shauna and me

so shauna came to see me last weekend. it was so good. i wish it would have been about 2 weeks longer, but i enjoyed it nonetheless. thanks to her for making the journey.

a few highlights:



us with our protective rain gear in front of vulcan arenal. about to embark on a rainforest hike.
we went on the best rafting tour on friday. because it is low season here in costa rica, we were able to be the only 2 people on our tour. so it was just us, 3 tour guides and the rainforest. very enjoyable.perhaps the ugliest dog ever recorded in a photograph. saw this jewel on the way out of town.

anyway...love this girl. glad i got to see her. it's always refreshing.

weekend fun

sorry i haven't been updating this as consistently as i would have liked. but, alas, here as some photos.

my friends and i went to a beach on the Caribbean coast 2 weekends ago. we stayed in a small town called cahuita. turns out there's not much to do there. so...after a one hour struggle to find lunch, we finally ate and spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach. then we got some pizza and played cards the rest of the night. it was a good time.

fun at the beach:

it should be noted that this was probably the worst sand ever to bury someone in. but kim insisted, so we obliged.

our grand hotel:

this past weekend we went on a day trip through a tour company. saw this monster on a river tour:

my best friend/roommate from college is coming to see me today. i'm quite excited. look forward to updates from our weekend.

saprissa vs. la leagua

a few weekends ago a group of us went to a costa rican futbol game. it was pretty fun. at first i thought it was definitely the most sketchy sporting event i've ever attended, but after the men in gas masks and armored police on horseback went away, it was actually fairly enjoyable.

here's really the only good picture i got:


the red lights were possible road flares--which explains why all the creepers had on masks outside the stadium. also, the flares are to blame for the smoky haze across the stadium.

costa ricans definitely know how to cheer on a team. i have to admit, though, i still don't like soccer that much, and it just made me want to go to a cowboy's game when i get home.

in other news, i think i have moved through a few stages of culture shock in the past week. i definitely went through a phase of really not liking it here, and now i think i've kind of adjusted to seeing it for what it is, and for the most part enjoying it. so i'm thankful that i'm "over the hump" so to speak.

more to come.