NYC: Day 1

This may not be very interesting to those of you who have your own lives, but here are some reflections on my time in NYC in comparison to life in Monteverde. Hopefully very soon I will either be too busy with insane summer fun or a job to be able to update regularly, but for now, here it is (much more exciting life updates can be found at lauritadianita.info or ebomb.quehubo.info, which is the story of friends biking across Mexico and other exciting adventures):

On Day 1 I met Ji-Soo for lunch downtown by Ground Zero. We got, on his right-on recommendation, falafel platters from a truck vendor. This is one thing I have missed about NYC - street food, everywhere.

My falafel platter with Business Ji-Soo in the background.


Business Ji-Soo and I being super serious downtown. Me rocking my new pearls. Behind us there was a whole mess of florescent green and orange as workers from Ground Zero took their lunch break. Business Ji-Soo headed back to the hive and I started back for Brooklyn. When I came out of the station at Borough Hall I found myself smack in the middle of a mini-, mid-week farmer's market. This is another thing that doesn't happen in Monteverde - random awesomeness like street performers and farmer's markets. As I walked back to the apartment laden with multi-grain bread and apple cider I was a aware of how out of touch I was with the fact that it was a gorgeous day. Sure it was warm and sunny, but there was no full body and soul awareness that you get in Monteverde. Pros and cons, yings and yangs, I guess.

Some Random Photos That I Never Got Around to Posting

Snuggling scorpions. In my bathroom. Right by the toilet. Apparently they are mating and the male is leaving his sperm pouch on the frame of my bathroom door and then pulling his mate over it to pick up. Awesome. Get a room, jerks. But they have a room, and it's my bathroom.


Captured snuggling scorpions. Ha! Take that!


Volcano Arenal seen from the hike down to the San Gerardo biological station in the San Elena Reserve. This was in April sometime and we were lucky enough to have a clear night and a good set of binoculars to be able to see lave flow at night (orange glowing rocks tumbling down). Recently, with all of the eruptions in Latin America, Arenal has been more active than usual. Gas and ash are being thrown 200m up into the air and the temperature in town has been rising. All of this is within the normal activity of the volcano but it has not happened in a few years.


Stupid horrible asshole scorpions that I caught in my house. This is the other species that they have in Monteverde.


Eating guava for desert. This is not what I knew as guava, which I guess here in Costa Rica is called Guayaba. Who knows? In general I'm confused about fruit in Spanish.


It looks like a giant grub that we ate segment by segment.


I found these three chillin' in the corner of my bathroom one evening. They were having a party and didn't invite me.


Scorpion + black light = awesome.