Spanish subtitles

The other day a few of my friends here and myself went to the mall here in town to see a movie in english. It was Pacific Rim and it was full of all kinds of bad acting, corny scenes, and great action. This movie was right up my alley and I cant tell you how much I enjoyed every second of it. Our tickets were like four bucks and the popcorn and kettle corn mix with a soda was like three dollars. I was able to take a cab to and from the theater, buy my ticket, and eat a bunch of junk food for under $10. Try to do that in the states! Great times :)

L to R: Andrea, Me, Alex, Grace, Tyler

I of course was the loudest one in the theater but it was just so much fun and I really want to do it again soon. There were subtitles in spanish and sometimes I would get distracted trying to read the subtitles and I would miss what was happening in the movie.
I was also able to take some more pictures of the graffiti here in San Ramon.

Amazing right? With a spray can, its unbelievable. There have been crazy lightening storms here and when the lightening strikes close to the house or the school, we have to hurry around and unplug everything because peoples computers and cell phones get fried if they are plugged in. Sketch right? One of the computers at the University got pretty messed up when lightening came too close so I am making sure to keep nothing of mine plugged in unless its necessary.
I have to wake up nice and early tomorrow morning to go white water rafting :) I have never been before and Im betting its going to be a blast. Well chow for now.

Off we go to the Cloud Rainforest and Zip lining!

Saturday and Sunday were our group field trip to the Monteverde Cloud Rainforest and zip lining. The hotel we stayed at the Bosque hotel and it was really great. Nothing but flowers everywhere and the rooms had towels and soap and clean sheets and a not stained pillow!! It was awesome. We dropped off our stuff in the room and I stayed with a girl I havent had much time to get to know, we shall call her *Jane to keep identities safe and the other girl is one of the girls I have hung out with before and we get along really well, her name here shall be *Kiwi. The reason for the hidden identities will unfold later on in this story. So on the but we went to visit the Cloud Rainforest.

We were given a map and able to trek around on our own and see the hidden paradise. This place was by far the best forest I have ever been to in my life. I have a lot of pictures but they really dont do it justice but no fear, I will still post them in an attempt to dazzle you.

Stairway to paradise

I am a little disappointed to say that we didn't see much wildlife. They must know better than to hang around the trails. Some people from the other group that was walking around saw some sloths but all we saw were some cool beetles and some caterpillars.

We went across a bridge that hung about 20 feet above the forest floor and you could see a small stream flowing through and so many different trees and flowers. It was so peaceful and just wonderful. I was in love again.

We made it through the jungle unscathed and the park had a hummingbird garden. There were hummingbird feeders hanging everywhere and just tons and tons of different species of hummingbirds. If you held out your hand near the feeder, they would land right there on your finger and chill out. I had a couple land on me and they have the smallest little feeties!!!! Yeah it was pretty awesome :)

For dinner we took a short but to the middle of the "city" and stopped at this really cool restaurant that had this huge tree growing right through the second floor and the chairs and tables were situated around the huge branches. You had to duck under them to reach some of the tables. The food was also great and it had these cool hanging bamboo lights and the live band playing a huge xylophone. it took three of them just to play the whole thing.

After dinner I went with my friend Elizabeth to a small hole in the wall store that made crepes. The poor little girl who was working by herself was cookin up a storm. And this crepe. Wow. You know the Better-than-Sex-Cake? This was Better -than-Sex-Crepe. It was a bite full of heaven with every single spoonful. I cannot express in words how freaking delicious this crepe was. It had powdered sugar and nutella in the middle, and cinnamon and chocolate sauce on the outside and it was topped off with vanilla ice cream. Yeah, just let that image form in your mind and try to not salivate. 

YUUUUMMMMMM!!!!!!!

Later that night is when the party really started. Everyone and their dog had bought some kind of alcoholic beverage to bring on the trip and to share with everyone. Of course I was packing my good old water bottle and I partook in some coca cola but no alcohol for this chica. The entire group was packed inside one of the hotel rooms and we had the music pumping and the drinks a-flowin. It was actually a pretty good time....for a little while. We had to be up pretty early in the morning to go zip lining so around 11 I ducked out, people were starting to get really drunk, and I went back to my hotel alone and pretty happy to have some me time ( I dont get much of that here) I am glad that no one was home because I took the most amazing shower of my life. It was hot. Like hot hot, not just luke warm. It was hot and I was literally moaning in the shower it was so good. Then I sat down to relax on my bed alone and happy reading a book. Then came the knocking...

It was two of the girls on my trip and they had arrived as a warning to tell me that *Jane was really drunk. Really really drunk. So drunk she couldn't even walk on her own and had to be half carried half dragged by two guys in our group. This is where my hellish night started. It was about midnight when they brought her in and we were hoping we could just put her to bed and let her pass out. Nope she was not having that. Jane was being a typical drunk crying and laughing and speaking in spanglish and just having a great old time on the floor, refusing to stay in her bed. One of the guys stayed to kindof take care of her and get her to go to bed, which finally happened after about half an hour of trying to reason with her, which never never goes well. Drunk people just dont make sense and dont function properly. So finally she passed out, on the floor, and the guy tried to leave. Lucky for me she woke up right as he was leaving and she was off again, crying and shouting in spanish and telling me to leave the room. As most of you know, I dont have a lot of patience with drunk people. My close friends, yes I will put up with them because I love them but even then it only goes so far. Well this girl was just way over the edge. I turned off the lights and tried to get her to go to sleep but she was so incoherent, she just kept going on and on in loud spanish and it was just crazy. Finally finally she went to bed again. Whoo Hoo!
No not for long.
After a while I was finally able to go to sleep, I was so angry fire was practically radiating out of my body. Then lo and behold, at around 2:30 in the morning she woke up and before I could get to her she had opened the door, slammed her temple against the door frame, slammed onto the cement outside the door, and rolled into the garden. Well I hopped out of bed worried she had just killed herself and I couldnt even get her out of the garden and out of the dirt by myself. I am a pretty strong girl but there was just no way. I was shouting for help from one of the girls, Andrea, that was still awake in the room next door and she helped me get Jane back in the room. Andrea then was an angel and took Jane to the bathroom so I didnt have to do it. We put Jane back to bed, which was another fun and enjoyable task, for the third time that night. When jane fell asleep again, I just layed in bed for a long long time because I was so angry I couldnt even fall back asleep. So jane stayed asleep for the rest of the night. You would think my hellish ordeal was over right?
Wrong.
So finally a little after three my other roommate decided to come home. Well *Kiwi was also drunk, but at least she could handle herself and was able to get in bed all by herself. I finally fell asleep and Jane didnt wake up, life was going good. Sooooooo at 4 in the morning, I had my own personal wake up call in the form of Kiwi puking on my back and my hair. Yes yes yes I am not making this up. I jumped out of bed faster than Flash could have thought possible but the damage was done. My side of the bed had lovely bits of bright orange barf all over it as did my back. So I ran to the bathroom to wash my hair and wash my sweatshirt. Kiwi was still too drunk to really realize what she had done and I didnt have another sweater and the pjs I was using were very small and freezing cold. Well I couldnt lay back down in the bed and I couldnt use the blanket so I sat on the ground leaning against the mini fridge trying not to kill the two women in my room. I of course couldnt fall asleep after that because Kiwi kept having to run to the bathroom to vomit. We had to be ready to leave by 7 so I just stayed up, got my stuff ready, left the room at the butt crack of dawn, and froze my butt off waiting in the cafeteria for breakfast.
So summary of my night, I was the only person who wasn't drinking and I was the only person who had both roommates crazy drunk. I got vomited on for the first time in my life and I got almost no sleep because I was babysitting people who didn't know their own limits. Noooooot my best night. Haha however not my worst :)

Well enough about the crappy night, the morning was substantially better with a nice breakfast, a lot of sympathetic people, and a trip to go zip lining! There was a total of 13 ziplines that  we went on and there was one tarzan swing. Some of the lines were short and some were long and on some you had to go tandem with. The very last one we went on was 1 kilometer long! It was so awesome!

Another awesome selfie

Teaching us the do's and dont's

Ahaha Aubrey will kill me for this one

They are pretty big on butterfly gardens here so we got to go to another one right after our zip lining ride. Then all the way back home to San Ramon to stay up late and complete a big report I waited until the last minute to do. Overall, yes it was a pretty legit weekend full of a lot of firsts.

Headed to the big ol' city

Well it has been a while and a lot has happened. First of all, there have been crazy storms here that have killed most of the wifi in San Ramon so yes I do have a valid excuse :) But I will just jump right into my adventures from the past week. Last Friday I went to San Jose (Costa Ricas capital and one heck of a large and dirty city) with some of my buddies from the big SR.

L to R: Me, Alex, Aubrey, Andrea, Amanda, Zack

The first place we stopped at with the National Theater and I have one word: Spectacular.

I am super nerdy about that kind of stuff anyway but this theater was amazing. We took the guided tour and it was so worth it. Jeff was our guide and he told us all about the building of the theater, which was paid for by taxes because the Ticos wanted the theater and it was built in the 1800s.

This statue was representative of Costa Rica because it is a woman holding out her hand for money with her child, showing the poverty of CR

Aubrey and I being the statue, I was the momma bear

Feel the statue

Be the statue

Almost all the paintings inside are on canvas and painted by mostly Italian artists and there are gorgeous statues everywhere. Because the paintings were made by people who had never even been to Costa Rica, there are a few things wrong with them. The womens clothing is typical of Europe at the time of its painting, not ever worn by Ticas and there is a man carrying a bunch of bananas in one upside down. If a real man were to hold them that way, all the bananas would pop off, something which every Costa Rican knows. The statues and marble stairs, everything was gold plaited and just so grand.

European style womens clothing

To the right is the man holding the upside down green bananas

Costa Rica was apparently the second or third country in the world with electricity and the theater was the first building in Costa Rica to have electricity. I couldn't believe that third world CR had electricity  before the states! Crazy! The maximum capacity of the theater is 1,000 persons and there is a really fancy presidents box that is only for the president or their special guest.

We werent allowed in it (obviously they just didnt understand who I am or that wouldnt have been a problem) but we could peak around the edge and see into it just fine. The stadium like seating of the main floor could be taken out and in the basement is a huge crank that takes ox or about 12 men to turn. Turning this crank literally moves the entire seating area up level to the main stage! And it was built that way in the 1800s! Ah engineering just amazes me. Above the stage are these four dark windows and they used to be the "widows" boxes. They were for widows who where supposed to be mourning and wearing black for a year after the death of their husbands. They werent supposed to be out and having fun so if they wanted to see the show they would have to arrive 10 minutes after it had started and 10 before it ended so no one would see them. They were also used for people who were having an affair. Now, however, they are used as air conditioning units.

Widows boxes

There were also smoking rooms, no longer used of course, and they were separate for the women and the men. The women were only allowed to smoke one of the long cigarettes and if they smoked more than that they were pretty much considered a whore but the men in their room could smoke as many cigars as they wanted. (That sentence I am sure is going to make my mom say "Typical") After the tour we had tea in their converted cafe and my tea was probably the worst I have ever had in my life. Buuuuut it sure looked like it was going to be delicious!

Crappy tea

Even the cafe was all decked out with golden figures, statues, and granite coffee tables.

After the wonderful tour of the theater, we meandered our way through the town shopping for souvenirs and the like and ended up at the National Museum. The museum used to be a a fort but it was converted to a museum when the military was abolished. Can you believe Costa Rica has no military?? Could you imagine if the USA had no military? Crazy food for thought right there. I must admit the museum was not nearly close to Americas museum standard. They had a few cool stone things, a lot of just regular digital pictures, and some aborigine

Awesome insect and animal display (This is exactly how I want the study room of my future house to look like)

artifacts. They did have this one amazing artist on display who painted the most beautiful paintings I have ever seen in my life. I was quite mesmerized. There was also a butterfly garden in the museum that was pretty sweet. They collect all the cocoons and put them in these boxes that you can walk right up to and watch butterfly's coming out.

The butterfly garden really redeemed the museum. Randomly outside on the street were people dressed up as Mini and Micky mouse so I took an amazing selfie with them.

Then we had lunch in a nice little park plaza and Aubrey and I got Taco Bell. It was absolute heaven. It tasted just like in America, it was dripping grease, and it made my day. An interesting note, all the meals at Taco Bell here is Costa Rica come with fries.

So excited for fake Mexican food!

The bell

After we ate we sat in the park waiting for everyone else to finish and there were women selling little packets of corn to feed to the tons and tons of pigeons hanging around the plaza. There were kids everywhere feeding the pigeons and Aubrey and I decided we had to get in on the action. Yes yes I know better than to feed the wildlife but pigeons dont really count..at least Friday they didnt.

mine mine mine (Nemo style)

Then we all headed home on the bus. It was a pretty great day in the city but it was a one and done kind of thing I think. That city was pretty big and nasty so I dont think I will be going back, but I definitely had to go at least once. Well I will update tomorrow what I did all the way back on Saturday and Sunday. Stay tuned, Sunday morning was probably one of the craziest I have ever had and not in a good way let me tell you! Chow!!