Monte Verde and more

Hi everyone at home! This week in Costa Rica has been a good one!

On Thursday we went to the national museum in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. The museum actually used to be a military base, but it was donated to the city when the Costa Rican army was abolished in 1949. They kept some parts of the base the same for people at the museum to tour, including some jail cells which were used to hold prisoners. It was sort of creepy, but immensly more interesting than the exhibit on the national flower we had seen just before that. I was also a little bit surprised at the lack of security they had- no one even said anything to me when I almost accidently sat on a chair created by indigenous tribes about 5000 years ago. Oops. We also got to do a little bit of shopping while we were there, and I got some cool things for people at home!

Friday we went to a discoteca (I guess it´s kind of like a night club in the United States, but I would say this one was a little more PG). It was relatively unventful, especially because my teacher (who is about 65) came with. Some boys tried to dance with us, but she quickly scared them away. I´m not sure what she said, but I´m assuming it was something to the effect of ¨they have swine flu¨ judging by the rate at which they ran.

Saturday night my family took me back to San Jose to go to a steakhouse. I didn´t really understand the menu so I asked them to order something for me, and I ended up with a 12 ounce steak and french fries. I knew it was so expensive and that they went they´re just for me, so to not seem ungrateful (or unamerican), I ended up eating every bit of that steak, even though I could feel my pants getting tighter with each bite. Plus, we stopped to get ice cream on the way home- it was the only time I´ve ever had to choke down a milkshake in my life. I literally think I went into a food coma because there are little pieces of the night that I can remember nothing but the steak.

Our surprise trip this weekend was to Monte Verde. We left at 5:00 on Sunday morning and got there by about 10:00. Had there been a straight road up to the top of the mountain we probably could have made it there in about forty five minutes, but since we were travelling in an oversized bus on narrow, unpaved, winding road, it took about 5 hours. I can´t really complain though, the scenery was so pretty, and I listened to Backstreet Boys for approximately 60% of the ride.

When we finally got there, we went hiking in the cloud forest. I didn´t realize this, but the reason they call it a cloud forest is because you are actually in the clouds sometimes. It was kind of a strange concept to wrap your mind around, and I didn´t know whether to be angry or excited when the wind picked up and some cloud hit me in the face. I also put on an extra layer of SPF 55 because I wasn´t sure how these strange conditions would affect my tendency to burn. Our hike was about two and a half hours and overall we probably climbed about a mile upwards on the mountain...I definitely worked off that steak.

On Monday we went on another hike, but this one crossed 8 suspension bridges. Some were about 200 meters long, and they were (I´m told) stable, but very shaky. The bridge was made of kind of metal mesh so that you could look directly down beneath you, but it was one of those things that you kind of have to talk yourself into doing each time you do it. I was pretty tired after all that hiking and I slept most of the bus ride home yesterday.

This week we´re going to another museum on Thursday and on Saturday we´re going to Volcan Poas. I think tomorrow night we might also go watch the United States vs. Costa Rica soccer game somewhere, which I´m told is always very intense. I´ll probably update this again after all that, and like always, keep me updated on stuff at home! I miss you all a lot and hopefully I´ll see you in about 7 weeks!