First Day!

I arrived last night at 6:30 pm mountain time.  All my flights went really smoothly and customs was a breeze.  When we landed it was totally dark outside and pouring down rain.  It gets light super early in the morning and gets dark around 5 or 5:30 apparently.  Lindy and Dinorah, the directors of the Costa Rica Center, were there to greet us.  Katie and I caught a taxi with Dinorah which took us all the way to the center.  It was dark so it was really hard to see much.  They don't have any addresses here so they measure everything in relation to landmarks such as city parks and the Hiper Mas (basically WalMart).  They caught things by blocks and each block is 100 metros.  So they might say to go north (always uphill) and turn left at the central park... Go 500 metros and head north again.  It seems very confusing but they swear that it's not.  We got to the center around 8 and ate some leftover chicken and pizza.  They threw a lunch for all the workers that day and there were a few leftovers.  Pretty soon we headed off to bed. We layed down right about 9 pm.  It is pretty chilly here because we are in the mountains, so there were nice warm comforters on the bed.  The center is under construction still.  They were hoping to have it completed 10 days ago but the rain and changes in architectural plans has slowed it down.  Despite that it is beautiful.  This morning we went on a walk in the surrounding area.  There are so many roads that wind around and lots of nicer houses.  We wandered through this beautiful chalet.  Apparently last year the World Vision leaders had a conference up there.  We also stopped at Carlos's house.  They have free-roaming chickens, so we have been buying a kilo from them about every week.  Today we were there for at least 45 minutes getting the grand tour.  He showed us every tree and fish pond and picture in their house.  It was really cool how ingenious they are and how they use what they have.  He is originally from Cuba but also has lived in Miami.  He speaks great English and encourages us to talk to his wife in Spanish so she can learn English too.  It is super hilly around here so we were all pretty tired when we got back.  Now we are just taking some free time.  I am borrowing a laptop to write this.  I am listening to the clouds and thunder roll in.  It is the rainy/winter season right now so it absolutely pours at about 1 pm every day.  We are getting oriented this week and next week we will move in with our host family.  Hopefully I will have internet there as well.

Hasta pronto!