Amores y amantes:

So here's another batch of ten (very!) short stories...please keep in mind I'm probably a good bit more easily amused and under-stimulated than those of you with access to actual entertainment! En general San Miguel is just the same as always, with lots of baby turtles, big mama turtles, and a few days of torrrrrrrrrrrential downpours here and there. The surfing has been hellish and the waves insanity in a very dangerous way but seriously too much fun to pass up.

In other really exciting news I've just found out that the project will be ending early on December 7^th, giving me about two full weeks to backpack before catching my flight home on the 21^st! I'm planning on heading down to Panama since I've already seen so much of Costa Rica and trying to spend a week with the Kona indigenous peoples of the San Blas Archipelago. I think it could be amazing since I've never really a taste of that culture in any of the Central American countries I've visited....just please don't tell me parents I'm probably going to have to hitch a ride on a merchant ferry to get down there! Also...consider this an open invite to anyone who has vacation time, a school break, or any desire to come along to come with! I'll be in San Jose, Costa Rica around December 8^th or in Panama City on the 9^th before heading out and would love the company!

1. I didn't actually go to Panama before for my visa run!! At the very last minute I found a plane ticket to Miami for $240 to visit Magram and Poppy for Rosh Hashana! Things could not have worked out better and it was absolutely fantastic to be in Boca Raton for the holiday! I was in San Jose at the hotel with my mom trying to find a bus to Panama for the next day and it all started as a joke until we realized the bus company had gone out of business and the flights were so inexpensive. She called Magram and spun a completely ridiculous story about canceled flights and needing to spend three days in transit from CR to Philadelphia so that Poppy would meet me at the airport and all the sudden I was on my way to the US! I have never seen Magram so happy and definitely never pulled off such a big lie! I showed up at their front door backpack and all and was fantastically spoiled in first world air conditioning, hot water, real mattress, phone and Internet, lots of love and peanut butter style for three days! I got to spend tons of time with my Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and godparents who were all around as well annnnnnnnnd I went to TARGET which was incredible. I have never been so happy to embrace mass marketing and materialism...I mean I was able to buy everything I'd been needing for the past few months in about half and hour PLUS I went to the starbucks in the store! Haha...you can take a girl out of the first world...>! Going stateside was a trip and crazy culture shock which I was definitely not prepared for, but by all measures was super successful in getting 90 more days in CR and having a beautiful time! Plus yummmmmmmmm sweet new year food!

2. Back to the bosque for the beginning of October and I spent a few days alone while Claudia went to Nicaragua for her own visa run and Eduardo (our PhD volunteer from Barcelona) left to do some traveling. It was a nice few days to reflect and make plans for the 2^nd half of life in Playa San Miguel although to be honest I basically managed to get over being sick (the doctor in Boca thought I had tuberculosis and/or was pregnant... aka a bad chest cold and severe lack of sleep! I suppose that's what happens when you work too long in FL with retirees..).

3. We've just gotten in a new group of volunteers, a mom and her two kids are down here for two months, like home-schooling jungle style and very excited to be here. The kids are great and have made a huge difference in our interaction with the community, and the mom is this balance of semi-responsible tree-hugger, arts and crafts idea pot and eastern religion wine drinker....obviously lots of love! Things are changing for the better in big ways and I feel like we're really starting to connect with the families here in San Miguel, to educated them about the project and to learn about them in ways we never have before. Its the first time I'm really feeling like a member of the town and integrated as a normal person here as opposed to some strange objectified extrajera for the hombres to bother ALL the time. We have been holding court in the restaurant/bar in the center of town almost everyday making posters, meeting new people (Insanity after two months in a town of 100 people) and having more fun than ever!

4. We spent a day doing henna tattoos of turtles, ying-yangs(they're still cool here!) and flowers (some in rather racy places!) on the dozens of vecinos that came by and have invited everyone to accompany us on our patrols when they can. There was a giant game of capture the flag a few nights ago and I cannot imagine a better place to play...its totally and completely dark out here and there are miles of places to hide and secret paths to take and absolutely no shortage of super - competitive players. When we're not screaming down the beach chasing the kids they're sneaking up behind us with giant ghost crabs, learning how to play spoons and blackjack (I never learned that many card games!) in addition to the very important art of shaking it to American music on my front porch.

5. I spend a good bit of time at the Flying Scorpion if I want to see Claudia and as a total bonus there's also this girl Amanda from Texas who just came work for Rossi...or maybe just to hang out with us while we watch the baseball games (GO PHILS!), play beer pong, make mojitos with BASIL instead of mint (it was our third drink of the day at 11am ok?!) , cook quiche at 3am *Stephanie I miss you and our cooking! * And generally get a little crazy now that the restaurant is closed until the tourists come back in November.

6. I learned how to make hammocks from this old man who sits in the center of town. He's like 80 years old and everyone calls him Pollon, which means old, fat chicken, and half-blind from cataracts buuuuuut awesomely sweet and incredibly patient with my lack of knotting skills. Now I have a hobby with a purpose and possible Christmas presents for you all!

7. There have been road trips all over the place in the back of pick up trunks, on quads and motos to a dozen beaches, towns and the middle of nowhere! I've jumped over fences to steal guavas right off someone's trees, and slept in a room with walls made of glass, looking down on the beach for miles around....that is until being woken by a crowd starting the party up again with fajitas and tequila sunrises all before 10 am! Hitching home from these parties has turned into a habit...one that I might try to break before our 8-year old visitor asks me again where I spent the night as I pull up to lunch wearing the same clothes as the night before! Also...I've introduced 'never have I ever' to the town...things may never be the same.

I was aiming to get to ten points but I've basically forgotten everything else I've been up to besides the fact that my Daddy and the beautiful, talented and O SO amazing Amy King are coming to visit in less than a month and there is nothing that could make me more excited! Things on the Playa are great and life is pura vida, super tuanis, and more tranquila that I can explain. Lots of love, gallons of coconut milk, and un monton of besos for you all!

ps. Sneak preview: we're planning a haunted house at the station for Halloween !! We already have the bats and found a dolphin skeleton and things are just getting very creative. I'm superexcited to show the kids how we do things stateside and buy them lots of candy too! We're also planning a crazy party at Rossi's and I think Amanda, Claudia and I are going to be Imperial (local beer brand) girls! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures of both!