After 4 days in San Jose we headed to Quepos to begin our Spanish lessons. Quepos is located on the Pacific Coast about in the middle of the country. Nearby is a national park called Manuel Antonio. Quepos is quite a hoppin' tourist town. We met lots of Americans which didn't help my Spanish practicing skills. The temperature is much hotter in Quepos than San Jose. Even nights are warm. Weather converstions consist of "Calor, mucho calor" (hot, very hot) followed by "como siempre" (like always). And that's the converstion. Not much else to talk about. Right outside the park is a beautiful free beach where we got to see many beautiful sunsets. I understand why Quepos is such a tourist destination. Its beautiful and relaxing.

While in Quepos we stayed with a tico family. Tico is the Costa Rica's nickname for themselves. They call us whites 'gringos' and themselves 'ticos'. Here is a picture of them in front of their house (Scott, me, Yesena, Hugo, Issac, and Genesis). This is where I had most of my Spanish practice while in Quepos.

Classes run from 8-12 in the morning in on a high point over looking the ocean midway between Quepos (the town) and Manuel Antonio (the park and beaches). The location has a gorgeous view and for 2 of the weeks I had class out on the patio and got to daydream from class staring at the ocean. what a tough life :) After class almost every day everyone heads down to the beach to stay till supper time. Scott and our new friend Egbert took up surfing. Egbert is now addicted but Scott has had some rough times. During a trip down south to a beach, called Dominical, famous for its surfing, Scott was stung by a sting ray. And this isn't just a pinch. They really stick their venom in ya. So after a few minutes of realizing the pain isn't going away he went to the lifeguard stand and they took care of him. Apparently it happens often there and they knew just what to do. And after an hour of treatment the pain was all gone. A word of advice... Sting rays hang out in shallow water and stab when you step on top of them. If you shuffle through shallow water you don't step directly on top of them and then they don't stink ya. Scott received that advice while receiving the treatment for the sting. Here's some pictures of him during his first surfing attempt in Quepos.