Week Nine 2/21-2/27

Two chicks heading out to surf at sunrise

My foot prints in the sand

After learning how to surf :) Not the best pic ever taken, but it was a great experience

The lady who cleans my room always leaves me some flowers. So cool

Sunset, on one of our class field trips to the beach

Very cool spider, reminded my of the golden silk spiders in Texas and Florida

Sunset from my school

One of the 10 or so big turtles we saw yesterday. 

Isle de Cano was COVERED in hermit crabs

They loved all the fruit rinds left by the tourists

It was kind of hazy yesterday, made for a cool shot about an hour before sunset

Iguana. They live in the rafters of the buildings, you can hear them running on the roof and then landing on the ground 2 stories down

GIANT bug. I do not know what kind but he is about the size of my palm. Big bug. 

I cant believe another week has already passed! Seems like I just got here to Playa Dominical. On Tuesday I took a surf lesson, it went pretty well. By the end of two hours I was able to stand up almost every time. On Wednesday I got a massage, it was amazing! You could hear the ocean and they had some great music playing. I so needed that after the disaster that was last Sunday. I was so very sore after carrying everything around for an hour. I had bruises all the way until Friday. Have spent most of my free time this week with two girls from Austria, Anna Maria and Kristina, and Rolf from Switzerland. Very cool group to talk to, we talked about what our home countries were like and compared them. Very fun and interesting conversations that have only deepened my desire to go to Europe as soon as I can.  And the girls said they would show me around Austria and Rolf  said he would show me around Zurich. So thats an exciting proposition. the group from Europe had no idea about "The Sound of Music", so I had to youtube some clips and explain the plot. It seemed crazy that they had never heard of the movie. Oh and another cool person I have met was a pharmacist named Terri, she travels all over the state of Alaska helping different villages. She was a fellow student here last week and told me to let her know if I made up to Alaska in the next year or so and she would meet me in Juneau to show me around. So very cool to meet all these people and to learn about the lives they lead when we are not here in this tropical wonderland.
Yesterday I went to Isle de Cano, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isla_del_Ca%C3%B1o The snorkeling was so awesome, the water was super clear so visibility was high. Saw tons of fish species I did not recognize, but some I did. Like parrot, puffer and a really really big snapper. Thanks to my TMJ I only snorkeled in the morning and did not go back out after lunch. Having to bite down on the mouth piece was just to much for my jaw, it was popping and cracking after about 45 min of snorkeling. My sunscreen fell out of my bag and was still on the boat so I did not have sunscreen while I was on the Isle. And I fell asleep, burned myself pretty good. But today its pretty much a lovely tan color, my skin just feels a little to tight. So more aloe and lots of water.
In class this week we didn't really learn a whole lot because we had 3 different teachers. And it was a review week, largely in part to the three teachers, but also because I was between the two levels of classes being offered. And we played lots of games, which was fun but not extremely educational. Also class ended an hour early every day last week. Some days we went to the beach or went to get ice cream-which is home made, super creamy and sooo yummy. The dance class no one went to so I have not yet learned to salsa. :( And I was the only student in the cooking class, we made Barbudos, which has become a new favorite. So yummy and good for you. Here is a recipe I found online http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=667117  We didnt use any spices or salt, but I will add that when I get home. We also used fresh green beans. So yummy. Some other recipes I found of this added cheese which sounds yummy. The school served this as a meal over white rice that had a home made salsa mixed in. I also made fried plantains last night for dinner, so very yummy. Think large banana. I am hoping to make some yucca this week, but every one says its really hard. I bought a cook book (for $15) and the recipe doesn't sound to hard. Hopefully it works.