Saturday when I got back from being in Santa Elena(when I wrote my last entry) at about 5:30pm, my host mom wasn't home. So after checking all the doors, I put my bookbag down and just wandered around the property, taking pictures and making videos to amuse myself until she got home at 7pm. I think this time was good because it gave me a chance to bond with our dog, Frijole(aka "Bean") so he doesn't bark at me or try to bite me as much anymore. I'm really bad with dog types but a girl told me he is a mini pinscher so maybe that will give you a good mental picture? Basically, he looks like a bean.

Walking around I saw our horses and cows, lots of plants, and some chickens. I was following one of the chickens and I clucked at it to get it to make a noise and then I heard a cluck back but I couldn't figure out where it came from. Then I turned around and the weirdest chicken ever was sitting in a banana plant!!!(Banana plants are tree sized but not technically trees--new fact I learned on this trip). It had the tiniest head I've ever seen on a chicken!

Saturday night we all went out(including our teachers...) to the Bar Amigos in Santa Elena, which is apparently THE happening place here(if not the only, I've heard rumors of some place called Cascada but never seen it). It's quite amusing to see your professors take shots. I guess they're not just a college thing. I talked to this hippie from Texas named Ronnie some and he told me about this other weird guy who was in the bar who has a plan to destroy the town to prepare people's souls for the apocalypse.

Anyways...in the morning on Sunday at breakfast I was taking to Dona Alicia about Saturday night and she told me that she likes to dance so she might come out with us some time!!! During the day on Sunday we went and did Ziplines in the forest and it was AWESOME! So fun and such amazing scenery. At dinner it was just me and Dona Alicia so we talked for a long time and she told me about her life and how the farm works. She was telling me about how she got married when she was 15 and that was too young and I needed to wait until I was older and I told her that my mom always says to wait until I'm 25 and she said "Or thirty!!!" Haha. She's never been out of the country or even to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. I can't wait to get her a present when we go to the Caribbean!

She told me that the electricity here is produced by a hydroelectric plant in the river further up the river! She said that someday Giovanni will take me up there to show it to me. I also found out that the water we drink and that's in the faucets comes straight from the mountains. People pay to build the tubes and everything and that's it. The water is high in the mountains so it's clean enough to drink without purifying. We also talked about jewelry and she made me show her all of mine, it was really cute. She especially liked my owl(lechuza) earrings and necklace.

Note to self: learn how to make arepa. For breakfast on Monday she made me arepas, which are like fat, sweet tortillas. She packed me some to take for a snack too and everyone tried them and loved it. Monday I also went to watch Giovanni milk the cows and she showed me around the property. We fed the chickens and picked oranges to make a drink(fresca). She has a lot of plants to make tea, coffee, corn, plantains/bananas, and all kinds of pretty flowers. Monday was also David's birthday so I called and talked to him for a little while and that was really nice because I hadn't gotten to talk to him in awhile.

My host mom's son Giovanni comes over every morning to milk the cows and work on the farm so I've been getting to know him. The last two nights my host mom has been in San Jose for a doctor's appointment so her son Giovanni and his family have been staying at my house with me. They have another student from our group living with them. I learned a new card game called "Tonto"(which means silly).

Giovanni's 11 year old son Dani walked while me and Cristina(the student who lives with Giovanni) rode horses to school on Tuesday! Hahaha how cool right? Tuesday I had to give a presentation for my Spanish class. I talked about the history and current tourism things in Monterverde(the reserve here) and San Luis(the town we actually live in). FYI...the original Monteverde residents were Quakers who came in 1951 from Alabama to escape military service. There is still a Quaker school here and they make famous cheese here. Interesting right?

I think I've neglected to mention that one of the "rivers" I have to cross (the one that is usually dried up) is called the Rio Bruja(aka the Witch River). No exciting story behind the name other than that the river sometimes has water and sometimes doesn't, but it seems ominous to me nonetheless. It has had water in it the last couple of days but today it was dry again.

Today we didn't have our history class in the afternoon so we all rode into Santa Elena and ate at Tramonti's, one of the nicest Italian places here. Then we had ice cream(also made by the Quakers) and now I'm here! I'm out! Pura vida!