New Faces, New Places

This weekend was a mixture of surprise and beauty (which I have encountered a lot of since I've been here). To start, on Friday a friend of mine and I decided to spend our Friday low-key. We both had not been feeling too well (my stomach is still adjusting to this diet), and so we decided to take pictures of Puntarenas which we have been meaning to do for a while. After a delicious, typical Costa Rican meal at her house, we headed for the Market first. WIthin a block, we ran into two white guys approximately our age. They had on big backpacks and so it was evident they were travelers. While I wondered were they could be from, one of them approached us. He asked us first if we spoke Spanish and since we were not as proficient, we spoke in English. Turns out they were all the way from Alemania (Germany) and were also going to school in San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. Because the town of Puntarenas can be dangerous in some parts, Kelly's (my friend) host mom let them stay with her for the night. They had been traveling for 30 hours and so their main concern was to hit the beach and relax.
That evening, the four of us got together and discussed all kinds of topics. What Germany is like, what they were doing in Costa Rica, what the U.S. is like and life in general. It was really cool talking about things with people who were from another continent. They were proficient in Spanish, English and a little French, and of course German. They said that the German language is quite difficult and they felt sorry for people in the U.S. learning German. If I remember correctly, there are only about 600 thousand people left who speak German. They talked about Germany's birthrate problem and we even discussed Hitler and the Nazis. I attempted to say "right" in German, which alone used four different sounds, and I could never get it with out sounding like a fool. We had a lot of interesting discussions and had a lot of the same ideas about certain things which I thought was neat. We even had fresh coconut milk from a palm tree thanks to a local who climbed up one to get us the coconuts!
On Saturday, the whole USAC group went to Volcano Arenal and its natural hot springs. The springs were indeed HOT. Some were too hot to even walk in. The springs were divided into many pools and a couple with swim-up bars. They had a really cool waterfall as well. On Sunday, we visited the rain forest next to Volcano Arenal. There were trails through the forest and we even caught a glimpse of a couple monkeys, one which had a baby clinging to its back. We saw a beautiful waterfall and crossed many hanging brides with streams beneath us. It of course rained on us but the tree "canopy" helped a little with protecting us from some of it. This weekend was packed and a lot of fun, but I am glad it is Monday and I can relax!
I wanted to add something that I found funny about the town in which I live. Here, men lift up their shirts just over their bellies to cool off. It doesn't matter how big the belly, men do it and don't give a care in the world! I am slowly feeling less and less intimidated by the fact that I am a minority and simply trying to embrace it.