Getting ready to study abroad in Costa Rica?

If you're getting ready to study abroad in Costa Rica, there is some things you should know!

• Ladies, bring tampons!! They are not impossible to find but they are definitely a pain in the butt to find!
• Bring a black belt to hold up your pants! Ladies belts here are only for fashion! (For the most part, of course :)
• If you're studying during rainy season (Sept-Dec), bring an umbrella and a rain coat!!! It will pour and pour and pour (no joke). You should mentally prepare for the rain so that you don't complain the whole time!
• Bring hiking shoes!! There will be many adventures to go on and when you go into those rainy cloud forests, it's best to bring good shoes!
• Ladies, bring mascara! It's expensive here and harder to find then I thought, so bring your favorite brand :)
• Budget your money from Day 1! What I did (at a later point) was wrap money for each week in a piece of paper and wrote down the amount I could spend for that week!
• Bring school supplies (they are a bit tough to find and more on the pricey side!) I suggest white lined paper or a notebook will do :)
• By the way most things here are not cheap (don't get the wrong impression just because it's a latin country).
• If you are studying in San Jose, take the safety measures seriously (many students have been robbed), just use some common sense and don't walk alone! Take a taxi if need be...I don't know know how much more everyone here could emphasize it, but people still don't listen.

I'll keep on adding to the list when I can remember more information! Just remember to be safe, keep up with your school work, and enjoy the beauties of this country :):)

Rio de Celeste

It's been a fun and crazy time this past week in Costa Rica! Today I went with a group of 7 to Rio de Celeste! Little did we know it was going to downpour on us the entire time and we were going to get muddy and wet. We hiked for about 3.5 hours and unfortunatly the river was not blue! If you don't know anything about Rio de Celeste heres a wikipedia definition, "It is notable for its distinctive turquoise coloration, a phenomenon caused by a chemical reaction between sulfur and calcium carbonate. The Celeste River also borders several hot springs and has one large waterfall." Unfortunately when it rains the blue color turns into a muddy color!

When we got to the hot spring, we didn't even want to swim! Some of us dipped our feet in and the sensation of warm and cold was nice. We were all starving by the time we hiked back! I tripped several times and landed on my hand. It really was a tough walk and it was extremely slippery. We had a good time nevertheless and made the best out of it. Sometimes mother nature works in mysterious days and today was not our day to see the blue river!

(Left: The river on a sunny day, Right: The river on our rainy outing!)

Last Days

It's coming to the point where it's my last days in Costa Rica! I've been out every night since Thursday and I've finally made some new friends (too bad it was the last two weeks that this is all happening)! We've been dancing, having a few drinks, and just having great conversations and I'm happy each day that I get to spend with them! I am a little sad that this is the end when it feels like the beginning just started but that's how it played out. Today is the farewell dinner for my program and that's when you know this is definitely the end. I'm grateful for all that I was able to experience here and for the new memories that I have made. I'm happy that my Spanish has improved but I definitely have a lot more work to do. I am happy to be going back home to see my loved ones and be with them for the holidays! I feel like there's so many more little things I appreciate in life now.

I'll be putting a blog soon about how and what to pack to Costa Rica for study abroad students and I'll also be going to Rio de Celeste and paragliding this weekend! Plus having my first Costa Rican sleepovers!!

Until next time!!:)

Ants, Ants, Ants! (Plus a great weekend =D )

I was lucky to have Chris here for almost two weeks! The past weekend we did a day trip to Volcan Poas and La Paz Waterfall Garden. Unfortunately we were not able to see the volcano because it was way to cloudy, however we did have a nice walk through the forest.

La Paz Waterfall Gardens was absolutely beautiful and we were lucky enough to experience it together! There were so many different animals and we even got to hold a toucan! We saw many different types of waterfalls and then had a yummy buffet. It really was a great day trip.

The past Saturday we also went to San Jose Center. We walked for about 6 hours all over the city! We shopped at the artisan market and then found outside activities that the community was doing. The event which is held every weekend is called, "Enamorate de tu ciudad". People were doing all kinds of things from playing chess, to hula hooping, beating drums, etc..etc... It was really great to see and I was fascinated by all the activities.

Sunday we spent the time having a nice lunch with my host family and just sitting around talking.

Now it's back to normal with school and being home.

But I must tell my ant story....
At the hotel in San Pedro in which we stayed the whole time, there were many ants everywhere. They were all over the bathroom, the floors...everywhere... I tried to keep calm (after all it is Costa Rica). It seemed like they would get worse everyday and they really were getting into everything. I made the mistake of bringing Chris a candy from my school and we put it on the table where the ants got into the plastic! The day we were leaving there were ants in my bookbag so again I tried to stay calm and just crushed all of them with my fingers. I hoped they were all dead and that none were coming home with me. Once I dropped of Chris to the airport and I got home, I started to clean out my bags. I saw a few more ants in my bag which confused me because I really triple checked it before I left. I started cleaning out everything and hoped for no more ants. I kept seeing some on my bedroom floor and just continued to kill them. I went about my day and went to school. I took my umbrella in case it rained. When I got home I put my bag down on my bed, had dinner as usual, and my tico family and I watched a movie. When I got back to the room I noticed ants on my bed. I was really paranoid at this point. I noticed the bag was on my bed and figured I should shake it out outside. I went outside and figured I should shake out the umbrella that was in the bag too. I opened the umbrella up and quickly dropped it and screamed!! There were TONS of ants all on the inside of my umbrella! My host dad sprayed the umbrella and we left it outside for the night! For the next three days I felt like ants were crawling on me and I would see ants that weren't there! I think I'm ok now! HAHA oh Costa Rica!

Until Next Time!

Meet Mr. Albino Squirrel

Beautiful Blue Hummingbird

Waterfall

Butterfly Garden

Jaguar pacing around

Toucan Time

My lovely week

This week I spent at the hotel with Chris. I had the opportunity to try different restaurants and learn about new places in Costa Rica. (I'm usually alone at my Tica house and I don't like to go out alone due to many robberies). Tuesday we went to the mall to eat and to go to the theatre. We ate at "La Casona del cerdo", and it was absolutely yummy!!! The meat dish was delicious! We saw the movie "Cuestión de tiempo" (About Time), and we really enjoyed it! I like the movie theaters in Costa Rica a lot and they only cost around $4!! (In the states it's like $10 where I live).

Today we walked to the artisan market which surprised me to how close downtown is from where I live here. From the hotel the walk was about ten minutes! I absolutely love souvenirs and the artisan market here. 

After that we went to lunch at Musa Confusa with my friend Jess. It was yummy as always!:) Then Jess had to go to class so Chris and I went to the mall before I had class. 

Today Chris met my host parents and we took them out for dinner. We went to a restaurant called, Ram Luna. It was Costa Rican night so they had a buffet and a live show. They also had vendors inside the restaurant at tables selling their goods. The whole experience really was great and there was so much history in the restaurant itself; it was absolutely beautiful!! 

Manuel Antonio

This past weekend I went to Manuel Antonio with my boyfriend Chris who came to visit me for 12 days!! Our bus ride went by fairly quickly. The hotel was very beautiful and had a pool and jacuzzi! We were both hungry so we walked a little bit up the street and found a restaurant that was inside an old airplane!! It was very cool but we sat outside of the airplane in a different seating area where we had a beautiful view of the water and trees! We were lucky enough to see a cute little colorful monkey. The food was ok but the place itself was absolutely beautiful. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and ate dinner at the hotels restaurant. 

The next day we had a tour booked for the national park. We were in a group of 5 (very nice people) and our tour guide (who talked way too much). We saw so many things and it really is a place to go if you want to see a lot of Costa Rica's wildlife. There were so many monkeys around the beach area trying to steal peoples bags, it was kind of funny and cute! We saw frogs, tadpoles, spiders, the biggest and smallest grasshopper, birds, butterflies, a sloth, etc! We didn't stay at any of the beaches though. 

After the park we walked around the town shops and then went for lunch and dessert across another beach area. We never brought our bathing suits outside of the hotel so we never got to swim at the beach. We went back to our hotel to relax and dip into the pool after a hot day of walking. At night we borrowed a DVD from the hotel and watched "Pineapple Express", I was laughing so hard that the lady in the next room banged on the wall.

For Sunday we booked a mangrove tour! We woke up the next day had a delicious typical Costa Rican breakfast and went on the tour. It was definitely a highlight of the trip. The tour included a Costa Rican typical casado dish and then the tour itself on a boat. Our tour guide Alex was great and super funny. We were lucky enough that it was just me and Chris. We saw more animals on the tour and just the view was amazing. My favorite part was when we stopped near the monkeys on the trees and they jumped on Chris's head! We were definitely surprised and then they jumped on mine! We were able to take pictures with them and later we even got to take pictures with a wild snake! It was a very cool tour and I definitely recommend it. 

The weekend was beautiful overall and I was so happy to share it with Chris!

Soap Bubbles

My first time getting a pedicure in Costa Rica consisted of an at home foot bath that you plug in to the wall. I was hesitant to even get the pedicure and when I decided to do it, she didn't bother cutting my nails but it went fine. 

Today was my second time getting a pedicure and I wanted one to look nice for my love whose coming tomorrow!! This time I went to a different place (a friend from school had suggested this place because she lives there and gets discounts when she brings people in so I decided to go). Well I think this probably was one of the worst mani/pedi experiences if my life and I seriouslydidn't  know whether to laugh or cry!

I went into the salon, which was very nice! The girl sat me down for a pedicure and it was a similar setup to my first one but more of a sink type basin that didn't plug in and was connected to a faucet on the ground. I thought great this should be nice. She asked me if I wanted to use exfoliant or lotion for my feet, I said exfoliant (which had a huge $6.97 price tag on it...tjmaxx maybe?). She put the exfoliant on my feet and rubbed it in, she told me to put my feet back in the basin but never really washed it off. Then she asked if I wanted my toe nails clipped I said sure, she then was about to clip them and decided the clippers were too big and decided to file them instead. Then without toe separators she proceeded to painting my nails without a base coat. After she was done with one foot she told me to put it off to the side, when she painted the second foot there was no where to put my foot so I asked where I could put it and she said "I don't know". After painting all my toe nails red she actually asked if I wanted a top coat! Finally that part was done...now on to the hands I went!

She used the same exfoliant to rub into my cuticles and then massage my hands a little bit. She filed my nails and then started to paint them!! She didn't even cut my cuticles and they are in terrible need of a cut! Again she didn't use a base coat. She painted them once and said do you want me to paint another layer or put on the top coat (there were streaks in my nails, clearly two coats were needed). I told her to put another coat and they still were awful! I really just wanted to leave. I didn't say anything because I honestly didn't know what today to her. The she tried to overcharge me and I was like no way that is not what your card said! So I paid her what was on the price list that was in the salon!

Now I wasn't going to blog about this but then it was raining outside. I had no were to dry my nails and she says oh it raining and then sees me struggling to get my umbrella out of my bag with my wet nails. Finally I got my umbrella and was dying to get out of there. It started pouring so hard my entire clothes were soaked!!! On top of that I'm walking and my flip flops wouldn't stay on I look down and there's soap suds all over my shoes and feet and on my hands! I seriously didn't know whether to laugh or cry! I finally got home soaked!

Arenal

This weekend I was in Arenal with my program! The ride there was about 4 hours long and seemed pretty short, especially since I've been going on these really long rides every weekend. The hotel we stayed in was called Arenal paraiso hotel resort and spa. It was very nice and hugeee!! I didn't do much the first day except have lunch in their restaurant which was nice, then I went to the gift shop, and lastly I went out for dinner with everyone in the program. The center is a bit far from the hotel so we had to take our bus to the restaurant for dinner. 

The next morning we woke up to a delicious breakfast; a buffet style and seriously was just sooo good! We late went to see the volcano! We took a hike through a forest. All the group members were going so fast and Jalissa and I were so behind because we were taking pictures. Our program director was waiting for us up ahead so the three of us walked together and the rest of the group was long gone! We ended up seeing so many cool things like different colored lizards, beautiful butterflies, monkeys, some animal from the rat family, etc...(I wish I knew the names)! We also saw the oldest tree in Latin America (400 years old) and the biggest! It was so amazing and it felt like so many things were happening at once! We finally hiked up as close as we could get to the volcano without danger and took cool pictures! (There were stories of people going in the wrong areas and dying of poisonous gases). The views and everything really was amazing! We went back to our hotel where I had dinner at the hotel restaurant with 3 order group members and then we went to the hotels hot springs and pool. It was my first time in a hot spring and wow was it amazing!! It felt like bath water! 

That night we were suppose to goto the famous Baldi Hot Springs but it poured so hard that the program director switched it for the following morning so we just ended up going to dinner where I had my delicious banana milkshake. 

The next morning we woke up to go to the beautiful Baldi Hot Springs!!! Some were up to 119 degrees! (Maybe there were higher ones but I didn't go in all of them). I dipped my whole body into the one that was 119 degrees and it was so hot but after a few minutes felt like a blanket. I couldn't move too much because it was so hot but sitting there was amazing and there was even an entrance for a natural sauna! It was beautiful!! There were also water slides in one of the hot springs that was a little cooler. I had to atleast go once and I did. People said I screamed bloody murder!! Haha! It was an experience for sure! The best part of it was that there were also mini cold pools to cool off that were 68 degrees and you could definitely feel the difference! It was great getting into the ice cold pool after.

Soon after we left to go back home. It was definitely one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to in Costa Rica!!

 

Sloth! (We saw it on the side of the road in a tree)

Hot Spring at the hotel

                                                                 Volcan Arenal

Nicaragua part II & III

Today was our official day one in Nicaragua. We woke up and had a free breakfast from our hostel, which was gallo pinto, queso frito, and maduras. It was not bad. We decided to go to the center after. Walking down the streets was a little scary, definitely a big difference from Costa Rica. The center itself was very nice. We walked around te city, went into a museum, did some shopping, had lunch, etc!

We booked the island tours for 3pm and since it was still early we decided to hang out in the hostel pool. We had a free traditional beer (Toña) courtesy of the hostel that ripped us off too (oh Nicaragua!). The beer was actually pretty good, or I was just really hot and thirsty lol!!!! :) 

The island tours were pretty neat, we were picked up from our hostel and taken to the place. The islands looked beautiful and many were owned by wealthy Nicaraguans or North Americans. One island has four monkeys on it. A scientist or vet brought them there, I don't really know the exact history but they are stuck there since they can't swim and people feed them crap everyday like cookies, etc. They were very cool to see though and I could have stayed there all day! We went to this other island with a cool pool and restaurant (basically the owners of the tours), we didn't have our bathing suits so we didn't swim. We just had a non alcoholic beverage and hung around for a bit.

After the tours we went back to the center and were looking for this place to eat called "nica buffet", we never found it so we settled on this place in an artisan market, it was ok. Then we took a taxi back to the hostel!

Official Day 2

Today was our last full day in Granada, but before that I wanted to mention how we had booked a double bedded room with a private bathroom and the manager told us the reservation never made it to the hostel. He said the room was taken and that we could transfer to it tomorrow (this was Friday). So we went to a room with just literally two beds in it and one fan. He brought us another fan and a table. He also wouldn't lower the price of the room if we decided to stay in the room he gave us with no private bathroom. So the next day he showed us the other room and it literally has a bed, a toilet, and a sink all next to each other. I told him this was not the room I booked and he insisted it was and also insisted that the room we were in now was better. Going back to the reservation it said double bed therefore that definitely wasn't the room but whatever, the guy definitely was weird.

Today we went to this place called laguna de apoyo, it's a volcanic crater that you could swim in. It really wasn't as amazing as everyone made it sound but it was cool and the water was nice and warm. We spent some time there then went back to the city and walked around the center some more. We also spent some time in the pool at the hostel and that was pretty much our day! Some drunk guy asked Maisie to marry him and a little boy touched Maisie and told her he loved her. The men's catcalls here are wayyy worse than Costa Rica and very degrading.

Also, the house here are different. A lot of people left their doors open (with the front gates locked) and you could see right in there homes. Their cars were parked inside the house but kind of gated in (hard to explain). They also had like gardens (outside area) in the middle of their homes. It looked like a backyard in the middle of their house and then just the kitchen and everything else around it.

** I forgot to add our first night while looking for food we think some guy on a motorcycle pointed a gun at us and said pow pow then drove off. The bar we went to eat (because there were only bars to eat at) everyone was staring at us. They were doing karaoke there too. My food experience was not good in Nicaragua (I wish I could have had some good authentic food).

While I was shopping a French guy was trying to ask a question as he kept speaking to me in French and I obviously didn't understand a word but he kept on insisting. I think he finally got frustrated and moved on. Sorry but I don't think there's any people who speak French in Nicaragua (for the most part).

Also the taxis would stop and allow more people in until they were full. In Costa Rica if someone is in a cab them the cab will not stop for anyone else. The taxis in Nicaragua don't have meters like in Costa Rica.

Our bus ride back was filled with people trying to sell food and some random guy who stood up to preach the bible. The bible preacher got yelled at by the bus driver and the other people who work on the bus. I have no idea what they were saying because they were too far up. Then this guy got yelled at for having his feet up on someones chair. The bus guy told him he had no respect! Too funny! Then when we got off at the boarder to get out passports stamped he was outside preaching the bible to all the street vendors and he even had them in a circle and was blessing them. Quite a show!

The trip in itself was a different experience. We had a good time overall.

Nicaragua Part I

This week has been so weird without having to go to Spanish class anymore! I can wake up a little later but I miss my breakfast interaction! 

The only exciting thing was that when Mac and I were walking home from the bank we hear this cop car and all we see from around the corner is a tow car looking thing coming and went right in front of a car almost hitting it, then another car screeching behind those two. It was undercover cops, they trapped the car in the middle and got out of their cars quickly and pulled out guns! I have no idea what happened after that, it seemed to linger and no one was getting arrested. This Tican guy turned to me and said, "see it doesn't only happen in the states". It was interesting to see and it happened so quickly while we were in mid convo. 

The rest of the week went by quickly. For Halloween I went to class and we finished watching Dirty Dancing Havana nights. After that I just went home while everyone went out to celebrate/party.

As of right now I am heading to Nicaragua with Maisie. We are on the bus and its a nice bus; it even has a bathroom!! The seats are comfortable, it is air conditioned, and there's even a TV (playing a crappy movie, but hey no complaints!!) When we went to buy the tickets on Wednesday we forgot our passports so had to call people to get out passport numbers for us!! I am very excited we are going! The hostel I chose seems like it will be decent (fingers crossed!) It has a pool so I am definitely excited about that!!:) the ride will be around 8 hours! So here I go crossing another boarder once again!!!:):):):)

I'm still on the bus and I just crossed the boarder of Costa Rica and now we are getting to the place where we get stamped for Nicaragua, except this bus took everyone's passports to get stamped, which I find sketchy. I got ripped off $75. We were getting our first stamps and I asked the lady where we can change Costa Rican colones to Nicaraguan Cordobas, she said you can change it outside. There were men everywhere in your face asking you to change your money, it looked very sketchy and I told them to back away so that they wouldn't take anything out of my bag. Well there's a lady on the bus that is leading a group of Americans on the bus, and she walked by and said its safe to change the money and that it's better off changing it there because in Nicaragua the exchange people will rip you off. So 60,000 colones is the equivalent of $120. The cordobas the guy gave me were equivalent to around $44. He kept showing me on the calculator but obviously he knew what he was doing to rip me off. I didn't even have the time to count and he kind of ran off. I asked someone how much the cordobas were worth and that's how I found out I was ripped off. Oh well, nothing I can do. It really sucks and I wouldn't have done it if the lady told me it was ok; another reason you shouldn't trust strangers even if they are group leaders; but I can't and shouldn't blame anyone. Thankfully I didn't change all of my money and I hope the robber is happy; his life will never be as blessed as mine anyway.

I'm back on the bus, my passport is stamped and safe, approximately 2 more hours until we get to Granada. Maisie and I are starving!! Hopefully tomorrow will be a great day! We are planning to go to the Isletas which are islands broken off from a volcanic eruption!

Finally we arrived to our hostel only to find out the hostel never got our reservation. The guy gave us a room with two beds and put in two fans and we have to share a bathroom. I still haven't paid him because his is not what I paid for. It is also very very hot and sticky here :-/ night 1 did not turn out well but we are staying positive for tomorrow!!! We also went to find a place to eat dinner since we hadn't eaten for so many hours. All that was around were bars with gross food, so we ate whatever just to have something in our system. 

Well time for bed!! Goodnight!' 

Monteverde Part II

Another day, another adventure!! I woke up today planning to do the canopy tour (zip-lining etc...). I ended up backing out because I'm going to Manuel Antonio when my love visits me and we are going to do the zip-lining there together!! So instead I decided to go to the Santa Elena cloud forest!

I went downstairs for breakfast and told the host, Ronny that I wanted to do the 10:30am tour, he said the girl sitting outside is doing the 8:30 tour if you want to go now (it was 8:20am at the time and I still had to eat breakfast). I ran to my room and put all my stuff together. My shoes were still wet from yesterday. I got downstairs and quickly had breakfast and just as I finished the bus came! There were a few girls from my university in Monteverde this weekend and they were actually on the bus going to do the tour. I talked to the girl staying at my hostel when two guys came on. Turns out the girl from my hostel (Katie) had met the two guys when she visited Manuel Antonio. They were from Germany and very nice!

When we got to the cloud forest I asked if they minded to do the tour together and they said sure! So the four of us went on a three hour adventure! We didn't really see anything but one butterfly that was brown and a tiny brown frog that blended in with the leaves! We walked through mud puddles where our shoes sunk in the mud! We took turns being the leader and taking the first hits of spider webs and branches, etc! I actually fell and then later while walking, I hit my head on a branch! It was quite an adventure but worth every moment!

When we finally got back to the start we waited for the bus. The German guys (David and Max) left to their hostel since they were leaving Monteverde. Katie and I decided to go out for dinner and so we searched for a place to eat. We found a Peruvian restaurant and went to eat there since I wanted to try this drink called pisco sour that one of my best friends raved about after going to Peru (except of course I'm not in Peru). The dinner was delicious and the drinks were good as well. We sat and talked for awhile and she was just a really cool person.

We decided to go on an adventure to find this tree called the strangling ficus. It's a hollow tree you could climb up! It was soooo foggy outside that it was hard to see anything! It took us a very very long time to find it. The map we had was so off!! We walked past the hotel that the tree was suppose to be next to but none of it made sense, so we kept walking (and this was all up the hill!!!). We finally got to a sign called original canopy tours and on the map it was far away from the tree. We decided to walk into the original canopy tour part even though it said private property because I was curious! It was a lot of forest and tons of trails, but I really wanted to find the tree! There was another road next to the original canopy place that I was curious about but it was starting to get dark and we still didn't find the tree!! We headed back down the hill towards the hotel that the tree was supposedly next to. We went inside and asked the lady at the reception where it was. She told us it was a path near the original canopy tour (the one I was curious about!!) She told us once we hit that path it's to the left through a tiny path that leads to the forest and that the tree is not too far from that. She also told us she recommend we go tomorrow because it was getting dark out! Unfortunately I'm leaving tomorrow so Katie and I decided to try to atleast get there (it was still extremely foggy!)! So back up the hill we went! We finally foud the tree but it was too dark and foggy to take pictures or climb up it!!! While I was trying to take pictures this animal pops out of nowhere!!! It was a white dog with beautiful blue eyes, but I was nervous because it came out of nowhere and I wasn't sure if it would be aggressive. So we quickly left the tree and started walking back to the hostel. The dog followed us ALL the way back! He turned out to be friendly and he was a beautiful stray dog. Then Katie and I went for a chocolate hunt and then at last our day ended! We were pretty much walking from 9am to 7pm!! 

Overall this weekend had been my best so far! I took a risk traveling alone and along the way I met really nice people, got plenty of exercise, and really enjoyed myself. I'm happy with the choices I have made and hopefully I will have new memories that will last a lifetime:) Tomorrow it's back to the reality of school! I still have about 8 weeks left in Costa Rica and I hope to make all of them memorable:)

Monteverde part I

What an amazing day I had today, but I'll start off from yesterday!

So I decided to go to Monteverde solo, I got to the bus station fairly early to make sure I didn't have to sit on the floor of the bus. I met a girl named Nicollete at the bus stop (thought it was interesting that my mom originally wanted to name me that)! We chatted for a little until the bus came, she was waiting for her group of friends to arrive. Finally the bus came and left exactly at 2:30pm. The ride was about 4.5-5 hours long. It went by fine, I finally got to finish reading the 50 shades of Grey series. The last hour and a half of the bus ride was really bumpy and I seriously thought we were going to tip over! The fresh air out of the window felt so nice though!

We arrived to Monteverde and the bus dropped us off in the middle of nowhere. I followed this couple and asked if they knew where they were going. They were from Australia and super nice! They ended up finding a security guard and getting a taxi; they asked me if I would like to share the taxi, so I did!!

I got to my hostel where I met the host. When he showed me my room I was amazed; a beautiful room with two queen sized beds and a perfect bathroom! I was so happy and even the hostel kitchen looks nice and clean. I went out for dinner to this place called Taco Taco, the quesadilla was absolutely delicious! Then I decided to rest for the night since I was so tired.

The next day (today) I had a free breakfast at my hostel, which was pretty yummy and very fresh! The hosts wife made the breakfast for me when I came downstairs instead of buffet style. I was very grateful for finding such a great place. Then the host (Ronny), helped me book the cheese tour and I took a taxi at 8:30. When I got there I had 20 minutes before the tour started so I started exploring. I saw a sign for "Sara's Gallery" so I started walking towards it. I was in the forest and I kept walking and walking and it seemed so far. I looked at the time and I only had about 15 minutes to get back to the tour so I started walking back. Then I walked up a small hill and saw a nice pond and beautiful horses. Finally I walked back to start the tour.

I waited inside the cheese factory store and there were two other people waiting for the guide. We began to chat and they were there on their honeymoon, they ha jut gotten married on the 19th! They were very nice.

The tour begun and we walked around the factory, we saw cheese being made, and then we watched a 20 minute video on the history of the factory which I actually found pretty interesting. The people who built it were Quakers from Alabama who were trying to get away from the military drafts in the US. Finally we got to try cheese samples of six different types of cheese! It was so yummy!!!! I went to their store in the end and bought some ice cream. I would have loved to buy cheese but had no were to store it.

I said my goodbyes to the tour guide and the nice couple that I had met. I started heading back to Sara's Gallery because I couldn't get over the curiosity of how far in the forest it was. It took awhile but I got there!! It definitely was up there! Her home was beautiful!! Sara had her paintings up everywhere and they really were amazing to me. She was a very nice  American woman who moved to Costa Rica during the Vietnam war. She raised both her children in Costa Rica in the same house. Unfortunately one of her sons moved to the US and was killed in a car accident at the age of 26. She was a pleasant lady! I ended up buying cards with prints of her paintings on them! (Also 5 minutes after I entered, the newlywed couple came by! We walked back down together). 

After that I decided to go to the Monteverde cloud forest. I walked for sooo long, it was miles away and it started to pour!! At midpoint I found a restaurant and had a delicious dinner and some red wine. The bartender was very nice and we chatted for a bit. After that I continued on my journey (it stopped raining) and finally found the forest!! I paid for a guide and while waiting for the guide I went to the gift shop. The guide turned out to be super nice! We walked through the cloud forest and I did my tour in Spanish so he taught me a lot of new words like murciélago (bat) and colibrí (hummingbird)...etc etc. It started to pour again and we continued walking. I saw a Quetzal which was beautiful and nothing else really but it was still a nice tour. Oops and the mini waterfall, which was a nice sight! Our tour concluded and I said my goodbyes! I went on to a hummingbird gallery and it was the first time I saw hummingbirds in my life! They were beautiful!! I was able to catch a bus after and I asked the bus driver to drop me off at the Bat Jungle. 

The bat jungle was a small area and there were only 75 bats there. The guide was another super nice person I met today and he was very informative, you could tell he had a deep passion for bats!

I headed back into town and was lucky enough to get the same taxi driver from the morning. I went back to the hostel to take all the heavy things out of my purse, on my way back someone called my name, it was my tour guide from the cloud forest. He was sitting inside this building right next to my hostel. He introduced me to his girlfriend who works in the building (it was funny because we were both talking about our partners during our tour, so it was cool to meet her)! 

When I was on my way to dinner when my ex roommate Jalissa called. She is in Monteverde with a few friends and invited me to dinner, so I said sure. While waiting for them to get ready I went to the "serpentarium", I saw a lot of cool snakes, frogs, turtles, and lizards/iguanas. The boa constrictor really caught my eye because it was huge!!

I went to meet Jalissa and her friends for lunch. I had a chicken sandwich which the lady had to remake because she put ketchup on it after I specifically asked what was in the sandwich (for anyone who knows me, I don't even like to touch a ketchup bottle). The sandwich was delicious but the lady didn't seem too happy to remake it. After dinner I came back to the hostel and now I'm relaxing! I was so happy to meet all the nice people that I met today and I was so grateful for all the things I was able to do! It truly was an amazing experience and part II is coming tomorrow!:):):):)

One more day!

One more day and my advanced Spanish ll class is over! It's been a long two months with my Spanish classes, very intense! Today I took the first part of the exam and it went well, tomorrow will be the presentation part.

This week so far has been ok, but stressful. In our intercultural communications class we went to a class  with Ticos, I was one of three that was paired with the ticos who didn't speak any English. It was great practice for my Spanish! We had to ask questions like "what do you think of all the Americans being in your school" etc... It was pretty interesting. I also asked one of them why they don't talk to the Americans and he replied "fear". I thought it was an interesting session because I felt like I learned some new things:)

Tomorrow I am going to Monteverde and it will be my first trip alone without anyone. (I guess you could say I came to Costa Rica alone since I didn't know absolutely anyone), but it's a little different.

•Some things I never mentioned: once when it rained really hard here, my walls started leaking and my bed got soaked! Thankfully I didn't get wet!

•The computer labs here are kind of annoying in the case where you may be working hard on a project and then a class comes in. Basically you never know what times classes are held in the labs.

Hmmm...there was more but I can't remember now, therefore more update at another point!;) ciao!

A taste of Panama!

This weekend I went to my 8th country, Panama! My group went with our program to renew our visas. The part we went to was Bocas del Toro; an island in Panama and we stayed at Swans Cay Hotel. 

The first night we just hung out, went shopping, and went to a few bars. It was ladies night everywhere! Five of us (Jalissa, Liz, Nick, Michaela,and I) had lunch at this place called La Pirata, which was pretty yummy! I had chicken fingers, French fries, and a caipirinha!

The shops were typical small shops that had souvenirs etc.. They also have different types of nice jewelry.

We also hung out in the hotel pool which had no shallow end so it was either swim or drown. It was pretty refreshing!

Our first day was pretty short since it took forever to get there. Crossing the boarder went fine, we didn't have any trouble, it just took long for 14+ of us to get over. We had to then cross this sketchy bridge that didn't look too secure. Once we got over the boarder, it took us about an hour to get to the water taxi, then another 45 to get to Bocas!

The next day was great!! We had breakfast at the hotel and then started on our adventures! First we went to see the Dolphins. We got on a small tour boat and want to the middle of the ocean. We waited for dolphins to pop up and we ended up seeing a ton of fins and tails but the dolphins never popped up fully. We did see a dolphin couple that was mating quite a few times and I was able to snap some photos of their fins. 

After that we went to go snorkeling! The first place we went to didn't have a great menu therefore we weren't too thrilled so the director told us we could try another place. (You had to buy food to go snorkeling there). So we went to the next place which had a much better menu. We ordered our food an hour before and went snorkeling. They took us in the middle of the ocean and stopped the boat. We put on our gear and went into the water. Some people didn't even use life jackets or any float device, I, however was not about to drown:) it was amazing to see the bottom of the ocean. The coral was beautiful and the fish were so pretty. It truly was a great sight. It did get tiring very easily though and for me it felt hard to breathe. It took me forever to get back to the boat with the life jacket on!

The next destination was Red Frog Beach! It was beautiful and the restaurant there had sangria!! I was so excited and the sangria was only $2.50 (by the way Panama uses dollars, even they do have some of their own coins) and it was delicious! Jalissa, Michaela, and I shared nachos w. salsa and French fries, it was so good. Then we went back to the water and the program director said he was going to propose to his girlfriend on the beach there but she couldn't come last minute because of work. He had it all planned out and was going to ask us to sing!! We were bummed that she couldn't come! She didn't even know what was in store for her:)

After the beach we went back to the hotel. Jalissa, Chelsea, and I went shopping and then we went with other people to dinner. We ended up at this "Italian" pizza place, it was ok. It started pouring after we left and none of us ended up going out. It seemed like the other students didn't go out either since they were in the hallways outside talking forever. It wasn't like a regular hotel hallway, it was sort of like a motel where there's doors and then the outside.

Now we are heading back home to Zapote. The ride is about 8 hours long. It was a nice weekend and I enjoyed doing new things, but tomorrow it's back to school, vacation is over! What I'm looking forward to this coming week is Spanish class being over!!:):)

P.s: I met a polish girl from another program and we spoke some polish for a bit:) of course my Spanish and English got mixed in.

Just another day in the neighborhood...

Today I decided to go to Walmart after school since I needed a few things. I went towards the cabs near the school and the cab drivers told me to go to the cab up front, I said why do I have to take this cab, but whatever I got into the one in front and it was some old guy. I said I wanted to go to Walmart and he said where is Walmart, I said there's two I want to go to the closest one, I told him it was in the direction of Mall San Pedro. So he starts driving and I had no idea where he was going. After a bit he stops his car in front of a store called Price Mart. I was so upset. I asked him where the heck we were and I told him Walmart not Price Mart. The fare was going up and I told him I would not pay him the full amount. He continued going in the wrong direction and I had no idea where he was taking me. I called my Tico dad on the phone almost crying saying that the cab driver was taking me to god knows where. I gave the cab driver the phone and none of it sounded too good. I took back my phone and said just stop here I'm getting out. The fare was over 3,000 colones and I ended up giving him 2,000. I should of gave him nothing. My Tico dad asked me for his license plate number so I gave it to him.

I got out in the middle of nowhere and luckily there was another cab within short distance! I finally got to Walmart after that struggle. All the cab drivers ripped me off but there was nothing I could do about it:/

After Walmart I had to go to my photography class. Our teacher just took us in his car and drove us to a park. At the park a woman told us it was no longer safe to take photos there. We got back in the car and our teacher took us to some artsy place to take photos. The place was pretty cool. What shocked me about the experience was that the teacher could be like ok guys we are driving somewhere. In the states a teacher definitely wouldn't do that! 

I went back to school after and worked on my pictures from Matapalo! Then I did Zumba at school, went home, took a shower, and had dinner!! It was an interesting day:)

Pura Vida!!

Matapalo-Puntarenas

Today I'm in Matapolo which is in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. I came here with my program to volunteer with endangered sea turtles for the day. We left the house at 6am and the ride was about 3.5 hours long!

We stopped by a place for breakfast, which was pretty delicious. I had gallo pinto, huevos con jamón, and fried queso. After that we stopped by a bridge that had a swamp underneath with a ton of crocodiles. 

We finally arrived to the place which looks like a hostel but is for the volunteers only. I think there are 12 of us here from the program and we are all in one huge room with bunk-beds! There are other people here from other countries, some which are traveling solo. 

We had a delicious lunch. Before that we actually were able to go in the ocean. The waves and the water were great!

After lunch the people who manage the volunteer work talked to us about the turtles and one of the women showed us the hatchery and how to make nests. Ill be honest, the nests were not my thing, but nevertheless it was an experience.

Now I'm sitting at the hatchery on a four hour shift with one of the girls from my program. We have to check the turtle nests every 15 minutes. If you're like me and don't know anything about turtles, well the way the eggs are laid is pretty interesting. The mother turtle digs a hole that's weirdly shaped in the sand, lays her eggs, and leaves them behind. Then the volunteer work people to and take the eggs and bring them to their hatchery, wait for them to hatch and take then to the water. They do this because the sea turtles are an endangered species and there's a lot of poachers around here.

Anyways nothing interesting has happened so far; none of the nests have any hatched turtles. It's pitch black outside and kind of creepy.

After my shift there's a walk to patrol the beach for mother turtles. I'm still thinking whether to do it or not! Well see! :)

Today is Sunday, last night I stayed in and knocked out promptly! I slept the entire night through and then woke up. At that point I learned everyone in the group saw turtles! About 168 turtles hatched during the night and on top of that turtle eggs were found and one of the girls had to make the nest for them.

I was feeling pretty bummed that I didn't get to see the turtles. I walked over to the hatchery where our program director and one of the students had a shift and nothing was going on :( so I went back for breakfast and was still feeling super bummed out while everyone talked about the turtles they saw. I was regretting going to bed but really felt great after getting sleep.

After breakfast we had a meeting because our volunteer work was not over yet. One of the ladies who works with the volunteer program asked who hadn't seen the turtles and I was the only one! Well turns out there was some turtles that didn't come out last night from the nests that already hatched!!! 

So we all went over to the hatchery and first we had to work. We had to fill up holes in the hatchery with new sand in order for them to be ready for new eggs. It was a lot of work. I went between digging sand and putting them in the bags for people, to being the person who carried the bags back to the hatchery! It really was a lot of work and we were all very sandy and sweaty!!! After that was done they had pulled out the remaining turtles and it turned out that there were three left. I was able to take tons of pictures:)  They released the turtles into the water and we all went swimming. The waves were amazing like in Puerto Viejo! The journey ended with a shower and a yummy lunch:)

It was a different experience and definitely a lot of work! It's amazing that the workers do it everyday.

Baila, baila!!

Today was such a great day, but before that here are some updates! Spanish class has been going ok. I love my intercultural communication class and my theory of dance is cool:) 

Well if I hadn't told you before I was one of the students chosen to dance for Veritas University's 20th anniversary! There were 10 of us! Today we finally did the show and it was a blast!!! We only got to practice a few times but it turned out well! After the performance we had a wonderful dinner; it was so yummy!! Then we danced the whole time! Most of the professors were there and the administrators of the school. Our tables were chosen at random so that we sat with strangers. It really was an awesome experience that I hope to always remember:)

Caminata contra el cancer!

Today we had the breast cancer run/walk and it went well! We had to meet Irina (one of the program directors) at the National Theatre by 7:15. My roommate and I were late so we had to take a taxi. There were so many people and you could feel the great vibes. I begin running but shortly stopped. Alicia (one of the girls from my program) and I walked the rest of the way! We took tons of photos. It was a great experience, I wish I could have ran more but my knee was not having it!

Today I'm really missing home and my loved ones! October is such a busy month for me with a lot if school work. During the week I don't get much time to myself. This coming weekend the API group is going to do volunteer work. We are going to a beach to help with the turtles, not exactly sure what we are doing yet but we will see. The director said it will be very long and exhausting but hey why not try something new! The weekend after that we are going to Panama! We have to renew our stay in Costa Rica. I'm excited to add another country to my list:)

Until next time! Xoxoxoxo!

Learning, learning, learning...

So as I am always learning new things about Costa Rica...my Spanish teacher told me they have license plates with numbers...say for example a license plate has the number 4...well number 4s can not drive their vehicles in or through San Jose on Tuesdays...each number has their day of the week!

Also the Spanish teachers I've had don't give homework on Fridays, hehe! 

The teaching methods here are different, some teachers give you busy work and then leave the classroom for an extended period of time...go figure!

Another story I don't think I shared, (I think it happened last week)...Jalissa and I were going to Wal-Mart, she called a taxi and I didn't have the patience to wait so when I saw one coming I flagged him down. We got in and were on our way. At a red light was another taxi driver, he said did you guys call a taxi, Jalissa said yes. He made the taxi we were in pull over and we had to get into the other one. When we got in the guy was kind of rude. He told us we have to pay 1,000 colones next time (equivalent of $2) we do that. I personally think that's nuts. I wouldn't pay a taxi just because I called him and never showed up. Oh well.

Yesterday at my school I asked the front desk to call a taxi for me since it was pouring out and I'm not sure if he did because the school shuttle bus drive came out of nowhere and asked me to wait for him to go grab his vehicle. So anyway a taxi comes and I wasn't sure if the front desk had called for me or if they called our school shuttle or both! The taxi driver was causing traffic by being in almost the middle of the road and beeping his horn nonstop. He was there for a good 15-20 minutes! They are so vicious and aggressive! Finally some random person from the other building came out and I guess asked the taxi driver to take her somewhere, so finally he got a customer and left!

Anyway on Monday I went to Cartago. It was nothing amazing. The church was nice but nothing I was deeply interested in. I went with a friend and we ended up having a delicious lunch. Unfortunately it poured hard, no national parks were open either. I found out they are closed on Mondays!! So we headed back and I went to the mall with another friend. She got her nose pierced at the mall for $16!!

Tuesday I started my new classes. So far they are going well...then again school is school and if you don't know me well...I really am not fond of school. I like the whole learning aspect but I'm not crazy about the structure.

Anyhow I'm taking advanced Spanish 2, intercultural communications (I switched to this from my land of vertebrates class), digital photography, and theory of Latin dance:) 

Speaking of dance, if I hadn't said already I'm part of the 20th anniversary dance show that's going on next Friday. We were picked in dance class, 5 couples! It's not very organized so it should be interesting.

This week has been very rainy!!! Then again last week was super nice! 

I realized I have no real structure to my writing but that's how I am, always all over the place :)

On that note, nothing else is going on. This weekend I'm hoping to relax. On Sunday I am doing a breast cancer 5k run in the city...we all know I'm not running, walking will do:)

Also thought of the day: "it's funny how sometimes we think we are so great at something only to realize we are not"

Have a marvelous day!:)