Day 3

Hard time waking up.  Exhausted from trying to learn and listen to Spanish the day prior.  Didn't manage to get myself out of bed and into the shower and only got up a few minutes before being informed that breakfast was on the table.  My host mom served pancakes with guava jam and honeydew melon.  I'd also realized that somehow with all the Spanish words in my head I didn't remember her or my Spanish teacher's name.  She walked me part way to the garden where school took place since I was coming from a different direction where she passed me off to another teacher who walked with me the rest of the way.  Luckily in the passing off, I learned the name of my host mom, Ordelia.  The embarrassing part was when in Spanish practice my teacher asked me the name of my teacher and I didn't know.  For the record, her name is Sandra.

For lunch Ordelia served an amazing noodle soup with 2 or 3 different vegetables, chicken, and fresh herbs and spices.  So far I'm simply amazed with how well I'm eating.  After my experience in Ghana for only 10 days all I wanted to eat was salad for at least 2 weeks after due to the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables.  Plus everyone had informed me that all they eat down here is rice and beans.  In that regard I may have lucked out with my host mom as the other students in the program also stated that they eat a lot of rice and beans, even for breakfast!

I went on the school sponsored afternoon activity after lunch.  Which just turned out to be a short little hike up the hill behind my house.  However, my guide book states not to come to the Cerro de la Cruz "without a tourist police escort, as it's notorious for muggers" and that the "tourist police was formed because of robberies here."  So I was glad to be coming with a group.  Additionally, I don't think that we were out of sight of the so called "tourist police" during the entire hike as I probably saw about 10 stationed throughout the walk.

Afterward a few of us decided to grab a beer (2 Swiss *not traveling together, a German, a New Zealander, and myself).  Then two of us (myself and the guy from New Zealand) went to free salsa classes which turned out to be more of a tourist trap as they roped me into signing up for a private lesson for another evening.

Dinner was less impressive though still tasty.  Some kind of white vegetable maybe similar to yucca and some kind of sweet bean pastry.  It wasn't quite enough and I was hungry before I went to bed.  All this Spanish really makes me famished and tired!  I did manage to get into a shower before going to bed.  However, the hot water didn't seem to be working so it was a rather quick and unpleasant shower.