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!:)