Cachi

Me with Hayley and Kate, my bestest friends in all of Costa Rica. They are pretty darn "good sh--" (censored for my mom), an expression that you really can't translate into Spanish. Excithitching a ride with some truckers; Cachi for the weekend.

Walking, just walking and beauty abounding. Picking the fruits that you've never seen before off the trees and eating them. Water apples, mandarins, green thingys, lemons . . . Garden of Eden. But, with no sign of snakes disguised as temptation. O algo asi.

More beauty
















and more beauty, albeit a muddy river.

















In the midst of all the beauty, we came upon some cute little furry pie cows!













But wait a second. These are not cows. They are bulls. With very large wrinkly testicles. And the brown fuzzy one did not like having his picture taken. I hid behind a tree and stared it down. For even a bull sin horns shalt make a human pancake.

Our campsite, though in the bullpen with 7 or so bulls, did have some barbed wire in between. They did, however, make out with a loaf of bread and a tiki torch. Hayley on top and Eduardo on the bottom, showing off the succulent wild fruit.

The climbing was great! The rock was good with good friction and even though it looks like there are holds everywhere, they are all eslopers, como se dice aqui. It miraculously didn't downpour here, like it does every other day right when I get off of work. Sunny, sunny, sunny, monsoon.






Pupi (what a nickname) leading Caca Vaca.
















This is the very refreshing spring fed pool for our after-climbing pleasure. All in all, a wonderful weekend!

El Rocodromo

This is my new playground. It is sweaty and lovely-smelling in the rainy hot humidity. But, this is where I have met the other half of my friends so far, the ones I didn't meet on the bus. There is Eduardo, who works there and is taking us climbing outside of Cartago this weekend. And Fabian, who is in the picture and likes the liqui-chalk. And Hayley and Kate, my American friends who are coming this weekend, also. And German Matias who is doing his master's thesis on the TLC (Tratado Libre Commercio, creo), which is the free trade agreement between the US and Central America, all of which have signed except for Costa Rica. And my 11-year-old friend who is about my level of climbing. And the guy who never climbs but sits in the hammock; I forgot his name.
Well folks, I am psyched to get toasty and camp next to a volcano with my new friends. I hope I have more stories to tell you then.

San Jose, City Life

This is Hospital de Los Ninos, where I'm working in Pediatric Infectious Disease. It is pretty much really hard. I guess I'm used to Mexicans and Peruvians. And Peruvians have a really easy accent and Mexicans I talk to all the time in MN. But the Costa Rican accent is hard for me and when they are talking really fast, I have to concentrate very hard and I still miss things. Which is hard for me because I'm kind of a perfectionist and I like to get things. I did see and write notes on 6 patients today, though. And also, I'm getting used to parents of patients coming up and asking me things. I like the ring of Doctora better than just Doctor. But on the down side, I know the answers less often than I do in English. Still, they must think I look like I know because they asked me. Hah. Fooled them. Ooh, and a native Spanish speaker asked me for directions to the bus stop on the street today! I really have no idea why she thought I would know, but the cool thing is that it was one of the appx. 4 bus stops I did know. Sweet. I gave someone directions.

I want some Chess Cake. Internet in casa has been muy esporadico this week, so this is my excuse for already being slackerish about updating my blog. Also, I have to wake up way early. I had to get to the hospital by 6 this morning and I don't really live that close and I am bus-dependent. Which means, I am tooooooo tired to do anything else but update my blog for you beautiful people on my Friday night.

Costa Rica, My New Home

This is the stream that runs through the campus of the University of Costa Rica. Pretty impressive verdure, if you ask me. However, the bridge might not pass in the US. I don't go there, but i live closeby, in San Pedro. So far, I have figured out how to navigate the buses, and that was a pretty big accomplishment for one day. I made it to UCIMED, which is on the other side of the city, sigh. Part of me thinks staying in a hostel closer to the hospital and to the campus would be better. But I am loving the internet in my house and the ability to leave things without fear of theivery. It is downpouring, though, and there is not a chance I'm going back downtown tonight with my lack of friends for any nightlife.

My Costa Rican family is really nice and very into showing my how to do stuff. My littlest bro doesn't actually talk much to me, he usually asks his mom a question if he has one and then she asks me. It's kind of funny, but I spose he'll get over his shyness soon.

Feliz Día de Patria! Today and yesterday, Costa Rica celebrated Inde- pendence Day. Which meant that all week, there were grade school bands practicing all over the place. My little brother had blisters all over his hands from all the abundant drumming. Of course, this meant that many places were closed and that the city center was a madhouse. I had good luck with making friends today: I made friends with a really funny flaming couple from the other San Jose (CA) that I hung out with for awhile and might go see monkeys with tomorrow and a girl from Kansas who is studying abroad at the University of Costa Rica. The Ticos are friendly, but not really seeming like they think we're friends after talking to me for 5 minutes at the bus stop. So far, I still only have 1 Tico friend, Jorge, who I met in Minnesota. And my family and the docs I'm working with, but they only sort of count because they don't want to come climb volcanos with me. But my family does like to have really interesting discussions, which are always good for the Spanish, including the HPV vaccine, cremation and the recent cases of transfusion-transmitted HIV in Peru.

Jorge and I drinking "Rock Ice" beer and toasting to Costa Rica. Jorge did an Internal Medicine rotation at HCMC last year, so we go way back. Mostly, he just made fun of me for being klutzy and spilling coffee on my white coat. All right, I may have done this more than once. He is taking his Step 1 next week so that he can go to residency in the U.S. Maybe even Minnesota. He will have no trouble dwarfing my meager intelligence on this exam, as he is evidently getting 90s on his Kaplan QBank. I definitely was not getting 90s.
I met my host mom's parents yesterday, who are from Puntarenas. There is something about their accents that makes it sound like a mix between Spanish and gargling. They evidently live on the coast and kindly invited me to stay with them if I want to visit Puntarenas. I'd feel much better about taking them up on their offer if I could understand them, though.
Tomorrow is my first day of my Infectious Disease rotation; I hope to see some Leishmaniasis and some Neurocysticercosis. Actually, I should maybe look up Leishmaniasis because I really can't remember a damn thing about it.
Forecast, as always, is downpouring rain. Lovely. Today, I saw people sweeping rain. Hmmm.

Squamish, British Columbia

I may have been supposed to be studying for my board exam. But instead, I was climbing in Squamish, a little gem of a town 45 minutes north of Vancouver. Known for being the windsurfing capital of the world and for having amazing rock climbing, the beautiful town somehow has minimal tourists to override its beauty. Maybe its because the sports Squamish is famous for aren't do-able by your typical fat tourist. Either way, it was amazing. Joel and I met our friends Danielle and EZ, who drove up from Colorado. The Chief is a huge, 1000 foot cliff the overlooks the town. Joel and I climbed the Grand Wall, an 8 or so pitch climb up the middle of it. It was some of my first trad climbing and the exposure was quite daunting. But it was amazing, especially for an adrenaline junkie like me.







Danielle looking swoll on Home Boy, V6.










Me leading my very first trad climb. For the non-climber, that is where you have to place gear on your way up and trust that if you fell it would not pop out. I haven't fallen yet, so I haven't had the nerve-racking experience of learning by trial and error just how good my placements are.





Joel climbing a famous boulder problem also known as "Back Door," needless to say why.














Danielle, EZ and their spunky pooch, Peanut.











EZ on his project, the Egg, which he made short work of CRUSHING on this trip.













Me on "The Cutting Edge."













Our campsite, nestled in a beautiful rainforest at the base of an amazing granite behemoth, overlooking the Howe sound. All in all, we had an amazing trip.