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...

la pura vida!

(in case you can't tell, it says "bienvenidos a costa rica!")

well...i guess i should start with...i'm in costa rica! most of you probably already gathered that from recent facebook posts, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera...but many of you may not know why i am here. i am here for an opera program called opera nova, a program founded by my voice teacher, karen esquivel, and her husband, who is a native costa rican. the program has a dual purpose, to bring a rigorous opera program to costa rica and to provide costa rican and american participants with opera experience, including diction classes, voice lessons, coachings, and performance experience. it has been a really learning experience so far, and so exciting!

in the french baroque opera we are preparing and performing, médée, i will be playing nerine, médée's nurse and confidante. the several languages going on, english, french, and lots of spanish, can be a little overwhelming, but languages are something that really excite me. the coolest part about it all is that the language of music transcends all spoken languages. everyone can "speak" it and understand it!

i live with host families in the pueblo of santa ana, located in a valley surrounded by jagged mountains that are covered with lush green vegetation and speckled with the beautiful mansions of wealthy foreign retirees. we are about a 15 minute cab ride from san josé, the capital. i flew into the san josé airport on sunday morning. it's only a three hour flight from orlando!




our host "family" consists of elieth, a very sweet woman with four grown daughters who live nearby with their families. she cooks three wonderful traditional meals for us each day and even does our laundry! she does not speak english, so i am learning most of my spanish at "home." i live with two other american participants, daniele and hasmig. daniele is from mexico originally so i am so thankful to have a translator around when i really need it!

a street market in santa ana.


my bedroom...


i like to make things my own. and i like to pack a lot of stuff.


they paint the bottom of the trees so that the bugs won't climb them. resourceful!

a few blocks away from our home is the escuela municipal de artes integradas. it is a beautiful modern, open air building with practice rooms for music and dance, music lab, an art gallery, and small stage and auditorium. here are some photos of the emai...





i and my roommates walk there together and also get up early each morning to walk or run around santa ana during the safest hours and enjoy the warm weather and beautiful surroundings. we are all so thankful to be studying some beautiful music in a beautiful country!




adios! pray that i don't get montezuma's revenge! (i'm not sure what you call it in costa rica, but you get the idea.)

may i?

what a busy time of year, spring. i'm trusting that spring has sprung in all of it's busy-ness glory for everyone, which means none of you are too disappointed with my lack of blogging in recent months. in case you were worried, i'm not stuck in the snow somewhere still in colorado...i did make it back to austin safely. and now i find myself four months into my six-month temporary job down here. time flies!

a few big moments to note:

wiener-mobile sighting in february. need i say more?


- my 26th birthday, march 8, passed without any gray hairs (though i did dye my hair red). yay.



my birthday flowers from rachael!

- sxsw (south by southwest), an amazing music/media festival that lasts two weeks and feels like a month, started my 26th year off on a good note...or many good notes, i should say. (and a few celeb sightings.)


(conan o'brien is in that photo if you look hard enough.)


ashton kutcher and demi moore. she was wearing heels with overalls! most definitely a look i could not pull off.


that week i also got a free henna tattoo! (don't worry, mom and dad, it goes away after 2 weeks.)




the streets were FILLED with people in downtown austin for sxsw. it was really exciting!

- april fools' day came and went without any of the kids playing any pranks on me. i was seriously worried about this. win!

- a great visit to gruene, an old town about an hour south of austin.





my first fish taco(s). AMAZING.

- and continually meeting new friends...i need to get more pictures with them, however. this particular friend reminds me of an old friend named sparky. his name is jack.


until next time...

not at pats peak anymore.

shout out to all of you who actually understand the reference in the title. pats peak, a piddly ski joint in southern new hampshire, is a conveniently located "mountain" where i grew up learning to ski and snowboard. well, after all of the eventful 15 mile bus rides and skipped ski lessons and scalding hot chocolate experienced during those years at pat's peak, i have to say...seriously??

explanation: i'm in colorado right now. so that explains my gentle tirade against my childhood ski-hill. and despite there being no lack of snow, mountains, and ski goggles, wifi is a bit more difficult to come by. i'm sitting in the parking lot of a closed library mooching. hey, i'm just proud i found it at all. AND that i'm actually writing about my experience.

so...i am still living in texas, but this weekend i'm on a quick weekend getaway to leadville, colorado to ski/snowboard/sled/relax. well, relaxing probably won't happen much, but needless to say, i am using the time to blog, which hasn't happened in a while! anyway, from austin to leadville was about a 17 hour drive on thursday that i will be making in reverse on monday or tuesday of next week. even just after today, i can honestly say that it is completely, one hundred percent worth all of the driving! i've never been skiing in colorado before, so i am overwhelmed with the height of the mountains, the depth of the powder, and the mystery of altitude sickness.

stay tuned for more adventures...infrequent as they may be. it is not for lack of adventures, but for the fact that the adventures just haven't been stopping long enough to sit back and blog. good thing, right?


on the way into the point of interest...

one of my snowboard buddies, big K (remember the name game from the last post? if not, review it!)

quick photo op with miniature ski phenom, little K.


yup, that's me. boarder through and through.


it was a cloudy day, but prime conditions...new snow, not too many people, and it even brightened up at the end of the day. ahhhhhhhh.