Getting through customs was a breeze. A very time consuming breeze. The shock didn't set in until we got in the first cab to the bus station. The talk was fast and muddy; annunciation and pronunciation, as I quickly realized, is very different. This coupled with having to use a new currency made our travel to the finca (farm)a bit less than smooth than I had hoped. Thankfully everyone was very understanding - a wonderful part of Tico culture - a man at the bus station even gave me an extra couple cents to get me through purchasing the fair more expediently.
After the long and extremely bumpy and woozy ride through the mountain road at high speeds, we arrived in Turrialba, a decent size city, a short drive to Finca Qujiote. The concessions at the bus station are similar to that of a convince store, our selection was limited to say the least. I attempted to get agua mineral con gas (mineral water with gas or club soda) to calm our stomachs. The woman at the counter was perplexed and handed me a 7up. So that's what I got. I also got some pan (bread) with a light queso(cheese) sprinkling - similar to asigio fococia.
The money is really different here, "a mil" is what we call a thousand and everything is in Spanish and often times affixed with an extra suffix. Needless to say it was tricky to pick up, but with each purchase the transaction has been a bit easier to understand than the last.
We've been at the farm now for 4 days and most of our time has been spent bonding with Gennie (the owner) and eating. We're all getting along really well and have had a great time. On Sabado (Saturday) we went to la faria (farmers market) for some food and to check out town, which was really cool. Over the past 2 days we've been working on finishing up the volunteer house so that we can start staying there along with some new volunteers whom are expected to arrive this week.
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