Yes - here it is: the first part of my travel journal in Costa Rica! This is the Spanish Week, in which we stayed with host families in Heredia whilst learning Spanish at the Intercultura language school, making friends and exploring the city!
Friday 6th July 2012
My Costa Rican adventure has begun – after a hell of a long
journey! Set off at 5 this morning for Heathrow (after no sleep due to
last-minute packing!); got there around 8.15. Checked in, which took forever,
then went looking for the other ISV people! Thankfully we all managed to find
each other, and got to know each other as we waited for the plane. First we had
an 8 ½ hour flight to Newark, which seemed to go on forever. I passed the time
watching films and doing sudokus. Newark Airport was frustrating as it took
nearly two hours to check in and go through customs – we barely made our flight
to San Jose! Now we had another 5 hours in the air, fun times. I read my book
and listened to music, trying to sleep but failing. Dead with tiredness.
Finally made it out of San Jose Airport to meet out host families…
…to find that no one in mine speaks English. When you
haven’t slept all night, people asking you a bunch of
questions in Spanish isn’t exactly what you want. I don’t speak a word of the
language! To make things even more confusing, there are a group of German
students staying there as well, and what with the constant switching between
languages I can’t understand a thing. Oh God…
Saturday 7th July 2012
Well, it’s been a pretty interesting day! First I got woken
up at 6 by dogs barking outside. It’s really noisy here! But I guess I am in
the middle of the city. Heredia’s about 20 minutes from San Jose, the capital,
which is located in the central valley, between two long chains of mountains
and volcanoes. I’m staying in a house 5 blocks away from Intercultura, the
language school. Not that I’ve any idea what a block is…I’m not from America!
Had a ‘conversation’ with my Mama Tica this morning, which consisted of her
asking me questions, me not understanding, a lot of gesturing, and if in doubt,
just smiling and saying ‘Si’. She walked me to the school this morning for the
welcome meeting. First thing I noticed about Heredia was the heat. It’s really
humid here, so I was glad of the air conditioning! Another observation is that
the motorists drive like maniacs! Crossing the road is terrifying because the
cars thunder past without a care for anyone or anything in their path; the
kerbs are a metre high; and pedestrians don’t have right of way. Yikes!
Managed to get to the school OK, though. Finally, some
contact with someone who knows what’s happening! I’ve felt very lost and
confused for the last few hours, so it’s good to have some direction. This week
we have Spanish lessons in the mornings, then the afternoons are free to do
pretty much whatever we want! Today we had a tour of Heredia, learning where we
can find all the important places like the supermarket, souvenir shops, parks
and various landmarks. Heredia’s a pretty confusing place to navigate, but I
guess I don’t have much sense of direction anyway! We went to a restaurant
where I tried my first Costa Rican cuisine! Thankfully they know what a
vegetarian is. I should be OK here – though I have a feeling I’m going to get
tired of rice and beans!
Talked to people, and got to know the group. There are at
least forty of us, and that’s just for the Spanish week! I’ve not met most
people on my project yet. Everyone’s really friendly, which is nice. Even
though communicating with my host family is tricky! Looking forward to tomorrow’s trip to the Poas Volcano,
anyway. I really want to see more of Costa Rica!
Here are a couple of pictures I took of Heredia. It's very different from cities at home!
Heredia - City of Flowers.
The road I walked down to school.
Here are a couple of pictures I took of Heredia. It's very different from cities at home!
Sunday 8th July 2012
Well, I certainly got my wish! Today was a pretty early
start – had to be at the school at 7.45 for the 2-hour drive to Volcan Poas. We
drove past some pretty awesome scenery on the way, as we climbed higher up into
the mountains and could see the entire central valley spread out before us,
wreathed in cloud, and surrounded by mountains as far as the eye could see.
Beautiful. :)
We started by following a path to the main volcanic crater.
It was pretty impressive! There was a steaming pool of sulphur in the centre of
the huge crater, releasing clouds of steam. Pretty cool! We then hiked through
the rainforest for a while, to a lagoon surrounded by green forests. Got some
great photos! Loving this beautiful country already! We went souvenir shopping
afterwards so I could buy presents for my friends, plus a Costa Rica bracelet
for me. We went to a restaurant afterwards for more Costa Rican cuisine. Then
drove back to Heredia! A bunch of us decided to go to a coffee shop and ended
up finding this really nice café which has the most amazing smoothies ever!
Though it was interesting trying to translate things on the menu. :P
Seriously tired now, but it’s been a great day. First
Spanish lessons tomorrow – I can finally learn to communicate with my host
family! And Latin dance lessons should be interesting…considering I have three
left feet! Oh well.
Pura vida :)
Monday 9th July 2012
It’s funny how I’ve only been here three days, yet walking
to school in the morning already feels normal! Our first day of classes began
with us being divided into groups depending on our level of Spanish. I don’t
know any (apart from a few words I’ve picked up in the last couple of days!) so
I’m in the beginner’s class. We’re covering the basics this week, and today we
went over a lot of different topics. These included useful phrases, family
members, colours, asking the price of something, directions, months and days,
numbers and more! Had a Latin Dance lesson in the afternoon, which was
interesting! Managed not to fall over, at least! Watched part of a Costa Rican
film afterwards, and signed up for a trip on Wednesday. :) Also going to San
Jose later this week. Exciting times! Went to my first Costa Rican bar tonight,
too. I’m enjoying this, I have to say!
Costa Rica’s awesome!
Tuesday 10th July 2012
Cold’s come back – damn my immune system! Felt like crap all
day. :/ Managed to survive Spanish classes despite a killer headache.
Today we looked at how to ask questions, conjugate verbs, the difference
between the different verbs ‘to be’ (confusing!), some adverbs and adjectives.
Hoping I’ll be able to put a sentence together soon! Unfortunately, didn’t help
me much when I tried to buy ibuprofen! Had to use a translator – but at least I
managed to get some. I have weird flu symptoms too. I suppose it might be dehydration - I don't think I've ever been this hot!
However, drafted an entire chapter of my novel! Thought I
wouldn’t have any time for writing here, but I’m still inspired! :D
Wednesday 11th July 2012
Still feel crappy, but better than yesterday. In today’s
lessons we looked at more verb comparatives, vocabulary and grammar. Can’t
believe how much we’ve covered already! Wandered around town for a bit before
heading back to the school for our cookery lesson, which was interesting (with
my Mama Tica, too!). Then waited an hour, talking, for our trip to the Ram Luna
restaurant near San Jose! Saw a beautiful sunset on the very long drive up into
the mountains, through the non-moving city traffic. But it was worth it – we
had a buffet, a traditional Costa Rican dance show, and fireworks! A fun
evening :)
Thursday 12th July 2012
Another say of Spanish verbs and vocab. I’ve learnt quite a
lot in a week! Though I think my years of learning French grammar have helped.
:P Went into San Jose this afternoon and had a look around all the shops and
markets, which was fun. Got some awesome tourist photos! Then we went back to
Heredia, where we got absolutely drenched in a storm!
Last night with my host family. It’s weird thinking everyone
else’ll be arriving tomorrow, and on Saturday we’ll all be going to our
volunteer projects! I’ve two weeks without any contact with the outside world! No internet, no
phone signal…Here’s hoping I like the jungle!
Friday 13th July 2012
Last day of Spanish lessons! Said goodbye to my Mama Tica
before going to school for my last day! We went over some grammar before having
a small quiz, then graduation! I have a certificate to prove I can speak some
Spanish, haha. Well, I certainly know more than I did at the start of the week!
Went to a café, then headed over to Hotel America to check in and drop off our
luggage. Then we had the ISV Volunteer Project introductory talk and received
our free T-shirts. We met our project leaders, who told us more about our projects!
Mine sounds…more intense than I thought. I actually had to go and buy water
shoes because apparently we need them (no one mentioned that before…). It took
forever because a) I got completely lost, and b) nowhere seemed to sell them.
And my incompetence with Spanish didn’t help! But I found some eventually and
managed to get them in the right size. Well, two sizes too big, but I was
desperate by this point. They were cheap, anyway! I also got some pens (keep
losing them) and bin bags (because apparently our stuff might get wet on the
boat to our project, and my bag’s not waterproof!). Then a group of us went to
Pizza Hut for our last night together in Heredia!
A long journey ahead of us tomorrow! Sent last messages to
everyone – I’ll be out of communication for a fortnight!
Part 2 to come tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment