a mixed bag

though i miss costa rica and la pura vida, returning to the u.s. has been great for me personally. i am so enjoying time with family, friends, and the good old places i love in the northeast. but turning on the news or thinking about the stock market is a little scary and kind of makes me want to leave the country again. this is not a politically-fueled blog, nor will it ever be, so that's all i will say about that!

my time in costa rica ended a little over two weeks ago now...with a BANG! we had two successful performances of medee in el teatro de la danza in san jose and our opera scenes recital on the last friday of the program. on saturday, we enjoyed a beautiful lunch at ale's house, and ended it with a lovely recital performed by karen esquivel and joyce guyer, with gustavo castro on piano and yours truly on pages, and sunday was a LONG day of traveling for me!


creuse et nerine...
the smoky first scene of the opera...and i was in it! i loved performing the role of nerine...even though medee was out of her mind!!


l'amour et nerine...

the catholic church in santa ana, where we performed our scenes program...

(left to right) hasmig, me, ale, and cara...finally care-free after ALL of the performances!

as i landed in boston, i couldn't resist thinking about all that has happened since the last time i was in boston...that trip was the event that first inspired my re-invented mostly travel blog that i have been intermittently contributing to since september 2010. i am more motivated than ever to keep exploring new places and meeting new people...and to blog about it as much as i can stand to. :)

today i'm blogging from my sister's place in pittsburgh (photos to come in the next post), after a great week-long stint in the 603, including reunions with friends, naps on the beach, church with family, and a beautiful wedding...and time spent here with my nephews, my parents who graciously made space for me and all of my luggage in their van on the way down here, and more memories made with friends. i love life WAY too much!

my pile of stuff...ready to go to austin!


friends since kindergarten! (i started taking pictures of my trip to nh on saturday...i wish i had photos of all of my fantastic rendez-vous with lifelong friends!)

i met deb in kindergarten...and now she has these two cuties and a kindergartener of her own (wait, i actually think she's in first grade) you get the idea. oh, how the time flies...

yup, that's me! one doesn't need to be in costa rica to have a little fun...

...or to see some beautiful natural scenes! beautiful lake winnipesaukee!

the happy bride and groom (rachel and tim)...

...and the happy party-goers. especially kai, who basically had four dates.

the BEACH!

last weekend we visited manuel antonio, one of the beaches i've heard the most about before my trip and down here in costa rica. it was a three and a half hour bus trip from san jose. we got up early saturday morning and made the trek and it was SO worth it! the bus dropped us off right in front of the hotel and we had almost a full day to explore!


the view(s) from our hotel pool. not too shabby!


i was really happy to get to the beach. i haven't been since october...and that is a long time for me!

we were serenaded at lunch. that is daniele...she sang along with the wandering musician. it was touching, but don't be fooled. you do have to pay for these moments.

even though it was cloudy for a good part of the weekend, it was still gorgeous and i got a great tan!

there was a transportation theme going with this hotel. i didn't get it (the hotel name is costa verde) but it was still very interesting.


we woke up on sunday to monkeys running across the roof of our little cabana. they were so cute and they get very lively in the morning. i didn't want to touch them (what, and get monkey fever? i don't think so.) but this little kid didn't mind and i got a great photo out of it!



sunday was a beautiful day, as you can see...and i got to do something i've never done before. last week, it was ziplining...this week, it was PARASAILING with my friend daniele! a bunch of us went and it was an absolute blast. wish i could have had my camera up in the air with me, but i didn't think that was such a good idea. so here's what i got!




more adventures to come. hopefully less expensive ones--i'm running out of money down here. feel free to donate. :)

abbie versus the volcano

ok, so here are the photos of last weekend that you've been waiting for!!


we traveled to volcano arenal on saturday and stayed at los lagos hotel and resort. gabi and i had a little cabana all to ourselves.


danielle and i drank out of pineapples!! yum!

after spending the evening in the natural spring-fed pools, we woke up early in the morning to hike to the observatory, which is as close as you can get to the volcano. it was a good thing we did, because for the rest of our stay, the volcano was hidden from view by clouds and fog. that morning, however, the view was spectacular!




the most memorable part of the weekend came next...we went on a zipline tour of the rainforest canopy. amazing! and i felt relatively safe the whole time. :)

outfitted in the harness and all, i managed to look pretty intimidating for once in my life.

i didn't even realize these photos were being taken...i just couldn't stop smiling! muy divertido!

the "superman" pose was probably the most exhilarating. i really felt like i was flying!


hard to believe there will be any photos better than these, but this weekend is BEACH weekend...so there will be some more amazing stuff to see, for sure! hasta luego!

fin de semana parte dos

hola!

time for part II of my weekend fabulous-ness. over the weekend, we went on an excursion to visit the famous and very active volcano arenal. while i was bummed that i didn't get to see any flowing lava, normal people would all agree that is a good thing. (i am a geology freak! bring on the plate tectonics. bring on the disaster movies. i love it all!) i'm really just trying to build your anticipation though, because you don't get those photos until tomorrow. we drove for a good part of the day on saturday, stopping at several tourist attractions and cute little town centers (which included several churches) along the way...so that is what you get to see today! enjoy!




the world's biggest (and most beautiful, if you ask me) ox-cart. located in the town of sarchi. look it up! it's in the guinness world book.

the whole gang! (well, the six of us who went, and gustavo is taking the picture.)


some life-sized bonzai trees make the little town of grecia a very ethereal attraction. the church and view from it were gorgeous!


(i know, the red letters are a little creepy. but i did NOT super-impose them, they were hanging there! i need to zoom in, translate, and figure out what they mean.)



hey, this is the closest i can get to rio at this point. i had to take one of these shots.

as usual, we had an amazing lunch of carne typico (i got pollo), arrozo y frijoles, platanos, and more. yum!


we saw him after lunch. an iguana in real nature. they ARE hard to find!

hola maestro gustavo!

just you wait, volcano pictures are up next...

mi primero fin de semana en costa rica

this weekend was so jam-packed with amazing sights, incredible food, and fun with new friends, that i can only begin to blog about it...so i'll start with friday...a sort of "preview" to my "fin de semana."

in costa rica, the months that are summetime in the US are the months of the rainy season. the mornings start out clear in santa ana and by noon it is overcast. often, afternoons are very rainy, with thunderstorms and torrential downpours! for this reason, i and some other students from the program have been taking early morning walks to see the views when it is clear. on friday, we walked into the mountains for the first time.

we started our hike through the town of salitral. it is picturesque because of its location but it is also an impoverished area.



and some snapshots of the flora and fauna along the way...


not all of it was exactly "natural." but this is definitely part of the scenery down here!

las bananas!



our friday, as expected, became very rainy. in the afternoon, we took a journey by bus to nearby escazu...and got drenched. but it was still an adventure! (below, daniele, uhnyak, gabi, me!)



it was still a little pretty, even in the downpour...


and after buying ponchos, still getting really wet, and eating some fried chicken, we are still smiling!

more weekend goodness to come...