The Spudman

Burley, Idaho is the proud sponsor of the Spudman Triathlon, which has been up and running for the past 21 years. My uncle Brent participated in it last year, along with my cousin, and he recruited many of us from the family to sign up and participate in it this year. My mother, sister and I signed up as a team with each of us doing a different event, but then my mother had to back out due to some health issues. So my aunt Lisa jumped in and took my mom's biking portion.

You are supposed to wear these timers on your ankles that keeps your time and this is my face when we realized that we had forgotten it back in the truck .5 miles away with only 8 minutes left before I was to get in the water.

Preparing for the start of my 1 mile swim/float down the Snake River

My aunt Lisa setting out on the 26 mile bike portion My sister Erin getting ready to sprint through her 6 mile run section

Team Lauritzen at the end of the race

I plan on signing up for the Spudman next year and training to do the whole thing myself. My uncle Brian would also like all to know that he completed the whole thing himself in 2 hours 31 minutes.

Our results are finally in.....3 hours 17 minutes 16 seconds 34 miliseconds

Snake River

So we are here now in Burley, Idaho, the place where my mother was born and raised and where my grandparents still live. Friday we went to the Snake River where we had a wonderful bbq and fabulous time on the river.

Me having fun on the rope swing

Me and my sister on the innertube

Me and my sister doing the splits off a 25-30 foot rock

Home at last

We got to the airport with plenty of time this morning seeing that our hotel was only a 5 minute shuttle ride away. About halfway through the check-in line we remembered that we were flying First Class due to an upgrade with my mom's Sky Miles. Our tickets only cost $30 each and we got to fly First Class.

Once we arrived in Atlanta we ate a late lunch at Chili's, where I had chips and salsa, and then we hunkered down for our 6 hour layover. We were heading over to some seats near the window when I heard my name. I turned around to see who in the Atlanta airport could possibly know me and it was Sister Scharffs from Nauvoo. The Scharffs are currently serving a mission in Scotland, but her father is having health problems so she was flying back to SLC to see him. It was really good to see her and catch up seeing it had been about 3 years since I had last seen her. She still looks as young and chic as ever.

We landed in Ontario around 10:30 pm and were home by 11pm. It is now 2:30 am and I have just finished with my third load of laundry. I will wake at 5 am, shower, re-pack, and we will be leaving at 6 am for the wonderful 14 hour drive to Idaho.

Medical Clinic

So we were supposed to be on Delta flight #244 Tuesday morning at 8 am but something came up and out and all over.

Around 2 am my mom got up from the bed and went into our green and white checkered bathroom and started throwing up.

She came back to bed for only 20-30 minutes before getting out to throw up again. This continued for about 2.5 hours with details I will spare you all. We were supposed to catch a taxi to the airport at 5:30 but that was not going to happen, not with her in this state. The B&B owner had her son walk us up 3 blocks to the local medical clinic/hospital where my mom was admitted. She was briefly checked out, given an IV and asked to rest on a cushioned bench. There were many other people in this hallway attached to hanging IV bags and one of them was this big guy who kept moaning for an hour and a half straight. Good thing I brought my book to keep my occupied until I finally asked if we could see a doctor. There was some issues with the computer system when I went to pay the 38,ooo colones which equals to about $80. What a deal huh?Before heading to the clinic I called Delta and got our flight changed to tomorrow. We are now staying at the Hampton Inn which is soooooo comfortable and only 5 minutes from the airport.

Massage

Monday started out peaceful and relaxing as we treated ourselves to massages at the Spa. The 2 hour 20 minute pampering fest started out with reflexology on our feet but to be honest mine felt more like a soft rub-down. I then was treated to a facial which included hot volcanic stones and felt like heaven. The rest of my body was then massaged and melted like butter under the caress of hot volcanic stones. At 1:30 pm we were picked up by Interbus for our 3 hour drive to San Jose. I think I saw more fear on my moms face during this treacherous drive than when we were on the small plane getting to La Fortuna. I'm not sure if our transfer bus had trouble shifting or if it was our driver but it was not a pleasant drive. We really wished we would have flown the 20 minutes instead of drive the 3 hours, and even my mom said she felt safer on the small plane.

We finally arrived at our small bed and breakfast in a nice part of town but our b&b wasn't quite as nice. We had met this lady our first Sunday in San Jose at church and she gave us her business card stating that she owned a b&b if we ever needed a place to stay in SJ. We took her up on that and sort of regretted it once we go there and saw the place. One cool thing is that it butts up to the backside of the Mexican Embassy so I have a picture of me half in Costa Rica and half in Mexico. I will have to upload pictures later when I'm on a computer that has a USB port.

We ate at this really cool restaurant called Cafe Mundo that was this cool victorian home turned chic restaurant. The location of our B&B is in an area with a lot of restored European looking buildings with lots of character.

Volcano Arenal

This post is post script to my last one. After canyoning we showered quickly and then got a taxi to take us over to the observatory side of Volcano Arenal seeing that it was a clear night with no clouds covering the top. The ride ended up being 30 minutes long, 15 minutes longer than we expected, but it was worth it. We had a clear view of the top with lava pouring down at times and red hot rocks bouncing down the face.

There is a restaurant at the observatory point and before we left for the observatory we thought about eating there but when we asked our taxi driver if she would wait for us she didn't seem too willing. So as we were standing there on the deck enjoying the night show, she came up to us and told us that she had been invited to eat dinner by the staff. Well, we figured if she was going to eat we might as well too. We paid $16 each for a nasty and very disappointing buffet. I cant believe they charge that much, and I cant believe we paid that much. Had we known how bad the food was we wouldn't have. Although the one good thing about the place is that they had chips and salsa. So we sat at the same table with our taxi driver and tried to enjoy our sorry excuse for a meal.

Canyoning

My mother is demanding that I correct an an error from my last post and give more accurate information. I stated that she fell off her ATV on the rather difficult section, but in fact the ATV tipped over, spilling her from her seat and started to roll down on her until she stuck out her foot and saved her own life. She said that it was much more eventful and life threatening than the way I reported the incident by her simply falling off. Is that better mom?

After a lazy morning, where I ended up locking myself out of our cabina, we set out to do some canyoning. What is canyoning you ask? I wondered the same thing at first. Simply put, it is rappelling down a slot canyon that also has waterfalls. We went with the company Pure Trek which is co-owned by a lady from CA. It was a ton of fun and I wish it lasted longer. There were 5 descents and 4 of them had waterfalls. One of the guides told me I should apply, so it looks like I could easily stay in Costa Rica if I wanted to with job offers here at Pure Trek or at the canopy place.

Two thumbs up for this adventure

My mom Enjoying the waterfall

Riding ATVs can be muddy

We attempted to hike down this trail to the river below but it got a bit steep and slippery, so we turned back. On the way back up we came upon a creature in the middle of the trail which surprised and frightened me enough to make me scream. It was an armadillo and I'm not sure who was freaked out more, me or the armadillo that tore off as soon as I screamed. My question is, what are armadillos doing in Costa Rica? I had no idea they were residents here.

Our hotel has some natural hot spring pools that progressively get hotter the further up you go. They are quite nice and relaxing.

Our hotel also has some really amazing flora and fauna.

The main reason we came to the La Fortuna area is because of the Volcano Arenal. We can view it right out our front door and were able to see the top of it this morning while at breakfast.

Strapping on a helmet does not make one an expert ATV rider, just ask my mother. We signed up for an ATV tour today and set out with our group on a semi difficult and technical course. There was this steep part with uneven terrain and mud at the bottom, and what does my mother do but fall off. Don't worry she is okay and is quite the trooper because she got right back on, but her behind was quite muddy.

We rode all the way over to La Fortuna falls but didn't make the hike down because it would have taken too long.

On the open stretches I got up to speeds of 75 and hit a mud puddle that was a lot bigger and deeper than I realized while going about 30, causing a wall of mud to envelope me. No worries we just went across a river so that I could get the mud off.

Tiny plane, big fear

In an effort to show appreciation and avoid gallo pinto one more time, my mom offered to cook breakfast for our host family. She made french toast and it was a hit. We then called a really large cab to take our really large suitcases to a travel agency who was going to ship them to our hotel in San Jose for us. We didn't want to have to bother with them on the flight to Arenal. I don't think they would have even allowed them on the flight because they may have brought the plane down. Every pound and ounce was accounted for on this flight. Even we had to be ashamedly weighed in while holding our purses.

We took off from the Quepos "International" Airport and flew directly to San Jose in 20 minutes, which would have taken us 3.5 hours on a crowded bus on dangerous mountain roads. After a brief 5 minute layover in SJ for refueling, we boarded an empty plane to La Fortuna. Literally it was empty, we were the only ones on this puddle jumper besides the pilots.

Shortly after arriving at our Hotel Arenal Paraiso, we went on another canopy tour only this time we got crazy!!!

Even my mom got wild!!

We feel like we are more in Hawaii than in Costa Rica seeing that we are staying in a resort like setting. We have a cute little cabina with A/C which we are loving!!!!.

Ultima Dia

Seeing that there tends to be a this crazy tradition at COSI, where "graduating" students give a farewell speech, we conveniently booked our flight to Arenal for Friday morning, in an effort to avoid the embarrassment. We may not be able to speak Spanish, but we ain't stupid either. Our certificates of completion were given to us unceremoniously on Thursday at the end of class and we skipped out with pleasure. I headed down to the beach for the last time and attempted to soak up my last bit of sun, but unfortunately it was a bit overcast.

Later that afternoon while out getting supplies to cook breakfast in the morning and last minute souvenirs, we were literally dumped on. I mean it rains here almost everyday and we have had our fair share of downpours, but this one was a doosie. Even with our ever present umbrellas, we were soaked through and through. All in all we had a great time.

Just as we arrived home, one of the guides from the rafting company stopped the taxi he was in and asked if I wanted to go out later. So we met up around 9:30 and headed to a really good BBQ restaurant.

Por vs. Para

The fact came up at the end of class on Tuesday that we had never learned the proper uses of por or para like we were supposed to the week prior. So, our teacher pulled out her poster board the next day and took all of Wednesday trying to instill within us the knowledge of when to use these two similar words. Por has about 14 uses and para about 9. This is a lot to keep track of but I did alright on the worksheets she gave us.

We were picked up from COSI after classes and taken out to the mangroves where we kayaked through the estuaries. Another group of 9 people was supposed to join us, but they cancelled which was fine by us. Our guide took us to a spot where we attempted to look for crocodiles but none were to be found. We saw tiger herons, a grip of crabs, bats, and these crazy fish that kept jumping out of the water and scaring us. We went through some rather tight channels where at times we had to pull ourselves through and under the spider web-like branches of the mangroves. Pictures will be posted later as they were taken with a waterproof disposable camera.

Shafted again

Today in class we learned the Imperfect tense which is cool because only 3 verbs are irregular, but there are only 9 reasons that you use this tense. I could be completely wrong on all of this and any of you fluent Spanish speaking friends of mine are free to correct me, but if you are not fluent I would rather not have you mess me up anymore. After class I went down to Manuel Antonio to buy some souvenirs and gifts seeing that our time here is coming to a close. I then met my mother back at the school and we headed back home to Quepos. We were all set on being picked up outside the catholic church at 5:30 for a zip-line tour at night, but that is when we kept waiting and waiting and waiting some more. Yet again we were shafted and no one came to pick us up. We used the phone of a nearby business but no one answered when we called. So we headed home with our heads hanging low, realizing that we were not doing so well in the tour aspect as of late. My mother wants me to inform you she thinks the reason that they didn't come is because an hour before the appointed time, it was pouring rain. She likes to think it was the rains fault and not that people are out to get us:)

Shafted

Sunday morning we payed our $7 dollars to enter the Manuel Antonio Park and Beach, where ticos only have to pay 1000 colones, which comes out to $2. We spent a few hours at the lovely secluded beach basking in the sun and seeing the monos close up.

We hurried back to town where we ate at this shady looking but delicious little bbq stand and then stood in front of Marlin Restaurant waiting to be picked up for our kayak through the mangroves tour. We waited and waited and then we waited some more. After about 45 minutes we asked if we could use the restaurants phone to call the tour company but they said they didn't have the number. After another 5 minutes we ended up taking a taxi to Iguana Tours. Evidently there had been some misunderstanding about the pickup place for they had been waiting and waiting for us. We went home dejected and sad.

Today was interesting and fun for many reasons:

1. we went on a full day white water rafting trip and the main road that took us there was ridiculously bumpy.
2. on the road we caught up to the presidents motorcade as he traveled the bumpy road to see how desperate money was needed for its repair. Only thing is that one of his cronies in a black truck would not let us pass, no matter how fast or crazy our driver tried to get by.
3. our driver should be a professional off-road driver with how fast he likes to take tight mountainous dirt road turns, or how fast he likes to speed through puddles. There were a few times it got really scary, and the crazy thing is that I think he really enjoys it and gets a thrill out of it.
4. we sat in the front of the raft this time which brings you MUCH closer to the action, almost too close and rode some amazing rapids.
5. we stopped half-way down the river to walk up to a beautiful waterfall that could be magical.
6. Dustin from OleMiss fell out of our raft 3 times. Yep 3! The last time actually getting a little stuck under the raft which held him down for a good 8 seconds or so.
7. we had some great casado at Marlin Restaurant in Manuel Antonio which was included in the cost of our trip.

Sorry no pictures to add from our trip down the river but there wasn´t a guide taking pictures this time.

So You Think You Can Dance Quepos Style

Having been out of the loop and contact with some of my favorite tv shows, I was going into a little bit of with drawl, one of those shows being So You Think You Can Dance. The week before I left one of my favorite dancers got booted off, Jesus Chuey. Since then I don´t know who has been kicked off and I don´t want to know until I get home and catch up by watching a marathon on DVR. But last night I was able to slightly appease that hunger by going to dance program at the local escuela/school. We only caught that last 30 minutes of the program but it was definitely some interesting dancing, very modern.

El Presidente de Costa Rica-Oscar Arias

So yesterday was our last day of classes for the week and I was a bit happy for it to be over. School has been going great but I was ready for the weekend, especially since we had to take an exam. It doesn´t really affect us but other students who are taking these courses for credit need to do well in order to get a good grade. I sort of thought the test would have been harder seeing that we had learned a heap of verbs in the preterit that are irregular this past week but there were only a few of those on the test. Two of the other students thought it was really hard but my mother and I seemed to breeze right through it. Just a disclaimer, if my spelling or grammar is off it is because of the massive amounts of Spanish floating through my head. I have noticed that I can´t spell in English anymore and my mom has been having a difficult time speaking in her mother tongue.

The security for high profile people, such as the president of the nation, seems to be quite lax here in Costa Rica. Last night the president of CR, Oscar Arias was in Quepos and you wouldn´t have even known unless someone told you. Our mama tica is the secretary of the local library association, being a retired teacher of 29 years and all, and invited us to the grand opening and ribbon cutting of the new local biblioteca where the president would grace us with his presence. The motorcade consisted of one gun toting motorcyclist, and about 4 ho hum ordinary trucks. The president did ride in style in a nice Range Rover but no one bothered to pat us down, check our purses or scope out the area. Very tranquil and low profile.

Our mama tica is the one on the right and President Arias is the man in the middle.

Titi Canopy Tour

So this morning we were on the bus from our house in Quepos to COSI, which is at the top of a long and winding mountainous road. We were just over halfway to school when our bus stopped, the bus driver said something and everyone but the Americans got off. We didn´t know what was going on, and thought either the bus broke down or that they were being kind enough to let us have the whole bus to ourselves. We all just sort of looked at each other and then silently decided that we should get off too. We then noticed that cars and trucks were backed up all the way up the hill and that everyone was walking. We just went with the flow and started to walk as well. Now remember this is not an easy feat, walking up a very steep mountain road when there is about 98% humidity. 10 minutes later and covered in sweat we passed a big rig truck stalled in the middle of the road blocking both directions of traffic. Most all of the students and quite a few teachers were about 15 minutes late to school and many of them were not happy campers at all.

Today after school we went on a canopy tour, which is zip-lines through the jungle. There were 12 lines with the longest one being about 1500 feet long. It was a ton of fun and one of the guides said that after the tour I should fill out an application to be a guide seeing I did such a great job. If only, right? We liked it so much that we set up an appoitment for next Monday to do it at night when it is dark, how daring of us...

Sorry for the bad pictures, it was extremely difficult to get a good shot.

New week, new class

I can see now why it is so important for me to have patience enough to put up with slow Internet connections. If I don´t post each day I forget what happened. Guess that comes with old age. Nothing exciting to report about Monday or Tuesday that I can recall except for the fact that Tuesday my mother got in the ocean. Some of you may be thinking, ya so, big deal? But for those of you who know my adventure phobic mother, you are well aware that this is monumental. I must admit and clarify that she is getting much more adventurous as of late. Last year we got her to skydive in Hawaii, this past weekend she went white water rafting, and we have other activities planned while here, so it is possible for people to change. Back to the her getting in the ocean, she fully got in the water and went under a wave, perhaps even 2 or 3. She sort of freaked out the whole time but I was impressed that she even got in.

I suppose I could write about how I moved up a class this week and am in fact in my mother´s class now. She most definitely knows more Spanish than I do, but I´m doing just fine. I kind of miss my teacher from last week and the size of my class, 2. This week there are 7 of us and it makes things go a lot slower. I feel like I learned a lot more last week and that the pace was intense but good. It just takes longer for 7 people to fully understand what is being taught and to respond to questions from the teacher.

Not your ordinary Sunday

Sorry I´ve been so behind in my posts, but honestly the Internet connections here are not always the best. I have to often restrain myself from screaming at the painstakingly slow computer or from even picking it up and throwing it against the wall. But I shall refrain from making a spectacle of myself. But seriously it usually takes me about 10 minutes to upload a single picture, so you can understand my frustration.

Seeing that there is no ward/branch here in Quepos, we are making the most of our weekends and doing activities. Sunday we decided to go on a catamaran tour which was okay. We had a pelican land on the boat and stayed with us for about 15 minutes before flying off. We pulled into a cove near a rock for about 30 minutes of snorkeling which was 29 minutes too long. Don´t get me wrong, I love snorkeling and scuba diving, just not in water with only 1 foot visibility. The one great thing about the tour was lunch: pasta salad, fruit and delicious fish kabobs. I could have sworn it was chicken but I was proved wrong when we asked the cook. Who knew fish could taste so good?

We were able to spend a good 3 hours at the beach Manuel Antonio after our catamaran tour, and then went to Mass with our papas ticos at 6pm. Let me just say that it was very hard to not fall asleep during the hour long Mass which was conducted in Spanish (of course it was) but the hard pews of wood made it very uncomfortable.

Rios y Parques

Saturday started off a bit bumpy but got a whole lot better. We had signed up for an all day white water rafting trip with Iguana Tours but when we got to the office they informed us that our reservations had been cancelled. The problem was that we booked the excursion through our school and so did one of the other students. Well, he decided to go to Monte Verde this past weekend, so when the school called Iguana to cancel his reservation they also cancelled ours by mistake. They didn´t have any more room for us to add to the full day trip that we were supposed to be on, but they did have 2 spots available for us on the 1/2 day trip. So we joined that excursion and had a great time.

After the white water rafting we went to Manuel Antonio National Park. It has a $7 entrance fee and then we paid an extra $25 each for a guide, which seemed a bit expensive at the time but proved to be very helpful and almost imperative for fully enjoyment of what the park has to offer. Our tour was in Spanish and English because we were teamed up with a couple from Argentina, which helped us to use our Spanish even more. We saw monkeys, iguanas, sloths, some very cool & interesting plant life and many other creatures.

Mambu Jam

Friday Charlotte didn´t show up to class so it was just me and my maestra for a total of 3 hours. I didn´t know if I would be able to handle it but surprisingly I did just fine. In fact I had fun and understood most of what my teacher and I talked about. I´m still working up the nerve to compose an entire post in Spanish. I used to think that I could write and read Spanish better than I could understand it spoken, but that is starting to change here in Costa Rica. Either I am starting to have the beginning phases of the gift of tongues or am just trying harder to understand, either way it´s less stressful.



So I thought I would hit up a local hot spot called Mambu Jam for some dancing and interaction with the locals and other turistas, but it turned out to be a bust. At least to me it was. I showered and got ready to leave around 9:15 pm but when I got there no one was dancing. It is a restaurant/bar/dance floor, but evidently the real dancing doesn´t really get started until 11:00 or so. I just sat at a table with another lady from my Spanish school listening to the very loud band for about 45 minutes when I decided I didn´t really want to just hang out there for another hour or more before the dancing started and the real fun began. So I took a taxi back to my house and went to bed. I had a busy/exciting day ahead of me and didn´t want to be tired for it by staying up super late.

I heart chips and I hate suffocating in the corner

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am in love with chips y salsa. I don´t really know why and I can´t explain how come, but I am simply and purely addicted to chips and salsa. Perhaps it is due to the fact that it has become a family tradition to open up and devour a bag of tortilla chips with salsa after church every Sunday. This act is probably the first thing we do when we get home from church. It takes place before I change out of my church dress, it happens before my dad goes home teaching, and it happens before my mom takes her Sunday afternoon nap. So you can see my sadness and consternation that chips and salsa are not that popular in Costa Rica. In fact they are not that popular in Mexico either, seeing that chips and salsa are more of a Tex-Mex food. Same goes for carne asada tacos, which is another food item that I simply cannot go without for very long. Once again, they are not that common in the wonderful country of CR. But alas, we went to a great restaurant last night, Marlin of Manuel Antonio, and I was able to get Tex-Mex nachos with the chips on the side. I was in heaven!!!! In fact I deposited the remaining chips into a small bag to take home with me because I couldn't dare leave them behind.

Last night was probably the worst night I´ve had here so far. It started to rain around 10 pm, which is fine and dandy except that it makes things even more humid. Not the greatest when you are trying to sleep. Then sometime during the late hours, between the lightning and thundering the electricity went out which turned off our ceiling fan as well. It became very hard to sleep because it made you feel like you were suffocating which was what I was trying to avoid. The ceiling fan in our room is directly over my mom´s bed, and from my bed I cannot feel its effects at all, thus making me feel like I am suffocating in the corner. To combat this, every night I move my bed right next to my moms so that at least one half of me can feel the circulating air and attempt to sleep. But with no electricity to power the fan I felt as if I were back in the corner.

Comments

I presume many of you are new to blogging or just chose not to do this, but I want to inform you that you can comment on each post on this site. Just click on the comment button at the bottom of each post, leave your comment and name (or be anonymous as my uncle Brian likes to be) and push publish. Simple and easy. Just thought some of you would like to learn and do something new and daring;)

La playa de Manuel Antonio

My mind wandered a lot yesterday during class as I was sitting there on the terrace overlooking the gorgeous ocean in the distance. It is quite the bummer to have afternoon classes when the afternoon is so beautiful and instead I´m in class. My friend Pamela from DC didn´t make it to class because she was on a tour, so it was just me and Charlotte from London, who is originally from Germany, and our teacher, Adrianna.

After dinner last night our host parents invited us on a walk with them down to the port. We walked out on the pier where several men were fishing and our ticos explained to us how the harbor is being worked on to make it deeper so that they can have an actual marina with boats. At least that is what I understood, the conversation could have easily been about how shoes are made.

This morning I took the bus all the way into Manuel Antonio where I enjoyed the beach. It very much reminds me of Nai Yang Beach in Phuket, Thailand, with the long stretch of sand, the chairs for hire and the vendors walking the beach with their goods for sale.

I practically have this same type of picture from Thailand.

There are little open air shops all along the street which I will frequent more often when I have more time. Today I just soaked in the sun and finished my book Veil of Roses.