Semana Santa...

This past week I went to Nicoya, a city in Guanacaste for Semana Santa...the hottest city ever! I don't know how to describe how hot it was. But here are a few examples: It was 41 degrees C, which is close to (if not more) than 100 degrees F. When we were in the city, no matter what we were doing, we were dripping sweat. We were so worn out from the heat that we fell asleep around 9/9:30 every night, then we woke up between 6 and 7 because we were so hot. We took a couple showers everyday and the water was ice cold, yet it never felt cold and I never had goosebumps. My shampoo and conditioner were warm when I washed my hair, it was weird. Anyway that covers the weather.

We left Saturday afternoon at 3. We didn't even have tickets until an hour before because all the buses were sold out. So our friend, Daniel, bought he and I tickets where we had to stand the entire drive (about 5 hours or so) and he gave Amber his ticket. There ended up being one empty seat so the bus driver told me to sit in it, then some boy gave Daniel a camping chair to sit in in the aisle. So it wasn't so bad.

Sunday we went to the beach. We went off the highway and drove through the woods then hiked down the woods a little further and came out at this beautiful beach. We spent several hours there with Daniel and his friends, although we didn't do much because the ocean was too dangerous so we mostly sat around talking and listening to music. Amber got burned.

Monday we slept in a little (close to 8!) then got up, got ready, watched some TV and then went to Maria del Mar's house where we made empanadas, probably a hundred or so, there were so many. We made them with pineapple, dule de leche, and a fruit that tasted alot like pumpkin. They were really good. Amber and I are gonna try and make them sometime soon.

Tuesday we went to Tamarindo, a beach that apparently is famous to people in the US. There were tons of Americans and Europeans there. This beach was also very beautiful, a ton of people surfing. There was a river that flowed into the ocean so that's where we went swimming because it was much more calm. Remember how Amber was burned on Sunday? Well she bought SPF 70 to put on her burn that day so that it wouldn't get any worse. Well, the SPF in her words, 'totally works' however after she applied it to her burned shoulders and chest she crossed her arms while she was waiting for us to finish up. Halfway through the day we started noticing that she was getting a really weird tan line, like squiggly lines down each arm. So after closer inspection we realized she had hand prints from the sunscreen. It was very funny because her shoulders were burned from Sunday and midway down her arm was burned from Tuesday and then there was a gap in between that didn't get any sun at all.

Wednesday we didn't do anything at all because all of us were burned so badly. I even had little blisters on my shoulders and one side of my neck, it hurt so much. Everyone was in bed except for Amber and I we were in the kitchen. While we were talking a roach ran across the kitchen floor. I ran out of the kitchen yelping and she ran to the corner of the kitchen screaming a little herself. She got the spray and killed it, but in the process two more ran out towards her. It was awful to watch, but I was so glad it wasn't me!

Thursday and Friday we went to Daniel's grandmothers house. We ate ALOT of food. Every hour or so someone would come out with a plate of food for us, or ask us if we were hungry for something, but it was delicious. We played with his little cousins- soccer, volleyball, and jump rope. I have to say jumping rope was my favorite, we did it like in elementary school where two people spun the rope and you have to run in and jump while they sang a song. In this song you had to touch the ground twice, do a 90 degree turn and then a full spin. It was so fun. We also did a lot of cartwheels and stuff with the other neighborhood kids. Friday there was a procession sort of thing for Good Friday. Everyone took tables or chairs out to the end of their driveway and covered them with tablecloths and then put big pictures of Jesus and lots of flowers to decorate it. Then the priest came and they all said a prayer and then recited the lord's prayer then walked together to the next house and did the same thing until everyone was together and then they ended up at the church.

I woke up at 1 in the morning because I felt something run across my chest and down my arm, I was definitely in panic mode. It was awful. So since I was wide awake I decided to go to the restroom. When I got there I turned on the light and a huge roach came running towards me, I ran down the hall and saw it was coming the same way. I decided I didn't need to go to the bathroom anymore so I ran back to turn off the light (the roach was under the table). Well when I got there, there were two more roaches, now I'm to the point of tears and so scared that I can't hold it anymore so I found the bug killer-spray and went back towards the bathroom. I killed one and then sprayed the second who was now running up the door frame, it fell off and was going crazy on the floor so I ran away then went back to see it, they stopped moving so I went real quick then ran to my room and had a VERY restless night...

Saturday we got up at 6 and left at 8, this time we both had seats, 50 and 51- however Amber was at one window and I was one row behind her on the other side of the bus. I was so fortunate to sit next to a very large woman with a very large bag. She was wearing a floral skirt and a white, see-through, lace top. She also hadn't shaved her legs for about a year but had them up in front of us the whole time. She was taking up one third of my seat and her shoulder and arm were overlapping me so I was just squished into the corner, and her lace shirt was rubbing my arm raw. But I survived!

When we got home Amber and I made beans. They weren't precooked so they took about 4 hours to cook all the way through. Then we made some rice and platanos. It was a great dinner. After that we made some fresh orange juice, only 16 oz worth though because it was such a long process, so we can have that tomorrow with breakfast.

But that's what's been going on, every thing's great! And if you're still reading this, sorry I didn't update till now, but Daniel's house didn't have a computer and we never went to the Internet Cafe. But I hope everyone has a Happy Easter!

PS- I responded to some of the comments on the first blog under the comment section there, I think that's the best way for me to respond to them...any other suggestions?