Jaco monday.

Woke up this morning in Jaco to the sound of construction work at 730am. Thought it was not very nice! Managed to go back to sleep again and we finally got up at 845am. Amber was a tad grumps because she didn't like sleeping in. Me, not so much.

Amber has 2 schools that sound interested in hiring her. One is here in Jaco with an American school who had initially advertised for North Americans onl

y(Costa Ricans prefer to learn 'north American' english), but probably is considering Amber as she has extensive teaching experience. The other school is in Monteverde, about 3 hours away in between 2 'cloud forests'. This is less than ideal as we want to be by the surf.

We went for a walk along the beach late morning. There isn't any surf today, but the place is still beautiful and the sand and water are warm. We walked to the south end of the beach and jumped in the water for a bit of a play. Not many people today. My guess is the hordes of tourists have left now that the weekend is over. I notice most people on the beach are fat and out of shape, a very different scene from Mal Pais, which is still pleasantly lingering in my head. It was something like out of a movie over there, with beautiful exotic looking people and a paradise of a beach to go with it. We want to go back soon.

We're settling in quite comfortably now. Spent some time looking at our budget last night and being very conscious about how we spend our money. We're fine right now and I'm giving us this week to let things settle more and to see if Amber gets work at either of these schools. I've sent out 8 applications mostly to language schools in the city(San Jose), none have replied.

We responded to an ad in the Tico Times (local newspaper) and arranged to meet a guy who runs a teaching business on the beach. He and his wife have been running this business for 7 years now. They are from Texas and have a one year old. She wants to go back to the States for a while to be with family, but Jason seemed happy to stay. They are returning in May this year though and are looking for someone suitable to take care of their b

usiness while they're away. This made it pretty interesting as Amber and I (if they decided) would run the school for an entire year.. right on a surf beach.. in Costa Rica.. teaching kids! While it didn't solve our initial intention of finding paying work right away, it was certainly exciting to think about the possibilities! We've decided to come back to this option a little later, if the option was still available. *Below is picture of entrance of school/house right on the beach taken right after our meeting with Jason. Came home for Amber's other Skype interview with Monteverde Cloud Forest School. They offer her a substitute position as a kindy teacher for at least 2 weeks while the teacher has gone back to the States indefinately with glandular fever. I don't like this option as the pay is minimal and I will not be next to surf.

Went on a date to end the day. Had yogurt which tasted better than it looked. Then we just sat there and watched the interesting and strange people go about their business. You can tell the visitors from the locals very easily. Tico men have a certain machismo about them which might seem rather standoff-ish and first, but when you approach them (the ones I've observed anyway) they're really very friendly. Perhaps the lack of technology and domineering beach and village lifestyle allow them to be more attuned to their primal nature? The women are tanned and bronzed and more often than not, very attractive. I wish I could speak fluent spanish, I would love to get to know a Tico.