Estoy hablando espanol!

Slowy, with much repetition my Spanish is improving.

Living at Hidden Canopy with 6 Spanish speaking people has helped me enormously. However, some words still sound so similar. For example, I asked for scrambled keys the other day (llevos o llaves.) Should have seen the look and heard the laughs. Since then, I´ve been the entertainment for the house. Struggling to form sentences that make absolutely no sense at all. And for that reason, I started Spanish lessons with Mariallos. Today was day two! I speak as choppy as a second grader learning to read.

What else....
Saturday night went to Bar Amigos with Chrisitan, Will y Luis (They all live here at Hidden Canopy.) Talk about walking into the the local bar! Literally sat down and was asked to dance by some guy, can´t remember his name. He tried to teach me how to merengue. Wondering what he thought of me as all I did was laugh and say ´no entiendo.´

In case you were wondering, they can still smoke in bars here. It felt like we were partying in the clouds! When in Rome...keep dancing! Also tried out dancing with Christian, his feet were moving so fast it was just a blur looking down. He kept saying ¨just watch my feet¨ and trust me I tried, it just wasn´t working. At that moment I knew it was a must that I take both Spanish speaking and dancing lessons if I´m going to survive another night out!

Enjoying every second here. The second day living at Hidden Canopy I was sent zip-lining at Extremo. 600 yards strapped in like Superman offers quite the adrenaline rush and incredible views of the Monteverde area. Highly recommend doing this anywhere. Zip-lining, repelling and the infamous tarzan swing where you step off a ledge hoping-praying that the tree branch that holds the rope doesn´t decide to break.

Went horseback riding yesterday with mi amiga Liset. Her friend gives tours and had free time so I didn´t refuse the offer. Awesome awesome awesome views of the mountains, Gulf of Nicoya y local farms. Ate guayaba (a local fruit) along the way. Although I couldn´t respond to anything they were talking about, it was great! Wondering if they think I´m a mute. If they only knew.

Appreciating all that Costa Rica offers. To keep it from boring you, I´ll just make a list of a few things that are new to me:
-Daily visits from Tucans
-Walking stick insects
-Every color humming bird
-Butterflies that look like an owls face
-Waterfall showers
-Being as tall as most men
-Pinto (rice and beans) for every meal....and thats honest
-I drink more water in a day compared to everyone here combined....they like cafe´
-Going to university here is cheap in comparison to the states. $1000-semester in a private school.
-Sleeping in a bunk again!
-Te´time every day at 4 with cookies....a new weakness!
-Sharing a living space with 2 guys! So funny!
-The flowers. (deep breath) they´re so beautiful
-The expression ¨que rico

Pictures coming soon. Posted some on Facebook already if interested.

Pura Vida.