Scuba and Fútbol

Well, last week was my 2nd and final Marine Bio field trip. It was fun but slightly sad because my entire Tico family (including all the girls) went to the beach WITHOUT ME! But, there was nothing that could be done because I had the class trip.

We went to the very north of Costa Rica, almost to the border, to this TINY town called Cuajiniquil. (Have fun pronouncing that one) There were not really any restaraunts there so we ate our meals at this couple's home. It was neat. Small house but very open livingroom/dining area and a hug front porch! Super relaxing. Well, in this tiny town most of the people are fisherman, except for one: Minor. He is into tourism. So, he takes groups out snorkeling and scuba diving, mostly school groups and research groups.

Saurday afternoon our class piled onto two cute speed boats and went to see the mangroves. Well, for those of you who do not know, a mangrove is a tree that can grow around salt water. They have these neat roots that are out of the water in low tide. Tons of animals live in the mangrove forest. Well, the mangroves we SUPER interesting (insert sarcasm here) but on the way back we saw something MUCH better. We were speeding along in the bay when our boat captian pointed and yelled "BALLENA!" Which means WHALE! There was a mother humpback whale and her calf in the bay! It was beautiful. They mom was just huge! So, our mangrove trip turned into a whale hunt, where we followed the whale around the bay for about 15 min trying to get some glimpses! 

Sunday morning we headed off with Minor and his brother to go snorkel a reef. Well, this only happens to our class, but it started raining again. Just like the last field trip. And it was cold. The reef we went to was different than last time, because we had to take a boat there rather than just walk off the beach. The reef was attached to these big rocks that were sticking out of the water. The water was a lot darker this time too (because we were farther out and in the Pacific ocean and not the Carribbean). Most people just stared at the water anxiously. One girl even said "that's black water. I'm not getting in." What happened? Well Minors neice, who is about 8 years old, just hopped right in and put us all to shame! 

I actaully was going scuba diving on this trip. I was a bit nervous because I had not been in 5 years, but it turned out great. My sinuses didn't really hurt too much during (even though I have pretty bad sinuses. Thanks allergies.) But, afterwards, my left ear was muffled for 2 days.

On the snorkle trip, we got about 40 feet under. The water was kinda dirty but we could still see all sorts of things. For example: eels(creepy), puffers (cute), little stingrays, lots of fish. My most favorite part: we were swimming next to this giant wall that went up. All of a suddent a giant school of fish swam over the top of the wall right over our heads! SWEET! It was magical. There were so many, and we were underneath them! It reminded me of tons of shooting stars going overhead :)

Well, since I was not able to go with my family to the beach that weekend, I went with them to a Fútbol Game last night! YEAH! Costa Rican soccer is a blast! There were 10 of us. 5 girls from my house, my friends Joey, Kelsey and Rachel, and my sister's boyfriend Derek, and then my dad guiding our funny group :) The game was in the city of Cartago and it was Cartago vs Limón. Limon is on the Carribbean coast and so they have like a Rasta, Jamaican feel, unlike the rest of Costa Rica. It was super exciting.

We sat with the Cartago fans and they were a rowdy bunch. There were big drums going with lots of chants. I learned some new vocab, most of it I am not allowed to say. The game turned out to be a good one; Cartago scored 4 times the 1st half and everytime the crowed went wild and chanted "Ole, ole, ole, ole- Az-ul, Az-ul! (azul=blue, their colors). So fun.

Today, off to more adventures, National Museum here I come! It's weird not having Spanish this month in the mornings. I'm trying to do productive things with my time so I don't go crazy!

Cuajiniquil Bay

Part of my class on a boat!

Mangrove forest roots--low tide