A funny thing happened on the way to the airport...

I just returned from my trip to LA to see the new baby Murry! I will post some pictures later of that small adventure, however, I wanted to mention a few entertaining things that happened on Thursday, the day I left.
During math class there were two cows lose in the recess yard. It was quite amusing. The cows were running like mad around the field while an unfortunate farmer tried desperatly to catch them. He stumbled around in his rubber boots, running after them with his rope ready in front of him. It was a rodeo at our school! The more he chased, the faster they ran. I didn´t realize cows could move that quickly. After some time, another farmer arrived and tried to approach the cows from the opposite side of the field. This only served to stress the cows out further, so they ran like mad into the woods. I do not know what happened after that. Perhaps they are still wandering around the woods, waiting to surprise some unsuspecting birder trying to find a quetzal in the tree tops. A wandering cow would be quite an unexpected sight in the forest.
Needless to say, my lesson on metric conversion was put on hold so we could all watch the cow chasing. I think it was time well spent.
The other amusing thing that happened occured during my van ride to the airport in San Jose (a four hour ride!). At a point along the tattered and small Pan American Highway, a car in front of us stalled on a steep hill. The Pan American, despite being the major highway in all of Central America, has only one lane each way in many places here in Costa Rica, so we were trapped. The other lane was all stopped because of construction and we were stuck behind the stalled car. So- much to my surprise, my driver got out of the van and went with one other man and proceeded to PUSH the car up the hill. Two guys. And this was no small car- it was a giant SUV. And they PUSHED IT. Up a HILL.
I was pretty impressed. Kind of makes me feel like a wimp for struggling to carry the groceries up the steps to my house.

The Latest

So, it's been quite a while since I've written and I apologize. Since our return from Granada, I have been busy with the start of the new semester and such. But- all is still well here in our little mountain hamlet.
Last week classes began after a month long break. It was good to be back in the swing of things, and off to a good start with our new science unit: Energy and Electricity! More on that tomorrow, when I will post some pictures of our homemade roller coasters...
Life continues here in our house on the hill; the sun is setting over the Gulf and the January winds continue to blow. Luckily they have stopped blowing quite so fiercly. Last week I had some trouble sleeping because I became convinced that Michael and I were about to be blown right out the window, into the trees...or perhaps we were going to be quickly crushed by falling limbs. At least once a night, I would sit bolt upright in bed and shout "OH MY GOD" thinking that this was definatly the end. Michael in his still-peacefully-sleeping-state would mumble something and pat my back reasuringly.
We're both quite pleased that I have stopped my late-night shouting, as the winds have subsided somewhat.
I continue to try my hand at cooking. "Try", of course, being the key word here. Yesterday is a good example of how sometimes when I "try" it is a disaster. I was making cookies for a student's birthday to be celebrated on Monday. I was making Cinnamon-Sugar cookies. I read the recipe, I gathered the ingredients, I mixed well. I did, however, fail to notice that the bag I THOUGHT was flour was in fact powdered sugar. See- they LOOK rather alike-- both being powdered white materials. Unfortunatly for me, I am a stupid-head and I put in 2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar when the recipe called for that much flour. So I ended up with a very gooey batter made with 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup regular sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Dentists everywhere were rejoicing.
I had a sneaking suspicion that something was wrong because it just kept being a wet batter, even after mixing for quite some time. Luckily i DID realize my mistake at some point and put in some flour, but, the cookies were VERY sweet. Enough to make one's teeth actually hurt.
My students were happy enough to eat them. When I explained to them the sugar mistake, they didn't mind one bit and happily munched their Ridiculously Oversweetened Cookies with joy. Kids always love sugar!
Rehearsals begin this Tuesday for a community kids production of The Music Man which I somehow got roped into helping with. I don't even LIKE the Music Man (sorry Greg). Plus I have no musical talent what-so-ever AND I know nothing about choreography, so my directing is going to sound like this, "Ok. Um. Sing something. Ok. That's...not good. I don't think. Sing it better. I don't know better HOW just better. And now dance something. Just, you know, move your feet around. Make it look like a musical."
It's going to be a hit.
No scorpions lately, for some reason. But we do have a new friendly lizard who likes to hang out on our window so we can see his tiny cute lizard belly.
I also forgot to mention earlier, when we had visitors here I am PLEASED to report that everyone who came to visit got to see some monkeys! I didn't want to disappoint my guests and those monkeys must aim to please. Howlers made an appearance for each and every one of our guests! Yay!
We are in the process of looking for a house for next year. Our beautiful house, unfortunatly, will be occupied by its owners next year. There is one house we do like a lot that we will hopefully be living in, if everything works out! Keep your fingers crossed for us! We mostly want this other house because it also has a wood burning stove and we LOVE our stove.

Nolan and Murry

My nephews!

Here's an adorable picture of my two nephews...Nolan and his new little brother, Murry! Aren't they the cutest???
And that's the happy new Mom, my sister Wendy!

Granada Tiles

This kind of tile work was on the floors of many buildings in Granada.

Michael through the doorway of our hostel

Fountain in main square

Beka crossing plaza

Granada

View from our fancy hotel

Fancy hotel, 100 dollars a night

Ok, so, we stayed in the cheap place for three nights and liked it just fine with our tiny room, shared bath, and old metal fan making strange noises through the night. But for our last night, we decided to splurge and stay in this AMAZING hotel on the same street as our hostel. It was awesome. The room was so beautiful with an amazing view, high ceilings, AND a bathtub. Gorgeous. We felt very silly and decadent...but considering how little money we spend in our day to day life in Costa Rica, we figured we could splurge just once...

Our hostel, 10 dollars a night!

Yet another street scene

Another street scene

"Our" street (where our two hotels were)

Pretty Church

Making a delivery, Granada style

View of main square

Socialismo o Muerte!

Here's a shot of the local buses on the day that Daniel Ortega was sworn in as president. You can see the black and red flags of the Sandanistas flying, as you could all day long. Interestingly, this is an old school bus from the U.S...which makes this kind of a funny picture.
That night we watched the inaugeration in Managua on T.V in our hostel with the family who owned the place. It was quite fascinating. Hugo Chavez and Evo Maroles made passionate speeches and spoke of the brotherhood between Venezuala, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Cuba. Cuba and Castro were mentioned again and again. Perhaps the greatest cheers from the crowd came when Chavez shouted "Viva Castro! Cuba siempre! Liberation para nostra hermanos y hermanas de Cuba! Socialismo o Muerte!" (Long live Castro! Cuba forever! Liberation for our Cuban brothers and sisters! Socialism or death!) It all felt very exciting. Something quite beautiful is happening in Latin America. The people are rising up and taking back their countries- back from the behemoth of power that is the U.S, with Castro as the hero and example in this regard. Evo Morales talked about the importance of taking back the control of industries from U.S. backed multi-nationals and putting it back in the hands of the countries themselves (in Bolivia, this is particularly important in the realm of natural gas). He also spoke eloquently of the time coming for indigenous peoples of the Americas to finally have a chance to stand up and lead themselves.
All three men were amazing, passionate speakers who rose the huge crowd to a feverish pitch of excitement and extasy.
It was all very moving. Felt like we were watching a piece of history.
Many heads of states of countries in the Americas were present...with of course the exception of George Bush. Hmm.

Street scene, lady with basket

If this picture had sound with it, you could hear the woman carrying the basket on her head shouting..."FruTAS! PaPAYA! ManGO! PiNA! CoCO!" These women could be seen throughout the city selling a variety ot things from their large baskets. Most were selling fruit, but some sold empanades or other snack foods. There were also lots of ice cream sellers around who sold their wares from little push carts with ringing bells. On the main square, there were women making the Granada "typical" food called "vigaron." It's made from mashed yucca, cabbage, and pork rinds. It's served on a banana leaf. We chose not to try this because we both agreed that pork rinds do not sound so appetizing. Perhaps it was a mistake to pass up this typical food...but, oh well, maybe next time.

Main Plaza

Horse-drawn carriages on central square

These are actually a means of transportation for locals, not just a cutesy thing for tourists! We did not ride in one, since I can't bear seeing the abuse the poor horses go through, but we did enjoy the clippity-clop sound through the streets while we walked.

Street in Granada, Nicaragua

So here are some pictures of Granada, the lovely city where we spent time last week. We had a great time there just walking around, exploring, and eating good food.

From Granada

I write this post from an internet cafe in Granada, Nicaragua. Today is January 10, the day that Ortega officially becomes president of Nicaragua and everywhere, the red and black flag of his party is flying.
Granada is a beautiful city- quaint cobbled streets and brightly painted colonial buildings- the sound of horseshoes hitting stone as carriages and wagons roll by- the calls of women selling fruit and other foodstuffs from giant baskets, carried on thier heads- all in all, an interesting city with a quintessential Latin American feel. At night, fireworks erupt by the church where a bell is rung by hand. By day, folks fill the benches in the main square, watching people pass and swallows swoop overhead. Everywhere, there are ice cream sellers and juice sellers and tamale sellers- some food is even cooked directly on camals over flame in little wooden carts on the street.
Amidst all of this, however, is a growing tourist industry which lends a strange contrast to the place. On streets that resemble something from the 1600s, there are Asian Fusion restaurants and cafes featuring cappuchino...and fancy hotels and fancy restaurants and many German and U.S tourists. I imagine a few years ago Granada had more of an undiscovered feel...now the city is clearly marketing its quaintness.
And for good reason. It's quite lovely.
We are staying in a tiny little hotel, 10$ a night. It's a strange little place with a large front entrance hall where the family who owns the place sits around, watching TV. There appears to be some sort of cafe in the front, but we have yet to see anyone actually sitting in the cafe. Our room is tiny and without a bathroom, but fine and quite a bargain! And the bed is pretty good too. And there is even a fan, which works very well!
Last night we had sushi, of all things. Also learned that when you order a "rum and coke" here they bring you half a bottle of rum, a bottle of pepsi, a bucket of ice, salt, and two limes. And it costs about 4 dollars for all that. For lunch, we had some fabulous chicken that cost us about 2 dollars each.
Our journey here was long, but not too challenging. The hardest part was when we got off the bus at the border and were told a bunch of instructions in rapid Spanish. We were the only English speaking folks on the Tica Bus so we had to ask a nice Costa Rican man sitting next to me to help. Crossing the border involved mostly standing around while a man from the bus company ran away with our passports. Luckily then he brought them back. We also had to stand in a line to get our baggage checked..but after standing there for a while, the guard looked at our tiny backpacks, rolled his eyes, and waved us through without checking anything.
I guess he figured we couldn't be carrying too much contraband in a backpack.
More later!

Walking Through Water, San Luis hike

Me at the San Luis Waterfall

Long time, no blog

It's been weeks, I know, since my last entry.
I'd say that life has been busy...but, honestly, all we've been doing here is enjoying vacation and relaxing! I suppose I haven't written much because we're beginning to get to that time when the amazing and remarkable because just the everyday.
But! A few things of note, none the less.
Had some visitors the last few weeks. First, my parents who stayed here in Monteverde for a few days before we all traveled to the lovely Playa Pan de Azucar together.
Then, Abby from Philly came and we had a lovely time, despite there being no running water in the house for three days. She was real trooper and didn't mind having to walk a mile or so to take a shower.
The water has since returned, thank goodness.
Abby and I visited the nearby Las Juntas hot springs that we so nice and also helped us be clean for the first time in days.
On Wednesday, I hiked to the San Luis waterfall with my friend Erica and her visiting sister, Missy. It was stunning. Perhaps one of the most impressive waterfalls I've ever seen. It's quite an amazing hike getting there...you have to clamber down mud clifs and hop rocks across the river and cross several very rickety looking wooden boards. The difficulty of the journey was one of the most impressive aspects of it...the waterfall felt like a secret, unknown place. It isn't, of course, but it felt that way after wandering through the woods for two hours or so to reach it.
Yesterday I was stung repeatedly by a very small wasp in my pants. I was walking up the road to our house and felt this horrible burning pain on my leg. I bent over and yelped, but had no idea what to do. I wanted to rip my pants off and find out what the heck was stinging me so, but the middle of a public road seemed like a less-than-ideal place to do this. So I moaned for a little bit. Felt more burning up my leg. Contemplated removing pants, opted to continue walking home instead.
When I got home I discovered the culprit- a teeny, tiny little wasp that seemed hardly large enough to cause such pain. Today I have an impressive collection of welts on my leg!
In unrelated news: I cooked some Chinese food on Saturday because I've been craving it something awful. I made some spicy noodle dish. It was yummy. I also made chicken stock from scratch on Sunday and wished I had some matza balls to put in it. Oh well.
Speaking of which, I just finished reading the book "Salt" which details the history of, obviously, salt...and it made me crave lox like crazy. There were extended descriptions of salted, cured, and smoked fish and I thought... " Right now I would KILL for some lox or some smoked whitefish. KILL. On a big bagel with cream cheese."
It's funny what you start craving. I think it's a form of slight homesickness. Some people miss a place...right now I'm missing food products. Bagels. Sushi. Thai food. Indian food. Edemame. Spagettios.
Yes...I DID just say Spagettios. I happen to love them, thank you very much. They're my favorite comfort food, for some reason.