La Fortuna

Soon after I woke up quite early it started to rain heavily. Still, over the sound of the rain, I could hear the howler monkeys. It almost sounds like I am near a zoo with lions! 

"Howler monkeys usually vocalize at dawn and dusk by passing air through a specially-adapted hyoid bone in their large throats. The result is a deep, grunt-like call that resonates for miles."

After breakfast we went to La Fortuna. On the way we stopped at an amazing Ceiba tree. 

Because I had another bout of diarrhea,  I went to the clinic first.  I got seen right away but the lab test will have to wait until tomorrow. 

Then I had lunch at Organico. I had the best salad (tuna) so far in my time in Costa Rica.

 I saw across the street a most peculiar sign:

And an artsy cute hanging on the way to the bathroom at Organico ("ins't"?)

I walked around the town which I liked, especially the park which was still decorated for their independence day, and I got gelato, flavors Nutella and coffee.

My massage was quite good and cost $48/hour. My neck is still hurting from the tubing yesterday,  however. 

Back at the hotel which is a few miles outside of town, I went for a short swim and then we went into town for dinner.  I had seafood risotto but couldn't eat much of it. My appetite is very unpredictable these days! 

I had a good conversation (at last!) at our end of the long table about foreign language learning in Europe (at least Germany, Austria and Hungary) with Geri (Gary) and Anika. They get certificates and levels (A, B and C and A1, A2, etc).* Most jobs require English competency but do not compensate for it. Geri has a Master's in biotechnology and C level English and at a recent job interview they switched to English to test his comprehension.  But he still didn't get the job! He also speaks German. Anika worked for an American company and was expected to have C level English. 

I may be out of touch with the educational system in the U.S. but I think our foreign language learning is utterly deficient. It seems to me if an American knows another language they learned it in their family or on their own as an adult, as I did. 

*"The CEFR organises language proficiency in six levels, A1 to C2, which can be regrouped into three broad levels: Basic User, Independent User and Proficient User, and that can be further subdivided according to the needs of the local context. The levels are defined through ‘can-do’ descriptors." from the Council of Europe 

https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/level-descriptions