umbrellas

News Update:

No school because of 80 hours of rain is awesome, but after a while, we're all getting a little damp and moldy. This is true; everything we have is damp and our belts and shoes are even moldy. Gross. I'm ready for the sun to come out even if that means going back to school. However, it seems as though it will rain for a few more days before we see the sun.

As I stood in the Kitchen yesterday morning pouring my coffee, I felt the ground tremble. It was only for a few seconds, but I knew that it wasn't my imagination because all the dishes started rattling and the trees above us dumped a wave of water onto our cabin. My heart thumping so hard, I ran into our room to see if Mitch felt it, and he had no idea what I was talking about. He heard the water pour from the trees, but he didn't know why. It was an earthquake! No worries, we're all okay. :)

We're moving! One of the families that has their kids in my school owns some cabins, and they're giving us a really good deal on one. We will have to move out from underneath the monkeys, but we will have an ocean-view from our porch. Plus we get our own kitchen, a toaster (Mitch can make cookies!), a microwave, proper kitchen utensils, and a ceiling fan! All of these things are a big move up for us.

lava!

Mitch planned the most awesome birthday weekend for me that anyone could ever ask for. It started with a rental car which was a blessing in several ways: 1. It allowed us to drive anywhere (our 4-wheeler isn't street legal) without getting bugs and dirt in our eyes. 2. It had air conditioning! 3. We could bring as much stuff as we wanted instead of limiting it to a little backpack like usual.

He picked me up from school and we headed to Paqueres, where we barely caught the ferry to Punterenas. From there, we headed up to Lake Arenal where we had a room reserved at the Arenal Volcano Observatory Lodge. After lots of junk food and a few wrong turns, we finally made it to our destination. As we were checking into our lodge, we looked up and saw red lava and rocks pouring down this gigantic volcano! As we stood there in excitement, we could even hear the explosions of the rocks hitting the volcano. We fell asleep watching and listening to this unbelievable sight. And when we woke up, it was the first thing we saw.


The next morning, we had a delightful breakfast at our lodge, then we set off on an adventure through the jungle to a waterfall. We saw leaves bigger than Mitch's head!


A bug that could have eaten my hand for breakfast. This picture may be too small for you to see him, but he's latched on to that bright pink flower. He's called a Hercules Beetle. He was about 6 inches long!


And we fell in love with these trees that we called "Rainbow Trees". They look like they've been painted all colors of orange and green. They're beautiful.


We made it!


We kept saying that it's impossible to capture the magnificence of what we were seeing in a picture, and I feel sure that words don't do the trip justice. But it was truly amazing. Best birthday ever. :)

a book

I'm reading a book called Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel now. It's a magical book about love, romance, and food. It's such a wonderful book, and I highly recommend it. I read a passage today that is so perfect that I need to share it with you.

"My grandmother had a very interesting theory; she said that each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can't strike them all by ourselves; just as in the experiment, we need oxygen and a candle to help. In this case, the oxygen, for example, would come from the breath of the person you love; the candle could be any kind of food, music, caress, word, or sound that engenders the explosion that lights one of the matches. For a moment we are dazzled by an intense emotion. A pleasant warmth grows within us, fading slowly as time goes by, until a new explosion comes along to revive it. Each person has to discover what will set off those explosions in order to live, since the combustion that occurs when one of them is ignited is what nourishes the soul. That fire, in short, is its food. If one doesn't find out in time what will set off these explosions, the box of matches dampens, and not a single match will ever be lighted.
"If that happens, the soul flees from the body and goes to wander among the deepest shades, trying in vain to find food to nourish itself, unaware that only the body it left behind, cold and defenseless, is capable of providing that food. "

wings

Over the past week, we have been fortunate enough to enjoy Costa Rica's wildlife LIVE in the convenience of our own room. It started out with a huge moth (about the size of my hand) clinging to one of our walls. We were able to coax him out using a flashlight and a basket.

Then a couple mornings later we were enjoying our breakfast out on the porch, and a bird flew into our room. We always leave our door open during the day to light up the room. Mitch safely got the bird out using a broom, but we thought the bird was going to croak before he was able to find his way out. He actually passed out a few times before he flew out the door.

Then a couple evenings later, I walked into our room and a bat followed me in and started flying all around my head! Yeek! He was easier to persuade to leave after turning out our light...he just followed his ears to the next bright light with a bug party happening around it.

I haven't forgot about my blog or my readers (if I have any). Mitch and I have been busy wheeling around on our new ride, working, and studying Spanish. One reason that we chose to come down to Latin America was so that we could improve our Spanish. We mostly study alone, but we have been meeting one of my co-workers once a week for a language exchange (he is studying English). We're having lots of fun studying, but we're far from bilingual. :)

Hasta luego! More to come later...