Espanyol y Parque Manuel Antonio

Spanish lessons last week were great; two encouraging teachers gave me 3 hours of grammar a day and then an hour conversation practice. There were two other beginners in the grammar class with me - a 55 year old Californian lady, here in Costa Rica looking for a second home, who had a mental block when it came to Spanish (seeming to forget that she could speak English, that she did use verbs all the time and yes, we do have 'to be' in our language), the other an NYC cop who couldn't get beyond the Puerto Rican Spanish he'd picked up and delighted in telling us other two that we said something wrong... Despite these two fine American specimens I managed to learn a lot. Exactly enough to realise that I need more lessons and more practice.

The couple I stayed with, Alba and Eduardo who were both nearly 60, lived just north of San Jose though not in the idyliic setting I'd imagined given that the area was once part of the coffee production industry - it's wasn't like those Kenco ads, rather an extension of San Jose with less shabby houses but equally bad roads. Alba and Eduardo were really hospitable and encouraging though. They'd lived in New York for 20 years so their English helped us out of inumerable confused conversations in Spanish at dinner every evening. Their house was imaculate with white tiled floors and they liked a prayer before dinner, for which we mostly ate stew, pasta, rice & beans. The American style breakfasts were the best though - waffles, pancakes, with lots of butter and syrup but the tastiest fresh fruit (pineapple, mango, plantain).

A girl from Florida, Afton, was also staying with Alba and Eduardo. She's in Spanish lesssons for a month, and her second week coincided with my one week. On Saturday morning we got the bus to one of Costa Rica's many national parks, Parque Manuel Antonio. It's on the Pacific Coast and was beautiful. The forest is a haven for hundreds of species and the $10 entry fee protects them in their natural habitat. Walking through the park I saw capuchin monkeys swinging around in the sun, a couple of lazy old sloths doing exactly the opposite, a laughing hawk (I overheard a guide call it that), and several scuttling iguanas zig zagged across my path. But what was most amazing was the scenary; the forest comes to an end at the beach front and the white sands are framed by palm trees. I was there around 9am (without Afton, as she wasn't feeling well) and the several perfect beaches were almost deserted. It really was a vision of paradise.

On Sunday evening I met with the other 4 volunteers who are also teaching English in rural villages, and on Monday we had our induction. I've seen pictures of the family I'll be staying with and the school I'll be in for a month and already I can't wait to get there. We're leaving the hostel on Tuesday morning and I'll meet my new family at lunchtime at La Fortuna bus station...