The Waterfall

Hola everyone! We are done with the first week of class! It's so weird actually being in class and doing homework because I feel like I'm just on vacation. I think I'm going to be really good in Spanish by the time I come home. Yesterday, we got to interact with kids from the local elementary school. We walked them to campus and did an insect project with them. Another student, Jessica, and me walked around with two little girls trying to catch bugs. They were so excited to be there with us and were very talkative! We get to see them about once a week, which I am really pumped about! Today, we did my favorite thing on the trip so far... we took a 3 hour hike to a waterfall and it was incredible. We passed through a man's farm and he gave us sugar cane and we were all sucking on sugar cane as we were hiking- it was hilarious. The trail went through the creek and had little bridges and the views were just breathtaking. The actual waterfall was unlike anything I had ever seen...it was MASSIVE! I just sat there for ten minutes watching it... listening to the sound of the water pound down and feeling the refreshing mist on my face. I took about 20 pictures of it and a video, but it's beauty just could not be captured whatsoever. The only bad part was that I got eaten alive by black flies. I have about 40 bites all up and down my legs. They don't itch, but they look pretty nasty! Today has been pretty much a free day. We walked to the corner store about fifteen minutes away and got juice boxes and snacks for our trip to the beach tomorrow. I am so excited for that because I've heard that this beach is gorgeous. Tuesday, we begin our homestays. My family lives about 20 minutes away walking and my "mom" works here in the kitchen. There are 4 boys in the family... a 25 year old, 20 year old twins and a 17 year old. Apparently, one of the twins just got married and lives next door. These families have study abroad students all the time so I am not too worried about it, just about the language barrier. I think we are going to all gather together tonight and have a movie night...there's not much else to do when it gets dark. Hasta luego!