Volcán Irazú

Well we finally did our first "touristy" excursion! We went to the Volcán Irazú, which is the highest volcano in Costa Rica. We ended up hiking up to the highest point of the volcano (which apparently is the highest point in Costa Rica!!) It was so nice to see/hear other people speaking English and doing "touristy" things as well! It was so much colder up there than we thought, but definitely not as cold as a Wisconsin winter ;) However, I was super bummed because when I looked at pictures on google of the volcano (there is this ridiculously green looking lake in one of the craters!) because apparently this has evaporated!! I was looking all around for it and I finally asked a nice couple all the way at the top, after our ridiculous hike to see nothing! haha They told me that they had asked inside and that because of volcanic activity, the "green lake" evaporated about 4 months ago and this was the first time it happened in 23 years! (This is a picture from google image that shows it) I did still see the crater that used to have this liquid in it, but I was still pretty bummed! It was actually an hour bus ride UP the mountain, well, volcano I guess, and with the way they drive here and the roads, my stomach wasn't feeling the greatest! I also got quite light headed because of such an altitude change! However, once we were up there, it was definitely worth it! The first part of the day wasn't as cloudy so we got to see a lot of the volcano! We spent a lot of the time just wandering around and climbing up things! haha It was absolutely HUGE.Yes, those teeennnyy, tiny people at the bottom of what looks to be a mountain, is us. We climbed up a bit of it mainly so we could slide down =) This part of the volcano wasn't even the biggest part! I seriously do not know how to describe any of the places I've seen down here because pictures just can't do it justice!


We spent about 4 hours wandering around the volcano and hiking up to the highest point, oofta was that a work out. After I almost got hit by a car and we walked, what felt like, straight up for a

mile, we were officially at THE highest point in Costa Rica! This journey was also a little bit of a bummer because by the time we reached the top it was SUPER cloudy and we could barely see 5 feet below us. As you can see from this picture we were actually in the clouds, BUT you can also see how high up we were! We hung out for awhile on top hoping that some of the clouds would clear (and I spose to catch our breath a bit, haha) but that never happened. We also had to make sure we were back down the highest point in order to catch our bus back into town. It was even colder at this point, but I was clearly too tired from climbing the hill to care about the temperature! I think someone had said it's about 5 degrees celsius on top of the volcano (which I guess would be about 40 degreesish?) Anywho, it was a nice break from the classroom/house/Spanish! It is definitely still a culture shock here, even though I am getting more used to it every day. Apparently my Spanish is getting better, but I don't feel like I have really improved at all. I guess mainly because I still don't feel as I can even attempt to translate any conversation that the other teachers are having in Spanish because they talk SO fast! I do catch words and phrases here and there so I can usually figure out a little bit of what they are talking! I just have this feeling that I am going to get really good at my Spanish and feel totally comfortable in my school right when I have to leave for my other placement! I spend 7 and a half weeks at each, so my last day at my current placement is October 1st. I know it is going to go insanely fast, though. My teacher actually invited us to go to her boyfriend's birthday party, so we did that Saturday night after our day at the volcano! This was also a lot of fun because we met some other people our age that live in the area and, again, a chance to get out of the house for a change! This is me, Nalini (a grad student teaching biology here), Meghan, Ericka (the pre-kinder teacher at my school), and Gaby! (my teacher!) at the party. Gaby has been with her boyfriend for 3 years and he was very nice and welcoming to us just like Gaby was! He has twin brothers that are 22 so they, their girlfriends, and some of their other friends were also at the party. They all spoke excellent English and were a lot of fun! I'd have to say it was a very successful first "touristy" weekend here in Costa Rica! This coming weekend we are planning on going to the beach, which I can NOT wait for! I do have to get through this week, though, and I am actually teaching my first lessons! This week I have to teach the students about the letters X and Y and in math I will be teaching them about time sequences (like looking at two pictures, 1 of getting out of bed and 1 of brushing teeth, and they will tell me which come first and what not). It should be interesting, but I think I will be able to handle it! Gaby does really well with helping the children understand me if I can't think of how to explain it in Spanish! =)

ALSO! I finally uploaded ALL of my pictures.. here is the link again

http://picasaweb.google.com/116304399512979294076