Life in playa Samara is life in el campo (the country). Around the house I am staying in, there are roosters, chickens, different kinds of birds, small frogs, large frogs, gekos that make a cute little noise at night and dogs talking to each other.

The sound of the ocean can be heard from my house at night and the stars are absolutely breathtaking. It is the most amazing view of the stars that I think I have ever had.

Life in el campo is much more physical than life in the city. Everyday, I ride a bike to the school or center of town. Or walk 20 minutes. And with the heat, it adds up to quite a strain on the system of a New Englander. :)

But back to the sights and sounds: roosters crowing, motos wizing by, birds chirping, and my personal favorite, the monos (monkeys) groaning. I do not know how else to explain it. They hang out in trees and make a loud noise. I saw one from far away in a tree, but at least I saw one. There are cows and horses at a farm near my house and I saw baby cows and horses the other day. There are also bulls, and yesterday, bulls were hanging out and eating from the shurbs right across from my house. They were pretty big! The smell of fire is in the air often because people here burn their trash, and ocasionally, there is the slight smell of animal dung. It is def. on the streets, just not a very potent smell. There was a geko in my room the other night and then other one today that is a baby. Que lindo!

There are brillant flowering trees with yellow, magenta and red flowers. There are lots of palmeras and other green trees and some land, right now, is very dry and brown. There are horses hanging out on the side of road. I do not know if they belong to any one or not, but I do not think so. There is also the sound of reggae music at night and hints of (yes, it is true) marijuana in the air. The atmosphere is muy tranquila. There are a lot of surfers here.

I watched the sunrise on Friday morning and on Friday, visited another beach with a very strong current on Saturday. It was great. I hope that all of you get a chance to visit Costa Rica some time.