend's house at the top my "mother" introduced me to the family and showed me around the very small house. The man of the house, Oscar, hooked me up with a horse, told me to get on and walked me around for a little while. I felt like a four year old at a county fair so i had my dad ask if I could ride him on my own. Oscar had no problem with that and swatted the horses rear so he would move. Now I could figure out how to make the thing run! I took him down a path deeper into the rainforest, past cow pastures and exotic flowers, and when I came to flat parts, I leaned foreward, kicked him in the rear or swatted his behind, and we finally started to move. It was thrilling.
I returned to the house within an hour or so an explored their backyard. They had turkeys, chickens, a pigglet, 3 adorable kittens, parakeets, and a strange creature called a tepesquino. I also found an enormous spider the size of a tea cup saucer and photographed it. We had lunch at another house on the mountain and came home around 4. It was a great day!
