This past week I have been working and helping out with the kids because Mrs. Blanco is still in the US.  I have enjoyed takign them to painting lessons, picking them up from school, making dinner, and putting them to bed.  It is an interesting experience because it is a lot of experience!  They are extremly well behaved so it is never hard.  I have made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with honey and banana, scrambled eggs with jam and cheese and toast, and ramen noodles for dinner !  I really need to learn some new dishes ! 

Tomorrow I am leaving for Drake Bay in Puntareanus.  There I plan on going scuba diving to Isla de Cano for a few days.  The island is supposed to be one of the best places in the world for scuba diving according to some websites.  I am very excited.  drake Bay is 12 miles from Corcovado national park and I want to get there too for a day.  I need to be back by monday for work.  I am going by myself so it will be an adventure for sure !   I am soooo thankful for having these amazing opportunities and such a positive family here that will let me go all the time! I am having a blast.  God is good. 

Last weekend Ingrid, her Brother, her friend, the 2 kids and I all went to San Jose.  We first went to a women's clothing store that her sister works at.  It was pretty neat because it looked like it was straight out of LA or something ( I have never been to LA).  It had  dj there and they were giving out free red bull.  Then we went to another mall and I bought some jeans, I only brought one pair here.  The stores are pretty cool and look really european, and they are expensive ! Then we saw "una noche en el museo 2".  Then her brother took us out for Chineese food. 

On sunday after church we went with Ingrid and her family to a small town called Orossi nearby that sits on a river tucked away in the mountains.  We ate at a really good restaurant that served fish from the river.  That was my 3rd fish to eat here that was came on a plate with head, tail, eyes and all.  I am getting introduced to all kinds of new food ! 

This past week I went to work everyday and started going to the gym at a University here in Cartago.  I have started going to a spinning class (stationary bikes) and I love it.  The instructors have been extremely helpful getting me set up on my bike, apparently it is obvious that I don't know what I am doing.  They yell "vamos! vamos!" all through the class adn there is loud techno-dance music playing.  It is such a rush, and difficult. I really want to do it when I get back to the states. 

I have been taking taxis and buses around Cartago and into San Jose.  Its pretty neat, It's kinda a rush not knowing exactly where I am going and not having my dictionary there or a native speaker to help me with my spanish.  Tonight I took a bus to San Jose and went to a mall there for a little while to unwind after work.  I made it fine by myself and am feeling more confident to travel around here. 

The Church I go to here is amazing.  I enjoy the worship here more than anywhere I have gone before.  The worship alone lasts one hour, and the service lasts 3 usually.  I can understand about 30-45 percent of the sermon usually and I am happy with that.  My listening/comprehension abilities have improved the most I think.  My speaking next.  I find that I can usually follow what people are talking about closely, but responding is a little harder.  My vocabulary and speed though have definitely increased a lot. Also, I am not so tired and worn out at the end of the day from speaking, I think I am getting used to it.  

Gullermo got the wireless internet working at the house on my computer now so that's great.

So, I found the list of different things here in Costa Rica that I made at work the other day. Here are some of them:

1 Most all students work full time too, like all the people I work with go to class at night.
2 Rat-tails and Euro-mullets are popular hairstyles.
3 Beyonce sings in Spanish here! The pople at work didnt know if she spoke spanish or not so I guess she is pretty good.
4 Most people wear jeans or khackis everywhere , no shorts. I am by far the most underdressed person at work with shorts and sandals on usually
5 All women greet other men and women with a kiss on the cheek, evertime. Strangely enough, I am used to this and do it without hesitation! lol
6 you can buy eggs in a plastic bag at the grocery store with no container at all !
7 It gets dark about 6 pm and light about 5 am
8 most people brush their teeth at work, after lunch.


I got back from Panama on wednesday and worked the rest of the week. Mike, Mason and I went to a quiet little town in called Boquete. It was a 10 hour bus ride from San Jose. The ride there was okay but the Panama Border was no fun. It was confusing and the bus just drops you off on one side and you get picked up on the other side with little to no direction of what to do in between or where to go.

In Boquete we just hung out and explored the town. Mike and Mason went on a coffee tour but it was more money then I wanted to spend so I just went to some art shops and this private, free, huge, garden and walked around for a while by myself. The town was really cheap, I bought breakfast one morning for 2.80 (they use US dollars in panama) and got eggs, ham, 1 pancake, and coffee! Boquete is apparently a very popular place for retirees to go and so there were a lot of big houses in the surrounding mountains. I think because of the perfect climate and cheap prices. I decided not to go to Panama City with Mike and Mason and just came back to Cartago instead. I didn't want to take the 20 hour bus ride from Panama City and San Jose, or go to a hot crowded city. I am spoiled by the perfect, cool, weather here in Cartago and Boquete and I really didn't want to go on a bus with no air conditioning for that long. The Panama Canal would have been cool to see but I was excited to get back to Cartago for a weekend with no plans or visitors, the first yet for me.

So I got back to Cartago and worked the rest of the week. I got in a nice routine of running in the morning before work, going to work and coming home for luch, then relaxing and reading in the evengings. Everyday for lunch and dinner we eat at the house some type of homemade, fresh dish. Beans and rice are a common favorite and I have not gotten tired of them at all. We have lots of fresh salads, vegitable plates, and juices or smoothies. Last night for dinner we had a really good chicken soup made by Ingrid. The food is one of the best parts of being here. I am trying to learn some of the recipies so I can make them back in Arkansas. I did get to use some of the skills I learning on thursday mornings making breakfast in Arkasas the other morning. I made omlets for everyone, 9 in total I think. They seemed to like it.

Yesterday Ingrid went to join a new gym at a local university here in cartago so I went and joined it too. It is pretty nice. Last night I borrowed her bike and used my headlamp to ride to the gym. it is 10 mins away by bike. I am learning my way around the city pretty well by now. It is still intimidating though because of the lack of streeet names or signs. You have to completely rely on remembering landmarks which are usually just little stores on corners. I just keep thinking that if I get completely lost, like when I go running in the mornings, I can just get a taxi back to the Jumbo and then walk to the house from there. the Jumbo is a big supermarket that most taxi drivers know.

At work, one entertaing part is listening to some of the guys try to say certain English words. The guy who works in front of me, Andres, is learning english and is pretty good. He is always turning around and asking me how to say something. Yesterday he was trying to figure out the different pronunciation of "were" and "were". It was so funny. All the people at work are so nice and friendly with me. I enojoy talking with them and walking to the pulpuria, the corner convience store, just about everyday on our breaks.

Some things I have noticed that are different in Costa Rica :

Food here is all fresh.  They have fruits and vegetable I have never heard of down here and eat them all the time.  Also, cows are not naturally fat like they are in the States, here most are extremely skinny with like a foot of kin hanging everywhere

Security guard is probably the most popular profession.  We ate at a fast food restaurant probably as nice as a steak and shake, and there was a armed guard at the door.  They're everywhere, at just about every parking lot.

Families are extremely close.  Mine here eats 3 meals a day together, all 3 kids work with the mom, and all live at home until they get married.  It is neat.

People are very hospitable when entertaining you at their home.  I had a cool time doing karokee at one house last week, not joking.  MArk and I sang a Michael Jackson song. 

I actually wrote down a lot more things but I forgot the list at home. 

Last week I heard from Mike Hinds and Mason Kirksey who had been planning on making it to Cartago on thier month long trip through Central America.  They were headed for Monte Verde, Costa rica before heading to Cartago.  When I told Mrs. Blanco this, she suggested that I go meet them there! -  just an example of how cool she is.  So, that night I made plans and figured out how to get there by bus.  I was able to get of work too which was great. 

That night,  I was told of dangerous San Jose is and several stories of people they knew who had gotten "harassed" there, to say the least.  After all those stories and realizing that I had no idea where I was going, I was getting pretty nervous.  I was thinking how my spanish was not good enough probably to explain to a bus driver that I was lost and needed help to get home.  I also realized that I had never been to the bus stop in Cartago either, much less the one in huge San Jose.  I almost chickened out going and didn't get much sleep!

Wednesday morning at 4:30 am I got up and headed for the bus stop in Cartago.  I ended up just having a taxi take me there because I didn't have a clue where it was.    I got there and got on the hour bus ride to San Jose.  Once in San jose, I grabbed the first taxi I found and told them I needed to go to the " Parada a Monte Verde".  They knew where it was luckily and I got there in a few minutes.  I bought the ticket for the 5 hour ride to Monte Verde for less than 5 bucks.  The ride there was beautiful and I had no problems.  -- On the bus, I met two girls from Canada who spoke french and talked with them for a while.  I played a song by a group called flight of the concords that is in French and is really stupid.  They thought it was hilarious.  Robert, I thought of you when this happened and I wanted to tell you about it! 

I arrived in Monte Verde about 15 min before Mike and Mason and we met without any problems.  We got a hostel for only 10 bucks a night that was pretty nice actually.  Monte Verde is a beautiful city in the mountains famous for its Cloud forest. It is clean and safe, pretty much exclusively for tourists.  The first night we walked around for a while and got coffee and desert at this little place that had an amazing view of a sunset out over the mountains. 

The next day we got up early and did a canopy, zipline, tour.  It was 16 lines and last about 3 hours.  The longest was 1 kilometer long and you rode it for about a minute!  It had amazing views of the mountains and the ocean off in the distance, we were so high you could see  the coast.  It was a great time but a little scary because of the lack of stress put on safety considering what we were doing.  For example, you swing on the line and hold on to the back of the line wearing leather gloves the entire way.  You are in charge of slowing yourself down at the end of the line!  If you let go, you would start spinning around and if that happened we were instructed to grab THE BACK OF THE LINE to stop us, but to be careful to not grab the front as this would most definitely cut your fingers off from the pulley.  I can only imagine spinning around in the middle of the air and trying to grab only the back of the line, hanging hundreds of feet in the air.  It was a rush! 

The next day Mike and I went to the Nuboso Forest, or cloud forest.  It is a rainforest/ jungle that is partially covered in clouds as you get higher.  It was really neat to look out and not be able to see anything more than 10 feet in front of you.  The continental divide ran through it and we hiked up to it.  They plant life was more than anything I had ever seen by about 10 times.  It was so extremely think with plants on top of plants on top of trees, covered by moss, with flowers on the moss... 

We made it back to Cartago yesterday with no problems.  Mike and Mason got to talking and invited me to continue on their trip with them to Panama city.  They have one week left before going back to the U.S.  I thought about it and asked Mrs. Blanco what she thought and it is working out for me to get off work again to go!  So, on Monday we leave for Bocata (spelling) Panama and then to Panama city to see the Panama Canal.  I am pumped!  I will get a 20 hour bus ride from Panama City by myself to San Jose.  

 

Last night Mike, Mason, Ingrid (Mrs. Blancos niece who lives with us)  all went to see Terminator last night at the mall.  IT was fun and I got to drive!  Ingrid is extremely nice and cool, I am looking forward to getting to know here more on while I am here.  My family here is pretty much perfect and I couldn't ask for anything else from them.  I am really really appreciative of all that they are doing for me.  

Spanish is going good and I am really learning a lot.  My conversation is improving the most.  Last night I had the most comfortable conversation with Karla who lives next door.  It was the first conversation I had that I was not really thinking about what I was going to say before saying it.  It was by no means fluid, but a lot closer than ever before.  

I will write more when I get back from Panama 

Shout out to Seth, I "drove" by Powderhorn Colorado and Gunnison at work the otherday and I thought of how you are there!  

So, it has been 10 days that I have been down here. Things are going great. Instead of trying to organize everything in a couple of paragraphs, I think I will make a top 10 list of cool or interesting experiences so far.

10) At Austin's birthday party, there were about 25 people and they had a pinata. I thought this was so awesome because you think of having pinatas at hispanic birthday parties, but I never really thought they actually did it. apparently they do! It was cool because it was as authentic as it gets.

9) Being able to sit on the upstairs porch and read comfortable at anytime of the day. Cartago is in a valley surrounded by mountains, at a high altitude so the weather is not too hot. I would say it is about 75 to 80 in the day and 65 to 70 at night. I have never been hot or uncomfortable inside any house, and none have airconditioning. The doors are always open and the air in the shade is the perfect temperature. also, there are no bugs somehow. The house is built with a courtyard in the middle, which goes up 2 stories. It is decorated beautifully with a fountain and plants. The whole house is extremely nice, it was built 4 years ago I think.

8) Going to the orphange with Mark, Danny, Paige and Mrs. Blanco. We went to an orphange that Mrs. Blanco frequently visits. We played with the kids for a while. Some played soccer, I did some back flips for them and we tossed the frisbee. One little girl was super bad though... when we go there, Paide and I found here in a room and she was crying frantically. Paige realized she had some type of gel all over her head that I guess the other kdis put on her. I aksed her in Spanish if she had a new shirt and she did and Paige helped her out. That same girl would NOT leave me alone the rest of the time. She loved to spit on me for some reason. And she knew how to swing a broom stick surprisingly hard. Also, she managed to bite two holes in my shirt. It was still a good time

7) going around san jose at night with Guillermo Enrique, Mark's cousin that lives next door and also whom I work with. He took us kids out one night. We drove all around stopping at many shady looking placces while Danny or someone else told him no, we didnt want to go in there lol. We ended up eating at this restaurnat and talking for a while. it was nice and he paid!

6) getting to know Nachito and Steven at my work. They are my age and are in school, but also work full time 48 hours per week. This is the norm down here, every young person I have met is in school at night and works during the day. These two guys are really nice and funny. They teach me things in spanish and I teach them some english. they are funny and like to get up and tlak when were supposed to be working. I am afraid I am going to get in trouble!

5) going to Arenal volcano. there were 13 of us that took a bus Mrs.Blanco rented out for the week that was big enough fro 25 people. All of us first went to Arenal. The whole area was beautiful. Standing outside of our cabin, looking at the volcano and being able to see actual red lave for a few seconds was a crazy experience. I had seen a picture of Arenal and arenal lake in my spanish book and, sure enough, our cabin was right next to both with an incredible view. It awesome to sit there and look out at everything and realize how much God is doing for me to let me be there. cool times !

4)going to this waterfall close to Arenal and almost getting killed. We went and while we were there, it was raining really hard. we put our shoes on one bank then went around to get closer to the 150 foot waterfall. it was growing fast ! the other people came back and told MArk and I that our shoes were gone, the water had risen the 3 feet to cover them. just about the we heard whistles and the costa ricans were screamign for us to get back up. when we crossed the bridge we had crossed to get there, it was almost covered with water and mist ! it was soooo cool. I was scared for a minute

3) when we got to Montezuma after going to Mal Pais, we were hungry and went to a place to eat which was pretty much some ladys very small house. She did not have enough food or chairs for all of us to eat so we literally bought all the soup she had which was 3 bowls and the 13 of shared it before going to the beach to swim.

2) sitting outside reading at Arenal, listening to the rocks falling from the Volcano but not being able to see it at all.

1) The hot springs we went to after the waterfall ! they were rediculous. there were probably 15 different pools that all hard waterfall type thing to sit under. they started really hot at the top of the mountian and went down to the coolest pool at the bottom that had a slide and was about the temperature of a normal hot tub.


I did get a job, I work for Pathway services international. It is a company that surveys roards using vans equiped with a lot of camers and sensors. My job is to watch the videos on a computer and amrk where there are bridges, construction zones, detours, and somtimes I look for mile markers ! how exciting, I know. The work is a little borring but it is so cool to be working side by side with costa ricans abnd communicating with them in spanish and really living their lifestyle. Once we return from Limon on saturday, I will be working from 730 am to 530 pm mon through friday.

My boss who is Mrs. Blanco sister in law is very nice and is letting me get off for things that come up like projects with the missionaries or going to these beaches and stuff. I talked with the missionaries last night at another birthday party and got some info about what they do here. I hope to figure out more and plan some stuff with them soon. well, I am going biking at 530 tomorrow moring with the 2 girls, marks cousins, that live here and next door so I am going to go to bed. oooo, I got a new skype name so you can and should add me, drewallencunningham

first full day

well I made it here yesterday on time with no troubles at the airport or anything. We were picked up at the airport by Guijermo, 'Mark's uncle and next door neighbor. I was shown around the house which is amazing. it is very nice! Lavone introduced me to the whole family and I got a ton of spanish practice just meeting everyone and trying to tell them who I am and why I am here. We had a great lunch yesterday that Guijermo made. I ate 2 bowls of soup thinking it was the whole meal. After I was finished, they brought out some potatoes, a huge plate of meat, and some salad and I ate some more. It was all very good. Then we had ice cream! The whole family is extremely nice and close. MArk's family's house is conected to his uncles house and on the other side to his uncle's parent's house. Guijermo took me over to his parents house last night and I met them. His father showed me around his house and showed off his recuerdos from his trips to europe. he was very proud, he took me to his study and showed me his stereo and play some celine Deon! all this was yesterday, my first day.

Today I woke up and then went to buy flowers with Lavonne and Paige, danny's girlfriend. Danny is MArk's brother. we went to this little flower shop where lavone knows the lady who owns it. Lavone brought 2 pairs of "tummy tuck" jeans to this lady just as a gift because she is really nice. Lavonne has brought gifts to 3 families so far that I know of, she is very generous. At the flower shop, I had a conversation with the owner's husband in spanish and he told me abotu the nearby volcanoes. apparently there are a lot of them and also a lot of earthquakes too. He was very nice and it was pretty neat to communicate with him in spanish.

Later today we went and picked up Austin and Lynna, Mark's adopted brother and sister, from their school. their school was pretty neat with tons of little kids running around playing soccer. After we picked them up, we went and got som chicken at this little place and brought it over to MArk's grnadmas house for lunch. after lunch we came home and played uno for a while. We then left and went to a friend of thier familys house, Eduardo. Eduardo is, no surprise, very nice also. He took us out to the mall which was surprisingly nice and Eduardo bought our movie tickets. We then went and ate at this italian resturant. then we bought presents for Austin who turns 9 tomorrow. After we watched x men, eduardo took us home. WE have plans to go get sushi with him tomorrow.

Big news, Lavone told me today that I am going to be able to work! Her family's company, pathway services, has an office down here. it is a company that makes vancs with equipmetn to record video and radar of the roads to see where there needs to be repair work done. She said Vidia, Guijermo's wife who works at the office, siad she could use me there for about a month doing something. I talked to Natalya, Vidia's daughter who also works there and she said I will be working on the computers and tha it is very easy. I am sooo happy to get this opportunity to work while i am here. Lavonne even siad I would get paid, very little, but I am exstatic to even be able to get to work at all with them. I would be happy to work for free. The missionaires I was planning on working with is still in the works but Lavone siad they usually only go out on the weekends. I think tomorrow Lavone is taking me to an orphanage so that will be good too.

Also, Eduardo took us to his coffe shop tonight. it is super modern and nice. Nicer than the coffee shops I go to in Fayetteville to study. There were like 3 guards we passed in the shoppin center parking lot that it is in. While at the mall I was talking with Eduardo and told him that I would definately be willing to work at his coffe shop, doing anything at all, for free if he ever needed any help. I told him I could wait until my spanish get better so I could communicate with the customers better. He liked this idea and said " yes, yes, you can work with me anytime like on fridays, and saturdays... you can work the register.... i would pay you" SO this is very cool too. I am not getting my hopes up for all these paying jobs becuase it is just my second day here and I just met eduardo, but he seems extremely nice and is a great friend of the Blanco family. I am just happy that there are some great opportunities opening up already and am excited to see what end up happening in the future. I will for sure go the office of Pathwya servcices on wednesday to learn what I will be doing.

Thursday, Lavone has our vacation planned. it is a family vacation with 13 people going. There is a bus chartered just for us that will take us all the places were going. We are going to a volcano, Arenal, then to a beach called Mal Pais which is on the PAcific side of Costa Rica. Once we get back from that, we are planning on going to the Atlantic side to Limon. WOO HOO, what a trip. I am blessed. after all this vacationing, Mark, Paide, and Danny will leave and it will be time for me to start what the rest of my trip will be like.

day before leaving

I leave for Tulsa today around 4 or 5 pm.  My flight to Houston leaves Tulsa at 6:20 am, and then from Houston to San Jose.  I am traveling with Mark Blanco and his Mom Lavonne, and brother Danny. 

I know there is internet at the Blanco's house which I will be staying at, but I don't know how often I will be able to access it.  I will try to update this page frequently, but I make no promises. I have never had a blog before so we'll see how it goes.  I am looking forward to my trip and will write more soon! 

my email is dcunning@uark.edu  if you would like to write me an email.