Wednesday 31 January 2007
Me and my teacher, Karla
Unfortunately this is my last week with Karla. Every two weeks students are moved to a new teacher so they can become familiar with different accents. This is obviously important, but I will miss the chats I have with Karla.
Next week I will again be the only student in class. This works out fine for me as I learn more and talk to other students at breaktime.
My weekend
I decided to visit the World´s third most active volcano at the weekend, as you do. I was concerned I might not be able to get a place to stay in La Fortuna, as it´s very busy at the weekend and it´s the dry season at the moment, aka Costa Rican summer holidays.
La Fortuna sits at the foot of the Arenal volcano. In 1968 (the last time she blew) the town was destroyed. The eruption came as a complete shock to locals, at that point they thought Arenal was just another mountain that people enjoyed climbing.
Well thanks to Marta (the woman I´m staying with), I found a hotel. Marta was really sweet phoning around for me, explaining about Arenal etc.
So I set off early Saturday morning for the 4 hours bus ride to La Fortuna. The distance between San Jose and La Fortuna isn´t that great, but the journey is mountainous! The bus climbed so high at points we were above clouds. It made for a spectacular journey.
Seeing the volcano spew lava (as it does each day) relies heavily on the weather. As you can see from my photo, there was quite a bit of cloud coverage. I took a guided tour that included waiting until nightfall to get a better look at some lava. I did spot some lava but unfortunately I was too slow to get my camera out my bag, the problem of always padlocking my bag.
After the tour, our group (about 12 of us) were driven to a huge resort with 14 hotsrings fed by the volcano. The resort kind of made me feel like I was on a James Bond spot but it was very enjoyable. I actually bumped into one of the women I shared a dorm with in San Jose.
It would have been nice to have an extra day in La Fortuna, but I had to return for class at 8 on Monday morning.
This weekend I plan to visit a beach resort and kick back a little. The time is really flying by here.
Saturday 27 January 2007
One for Emily
Finally Emily I´ve moved, you can move me on the map to La Fortuna/ Arenal. But just for the weekend.
Adios xxx
Adios xxx
Another Great Day
As soon as my class finished at 11 I headed to my (temporary) home. At breakfast Marta had invited me to spend the day with her and her family. I knew I needed to return straight from class and needed a swimming costume. But I had no idea where we were headed. This even though I´d spent an hour (yes one whole hour) talking to my teacher in Spanish, about the Royal Family, politics, football, immingration and poverty. Now and again I´d be stuck, but generally the conversation flowed. But it´s different when I get back to the house, I only understand about 70% of what´s said, but in this case I missed the important part!
So at 11.30 we all packed into Luiz´s car (info for Harry -its an old red Hyundai) with drinks and food. We began driving away from the city. At one point I thought we were going to visit an oil refinery, as every building we passed was industrial. Eventually the road opened out to reveal more mountains and towns.
Forty minutes later we pulled into a private club, specifically for Spanish people. I suddenly realised why Luiz had his Spanish top on today. Even though Marta is 100% Tica she obviously embraces her husband´s culture. I think Luiz moved from Madrid about 30 years ago.
The club was really quite swanky, three swimming pools, a jacuzzi, saunas, basketball, tennis and volleyball courts, to name but a few of the activites on offer.
Unlike private British clubs where you´d never be allowed to enter with your own food, here it was positively encouraged. We staked a claim at one of the many open Kitchen/bbq/patio areas and Marta set up lunch thanks to a portable oven. We sat down to eat seafood linguine, but not until Luiz had said grace. They are a delightful family always smiling and joking. I don´t know if this is typical, but from what I´ve seen so far I think it is. I think in the UK you´d be hard pushed to find two 20 year old girls who´d gladly spend the day with their parents on a regular basis, like Analia and Lorna do.
After dinner we headed to the jacuzzi, I know not the best idea. It was very relaxing and once again I felt lucky. Later on we took a sauna and then relaxed by the pool. It´s a tough life.
So at 11.30 we all packed into Luiz´s car (info for Harry -its an old red Hyundai) with drinks and food. We began driving away from the city. At one point I thought we were going to visit an oil refinery, as every building we passed was industrial. Eventually the road opened out to reveal more mountains and towns.
Forty minutes later we pulled into a private club, specifically for Spanish people. I suddenly realised why Luiz had his Spanish top on today. Even though Marta is 100% Tica she obviously embraces her husband´s culture. I think Luiz moved from Madrid about 30 years ago.
The club was really quite swanky, three swimming pools, a jacuzzi, saunas, basketball, tennis and volleyball courts, to name but a few of the activites on offer.
Unlike private British clubs where you´d never be allowed to enter with your own food, here it was positively encouraged. We staked a claim at one of the many open Kitchen/bbq/patio areas and Marta set up lunch thanks to a portable oven. We sat down to eat seafood linguine, but not until Luiz had said grace. They are a delightful family always smiling and joking. I don´t know if this is typical, but from what I´ve seen so far I think it is. I think in the UK you´d be hard pushed to find two 20 year old girls who´d gladly spend the day with their parents on a regular basis, like Analia and Lorna do.
After dinner we headed to the jacuzzi, I know not the best idea. It was very relaxing and once again I felt lucky. Later on we took a sauna and then relaxed by the pool. It´s a tough life.
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