Rivaaahs

Dia 192, el Martes 22 de Enero 2013 10:56

I-I follow, I follow rivers baby

On Saturday I called a friend to go to the river and she called other friends and I called more friends so by just calling around a bit I made a good day. We went to the same spot as always, it is called: ‘venegas’. There’s a nice pond to swim and the main attraction: the rope. The rope is used to swing like Tarzan and drop yourself from 3-5 meters into the river; pretty damn awesome. First we always make a fire to cook some meat and tortillas the get our stomachs filled, and of course: Coca Cola. Being there at that river always makes me feel like a ‘normal’ Costa Rican teen, though the majority of the people still see me as a tourist, blond hair blue eyes and being over 1,90 doesn’t really help with that in Costa Rica.

It also was the second time I saw tourists in Orotina, while we were swinging from the rope 2 Canadian man came down with a tour guide. They were searching for some rare bird we actually just saw 10 minutes before they came. We walked with them down the river for a bit and found the bird again, I forgot the name but it was pretty beautiful. These are the things I appreciate so much about Costa Rica, going to a national park is a very special experience, but that is what every tourist can see, seeing a rare bird, or monkeys just around your own town, that is what makes it so special.

On Sunday I went to another river: ‘Rio Turrubares’. We went there with car with a lot of uncles and aunts. This river was very un deep and it was not in a forest, it streamed through a big field with pebbles. The only good thing about this river was the fact that it had a pretty strong current, but because there was just 20 centimeters of water it still was kind of a boring river. But the barbeque we made there with the family was very nice, and the river was nice to cool down since the temperature was killing. It’s a pity that there are no thermometers around my house, I have no idea what the temperature really is. Another interesting fact: Ticos don’t have clocks in their houses. We just don’t what time it is, xcept for random guesses. This can sometimes lead to irritations, for example: I am sleeping and my hostmom says it is 9:30 so time to get up, I get up shower and everything and it turns out to be 7. I don’t care about these little things anymore but I realized that I made problems about this in my old hostfamily, a lot of things which I didn’t’ like in my old hostfamily are still the same in my current one, the only thing which changed is me, I now understand the things I didn’t understand before. I still do not regret it at all that I left that other family because a lot more has happened with them. And I love this family.

Yesterday I was lying in my bed and I heard an Uncle talking to my hostmom, the words I heard were: ‘San José’ ‘bus’ and ‘Heredia’ that was enough for me to get out of my bed and join the breakfast. *(side note: Ticos drink Coca Cola(!!!!)) I joined this cola drinking cookie eating breakfast, ( I did get coffee instead of cola). We went with the car to Heredia the sing my hostbro up for the University there. I waited with him in the line of half-nervous tanned Costa Ricans who realized that their summer holiday is almost over and that the student life is about to begin. It was cool to be at a university, there are so many (sub) cultures and different people. I left the line of students-to-be to get to Heredia center to pick up my sunglasses I forgot at Valentina’s house last week. When I came back my hostmom was searching for my hostbro all worried and stuff; I found him within 5 minutes. I waited outside in the sun with a nice breeze until how was done. We had a nice cliché  conversation about how fast the time passed and about how I also will be going to university within 6 months. Even though it is such a cliché in 6 months I am 18, in the Netherlands probably having a barbeque or something like that if the weather is nice. And 6 months ago I had my first day at my old host family, my first real day of this exchange experience. I can remember it so well. (so much cliché, but so true). I must say that over the last weeks I have been thinking a lot about the next summer, being back in The Netherlands, something I didn’t do before. I don’t think it is homesickness, I still love Costa Rica and I don’t want to leave this country yet, it is a big mix of feelings I carry, and I think I will be carrying those until the day I leave, and then when I will be back it will be even worse.

Anyways, back to what happened yesterday. After the University we went to San José because my uncle had to change some shoes. Most Ticos really dislike San José and going there gets compromised by the fact that they can go to Mac Donalds. I went to subway with my uncle since I built I hate against Mac Donalds over the last months without any reason. Something what also I annoying in the Latin-American Spanish is that all the fast-food stores are pronounced different. So when I want to ‘Mac Donalds’ I have to say: ‘Mahk Doohnald’.

In the night at my house I spend some time with just me and my host parents, no hostbrothers, uncles, aunts or cousins just me and my host parents. We had dinner with the three of us and we had nice conversation after dinner about a lot of stuff, from grandmothers to universities and from war to girlfriends. And later we  watched a movie together. It was nice to spend some time with just my host parents.