Today I met the director of NSI (Natural Spanish Institute) Daniela. Try to google that and see what comes up. My google is all in Spanish! She walked me to school. I have to do it all on my own from now on. I have to go 300 meters down to the left and then 100 meters right and 25 meters to the school. I am in between the 2 churches which serve as perfect landmarks. There are no street names or addresses here so for those of you reading this those numbers are important. 100 meters is basically equivalent to a block. I´ll count the steps to give more accuracy in the next post.

Daniela gave me a schedule and the rest of the group arrived at the school to depart for the ziplining. There are 6 high schoolers (three rising sophomores, a rising junior, and 2 rising seniors) Boy do I feel old! But they welcomed me and off to the bus we went. We drove for about an hour to Villa Blanco, a cloud forest. The teenagers were so preoccupied with their i-whatevers that I just kept my eyes straight ahead to avoid getting bus sick on the windy, bumpy roads and rested. It took awhile for us to get started but no one would explain. I think they were trying to over charge us but our school got the price they felt was fair $40. Ziplining was 8 lines of pure fun and 1 tarzan free fall. I loved it just as much as the first time. I did not see any animals but did enjoy the lush green gigantic plants! And guess what...NO RAIN! Back in the van we were happily welcomed with a snack packed for us from school. This is like being in a tour group. How nice! With bellies satisfied we napped all the way back. Oh one more thought about ziplining a green cockroach landed on my chest. It was the prettiest bug I´d ever seen. If only it would have posed long enough for a photo.

Back at home Mama made me lunch. I had chicken, potatoes, rice, beans with a little onion. the next post. She also squeezed me fresh pineapple juice. It was delicious! I even talked a little Spanish. I will know more tomorrow after my 4 hour lesson. Today I only started my test before our adventure. Then I was off to walk to find the park which was only pointed out to me by Mama on our quick walk to pick up pictures yesterday. Daniela had a lot of faith in me. Well, it worked out. I found the park and 3 of the other kids. We then just waited for Daniela to take us to our dancing lesson. We waited 15 minutes! Then Daniela was in a panic because one of the boys was missing. He apparently is always late and has already been lost. His name is Ben. He is French with blond hair and blue eyes and no tan. He sticks out pretty easy here. It still made me nervous. We ended up spotting him on the corner 15 minutes later. He got the time wrong and wasn´t actually lost. Let´s just say he has lost 3 sets us keys while being here. 2 to his host family and one at a hotel. We have to give him a bit of a break as he does have ADHD and is not taking meds.

So now on to the dancing. We danced on the third story of a building. Remember no AC and we are now movin´and a groovin´! Let´s just say toasty! We learned the merengue, salsa, and Costa Rican swing. Luke and I according to the dance instructor were the best. So yes, I danced well with a 15 year old! He was loving every minute of it as his head was getting bigger and bigger. Afterwards I was turned around, hot, and nervous to get home. Luke walked me home which is when he told me the two girls had lived in this house before me.

This afternoon I had homemade bread pudding. The house smelled so sweet, read, did Sudoku and played on the internet.

We´ll see what tomorrow brings. Should be school, sugar cane factory tour, and a trip to the waterfall/swimming hole in town.