days 1 & 2

ok, here we go{

so much to report on; i will try to keep things relatively chronological, but first, i need to get this out of the way..

had my first SCUBA lesson today, w/ a video and equipment run-through, and after only a few minutes of pool diving, let me just say, dios mio get me to the ocean! i feel so comfortable under the water, even with the whole apparatus, and i can barely wait to move on to oceanic exploration. however, that part of the course does not start until next week.



backtrack, rewind - - - -


the flight/entire journey was rather uneventful. i suppose my favorite part was listening to the couple in front of me on the first plane, as the woman explained her newfound attraction to fractal geometry to her less enthusiastic and likely confused neighbor.
after arriving in San Jose, i spent the night in a little bed and breakfast. while falling asleap, i was serenaded by who knows how many dogs, and definitely a few cats. something cat sized was running about all across the roof. however, i slept like the dead and awoke before my 6:30 alarm, convinced that i had overslept - it was so bright out and warm warm warm even then.
there is a scent to the air here that i have tried to remember in the states, but never really could - the element of smoldering trash is not as consistent here as in nicaragua, but that is relatively inconsequential as the odor i,m getting at has more to do with life. some combination of moisture and plant matter, warmth and decay - that deep foresty smell of all peices of the life cycle occuring at once, except hot. perhaps i,ll get back to you on that.

my first morning, i had a typical tica (costa rican) breakfast = gallo pinto and eggs. delicious. (this morning my host mother made pancakes. which here they call "pancakes" go figure. real maple syrup, too... ) there was another woman staying there - kathy, a hairdresser from florida who will be joining me at this school after a week at CPI,s campus in Monteverde.

i shuttled from the bnb to another private bus, in which, with two other students and a smattering of hotel guests, we bumped and bounced and screeching-halted our way to Flamingo.
our one stop along the way was at a roadside cafeteria, where in addition to pastries and sandwiched, there were large macaws lounging in the trees. one arbol had a sign posted: Mangoe, -Something Latin indica- no fruit, but exciting nonetheless.


it{s nearly imposible to believe this was only yesterday. . .

i taxied to my host family, and met Erika, her daughter Priscila, and son Cristian. the house was filled with friends from school, studying and playing. one girl (whose mother is from the states) surprised me by asking in perfect english if i wanted to go get ice cream with them. there is a heladeria downthe street, with gelato and espresso.

Erika and i have done our best to share what we can. i brought photos from home and asked her a little bit about Potrero (the village where i,m living, close to flamingo). her husband was raised there, but she has only lived in the town for 17 years.
they have a dog, a yellow lab named Mo. he and my family,s pup Buddy, look almost identical excepting the massive size difference. buddy is easily 4 mo. i am told that the reason the mo.s neck is as thick as his waist, and his legs no longer than his adorable head, is that "sus padres son hermanos" - his parents are siblings, and the vet said they shouldn.t expect him to grow any larger.

this morning, i tookthe bus to school at 7: 30, for orientation and classes. the oral exam went much better than i expected, but the written exam surely cued them in to my level. which is low.
however, the class i was placed in (with oine other woman from the states) is ecellent so far. my teacher is fun and very good at communicating while sticking to the general rule of Spanish Only.

i am forgetting details now, and since i have already raved about the dive class i just returned from, i will soon rest my typed-out fingers and do some homework. this was my first go at the keyboards here, and i have yet to find the correct apostrophe. speaking of punctuation, i was asked earlier to explain a tatto - the one in my jugular notch - in spanish. aye. i didn.t know the words for punctuation, infinity-eternity, leaf, or drop, so i started with pregunta, porvenir, and agua... eventually, it was a success...

library,s closing -
hasta luego