I completely forgot about this video up until I started writing about my time in Costa Rica over Christmas vacation. Let me set the scene....
We were staying in this motel type thing that was attached to a family's home. Right next to our room lived a crazy, senile parrot who would sporadically go on talking/chirping/squawking fits. We decided to go talk to it, and my friends, it did not disappoint. As you all know, parrots can repeat what human voices say. Though they don't always do it on command, they definitely have the ability. Well as I began to laugh at this absurd creature, it began to imitate my laugh. Phil Brazell in Hampton's English class has nothing on this parrot! (That was for you Caroline.)
It was too dark to actually seeee anything, but the sound is all you need. There are times you can't even figure out which one of us was laughing. Obviously his imitation spawned even more laughter from me, resulting in laughter mayhem. Make sure your volume is up and enjoy!
P.S. The Laughing Parrot will TOTALLY be the name of my Central American hostel!! YES! (Confused? see two posts ago.)
Monday, April 27, 2009
Prostitutes and Sushi!
As you will probably recall my last passport visa renewal session was not that enjoyable. In fact, it was probably the worst experience I have had during my time here. To refresh your memory I’ll just say- El Salvador, border guards, falsifying documents, bribing, yelling, sweat and tears.
Fortunately, the second time around provided us with a much better adventure. The school paid for us to fly to Costa Rica and stay in the capital, San Jose, for three days at a fine establishment with a very Central American name and aire…The Best Western. (Sarcasm) It was the first time in a long time that I had been in such an American hotel. When I look back at the range of places Abby and I have stayed on our travels it is quite humorous. The last time we were in Costa Rica we stayed in this “motel” whose mattresses felt like a wooden board and had cockroaches in the bathroom. We're just movin on up!! (Think Jeffersons theme song…to the east side!) But my favorite was the highly typical bed quilts at The Best Western. You know what I’m talking about…and even though they aren’t normally thought of as anything special, they gave me such a feeling of home and comfort and convenience…the latter two being much harder to come by down here than in the good ol U.S.
Funny part about our hotel though was its central location in what would be known as the Red Light District anywhere else. Druggies, prostitutes, and brothels were on every street and corner. An entertaining and cringe worthy walk during the day, a purely terrifying walk at night. (I never walked at night, don’t worry.)
Though we did some cool stuff while in Costa Rica, the best part was definitely the “all expenses paid” detail. And we missed 3 days of school. Yeah, I’ll take that. Our first full day there we opted for a tour of Volcano Arenal which, unbeknownst to me was really really far away.
I won’t go into detail because I was sort of annoyed with our guide and our tour but all you have to know is I saw a Volcano and it was pretty sweet looking. Though, I have to say, there was no lava to be seen…of which, and Abby can vouch, I was quite upset about. Volcano. Lava. You’d think the two would go hand in hand. No such luck. Funny enough, the best part of our little Volcano tour had nothing to do with the Volcano but rather this little town in which we stopped for a little bit. It had the most random Parque Central in the history of Central America. The entire park was full of those shrub/bush/tree things that people cut into different shapes, you know? See pictures, they will explain…
Our driver dropped us off here for as long as we wanted, and Abby and I sure made the most of it. We were LOVING this place. We took a picture with pretty much every tree-plant shrub in the park. Prompts galore my friends. If you know what that means, you win a cookie. Not to mention had our attempt at about 20 “jumping” shots each. You know the kind, where you try to get a picture with you jumping in the air...High School Musical style. And if you have ever done this you know it never happens the first, second, third, or fourth time. My all time favorite was when Abby did a running start to her jumping and she definitely definitely fell flat on her face. I was cracking up. HI-LAR-IOUS. Two 20-something year olds acting like 5 year olds. Definite highlight of the trip.
The other highlight however came our last night in San Jose. One of the missionary families in Santa Rosa used to live in SJ and told us some of the stuff we should check out, one attraction being the VIP Movie Theatre. Imagine this: big screen, normal theatre, BUT with leather recliners at every seat, a table, and a waiter to take your order at your beck and call, oh and wait for it- SUSHI! Sushi!? Susshhiiii!?!?! If I had to guess, I would say Organizational Studies is more present in Honduras than sushi is, and we all know that’s not saying much. See what sacrifices I have been making these past 8 months!? The sushi-movie-leather recliner experience was amazing. Abby and I were actually, 100% in heaven. Oh, not to mention, our ticket cost us the equivalent of 8 bucks. Riiiight? Ridic. My only wish was that we had gone earlier during the trip so we could have gone back another time.
Gotta say though, it was nice to be back in our little Santa Rosa town. Every time I go somewhere I feel happy to be back “home.” I can’t even imagine what it’ll be like in 7 weeks when I am really really reallllllyyy back home. Eeeeee!
Fortunately, the second time around provided us with a much better adventure. The school paid for us to fly to Costa Rica and stay in the capital, San Jose, for three days at a fine establishment with a very Central American name and aire…The Best Western. (Sarcasm) It was the first time in a long time that I had been in such an American hotel. When I look back at the range of places Abby and I have stayed on our travels it is quite humorous. The last time we were in Costa Rica we stayed in this “motel” whose mattresses felt like a wooden board and had cockroaches in the bathroom. We're just movin on up!! (Think Jeffersons theme song…to the east side!) But my favorite was the highly typical bed quilts at The Best Western. You know what I’m talking about…and even though they aren’t normally thought of as anything special, they gave me such a feeling of home and comfort and convenience…the latter two being much harder to come by down here than in the good ol U.S.
Funny part about our hotel though was its central location in what would be known as the Red Light District anywhere else. Druggies, prostitutes, and brothels were on every street and corner. An entertaining and cringe worthy walk during the day, a purely terrifying walk at night. (I never walked at night, don’t worry.)
Though we did some cool stuff while in Costa Rica, the best part was definitely the “all expenses paid” detail. And we missed 3 days of school. Yeah, I’ll take that. Our first full day there we opted for a tour of Volcano Arenal which, unbeknownst to me was really really far away.
Arenal around sunset.
I won’t go into detail because I was sort of annoyed with our guide and our tour but all you have to know is I saw a Volcano and it was pretty sweet looking. Though, I have to say, there was no lava to be seen…of which, and Abby can vouch, I was quite upset about. Volcano. Lava. You’d think the two would go hand in hand. No such luck. Funny enough, the best part of our little Volcano tour had nothing to do with the Volcano but rather this little town in which we stopped for a little bit. It had the most random Parque Central in the history of Central America. The entire park was full of those shrub/bush/tree things that people cut into different shapes, you know? See pictures, they will explain…
Me and Mr. Dino
WTF is thaaat?
Our driver dropped us off here for as long as we wanted, and Abby and I sure made the most of it. We were LOVING this place. We took a picture with pretty much every tree-plant shrub in the park. Prompts galore my friends. If you know what that means, you win a cookie. Not to mention had our attempt at about 20 “jumping” shots each. You know the kind, where you try to get a picture with you jumping in the air...High School Musical style. And if you have ever done this you know it never happens the first, second, third, or fourth time. My all time favorite was when Abby did a running start to her jumping and she definitely definitely fell flat on her face. I was cracking up. HI-LAR-IOUS. Two 20-something year olds acting like 5 year olds. Definite highlight of the trip.
Abby jumping!
Sarah jumping!
Abby FALLING. Hahaaaaa.
The other highlight however came our last night in San Jose. One of the missionary families in Santa Rosa used to live in SJ and told us some of the stuff we should check out, one attraction being the VIP Movie Theatre. Imagine this: big screen, normal theatre, BUT with leather recliners at every seat, a table, and a waiter to take your order at your beck and call, oh and wait for it- SUSHI! Sushi!? Susshhiiii!?!?! If I had to guess, I would say Organizational Studies is more present in Honduras than sushi is, and we all know that’s not saying much. See what sacrifices I have been making these past 8 months!? The sushi-movie-leather recliner experience was amazing. Abby and I were actually, 100% in heaven. Oh, not to mention, our ticket cost us the equivalent of 8 bucks. Riiiight? Ridic. My only wish was that we had gone earlier during the trip so we could have gone back another time.
Gotta say though, it was nice to be back in our little Santa Rosa town. Every time I go somewhere I feel happy to be back “home.” I can’t even imagine what it’ll be like in 7 weeks when I am really really reallllllyyy back home. Eeeeee!
Friday, April 24, 2009
Copan Ruinas Sin Las Ruinas
It was my third time going to Copan Ruinas but this time I opted out of actually visiting the ruins. They are cool and all, but they don’t really change. Not to mention my parents were coming a couple of weeks later, and my parents would definitely be having that on their itinerary.
A friend of Dani’s was visiting from Minnesoooooota so, of course, anytime there is a vistitor, we go to the ruins. I never fail at having a good time while in Copan Ruinas. In fact, I almost always excel wonderfully. This time was no exception. Abby, our friend Molly, and I bused it to Copan Friday after school, definitely catching a pretty typical Honduras bus there. We were standing about half of the time during our trip, and then- and this ALWAYS happens- some random person always pulls out a random stool or chair thing from God knows where. They may not be safe or organized, but they always seem to be prepared with extra seating. I don't even begin to second guess it anymore. These buses are so funny. I know I’ve explained them before, but I don’t even think about the ridiculousness of them now. Same with riding in the back of a pick up truck- doesn’t even phase me. Abby always talks about how she loves riding in pickup trucks. I gotta agree. I wasn’t really a fan prior to living in Central America, probably because I’d never really done it. But it’s just the wind in your hair, fresh air, and I’m without a care. (At first I put ‘and good times’ but clearly I had to make it rhyme. Ah! I did it again!) It’s also especially nice in Santa Rosa. We have cobble stone streets as I’m sure I’ve mentioned, so people really can’t drive too fast. Eases this safety nut’s mind a little.
Annnnnyyyywwwaaaayyy…there I go, tangenting… So, us three girls met up with Dani and her friend, Brenna. We stayed at Manzana Verde hostel.
Side note: The names of Central American hostels are taaannn predictable. They usually involve a color and or animal and are always two words. See below:
Manzana Verde -- Green Apple, Copan Ruinas
Iguana Azul – Blue Iguana, Copan Ruinas
Gato Negro – Black Cat, Antigua, Guatemala
Mono Barbado – Bearded Monkey, Granada, Nicaragua
Funny.
Manzana Verde was lovely, though it only had 3 bathrooms…for like 25 people. Wah wah. That night we had dinner and indulged in some fabulous and much needed girl talk. 5 American Girls in Par- I mean Copan. Naturally, after our dinner we headed over to our regular spot- The Red Frog. Owner Dan and his partner in crime, Rob greeted us happily, helping us start out our night with some beers and some pong. As the other foreigners shuffled in throughout the night, we met some nice folks from Denmark, New Zealand, Holland, and the U.S. Once again- the coolest thing about traveling is meeting people from all over the world and hearing their stories...of which mine are quite tame in comparison. I really hope I can come back down here one day and just travel with no sense of responsibility. We’re always on these weekend trips with school coming up on us in a couple of days. These folks are just living life, going wherever the wind takes them.
Our beer pong games were a hit, though I just observed most of the time. Foreigners learning to play beer pong is classic, there was definitely a 6-8 person game going on at one point. Balls were sunk, beer was drank, and the night was merry. Next came our favorite walk to Papa Changos. When all the bars are closed, Papa Changos is the place to be. If you will recall, the last time we were at PC’s was for the crazy Peace Corps Halloween party. Not only was it a crazy fun time, but there were SWINGS as bar stools. I am sure I made a very big deal of this in my blog post of that weekend, because it was so cool. Well, I think it is safe to say that Papa Changos has committed business suicide as they have gotten rid of their bar stool swings. Disappointment is an understatement. Lame dumb lame lame dumb. Regardless though, there was music, and I was dancing, so the night definitely came to a fun close. After we left the bar, we returned to the pitch black hostel. Abby gave me her headlamp to brush my teeth. It was ridiculously amusing...but probably only to us, so I'll spare you the details.
The next day we awoke and had an excellent tipica breakfast. I am really going to miss that tipica food. Mmmhmmm. It sure is yummy. Over that same Halloween weekend, Dani and some friends ventured to this very out of the way waterfall outside of Copan. Usually people go with a guide, but it’s not really necessary if you know where you are going. However, knowing where you are going isn’t like finding Toon Town in Disneyland. No maps, no signs, no people to ask on the way. In fact, these are the directions that Cid gave Dani the first time…
"Get off the bus at the gas station, across the street there is a dirt road, hike the road for about 20ish minutes, then you'll see some pillars and a pasture, walk through the pasture a little ways, then look for some rocks with a bridge nearby, cross the bridge, climb over some rocks, swim in the river, and there's your waterfall!"
Somehow, she found it. Twice in fact. The hike wasn’t too bad and once we got to the pasture we just had to search for a rickety bridge to cross. We finally found it and went over one at a time…seemed (and was) a smart idea. After the bridge the sound of the waterfall was very close and we knew we were almost there.
At this point, we stripped down to our bathing suits and very apprehensively got into the FREEZING water. It was so cold and unfortunately the day was not that hot. Had it been a few weeks later when I was dying from the heat in Copan with my parents, it would have been really refreshing. So we get into the water and climb over some rocks and low and behold we are legitimately in the waterfall. What was especially cool is that Dani said the first time she went, the water was so high that they couldn’t get very close. This time, we were all up in that waterfall’s business, I tell you what. Abby, being the stud she was, even waded the entire time with her hands above her head in order to take some awesome pictures of us. Her skills were quite impressive.
The waterfall was beautiful and so strong. We tried to swim underneath it but the current was way too fuerte. Afterwards we just sat on a big rock and sort of talked, sort of didn’t. I think we were all kind of thinking, wow, our lives are pretty damn cool. Of course I have my hard days where I just want to go home, but then I do something like that and I know I've made the right decision.
A friend of Dani’s was visiting from Minnesoooooota so, of course, anytime there is a vistitor, we go to the ruins. I never fail at having a good time while in Copan Ruinas. In fact, I almost always excel wonderfully. This time was no exception. Abby, our friend Molly, and I bused it to Copan Friday after school, definitely catching a pretty typical Honduras bus there. We were standing about half of the time during our trip, and then- and this ALWAYS happens- some random person always pulls out a random stool or chair thing from God knows where. They may not be safe or organized, but they always seem to be prepared with extra seating. I don't even begin to second guess it anymore. These buses are so funny. I know I’ve explained them before, but I don’t even think about the ridiculousness of them now. Same with riding in the back of a pick up truck- doesn’t even phase me. Abby always talks about how she loves riding in pickup trucks. I gotta agree. I wasn’t really a fan prior to living in Central America, probably because I’d never really done it. But it’s just the wind in your hair, fresh air, and I’m without a care. (At first I put ‘and good times’ but clearly I had to make it rhyme. Ah! I did it again!) It’s also especially nice in Santa Rosa. We have cobble stone streets as I’m sure I’ve mentioned, so people really can’t drive too fast. Eases this safety nut’s mind a little.
Annnnnyyyywwwaaaayyy…there I go, tangenting… So, us three girls met up with Dani and her friend, Brenna. We stayed at Manzana Verde hostel.
Side note: The names of Central American hostels are taaannn predictable. They usually involve a color and or animal and are always two words. See below:
Manzana Verde -- Green Apple, Copan Ruinas
Iguana Azul – Blue Iguana, Copan Ruinas
Gato Negro – Black Cat, Antigua, Guatemala
Mono Barbado – Bearded Monkey, Granada, Nicaragua
Funny.
Manzana Verde was lovely, though it only had 3 bathrooms…for like 25 people. Wah wah. That night we had dinner and indulged in some fabulous and much needed girl talk. 5 American Girls in Par- I mean Copan. Naturally, after our dinner we headed over to our regular spot- The Red Frog. Owner Dan and his partner in crime, Rob greeted us happily, helping us start out our night with some beers and some pong. As the other foreigners shuffled in throughout the night, we met some nice folks from Denmark, New Zealand, Holland, and the U.S. Once again- the coolest thing about traveling is meeting people from all over the world and hearing their stories...of which mine are quite tame in comparison. I really hope I can come back down here one day and just travel with no sense of responsibility. We’re always on these weekend trips with school coming up on us in a couple of days. These folks are just living life, going wherever the wind takes them.
Our beer pong games were a hit, though I just observed most of the time. Foreigners learning to play beer pong is classic, there was definitely a 6-8 person game going on at one point. Balls were sunk, beer was drank, and the night was merry. Next came our favorite walk to Papa Changos. When all the bars are closed, Papa Changos is the place to be. If you will recall, the last time we were at PC’s was for the crazy Peace Corps Halloween party. Not only was it a crazy fun time, but there were SWINGS as bar stools. I am sure I made a very big deal of this in my blog post of that weekend, because it was so cool. Well, I think it is safe to say that Papa Changos has committed business suicide as they have gotten rid of their bar stool swings. Disappointment is an understatement. Lame dumb lame lame dumb. Regardless though, there was music, and I was dancing, so the night definitely came to a fun close. After we left the bar, we returned to the pitch black hostel. Abby gave me her headlamp to brush my teeth. It was ridiculously amusing...but probably only to us, so I'll spare you the details.
4-person team beer pong...this is a great picture.
Outside of Papa Changos rubbin the monkey for good luck?
The next day we awoke and had an excellent tipica breakfast. I am really going to miss that tipica food. Mmmhmmm. It sure is yummy. Over that same Halloween weekend, Dani and some friends ventured to this very out of the way waterfall outside of Copan. Usually people go with a guide, but it’s not really necessary if you know where you are going. However, knowing where you are going isn’t like finding Toon Town in Disneyland. No maps, no signs, no people to ask on the way. In fact, these are the directions that Cid gave Dani the first time…
"Get off the bus at the gas station, across the street there is a dirt road, hike the road for about 20ish minutes, then you'll see some pillars and a pasture, walk through the pasture a little ways, then look for some rocks with a bridge nearby, cross the bridge, climb over some rocks, swim in the river, and there's your waterfall!"
Somehow, she found it. Twice in fact. The hike wasn’t too bad and once we got to the pasture we just had to search for a rickety bridge to cross. We finally found it and went over one at a time…seemed (and was) a smart idea. After the bridge the sound of the waterfall was very close and we knew we were almost there.
Scary bridge...it just screams Central America.
At this point, we stripped down to our bathing suits and very apprehensively got into the FREEZING water. It was so cold and unfortunately the day was not that hot. Had it been a few weeks later when I was dying from the heat in Copan with my parents, it would have been really refreshing. So we get into the water and climb over some rocks and low and behold we are legitimately in the waterfall. What was especially cool is that Dani said the first time she went, the water was so high that they couldn’t get very close. This time, we were all up in that waterfall’s business, I tell you what. Abby, being the stud she was, even waded the entire time with her hands above her head in order to take some awesome pictures of us. Her skills were quite impressive.
The girls at the base of the waterfall!
La Cascada
The waterfall was beautiful and so strong. We tried to swim underneath it but the current was way too fuerte. Afterwards we just sat on a big rock and sort of talked, sort of didn’t. I think we were all kind of thinking, wow, our lives are pretty damn cool. Of course I have my hard days where I just want to go home, but then I do something like that and I know I've made the right decision.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
