We are well into the rainiest part of the rainy season, and it's actually not that bad. There have been a few days of heavy, nonstop rain, not to mention flooded roads and collapsed bridges. Still, there have been plenty of sunny days as well. For example, last weekend we had a three day weekend for Culture Day, and we went to a different, sunny beach each day. There should only be about 2 more weeks of the rainy season left, and then hopefully it will be summer.
We are also feeling pretty acclimated to the heat and humidity. Today there was a scheduled blackout all day (the government does that every once in a while to save energy). We managed to survive, even without A/C in our classes. Also, we had parent/teacher conferences this week, and thankfully those are all over.
Our dog keeps growing and getting more and more personality. A few days ago I went surfing and she followed me pretty far out into the water. I decided to put her on my surfboard and push her into a wave, and she actually surfed for about a second. The best thing about taking Isa to the beach is that she is tired for hours after we get back.
Tonight we had tuna sashimi at our house. There is a guy who comes to our school and sells fish out of his truck every week. His fish is so fresh, and he sells it for really cheap, so it works out nicely.
I have been coaching a soccer team once a week in a nearby town called Matapalo. There is a group of 5 and 6 graders who come every Tuesday, and they range in age from about 10 to 15 years old. It's not like your typical soccer practice in the states, because half of the kids are eating candy, cussing in Spanish, or playing barefoot the whole time. Still, they are good kids and I think that they get something out of it.
There is plenty of nature and wildlife here. There are howler monkeys that live in the trees behind our house that make a lot of noise in the morning and at night time. The baby howler monkeys are really cute. There are also big raccoon/anteater type animals called pozotes that we see quite a lot. We have seen many different birds, from hawks to herons. There are iguanas and other large lizards that crawl out to bask in the sun everyday. Finally, there are plenty of large insects, like the very strong rhinoceros beetles. One of my students brought one into my class in a cardboard box to share. The box was taped up very tightly, but the rhinoceros beetle was still able to push it open and almost get out. Allie had an unfortunate encounter when she stepped on a scorpion after she got out of the shower. She said it felt like a really bad bee sting. We have both been a lot more paranoid about walking around barefoot since that happened.