Denial

I think I literally may have spent the past week in some form of denial with regards to the fact that, in only 7 short days, I will have reached the end of this amazing semester and will find myself back in the States. Don't get me wrong, I cannot wait to see you all and hear all about what has happened in the past 3 months in which I was absent. This morning just marked the first in-my-face reminder that I am leaving this beautiful mountain top very soon, and that I have no idea if or when I will come back to these people and places I have grown to love.

This morning, my lovely host grandma, Nidia, left for her home in Naranjo for the duration of Holy Week, or Semana Santa. Since I leave Monteverde for San José on Thursday, this meant that this morning was the last time I will possibly ever see this woman who has cared for me and made my life so much easier over these past 3 months. Ever is a very, very long time, ladies and gentleman. Yes, she loved the idea of feeding me as much as I could physically eat, that is true, but her loving charm made all of that worth it and then some. I will never forget the last words she said to me before I left the house last night. "Disfrute la vida, Allison." Enjoy your life. Don't worry, Tita, I will.

And the qualifier she added about how this could take the form of bringing home a boy on each arm? Yeah, that's pretty priceless.

Mi hermanito

My little brother is the cutest. End of story.

Rockin' my shades.

María Paula is unamused. But I sure am.

La Playa Loca

So this past weekend was spent on a trip to a beach, Playa Brasilito, on the Pacific side of Costa Rica. While I honestly expected the whole weekend to be extremely low-key and uneventful, a series of events beyond our control definitely made it a weekend adventure that I am note likely to soon forget.

The trip was officially set to begin on Friday at noon, when the private bus was scheduled to pick us up from the Institute. But noon turned into one, and one eventually turned into two, and still no bus. After some exasperated phone calls to the agency--all in Spanish, of course-- (exasperation is hard to express in a second language!) we were on our way. Until the bus blew out a tire in a tiny pueblo in the middle of nowhere. Another two hours and much swearing later, we were again in transit.

We arrived to our campsite after dark (ick) only to discover that our site was literally located next to a raw human sewage lagoon. Needless to say, we were not happy campers (haha, I'm so punny). Thankfully, we all managed to go to sleep and hope for the best in the morning.

And better it was! We spent the next two days at the nearby Playa Conchal, thus named because the "sand" is composed entirely of tiny little seashells! The water was warm, clear, and absolutely beautiful. And our adventure back to the beach at night (to skinny-dip, of course) revealed that the water was FILLED with glowing, bioluminescent algae, invisible during the day, that made the water appear to be filled with little glowing stars which would cling to your skin and hair as you moved.

While this picture isn't mine, as I didn't bring my camera along camping, this
is the beautiful Playa Conchal, complete with coral reef on the lower right!

While some of the poverty surrounding the big resorts was scary (hence the open sewage lagoons) and very eye-opening, I think I now finally understand just why it is that people love beaches so very much. Although I doubt the east coast of the states will ever quite be able to live up to this...

La Caminata

This Saturday marked the date for the Monteverde Friend's School's annual walkathon, or caminata, to raise funds for the school. The walk spans 13 kilometers from the school in Monteverde all of the way to a beautiful vista of the Arenal volcano in San Gerardo. The walk was long and definitely tiring, but thanks to great company, including my friends Maggie, Linn, and Melody, as well as my host family, made it all worth it. 

My little brother has the cutest backpack EVER.

Snoopy in real life.

And yes, there actually were treehouses.

The crew, sometime after Km 8.

Volcán Arenal.

Pretty pony chillin at the end of the walk.

The crew. We look pretty good for having just walked 13 Km...
Just saying.

El Día de Familias

This past Sunday, the Institute hosted a game day for all of us students and our host families. The day featured games, a lecture on natural medicine, coffee and homemade refreshments, a presentation of traditional dance by some of the students (myself included), an interpretive dance performance by some local community members and Eric (an Institute staff member), and a chance to talk about our homestay experiences in small groups. A great day overall... and here are some pictures of me with my host fam to prove it! Enjoy!

Technically difficulties involving the angle of the sun...but my
host dad managed to pose for this one, along with my host mom
and grandma.

The whole crew... minus my dad and brother.
Apparently Yorlenny couldn't resist the good ole bunny ears...

A small portion of the beautiful sunset we were lucky enough to see on the way home!

Mi hermanita

So, after receiving a request for more pictures of my Tico family and professors, I will begin with this post, with the few pictures that I already have on my computer of my host sister. Out of all of my family, I probably interact the most with her, as she always wants to practice her English and I always want to practice my Spanish. 

She really is adorable. Sometimes she is trying, like any 8-year-old, but overall she is super tranquilla, and I look forward to seeing her smiling face after school every day, and will miss her so much when I leave. 

Introducing, the lovely María Paula....

Meet the Spongebob silly band. O Bob Esponja, en español.
María loves her silly bands. 

Hence the fact that more than one picture features them...

Making me look ridiculous is one of María's absolute favorite
things these days. But she is cute enough to pull it off. And
leaves me cute little notes and pictures to make up for it.

Imma miss her so much! Although I think she might be happy to
have her room back when I leave... : ]

Nuestro grupo

Aquí está un foto de todo el grupo de Mt. Holyoke y Goucher.

Literally some of my favorite people ever. I don't even wanna think about having to miss them all.

Top row: Deonny, Pati, Debbie, Natasha, me (left to right)
Bottom row: Rachel, Molly, Linn, Yu-Li, Ahdi, Jacqueline, Sofía, Carol, Cristina, Calli
Sprawled in the front: Our fearless leader, Anibal