I finally saw sand!!

Hola Amigos!

It´s been a good two weeks in Costa Rica.! Here are some highlights:

The US beat Spain. I don´t know much about soccer teams, but I do know that this was a classic David and Goliath situation where both David and Goliath were very cute and very fit. For me, it was a win-win situation, but for Spain, it was a HUGE loss.

I started running again, which is almost more surpising than the US beating Spain. It´s just that I was starting to feel a little sedentary eating so much and moving so little. Here the maid (Claudia)and my host mom seem to have a small battle making me breakfast every morning. Claudia makes me toast. My mom outdoes her with an omelet. Then Claudia strikes back with pancakes. So my mom ups the stakes with gallo pinto. After about 30 minutes of this I finally say I can not possibly eat anymore, and both of them walk away, most likely strategizing what they will make the next day. I must admit, it is the most delicious war this country has ever seen, but I´m worried it will soon start to claim victims, namely the buttons on my pants and the small wicker chair that I sit in. With them in mind, I decided it was time I laced up the old gym shoes again. Of course, I celebrated the start of me running again with a fresh bag of Chiky´s (tasty little cookies covered in chocolate that have more addictive qualities than tobacco and gambling combined).

But the biggest news yet is that I finally went to a beach this weekend! I love museums and hiking has been great, but I´ve been waiting forever to finally see some sand! It was so different from anything I´ve gotten to do so far; there were no worksheets, no classes, and no planned activities. Honestly, I spent most of my time just laying on the beach (with my trusty SPF 55), and when I got tired of that, I laid by the pool. It was so nice and such a welcome break from class. Unfortunately, on Sunday afternoon everything went back to normal: we got back into our stinky old bus, Brazil beat the US, and I was out of Chiky´s.

As you all know, this weekend is the 4th of July, and I´m a little sad that I won´t be in the US to celebrate it. I told my mom that, and the next day we went to a mall, where we ate KFC and Oreo McFlurry´s. While she did cover a lot of the finer aspects of America (mainly the Oreos), it still wasn´t quite like being at home. This trip has definitely been a good one, but I must say I am very excited to see you all in just two and a half (that´s right, just TWO AND A HALF weeks)!!! I miss you all very much!!!