Volcán Poás y La Paz

I'll have to add information about these pictures later. They absolutely do not do God's creation justice. Grandeur just cannot be captured in a picture. 

Orientación en la U y más info sobre comida

An interesting thing about the meals that my madre tica prepares is that it has more of a "meat on the side" feel. (<--I'm pretty sure I stole that phrase from the Food Network jaja) it works for me because I don't eat much red meat. Perfecto!

In the photo above, you can see the black rice and bean mixture. It's a very popular dish here called "gallo pinto" spotted rooster, more or less). It is normally eaten for breakfast. My madre tica explained that in the poor areas of the country, workers wrap their food in tortillas and call it a "gallo". But she was reluctant to say it's the same as a "burrito". I've also learned that the bananas here are FAR superior to the bananas in the U.S. I actually like them here. At home I eat them slightly green because I don't like them ripe and extremely sweet. 

The second photo is another meal--dinner. The veggies are carrots and green beans of some sort with a little beef mixed in. Black beans are a staple, of course, so I'm getting used to eating those. 

Today, Saturday, we had orientation at la U (the university). It rained most of the day, and I've decided that by the time I leave, I'll likely not care about hair or makeup much at all. Así es la vida aquí...pura vida! It's laid back and I feel excessive worrying about such things. Anywho, we met our profesoras, an I think I'm really going to like both of mine. My conversación avanzada prof is quite energetic! And my literatura contemporanea prof is sweet. Okay...I have to go eat again...jaja. Hasta pronto. 

La llegada y mi familia tica

¡Hola a todos! I made it to Costa Rica safely and I'm currently safely in my house for the next month. I only slept about an hour last night so tonight's rest will be welcome. I had a connecting flight in Atlanta where I met up with my house mate, Jessica. She's the fellow NSE scholarship winner I happened to meet at an AP conference last year. The Lord continues to amaze me. 

After waiting at the San Jose airport for about 2.5 hours our bus took us to meet our host families. Our "madre tica" picked us up and made us feel comfortable in her home. We each have our own bedroom as bathroom and she and he daughters live on the second floor. (FYI: "Tico/a" is a common way to refer to the locals.) We had chicken, rice, black beans, carrots, potatoes, plantains and juice for lunch. Dinner was homemade empanadas and aguadulce (a mixture of sugar cane and milk and water, I believe). I'm posting a picture of the juice mainly because I had never heard of this fruit before. It's called a "cas" and it's supposedly a health food powerhouse. And some of you know how much that excites me! :) It tastes like a light citrus drink...muy sabroso. I'm writing this quickly so I apologize for errors. Editing will have to wait! Hasta pronto...