I see Your face in...: La Rondalla

I love latin music, singing in spanish, and speaking spanish... so what better group to get involved in than the UNA's (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Costa Rica's) very own RONDALLA. I nervously asked the office of Promoción Estudiantil for information on musical groups on campus one of my first few weeks here and the musical group that seemed like the best fit also became the best decision I ever made as far as extracurriculars abroad go. They meet once a week for three hours... people from different sorts of majors (although there seem to be a lot of computer science majors for some reason) and then there's me, who doesn't exactly have a major yet and changes it every single time someone asks. We sing folk music from Costa Rica and some more modern (trova, salsa, ballads) music from all around Latin America while a few guys play some instruments like sax, guitar, bass, congo, and maracas.

They had a weekend outing last weekend to an island called Isla Venado between Puntarenas and Guanacaste. The population is around 1,200 people and you get there by walking through mud (it was low tide, photo above) to this lil' funky blue boat called a "panga" which comes with fun holes (photo below and to the right) you have to cover to avoid going under and nice little benches (more railing like) that leave your behind feeling numb by the end of the 20 minute ride. It also smells like fish, but I must admit I loved it...

Anyways, we stayed in this cute two-story cabin on the island shore with an eating area to its left, ate the most DELICIOUS food--they gave everyone a whole fish... eyes and everything. This tenor Deiby ate my eyes for me... thank goodness, I mean, what are friends for anyway?

There's a lady who lives next door on the right who turns her house into a bar and her patio space (the beach) into a dance floor whenever there are visitors on the island. Also, I met the super gifted seven-year-old granddaughter of the cabin owner (photo below of Naydelin with my friend Jenny and I) and we talked all afternoon until dinner saturday night... she told stories like telenovelas, drew me a picture, taught me about how fast pumas can run, who Jesus is, and all about how plants grow. She's probably one of the coolest people I've met in a while... and one of the sweetest (she made me a shell bracelet she had made the morning the Rondalla left the island and gave me a leaf to never forget the island....
AAAAAAAwwwwwwWWW)!

After watching the sunrise sunday morning on the "panga" (photo below), we got ready to sing for the second time, this time for when we got back to the coastland (to be honest I don't even know visually on a map where we were that whole weekend)... After the second show and our way home, we stopped at a Monteverde icecream shop. The ride home took over five hours due to traffic, but was great so that we all had more time to spend together.

That night, when I got home at around 8pm, I started to write the FIVE page essay on material I hadn't read more than a third of (oh, and it was 1.5 spacing... NOT DOUBLE, OKAYYYY) that was due the next morning, in PRINTED form (which means I had to find a copy/printer place near the U in the morning), for my 9am class... I finished the majority of the essay the morning of and turned it in on time... PURA VIDA!!!! Now THAT'S what I call a successful weekend. (cheezy end of post photo below)