La Primera Semana En Orosi

Well so far we have completed our first week of spanish school at the Montaña Linda Escuela de Lenguajes in Orosi (outside Cartago). We spend 3 hours a day with our own private tudor and then we have homework each night; both of us have been impressed with the teachers. We are staying at the hostel and meeting lots of interesting people. It rains pretty much every afternoon (sometimes it holds off until evening) and into the night. We are awoken each morning my an incessant rooster that apparently thinks we should be up too. Orosi has one main street, the town is really small. Every town in Costa Rica centers around the soccer field and Orosi is no exception! Pretty much no tourists come here, so there are few restaurants. We cook in the hostel some and eat out some; we have many ´friends´who know us in town now and we´re learning how many things you can cook in a pot on the stove (our only device available). And it goes without saying that the best thing about Costa Rica just might be the freshness of the coffee! Starbucks just can´t compare!

One day last week we took a hike to a beautiful set of waterfalls that are actually on a man´s private property. For a (very) small fee, he lets you hike up to them...it was gorgeous! Whats unbelievable about Costa Rica is that places, like this area of falls, would be national parks in the U.S., but here there are so many, its just some mans property :) This particular man is named Nano and he´s quite an interesting character. He lives in a shack basically and has a small coffee farm. He showed us all of his future plans for his house, tried to sell us some 4 week old kittens, and then took us to an overlook of Orosi. Ticos truly are the nicest people we´ve ever met! Another day we went with some other students from the school to some botanical gardens outside Paraiso...learning the bus system (or lack there of) has been interesting too.

The big story of last week was the opening match in the World Cup! Costa Rica vs. Germany (the home country for you non-soccer fans)...Costa Rica was insane! The whole country had off work and school! The bank had a sign on it that said closed until 12:30! We met some friends at the only local bar with TVs and enjoyed the experience of a country truly obsessed with the sport. Whenever the Ticos would score, the bar would erupt with commotion and dancing and the bartender would put the national anthem on the stereo full blast! Oe oe oe oe Tiiiicccoos Tiiicccooos!! It was so much fun...despite the loss.