What did you do this weekend???

Happy Monday!!  Today is my 10th day in Costa Rica and  already so much has happened!  It feels a little strange because at times it's like I just got here, and at other times, it's like I have been here forever.  I was talking with some of my friends here and I noticed how we've started talk about certain places like we know everything about it.  I definitely feel more comfortable getting around town and being a little more adventurous.  

This weekend consisted of a very full and diverse itinerary.  On Thursday, the student teachers from Westmont and ASU were invited to Director Bimrose's house for a fiesta.  All of our mentor teachers were there as well, which was very interesting.  When we got there, we were ushered outside to a huge table of food and drinks, including the best sangria ever!

After we spent some time eating and chatting with the teachers and some of the administration, live music arrived!  These guys were great!  They played a mix of traditional music and silly music, like the Tequila song...you know, the one where no one knows the words except the part when you shout TEQUILA!
Pretty soon, all of the teachers came up to sing us some traditional Costa Rican music.  Then the dancing began.  It's hard to picture something like this happening in California.  Where else can you drink Sangria and dance with the director and principle of your school??  Only here!  It was so much fun and was a great way to warm up to our mentor teachers!

On Saturday, all 13 of the student teachers decided to take a day trip to Isla Tortuga on the Pacific side of the country.  We had heard great things about Tortuga and decided to go see for ourselves what it was like.  The company that we booked the tour through sent vans to Moravia to pick us up, which was great since it would have taken much longer on the bus.  I've mentioned before how insane the driving is here, and this day was no exception.  We all piled into to vans which unfortunately had one row of backward facing seats (read: vomit row).  It was bad enough to have backward facing seats, but then we had a driver who was worse than most taxi drivers!  I think we spent more time on the wrong side of the road passing other cars than in the correct lane!  Luckily, I was able to focus on distant objects outside to keep from getting sick.  Others were not so fortunate:

Along the way, we got to see a little bit more of the beautiful country outside of the city.  There would be nothing for miles and then a little store like this one, all by itself.

We eventually made it to Jaco after about 2 hours of driving like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland.  It was a million degrees warmer in Jaco than in San Jose.  I think we all started sweating the instant we got out of the car.  The beach was small, but nice.  From the beach, we got on a little water taxi that took us out about 300 yards to our "yacht" (according to the website) which was really just an open boat with seats.  Then we rode on that boat out to Tortuga Island.  

We went snorkeling and saw all kinds of cool things.  I saw starfish, oysters, sea cucumbers, tons of fish, and two puffer fish!  One was brown and had huge spikes all over its body.  You had to wear gloves to hold it.  The other was yellow and had teeny spikes that felt more like a buzzed hair cut.  He was so cute!  He looked like an angry fat man with abnormally small limbs. 

After snorkeling, we rode the boat to Tortuga where we had lunch and relaxed in the warm sun.  The island was so beautiful!  Some of us were joking that we were going to open an international school on the island so we can live there forever!

All in all, it was a wonderful day.  And this was the final image we were left with: (cue cheesy sunset music)

When the tour was done, we got back on the vans to go home to Moravia.  We were all exhausted and were starving!  The entire drive, we talked about the many things we should have for dinner.  When the vans got to Moravia, we all got out and got ready to head separate ways to go home.  That's when the bad part of the day happened.  After I got out of the van, I reached back in to get my backpack, which was quite heavy.  I swung it onto my shoulder and lost my balance.  When I took a step to catch myself, I stepped into a 3-foot deep storm drain.  Have you ever accidentally stepped off the curb and realized that the ground was actually 6 inches lower than you thought?  Yeah, this was the same, except the ground was 3 feet lower than where I was standing.  It was so bizarre.  I sat down on the ground and instantly grabbed my foot.  After I felt something pop, I let go and the side of my foot immediately swelled up and looked like I had a golf ball inside of it.  Everyone was so nice and stayed with me until my host family came to pick me up. 

 My host dad, Luis, has a 1978 VW bus that barely works on a good day.  This night, my friend Hannah opened the door and helped me get into the car.  After I was in and we were ready to go, she tried to close the door and it completely fell off the car.  That's right, I'm cringing in pain while 10 people stand around trying to fix the car door!!  After about 15 minutes, my host mom Ana decides we should just take a taxi.  So Ana, Sage (my roomate) and I get into a taxi and head to the emergency room.  I was prepared for a multi-hour wait at the emergency room, but there (surprisingly) was not a single person there!  I walked (or rolled) right in and got x-rays almost instantly.  I knew it was bad news when the radiologist said he needed to call a special orthopedic doctor in instead of seeing the general emergency doctor.  Cue the tears.  I was doing good up until that point.  Then I started to get a little scared.  While we waited for the doctor, Sage took some pictures of the "before" foot:  

Then the doctor came in and showed me the x-ray.

On the last metatarsal bone (the one closest to the bottom) I broke a triangle of the bone completely off.  That last bone should all be in one piece instead of two pieces.  He also said that I ripped the insertion of a tendon off as well.  This all happened around 10 pm, and by 11 pm I was getting prepped for surgery.  Within that hour, I called my parents and explained what had happened, and made sure they understood that I needed surgery.  Cue more tears.  One of the worst things is being sick.  Worse than that is being sick in a foreign country where you barely understand the language.  So by midnight, I was in surgery where they put in a screw and washer to compress the bones together, and mesh wire to reattach the torn insertion.  I was out of recovery and in my own room by 2:30 am.  Sage stayed with me in the hospital, which was so great. 

 

After surgery: the bruise is the same angle as the screw.  Only 3 stitches!!  Orthopedic surgery is rough.  I woke up half way through the surgery and saw them drilling a hole in my bone to make room for the screw!!!  Nasty...

And there's my new souvenir from Costa Rica. 

 I can't walk for at least three weeks, and can start to put put weight on it after week 4.  Until then, I am confined to crutches.  I missed my first day of school today, which was a total bummer.  I've also been reminded of how out-of-shape I am.  I tried walking to the video store today, which is only about 100 yards from my house, and that wore me out.  So the lesson of the story is "watch your step".  You never know when you will encounter a 3 foot storm drain!

xoxo