bienvenidos

Well I finally arrived in Costa Rica!  I use the word “finally” because my flights were delayed over 4 hours due to my new nemesis, tropical storm Fay.  The first flight from Kansas City to Atlanta was especially special because  not only was I within two rows of not one, not two, but FIVE children under the age of two, I also was sitting next to a woman who (besides carrying a 6 week old baby) was so large that we could not put the arm rest down between us and she was invading my personal space.  However, the flight to Costa Rica was nice — I got a whole row to myself and was entertained by an in-flight movie.  If you need proof of karma, look no farther.  

Customs went smoothly, and leaving the airport I received my first taste of piropos, like one-line pick up lines, and a chorus of catcalls. Welcome to Costa Rica.  The other kids in the program actually seem really cool, though normal conversation revolves around soil erosion, taxonomy, and butterflies, and there was definitely a break out into song by a few about translation and transcription (tRNA! tRNA!).  It’s like revenge of the nerds, except for some reason they are all really outgoing. And funky.  So I’m really excited to get to know them all throughout the semester.  

Today we went to the OTS offices and played “icebreakers,” and got syllabi for the courses.  We walked around San Pedro for a while; everything is very colorful and everyone drives manual cars that do not stop for pedestrians.  Tomorrow it’s off to Las Cruces, a bio station near the Panamanian border.  It also happens to be a seven hour bus ride away from San Pedro, and I am currently kicking myself for not bringing any movies.  Las Cruces has internet, so I’ll be in touch.