CR – March 30, 2011 Day 19

Day 19

On our way to school today we had to laugh again at the pedestrian walk lights in Costa Rica. The man depicted on the little sign that normally shows a walking person in the US is running like heck. The warning is definitely accurate because we’ve imitated this guy many times. However, we’ve observed an interesting phenomenon about crossing the street in Costa Rica. If a woman is by herself or if the woman is particularly attractive, cars will actually stop to let her cross. Pair that same woman with a man and forget about it, all bets are off and you both had better get knees and elbows pumping.

Today at school, in both our classes, the professors are spending the majority of class time engaging us in games and conversational spanish. I’m finding the conversational practice very helpful. The only downside today, (In fact the whole week) is that there is a lot of touch up painting going on around the building so the fumes get to you at times. In addition, some of the schools’ facilities aren’t available.

I’ve talked a lot about the food in Costa Rica but haven’t mentioned much about the wonderland of drinks here.

In addition to the normal americanized beverages (Coke, Sprite, etc.) there are numerous other typical drinks as well. On our trip we’ve tasted various juices from fruits that we’d never heard of before: Cas, Tamarinda, Gauanabana, and Chan to name a few. Chan is one of the most unusual drinks I have ever seen. It looks like a glass filled with fish eggs. However, it turns out that Chan is very good and is thought to be a good drink to ease stomach ailments. The little ingredients in the drink that look like fish eggs are actually the seeds of the plant. Another new experience for me was the drinking of beer with ice cubes in the glass. Who would have thunk it? It’s actually not bad. I guess this is a throwback custom from a time when refrigerators weren’t plentiful or efficient.

Today for a treat we had an ice cream sandwich named “Trits” OMG. I’m not kidding, the taste of Trits is indescribable. It’s not like anything you’ve had that is purchased outside of a gourmet ice cream shop. It comes in a little plastic tub similar to “I can’t believe it’s butter.” Thats where the similarity ends. Inside the container you discover the amazingly fresh tasting ice cream sandwich. Trits fly off the shelves so usually there are only one or two in the ice cream freezer at the store. Luckily, there were two left today. We bought one and Ginger cut it into quarters and we shared the delicacy with our friends.

After school today, we decided to head home directly so that we could start to do some pre-trip packing because have plans to go out Thursday night. We also have to think about giving a brief speech at our graduation ceremony on Friday and to also to prepare to perform an impromptu salsa routine. It should be fun.

That’s all from the Costa Rican front for today.

C-u soon…