Day 2 - Sunday, May 11, 2008

The original plan was to wake up at 11 a.m. and to go have brunch at my hotel with the girls and everyone else, but we all decided to find another place instead. while walking towards school, where we had "orientation" at 2 p.m. we saw a sign for a restaurant "1/2 mile" down a side road, Ronny's Place. So we walked down it. It was not a fucking 1/2 mile. No way. And the entire walk was uphill, but the scenery was beautiful and we all had gone to Texas State, so hills weren't a big deal, or that big of a deal, considering we were used to dealing with them. Anyway, it was totally worth it when we finally got to the top and looked out over the ocean. it was gorgeous, and the food at the restaurant was good too, what have you got to say to that Oasis? We were annoyed at every car/taxi/bus that pulled in after we got there. it was really a seriously hot, difficult walk, Bobcats or not. But we wanted the sights and the experience and the exercise.
we ran across a ton of monkeys in the trees on our way to the Blue Monkey. that was pretty cool. we stopped on the side of the street and took a bunch of pics. two buses of tourists followed suit. except they parked in the middle of the road, causing total chaos between the cars trying to keep going past the buses. and the drivers there are insane, so the road being blocked didn't stop them from trying.
Afterward we were so hot and sweaty that we stopped at the Blue Monkey hotel, where 2 of the girls were staying, and jumped in the pool there, until we had to finish the walk to school. I think a straight walk itself would have been like 1.5-2 miles so we definitely worked off that food we had just eaten and those drinks from the night before. the water felt fucking awesome.
So we did the "orientation," which was basically just us being tested on our spanish speaking ability and understanding. i thoguth i was doing well before the administrator guy, roger "ro-hair", asked me how i liked Spanish in college, and i said i didn't and he asked why and i said "porque, yo... uh... yo... yo suck. yo suck en espanol." he laughed for awhile and that was basically the end of that. i was stuck in the basic level class, which we called "the retard class" because it was just so basic that i was always bored to death every day.
As soon as all of us finished the orientation, we headed to la playa. O ... my... God... the scenery was gorgeous and the ocean was the perfect temperature, with waves bigger than any i had ever seen in Hawaii beaches, and well.. Texas beaches suck anyway and we all know that. i also made two "stray" dog friends there when i decided to go climb the rocks in the middle of where the water pounded against a cliff, which was a stupid idea. but one was actually a dog and the other was Jamieson. Anyway, my foot was already fucked up, but i went up the cliff thing anyway. and so did the dog and jamieson went on the safer cliff and sat there watching. he ended up not being kicked out of school, or the country and he met us at the beach after we ran into him at the Blue Monkey while trying to catch the bus. i totally ignored him and kept walking because i just didn't want to be around it, and a few other people joined me so it wouldn't look so obvious, because they understood. anyway, so i went all the way up the cliff thing, and the dog followed me, though part of the reason i kept going was to get the dog to stop following me. i have no idea how the hell he got up there). he was actually waiting for me at the very top when i finished the nearly straight up climb to get up there. i sat up there for a few minutes when the dog and then decided to go back to the group. i climbed down, and the dog waited for me. while Jamieson took off, but the dog couldn't reach the rocks where the water kept flowing. flowing strongly i might add, into the rocks, he would have probably really hurt himself anyway. after a few attempts to get him to do it on his own, including when i pretending to walk away to see if he'd follow, which is when he started squeeing really horribly. I knew that i had to do it for him then, so after a difficult few minutes of trying to pick him up and yelling for help (jamieson had already left), i finally succeeded in picking him up and made my way down to the rocks and set him free. but then he loved me so he didn't leave me while i kept trying to tell him to fuck off while walking down the beach. until his god damn owner finally showed up and took him. then the rest of us pretty much went home as soon as my heroic story was spread.
a few went to sleep early, but the rest of us went to Grant's rented house that night and partied for a few hours, though the alcohol ran out quickly. then 8 of us went to La Colina afterward and had some more drinks there before they left at 130. i stayed and talked to John and Arlene for another half hour, mostly with him trying to deny a lot of the violence that went down that one nnight. then i went to sleep, so i would be up in time to check out and head to school.