Just for the record...

Mixing cough syrup with codeine and Mt. Dew is not the best plan when you have stomach ulcers.

Just in case any of you were tempted to try, I thought I'd give you the heads up.

Toodles!

-Jillian

Pre-Thanksgiving update

Well, I have an upper-respiratory tract infection and the doctor is pretty sure I have ulcers. More on that later.

As of now, I have completed (to the point of needing maybe another hour of work to perfect) 2 papers.

Before Thanksgiving, I have yet to complete: an 18 page rough draft (again, hopefully needing only 4 or 5 hours of perfecting), a 12 page paper, and a 5 page paper.

During Thanksgiving, I need to complete: a 5-page paper on an interview that has yet to take place, an 8 page biography, and an 8 page book analysis.

That sounds a bit intense for 5 days, I know. But I think I can do it.

After all that, I only have another round of edits on the 18 pager (this is my Senior Capstone, in case you didn't know), another round on my already finished paper, and another 12 pager.

Oh. And finals.

I feel like I should be more stressed about this than I am. Maybe I'm just over it. Or maybe I'm just thinking about all the small things I've accomplished in the last few days and am feeling pretty good about myself. Who knows. Either way, 6 weeks and I will be done with my last semester at BYU. It's a little freaky.

Toodles!

-Jillian

This is what I feel like right now...

However, because I am a student, this is what I look like right now...

Yup...apparently it's that time of year where my body decides it hates me. It all started Sunday evening. I was eating fajitas at the Macaroni Grill family dinner when I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. Not horribly so, just a uneasy to the point that I put my tortilla filled with happiness back down on my plate. I went to bed that night thinking I'd feel better in the morning.

I did. Sorta. My stomach was still a little uneasy, but I blamed that on the ulcer's that I've suspected I have. However, as the day progressed and Monday night rolled around my stomach was rolling too. I had had amazing plans to be productive and get a lot of work done. Instead, I spent a lot of it trying to figure out how to position myself so I would be in the least amount of pain and typing fairly nonsensical things in lieu of strong arguments in a paper. I didn't end up falling asleep until 1am, hoping I'd feel better enough in the morning to make it to my 8am class.

Again, this didn't happen. I woke up a little before 7, and while my stomach was hurting as badly, it was still an unhappy little organ. So, knowing my friend Madeline could give me notes, I went back to sleep for a few hours, knowing I'd have to wake up for a phone interview later on.

When I woke up at 9, my stomach felt, if not better, at least less shaky. I went to Smith's and bought some ginger ale and crackers and began my productivity. That productivity lasted through an interview, class, readings, bibliography writings, and a fun break for Crazy Bread, until around 9 pm. Suddenly my head started hurting. No, not hurting, THROBBING. It started in my neck, just below and behind my ears and moved all the way up to the sides. Whenever I moved it got worse. My chest started randomly feeling hollow and I started coughing - which did NOT help the headache. My stomach was still feeling a little solid, though uneasiness had started to seep in as well. I gave in at 11, gave up trying to do work, and went to bed.

Waking up today, my stomach felt pretty good - not perfect, but at least I didn't feel the need to stop moving. Well, I did feel that need, but only because anytime I did anything to get my heart pumping, I the giant hammers in my head start pounding away again. This has continued through most of the day. However, there's very little I can do about it.

I have no idea what's wrong with me, but it's starting to piss me off, mostly because I just don't have time for it. SERIOUSLY. Because I've got a lot of shiz going on, and I CAN get it all done, assuming I power through.

So you know what, body? I WILL finish that paper tonight, and I will finish grading those papers and re-take that quiz. And tomorrow I will research and write the outline and write my past-participant interview paper. And on Friday I will code and go to the meeting and work on my paper and go to work, and this weekend I WILL write my 20 page paper, therefore freeing up time to write my Argentine History paper next week. I CAN GET IT ALL DONE!

I CAN HAVE IT ALL!!!!!

Please note that the above is a really awesome 30 Rock reference. Imagine Tina Fey saying that while showing a meatball sandwich into her face, which is covered with tomato sauce. Classic!

Thank you.

-Jillian

Las Vegas, or "You know you've got great seats when you're closer than Wayne Newton"

For those of you who don't know, I recently took a 36 hour road-trip to Las Vegas. Not for the normal college-student reason, of course. We went to go volunteer. At a political debate. Kind of nerdy, but so much fun!

We left Provo at 7:30 (we were supposed to leave at 7 but Jordan forgot his shoes and then Brandall tried to give Katie directions to Alissa's house and we spent 15 minutes driving around a parking lot...no joke). It already felt so late at night, but we were too excited to care.

Me and Brandall (with Alissa and David in the background) just so excited to head down!

The drive didn't end up being too bad. We stopped over in Fillmore to get gas, grab munchies, and switch drivers. Overall though, there was a lot of music, laughter, singing, and headbanging. And, as always happens when the kids eat sugar and run around, we all fell asleep while watching Amazing Grace. There's just something about that "sitting in the car" feeling that's so darn soothing...

Jordan so excited to play chauffeur/papa

Fun with food

The Gang in the back!

Thanks to our handy GPS who changed the route whenever we hit construction or got lost, we arrived in Las Vegas around 12 am PST. We stayed at Katie's brother's house down there and they were so nice! Her sister-in-law let us in and gave us cookies before she ushered us to bed.

But not before we snapped a "we're so tired but we're HERE!!" picture

We got up the next morning around 8 and Katie's sister had made us delicious french toast. I spent most of the time scrambling to finish up my cover letters while we all just enjoyed a more leisurely morning before we headed for lunch at the strip.

Having breakfast down below

Jordan went to go visit his cousin who had had just had a baby, so it left the six of us to wander around Vegas for a little while and snap some awesome pictures.

Herman Cain and Wolf Blitzer! ...Seriously though, what kind of a name is Wolf Blitzer?

After a quick lunch at the Grand Lux (I had a seared ahi tuna salad with avacado and ginger - so good!) we scrambled to get to the conference center and meet up with my contact. We found her, but then spent the next hour sort of standing around waiting for the thing to start. While waiting we avoided the Nevada College Republicans who looked a little douchey and awkward and instead hung out with four little old ladies. They were so wonderful. I think Jordan actually fixed one of their phones.

Outside the Conference hall. Such a good looking group!

We were eventually herded into an absolutely huge cement and metal room where the debate hall was set up. Literally, it was set up inside the big empty room. Essentially it was just a bunch of taunt backdrops set up to make it look like an official debate hall. It was amazing.

We were divided into groups and then put at tables with a giant master list. Our jobs were to look through the list, compare the names on there to the persons ID and then give them a properly colored wrist band before they went through the metal detectors. That was it. That's all we had to do. It wasn't difficult and took maybe an hour and a half and then we got to go see the debate for FREE!

Inside the debate hall. Which wasn't really a hall. But still.

Somehow Jordan and I lucked out and found ourselves sitting in the very front row. Like, literally, the front. Meaning Rick Perry and I had a stare down and I spoke to Anderson Cooper about his shirt and tie combination. I was actually concerned I was going to flash the candidates if I shifted in my skirt wrong.

The debate itself was amazing! You could feel the energy from the crowd and the fire of the candidates. It was also great to see how the candidates acted when the camera's were off them. Michelle Bachmann kept going backstage during the commercial breaks, Mitt Romney went into the crowd every time. They shook each others hands, and joked and laughed about things that had been said during the debate. Some of it might have been forced, but even the show of civility was nice.

Afterwards, all of us met up again and pretty much just floated out of the conference center on cloud 9! We were supposed to volunteer at the V.I.P. reception after the debate, but due to some mix ups with the master list (some VIPs were listed as regular, even though they had paid $800 extra) so the WRLC people were going to be working the reception to smooth things over. We were okay with that, mostly because as it was we would be making it back to Provo at 3 in the morning. Besides, it gave us some time to actually enjoy the strip as more than half of us hadn't been there before.

Our "we're cool and allowed into the debate" wristbands

After a quick semi-decent clothing swap in the car, we were dressed in normal clothes and ready to take Las Vegas by storm. We had decided the 2 things we wanted to do were have gelato and watch the fountains at the Bellagio. So we all loaded into the car and headed over.

Jumping off the fountains in front of the Bellagio

The ladies...

Watching the fountains

Best friends in Paris! Or Vegas. Same Thing.

Everything was so much fun! We got lost in the hotel/casino's (seriously...you'd think the exit sign would mean you can exit from there. You can't.) took some fun pictures, at gelato, lusted after the chocolate fountain, and rode on lots and lots of escalators. But, with all good things, they must come to an end. Especially because we all had class the next day. So, with satisfied souls we loaded into the car and started the drive back to Provo.

But not before we decided to blast music and stick our bodies outside of the sun roof while driving down the strip...

You can't go to Vegas and not do something of questionable legality...

We stopped in Mesquite to grab some food and some gas, and from there it was back to Provo.

So excited to have had this experience together!

Once again, Jordan drove while the rest of us slept. And lest we forget, we actually listened to the debate again so we could listen to the commentary from the political pundits. It was interesting to compare the opinions of those listening or watching to ours who were actually there to experience it.

Somehow Jordan managed to get us from Vegas to Provo (usually a 5 and a half hour drive) in a little less than 4 hours. It was amazing! We all unloaded, said good-bye, and went our separate ways.

Home safe and happy at last!

However, it was an experience I know we will never forget!

Things that I say

Here's a slight taste of things I have said in the last 24 hours:

"Alissa, you look like a Canadian today."

"Man...I really wore the wrong underwear for this job."

And, my personal favorite, "I have 3 sores in my mouth. I wonder if it's because my diet's consisted of caramel corn for the last 2 days."

The best part it, they may or may not have made sense in the context of the conversation.

Toodles!

-Jillian

Feminist reflections on Costa Rica

After glossing over the syllabus for my Modern Latin American History class during our first lecture, I couldn’t help but notice one glaring exemption – Costa Rica was not mentioned anywhere; not in the quiz schedule, not in the lecture material, not in any of the readings or the study guides. When I asked the Professor why this was he shrugged and explained that when studying history we tend to focus our attention on the countries with turbulent pasts; countries with wars, revolutions, class struggles, and events we can analyze. This was understandable, especially in a class that covered such a large area over such a large period of time. Compared to Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico, Costa Rica had it easy. They had been a stable functioning democracy since the short-lived “revolution” in 1948, and even before then they were a fairly established, independent, self-governing society. I asked about its tourism industry, knowing the professor specialized in the history of tourism and that Costa Rica was renowned for its beautiful black and white sand beaches, good surfing, and laid back Rastafarian atmosphere. He shrugged again. As far as tourism went, Costa Rica was doing it right. They weren’t compromising their majestic cloud or rainforests, polluting their waters, or isolating their land into privately owned resorts, but rather preserving them through ecologically friendly efforts. Their culture, being heavily influenced by the United States and typical Western culture, was already friendly and accessible to American and European tourists alike.

While we were having this conversation, I was overly aware of my wrist where my favorite souvenirs from my time in the land of “Pura Vida” were tied: two simple bracelets – one bought from a street side artisan vendor in the city of San Jose and another given to me by the Nicaraguan refugee children I taught in the slum of Carpio, just east of the capital. While I couldn’t help but agreeing with a lot of what he was saying, I also knew from the six weeks I had just spent in that country that Costa Rica had its own demons it was still fighting.

The largest of these was the Latin idea of machismo. Prevalent in many Latin American countries, Costa Rica was no exception. For the most part, women are expected to stay in the home and raise the children, especially in the more rural areas away from San Jose. In that way, staying at home as a woman became a social symbol. If you had a husband with a good enough job that allowed you to stay home, you would. During our six week stay, we lived with a Tico family of four in the suburb of San Pedro. The mother, Duerin, stayed at home while the father, Oscar, worked two jobs to support the family. He was gone before we left the house at 7 each morning and returned well after we had retired to our bedrooms around 9 that evening. She did all of the cooking, cleaning, and chores around the house – except on the weekend. On the weekends the social order seemed to be turned on its head. Oscar seemed to get home from work early and would not only take those two days to play and take of their two children, Pamela and Samuel, but after every meal he would do the dishes and help clean up after the meals. A few houses down the road, where my friend Stanley was staying with Oscar’s parents, every weekend signaled the Papa Tico that it was his turn to wake up early and make breakfast to give his wife a break from cooking every morning. According to Stanley, his gallo pinto (a traditional breakfast dish made from rice, onion, black beans and other spices) was even better than his wife’s.

However, in the urban center it was not unusual to see women – especially younger women - walking to and from the banks where they were tellers, or from the many hospitals downtown where they were performing their residencies to become nurses. Teaching seemed to be an occupation dominated by women. In the school where I volunteered, there were only four males on the staff of 50– one of which was the principal. Very rarely were these women married, meaning a majority of the women I interacted with had either never been married or had been divorced. Take for instance, Ruth, one of the English teachers we volunteered with. When I was there, she was putting herself through school at the local university and teaching during the day, while raising three children as a single mother because her husband had an affair and left her a few years before. This kind of family dynamic is becoming the norm. With single-mother- headed households on the rise in Costa Rica, it is hard to see where women - who are traditionally kept out of the work force because of familial obligation - will fit into the economic system. Because of this 24% of mother-only families are below the poverty line, especially those in the rural area, outside of San Jose. They tend to take jobs at maids, cleaners and other forms of work with subservient pay and unstable job retention. And, due to its legal practice in the country, some women become prostitutes.

Luckily, I only had one run-in with this practice in the six weeks I lived in the country. A group of friends and I were walking a few blocks north of the central avenue, in a more posh area of the city. There were European style hotels that obviously catered to a higher tourist clientele, and on the corner by a Swill style chateau there were two women clearly dressed to signal their profession. We were a little shocked, especially because a cop car was parked a few blocks away and our American sensibilities were telling us that the cop car should be arresting them, or at least telling them to scatter. It wasn’t until later when I did a little research that I realized where they were located was no accident. While Tico men frequent prostitutes, sex tourism is a large source of the industry. Men from other countries come to Costa Rica for the explicit purpose of having sex with a Tica (while women come from other countries as well, a significant majority of sexual tourists to Costa Rica are men). Unfortunately, it has also created an off-shoot of illegal child prostitution. Thankfully the Costa Rican government has cracked down on this practice in the last few years, but there were signs throughout the community that showed it was still an issue. Driving to my project everyday on the bus there was a billboard with a pair of sad, brown eyes looking out at you. Underneath it reads “I am not a tourist attraction.” If that wasn’t jarring enough, the first thing you see when you exit the ‘international arrivals’ gate at the San Jose airport is a cardboard cutout of a police officer holding a sign that says “having sex with a minor (under 18 years) is illegal.” However, this is made difficult by the legality of prostitution for those over the age of 18 as differentiated between the over 18 and under 18 line can be difficult. The United States had aided in attempting to halt their citizens from practicing child prostitution by making it a federal crime to have sex with a minor in another country, and hopefully the Costa Rican government will continue to reduce this occurrence of this practice.

American and other western influences are seen in other areas of society. Fashion and style trends are very similar to what is seen in the American media. Women are never seen out in public without full-make-up and heels. Whether going to the movie or to the market, women always wear heels. All clothes, including women’s medical scrubs are tailored to show of female curves. American media has also changed the perception of American women in the country. Without fail, unless I was walking with Stanley, and even sometimes when I was with Stanley, I would get shouted or whistled at by Tico men on the street. Female volunteers were repeatedly told never to go anywhere by ourselves or with another girl at night and were given a very strict dress code. While Tica’s consistently wore low-cut shirts, short skirts, and no sleeves, we were told to have our knees, shoulders, and chests covered at all times. Even with those guidelines, there were still some issues of intense sexual harassment.

That being said, there were some less obvious differences, some good and some not. While travelling in the tourist city of La Fortuna, we were waiting for the bus back to San Jose, and a woman sat there breast-feeding her baby in public with no cover. It happened again in downtown San Jose in the Plaza del Oro. The women didn’t receive any odd looks as if it were a completely normal occurrence. This was starkly different from the US where a women breast-feeding in public, even with a cover, is bound to get judgmental looks. However, in a less positive vein, the first time I saw a woman with obvious signs of having been physically abused, I was sad to realize I was the only one who seemed disturbed by the bruises on her arms, cheeks, and eyes. The second time I saw this I noticed the same thing - I was the only one on the bus obviously disturbed by this. Or course, it could mean several different things. It could be that there was a social stigma against openly staring at a woman who was abused. It could be that it happened so often that other people, including other women, did not notice it anymore. It could also mean that, as these women were Nicaraguan immigrants (once derogatorily described to me as ‘the Mexicans of Costa Rica’ by a native Tico) that ‘their’ abuses weren’t worth caring about because they were already draining money from the system. In any case, this indifference was incredibly disturbing and left me feeling unsettled for days afterwards.

At the WomanStats project we have a saying: “once a coder, always a coder.” You’re trained to see the world and its anecdotes as data points that display an overarching attitude of a country. By experiencing Costa Rica through this lens, I realized how important this project is to humanity across the globe. There are many, many good things about Costa Rica – in fact, the good outweigh the bad. The people are happy, have a stable government, and a strong sense of religious community and social and ecological responsibility. I could not begin to count the number of times I saw men and boys stand up on the bus so a woman with a small child or an elderly person could have their seat; likewise not a week would go by without me witnessing a total stranger reaching out to help take care of or comfort a child that was not their own. However, there are some things that need fixing as well. The goal for the country and its citizens now is to keep the good while purging itself of the bad.

Deadlines...

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock...

Not going to lie, feeling a little stressed right now. I've got 3 deadlines approaching this week and I don't feel nearly prepared for them.

Tomorrow (Thursday) is the deadline for Washington Seminar and I'm still working on my letter of intent as well as editing my writing sample.

I have a prospectus due on Friday that I need to get an A on.

Also on Friday my very first WomanStats blog post is due for work. Plus my family's coming into town that weekend so I need to be caught up on my homework.

Pressure's on...

Arenal - also known as "do we really want to sell out for air conditioning and a pool?"

The answer to that question was a yes. An emphatic yes.

This last weekend, Stanley and I headed off to Arenal to have some rest and relaxation. For some reason, week 3 had been a little more stressful than the rest, and we were excited to have some chill down time. You know, look at a volcano, visit some hot springs, the usual stuff.

Because of the desire to have a relaxed weekend, combined with the fact that I wasn't feeling too hot the previous week, we managed to end up going, just the two of us, which turned out to be really nice for several reasons.

The first reason being we ended up having to take a day off work to go - something that's hard to do with a large group of people. Because of how the bus schedule works, there are no afternoon buses that go from San Jose to Arenal. The past few weekends it's always been: get off work at noon, catch a bus between 2-3. Unfortunately, the only buses left at 6:15, 8:40, and 11:45. So instead of leaving Friday afternoon we left early Saturday morning with the plan to come back Monday afternoon, meaning we wouldn't be rushed and would really be able to kick back and relax. We cleared it with our projects and Maximo and we were set.

The second reason this was really nice was this place:

Luigi's Hotel/Casino/Restaurant/Bar/Discotheque. Yeah, we stayed here.

Don't judge. As usual, we got off the bus and the first thing on our to-do list was find a hostel. We had scoped it out before and while there were cheaper options, upon viewing them - and realizing just how awful and sticky it was there - we decided we'd splurge a little. We had budgeted $14 a night if we wanted to stay at the Arenal Backpacker's Hostel which was our back-up place and had a pool. However, a lot of people we knew from Maximo were going to stay there, and while we love them we wanted to be able to just veg and exist as opposed to running around and doing activities with everyone. So instead, we stayed at the above mentioned place for $25 a night. Not per person, that's per room. So Stanley and I, instead of paying $14 a night for a bed in a giant dorm room, ended up paying $12.50 a night for our own private room that - and this is what sold is in the end - had air-conditioning!!! The pool was a fun perk, but we didn't end up using it all that often as it was dominated by loud, splashing 3-12 year olds a majority of the time. However, the A/C? Oh...we more than got our money's worth on that!!

So after finding this gem of a place (which was a fluke, really. We were looking at a cartoon map of the city and some random guy comes up and asks what we're looking for. We tell him we're looking at hostel's and he's like "this place is nice." SPIRIT GUIDES!!!) we do our typical thing: buy lunch supplies and figure out what we want to do on this trip. There were 3 things we really wanted to do in La Fortuna/Arenal. 1) see a waterfall, preferably the waterfall. 2) see the volcano. And 3) go to the hot springs that existed because of the volcano. So on our way to and from the grocery store (where I discovered and fed my ridiculous love of Tang) we discussed various options for tours, finally deciding on doing the lazy one - meaning the one where we hiked as little as possible. While we weren't able to see the big waterfall - which had lost some of it's allure when we realized we couldn't really swim there - and we weren't going to a hot spring resort, we were going to the river where the hot springs got their water from, walking on hanging bridges, seeing a smaller waterfall that you could swim at, and getting to see the volcano, all with a guided tour. Also, the guy we booked it with told us about a free local watering hole where the ticos went to go swimming and cliff-diving, plus it had a Tarzan swing.

With all this information in mind, we sat out by the pool reading for a while before finally deciding to head out for dinner. While I can't remember the name of the soda we went to, we had seen it in Lonely Planet and were very excited to go. When we got there we were a little stressed. As server's we can tell when the wait staff is a little over their head, and trust me, this chica was. She was serving probably 30 people - and she was the only one. However, she was super nice and was effective in that she took our orders and made our delicious fruit smoothies. So while we had something to sip on, we were still waiting a while for our food. We've learned to bring playing cards with us during these experiences, but in the hustle to leave the blissfully cool hotel room, we had forgotten. Instead, we were armed only with my camera, which we put to good use:

Yeah...this happened. Instead of sitting there awkwardly like most people would do, we took various pictures of ourselves, going back and forth, portraying different emotions or experiences. 10 points if you can name 1/2 of what these photos are.

Don't worry, we also built things with the ketchup and mayo packets. Like a little "log cabin." Finally though, the food arrived, and it was divine. Definitely one of the better choices we have made. Stanley had bleu chicken and I had nachos con pollo y carne. By the time we left we were happy fat kids once more.

The next day dawned bright and early, and after a breakfast of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, we decided to head out and find the local watering hole. It was about a 20 minute walk from our hotel, though it was a bit longer on the way there and we were trying to find it. However, once we saw it, we knew we had made a good choice.

The local watering hole as seen from above

It actually was that beautiful!

We got there around 10 am, and the only other people there were 2 American girls and 2 ticos who clearly came here a lot. They were climbing and diving. So Stanley and I had to join in.

Stanley posing as he lets go of the Tarzan swing

Jumping into the waterfall. Don't even worry about it, guess who forgot their actual swim suit and board shorts? That's right, THIS guy!! Luckily I had stuff for less intense swimming that made due...

This little dog was legit.

So, story time. You'd think with all the dogs running around like crazy, people would be less likely to let their dogs run amok for fear of them running off. Not so. Rather, I think they're so careless with them because if they do run off or get hurt they can readily find a replacement. Take this dog, for instance. Around 11:30 or so, these 4 teenage ticos showed up with this little puppy in tow. They quickly shed their over garments and ran - literally - across the rocks and dove in like pros, leaving this white little dog to sort of scitter around. I had already had to rescue a little dog who was stuck on a rock in the river and was not liking how this dog was poking around the very edges of the cliff with a tumultuous river 10 or 15 feet below.

At first, when one of the boys came back to grab the puppy, I felt relief. They were going to take him to the bottom of the river bank where he could splash in the puddles and enjoy himself. However, instead of carrying him down, the boy does just what this picture shows. He lowered the pup down to a lower cliff, wagged a stick in front of its face, and then threw the stick in the water. When the pup didn't immediately follow the stick, having lost it in the turning of the waterfall, the boy took the puppy and threw him in the river! Not going to lie, I freaked out a little bit. However, the dog resurfaced, stick in tow, and paddled his little way over to the bank where he continued to skitter around the rocks as nimbly as his human counterparts.

Necessary Chaco picture

Stanley mid-back-flip off one of the cliffs

We splashed around until 12:30 or so before we decided we needed to start heading back to our hotel to get ready for our tour. So, happy and soaking, we took our leave of the, now busy, swimming hole.

Along the way, we saw the most beautiful tree! It looked more like it belonged on some African nature documentary than in the middle of a Costa Rican field, but it was beautiful, nonetheless.

So, after a quick lunch on the floor of our deliciously chilly hotel room, we walked down to the hotel lobby to wait for our shuttle that would take us on the tour. After picking up a few more people, our 10 passenger van was filled to the brim and we took off towards the cloud shrouded volcano. At the entrance of the park though, our tour guide and driver, Luis, pulled off to the side and could be seen climbing a tree. We had no idea what was going on until he showed up with this little gem.

Obviously, I was not pleased. Cuz here's the thing, I'm okay with bugs as long as I know they won't touch me. So like on a documentary or something. However, when they're free ranging all up in my business I immediately start imagining how it could fly at my face and how I would freak out and probably kill it or it could kill me. Those are the only two options. Stanley, however, was a bit more brave...

That is, until Luis decided to make the bug move...

...then Stanley lost his cool a little bit. I was lucky enough to take a picture at just the right moment.

So after Luis put the bug back into the tree we headed up to the official observatory platform where we got our first looks of the volcano and the lake, which we promptly decided was where Hogwarts was actually located.

You can almost see the Hogwarts Express coming around that bend...

Necessary tourist photo in front of the shrouded volcano

After a little while there we hiked into the cloud forest - which is the same cloud forest we trekked into when we were at Monteverde, just the opposite side - heading towards a waterfall. Along the way, Luis pointed nature things out like the Citronella plant and sugar cane leaves. Overall, it was a super nice hike and we started talking with our fellow tourists, who were actually 3 couples and 2 other girls. All of us were excited for the falls, mostly because while there we would do impromptu facials with the volcanic and ash rich mud that all the expensive spas were using. And it was just as entertaining as it sounded.

Stanley and I did war-paint, naturally

The waterfall itself was fairly fun, though was a little underwhelming after our original watering hole. We were only there for a little while before hiking back around and playing on some of the hanging bridges. While there, Luis gave us a little history of the area, including how Arenal had been the most active volcano in all of Central America, and, up until 5 months ago, could be seen to be spitting lava almost every day since 1968. It was interesting and wonderful to hear it from a native of the area. After the mini-less though, we continued to hiked back to the observation deck to watch the sun set. It was a little sad as well as the clouds had moved in full force, but the pinkness that peeked out was truly beautiful.

After being fodder for mosquitoes we loaded into the van again to head for our last thing - the hot spring river. However, along the way, Luis had promised to stop and show us some frogs. His favorite frog was this little guy, affectionately known in Costa Rica as the marijuana frog because of its red eyes.

My new best friend

The frog jumped from Stanley's hand into his hair, making him the most photographed person on Facebook.

Stanley told me he'd get me one of these guys for Christmas. However, if he fails, it's up for grabs!

After replacing the frogs we made it to the hot river. It was amazing, the water was only slightly cooler than a hot tub, meaning you could spend more time in it without feeling queasy. Plus, the currents were nice and since it was outside there was a wonderful amount of steam coming off the top. It was a little crowded, but so nice and relaxing. We spent time just sitting in the depths, laying in the current - fighting against it as it tried to pull us downstream - and, my personal favorite, sitting just under the waterfall so it served as a massage. It was the perfect ending to our tour.

So, calm and relaxed, we loaded back in the van to be dropped off back at our hotel. By this point, the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were seeming like a really long time ago. We had already decided the day before where we'd go and Stanley had even decided what he was going to eat - pizza. And let me tell you, it was some good pizza, loaded down with greasy cheddar cheese. I had a cheeseburger and fries and we split, making it one of the most American meals that we'd had. Especially considering we went and bought some ice cream to share afterwards as well. So, there we sat, watching the only English channel on our TV, eating ice cream on one of our beds in the hotel room while the A.C. pumped happiness into our room, exhausted from a day of fun activity and good food. Needless to say, as soon as the ice cream was gone bed came soon after.

The next day was the day we were to head home. We had purchased tickets for the 2:45 bus ride home, but we needed to check out of our hotel by 12. We had thought we might go back to the watering hole that morning before leaving, but our sore bodies told us the amount of body-flopping had taken its toll and decided to just chill at the hotel. It started raining around 9:30, so we just read and laid around before packing everything up.

Right after check out we looked at our bus tickets and it turned out we had somehow - most likely the person purchasing the tickets had heard us incorrectly - bought tickets for the 12:45 bus instead, which suited us fine! After a brief stop at the grocery store to buy some more Tang and a roll from a little panderia, we were getting on the bus. At that moment, Arenal decided to expose itself more than it had the entire trip. Luckily, cameras were readily available and we managed to snap one more picture before the bus pulled away...

Until next weekend!

Toodles!

-Jillian

Manuel Antonio - or "the monkey ate our potato chips!!"

Alright, I'm falling a little behind. But do not worry, if all goes according to plan I should be almost completely caught up before this next weekends adventure :)

So, TWO weekends ago we went to a little beach town called Quepos. Quepos's claim to fame is that it is the nearest town and therefore the entryway to the Manuel Antonio nature reserve. Manuel Antonio is the smallest of all the national parks in Costa Rica, and is located on the pacific coastline. In fact, a large part of Manuel Antonio is actually just the beach. We figured this weekend would be the perfect one to go, as it was Jackie's last weekend to travel with us, plus we felt we deserved it after two weeks of volunteer work and tramping through the cloud forest of Monteverde. We wanted a nice, relaxing weekend.

Which it was. To an extent.

In true Jillian/Stanley/Jackie traveling fashion we did not book a hostel before our arrival, deciding instead to find one once we got there. However, one thing we did not bank on was the intense heat and humidity. We arrived at 5 pm, just around sunset, and it was like walking around with a wet blanket thrown over you. Within minutes we were all covered in sweat as we tramped up the mountains and around the roads, hearing the sound of creatures that sounded like they belonged on the television show "Lost," and hoping to find a hostel. Once again we deferred to our handy "Lonely Planet" travel book. While we checked out the places they suggested, we eventually saw the wisdom at staying at a place with a pool - something we had originally scoffed at. "Why would you need a pool?!" we asked, "you're right by the ocean!"

Well, as darkness descended upon us around 6 pm (as it does in all of Costa Rica, no matter the season or place) we realized why. The beach was not safe in the dark, but nor was it smart to have 3 sweaty, sticky American twenty-somethings sitting around a hostel that doubled as a sauna. After about an hour of trudging, we finally settled back at where we started (don't worry, we shopped around) at the Manuel Antonio Backpacker's Hostel. It was only $12 a night and included breakfast and had a pool, which we promptly decided to use as soon as all the logistics and settling in were squared away.

The sign out front

View from the front...the bus stop was right in front of it

This was the out door communal kitchen and social area where we made our pancakes in the morning

You needed an awesome wristband to stay there. Though upon later reflection we decided they also served to provide identification if, I dunno, your body washed up on shore or something.

By this time it was around 7 or so, so we figured we'd drop off our backpacks and clothes and head on down to the supermarket to buy our lunch stuff. However, right as we're about to leave the hostel, there's a power outage, and all the power in the entire strip is gone. I've decided I blame Stanley for this. He was, after all, trying to turn the fan higher when the power went out. It is the only logical explanation that it blew the power for the entire town :)

So we haltingly make our way down to the supermarket - made all the creepier by the Lost-esque noises - and thankfully the power comes back on pretty quickly. After loading up on supplies for our typical peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, we head back to the hotel, change into swim gear, and then go out for dinner. We go to this little soda run by a guy called Joseph, and he, literally, uses the freshest ingredients. Meaning we ordered and then his little sous chef ran to the super market to buy some of the ingredients he needed. So while the food took a while, it was AMAZING. I ordered a burrito and it was honestly the best burrito I've ever had. And Stanley's burger was probably the best I've had while in Costa Rica, just a step or two below 5 Guys.

However, after this we decided to ignore the half hour rule and just headed down to the pool, which we had to ourselves. After splashing around for about an hour we called it a night, as the next day was going to be the day we ventured into the nature reserve itself.

After an early morning of pancakes and souvenir browsing, we made it to the reserve. It was a little steep to get in, $10, but we had heard the beaches there were brilliant and worth the price. However, it wasn't just the beaches that made it worth it. We were in a genuine rain forest and saw some beautiful things while we were there!

Random shack with a giant bamboo plant behind it

There was also a ton of wildlife! During our walk we saw a bunch of animals and were even able to catch some pictures of a few of them.

Capuchin Monkey, just chilling in the tree. There were a whole bunch of them just swinging around!

The exposure on this is bad, but that lump on the left side of the V is a 3-toed sloth! He moved faster than Planet Earth had led me to believe...

These are my favorite: Squirrel Monkey's!!! They're adorable and they were EVERYWHERE. I thought I'd steal one to take home as a present for Valin, but thought better of it...

There were lizards, everywhere, of every size, shape, and color. This is one that we took a picture of when they were still rare and exciting enough to warrant taking a picture.

Yup, that's a crocodile eating a bird. We were right there, don't even worry about it.

We played on the beach a little bit, not actually getting in the water, but decided we wanted to explore other parts of the reserve, so we hiked up and around. Of course, it hadn't been our plan to hike, but as discovery and adventure was beckoning, we answered its call. Once again, we were covered in sweat within minutes of setting out, but finally ended up on a slightly more secluded beach, just broken off from the main beach by a large rock out cropping. Here we swam for a bit, had lunch, and made a new reptilian friend.

Okay, it might be hard to see him, but this is an iguana that decided he really liked us, or at least our potato chips. Stanley received the bright idea of having us feed him and since we had forbidden him from actually swinging over a cliff with a vine or going down to get a closer shot of the crocodile, we figured we'd give him this one. However, after a few minutes of trying to get the iguana to come close enough to take the potato chip from his hand (as you can tell from the picture, he was really close to us...probably around only 3 to 4 feet away), he decided to drop the chip - and just in time. The iguana bypassed the chip entirely and decided what he really wanted for lunch were some Stanley fingers. Luckily we all escaped unscathed, and just in time too, as the tide was coming in, necessitating us finding a new place to play.

We hiked to another beach on the island and but saw some beautiful things along the way...

View from one of the overlooks on our hike

The isthmus between the two beaches

The beach was even smaller than the one we'd been on before, with some intense rocks on the right side or it. Once again, Stanley and I decided to go off and explore, meaning swimming through the rising tide to climb in the rocks and see how far we get. One thing we didn't count on were the crabs swinging and climbing over the rocks, almost like monkeys in trees. There were so many it looked as though the rocks were moving. I went first, as I was wearing my Chaco's to protect my feet, and Stanley followed behind. While we didn't make it as far as we wanted, we go pretty far before we realized the tide really was coming in, necessitating our fast return to shore. After a few close calls, we were reunited with Jackie, who promptly told us that while we were gone a monkey had come out from the trees, rummaged through our bag, and stolen our potato chips! Sure enough, we checked and the bag was gone!

Jackie on the smaller beach we found

However, upon further discussion and looking at a picture Jackie managed to snap of the culprit, we realized it wasn't a monkey at all, but rather a Coati! From what I heard they're not the easiest animal to spot, but this relative of the raccoon had decided our potato chips were enticing enough to make an appearance.

After this adventure, we decided it was time to head back into the town and possibly check out the local, public beach. Here we snapped a few more pictures and watch the sunset while deciding - using our handy, dandy, Lonely Planet book - where to eat.

The typical and very necessary "foot" picture

Footprints in the sand...

The beach slowly began emptying...

Sunset hidden behind the clouds

Once darkness hit, we found our way to the Hotel Vella, where we had one of our more expensive meals (about $12 a pop), but considering it was fish and steak, it was most definitely worth it. Plus, the place was beautiful and once the rain started pounding we were just glad to be inside!

After taking a cab home, we stopped and got some ice cream for dessert, upon which we realized somehow Jackie had lost her bikini top. Yeah, we don't know either. But we were excited for the next day when Stanley and I would head to church and then spend our last few hours at the beach.

After another breakfast of pancakes, Stanley and I headed to where we were told the local branch would be meeting. We got there fine. The branch was small, 25 members at most, and the meeting was all in Spanish, but it was great just to be there and sing the (somewhat) familiar songs and attend sacrament meeting again.

So while getting there hadn't been too difficult, getting back to our hostel to check out and meet up with Jackie proved more problematic. Where the bus dropped us off was not the bus stop for our hostel, but rather the pick-up spot for another bus. So, once again, we had many kind strangers/spirit guides help us find the bus back to our hostel so we were able to pack up and check out in time so we could head down to the beach for a few hours before having to catch our bus.

This time, instead of paying to get into Manuel Antonio, we just chose to play around on the public beach. After renting some chairs and an umbrella, we were ready to go!

Pre-swim Stanley and Jackie

View from our beach chairs

We split our time between drying out and swimming amongst the crashing, salty waves, but eventually time passed too quickly and we found ourselves, 3 hours after arriving, having to head back up to our hostel so we could shower, eat and catch the bus back to San Jose and real life.

Post-swim picture. Look how relaxed and happy we all are!

The strip by the public beach

Safety first!

After sneaking back into our hostel to shower (we thought we'd do a service to the rest of the humans and not smell like beach and dead animal on the bus ride home) we grabbed one more bite to eat in paradise before we had to head back to loud, hectic San Jose. We decided that to repay the hostel for letting us illegally bum their showers we would eat at their restaurant. The food was mediocre, but we had some fun at least.

I feel like this is a good summation of our friendship...

But after that, it was time to board the bus for the 3 hour ride back into the city. So it was with one last fleeting look at the beauty around us that we wished Manuel Antonio good-bye and loaded the bus, backpacks in tow...

View from our hostel

Until next post, when I talk about last weekends trip to Arenal!

Toodles!

-Jillian