The Windy City - Costa Rican Style

Tuesday Day 7 3-7-12 Quote of the Day: (While riding a cart pulled by oxen..) ¨It´s amazing this thing goes so well with no horse power.¨-Stacy, from Tennessee Wow, the wind is impressive here. Our hostel room is in a back corner on the bottom floor, which makes it a prime location for wind gusts. Several times through the night I awoke to blasts of wind sweeping past our room. It´s like it gets trapped right outside our room, making our locale very similar to a wind tunnel. We had breakfast at the hostel, which included the biggest pancake I´ve ever seen, with a plate of fruit. Then, we geared up for our Don Juan Coffee tour. This tour was very ineresting and I learned so many things. Our tour guide informed us that 99 percent of people that drink coffee have no idea what they´re drinking. They only listen/pay attention to how coffee is marketed. The other 1 percent are those that learn about the properties and how coffee is made. After the tour, we earned entry into this one percent. So, hey, at least I´m in the one percent somewhere! We pretty much had the best tour group ever. We met 3 Egyptian guys, who were born in Sudan but were raised in the UK. I was completely enamored with their accents. We met a couple from Pennsylvania and a couple from Tennessee. The tour was very enlightening and I learned a lot. Seeing as how I don´t drink coffee it was all a bit confusing at first, but I am excited to check out our coffee selection in the supermarket and put my knowledge to the test. Our guide gave us three tips for finding good coffee: 1. 100% Arabic 2. Grown in the high lands and 3. Sun dried beans. After the tour, we learned that the Brits are staying at the same place we are, so we got to visit with them more extensively. Talking to them was like a history course, for me. I learned so much from talking with them. They were very interesting guys. Later, we all decided to go meet up with the couple from Tennessee at The Tree House bar and restaurant. We all shared some cocktails, stories and many laughs. We learned not only about other parts of the globe, but other parts of our own country, as well. Out of the five people we have met here, 3 are currently medical students. Naturally, never shy about my medical inquiries, I asked the female from TN about the rash on my arms. She said she was almos 100% sure it was heat rash. YES! I love being verified and validated. The rash did look beter today, but after my warm shower tonight, I´m not so sure. Feels a little itchy. I took a Benadryl, which I´m very glad about at this juncture becasue when I pulled my covers back this evening, there was a huge insect hanging out in there. He got killed right away. Hopefully, the Benadryl will put me right to sleep. Jason´s brother, my cousin, Josh, texted him this mornign to remind him to document smells becasue that the first memory to go. So, we´ve been racking our brains tonight/today trying to remember. I recall a few... 1. The public bus from San Jose to Manuel Antonio. (Stinky feet, sweat, and body odor. I was literally gagging when we stepped on.) 2. Manuel Antonio (park) - Ocean air, salty 3. Quepos - there´s no better way to put this, ¨Who farted?¨ Oh, Quepos did. That´s what it smells like. Giant fart. 4. Jaco - the smell right before it rains 5. Montezuma - pockets of pungent fermenting fruit 6. Monteverde - Pure, fresh air! However, the smells in our travel bags and sleep sacks is anything but pleasant. We are grossed out on the daily. I counted 7 bug/mosquito bites tonight. They have all occurred on my left leg. Isn´t that interesting?? Tomorrow we go ziplining in the cloud forest. I´m so nervous I can´t really write about it, because then I´d have to think about it. If I live to tell the tale, I´ll write more tomorrow... YOLO, (This saying is all the rage in the states these days: You Only Live Once) Judy