LA ISLA EN KAYAKS

I woke up to completely different weather this morning. My room was darker than in has been, so I thought it was still early. Glancing at my phone, I realized I was wrong. It was cloud cover. Yay! Walking to school was much more pleasant, but we began to worry about it being cold for kayaking. Deciding it would probably clear up before this afternoon, our minds shifted toward the morning's classes.

During our first class, we went over the imperfect subjunctive. I remembered it a couple minutes in, but it was new content for a couple of the students. It was good review because, like I said early, the subjunctive is the hardest part of grammatical Spanish for me. In our second class, we moved on to vocabulary surrounding movies and movie theaters. We began creating our own idea for a movie and made a movie poster for it.

After classes, Makaela, Ruby, Celeste, Nikola, and I went to the market for our usual lunch, empanadas. We then walked around the city awhile. It was still a bit brisk, but I much prefer a little coldness to heat.

Makaela and Celeste decided to stay on the beach to take pictures and relax, but I managed to convince Ruby to kayak with me. The instructor offered us wetsuits, and, after some hesitation, we took him up on the offer. He had trouble finding one in my size, so I told him I would be okay. I'm from Colorado after all. He managed to find one though, which I am now very thankful for. While putting the wetsuits on, the instructor started to joke around with us about being faster. Having had him last time, I think he thought we were crazy, but we were just having a great time. I asked him, "are we your most annoying group?" He quickly, but I think jokingly, responded, "probably." Aiden (who was kayaking with us), Ruby, and I all immediately started laughing. I don't think all the groups get excited when their lifejackets and paddles all match.

All equipped, we carried the kayaks down to the water. They are heavy, but we managed to get them in the water and over the breaking waves. The instructor asked us what we wanted to do today, and I asked if we could go out passed the island. However, the ocean was a little rocky from the bad weather, so we couldn't go around the island. However, he took us to the side of the island. There were tons of birds flying around the island, and it was simply beautiful. We paddled our kayaks into this little bay area created by rocks jutting out of the island. The instructor asked us if we like to climb, and Ruby immediately responded yes. The instructor hopped out of his kayak and began climbing the slanted rocks. Ruby also tried to climb the incline, but she fell back into the water before reaching the top. Seeing an easier way up, she went that way. Once at the top, she jumped down, back into the ocean. Somehow, she convinced me to climb and jump as well. The rocks were cluttered with bird poop, something we had to overlook. At the top, it took me a minute to get the guts to jump. Eventually, I made the plunge and loved it. Resurfaced, I immediately said, "let's do it again!" We did just that, and it was so fun. At this time, I asked the instructor, "are we still your most annoying group?" This time, he responded no and proceeded to tell us that he doesn't take many groups to rock jump. Feeling honored, we got back in our boats and started paddling back. My initial conclusion that catching a wave on the way in while kayaking isn't too hard may have been incorrect because, you guessed it, I fell out of my seat in the back of the kayak. It was worth it though because that rock jumping was amazing. Ruby and I were both very glad we toughed out the cold. It didn't end up being too bad, and now we have great memories.

After standing in the hot shower for a little too long, the four of us made our way to the crepe place, again. It is definitely a favorite. We all ordered the same as last time and hung out for awhile. Makaela and I ducked out early though because we each needed to start packing. She leaves early Saturday morning, and I am switching apartments soon to stay with Mom, Dad, and Joey.

Once back to my host family's apartment, the packing began. Getting bored, I went out into the living room where my host sister, Julissa, was. We got to talking, and the host mom eventually came in too. I showed them some pictures from the trip and practiced my Spanish in normal conversation.

Although we were having fun talking, Julissa had to take the dog, Luna, out, and the shower beckoned my name. My time here with my host family is nearing its close, so it was nice to talk to them for awhile tonight.

Salimos...

...regresamos...

...una ola...

...me caigo...

...el fin.