You mine for gold where?

Day 4, Thursday, June 28^th

Today is not a Spanish day. This fact does not occur to me as I wake up, take a shower, or get ready. Yet as sit eating with my abuela tica, I realize: I am not picking up on what she is saying. I mean, I know the words, but I swear, they don’t make sense. She says something about a letter, and I just stare at her, willing the words to form into coherent sentences in my head. They don’t. She calls my mamá tica in, thinking maybe I have just missed something. But I don’t get her either. “Recepcionista... derecha.” That is about all I pick up. Finally she blurts “The receptionist at school; she is expecting this.” I am a bit humiliated. It is the first time she has to talk to me in English. I apologize and stuff the envelope in my bag.

I chalk it up to an off day. I ate very little of my breakfast, even though it was piña (pineapple)! Usually I eat everything. I was so sure I would lose weight because my stomach can’t handle a lot of beans and rice... but that is not going to happen. Despite the great deal of walking, I can’t imagine I am really burning any calories. Maybe next week when I start dance class... but maybe not. The food here is pretty good. Shucks.

I leave a bit later today and meet Alicia at the bus stop. We take the bus with Brooke and Bethany (who get on at the previous stop), and make it to school with mucho tiempo to spare. I pull out my computer and try to finish up some journaling before class. I get some done, but not much. Yet as the bell rings, I don’t care; we are going to the museum hoy!

We meet in the classroom and make our way the mile and a half to mid San Jose where the museum is. It is a cool old castle turned into an exposición. We have to pay to get in (bummer – come on Roni, help a girl out), but from there it is all way cool. The first room we walk into is a history of las indigenas. There are artifacts, ceramics, and many very cool stories Roni regales us with. I see a statue I think Jeremy would appreciate (Jeremy, don’t get a big head thinking I think about you a lot; it is only when something sexual comes up! Hah! Not really Bren...), and snap lots of pictures. Maybe I can put them up on Facebook next week. The next room is a mini shrine to the discovery of gold. I read a really cool story about the devil and how las indigenas believe gold originated: There was once a revolutionary (I forget his name). The devil told his family that he was going to kill the revolutionary and would need their help to bury the body. However, the revolutionary found out about the devil’s plan and killed him instead. He then gave his appearance to the devil and called the devil’s family. He told the family to tear the body apart in order to bury it. Only when they were destroying el cuerpo did they realize that it was their family member. They buried his body throughout Latin America, and where he is buried, you can mine for gold. How cool!... and un poco disturbing.

We visit another little exhibit about the war of las indigenas and las colonias before making our way out onto a balcony. As we are standing out there taking pictures of the scenery, I see a sign for a secret garden. Roni leads the party as we go to investigate.

You know how little things can just trigger a flood of memories? For example, my familia tica has a puppy named Garu, and he makes me miss my family. Además, the all girls school we saw in the plaza yesterday had me missing Whitney. And anything profoundly historical makes me think of Whit. So when I finally stumble into el jardín secreto, I am overwhelmed... by excitation and a sudden intense rush of sadness.

There are mariposas everywhere. Flitting and flying and hardly resting, the Lepidoptera had me holding my breath. My camera flies out as if it has wings of its own, and I am snapping pictures as fast as possible. After a while though, I realize that I am not capturing the full potential. Therefore, I now have a five minute video of the flutterby garden.

I cannot get enough, but eventually, we have to move on. I take a final look around and the grief sneaks back in. Stupid Lepidoptera and their memories.

Roni scoots us along, denying our requests to treat us to lunch. But he does let us wander through the open market for a few minutes. Beth and Hannah and I have decided to return here next weekend after rafting. They have tons of fun stuff, and I think I will knock out my souvenir shopping for the most part.

The walk back to school is long and seemingly completamente uphill. We reach school right before lunch, so I settle down to partake of my feast: tuna from home (thanks Bren for your foresight!) and a bag of cookies. I am excited for familiar food. Heather, Brittany, and Rachel are graduating during lunch, so after the ceremony I say my goodbyes to the girls. They are going to Honduras tomorrow.

After lunch Roni has us write an essay about the museum, a task I attack with relish. After class I finally set up my blog (which you are reading – yay!) and play on the internet, something I have surprisingly missed. They kick us our at five thirty, so Hannah and Beth and I walk to the mall to hang out, but when we get there we are starving (not literally – sorry to all those people who really are starving), so we break down and buy pizza. I am really living up this thing, huh? I mean, I don’t even eat pizza at home!

We sit around for a few hours until we realize we are much too tired to go out with everyone tonight. I would love to go sit in a bar and drink with Beth and Hannah, but we have no clue where any are. So Hannah and I get some ice cream and the three of us scidattle. Yet as we are leaving, we see a small bar! Talk about nothing for nothing – if we had just walked around a bit, we would have seen it. Ah well!

I take the bus back home (alone! I am growing up!). Back home, I type up some more journals, even though I can’t post until next week. We are meeting at 9:45 in the morning to board the bus to Arenal, and I am muy tired. So only one more thing, and then bed!

I am absolutely having a wonderful time here – we laugh so much; we are silly and free and glorious, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss you guys. Today was the first time it really hit me... around the time the Lepidopteras made their appearance. But I do. So know that I love you all, and have a great night!