Cambiamos!

It was an exciting Sunday here at The Mono Azul.  Chad and I returned to our villa after a nice morning at the beach and found out that we would be able to move into a new villa.  Our current villa was nice, no infestations or anything...it was just a little bit on the small side.  It was like a fancy dorm room or a small studio apartment. 

Everyday, on the path to our pool, we walk by an open villa with a large living area with a couch, coffee table, full sized refrigerator and a separate bedroom.  It dawned on us that the owners, being the nice people they are, may not have a problem with us moving into the bigger, nicer villa at no charge being we are staying with them for so long and it is the low tourist season right now.

We are all moved in now and we are thoroughly enjoying the ample amount of space that we are not used to.  In fact, right now, I cannot even see Chad.  The only time we could both be in our last villa without seeing each other was when one of us was showing or going to the bathroom!  The artwork and lighting in this room are a lot more pleasing as well.

“Change” will continue to be the theme of the week as we will be starting afternoon classes today.   For the past three weeks, we have had class from 8am-12pm.  Today we will have class from 1:00pm- 5:00pm.  I think I am excited about this; morning and early afternoon are the nicest time of the day here, so I should have plenty of time to bask in the sun at the beach and pool before class!

Más Empenadas Por Favor!

Last week, Chad and I had the pleasure of attending another cooking class at our school.  This time we learned how to make a traditional Costa Rican dish.  I was very excited to find out that we would be making empenadas which are probably one of the most unhealthy and indulgent things we eat here!

Everyday after class, Jose, the empanada man, is in the common area of our school selling his fabulous, freshly made, crispy and delicious empenadas.  He sells them out of Coleman coolers where they somehow manage to stay piping hot.  He sells empenadas con carne as well as empenadas vegetariano (filled with yuca and cheese)!! They cost 1000 colones (about $2) and are well worth every penny. 

It turns out that they are actually quite easy to make…

First, you knead the dough

Then, you roll the dough into little balls, flatten it, and drop your ingredients into the middle

Then, you fold the dough over and make a little pocket and put it in the piping hot oil

Then you have empenadas!

Jose :)

We made two kinds, one for carnivores which included meat and cheese and another for the veggies which included beans and cheese. Luckily, I made it in time to watch the making of the dough.  Velma, our iron chef, was about to pour a powdery substance from a can labeled “pollo” into all of the dough…

We also made a traditional Costa Rican beverage called agua dulce. It is made from tapa de dulce. Sugar cane juice is boiled down in traditional trapiches and put to solidify in molds in the form of conical sections with the top cut off called tapas, which can literally be translated into Lids. Then some of this tapa is scraped off and dissolved into boiling water or milk to make the sweet agua dulce.  It is basically just sugar water…I think I will stick to coffee and tea :)

White water rafting was a blast!  Everything was amazing from our guides, to the van ride out to the river, to the food, to the rafting itself.  It was scarier than I thought it would be.  I was thrown out of the raft within the first 30 seconds of the trip…some sort of evil initiation!  We stopped at a beautiful waterfall and snacked on fresh fruit.  I got to stand under the waterfall as the sun beamed down on me through the foliage and water vapor.  A truly incredible experience, it was!

On the ride to Rio Sevegre, our guide made these for us out of grass.  I thought they were pretty cool, although I am easily amused! 

I also had my first surfing lesson this week.  My friend, Janina, and I were picked up at our school by a man named Carlos (in his beat up pickup with 2 seats and 1 working door) and taken to Playa Espadilla.  If went well, no shark attacks or awful falls J I got up quite a few times and managed to stay up 4 or 5 of those times! The water was really rough and choppy, so I am pretty proud of myself.  And I can honestly say that the rides to and from the beach were MUCH scarier than the surfing itself!

Playa Espadilla

Side note... Our Costa Rica cat, Isla, has turned into our indoor Costa Rica cat!  She loves our bed :)

Mis Amigos

It is crazy to think about all of the people you cross paths with in your life.  In the little bit of time we have been in Costa Rica, I feel I have had a chance to get to know several lovely and interesting people.  Each one of these relationships, however short-lived, has taught me a little something.  Sometimes it is something about myself, sometimes it is about some foreign part of the world and sometime about relationships in general. 

I think people need to take more time to talk and enjoy one another without the distractions that come with the fast paced lives that most of us lead.  Chad and I spent all afternoon with a few new friends chatting in a small café in Quepos.  Warm rain poured down all around us as we discussed our pasts, presents and futures.  It was wonderful J

Every Friday, we say goodbye to a few students and every Monday we welcome a few.  This makes Monday mornings exciting for existing students; we stand by and wait for the newbie’s to come through the door wondering what country they are from and if they are friendly or the loner type.  I believe there are three newbie’s coming on Monday, hopefully they are the friendly type!

Tomorrow, we are going white water rafting on the Sevegre River.  I am really excited about this as it is something I have never done before.  I think that water levels are pretty high which means it could be a pretty exciting ride!  I will let you know how it goes.

Time Flies

It is hard to believe it has already been a year since Chad and I recited our vows in front of all our friends and family.  August 14, 2010, was one of the best days of my life.  I am usually not a mushy, gushy romantic, but for some reason yesterday (August 14, 2011) was an emotional day for me.  Just remembering all of the events of the day… getting my hair done and playing dress up with my favorite ladies, the “first look”, the vows, the speeches, dancing ALL NIGHT LONG!!!  These are all things that I will never forget.  Thanks again to all of my friends and family that helped make my wedding the best ever!  I mean, who else can say that 6 people got tattoos at their wedding reception, 2 of which read: Jamie and Chad 8.14.10 J

My awesome uncle Gator :) My aunt/godmother, Donna, also got this tattoo (she is also awesome :)

I don’t think Chad and I would have guessed we would be spending our one year anniversary in Costa Rica.  We planned a full day of activities to celebrate.  We started our day with a guided tour of Manuel Antonio National Park.  We were picked up at our hotel around 8 in the morning and were soon walking through the jungle with 4 other people from Israel and our guide.  The park is incredibly beautiful and packed with wildlife.  We were told by several people that you MUST tour the park with a guide if you want to get the full experience.  So, we took this advice and were unpleasantly surprised by the guided tour.  The pace was sooo slow and the tour was actually a little boring.   When the tour was complete, Chad and I went off on our own and had a real adventure.  Here is just a little bit of what we saw:

Howler Monkey

Sneaky Raccoons!  We saw one almost get away with a ladies purse!

HUGE Iguana! 

The tree stump of love ;)

Chad with our guide.  He really liked to talk about trees...can you tell how excited Chad looks

This is a three toed sloth.  Chad and I were hiking by ourselves and I looked to my right and saw this guy.    It is rare to see these so up-close.  

After the park, we went back to our villa to shower and get ready to go out.  Chip, the owner of the hotel we are living in, told us to stop by for some complimentary anniversary cocktails!  So, we started the night with some Blue Monkey Blasts at the hotel restaurant.  After that we took the bus to a restaurant we have wanted to try called El Avion.  The restaurant is a little bit of a tacky tourist trap, but they have a great sunset view and claimed to have happy hour (which they did not!) El Avion is built in and around a Fairchild C-123 cargo plane.  The plane was part of one of the biggest scandals in the mid 1980's involving Nicaraguan, counter-revolutionary guerilla fighters. Our plan was to just get an appetizer, but it turned out that El Avion does not cater AT ALL to vegetarians.  So, we decided that dessert before dinner was necessary.  We split some tasty coffee ice cream and played in the cockpit before heading back to our villa!

Chad and I really enjoy cooking together, so we decided to eat dinner at home.  We made pasta, salad and garlic bread.  It was a delicious meal and it was nice to switch it up a little bit with some Italian cuisine.

It was a wonderful, exhausting anniversary!

Let’s cook!

My brain hurts…I have not had to use it this much in quite some time.  After only four days (15 hours) of Spanish classes, I have acquired a base knowledge of the language.  COSI (Costa Rica Spanish Institute) is tucked away in the hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  You can see the ocean and all kinds of wildlife from the open-air classrooms.  My teacher, Marian, is really patient with me and very helpful and encouraging. 

Last night we had a cook-off with our fellow students and our teachers.  We were instructed to prepare a meal or a dish that represented our country or origin.  The school provided all of the food and cooking supplies needed…gotta love free meals J There were three groups, the Americans, the Europeans and the Costa Ricans.  There were in total about 15 people in the COSI kitchen with one sink, one stove and limited space (and no AC).  Things got a little nuts, but we had a really great time.  The Americans made hamburgers, salad and milkshakes.  I am proud to say that I managed to scrounge up all of the ingredients needed to make a batch of delicious black bean burgers for the three vegetarians in the group!  The Europeans made some sort of traditional potato dish, I cannot remember the name.  They also made a delicious French chocolate dessert along with chocolate fondue with fruit. The Costa Ricans made rice, pico de gallo with fresh tortilla chips, beans and some sort of pork dish. 

Chad getting messy with hamburger

chopping and dicing :)

My fabulous black bean burgers...not to brag or anything

Once all of the cooking was done we provided explanations of what we made (in Espanol of course!).  Then we all dug in and polished off every last ounce of food.  I have not been so full since I was in the USA!  

Team Europe's chocolate dessert

The mystery potato dish ...anyone know what this is called?!

Chad's teacher, Julia, explaining the Costa Rican dishes

Our school has bats that live on the walls…kind of creepy.  Usually they are sleeping during the day while we are in class.  Last night they were flying around keeping us company as we cooked.  I think I am getting used to sharing my environment with animals and bugs because the bats really did not faze me!

sleeping bats!!!

Time for a little homework and then off to happy hour with some friends at Salsipuedes, which overlooks the ocean and is said to be one of the best places to watch the sunset!

The first few days

It has been a crazy couple of days filled with new places and experiences.  It is a little scary to remove yourself from a comfortable and familiar routine/environment and place yourself into foreign and unknown territory.  Thank goodness I have Chad to travel with; there are a lot of people who travel by themselves which I could never do. We have covered a lot of ground over the first few days….

We arrived in San Jose on Tuesday evening and spent one night there.  We really did not get to see much of the city aside from our hotel, the view from the roof of our hotel and the local Subway Sandwich shop (which serves rice and beans!)



San Jose from our hotel rooftop





San Jose again, notice the KFC ad?!





San Jose

 We left San Jose in the morning and climbed aboard a bus that took us on a three hour ride to our villa in Quepos.  The ride was not too bad and we got to see crocodiles! Once we arrived we settled into cozy new home.  It is small but efficient J We made it to the market the next morning to stock up on all of the essentials…fruit, veggies, bread, etc.  When we got home we cooked our first meal in our little kitchen! 

The wildlife here is incredible.  We have not even been inside the park yet and have already seen tons of monkeys and reptiles.  On Friday afternoon, we learned that monkeys move through an area in large packs.   Our villa and yard/pool area were suddenly covered by around 100 little monkeys jumping from tree to tree eating little pieces of fruit.  We could their pitter patter on the tin roofs of the villas.   



baby-on-board :)





there are huge iguanas all over, this one is small compared to some we have seen

 There are also a lot of cats that run around the grounds of the area where we are staying.  There is one in particular that has taken a liking to us, we named her Isla.  She wants so badly to hang out inside our villa.  For now we just play with her outside and when we go in she stands guard outside.  She is really helping me with my Taela withdrawals J



Chad and Isla outside of our villa



On Friday, we had a chance to meet some of the other students at COSI.  Turns out Spanish immersion programs attract females… Chad seems to be one of the only men attending at this time.  So, all you single men, if you are getting board with online dating, try Spanish immersion!  We got to venture out and experience Quepos night life with some of the ladies on Friday.  Good live music, refreshing but expensive cocktails and good company.