My entire post for the second day somehow got deleted so maybe I'll go back and re-write it, but at the rate it takes me to type these entries out I probably won't. So today we finally left San José and made our way into San Joaquin. We once again ate an amazing breakfast at the hotel (I'll try and get a picture up here at some point) before checking out of the hotel and piling of to the busses with our mountains of luggage. Just imagine 19 kids with at least one suitcase per person and a carry on amd probably a backpack too. A lot of baggage right?
Our first stop was el INBioparque. This park is dedicated to studying thr biodiversity of Costa Rica (fun fact- CR is responsible for 5% of the biodiversity in the world) and conservation. In it you will find an examples of every type of forest found in Costa Rica as well as many of the species of animals that live in each type of forest. The incredible amount of species of flora and fauna found in Costa Rica is simply mind blowing. We were told that there are still hundreds of unidentified species of fungi and frogs and even trees because of the simply enormous amount of diverse species located here. What makes all this so incredible is that Costa Rica is maybe two or three of South Carolina stacked upon one another.
After the park was when we were meeting our families at the Instituto. I think this was the part everyone was most nervous for. None of the mama Tico's really speak English and no one in my family does. I will say it's been overwhelming, but it's forced me to use my Spanish and really listen to what's going on around me. Despite studying Spanish for 17 years, I'm still only getting probably every third word. It's certainly not made things easy, but that doesn't mean they aren't unenjoyable. I keep reminding myself that it is the first day amd things will get much easier as time continues. It won't happen right away, but slowly things will settle into a routine and the language won't be I possible. Right now I will just continue this giant game of charades
My mama Tica se llama Deysi (like Daisy) and she loves cooking and gardening. I mentioned that I liked natural medicines in addition to wanting to be a pharmacist and she took me and Grace (the other API student living next door with Sara, Deyai's sister) out to her backyard. I've never seen so many plants with medicinal uses all in one place. She had fruit trees and herbs and things I'd never heard of. I'm really looking forward to studying them a little bit more once I have a better grasp on what each of them treat. I'm also really looking forward to learning to cook with Deysi.
Deysi kept saying something that stuck with me today. She said you should look constantly at who you are in your heart and who you want to be and then always work towards that person or make decisions with that person in mind. I thought this was a great way to look at things and help keep things in perspective during ,y time here.
I did a lot more listening than talking today and there were times where I just zoned out, but I'm looking forward to tomorrow. As a side note- definitely going to have to re-think the host gifts. She doesn't drink so a wine stopper becomes useless. Her children really don't live here so that's not really going to work. I've not seen anyone in croakies and rarely in sunglasses so croakies may be out (though they could be okay). Maybe I'll try and find a spice rack for Deysi. Or a way to dry herbs. She also loves turtles. Loves them. We'll see. If anyone needs any of the above mentioned items hit me up.
Buenas noches amigos.
Scratch that. Completely forgot why I titled this in the manner that I did. We had our first meal with our family today amd so far lunch and dinner have been made up of the same staples- rice, beans, and chicken (and I hate beans, but I'm eating them). Then dinner was the same, but this time we also had a bean soup with egg. It was puréed beams and water and a hard boiled egg. I was actually pleasantly surprised by that one. I'm not sure how much my stomach likes any of this though.
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