Salsa, Merengue, Cumbia

Last night I went out with bunch of other students from one of the other language schools in Heredia, the Centro Idomas de Intercultura, to a local dance club where a live band was playing salsa, merengue, and cumbia tunes (the 3 major dances here). The people here just love to dance. There were so many impressive dancers, I was just blown away. I've been taking a few salsa and merengue classes here so this was a real cultural experience... A lot of the other students have been in Costa Rica much longer (some close to a year now, studying and working). I have been having problems embedding my youtube videos lately. The best way to see videos I shot of some impressive dancers is to click on my youtube site. After last night, I plan to continue salsa and meringue classes after I go back to states... I'm hooked!

www.youtube.com/user/shingwong

Pura Vida! (the Costa Rican cheer)

Punta Uva, Puerto Viejo, Cahuita National Park

It´s Sunday night and I just returned from an AWESOME weekend in the south Carribean coast of Costa Rica in the towns of Punta Uva, Puerto Viejo, and Cahuita.

Friday, November 24

Getting there was quite a task though... I left for the long distance bus station shortly after my class on Friday but almost missed my bus. Unfortunately, I found out on Friday that my Spanish is still really, really poor... and rushing to catching the last bus out of San Jose was not a good way to put my Spanish to test. Although I got on a local bus in Heredia (where I am currently staying for my Spanish classes and about 12km from San Jose) that was marked for San Jose, I ended up being dropped off in a part of San Jose that I did not recognized at all and had to ask for directions to the bus station... (I was initially told by my host family that it was next to a bus stop on the way into San Jose... obviously I either missed the stop or got on the wrong bus - apparently there are multiple bus lines that terminate in different parts of the city). Anyhow, I had to make a mad and anxious dash for the long distance station... asking for directions multiple times and walking for about 15 blocks before reaching the station, arriving luckily with a half hour to spare. The trip was to take 4.5 hours for 225km or so but only costed 3,875 colones or about USD $8, about the same for a 12km taxi trip from Heredia to San Jose.

After arriving in Puerto Viejo, I hailed a cab, one of only 3 at that time and headed for Punta Uva, about 7km down pothole-ridden roads. Prior to leaving Heredia, I had gotten in touch with my roommate´s mom and luckily, with her help and directions, I got to their bungalow style house without a hitch... after a 4.5 hour long bus ride, that was a huge relief. This was the first time that I have ever met my roommate´s parents, Kim and Dennis, and two of their daughters Cassie and Cheyenne. Cheyenne was really, really talkative, introducing me to the family cats and dogs. Cassie was a bit quieter but over the next day or so was really helpful. Kim and Dennis were both incredibly warm and welcoming... I also met Liam, a family friend originally from England, at the house. After the introductions and settling down, Liam, Cassie and I headed back out to Puerto Viejo, to the same bar (Sunset Bar) that I was dropped of at by the bus... there, we had a few drinks, met the bar owner, Yvonne from Canada, a few of Liam's friends, and 2 girls currently studying abroad in L.A. but originally from Australia and Denmark. We stayed out till about 2a.m. - hanging out, playing pool, and a bit of dancing (Yvonne was getting everyone to do the 2-step).

Saturday, November 25

Woke up pretty late Saturday, after an almost sleepless night of mosquitos biting me. Although Kim and Dennis gave me a mosquito net and I had sprayed myself with bug spray, it didn't help much at all. Liam came by and because he was going into town for the pick up and delivery of their monthly newsletter, Tropical Tales (www.tropicaltales.co.cr), I went into "town" with them in Puerto Viejo. Punta Uva is a tiny little town with a few families but the area's beach swimming beaches. Also that morning, I met Crystal, Kim and Dennis' oldest daughter in Costa Rica... my rommate, Destiny, being their oldest. I have to say, they are truly an incredible family... the parents are very progressive with 5 beautiful daughters, all different and the nicest people.

Liam, Crystal, and Cheyenne spent the day passing out their free newsletter, Tropical Tales, from Cahuita to Puerto Viejo and everywhere in between... they currently distribute about 4,000 issues to many of the establishments like restaurants and bars. Tropical Tales is widely known as the best local newsletter around with fun stories, announcements, and classifieds. As they were passing out their newsletter, I spent 3 hours horseback riding... at USD $12 per hour, it was much cheaper than anywhere in the states... the ride was great. We rode along the beach and into the forest, at times galloping... this was my first time gallopping at a pretty fast pace and it was quite an experience.

After the horseback riding, Liam, the girls, and I went back to the house to clean up and then headed back out to Puerto Viejo again for a night out. Liam and I had a great dinner at El Loco Naturalle, meeting Jim and his live band. The girls, Crystal and Cassie, had eaten at home. Afterwards, Liam and I bar hopped a bit while the girls were over at Sunset Bar and a few other places. We eventually met up at a huge dance club that seemed to have attracted every local and tourist in Puerto Viejo that evening. Liam and I left town around 1a.m. but the girls stayed behind. When we got back to the house, Kim and Dennis had a few of their French friends over for a Ukelee jam session (Dennis is a musical genius as Liam puts it)... Dennis and Liam ended up jamming till 4a.m. I called it a night around 2a.m.

Sunday, November 26

Liam and I went to Cahuita National Park and hiked the trails from about 11 to 3p.m. It was a beautiful hike... with sightings of monkeys, sloth, snakes, and various birds. A great combination of beautiful scenery, wild animals, and perfect weather.

INBio Parque... National Institute of Biodiversity Park

This morning, I headed out to the INBio Parque or National Institute of Biodiversity Park in St. Domingo (a 20 min bus ride out of Heredia). The park showcases much of Costa Rica's rich and diverse landscapes and environments, including wet and dry forests. At a cost of only about USD $4 for students (yes, still making use of my Berkeley ID card!), it was well worth the price of entrance and guided tour in English. Below are some pics... to see more, just go to my flickr site at www.flickr.com/photos/shingwong.

Also, today, I confirmed that I will be going to Puerto Viejo for the weekend, leaving tomorrow afternoon from San Jose... it will be a long 4 hr. bus ride but based on everything that I hear about the place, it's one of the most amazing places in the country - great beaches, a tropical rain forest that runs out to the sand, and the town is next to the country's largest coral reefs. This will be my 1st big trip outside the city so I'm really looking forward to it... should come back with some pretty amazing pictures. I'll also be looking up my roommate's parents and family who are currently living there. Should be a blast! Stay tune...

Tico life - family, food, fun

As is probably true in other parts of Latin America, Costa Ricans (they call themselves Ticos and Ticas) have very close families... From what I can tell of my host family, the parents are quite involved with their 2 sons lives, so much so that the mom was helping the eldest (who's 20!) with his homework/studying the last two evenings for his geography and history exams. It is end of the school season right now. So far, I've been really impressed with how warm the family is with each other... it may partly be due to having the sons' German friend ('Micha') living with them now. He is quite a character - gregarious, talktative and has a decked-out Toyota 4x4 that cries out for attention. The family definitely laughs easily... always telling each other stories and making jokes. In the evenings, I've seen them just hanging out and watching whatever is on television - usually a TV movie. Also, it is typical in this country that kids will live with their parents well into their mid-20's even when they are going to university (as is the case with my host brother). Most only leave the house after they get married.

As for today, not a whole lot has happened - just more lessons. I do find that I am starting to pick up a bit more listening comprehension. I had a somewhat long and fairly excruciating "conversation" with my host mom this morning in Spanish (since she speaks no English) as she was preparing breakfast - I was quite pleased that I could understand and ask questions about the real estate market in the country, including finding out that beach front property in the Playa Tamarindo area, a heavily resorted area on the Pacific side, can have property values of USD $4,000/sq. meter or something like USD $800K for a 2000 sq. ft. parcel of LAND only... but building costs are about USD $40K for basic 3 bdrm. Still, that's incredibly expensive and is privied only to the wealthiest (in most cases, foreigners).

The only other thing of note today is that the lunch I had at a Caribbean restaurant. The school's owner took another student and me there today (we usually go with him for lunch). The restaurant is run by this 85 yr. old Carribean former chef at the San Jose Marriott and his family. I had the best Beans and Rice with Chicken ever! Just amazing... it was made with a characteristic Carribean combination of beans, rice, and coconut milk.

San Jose

Visited San Jose this morning... had only about 2 hrs at the capital since I had to get back by noon for my 2nd day of classes. Saw the Teatro Nacional - Costa Rica´s beautiful National Theater. The interior reminds me of the Paris Opera House - just as ornate but much smaller.

I also visited the Museo d´Oro or the Museum of Gold... this was a really good museum - it gave a detailed history of the indigenous people, history, and their arts with lots of examples of gold pieces. Unfortunately, I was allowed to bring a camera into the museum.

Below is a short video of the Teatro Nacional:

First Day of Spanish School in Heredia

Hola!

Today´s my first day at IPED and it´s been really good so far, definitely meeting my expectations given the high praise I read about the school before. Classes are 9am-1pm every MWF and noon-4pm. I began the day with an excruciating hour of verbal test to assess my conversational skill level by the school´s founder, Zaida. Needless to say, I found it incredibly difficult to recall much of what I learned over 2 semesters of UCLA extension Spanish at the beginnning of this year. Although I still remember some of the vocabulary and grammar, it was difficult creating sentences and grasping listening comprehension. At the end, Zaida set the goal of me being able to ´fluently´converse in 3 basic tenses: present, past, and future on basic verbs by the time I leave end of next week. Hopefully, I´ll make enough progress by then... my first 2 hrs or so of lessons with my teacher, Tatiana was also painful... but I seem to be recalling a bit more as the lesson went on. So far, I am the only student with Tatiana which is great. There are only 4 other students in the whole school and they are all at different levels. It´s currently the low season so it´s perfect since I get 1-on-1 instruction.

After class, David, the owner

(who´s American) took me around Heredia with a walking tour... visiting the town square, church, and indoor market. After the tour, I had my first salsa lesson - it was awesome... only 1 other student, Sam (18 yr old) so we each took turns with our teacher and had about 3 short lessons each for a total of 1 hr. Forgot the teacher´s name but she was very good - within the hour, I learned 4 different movements. Sam´s been here since the summer so he was way advanced.

Tomorrow is Tuesday so my Spanish lesson won´t start till noon. David recommended I go into San Jose, which is only about a 30 mins ride in from Heredia to visit the Theatro Nacional, Museo d´Oro, and Museo de Nacional before class. Will write more tomorrow.

For pictures from last couple of days:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shingwong/

For videos from last couple of days:
http://youtube.com/profile?user=shingwong