Jungle Time begins:

We left San jose monday morning after a bit of crazy wkend activity. Thursday was the last day of our Spanish class, which was a bit sad but totally awesome thanks to my final presentation on the Loch ness Monster...so necessary! and a then Friday was Rosh Hashana celebrated in Tico style with way too much wine, and some friends over my tica family's house! and of course a great deal of bread and honey! Saturday night was incredible, the bar that we've been meeting at every night was tended by yours truly and my friend Madison in exchange for free drinks and food all night! Sooo soooo fun! but unfortunately resulted in a highly illegal sleepover and maddy's...a girl...homestay family's home! We had to sneak out at 6 am, after about -2 hrs of sleep to make it on time to the interleague championship soccer game in Herredia! One of the craziest experiences I've ever had with a million people jumping up and down shouting punta(bitch) for two hours! We also had quite the experience getting there involving a bus trip from hell that prompted drinking before 10 am. Don't ask...

We left the next morning(after I went to an all night gay club called la abeja...the bee, with my friend Chris) for Cuerci, a mountain forest region that was incredible. Our guide Carlos was a real live mountain man with beard and dogs to boot! Amazing experience hiking and learning and just general jungle living...I was sad to go but on the bright side, the station we're at now is a bit warmer and has internet...tada! I'll try and post some pictures from Cuerci soon, but trust me it was more than words...hopefully this place will be fun too!

Talk to everyone soon, miss you all like crazy, please comment and help my homesick! <3

This ^ is from last post but now the pictures work!

The weekend of my life-

Thursday was the Dia de la independencia in Costa Rica so the night before there were incredible parades with hundreds of kids and paper laterns and drums that set off the car alarms and we all got caught in the middle! but so incredible! Thursday night we all went out salsa dancing until around 2 when we left to go to an afterparty at a reggee bar with the owner of a bar we always meet at! So funny!

The next morning alyssa and I went bungee jumping! Off a 260 ft bridge into the forest...it was one of the most incredible things I´ve ever done and you should all try it! After bungee jumping still a bit tipsy since we didn´t get in until 4...we did the natural thing and pregamed our four hour bus ride to the beach! In broad daylight drinking at 11 am...fantastic really.

The beach is another story entirely, the most beautiful I have ever seen with all sorts of monkeys and sloths and iguana all over the place! So much fun...and then slow dancing in the waves in a thunderstorm...swooooooooon. There were sloths in our tree and we swam and laid out all day, and I´ve bought some pablo neurda poetry to read along with the russian lit...and its beautiful!

Sunday night after we got back I went to see the orchestra but instead found a nicaraguen ballet that was sold out...but somehow managed to talk myself into a free box seat in the friends and family area! haha it was beautiful and I loved it! So that is pretty much what has been going on...there are more pictures on facebook if you´re into that sort of thing.

Hasta! <3!

Hola chicos!!

Alright its been awhile since I wrote but here goes...before I left La Selva we went white water rafting and had the most absolutely insane guide but the most incredible time and that night I did laundry for the first time! and went to a tiny bar and danced salse with the ticos in my knee high snake boots that we have to wear AT ALL TIMES! Basically ridiculous.
We came to San Jose the next day and I met my host family, who I love, and got to explore the city a litte...and I met a ton of great people my first day...including uno quien se llama Ricardo haha and will take me dancing! Its wonderful, we've been going out like crazy and our Spanish classes are really not like classes at all but more like field trips for a few hours then conversation. I played soccer a bit after school yesterday against 9 boys...which was a little funny and tonight we might head to the roller disco! Everything in the city is such a throwback its amazing...We've all also been taking salsa classes and break it down like whoa in the bars!
This weekend a bunch of us are heading to el volcano arenal for the weekend and it will be incredible, hopefully I'll have some great pictures for you guys next time of tonight and the weekend!

<3 Stephi

ps. I got a haircut which was funny since I didn't know the right words for anything!
pps. Happy birthday Hillarey! <3