Hello friends!
you would all love to drive here because there are no rules, there are no speed limits and there are no seat belts. Also cars have right of way in every situation, even at a red light.
The buses are falling apart but they are fantastic because you can wave one down no matter where you are and they only cost 110-120 colones to ride, (about 37 cents). The bus driver plays love ballads on the radio in the morning and he lets people on to sell their wares and pitch their speech to listless morning commuters. (there are no beggers here, everyone is selling something- from the little boy that tugs on your shirt holding a tiny paper picture of a saint to the man on the bus selling minature globes).
I have met a miriad of people- a rich couple from Honduras who ate lunch with us at the old coffee plantation that has been renevated into a resteraunt, a middle aged shy man from Spain that learned english from watching Friends..(he bought the box set). Also in my spanish class there is a woman from Russia and another from Switzerland...and yesterday's white water rafting was shared with people from England, Poland, and many Central American countries. It is fascinating to meet these people, I want to debunk their American sterotypes but its difficult, particularily since yesterday in the van there were four disgusting piggish men from New Jersey that had been drinking until they got on the bus for the excursion, they had lost 1100.00 dollars (yes American) gambling all night. When a guide told us the story of the virgin of Cartego, one man yelled "that's a great story- but show me a virgin in this country"..it was incredibly emberassing.
The jungle is beautiful, more then I could ever expect, yesterday we spotted toucans, and anteaters from the raft, and we passed through the Indian preservation where little boys float down the rapids on planks of wood to visit their neighbors. Everything is lush and green and I have been eating all the local fruits and vegetables; jucca, plaintains, papaya, pineapple, bananas, etc.
I will try to update again before I leave Tres Rios...
p.s. my spanish sucks! And I have only found a few people outside the school that speak english..mostly younger people...they teach the children english in school now as the tourist trade is replacing the coffee trade rapidly.
you would all love to drive here because there are no rules, there are no speed limits and there are no seat belts. Also cars have right of way in every situation, even at a red light.
The buses are falling apart but they are fantastic because you can wave one down no matter where you are and they only cost 110-120 colones to ride, (about 37 cents). The bus driver plays love ballads on the radio in the morning and he lets people on to sell their wares and pitch their speech to listless morning commuters. (there are no beggers here, everyone is selling something- from the little boy that tugs on your shirt holding a tiny paper picture of a saint to the man on the bus selling minature globes).
I have met a miriad of people- a rich couple from Honduras who ate lunch with us at the old coffee plantation that has been renevated into a resteraunt, a middle aged shy man from Spain that learned english from watching Friends..(he bought the box set). Also in my spanish class there is a woman from Russia and another from Switzerland...and yesterday's white water rafting was shared with people from England, Poland, and many Central American countries. It is fascinating to meet these people, I want to debunk their American sterotypes but its difficult, particularily since yesterday in the van there were four disgusting piggish men from New Jersey that had been drinking until they got on the bus for the excursion, they had lost 1100.00 dollars (yes American) gambling all night. When a guide told us the story of the virgin of Cartego, one man yelled "that's a great story- but show me a virgin in this country"..it was incredibly emberassing.
The jungle is beautiful, more then I could ever expect, yesterday we spotted toucans, and anteaters from the raft, and we passed through the Indian preservation where little boys float down the rapids on planks of wood to visit their neighbors. Everything is lush and green and I have been eating all the local fruits and vegetables; jucca, plaintains, papaya, pineapple, bananas, etc.
I will try to update again before I leave Tres Rios...
p.s. my spanish sucks! And I have only found a few people outside the school that speak english..mostly younger people...they teach the children english in school now as the tourist trade is replacing the coffee trade rapidly.
I hope you're having an awesome time, definately sounds like you are. It really amazes me, the cultures out there, that i might never get to experience. Some things are so weird to think about.