Rashes, Splashes, Mixmashes.

SO here I sit on an 80 degree Costa Rican day outside enjoying the heat (or at least trying to) and writing in my blog. The last two days barely reached 70 and I felt so cold! I was wearing TWO sweatshirts the one day! Just goes to show you how easy it is to get used to it being hot all the time.
Since I last wrote, I've visited two volcanoes, a basilica, a coral reef near Nicaragua, and Automercado.
Two weeks ago was our photography trip to the volcanoes- one each day. Saturday we went to Poas, the biggest and most well-known volcano in Costa Rica. THis volcano boasts a lagoon on its top surface that steams and threatens to blow- it was gorgeous. And the altitute was a nice change of pace, offering 0% humidity at about 70 or 70%. We took lots of pictures, more of the nature than just the volcano because in my professor's words- "everybody has pictures of volcanos"- not us silly!
Day two was Volcan Irazu- this was TOTALY not what I was expecting from a trip to a volcano. We got up to the high altitude of the mountains to the point where we were above the clouds we see every day and in thenext layer of clouds! These clouds were thicker and our prof had failed to mention how COLD it would be- we could see our breath here!!!!!! It was about 50 degress, more or less, and very foggy, which gave us a very interesting and different take on pictures- with no actual volcano mouth to be seen. All in all, the trip was fun and I took over 600 pictures! They aren't all good, as they were experimental and for class, but they are all up on my shutterfly if you would like to take a look.
The next weekend, last weekend, was my trip for biology- snorkeling once again, this time very near Nicaragua. We actually got to see coral this time, in addition to some very strange fish including pufferfish and jellyfish. These jellyfish were small, and a number of us got stung. Three of us, including lucky me, had allergic reactions to it. One girl's was immediate, and she puffed up like a balloon. Another girl had a rash that spread, and I was fortunately enough to only get a small rash that isn't quite gone yet. All in all, it was another Costa Rican experience :) Ps, I hear me in a wetsuit is quite a sight to behold.
In addition, theres a posibility that I'm allergic to something not yet identified that gives me small bumps on my skin that seem harmless. Something a little more harmful is the second intestinal infection I've gotten- it makes me about ready to come home where I don't have to guard what I eat so carefully. On the bright side of the situation, since every cloud has a silver lining, I finally went to Automercado. I had heard about it, but no one had really filled me in- this place is like an AMerican grocery store, complete with American foods! I think if I had known sooner, I would be broke now XD As it is, they will receive a lot of my money over the next two weeks. Can't believe I come home in less than three weeks!
In other news, my new host family is still totally awesome- I will be making banana bread some time in the next week with my host mom, and I will also have the opportunity this Friday to cook for my host family. I am VERY excited to make them a nice American meal that isn't too far out of their comfort zone, since it includes rice and chicken.
Another new experience I had was FINALLY getting the chance to do some volunteer work. I went to Heredia, and we visited a poorer part of town where they have a school for small children. We helped with the lesson and clean up, and then helped to serve lunch, which they also provided for us. It was a pretty awesome eye-opening experience, especially to see houses made of just tin- the aluminum pieces some of the poorer neighborhoods use as roofing. It was sad, but government funded projects ae making it possible for them to build real houses, which you can see all around the area on the dirt roads.
This coming weekend I will be going to Montezuma, and the following will be a revisit to Monteverde's rain forest. After that I come home!!