First Day in Mastatal

So Ari and I have made it to our host families here in Mastatal. We arrived in San Jose at 8 monday night and took a shuttle to our hostel. After settling in we went upstairs to their rooftop restuarant and bar and got a bottle of water and looked out over the city of san jose. After spending the night freezing we woke up and walked to the closest bank and exchanged our money for some colones. Than we took a taxi for three bucks to the bus station where we got on a fairly nice bus to Puriscal, which only took an hour. Good thing Arianna used her spanish skills to ask the guy next to her which stop we should get off at cause otherwise we could of been in trouble.
We got into Puriscal about three hours early so we ate and walked around the small town which is centered around a large church and park. Finally, we got on our bus to Mastatal, which was an old school bus that took us over tons of mountains and next to many cliffs. There are no guardrails in Costa Rica. After a quick stop because another bus had slid off the road we were back on our way only to slow down when driving over fallen tree trunks. It was the most scenic drive i have ever seen. I wonder if all the people riding the bus knew they live in the most beautful place.
About two hours into our bus ride Sarah, the teachers wife hopped on the bus to help show us where to go. Arianna soon got off at her host family and i kept going where we switched busses in Mastatal. After sitting on the bus while they changed a tire we took of, but sarah missed our stop so we took the bus all the way to the next town of Miguel, where we got off and waited at the bar, which had no electricity so we couldn{t call. but eventually Marcos, our teacher noticed we were gone and came and picked us up on the only way to travel, dirtbike.
My host family is an older couple and their 17year old daughter. None of whom speak english. So after chitchating a little bit with all the spanish i know. i had some dinner and was shown my room and the compost toilet and when to bed with a candle.
When it rains here, it pours and all the houses have tin roofs which makes the rain just echo through the house, and if that doesn{t wake you up the roosters will at 3 in the morning. So it was a bit of a rough first night but overall pretty good.
Arrobal my host mother is a fabulous cook, who wakes up at 5 to milk the cows and she also makes her own cheese. So for breakfast i had some fresh papaya and quesdillas with homemade queso. After breakfast I atempted to look decent, without showering and without a mirror, so im sure im looking quite fabulous, cause there is still no running water. I went over to Marcos and Sarah{s house where i talked to them and one of their volunteers for a while and than went back over to my house for lunch which had rice and beans, which my host mother told we will be eating alot. i can handle that.
She was nice enough to find me a bucket filled with rain water to shower with. We were supposed to have our first class today but one of my teachers good friends died so he had to go help with the funeral, so tomorrow will be our first class. But he did tell us a bit about our small town of 150 people. Its main attractions are the chocolate farm down the road, the internet cafe which i am at right now paying 700 colones an hour, the soda which is kinda like a convience store and thats about it.
Hopefully i will figure out how to post pictures soon so i can show you all these exciting places. So far i was only feeling a little homesick last night, mostly missing vern and my temprapedic pillow, but im definetly learning so much about the simple life and the costa rican culture. Ill keep you all posted as much as i can or before i run out of colones. Oh one last thing. There is only one a bus a day that comes to Mastatal and nearly half the town shows up just to see who gets off. A good source of entertainment. choas