22 (or loose.)

One of the reasons I chose to spend my semester in Costa Rica was to get out of this academic mold I've been in, well, forever. I did pretty well up until midterms, and then went on spring break, and with all the housekeeping this week I sort went back into the only thinking about school and grades and went back into stupid mode. so i needed to be durastic and DO SOMETHING TO BREAK IT OFF.

Well, first it broke when Michael took me to Stella's and bought me pie. Afterwards we headed back to the Institute, grabbed binoculars, and Matt, and headed out to El Sendero Tranquilo behind the institute to try and find some Quetzals.

Which we did. Five of them.
First spotting since I've been here.
I still think their heads look a little funny but they are resplendant nonetheless.

So that cheered up my spirits. After class I headed into Santa Elena to run some errands. But still wasn't satisfied. I needed something else...

So I went to supercompro and bought a Toña. That's the Nicaraguan cerveza. 625 colones.

I don't really know what I planned to do with it when I bought it. Drink it, yes, but I didn't know when or where or with whom. It would be my fourth beer since I've been here. I had a Toña in San Juan del Sur and it might have been the most enjoyable experience I've ever had with a cerveza, so originally I just went to supercompro to see if they even carried it. Which they did. So I started walking home and ran into Helena and Abby. In excitement, I showed them my discovery and asked if they wanted to be belligerent and have a happy hour with me. They declined. I think they were just taken aback that I was so excited about a beer. We ended up walking back to my house and hanging out for a bit. So here's me, with an open beer, 6 o'clock in the afternoon, hanging outside my house. Maribel comes outside and is just like "you know you can come in. do you want to come in?" so here I am, giving a tour of my house to Helena and Abby, still drinking my Toña. We chill out in my room and Maribel brings me a BAG OF BROWNIES. so I have my cerveza in one hand and brownies in the other and I can't stop giggling. We make plans to meet up later at Moon Shiva, they leave, I eat dinner and get ready for SALSA DANCING.

Dulce Marzo hosts Salsa Dancing classes Thursday evenings before Moon Shiva's salsa night. It's only 2000 colones, Matt was the only one going, so I decided to join him and work on my moves. Which I did. And it was great. Sam was there, too. I met some girls who were on spring break and went to AU. Weird. I was super hyper and goofy because of the beer (you really don't drink ever, do you?), but I think it was a combination of just finally breaking out of that mold again. I also think 2000 colones a week for some dance skill improvements is a good investment.

So post dance lesson we headed over to Moon Shiva. It was packed, as it always is on Thursdays, and spent the first half of the evening chatting it up and settling down. Salsa'd with Matt, Anibal, this other guy Tim from class who teaches at CPI, and got some pretty nice compliments on my following skills (YEAH PLAYING INTO GENDER ROLES!). But really, I'm learning to love dancing here.

I took a break for a bit and sat with Matt. I told him about the summer and how the only thing I wanted that first day I was home was to be asked to dance at my ex-boyfriend's grandparents' wedding anniversary (he's Chilean), but he never did. It would've been nice. I really just wanted to dance with someone who could literally sweep me off my feet. Next thing I knew, I was. His name was Alejandro, from Colombia. He taught me to Meringue and asked me to dance multiple times throughout the night, to which I obliged. It also turns out he currently lives right next door to me. Not sure how long he's around for, but hey, now I have a sick dancing teacher. Honestly, dancing in Latin America is so civil and sexy and fluid and refreshing and...non-aggressive in a way of flirting or simply communication that doesn't seem to exist in such a combination outside of Latin American dance, at least I haven't seen it.

So that's me, breaking the mold with my one beer and salsa dancing.

and I feel totally good today.