back in the saddle

It´s abslolutely amazing how quickly this day has come since my last post in Europe. The two months spent at home were wonderful and leaving was dificult because it felt as though I had just returned and had hardly had time enough to settle in before leaving again.
The first two days of this trip have been a bit stressful but at last I have arrived at my destination, Playa Samara, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. The troubles began pretty much instantly, as there were electrical problems with the plane at JFK, delaying take off for more than an hour, and making everyone on the plane a bit nervous, considering they had to bring electricians onboard two times. The flight was smooth enough once we were up in the air, but because of the initial delay I ended up missing my connecting flight in Houston and therefore missing the people at the airport who were supposed to be picking me up in San Jose. In Houston I was literally the last person admitted onto the plane, I had standby status and at the last minute a few people who had been delayed in Minnisota were not able to make it and so I got to take one of their places, thank god, considering the alternative was to take a flight at 6pm, getting me to San Jose at about 10. Upon arrival in Costa Rica, I was absolutely astonished and elated to see that my luggage had somehow arrived with me. I was not so suprised, however, to see that whoever was going to pick me up was no longer there. I must have looked like a lost puppy because I had one after another taxi driver trying to get me into their cars, but since I had only a name of the town I was going to and the name of the person I was staying with along with a phone number, I had no idea what to do. One semi-English-speaking driver kindly used his cell phone to call the woman I was staying with and got directions and eventually got me to my destination, thank god. Maria, my host for the night, welcomed me warmly and tried her hardest to converse with me despite the fact that she spoke not a word of English. The next day I was expecting to take a bus from the school in Heridia (the suburban town outside of San Jose where I was staying), as I had recieved an email from them saying one was leaving at 10am. However, Maria called ahead to confirm the bus schedule and they said that there was no bus and that I would have to find my own way to Samara. Luckily, Maria and her husband Jorge were willing to take me into San Jose to the public bus stop and helped me with buying my ticket and figuring out where to go. Thank god for the kindness of strangers. The bus ride took about 5 hours, costing $7. At first I was happy to see that I had the front seat, with a great view out the front window. Then I realized the guy sitting next to me was retarded and decidedly had a crush on me. oi vey. He kept asking me all kinds of questions to which I would reply that I didn´t understand because I dont speak much Spanish. He kept on going with his questions and I eventually had no choice but to ignore him. He had a plastic ice-cream cone toy that had a button which, when pressed, played a familiar synthisizer song from the 80´s. He must have pressed the button 200 times before the batteries finally died. Thank god. Toward the second half of the trip he started to get bored and somewhat destructive and started pulling the metal trim from around the window off and throwing the peices out the window. He also grabbed my arm a few times and I had to just push him away and say no and he would be good for another 20 minutes or so. Interesting trip. I was happy to arrive in Samara and be away from him. I called my new host family and they came to pick me up and bring me to their house. The family is huge, with lots of kids and even more mangy looking dogs around. They have chickens that just sortof wander about and roost in the trees and make a lot of noise, and a few roosters that started cock'a'doodle'doodling around 5am. My room is very simple but so far bug-free, which is pleasing. I have my own bathroom with a cold-water shower, and the people are nice. Last night was the birthday of Alices daughter (Alice is my host "mother") and the festivities were incredibly loud, with music and lots of talking and dancing. It was a fun glimpse into tico life. Alice runs a soda out of her kitchen (sodas are privately run mini-restaurants) and the food so far is decent. This morning my alarm clock was first the roosters and then an hour or so later, the howler monkeys, who are extremely loud, and who seem to be extremely close to the ceiling of my room. I had delicious fresh papaya and pineapple for breakfast and went for a long walk on the beach. I have yet to get more than my feet in the water, but I´m looking forward to a swim. The sun is beyond powerful and my winter white skin is feeling vulnerable, but it´s all good. I´m looking forward to my first day of classes tomorrow morning, and meeting my fellow students, who will hopefully be a good bunch. I´ll write more when there´s more to write. Love to you all!