FINALE!!!!

It has been 2 months since I blogged. I guess it was a bit harder to do than I thought. Just couldn't find the urge to do it anymore. Right now I have 2 more days left in Costa Rica and I cant believe 6 months has already passed by.

The last two months have been interesting. Moving from San Jose to Puerto Viejo, meeting new people, living with a new family...it was not an easy transition to make. Besides that I met some pretty amazing people in Puerto Viejo and I learned about the black Costa Rican community. Made me realize things are really different from them in a way. Working with ATEC also was fun sometimes, stressful sometimes, overall it was a good experience because of the people I got to work with.


family I lived with in Puerto Viejo


I did quite a number of different things working with ATEC. From working with cement to going to the indigenous Bri Bri community. Going to see the community was one of my most memorable experiences. Seeing how they lived and how they seemed to be satisfied with what they had. Working with student groups that came in as well was interesting. I went to the farm of my friend, Junior and it was quite an experience.

So after two months away, I am back in San Jose right now. Came to pick up my dad from the airport, he wanted to see Costa Rica as well. So far he is very impressed with the country and I am happy about that because I want this trip to be worth his time and money. Yesterday I took him to Parque La Sabana and that night to visit my familia tica in barrio Cordoba. He really enjoyed meeting them and  was so happy to finally see Maritza and Rodrigo again. It was like a homecoming. Maritza made soo much food, my dad and Rodrigo had quite an amount of whisky....





My dad and I at Museo del Artes, in front of parque La Sabana




Dad, Maritza, Me, Rodrigo and Nicole





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Me with Junior. He is the best!!!!

Now will be going back to the U.S. 4 days early because my dad didn't want me to be here alone. So in 2 days, I will be back in the states. Costa Rica has been a good experience, good and bad things have happened to me here and I have learned so much from all the places I have gone and the people I have met!!!!!

WHAT TO WRITE

I have not blogged in foreva!! My increasing laziness has to stop!!! I have to try and rememba all da highlights of things I have done this past month. It’s not going to be easy but I will try my best.

1.       PANAMA!!!!!!!!!

How could I forget to blog about this? It was absolutely amazing!! It felt better to be working with dollars instead of colones for a change. So I lost my debit card and had to wait for it to be replaced so I actually entered Panama without a cent on me! It was that serious! Luckily enough, one of the banks there let me take out money from my Ghana debit card. I am glad that worked! Doesn’t even work in the states! So life in Panama got better after getting money!! We went to different beaches they were amazing. I think the pictures can do the talking for that one. We found this panaderia with the hugest cakes and pastries in the world for only $2. It felt like wonderland!! I had a chocolate cake. It was just huge!!! Sighhh…am getting hungry!!! I got some souvenirs as well, so in all Panama was fun. I was actually scared at the border. My passport is quite rare here in Costa Rica so I thought they might not even know what to do. They checked my passport over and over again, whispering things to others, checking computers. It was terrifying. But am glad, they finally realized I could enter the country!!

2.       I seriously can’t remember what else I have done. The 12 week students left!! We had a dinner for them and took pictures. The food was really good and there was abundant supply of red and white wine. It was an entertaining night. It was sad to see some people go but that’s life!!



dinner!!!!



3.       My Ghana debit card refused to work!!!! I thought I had too many problems already, now I can’t take any money out from my account. I felt like I went to every single bank in San Jose. Every bank and ATM/ATH I had been to!! So I called my brother to go to the bank in Ghana for me to figure out why this international card wasn’t working. He said the bank said it should be. Miraculously, it was working! It was like every day I complained about not having money was a liar!! Well am glad it’s sorted out now!!!

4.       I am going back to Puerto Viejo for Semana Santa. I have to go check up on the place and figure things out about the internship I will be doing and exactly how the area is like. Of course some beach is good.  My English writing seems bad today, oh well. Have a lot of concerns about the internship because it is a different city and different people as well. But all will be well, with God on my side, all will be well.

5.    SHAKIRA CONCERT!! That was a lot of fun even though she was late! The initial time was 7pm then it was changed to 8.30 then she showed up after 9pm. It was good and loved the fireworks after!!

SHAKIRA CONCERT...SHEWOLF!!



El barco mas dulce

It has been a while since I last posted. Have to get over my laziness. Many things have happened within the last month. It has been fun and revealing!!!



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me, my tica mum Maritza, my house mate Jamie



About 2 weekends ago, my university planned a family day event at a park close to the school. It was a good day. It reminded me of the host family events Drake has sometimes for international students. My tica mum came with us and we ate sooo much. Considering food makes me reaaallly happy, the day was beyond perfect for me. There were games as well, but I did not play. I dont like those things. There was guacomole, sandwiches, rice with milk (rice water with cinnamon) and some other stuff. After that I went off with some other friends of mine to Puerto Viejo. That is about 4-5 hours away from here. We were in need of the beach! It was such a beautiful day, what a waste sitting in the bus for hours.



our beds for 2 nights



Puerto Viejo is by far one of my favorite beaches. I am excited now to be doing my internship around there. Firstly, there are more black people there, loads of people speaking Partwoa around and stuff. We stayed in this place that had a restaurant, back entrance to the beach, tents, hammocks and rooms as well. We decided to spend the next two nights in the hammock. It cost $5 a night, financially that was the best choice. It was not as bad as I expected it to be. We got lockers to put our stuff inside. The hammocks were in rows under a hut outside. The place is gated so it felt a little safer than I thought it will be. That night was noisy!!! It seemed like the whole of Puerto Viejo decided to meet there. There were loads of people everywhere. There was a bonfire outside near the beach as well. I really liked that. I slept early though so I was oblivious to all the apparent "disappearances" going on.



I spent the next day walking around the town and going to the stores that were around with my house mate Jamie. Some random person came up to me and asked me for the time- he ended up walking with us from our hostel to the town. And he talked a lot. He is Nicaraguan but half Jamaican or something, but lives in Puerto Viejo. He told us where to go for stuff and about his life and the area of the beach that was safe. We saw him again the next day and he was speaking spanish sahh. Considering I was holding all my baggage and had not eating yet, he was just annoying me. I couldnt help but tell him he was talking a bit too much and he switched to my relief. I could at least understand what he was saying.



We later went down to the beach. We just chilled there, while I attempted to stay away from the sun. We met this family there that were really nice. Their little girl spoke to us the whole time, and in spanish too. She is about 10 years old and the way she was talking alone I could tell she has a really strong personality.And her little baby brother is sooo cutee!!! They invited us to have dinner with them and they were amazing. We went to a Carribean restaurant and it was superb!!! Then walked around the town talking to the family. It was one of those moments that you think 'I cant wait to also have my children.' That weekend was wonderful.



In Puerto Viejo, this pig was burning for hours



Paintballing!!

This weekend I went paintballing with my program. It really hurt. I dont think I would really like to do that again. After someone shot me in the head. Sigh...that hurt really bad eh. But it was still a nice experience though. After some friends and I went downtown to go buy a movie to watch. Considering there are no copyright laws in Costa Rica, you can find any movie you want to watch. All the unreleased ones kraa. My housemate watched Madea's family reunion a couple of weeks ago and she loved it!! She saw the cd for Madea Goes to Jail and this girl was screaming on the street out of excitement. That was actually funny. We got a couple of other movies then headed back home. We ended up watching Desconocido(Unknown) at a friend's house. I was so tired, I just fell asleep midway.

Yesterday I was up at 5.45 in the morning. Had to get ready and get to school by 6.20 am. For what? Rafting. It took about 2 hours to get to some lodge place where we had breakfast. Gallopinto, eggs, fruits. The car tire went flat on the way too, making the trip a little bit longer. Then another hour and half to the rafting place. That was the most amazing experience yet. I was not scared of falling out of the boat, possibly because I know how to swim. I preferred that wayy more to canopy. That was just moving across a rope in the middle of the sky. I know I cant fly so that was just freaky. I absolutely loved rafting. We were on the boat for about 4 hours. We stopped for lunch along the river, the best burrito yet! At some places we were between rocks and there were bridges on top. That was like a scene from Pirates of the Carribean.  We could also some of the indigenous people who lived in the mountains and the little kids playing in the water. It was pretty awesome!!! Our boat started last, but we ended up first!!! Finished before everyone else!! As my housemate will say 'That's SWEET!!!'  We named our boat El barco mas dulce.

Now am here. My class was cancelled. So had no class today. Will have more to blog about when I get back!!!!

Pura Vida!!!!!

I have had a wonderful number of days!! By the way, HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

Some day this week some people in out program went roller skating. It was really really cool and fun!!! Except for the fact that as soon as I got up after wearing my skating shoes I fell straight down onto the floor. Everyone was laughing and I just stayed there waiting for someone to pick me up. My house mate Jamie laughed at me so much, it wasn't a joke anymore. But I am glad that made her night. Considering I had never gone roller skating before, I had an instructor for the entire night. Some nice man called Luis. What would I have done without him? By the end of the night, I was skating on my own!!! So, my first attempt at roller skating was an epic success!!!

On thursday instead of going to dance class, my teacher decided we should go to Castro's bar instead to see people doing the merengue, salsa and cumbia. That was a very interesting night. Before that I went to a karaoke with people. And of course I did not sing. My favorite song was "No scrubs" by TLC.  Sigh....it's been a while ooo!!!! We saw some really talented people at the bar who could really dance. It was interesting to actually see them doing all those twists and turns.

On friday morning, I went with Emily Lee (she also goes to Drake) and two other girls to Montezuma beach. That was a long ride!!! I left the house at 4.30 am to meet up with Emily so we could take a taxi to the Coca Cola station. (By the way, the name of the station and the place is so Ghanaian eh) For some weird reason, you cannot buy tickets ahead of time so you just have to go early to pay and hop onto the bus. We were on the bus for about 2 hours. After we got off the bus and took a ferry across the Nicoya Peninsula. That was really beautiful. I was too tired to appreciate it much at the time, but it was really amazing. That was also about an hour and a half. Then we got back on the bus when we got to the other side of the peninsula and changed buses again to Montezuma. By the time we finally got there I was so tired eh.  This is just by the way. Since I came to Costa Rica, I am struggling to walk so much everyday. I think it's the hills. They are everywhere!!! My thighs will be hurting me kraa. As soon as I checked in into my room, I went straight to the beach!!! Montezuma beach is by far the most beautiful beach I have seen.

Okay, my room. Well, we went to a lodge. Which is in a forest. Hmm... it's an eco lodge, so all these going green things. There were bunk beds in the rooms and of course I took the bottom one. The bathroom has huge windows with nets...but no curtains or anything to cover the windows. So, it's just bare open and the forest is right behind you. The shower curtain was also transparent. All, I could think to myself was, if anything kraa you could have gotten colored showered curtains instead of the transparent one with some blue flowers. I really was immersed in the jungle life. The building was made of wood, there were cabanas around. For some weird reason it reminded me of a setting that will be in a book...someone lost somewhere working in the middle of Africa, struggling to get by. Everyone is trying to create a nice atmosphere, talking, playing cards, no TV...There were many people there as well. People from Netherlands, France etc. But considering I was not in the mood for chit-chatting, I just ignored them.

That night, I just fell asleep, real quick. The next day, we took a little hike to a waterfall. It was a bit dangerous because there were a lot of rocks and someone could have easily slipped. The water was alright, nothing really special. But we could swim in the stream or water body at the bottom. That was cool.  It was pretty deep and you couldn't touch the bottom. Some insane, crazy person decided to climb the rocks on the side of the waterfall and jump down. Well, he survived, but that was not the smartest thing to do, playing with life like that. The spent the rest of the day laying at the beach, writing and reading a bit. It was cool. The place was really laid back. It was a tourist place, but still had a lot of local feel to it.

An old man saw me and he asked me where I was from and I told him Ghana. He started telling me about how he is from the Bahamas and he wants to take pictures of me so he will come and find me later on. EH!!! I was just in shock, I didn't understand. Why? Did he think I was that stupid. Old man bi too. He's not ashamed of himself. Another guy came up to Emily and I and he called me "negrita." Honestly, up till now, I am still wondering if I should be offended by that or not. Negrita paa, s3 me di33 am a negro. Well, it seems that's what they call the black people that live in Costa Rica. And the guy wasn't fine too. Mtcheww. Last but not least, some other guy came up to me and asked me for a lighter. I told him I didn't have one and he asked if i smoke. I said no. Instead of leaving, he started telling me his name is Antonio but all the Americans call him Tony so I can call him that. I just kept on reading, until he left.

The journey back yesterday was also pretty much the same. Bus, bus, ferry, bus. When we getting nearer to San Jose, the bus was going so slow. I did not understand. It was insanely hot and I just wanted to get to the station as soon as possible. To make things worse, they were playing cools. The type that they will be playing in Ghana on the radio during lunch hour. All these Mac Antony songs and Westlife songs. I felt like doing something to the driver. AAhh!!!!

I had planned on watching the Grammy's but my tica mum was watching this dance show we like watching. They do all those Bachata and Cha Cha Cha dances. It's a dance competition for the whole of Central America. It reminded me of the Ghana dance show, "Dance Fever."So, I  guess Grammy's can wait till later.

This country is dull, dull. Valentine's day is like in Ghana. You don't see or hear anything much. Just some few people try. Well, until my next update...

Nos vemos!!!!

This is ridiculous

I dont know how this happened...

So, I was getting ready to leave for a class. I had shaddered fine fine, looking fine n things. I stepped outside the house door, I closed the door...

The metal handle broke.

I don't know how that happened. It just did. Not only the handle, actually half of the whole metal thing. All I could do was just open my mouth wide!!

Went to tell my tica mum about it. Said we will talk about it when I get back. I know I have to pay for this. What sort of unnecessary problem too is this? Mtchheeewww. But for some reason I am having this deja vu that this has happened before..

I have lost keys saaahhh but not broke a handle....anyways

Poas Volcano, Tamarindo beach, losing our way....

It's been a while, need to be updating more often...

2 weekends ago, our trip was for just saturday, not the whole weekend. We went to Poas volcano but couldn't see the volcano becuase it was so cloudy and misty. It was just a bad weather day. Afterwards we went to a waterfall that was close by. There were so many animals there. They had one corner with different species of frogs. (They all looked the same to me) I really liked the parrots, got one on my arm! I saw some snakes, monkeys and butterflies. I saw some coming out of the cacoon and trying to fly. There were no lions though..I was sad. Oh there was this really nice buffet there ehh!! Ah!! The way I was happy!! They made me sad though a little. They put the fried plantain in honey! That just ruined the plantain for me and the rice water too they put cinnamon in it. It amazes me sometimes how food can either make me sooo happy or sooo upset.

Last weekend, I went to Tamarindo Beach. I really liked it. For some reason I forgot to go to the beach when I went to Ghana...anyways. The beach is really nice, and the beach is sooo long!! U have to walk saah before you get to the water. I took a lot of pictures with friends then went back to the hotel. Needed to actually swim, headed straight to the pool. That night, we went to eat at some restaurant. I ordered rice with seafood, it was really good but the food was small. How do they see me? I have a huge apetite!! The next morning, I went horseback riding for about 2 hours. It was so long and my bod hurt so much after. I got a younger horse that was annoying. It kept on stopping to chew grass n things. Mtchhheww so I wiped it small with some stick. We also went to the beach with the horse then onto the main tourist street. It was really nice, with tourists, shops and restaurants all around you. Then we headed back to San Jose later in the afternoon. Oh, i almost forgot. A subway footlong costs approximately $10. Nkwasias3m. The guy that organized the trip for us is from Venezuela and he was asking me plenty questions about Ghana and stuff. I told him about how I sometimes get so irritated because I just want to speak Fanti, not english, not spanish. Then he said he will call my mum. I thought he was joking when I gave him the number. But he really did and spoke to her!! That was really nice. The only thing she told me was I should go and buy a phone instead of using other people's phones.

On friday I went with my Tico sister to San Pedro mall. I didn't have anything to buy but I just wanted to go back there so I figure out my way in case I have to go there alone next time. We walked there, lyk 20 minutes. I ended up buying necklaces and stuff. We met a couple of her friends over there as well. I sometimes don't understand the culture here oo. People were just mauffing all over the place, I was a little confused. Anyways, we went to the eight floor and from there you can see the whole of San Pedro, it was really nice. There are mountains on either side. I did not go to Nicaragua so we planned on saturday to go the National Art Museum. We ended up taking the wrong bus and the people we asked directions from gave us directions to a different museum. We just took a taxi to the right place only to find out that they don't allow people in once the program has started. They gave a tour of the museum and had some yoga thing after. It was kind of annoying, well.. We walked back to downtown San Jose, and just hanged out around there for a bit, then headed back home. Don't wanna lose my way again, at least not alone, it's not really fun.....

Today, I think I have to actually start my human rights paper due on Tuesday....

One of the most amazing yet scary weekends of my life!!

This past weekend was filled with so many activities. First of all we left San Jose after a 4hour spanish class and headed out to Arenal! We got there to late and the weather was not that good so we were not able to see the Volcano that's there well, just the ashes that kept on pouring out. Near the volcano is this really cool hotel with hot springs. Initially I thought we were going to some hot springs in the middle of the forest somewhere. Not knowing, it was a hotel!! There were many many hot springs, with different temperatures. Some had water coming down from rocks and others had bars in the center with sits around it. So here I was sitting on a seat in the pool around a bar. It was quite impressive!!! The dinner there after wasn't that bad. Ah! There was meat and it was a buffet, I was good!

The next day, It was really beautiful!! It reminded me of Boti Falls in Tema. There was this river (i think that's what it was) and we all went there, took pictures and others swarm. After, we headed back to the bus and off to Arenal Volcano. It was really beautiful!! We returned, had lunch then took smaller buses to a river. We took a boat from there and went around the river, we could see the volcano much much clearer but it was still a bit foggy. We surrounded by a volcano and mountains and crossing a man-made river which covered 2 towns that had been destroyed by eruptions. Hmmm...time to get scared? I think so! Apparently some of the structures of the town still exist and if you go with professional drivers you can see the church and stuff.

We got across to the other side of the ocean and took buses to MONTEVERDE!! Hmmm.. this was a terrible trip. Firstly, we are driving through mountains to go to another town. Secondly, the roads were tiny!! It wasn't a road, it was a path!! And there are 3 buses full of studnets. What made it worse, the road was bad! Herh, i felt like there had taken me to some village bi in Ghana! It was bad! The bus was shacking and there are mountains on either side of us with only some barb wire as protection. When I think about it I amazed that I am alive.  We slept a lodge that night...with no TV. Mtcheeww

The next day...that is yesterday. We went zip lining. I knew where we were going but I didn't realize how dangerous it could be. Holding onto a wire while hooked to it and "flying" down the wire in the middle of the air in the FOREST!! AAAH!!! The first zip line i was so scared!! By the second one I was like, okay, this isn't that bad. Until I was dropped facing upwards down the rope!! I can't describe it. They just dropped me just like that!!I thought that was the end. Hmmm...I walked further there was a "Tarzan" thing. So, you stand on a high wooden structure, hooked to wires and holding another, the guide guys will drop you down and before you know it you will be swinging across the sky just lyk Tarzan! The way I screamed, I wanted to cry and wanted to call my mum. All the people there were laughing too!! I don't blame them, I laughed at all the people before me! It was scary!!! Holding a rope and swinging  in the middle of the forest! My heart kept dropping!! By the way I felt like they treated me like an animal. I wan;t ready and they just dropped me down! Just like that! They don't respect..at alll!! After that I decided I am never returning to do this in Monteverde!! Once on a lifetime is enough! Wanting this experience to end, I had two more zip lines to do. And they were the longest too!! The last two were different from the others. You were in the forest but not surrounded by trees. The wires were higher higher up so the whole forest was below you. So all you have is this beautifl view scary view below you and the air blowing u away! The last one I started to stop in the middle of the zip line. All  I could do was just panic, I was scared, at that time I thought I wass going to die. I almost stopped multiple times. The view is beautiful but it's scary being so high up!! When I go to the end, I was ready to just stop. I had had more than enough! I wanted to call my mummy and cry!!! I was that scared!!!

After this eventful weekend in numerous places in the province of Guanacaste we returned to San Jose. We got back like 6pm yesterday. Here I am, back from my classes. It was a wonderful weekend!!

Oh yeah, today I went with other students and our director for a tour of San Jose. We went to various places. She showed us this store called "pequeno mundial." It is the Ghana equivalent of Melcom. They have everything there but it's not quality. Another deja vu...it made me smile. We also went to the mall San Pedro. It's really nice. It's really nice, with a lot of stores and a Walmart inside. I decided to come back early. When my friends and I got off the bus we walked small and one of my slippers got torn!!! Ohhh!!! Why? See me, suffering lyk dat eh today! In the middle of no way suffering to walk. I wanted to take a taxi n this old man, the price he said, I wanted to insult him biaa!! Mtchhheeeww. Have not started my ghana things on anyone yet, I should! What sort of nkwasias3m is dat?? Well, I walked barefoot the rest of the way to the school and went to look for the driver to take me home. He and his friends too were laughing at me and half of the things they said too I didn't understand!

Well, will update again when I have more funny and strange experiences! PURA VIDA!!