peregriNation: canine chaos

   I know I keep complaining about the dog packs that roam all night, but sleep deprivation makes you a little crazy and a little obsessed with that which deprives you. Once again, I am awakened by shrill barking. Lots and lots of never ending barking. This time, thrown onto the mix are roosters before dawn. If I were in New York City and taxis were honking, sirens were blaring, and neighbors partying all night, I would be sleeping like a baby. I'm a city girl. But the dogs and roosters... I'm not the only one to notice. Everyone who lives with a host family has dark circles under their eyes, and have decided that Quepos dogs are not man's best friend.
   At school we have new students that have arrived. Justin, a skater, surfer dude from New Mexico who is going into his senior year of high school. He's super smart and knows more spanish than anyone could imagine, but he's here because he needs to practice his fluency, and look for hot tica girls on the beach. Wesley, another brilliant student who in his 15 short years on this planet has already traveled most of it himself. Then there's Brianne. She introduced herself and Charlie asked her what she does back in the states. She said she was a "Dog and Cat Food Scientist" for Iams, and her husband with her, Joe, was a surgeon. I immediately spoke up, "Really. Do you have a food that will make dogs silent at night? Or anytime during the day would be fine too, for naps." She looked at me with a bewildered deer-in-the-headlights look. "Um, noooo." A student chimed in, "Do you think it's possible to create one quickly?" "Um, no." Another added, "What about your husband? Is there a possible surgery?" She looked towards Charlie wide eyed. "Am I in the wrong class?" Charlie said, "Children, children back down. Brianne is here to learn spanish, not solve your REM problems." "Oh sorry Brianne, welcome to class." We laughed that nervous distant laugh that said we were still pondering a solution.
   Next around the table was Nicole. She is from Switzerland. In broken english, she said she had been on a jungle survival trip in Venezuela for the last 8 weeks to learn spanish. A silence fell cross the room as our sleep deprived brains processed what she had just said. We all turned at once and stared until finally I spoke up, "Then what are you doing here?" She started to laugh and said, "Oh I guess that no make sense. I go Venezuela to learn spanish but my guide only spek english, so I learn english in front of. Now I'm learn spanish." We asked her numerous questions about survival in the jungle. She talked about sleeping in a hammock for 8 weeks, about being in rain for days on end, and about having to catch and kill what you eat, or you don't eat. Suddenly our silly problem with barking dogs seemed trivial. We voted her class "badass", and vowed to quit whining.
   That afternoon we had Salsa and Merengue dance lessons at school. Gabrielle blasted the boombox and taught us step by step how to move around the dance floor. We managed the steps, but we gringos have a problem with the hip action. We can't seem to let go and let the hips roll around freely the way the latino's can. Is it genetic? We became determined to master it, but all the lessons in the world couldn't prevent the eye rolling we got from Gabrielle. Finally we couldn't take the pressure any longer and began to break dance and do the sprinkler. It got ugly and Gabrielle shooed us out of class until the next day.
   In the evening I was looking forward to getting to bed early to beat the canines at their own game, but I had promised another student I would go out with her for latin music to practice our dancing. Catie, is an aspiring spanish teacher trying to get her final certification before the fall semester begins. She and her husband Jason are staying with Bileida's parents, a block away. Our plans were to go to a local club, but when Bileida heard we were going out dancing that night she said. "I thought you would want to go with us. The place we are going is outside of town, and has the most beautiful music. The music is so much better than the other club, it's fantastic." I asked Bileida if she would call her parents' house and see if Catie and Jason wanted to go with them. Again Bileida went on and on with Catie about how much more beautiful the music was at the place they were going to. When we arrived, I found out why. It was karaoke night and the beautiful music was my tico parents! They sang their hearts out. Evidently the ticos love karaoke. Even Catie got up and joined in. She courageously sang Shakira's, "She Wolf" in spanish. Then, we thought the Ticos would be tired of it, but she brought the house down when she belted out, "La Bamba".
   The next morning at school, a friend of mine showed up during our break. She introduced me to her sister who had just flown in from the states for a visit. "I came by this morning because I had my sister bring you the magic cure." she said. I wondered what she meant. She grinned as she pulled out a small bag, turned it over and dropped the contents. Little white things rained down all over the desk like manna from heaven... earplugs!!!!