Week 3 Email

Hi yall!
Let me say, first off, that I miss home so much! I really am loving my experience, but there is just no place like home. And that means people, food, my house and bed and pets, my car, stores, and easy contact with others....It's funny how I haven't lost weight with all the walking I have to do. I think it's all this rice...
Around July 3rd, I started getting an upset stomach, and it continued for 5 or 6 days, which was no fun. Other people were getting sick too, and not just in our group, but also my "dad" and one of my "cousins" here. My mom here made me tea with a bush that grows outside their house, and it helped at least as much, if not more, and any drugs I was taking to help my poor stomach. And my lil sister here, Kimberly, gave me a foot massage. It was about as good as a 6 year old could do, and I told her that it was my favorite part of the day. She is such a cutie.
My family is getting very comfortable around me. The parents talk to me a lot, and so does the oldest son, Wilfreddy. He is 14, and really nice. I was on the back of the family motorcycle (actually, it's a dirtbike) the other day where he was dropping me off at a house for a cousin's (10 year old that another girl in our group has in her homestay) birthday party, and he forgot to tell me the muffler wasn't covered, and I burned my leg. Lucky for me, I had cortizone with aloe, neosporin, and a prescription creme from dad, not to mention 3 boxes of bandaids packed. Let's just say I am a doctor's kid and I am also very accident prone, so i know to be prepared. lol I've been keeping it clean and taken care of, but Wilfreddy felt really bad for forgetting to tell me; apparently that muffler is infamous for scarring burns. We'll see, i guess. Everyone at the ecolodge was worried, especially my teachers, who suddenly remembered a policy that we can't ride on our families' dirtbikes, even if that is how they get to areas 2 miles up a mountain. Needless to say, they were worried about what mom and dad would say and wanted me to call mom and dad about my leg, and I told them that my parents wouldn't be too surprised about my hurting something. Mom and dad laughed when they heard that, and mom said "I guess they don't know that you fall down just walking out your apartment door, huh?" lol It was nice to talk to people who know that it wasn't worth getting all worked up over.

Friday, my group got a break to go to Manuel Antonio, four hours away. It's a beach town, and we all couldn't wait to get there. We swam in the beach, went out to eat, did some shopping (my bargaining skills have improved), ate snowcones on the beach, got a lil sun (Nothing next to what I would normally have in Georgia by now), and went to dance areas every night. It was only after we finished our stay that someone told us how sharks are rampant at the beaches there, and I am glad I didn't know. I didn't get attacked, and I didn't feel anything swim up against me. I did get bowled over by the waves though. There is a BEAUTIFUL national park there that we went to, and we saw even more moneys there than the rest of the city (though they are everywhere there) and more iguanas too (also common). The beaches are gorgeous, and it was fun to lay out and swim there. That is where I got knocked over, and it was kind of funny. Basically, everyone was laying out except for myself and two other girls, Katie and Suzie. The waves were not overly strong, but getting stronger, and since there are rip tides frequently drowning ppl in Costa Rica, we were getting out. I was in about to my midthighs (I'm short, so not that deep), and walking out when all in a sudden I got pulled back VERY STRONGLY. I looked over and saw that everyone in the water was like me. Katie and Suzie and I were fighting it but it sucked us back. I was bending forward as hard as I could since I was still standing, when suddenly a huge wave came behind me and pushed me (and the others) over, and it was HUGE. It washed up all the way to where people were laying out. It did is so quickly that it washed over half of our stuff before we could even react. Not that I could do anything from my place on the ocean floor. We kept trying to get up and getting knocked over. Water was pouring out my face, and my swimming suit was on sideways and full of sand before I could get up. I finally got straightened out, washed the sand out of my towel, hung it on a tree, and once again thanked God that I had bought a waterproof hiking bookbag before the trip to hold my stuff (ipod, camera, books, etc) when going around. It was funny looking back to see suzie and katie and myself getting pushed over every two seconds, but it was really out of no where, and a lil scary because of that. Asha, another girl in our group, lost an earring because it was so strong, and pulled it out, and other people were chasing down coverups and shoes that the ocean had stolen. Last night, my roommates and I were eaten alive in our sleep by bugs, and woke up from itchiness. I guess somethings are standard across all of Costa Rica.

As far as the dancing every night, I went with the group but I didn't actually dance. I started to one time because I thought it would be the meringue (sp??) with all this twirling and stuff, like all the other people on the dance floor. But the dude kept trying to talk to me and figure out where I was staying and not doing twirly dancing even when I said I wanted to. He wanted to dance with his hands on my waist even after I told him I wanted to dance like the other ppl, so I just left him on the dance floor. He ended up not being gay like the other good dancers that night. He followed me off the dance floor and I told him "I have a boyfriend, it's not like that. I don't want to dance. I'm tired. NO" (in spanish) so he finally left. That was SKETCHY, so I ended up leaving not much later. I didn't want him to try to talk to me again. That night, some of the kids in my group had a lot to drink and thought it would be a great idea to jump into the ocean at 3am. And to leave all of their things unattended on the beach while they did so. They came home without their wallets and cameras, their purses, and one of the guys had on field pants that were zipped down to shorts, so they stole only one of his pants extensions. Not sure how to explain that last part except that their are a lot of weed lovers in Costa Rica. Anyway, that was the dumbest idea they had during that trip, and they definately paid for it. Oh well.
Tonight, we are back at the Ecolodge, and tomorrow we go back to our homestays. We will be there for 6 more days, I think, and then we are done with classes and going to travel then it's home to the good ole US of A!! I hope to hear back from you all and to hear what is going on in your lives!! I miss you all!
Love,
Meghan