A Simple Spanish Lesson from ZooAve

Ok perfect! I've been really wanting to write this post... mom is waiting to see pictures of some animals and... today is her birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!)

So for you, I have like 20 minutes till dinner, "mira, mis fotos del ZooAve!" ;)

...we started off packing LOTS of fruit for the day

then took 3 busses...

and a couple hours later, arrived here, at Zoo Ave :)

this bird stood next to me almost the whole time while i ate lunch

but it was sweet, because then much later we got to see her being woo-ed by this male peacock... it was pretty interesting to see!

Lapa Roja

Lapa Verde

Mono (Ale) haha

Cocodrilo - the closest I've ever been to one! - was pretty sweet!!

Caimen - cocodrilo wanna-be's...

Tortuga

Flor - but I didn't catch the specific type unfortunately

Manigordo (Ocelot)

Puma

Zorra Gris

Avestruz

Tucan

BeaUtiful animals!! This too, was a lovely trip with Ale, one of the better international Zoo's that I have been to...Lots of close up opportunities, my favorite was the cocodrilo and the manigordo.

Now I'm starving and.. heard we're having rellenitos de platanos for dessert tonight!!! - These are my favorite, mashed up plantain with sweet black beans inside of it... SO good!!! I've got one more post... my pics from the volcano. I'll get them up as soon as possible.

Pero, hasta luego por ahora.

Oh wait! I forgot I was going to help you learn something before I left...

RANDOM FACT: Costa Rica has more than 850 species of birds.

*this is more than the United States and Canada combined!

Adios!

Lots of Thingss...

Bummer!! I just had completed all my commenting on the following pictures, went to publish post and... ERROR! :( Shoot!! ....I was writing to say that I was about to post this massive overload of pictures from my trip to Costa Rica because... I've finally found a good wifi connection for a minute and was hoping to get in lots of updates before Ashlie arrives tomorrow! - Ps, yes, my best friend is coming to Guatemala for Thanksgiving and I'm so stoked!!! But anyway, now I'm a little bit short on time so, I'm not going to get to post all that I wanted before dinner, but here's something to get started...

Oh but first, I went into Guat City today with my teacher, her daughter, and another chica that is living with her right now... The city is all decked out in Navidad decorations so, I thought I'd share a little :)

Pepsi Santa says hello

massive tree inside MiraFlores Mall

my teacher and me

and in Santa's sleigh!

Joselin (Elsa's daughter) showcasing the Gingerbread house in Tikal Futura Mall

I CANNOT WAIT to be home with my family and friends for the holidays!!!

I'm even looking forward to the cold... the white!!

Christmas, in the north... steaming hot soy lattes and loved ones... perfect.

Now from C.R.

this is at the end of Ale's street...

the sunset was beautiful this night

And this is Ale's dog perra...

ps- "perra" means "dog" -haha

...she wanted to come back to Guatemala with me...

tuesday Ale and I headed up in to the mountains to relax in some volcanic water

this is what the pool looked like, it was really nice, warm, and good for the skin!

road = "calle"

this pooch I spotted one day while we were driving somewhere and... well there were actually three more poking their heads out too and it was super cute! ...but then I took my camera out and this lame red car pulled up, hiding the others :-/

the streets in this part of town were lined with clothes...

i guess they were promoting some event but... i just thought it looked cool, added color :)

this is ale's house.

from outside the gate..

we look SO much different than we did 6 years ago, don't ya think?!

i had a lovely time in C.R. with Ale and her family, it was a really nice time of catching up and.. well, practicing my spanish lol

OK, REALLY, MORE TO COME...ASAP!

(maybe I can get one more post in before dinner)

Adventuras en San Jose

This, is the Costa Rican flag

These, are cocoons...

This is a butterfly (mariposa) that came from a cocoon

And here's another.... BeaUtiful!!!

(There are tons of mariposas in Costa Rica)

Ale picked this guy up because he was sitting in the walkway & about to get run over!

This wall is famous... it's inside the old barracks of the Costa Rican Army (they no longer have an army)... but this wall is where a peace agreement was made so... it's pretty much a big deal :)

[left] Alejandra [center] me [right] Ale's younger sister Vero

Oh and this guy was in the Mayan art portion of this museum...

Along with these massive ear gauges

See this purse that Ale has... I gave it to her almost 6 years ago and she still has it! :) Love.

Friendsss. Framed.

i like this art.

So this museum was the most random of all... It was inside the old Army barracks and included all sorts of info and history about the Army and their spaces, but then also had a walk-through mariposa area, Mayan art, religious art, and paintings... lots of random things... a little bit of everything!

This is the update for today... MORE TO COME soon...!

I'm back in Antigua and have TONS of photo updates!

Well first I have to start with these..because I forgot to post them last week before I left for Costa Rica but...last Thursday we had a grand celebration/fiesta because it was my last "official" day of Spanish classes for this semester!! - And Kylie's too! ...So we went to the mercado, got us some goodies and, headed to my teacher's house for some fun time together!

This is my teacher, Elsa, working on the chocolate covered bananas!

And they were sooo delicious!!!

And this is Kylie and her teacher smothering the strawberries...

Also we made popcorn and had ice cream and strawberry-flavored sparkling juice!!

Then, I won at bananagrams! :)

MORE TO COME.... PHOTO UPDATES FROM MY AMAZING TIME IN COSTA RICA, CHECK BACK SOON!!