La última noche

We arrived to the hotel and checked in with all of our stuff. The hotel was much nicer than we were expecting it to be. The people were so welcoming and very nice; the way my mom and I would describe it: “excellent customer service!” We went up to the room and discovered that we had cable tv, a nice bathroom and down comforters and squishy pillows!! We were very glad we decided not to cancel the reservations. After getting all of our stuff in the room, the four of us decided that we would walk to the mega super, the grocery store to get some wine for the night. As our last night in Costa Rica, we decided that would be a great way to spend it; a couple bottles of wine, good music, great friends, and good conversation. It took us about 30 minutes to decide on what kind of wine we were going to get at the store. We made our way walking back that was not actually easy. I felt like we were in the military and had the weekend free since we were walking everywhere. It was really sad knowing that we would have to leave a new found place that we loved and new friends. We never thought that we would make such great friends in such a short amount of time. After laughing and talking and oh about 4 bottles of wine later, we decided since it was around 3 am we had to get to sleep because we had to be on the shuttle to the airport at 8 am. A few short hours later we awoke and got ready to leave. I couldn’t believe that we were actually leaving and later that night we would be back in the United States. We checked out and hurried to eat the breakfast included with the hotel, which was actually pretty good. The boys went with us to the airport to see us off which was so nice of them to do. They went inside with us to where we had to check in and talked for a few minutes and then had to say our goodbyes, which wasn’t very easy to say the least. We definitely promised that we would all visit each other soon and be in touch when we were all back home. We gave hugs goodbye and we waved to them as they left. Emily and I had to fill out the paper work for the airlines and proceeded to check in. Well, that didn’t go as smooth. My big suitcase weighed 64 pounds!! I knew that I was going home with less than what I had brought, but geeze! With that, we were sitting on the floor all bags opened trying to rearrange the best way we could. I gave my beach towel to the airport worker, and moved more school books and gifts to my duffel bag. With a couple trial and errors we finally got the big suitcase to 50 pounds! Thank goodness we decided to get there early! After we checked in, we went to exchange money (wouldn’t know until about 2 weeks after my return that I didn’t exchange about 30 dollars worth!!). We had a quick trip through security and made it to the gate. We were kind of out of it due to only about 3 hours of sleep and drinking wine so with that we marched over to the food court and splurged on a cinnabon and water!! Water was three dollars!! Pretty expensive for water! Any way we had the hammock and our “little man” a mosaic piece cut in the shape of a little hippie guy to hang on our wall in the house. We were a sight for sore eyes! Our flight was a little early arriving in Houston. It took a while to get through immigration and customs as well as claiming our luggage and rechecking. After about an hour of that we found a Chiles where we stopped and had queso dip and diet coke. We got to watch the end of the PGA championship which was nice. Not only an hour back and it already felt so awkward being back in the country! Our plane to Columbia was small and my seat was literally 1A. It felt weird being so close to the cockpit and crew. The flight wasn’t full so Emily and I got a seat where we could sit together. The flight felt much longer than it actually was I guess because I was anxious and ready to be back in Columbia and then on the other hand we had been traveling all day so I was getting pretty tired. We saw a really cool lightening storm from the plane when we were around the Atlanta area. The plane was 10 minutes early and when we could turn our phones on (might I add that it felt so good and also very strange to use a cell phone!!) I called my mom and told her we landed!! She was so excited initiated by her voice she couldn’t stand it. Off the plane a few minutes later we had officially stepped back into South Carolina! I couldn’t believe it! Six weeks of Costa Rica were over. I had a mix of emotions. I was so happy to see my mom and to be back in a familiar place and see friends and family, but I was so sad to not be in Costa Rica. We were walking to the meeting place where family members can wait for people to get off the plane and we were looking for my mom and she popped out around the corner! I was so excited to see her! I’m sure we looked so tired and out of it. We got our luggage and went to the garage! My mom was so happy and in a really good mood! She had brought my car and started to hand me the keys and I told her definitely not that I hadn’t driven a car in six weeks and it wouldn’t be a good idea then. We had a craving for sonic so she stopped at the one on campus and we got slushies and icecream! It was very delicious! We walked into the house, which felt extremely weird and didn’t feel right being back in my house. It felt different and also seemed different in a way. We all went to bed early because my Mom and I were going back to Augusta in the morning so I could get Bishop and go to the Dentist and see my family, and get stuff done. Even though I was back in the real world now, I knew that I wasn’t the same person before I left. I felt different: a little wiser, a little stronger, a little bit happier. I had grown in so many ways that I was only beginning to discover. This adventure had been an experience that I would never forget and was so appreciative for. It was an opportunity that had just begun to lead me down the road for new opportunities and surprises which I couldn’t wait to begin. As this being the final blog of my journey in Costa Rica I must conclude with Pura Vida!! Hasta pronto….

Padre y Bebecito

adsfa The sunlight shining in Emily’s room this morning woke her up earlier than she expected. I had actually woken up before she came in to get me as well. Emma fixed us a good breakfast, eggs and Cereal, bread and juice. We took showers and basically packed up everything except the last minute stuff before we made a trip downtown to the artisan market. I still had some things that I needed to find for people and Emily wanted to go see downtown and get gifts as well. We first tried to go to the internet café close to our house but it evidently was closed. As we walked back passed Emma’s house to the bus stop Suzi was outside sweeping and we stopped to say hello and talk to her so Emily could meet her and Miguel. Miguel was trying to study for exams that were coming up on Monday. He did not want to study so he came along with us to downtown. He was such a big help because we needed to find the internet café so we could find out what time Carlos and Matt’s bus arrived. After that, we went to the market and spent quite a bit of money, more than we thought we would so we had to go back to the atm for a second time that day. We asked Miguel to take us to the bus station since we did not know how to get there, and along the way we found out Miguel didn’t know either. After about walking around in a few circles for about 35 minutes we found it, by actually the same bum that asked Emily and I for money at the taxi. Along the way, we saw another bum sitting on the street wearing a garnet University of South Carolina Gamecocks hat!! Where he go that, God only knows, but it was awesome that we saw that! Who would have thought? We were late getting there and thought that we had missed them. We were so scared that they thought we decided not come or that we didn’t get their message. Fortunately, luck was on our side and we arrived 15 minutes before they did!! We were so happy they came and very excited to see them! It’s funny that we all missed hanging out with each other. They were craving taco bell so Miguel leading the way and catching up on the previous night went to eat lunch at Taco Bell. The rain arrived shortly after we finished so we ran to get a taxi back to the house with our new friends. I was nervous that Emma would be upset that we brought two new people she didn’t know back to her house while we could get our things together. Emma’s house had a party going on when we pulled up. I forgot that with it being Mother’s Day in Costa Rica that she would have her children and grandchildren all there. It was so nice to see such a big close family. Not having a big family, it at first was a bit overwhelming, but I was so glad to see everyone there together one last time before leaving to go back home. They had presents and a big meal and a peach cake. Emma immediately took in the boys and started feeding them anything she could find or offer. That is just how she is. Carlos fit right in considering he is Colombian and understands how a Latino family works. Matt seemed to get along with everyone as well and didn’t have any trouble talking with them. Emma’s family kept them entertained while we got our stuff together. Emma’s son who is the professional musician had his wife with him, and I was so pleased to meet her considering I had heard so much about her. Both of their English was very good. They are such good people and some of the most generous I have ever met before. They did not want us to stay at the hotel that we had booked but we told them we were very grateful but we were not able to cancel the room. They called the hotel for us to double check everything for us and wanted us so badly to stay the last night at Emma’s. In the end, we kindly declined and had Emma call us a taxi. Before we left, I had a big group shot taken of me with her whole family. It is a great picture and I definitely do not blend in by any means. Another rain storm made its presence right as the taxi pulled up. between the four of us trying to get all of the luggage Emily and I had in the taxi we were soaked. We told Emma goodbye and I gave her a great big hug and told her again how grateful I was to have been able to live at her house. It wasn’t as easy to say goodbye as I had expected it to be, but with the rain storm the goodbye was a little abrupt. All piled in the cab, I waved goodbye as I told her goodbye as the taxi began to drive away. Sitting in the cab ride on the way to the hotel I was somewhat silent, partially because I was realizing that my journey in Costa Rica was coming to an end, and I began to reflect on everything that I had encountered and experienced along the way. Hasta Pronto…

Nuevos Amigos

We had to wake up very early to get the public buses to take us to Jacó so at least we could have more time on the beach. We waited for the first bus after walking down the red dirt road to the corner where it was supposed to pick us up. There at the corner was a local man waiting for the bus too. Apparently, it came 45 minutes earlier so a taxi driver droves us for a great price directly to the town where we needed to catch the ferry which would take us to Puntarenas so from there we could get on a public bus to Jacó. On the taxi ride we met a guy traveling from Paris, France on a vacation and we chatted with him for awhile until he got off at the stop to head to Montezuma. Everything worked our beautifully as far as traveling by the public buses and ferry system. We only had to wait 30 minutes at each stop. The ferry ride was interesting and also a great way to look at all the scenery. We met a new family that was sitting behind on us on the ferry. They had an eleventh month old daughter who was completely content and happy. She was easily entertained by wearing her dad’s sunglasses and eating a bag of cheetos. We actually also met a girl who just graduated from Carolina on the ferry too! She is from Aiken! Who would have thought we would meet a girl from our part of the country? She had been traveling with friends and was heading back to Carolina Friday before she moved to Colorado. We arrived in Puntarenas, the one place that I said I did not care for around 10:30 am. It was so miserably hot outside. It was a different kind of hot than what we are used to in the south; much more intense and the humidity that was involved didn’t even compare to what we experience at home. After walking 3 blocks to the station to buy the bus ticket and then the three blocks back to where the bus picks us up we were drenched in sweat from head to toe. Thank goodness that I had my bathing suit on! When the buses arrived a few minutes before to head to Quepos/ Manuel Antonio and the other to our destination there was major chaos occurring accompanied by mass confusion. Through all of this chaos and confusion we didn’t know that we were about to make two people who would have made the rest of our time in Costa Rica much more memorable and become great friends in the end. This new friendship all started with one man who seemed a little bit out there that works for the bus station, told us to get on the bus to Quepos because it was going to Jacó as well. Unfortunately for him, he was wrong. He gave us looks like we were stupid for just sitting there and not getting on it but then after we put our bags under the bus and proceeded to get on the driver said no you have to get on the other one!! With that said, I was getting pretty perturbed, and I could tell that two guys that seemed around our age appearing to be local tico surfers felt the exact same way. We ran around to the other side of the bus grabbed our bags, for them surfboards saying some things in Spanish that were not so nice. They helped us shove our bags under the other bus and then presented our blue bus tickets to the driver having to hurry to sit in a seat before he jolted off down the road. The surfer boys sat directly across from us I don’t think quite as out of breath as Emily and I and before we were in 10 minutes of the trip us four were having a conversation. This conversation to our surprise would last for four days. Matt and Carlos, good friends from California were dressed in your typical surfer outfit, the surf shorts, flip flops, a sleeveless shirt, with very tan skin, and a very carefree attitude. We found out that they were from California; about an hour from L.A. Matt is my age, 22 and Carlos only 20 he did not look 20 by any means. He would eventually get mad at Emily and I for teasing him for being the youngest out of all of us. Matt, who is tall, had longer shaggy hair, and two tattoos; one on the inside of each arm that stood for his religious beliefs. At one point he was in seminary school because he wanted to become a priest. Now he has changed his mind and wants to be a history professor at a University. Along the way to Jacó we exchanged stories of things we’ve done, people we have met, and places we have been along the way. They by far have some of the best stories out of anyone that I have met traveling in Costa Rica. They lived in Jacó for about a month in an apartment and after that traveled to different places on a bike with their two proud possessions: surfboard and skateboard in tow. One place for example was Witch’s Rock. To get to Witch’s Rock takes quite the endurance and a knack for adventure. They hitch hiked, crossed rivers, rode bikes with handmade racks found from a landfill if I can remember correctly. At one point they were unable to cross so they sat and camped out until the river had better conditions. They lost some things along the way, but nothing really important. When they finally reached Witch’s Rock, they were literally by themselves on this secluded beach and had to camp out on the sand. They said at times they didn’t sleep while being there because of all of the animal noises and crabs crawling on them and pinching them in the middle of the night. They ate food they caught and surfed some of the most amazing intense waves they had seen. The pictures Emily and I were shown had some incredible sunsets. Compared to our adventure I would have to say that the boys’ adventure tops them all. I was stunned by their stories and at some points almost somewhat jealous because of their adventurous, spontaneous side. Half way through the bus ride, two people sitting in front of me decided to move to the front of the bus. I’m guessing it was due to our great conversation and loud laughter that was taking over the area the four of us were occupying. The time flew by and before we knew it we arrived to Jacó around 1:00 pm. The boys had to go check to see if they could get their apartment again but decided to meet Emily and I at the Pops Ice cream store because we were all craving it, more for the cold air conditioning of the inside than the ice cream. The ice cream was just a bonus. After our treat, we all decided to look for a hostel together because their apartment didn’t work out. We started walking down the road and came across a cabina. It was only forty dollars for the night and so Emily and I decided to get a room and they decided they would get a room. It turned out that Emily and I got the room next to the laundry mat so our room was muggier and more humid than on the outside. After we dropped off our stuff, Em and I went to the beach for a while to relax and get some sun. it was so hot out that we didn’t stay very long. Maybe 2 hours at the most. Along the way, we had about 10 different people come up to us or yell out to us if we wanted surf lessons. I started to get pretty perturbed because they wouldn’t go away. Our new friends of ours and us went to a small hamburger place that was a few blocks from where we were staying. The place made a great hamburger. We all surprisingly ordered the same one: a small hamburger with blue cheese. That night before we made it to the place to eat a huge rain storm made an appearance. I mean we literally took two steps outside of the gate from our cabina and the sky fell out. Thank goodness for the umbrellas. We weren’t sure if we were going to go out, more or less played it by ear, but for the next couple hours we sat outside the boys’ room since it was cooler outside and listened to music, played cars, had drinks, and got to know each other. They asked us all about the South and if there really are southern belles that movies and books make girls out to be, along with the differences in our Universities, and football and tailgating. You name it, we covered it. I have been to California a couple times in the past so it gave me something to talk about with them and I could understand some of the things they described to Emily. It is really interesting to me because by the end of the night, not even 24 hours after meeting on a public bus, the four of us acted like we have been friends for years. Especially Emily and I together can have an odd sense of humor to other people, but they understood us and we understood them. We could be ourselves comfortably without having to be cautious, sometimes the way you are when you are first getting to know new people at school. After playing countless card games and going through about 3 ipods of music we made the move to venture out to view the night life of Jacó. There was one place called “the Loft” that seemed to be full of people and lots of dancing going on but we decided against that place since the boys would have to pay a cover. We kept walking until we came across a bar called “The Monkey Bar”. This place, along with “The Beatle Bar” were very interesting, not a place with typical tourists or people so to say. The majority of the women in the Monkey Bar were working, and by this I mean many of them were prostitutes. They were all decked out to the nines with the highest heels, lowest cut shirts and either really tight jeans or very short skirts. This is a very common legalized act in this town along with other big touristy towns in Costa Rica. Emily and I were a little overwhelmed so about 30 minutes into just people watching from a high top table in the corner of the place we went back to our comfy seating outside of the room. All four of us talked and laughed ‘til around 3:30 that morning. Emily and I were exhausted and wanted to get up early to be at the beach before it got too hot. Around 8:30 we woke up and then went to wake the boys up to let them know we were heading out to the beach if they wanted to meet us there later. We went to the same spot we were at yesterday watching some of the surfers try to catch some waves during high tide. It didn’t take us long to get into the water to cool off because the sun was intense. A little later Matt and Carlos found us and we just hung out for a while until we decided we were hungry for lunch and we all wanted pizza. I especially did because I started to crave it the night before around 2 am. I was sure glad that we left the beach when we did because in those 3 short hours and many sprays of suntan lotion later I had gotten more sun than I needed. That definitely only made me feel hotter later in the afternoon when we walked around looking at the different souvenir stores and local shops. We had to go buy bus tickets for San Jose early so we would make sure we could make it back that night. We bought tickets for the 6:00 bus so that we wouldn’t be too late getting back since Emma was allowing Emily and I to stay at her house. After venturing out looking at all the different stores it was basically time for us to gather our things and get a taxi to the bus station. Matt and Carlos were so nice by carrying all of our stuff to the taxi and putting it in there. Emily and I told them they should come to San Jose the next day and visit since they hadn’t spent any time there or explored the city; neither had Emily. They actually were all for it and we agreed we would get in touch with us the next morning to let us know what time they would be getting in town. We told them we would meet them at the bus station when their bus arrived. Emily and I made it back into San Jose around 8:00 that night. The bus station we arrived at was not in the best part of downtown San Jose. It was a very dangerous part to be at night, especially for us since we were American girls. We hurried around the corner to get a taxi and a homeless man directed us to a taxi and kept asking for money since he “helped” us find a cab. While I was trying to talk to the driver to give him directions and to make sure he had a meter, the man was on the other side of the cab with one arm inside the door held out asking Emily over and over for money. Poor Emily started freaking out and didn’t know what to do and I kept telling her to shut the door and say “no” “no”. Well, finally I stepped in and told him we didn’t have any money. He slammed the door while screaming “Son of a Bitch” in English. So I said it right back to him in Spanish. The cab ride is another story. We made it all the way across town in about 10 minutes thanks to the crazy, psycho driver that thought he was on a race track and no one else driving while we were. It felt so good to see familiar places along the way, even though trying to concentrate on something happy instead of thinking that we were going to get in an accident. I was very excited to be back and to see Emma and her family. I missed them while we had been traveling. I was also very excited for Emily to get to meet them as well. After ringing the doorbell, Emma came out and at first I think she couldn’t recognize us partially because I think she first saw Emily. Then she saw me and started to make a big fuss. Right away, she made Emily feel like her house was her house to make herself comfortable. Next, I showed Emily around and took her to a room upstairs. While I was doing that, Emma had started to prepare a huge breakfast dinner for us. She made us pancakes, eggs, fruit, coffee, juice, and the best thing that I have had that she has made: an amazing desert. I’m not sure what the name of it was, but I did have her write down the recipe for me because it seems so easy to make. As we sat at the table stuffed from all the food, we caught Emma up on our travels and her past week. After about an hour of talking and watching the newest soap opera on tv, Emily and I called it a night and went to bed. I finished the book I was reading all week before I fell asleep. It was hard to believe that we were at the end of our trip with only one more full day and night in Costa Rica. Hasta Pronto…

Malpais

So about 3 hours after traveling in a van down the most difficult roads but with the most beautiful scenery by far that I have seen traveling in Costa Rica we finally made it to our destination: Malpais. I understand why they call this place Malpais; it translates to bad lands. This place is not for the person who wants to do many activities, but if you like wide open beaches that are basically secluded with mountains on one side and rugged terrain on the other, then this place is for you. It is basically a surfer’s dream. If I could surf I would be in heaven. Probably some of the best waves that I have seen out of all the places so far, it even beats the waves from the surf competition in playa Hermosa. We asked to get dropped off at this place that was recommended by a guy from the hostel in Tamarindo called Tranquilo Backpackers. We walked up to the desk and asked for a room, and the next thing we knew we were on the second a of the hostel. We had the dorm room to ourselves but we had no fan or air conditioning but the place was really cool. It had a big open kitchen, ping pong tables, pool tables, and hammocks all over the place. We only spent a few hours at the beach, because we wanted to catch the USA vs Mexico game. We walked around to we found a place with a tv, but to our surprise it was not be broadcasted. The Costa Rica vs Honduras game was being shown at 7 that night. We went back to the hostel and read our books while laying in the hammock and occasionally dozing off swinging back and forth slowly in the unforgiving heat of the southern tip of peninsula in Costa Rica. Later after relaxing we took showers; why we did? I really do not know because it was basically pointless. We walked around looking for some place that was reasonable priced for dinner and we came across the place where I have had the best meal since I’ve been here. They cooked over a huge open fire pit where I can’t comprehend how the cooks could do that since it was about 100 degrees outside. They made the best roasted chicken and even mashed potatoes. I definitely ate all of my food. Afterwards, we found a sports bar down the street that was showing the Costa Rica soccer game; of course Emily and I were the only girls in the whole place. We didn’t care because we really just wanted to watch the soccer game. Costa Rica played awful so we didn’t finish watching the game, in addition to the sun taking all of our energy out of us from earlier that day we made our way back to the hostel. We ended up trying to go to bed, but with the heat the way it was made it nearly impossible but on another note we had to leave for Jacó at like 6:30 in the morning. We decided to skip Montezuma because we wanted to spend more time in Jacó in addition to the fact that we could stay at my mama tica’s house for free. Hasta pronto…

La Botella de Leche

We left Arenal early Tuesday morning and set out for Tamarindo. It is part of the Guanacaste region in the North West coast of Costa Rica. So far this has been my favorite place that I have been to. It is pretty well developed and a big touristy spot; very Americanized so to speak. We had to take a private bus so that we could at least get there and have part of the day to spend on the beach and explore the town. When we stopped for a small break, we saw a bunch of parrots in the trees. Some of them were content where they were on their part of the tree, but there as ususal, was one parrot which had the pretties blue color wings. He was the trouble maker of the group who wanted the whole tree to themselves. When we finally arrived it was around 2 in the afternoon and we got dropped off at a hostel called La Botella de Leche, which in English translates to Bottle of Milk. A lady from Argentina owns it and it was one of the coolest places we stayed at because it was so relaxed and full of surfers from all over the world. There were hammocks in front of every room, a big common lounge area with a few bean bags, a bench, handmade couches and two computers. In front of the lounge area there was a huge porch swing and a little patio set of table and chairs. Behind the lounge area, a fairly decent size kitchen that was shared by everyone had picnic tables to eat on. There were private rooms, and also dorms. The only thing the lady had available was two beds in the dorm. Going from the place to Arenal to what we had stepped into was a complete 180. There were three sets of bunk beds, and one common bathroom shared by all. In our room, there was a door that led to a private bedroom where the owner’s son, Juan lived. He was very cool to talk to and helped his mom run the hostel. We at least had an air conditioning unit in the room and a refrigerator. In our dorm we had a German couple (Mike and Veronica), and two girls from Texas. When I first met Mike he did not appear nor sound German when he spoke English. His accent sounded more like a mix of Australian and British. They were both 25 years old and he was studying bio economics and Veronica was a nail/spa technician. They were so friendly and very cool to hang out with. We talked to them for a while before we went to bed. He explained to me, that growing up in Germany in school you have to learn English up until the 5th grade and then when you enter into 9th grade you have a choice of let’s say for example: chemistry and English; very interesting to me. After we settled in, we decided to head to the beach for the rest of the afternoon. The beach was absolutely beautiful. It had light color sand, water for miles that was warm, beautiful green trees mixed in with palm trees lined the separation of beach from street, and a sky filled with the bright, hot sun with big puffy white clouds. We ran into one of the guys from my study abroad group and his girlfriend of all places. We hung out for a bit, then, Emily and I decided to walk around the town and get something to drink because it was so hot. We learned that down the road a bit there are huge million dollar homes owned by some of the famous celebrities in Hollywood here. For example, Harrison Ford has a beautiful all glass house located on the beach. It is the time to buy real estate here since everything is becoming so built up.
Eventually, we went to dinner and more than half the hostile all went together. The restaurant Coral Reef had really good and with really cheap prices. As we all sat around the table it became clear how many different countries were represented as we ate dinner. We had: the US, Canada, Germany, Australia, Austria, South Africa, Switzerland, and England. The best thing was to know that every one that we have met so far no matter what country they were from all knew English. It just proves to me how arrogant the people in America are and stubborn as to the fact that they don’t think learning other languages is important, or that it should be a priority in schools. I definitely think that it is important and I know that when I have children of my own they will start learning Spanish when they learn English. I want them to learn as many different languages as they can. The movie “A Good Year” with Russell Crowe was on, but I was pretty tired so after talking with everyone back at the hostel for a while I decided to go to bed since we had to be up bright and early to depart for our next place. For our first hostel experience La Botella de Leche was great and I highly recommend it for when you travel to Tamarindo and need a cheap place to stay. Hasta Pronto…

La Fortuna

We arrived to La Fortuna/Arenal around 11:45 in the morning. We were quite surprised as to how nice the hotel/ resort that we stayed in was. We just about decided to cancel it since it would create longer travel to get back to the coast and the fact that we would have to spend more money on semi private shuttles. All in all we kept with our original plan. When we arrived we automatically could see into the lobby which was very nice. The staff greeted us and gave us cool towels to cool off from traveling. There was a souvenir shop, a couple different sitting areas, computers, wifi, and they even have laptops available for those people that need to use them. Our room wasn’t ready so we just hung out in the lobby area and we ended up meeting this baby-boomer aged man from Oregon. We didn’t get his name, but he was very nice. He travels a lot with work and he told us that he came here with a group of 90 people all around his age and some even older than him to Costa Rica. They had been to several different cities and some of them were leaving Wednesday and others who were retired were staying much longer. He was curious as to where we were from and what we were doing here; the usual questions when you first meet someone traveling. When they arrived in San Jose, they rented these old classic convertible cars that you would see at car shows to travel around in Costa Rica. They were all parked in a neat little row around the corner from the lobby area. I never thought that you could do that here, rent specific cars that are vintage, but apparently you can. It was very creative and a different way to see the different parts of the country. He told us that our hotel was newly constructed at the end of 2006. The view of the Arenal Volcano was amazing and the hotel is located in one of the most privileged areas that has the most exuberant nature in the area. One of the staff workers, Javier, who I called Javie took us on the golf cart to our room. What was behind the door was nothing we had expected. We had a king size bed with a huge down comforter, one full size bed, a breakfast table that looks out the sliding glass doors that lead to a patio with our own private Jacuzzi and rocking chairs facing the volcano, and the biggest most creative bathroom I have ever seen. The bathroom had two different types of showers: one was a waterfall shower made out of rocks and had plants to decorate it, and the other was a glass shower that had a state of the art hydro massage shower head. There was a huge hotsprings pool with a swim up wet bar, and a open indoor/outdoor restaurant. We were pretty exhausted from traveling and getting up early so we took advantage of the big comfy bed and watched tv and took a refreshing nap before heading off to the central downtown part of La Fortuna with shops and restaurants. We caught the last shuttle from downtown back to the hotel, and we met a really nice family from Florida on vacation. We played the question game and I told them I had been studying in San Jose for the past month for a medical study abroad. Well, when I said those words the mom all of sudden got very interested and wanted to know more about it. She was so intrigued and told me how great it was that I was learning medical Spanish. To my surprise it turns out that she is a nurse, and her husband is a general surgeon. They both told me that going to PA school was such a great decision with the way health care will most likely change and the uncertainty of how physicians will fare from it. They were such a nice family and we all had lots to talk about; especially the big football rivals of Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia. That night, Emily and I ate at the restaurant of the hotel, and it was excellent. I had been craving pasta so that’s what I ate: chicken fettuccine alfreado. Emily got a lasagna with vegetables plate and we definitely ate it all. We took a long time to eat and then went to the hot springs pool for the rest of the night. We met back up with Kyle, who is the boy that is part of the Florida Family we talked to earlier. We had so much fun talking with the bartender and getting to know him. There was a couple from Spain that joined us in the pool they were from the Basque part of the country and the man’s English was very good. I left the pool earlier than everyone else because I was very tired. We had a long day and we were getting up early to travel to our next destination. I also was excited to sleep in a huge comfy bed in a very cold room. I’m so glad that we decided to stick with the original plan and go to Arenal. It was a great experience and we had a great stay. Hasta Pronto…

Nueva Aventura

I got to the airport around 11 in the morning to meet Emily. It was a bittersweet day having to say goodbye to people that I have spent so much time with and exciting because Emily was finally going to be here. I was finally excited to have someone with me that I didn’t have to explain who I was to or things I liked or didn’t like. Her flight arrived on time, but it took her about an hour to get through immigration and customs. We had to wait two hours for our shuttle to Monteverde and ended up hanging out in the Denny’s Restaurant because the hotel wouldn’t allow us to wait in the lobby. There were two other people on the shuttle with us and they were from Argentina. They had just arrived as well, and of course there were bound to be a few bumps in the road (literally and figuratively speaking) on the way to Monteverde. We stopped at one of the interbuses’ stops to have a break but what we thought would just be a 15 minute break turned into an hour break. You see though, we were supposed to have a different driver arrive but really the driver had been there with us the whole time talking to the other drivers. The only thing we had to do was get on a different bus. Well, Emily was not prepared for the road conditions that we were going to encounter on our journeys here. I took motion sickness medicine so I could try to sleep. It was so windy and bumpy and we were on unpaved roads for more than half of the bus ride. Finally, the two Argentineans’ left us for Tamarindo and Emily and I each took a row of seats so we could try to sleep until we got there. We arrived somewhere around 9 or 10 and we both were exhausted. We were greeted by Gustavo who runs the hotel Los Jardines and he was very hospitable. He took us to our room, which pleasantly surprised was quite large. We had one full bed, and one twin bed, a partial kitchen, a sitting area with a tv, and a good size bathroom. The view of the mountains was amazing from our balcony. Sunday, we ate breakfast and decided to do the canopy/zip line tour. It was so much fun and a great thing to do here in Costa Rica. We were basically flying in the mountains and at the end we did a Tarzan swing. You definitely felt how Tarzan did swinging through the trees. We were worn out from having a hike from each zip line and wondering through town. At night we partook in a night walking tour which I hadn’t done yet. We had a guide and we all had flashlights, even though mine was for the birds. It got dark very fast and we were in the middle of the forest. We saw walking sticks, tarantulas, a huge ant colony; one that I have never seen before I mean it looked like a huge pile of dirt that you could play on as a kid. The other people in our group were from the Netherlands. For the majority of the time they were speaking in dutch, but they all knew English which was great because I felt like we were not in Costa Rica when they were speaking in Dutch but also the fact that they had great personalities as well made it even better. For dinner we ate at a restaurant very close by that was really good. At the end of dinner Emily and I were so exhausted that we just wanted to go to bed. We had to be up early to catch our shuttle to Arenal. Monday morning after breakfast we waited for our Jeep-Boat-Jeep to come get us. We were going to take a public bus since most people had told us that it was so cheap and easy. Well, they forgot to mention the facts that if we took that option we would be on the bus traveling for twice the amount of time than we needed to. So about 30.00 dollars later we traveled through rough terrain again, wind and rain, transferred from van to boat, crossed the lake Arenal to the other side and met another van that took us to our final destination: Mountain Paradise. Hasta Pronto…

¡Qué Triste!

Today was my last full day here with the whole group in San Jose. It didn’t feel like I was leaving or that I was almost done with my trip. Ashley and I decided to wake up somewhat early so we could run errands, finish packing (well for me start packing), go by the ISA office, spend some time at Veritas to check our email and messages, and enjoy our last little bit of time with Emma and our familia Tica. We finished Veritas early and decided to head back to the house earlier than we had told Emma to get some things done. It turned out that her son Roberto had come early with his daughter Constanza and to our surprise they were eating McDonalds for lunch. It was the first time I had seen them sit down at the table to eat a meal. He was so nice and took us to McDonalds so that we could get lunch too. As much as I hate eating it at home in the states, it was the perfect meal for today. During our short trip to McDonalds, we learned that Roberto is a professional trombone player in the national orchestra here in San Jose. his wife is also a musician and plays the clarinet. They both teach at a music university here and have had the opportunity to travel many different places around the world to play music. About two weeks ago they had gone to Switzerland for vacation and their daughter Constanza who is 7 went with them. At her school, she is only 7 by the way has to learn English, Spanish, and German. She is such a bright young girl with so much zest for life and has so much energy. Roberto told us that he didn’t understand any of the people in Switzerland but Constanza could speak to all of them and understand everything they were saying. She had told her friends at school that she had three beautiful new friends from the United States and she was getting to spend the night with them. I had her help me make a welcome sign for Emily when I met her at the airport. Earlier in the afternoon Ashley and I went to get a few things and check out this big store called Hipermas, which is basically their super walmart!! It was a bit overwhelming, but it was also interesting to see how a store like that was here. We wanted to get Emma something small and a card since she has done so much for us. We got her a new bag of coffee since she got a brand new coffee pot just a few days ago. We got her a card as well and it just so happens that the month of August is when they celebrate mother’s day here. We also wanted to get Constanza something so since she is obsessed with Hannah Montana I found the perfect beach towel of Hannah Montana for her and Ashley found a notebook with a cover of Hannah Montana on it and also got her a package of headbands. I never expected the reaction that Constanza gave to her gifts that we gave her. It completely made my day to see her light up and be so happy and overjoyed from these small things. She was pretty much speechless. Things like that are always good for the soul. She just couldn’t believe what we had given her! That will be definitely being one of the best memories from here, even though it’s something very small. After dinner, Ashley and I went down to Suzie’s house to say goodbye to her, Miguel, and Fabiana. We talked with them for a while, and then we went to a restaurant called Café Mundo to meet the group for our “last supper.” The place was really great and I had the best piece of chocolate cake in Costa Rica. All of their desserts were amazing and everyone had basically gotten a different one. We didn’t stay long because many people had to get on a flight back to the states at like 2 am. I finally finished packing and went to bed early. Tomorrow was the beginning of the last week in Costa Rica but it was also the beginning of a new adventure with Emily. Hasta Pronto…

Competición de Mundial de Surf 2009

Today was the day that many of us had been looking forward to for the past couple of weeks now. We were leaving for Jaco beach and Playa Hermosa (about 10 minutes) from Jaco for the 2009 Billabong World Surf Championships. This was the first time for the competition to be held in Costa Rica. We had a group of about 10 go and had arranged for a private van to take us there and back since other ways would be much more expensive and the chance of not being able to return due to the massive amounts of people in town. This was my first experience witnessing a surf competition. Representatives from all different countries around the world were there. We arrived around 11 and the driver dropped us off about 10 minutes down the beach from where the surfing was taking place. It was such a beautiful morning. There was blue sky, big white puffy clouds, sun shining bright, and just the right amount of heat. The sand was very hot and very dark, but the water was a pretty blue color. The waves were very intense and the rip tide was known to be strong. We walked down the beach and grabbed a spot to sit and watch the surfers. It was somewhat difficult to tell exactly who was participating in the competition and who was surfing for fun. There were huge rocks near the surfers and the waves were actually good size, much bigger than what we are used to at home. There were many Americans as well because it’s a tourist city in Costa Rica. Not too shortly after being there, I would say about an hour we saw lightning in the far distance over the water and dark clouds began to take over the pretty clear blue sky we were enjoying. The ominous clouds arrived fast and the next thing we knew everyone was running off the beach to get out of the down pour that had began. We knew it was too good to be true to enjoy a whole day at the beach without having a rain shower. After the rain, we walked around the different stands set up by vendors and then found a hut to get something small to eat. This place was called “Dos Gringos” and it is own and run by 3 American surfer guys from Miami. We asked to see a menu, but they did not have one, only an oral menu because they had only been open for 4 days. They had arrived the week before to live their “American Dream” of living on the beach in Costa Rica and running a restaurant. They were your typical surfers, very relaxed and go with the flow. The menu was cheeseburgers and chips or hotdogs and chips. They had driven 10 days for 10 hours every day from California all the way here with one car, a grill and their surfboards to open up their restaurant. They told us that it would be a while for them until they could have a beer and wine license and even longer for a liquor license. I asked them why and they said that a liquor license would cost them 100,000 dollars because the country likes to create large taxes. Guess that is one way they provide universal health care. After about spending 2 hours sitting around we got back in our van and headed back to San Jose. it was a great experience and I am so glad that we went. I should probably start packing since tomorrow is my last full day here in San Jose, but I am very tired and those of you who know me I like to pack last minute. It is just hard to believe that my 5th week here is coming to an end, but I am so excited for Emily to get here Saturday!! By the way, HAPPY 21’ST BIRTHDAY EMILY!! I hope that you have had a great day and get ready for our adventure!! Hasta pronto…

Puntarenas-(La decisión muy Horrible)

Wow! I’m not sure where to even begin about this somewhat adventure of ours. One of the girls in our group that we have hung out a lot with has made a little “amigo tico” while we have been here. Three of the girls decided they wanted to take the basically one free day that we have had and travel somewhere. Well, the girl’s friend mentioned Puntarenas which is basically one of the many beaches in Costa Rica that sits on part of a peninsula. It is relatively about 30 minutes from Jaco (a big tourist beach). Ashley and I decided that since It was a beach and not too far away from here that we would tag along. Well that decision was the beginning of a ripple effect of events that took place. We had to be at the bus stop really early so we could have all day at this beach. The bus left around 8 am and we arrived around 10. We left the bus stop and crossed the street to where we saw the ocean so we could get some sun since I have basically lost all of my wonderful tan that I had had at the beginning of the summer. To our great surprise the beach was not beautiful white sand. Oh no, it was a horrible dark sand covered with trash. It looked like a landfill where people would just go and dump all of their trash as if it were one big wide open trash can. We figured that if we walked a little bit further that we could find a good part of the beach to hang out on. We were wrong, not to mention that it was so hot and sticky and humid. None of the restaurants opened until 11 and to use the bathroom we had to pay. Well the girls tico friend randomly decided to tell us that he has friends that live near where we were. So after about walking for about 45 minutes the guy was like “well I think he lives down this street but I haven’t seen them in two years. He barely could remember their names. It turns out we found their house but they were not home. Their mom and grandma were the only ones home. Here we are 5 american girls with one native Costa Rican ringing the doorbell to a strangers home out of the blue. She was very kind and as she was getting to literally walk out of the house to work she invited us in so that we could use the bathroom. That was probably the only good thing that came out of being there. After deciding not to take a bus to Jaco for the rest of the day because some people were afraid we would not be able to get a bus back due to the world surf championships we walked back to where we all began; the bus station. Ashley and I just wanted to leave this dirty sketchy city and return to the familiar place of San Jose. we left the others and waited for the next bus. Eventually, the others decided that there was nothing else for them to do so they met us back at the bus station and returned to San Jose with us. I was so frustrated and perturbed by the others and the whole situation that I just wanted to get back, be in air conditioning, and relax at the house. Ashley and I went to Veritas for a bit to check email and what not. When we decided to head back we ran into our good soul of a driver that is in charge of the shuttle for us international students at night. It was perfect timing when we ran into Victor, because he was about to pull off and drop off a group of students. This made our day! A 5 minute ride saved us a 15-20 minute walk back to the house. When we returned we told Emma and her son Alberto along with Victor how horrible the trip was and how annoyed we were. All of them asked us the same question: “why on earth did you go to Puntarenas?” Why did they not tell us about it before we made the trip? The main reason I was annoyed by it all was due to the fact of a complete waste of day spent on taking a bus ride to a beach just to see that it was dirty walk around in the hot weather and ride the bus back. Well, Ashley and I decided that after that day all we wanted to do was relax, so we decided to go see a movie. That was the best decision we had made all day. About 45 minutes before we left for the movie theaters we both heard what appeared to be 3 gun shots that seemed to close for comfort. We both gave a look to one another that represented, “did you hear that? Surely, not gunshots” well about 5 minutes after disregarding that thought a car screeched away in a hurry and not too long after that we heard an ambulance. Apparently, Emma did not hear it but all of the other neighbors did because they were outside in the garages behind their “gated bars” trying to figure out where it came from. It turns out we learned tonight, that a woman around the corner was attacked in home by someone and they had covered her eyes so that she couldn’t seem the attacker. Im not sure if she was shot, but Emma told us that she was okay. The movie we saw was My Sister’s Keeper. This movie is based on a novel and I think parts of the story are based on real life events. The movie was excellent and I highly recommend that you go see this one in the theaters. I am literally still trying to process the events and the storyline as I write this not because I didn’t understand it, but because the issues are so thought provoking and deep. The movie is based on a family who struggles with a daughter who has a very rare type of leukemia. She was diagnosed as a toddler and in the movie is seen at age 15. Her younger sister Anna, was created by in vitro for the soul purpose of saving her sister Kate’s life. Since Anna was born, the doctors had done multiple procedures to help cure Kate’s sister. They story line continues with Anna wanting to become medically emancipated from her parents because she did not want to be poked and stuck any more. Her sister needed a kidney and without Kate would die. Anna did not want to donate her kidney because she wanted to have a normal life. Throughout the movie you see the families’ trials and tribulations, successes, love, determination, struggles to survive and live through and with having a terminally sick child and how it affects everyone in the family differently. The movie makes you cry one minute, and then laugh the next. It was filled with emotions and made you think in ways about things that you 1. Don’t want to think about and 2. Didn’t know you would think about. That movie was the exact thing I needed to turn the day around. Hasta pronto…

El Museo de los Niños

Today we had the morning free so we were able to sleep in a little bit later which was nice. We decided that since we had most of the day free until at least 4 that we would check out the children’s museum. It was basically downtown but everyone said that it wasn’t safe to walk from downtown to the museum because the neighborhood isn’t the best. The children’s museum sits on top of this very large hill and actually is in the building that once was the home to the national prison of San Jose. The prison closed down in 1978 and since then the people have restored it and turned it into a learning place for children. I think that it is ironic that where once prisoners who were locked up for many different things is now a place for children that is educational and fun. Who would have thought that it would have become a place for children? The museum reminds me a lot of Edventure which is a huge amazing kids museum in Columbia. It is actually enjoyed by all ages. Or at least it brings out the child out in adults and us bigger kids. It was so interesting to see an educational place that has things such as the human body, the solar system, the weather, the progression of time and how houses have changed reading, and information on the rainforest and even music is all in Spanish. I took so many pictures because all the rooms were so bright and colorful! It wasn’t very crowded but we did arrive at a good time because as we were leaving, a huge group of school kids had just arrived! I thought that it was well worth the two dollars that we spent to go somewhere new and prevalent to the kids of Costa Rica. The taxi driver that took us back to the ISA office made me a little angry partially because he basically ripped us off and made us pay twice as much and secondly because he tried to act very pleasant and nice and wanted to have a conversation but then pull out the oh well you owe more money card when we arrived. Another thing was that I usually get stuck with having to pay more than everyone else because they all decide to jump out of the taxi before it has been taken care of. There are some things that just boggle my mind about people. That is probably another blog all in itself. I am looking forward to having a car and not having to worry about taking a bus or a taxi every time I want to go somewhere. On the flipside, Emma has been willing to let Emily and I stay the night before we have to catch our flight at her house. She has been so kind and has gone out of her way to make sure that we have been comfortable and feel like we are a part of her family. She just wants us to feel like her home is our home too. It took me a few minutes to make sure she understood what I asked her and that I made sense but she said she understood so it all has worked out just fine. Were going back to the jazz café tonight to listen to a jazz trio; we went there and it turned out to be somewhat crowded. There was a guy with a very large xylophone, a piano player, a bass player a drummer, and every couple of songs a man would get up to join them and sing a few songs. It was very relaxing and in fact made me very sleepy. We ended up leaving early since we decided to make a day trip to Puntarenas. Hasta pronto...

No puedo dormir…(3 de agosto 2009)

It is about one in the morning my time and I just got back from being out with a group for a little bit. I’m not very tired and can’t sleep so I figured I would write a little bit until I get tired. I don’t have to be up as early as I usually do since my morning class is over. It has been nice to sleep in past 6:30 for the past 2 mornings. That is one thing that I am not sure I will ever be able to get used to when I am officially out in the real world. I have adjusted actually relatively well considering I’m not a morning person at all. I would like to try however, to get up before 8am when I return home in order to get my day started, start a devotion and try to work out before my classes begin. I’ve had some very odd dreams during the past week which all have been very vivid, and for some reason I feel is supposed to mean something even if I don’t understand the meaning behind it right away. I know that sounds very strange but I too have felt slightly strange lately, like not myself, not in a bad way so to speak just different. It is somewhat hard to describe I guess. As I’ve met many new people all who are unique and people who I would not necessarily be friends with at school or at home have impacted me in some way while I have been here. Most of us have health care in common but other than that we are all different. Being in Costa Rica, I have seen that even though the country is divided into “certain areas” everyone is relatively the same. In our country however, you go to one part of the country and it appears very different than the part where you are from. We are supposed to embrace these differences and have pride in them since that is what makes us America, but are we all too different and believe in too many different things to where it hurts our country as a whole??? We have many different languages, many different cultures, different beliefs, etc. don’t get me wrong, I love that I am an American and I take great pride in our country and that I get to be a citizen of our country. It is hard though sometimes to look at the fact that we seem to be divided very easily on many different things. The last time that we all came and stood together was during 9/11. Why does it take a tragedy for our citizens to embrace family, and friends and to realize what the important things in life are where the majority of the other countries in the world don’t have that problem? We all take so many things for granted every day, but what I’ve learned here is that people care about the important things in life more. We say that we are a diverse country, but in reality we don’t like to accept diversity or get accustomed to other peoples’ ways of life or other countries’ cultures. During this time here, I have realized how truly blessed I am. I have been given so many wonderful opportunities, and even though I haven’t had an easy life I realize that if life was easy I wouldn’t have been living or have grown into to the person I have become today. There is always someone worse off than me, and I am so thankful to have people in my life who love me and support me and encourage me on a daily basis. Hasta pronto...

El Pueblo

I had my last day of the spanish medical terminology class on Friday. We had a fiesta and everyoe brought in something and we played a few games. We all took pictures with our professor Juan Jose. I really enjoyed the class and wished secretly that it wasn't ending so soon. Our professor was great and always made the class interesting and fun. Later that afternoon a few of us went downtown to the artisan market and look around. Friday night we all decided to go to this place called El Pueblo which is a huge strip mall type place of bars and dance clubs. The group that wasnt in the medical part was leaving Saturday morning so we thought one more night to go out together was the best way to go. This place to say the least was very interesting and had people dressed up in very provocative outfits. Each dance club had a stage with a host and girls dressed up in skimpy outfits dancing all night. Ashley and I decided to go back to the place called Twister where we started out and outside waiting was a huge marching band or at least that's what they appeared to be. they had elaborate outfits with huge head-dress pieces and a part of the costume they wore on the shoulders which had big feathers that looked like what showgirls in Vegas wear. Ashley and I wanted to take pictures of it, but better yet we got to try on their costume pieces and take a picture wearing it! The kids were so nice and probably thought it was funny that we liked it so much. After our photo shoot I ended up meeting the coolest three guys. at first i thought that they were from the United States because they did not look like they were from Europe. It turns out though, that all three of them are from Barcelona, Spain. I was so excited to meet them because I absolutely loved Spain, so i was able to tell them all about the places I had been and where I studied. Also, one of the guys has a younger brother about my age who in fact plays tennis for Georgia Southern University. It is such a small world, and it keeps getting smaller and smaller when you meet people in other countries. Friday night was their first night in Costa Rica and they were traveling for about 20 days around the country. I was thrilled that most of the night I was able to practice my spanish with them. They are all really smart and have great jobs as well. One of them is a financial advisor/ planner, one works for Merril Lynch in London, and the other works for motorcross competitions. We might see them when we go to Jaco this Thursday for the surf championship. We all had a blast Friday night and didnt get home til very late, not caring that we had to be on a bus at 8am with our Tropical Diseases class to head to Puerto Viejo for the weekend. I really felt that the trip we made was pretty much pointless. We were supposed to go to a snake farm, but we never did. We were out in the middle of no man's land and stayed in the middle of the rainforest at a hotel. Prior to arriving at the hotel, we drove around to look at the banana plantations and learned a little bit about how they are run. many of the workers of these plantations are very prone to getting infected with Malaria or Dengue. two good things did come out of this trip though: 1.I was able to have wifi at our hotel, and 2. I was able to save a trip to the hospital because the teachers of our class who are physicians checked me out and finally diagnosed me with Bronchitis. Thankfully, if the cough syrrum doesnt work, then they will bring me an antibiotic to class Tuesday. There were tons of insects flying around, which i did not like the slightest bit. We got back to San Jose Sunday afternoon around 3 and I actually was glad to be back because it wasnt muggy or hot and we would be back in our house. Ashley and I decided to watch a few movies on tv, and Design Star on HGTV. The weekend was very relaxing, but not the best one that I have had here. I'm getting very excited for Emily to get here on Saturday so our adventure can begin! Hasta pronto....

Manolo Chollos

We had our actual last day of our spanish medical class with teaching and review for our final today. after class we had our weekly meeting at the ISA office to update us on things thats been going on throughout the week and upcoming events. we had a huge down pour yesterday afternoon. as much as it rains every day this rain seemed different in way. partially because it a hard rain and partially it seemed refreshing. i love a good rainfall like that, especially when I can take a nap or when i sleep at night. we waited around the office for a while until the rain let up so we could walk home.
lunch was a surprise for us when we got back to the house. Emma had made hamburgers and homemade french fries for us! the hamburgers were actually not that bad; tasted a little different but overeall we all enjoyed it throughly. we even had the vanilla caramel icecream for dessert afterwards.
later we had to get ready to go to our fairwell dinner given by ISA. we went to this really nice restaurant up in the mountains about 30 minutes away from San Jose. I can't remember the name of it exactly, but the road was so narrow and extremely steep. i was trying to not concentrate on that since we were on a huge bus. everyone looked so nice all dressed up and it was the first time everyone in the entire group spent an outing together. we got off the bus and had to walk down a slightly steep gravel road and then followed a stone pathway of steps to the restaurant. our group had one whole section to ourselves. the area was enclosed by glass on three sides overlooking the entire city of San Jose while the other side was exposed to the outdoors and uncovered patio. the patio led to the backyard of the place and a huge wood railing that created the boundary for the top of the mountain we were on. the city looked beautiful against the dark sky all lit up by bright lights. its as if we were in heaven looking down and seeing a city be completely transformed. the dinner was in the form of a buffet style and had the typical costa rican foods. the chicken was really good and an excellent flavor to it. as i waited for other people to finish their dinner, i looked outside the glass next to us at a big table of ticos that were having dinner and drinks. as i watched them i felt like i was wactching one of those european movies that followed a close group of friends that meet at a small intimate restaurant thats shared as a favorite by them all. the kind of restaurant that creates the best memories and conversations, stories, arguments and pictures. the kind where a few bottles of wine are split and the time passes so ever quickly but doesn't seem to phase anyone. i wish that our culture in the states appreciated those little things in life more. the company of family and friends and having chats and meeting for h'ordeurves and wine. we are just so preoccupied all the time with money, and complaints about our job or school work, or bills, that we forget that those things would be eased if once in a while we took a small dose of company and laughter and talks.
after dinner, there were a group of dancers that performed a mini show of dances that pertain to the culture of Costa Rica. we all gathered around the patio as they performed and later included some of us in their dances. i got pulled up and danced twice. everyone was in such a good mood and enjoying the festivities. afterwards, the song macarena came on and all of us decided to take it upon us and do the line dance. i havent heard that song or done that dance since I was probably 8 years old. we even got some of the locals to join us. we took pictures and danced and conversed with one another. it seemed like at that moment not one of us had a care in the world or worried about anything.
the dancers brought out a piece of birthday cake so we could sing "happy birthday" to our friend Alice. It was her 19th birthday and afterwards she got in a mini cake fight with some of the girls. this was one of the best nights that we have all shared here in Costa Rica. a group of us decided to go this place called Jazz Cafe. it was such a great place! there was a live jazz band and tables surrounding the band and two different bars with great mood lighting. it was such a relaxed atmosphere. the band was really good and played for about an hour. it wasnt very crowded but I really enjoyed listening to the music talking with a few people and having a cocktail. we didnt stay out very late since I had an exam this morning. i couldnt go right to sleep though when i got back home so i decided to read a chapter of my book. im going to have to go search for a new book this weekend since i will be done with this one in about two more chapters. the week is almost over but there will be much more to blog about im sure by the weekend. hasta pronto...

Mañana es Para Siempre (Lunes y Martes)

I didn’t sleep very well Sunday night. I had a lot of very vivid dreams all night long. I woke up a few times too forgetting where I was. I heard a lot of voices when I finally woke up for the day. I wasn’t sure who all was in the house. Went to the kitchen for breakfast and Emma was back along with one of her sons, her daughter, her granddaughter, and Luis; a full house was here to help her which was relieving to see. Emma looked good for falling again. She was wheeling around in one of those black office chairs that swivels. I felt better than I had been but still not back to normal. Went to school anyway, which felt like the longest walk of my life considering I didn’t have any energy at all. It was the beginning of our last week of our Spanish class. The other ISA group which isn’t in the medical Spanish leaves Saturday so this is there last week. We stayed at Veritas all day since we had our afternoon class too. I tried to study for our test we had Tuesday, but of course the internet was there to distract me. We got out of the second class two hours earlier because we reviewed for our test and went over one more type of parasite. I’m glad I had the extra time to skype and catch up on some things while we waited for the shuttle.
It seemed like everyone was getting sick in our group. People were dropping like flies. There are apparently many different types of flu going around, and one guy even ended up with a bacterial infection because of the rapid climate changes that we experienced in Manuel Antonio. At dinner, we watched the same show that we always do. It is a Costa Rican soap opera that is called Mañana es para Siempre. The first time we watched it, all three of us felt that it was really silly and a bit strange. The more I watch it, the more it grows on me though. The theme song that plays at the end gets stuck in your head and Luis always sits right up next to it and sings along, or rather attempts to sing along with it. Tuesday was test day and I hadn’t really studied much for it. It was a lot of information on different types of parasites different classifications of worms and the diseases that they cause along with all of the symptoms, treatment, prevention, etc. It started to get confusing after looking at it for so long. The test itself was relatively short; two case studies and a matching section and a short answer. It wasn’t very easy either, more tricky I would say then anything because all of the parasites cause generally the same clinical symptoms. I decided not to go out since I was starting to feel on the better side. I didn’t want to push it. We also had plans for Wednesday night too so I wanted to save my energy for that. Ashley and I watched with Emma the show after dinner again and talked to her about hamburgers and French fries for about 20 minutes. I read through their newspaper and looked for any soccer games that we could go to or concerts that would be happening while we were still here. I didn’t stay up too late. I did read much more of my book than I intended too. It is just soo good that I cant put it down and part of me doesn’t like that fact that I’m reading it so fast because it’s the last book the the series so I am not ready for it to end.
Oh let me just go completely off subject and include one thing that I still have a hard time trying to understand that I haven’t fully adapted to yet: not being able to flush toilet paper down the toilets. It’s a second nature thing for us Americans, but we can’t do it here. With all of the money that they spend on universal health care, wouldn’t you think that the government would find it necessary to update their plumbing and sewer systems so that people could flush toilet paper instead of having to put it in a small trash can that sits next to the toilet? It just seems much more sanitary and you would think they would agree here, but I guess not. Thankfully, none of us has stopped the toilet up yet or caused it to overflow, but it is only a matter of time. That is one thing I look forward to getting back home is flushing toilet paper again. Hasta pronto…

Manuel Antonio y El Gripe

Friday morning I woke up feeling awful. I was achy, stiff, headache, sore throat, you name it. Had to give our presentation too, which I sounded awful and couldn’t talk. After, we watched another movie. After class, a group of us decided to go to our pizza place for lunch before we left for the beach. We barely got back in time and by the time I got on the bus, there was only one seat left. Guess where it was….oh the very last seat in the back of the bus. The one right by the bathroom and the air conditioner is blasted right over you and you can’t lean your seat back and there’s barely any leg room. Lets just throw in the fact that I wasn’t feeling any better, actually feeling worse. Luckily there was this huge space in front of a seat where the emergency exit was so I just decided to lay on the floor and sleep the whole way to Manuel Antonio. We were supposed to go to the national park Saturday morning which has sandy white beaches, and monkeys, etc. well, the one weekend we get to go to the beach and there is sun out I get the flu. I didn’t see any of Manuel Antonio because I could not get out of bed all weekend. I haven’t felt that bad in a very long time, not to mention there was no tv, or internet or my cell phone. All I could do was sleep which is all I did. Everyone else came back to the room with sun on their faces and tans while I looked like Casper. Ginger ale was my best friend all weekend. Finally, we got back Sunday late afternoon and found ourselves alone. Emma had to go back to the hospital at some point because she fell again and really hurt her leg again. Luis was there, but we couldn’t understand him. It was really kind of awkward, because we didn’t know what to do or how to communicate with him since there wasn’t anyone there that could help us or let us know what he was trying to say. I found HGTV on the television watched it for about an hour and then decided to go to bed early. Luis probably talked out loud to himself for about 2 hours and when he talks he doesn’t whisper. We felt so bad for Emma, and we didn’t want her to worry about us. We just hoped that she was okay. We really hoped that she would be back in the morning, in ways we missed not having her at the house. Hasta pronto…

¡Vamos! (Jueves)

Today our morning class and a few of the other classes all piled in a van to have a field trip. We all thought that we were going to go to the herb market since we had to give presentations on medicinal plants Friday. Our teacher wanted us to try to bring a small sample of the plant into class. Our first stop was at this old church. We didn’t know until we got inside that it was the famous church of the virgin of los angeles. The whole church was built around this rock that is part of a famous legend. The legend basically is about this little girl going out into the woods to get firewood and on the rock she sees this doll. She decided to take it home with her because it was so beautiful and put in a special box. The next day she went to do the same thing and saw a doll on the rock that looked just like the one she found before. She was so excited that she found another one so that the other one could have a friend. When she went to put the doll in the box with the other she saw that it was empty. The doll kept reappearing on the rock and today the people of costa rica pray to the virgin of los angeles to cure sickness and pain and for miracles. The church is beautiful and inside the bottom of the church the original rock appears and cases with gifts that people have donated and given because the virgin had answered their prayers. They feel like they need to respect that and give something back in return. There is a fountain of holy water where we saw many people waited to fill up many water bottles. I did it too.
Every year on August 2nd, in the city of Cortago where the church is, thousands of people gather and make a huge pilgrimage to this church. It is considered a huge holiday here, but last week the minister of health canceled the pilgrimage and festivities because of the swine flu pandemic. So because of this many people started their piligrimages early. We went to the “fresh market” so to speak next, and I wasn’t a fan but it was interesting to see. Many of the boys got these huge tortillas with what it looked like cheese filled inside of them but none of them could eat it all and others didn’t like. Kacey and I took their leftovers and decided to give it to all the stray dogs that we saw. We ended up buying Costa Rican soccer jerseys to wear for the game right before we had to head back to San Jose and right before we got to the van we saw two black dogs that looked so hungry. We tried to throw a piece to them but they didn’t take to it. I man was sitting not too far from them and clearly he was homeless and he only had those dogs and what he was wearing. I had the girls hold my stuff and I took the bag of left over tortillas and told him it was for him and his dogs. He was very gracious and I could tell he was avery hungry too. I felt like I had accomplished something good by doing that even though I shouldn’t have gone up to him.
In the afternoon a small group of us went to el museo nacional. It’s the national museum of costa rica. The building itself was once used as the fort for the Costa Rican Military before they abolished it in the late 40’s. with all of the history classes that I have had in the past year it all came together and it was interesting to see pictures and be in a place with the history of costa rica that I had read and learned about back home. It wasn’t a very big museum but full of information. We decided that we would take the bus back to Veritas because we actually walked to the center of downtown and didn’t know it until after we left the museum. On the way to the bus stop a girl, Lynette who is one of the assistants for ISA, and I talked for a long time. She knows very little English and is going to be a professor. She has a little girl who is 5 and lives on her own. Shes very young herself, only 25 years old but one of the nicest people I have met here. I love talking to her because she is patient when we talk to her in Spanish. I learned a lot about her in the little time we spent together. When we were on the bus just about back to Veritas I looked out the window and there was a group of men standing and surrounding a man who was sitting down on the sidewalk. There is no telling what he did or didn’t do, but one of the men completely kicked him in the face. The poor man was getting beat up and nobody cared to do anything about it. That was something I was not expecting to see, nor did I care to see. It was a little shock to see that driving down the street, not what I am used to for sure.
We had to hurry up and get ready because the big game for the gold cup was on at 8. Usa played Honduras before and won. All of us in our house and the girls down the street their mama tica her son and daughter, and emma’s grandsons went to this sports bar restaurant place to watch the costa rica vs mexico game! It was by far one of the most fun nights we had out. It did seem a little weird though being with a mom and young kids who were 16 and 17. I just felt like it was wrong for me to be associated with them out in public. We all had so much fun though. The whole place was crowded and cheering like we cheer when we watch a football game with a group of people on tv in the fall. Out of the whole place we shared a big table with a group of México fans. So if the ticos didn’t hate us enough for clearly being American lets add Mexican fans to the list. After the game we went to Castros for the typical Thursday night outing; Great way to end the night. Hasta pronto…

Plantas Medicinales (martes y miercoles)

In our tropical diseases class yesterday afternoon, the doctor that teaches our class started out by teaching us how to make the general assessments of the patient. They take the personal information first, and then ask about the family history and their personal health history. After that they ask the reason for their visit and the specific details of their symptoms. We learned how they go in order for the general exam starting from the top of the head to the neck and the face their eyes, and ears. Also, the specific places they listen to when the patient breathes on their stomach and back which could signify certain things or lead to a proper diagnosis without having to more than what is necessary. One interesting thing was when they examine the pupils depending on what color the eyes are could signal a potential tumor or in babies if the color is a whitish color it could signify I think i if I can remember correctly she said a congenital birth defect. It was pretty interesting but very slow. Then she had two volunteers to pretend to be the doctor and the other the patient. The last part of the class we discussed different types of tuberculosis. I feel bad sometimes for our teacher because she’s really nice and the whole class is in English which I commend her for, but sometimes the students are not patient with her because she doesn’t speak very loud. I hope one day that I can be as fluent as her with my Spanish. We went to a new bar last night called Al Saltans, which was a hooka bar too. Of course we get there and I forget my ID, but he just asked me my birthday year and he was like ok. It was mostly a bar for the locals. They had this guy start rapping a song in Spanish who knew who he was. He appeared to be a local trying to make it big in music. It was interesting to watch but we were all like ok enough of the locals. We didn’t stay out long and right after we left we were told that they had a dance off and a man with torches doing tricks. It was not my favorite place so far but it was interesting to go to a new place. Today in our morning class we were obviously way ahead with the lessons so we talked about different types of plants that could be used for medicinal purposes. This is what our next presentation is on Friday. We get to work with a partner. Kacey and I received the topic of marijuana for medicinal purposes. We have to prepare a 5 minute presentation that discusses the uses, advantages, disadvantages for the uses and give recommendations for good uses for it. It will definitely be interesting. We are going to have Emma bake us brownies for the class on Friday (without weed) in them as a little joke for our professor considering he brought that up today when we talked about it. We also had to write the summary of one of our favorite Disney movies and tell the class to practice our uses of the preterite and imperfect tenses. I chose Beauty and the Beast.
We’ve covered so many things in the past 2 and half weeks of class. For example, we have learned how to interact with Spanish speaking patients, interview them take vital signs, describe symptoms of sicknesses, investigate the symptoms presented by the patient, ask about how the illness started, describing the illness, ask about family medical history, perform a physical examination, order lab exams analyze the exams from the lab with the patient, diagnosis the patient, prescribe medications, give recommendations and suggestions, prepared a talk to give to young children about first aid skills and how to interact with the patient in a hospital situation. When I stop to think about it all, it’s kind of overwhelming considering how much we have done and haven’t finished yet. The time here is going by so fast that it’s hard to believe it is almost over, well about half way done. Alice, Ashley, and I decided to head to the mall known as the Multi Plaza on the other side of San Jose. This side was much more modern and much cleaner looking and nicer all around. The mall seemed to be relatively new and we were somewhat in aw about how much we felt like we were back home. We found this grocery store called alto mercardo and we were really excited because for the first time we found a grocery store that was as close to an American grocery store as one Spanish speaking country could possibly get. Well, I wanted to see if they had any wine that I could at least recognize to take with me for this weekend. We were in for a surprise because we turned the corner and there it was like a shiny new must have sports car on display with the yellow spot lights on it was a whole aisle of nothing but great wine, champagne, liquor and beer. We were like kids in a candy store. I think I was more excited to find good ol Jim Beam and pino grigio today than when I turned 21. We were in heaven and couldn’t contain ourselves. I’m sure that the employees watching us thought we were annoying stupid Americans but to be honest I really didn’t care. The imperial beer which is the beer of Costa Rica is just not doing it for me anymore. I cannot wait to have a really good steak and a glass of cabernet and a great homemade salad. Not having ranch dressing on hand has been very difficult to cope with. Tonight as I was getting ready for bed and writing this blog I heard this strange little noise over by my bedroom door. What I feared the most was trying to crawl around my room. A huge cockroach that was bigger than the huge palmetto bugs that we have in South Carolina. He had the longest legs I’ve ever seen on a cockroach. I threw my shoe at it and went to the kitchen calling Emma’s name to tell her about my new roommate. She brought spray and kicked it out of my room into the hall and then swept it away. I shouldn’t be surprised to find bugs in the house because they don’t have air conditioning. There really isn’t a need for one because it doesn’t get too hot so they just leave windows open. I am tired of having flies around us at the table pretty much every meal though. It’s getting pretty old. I am just not a fan of insects especially in the house. I cant complain though because our laundry has come back to us the exact same day that it is washed all of it pressed and folded neatly on our beds. I am very surprised that Emma has a dryer. I have come to the conclusion that Emma and her family must be doing pretty well since they all have a masters or PHD in their field of study. Her stove and refrigerator are all new and her house is a very good size. I also think she receives money in the form of a disability check because of her son and her grandchildren have all attended private schools. I also have to say that having every meal prepared for me has been nice. I haven’t had 3 meals cooked for me every day of the week since high school. She really has done a good job as treating us like a part of her family. Up until now, she has always had boy students live with her. I think she is really excited to have us girls, a nice change from what she has been used to. Overall, the week has been a really good week. Hasta pronto….

Las Leñitas

We had one of the best lunches at one of the local restaurants! It’s right around the corner about 2 blocks from the university. It was like really good Mexican food but with a Costa Rican twist. We didn’t go home until after our last class since its not a really long break. We were supposed to have a test Tuesday on tropical diseases but she changed it until next Tuesday. Thank goodness because I haven’t really been in study mode. That class was pretty interesting because the teacher who’s a primary care physician showed us some you tube videos with doctors performing surgery on a patient to remove a specific type of worm from their small intestine. Then another type of worm in a different video out of a person’s anus, not the most pleasant video to show before people eat dinner. Some people decided to go out and at first I was all for it, but then I just wanted to watch a movie and get a good night sleep.
Hoorah!! Today my care package from my mom came!! I got some more snacks and a hoodie that I def needed!! I was so happy! It def made my day!! Thanks mom!! In class this morning we talked about medicinal plants and different herbs and home remedies that local people use here for different sicknesses etc. one activity we went around the university and asked different people what homemade remedies they used for ex: allergies, asthma, eye infections, a cut, a stomach ache etc. one employee that works in the little cafeteria told me that when he has a cut sometimes hell put coffee grains on it. Not sure what it really does, but it must help heal it faster. Other people will put june bugs with milk in a blender and drink it once a month for allergies, or they will put it in their cereal. I think that is just ridiculous! I would never do that!! It was very interesting to say the least. For lunch we decided to try this pizzeria that we see everyday walking to and from class. We got the super grande pizza and it was so delicious!! Really cheap too! Six of split this gigantic pizza and we were all so full afterwards! I got my pizza fix until after I get back. We are most likely going to try this new place called saltans tonight for a little while. Hopefully it will be pretty fun and not sketchy. I really find it hard to believe that this has been the start of my third week here. It really is going by so much faster than I expected it to be. I haven’t gotten home sick yet which I’m surprised, but I do miss home and the little things that you wouldn’t necessarily think to miss. I hope everyone is doing well and I miss you all. If you have skype then you can search for me! My skype name is erin.cota and just add me! Or email me at cota@mailbox.sc.edu , Im on skype almost every day for a while!! Hasta pronto….

Los Lagos e La Fortuna

I woke up 5 minutes before the taxi arrived at 5:30 to take us to the ISA office. I obviously was sleeping good because I turned my alarm off and that hasn’t happened here once. Thank goodness I had everything ready to go. We left promptly at 6 in the morning and headed off for La Fortuna. We stopped like 2 hours into the trip to look at these artistic shaped hedges and then had breakfast in this little restaurant. Got the pancakes and they were delicious. When we got back on the bus after looking at the hedges and the church, we headed off and about 3 minutes into the bus moving, we heard from the back of the bus that one of the girls wasn’t on the bus. I would’ve freaked out but she seemed relatively calm for being left behind. It was not as warm as they had told us it would be. Thank goodness for a rain jacket. We arrived at La Fortuna around 10:30 -11:00. Checked in and made the hike down the mountain towards the beautiful waterfall. There were two one smaller than the main one, but really cool. We all went swimming in the main waterfall. The water was absolutely freezing!! We didn’t care, it was actually really rough though and all the rocks were slippery so it made it hard to hold on and stand on. Went to another little swimming hole around the corner but there were little fish and I didn’t feel like getting all the way in again. Now the walk down there was nothing, but the hike back up was no joke. The path was soo narrow and extremely steep steps. Im not gonna lie that I was out of breath a few times heading back up the mountain. It would suck if you were a smoker trying to make that journey back up the hill and it was raining too. We stopped in the little town of La Fortuna for lunch and it def poured while we were there. We went to a little local restaurant and they had little personal pizzas, so I had to get one! While we were eating, there was this little stray dog that was walking around the restaurant. It looked so sad and pitiful that we gave it a bunch of nachos. It was picky though because it only wanted the meat not the chips. There are a lot of stray dogs in Costa Rica. A lot of people have dogs too. Almost every house we pass on the way to school has a dog behind their gates in the area like their garage. Most of them are small dogs. About two hours later we arrived to Arenal. It was chilly and we had to check in. the place was a resort and spa. It was extremely nice. The rooms were huge and we actually had a tub instead of a stand up shower. The beds were really comfy. The rooms were spread out through the resort it was like a plantation or a little community. We had to take a shuttle pretty much everywhere except the restaurant where we ate. The food was excellent!! Before dinner, my friend Alice and I decided to have a trip to the spa. We got a great deal! We got a massage, a mini facial and a wrap for $75. We were not about to pass that up. They def do things a little different in foreign countries let’s just say no one is modest at a spa. They gave us these really good fruit cocktails afterwards and Alice and I decided to have a photo shoot in the dressing room to capture our experience! After dinner, we all went to the hot springs at the resort . it felt so good to be in hot water and relax. They had pretty fast waterslides too which was fun! The only thing though is that It closed at 10. I didn’t stay up late because I was exhausted! Sunday was a day of relaxation basically. Slept in, had breakfast, then later lunch, and got back on the road to San Jose. Wish we could’ve spent the whole weekend at Los Lagos, but it was fun to experience it for at least one night. Wish we could’ve seen the volcano but with it being soo cloudy we didn’t get to. I Ended up going to bed at 7:00 Sunday night after dinner. The whole weekend wore me out, one of the best by far though. hasta pronto...

¡SI SE PUEDE!

On the way back into san jose right now, and words cant even explain how I feel right now. Im like floating on a cloud happy as can be. Today has been an amazing day! I first woke up this morning after being able to sleep in until 7 for the first time being here. Ashley had to knock on my door and tell me breakfast was ready. After I was awake it took me a minute to remember just exactly what I was going to be doing today. Emma made us pancakes for breakfast and they were awesome! Two days in a row with good meals. There must be something in the water shes drinking…but she can keep on drinkin it, I will not stop her. I Got to school early to review for my first exam. Today we had our first patient interview. Our professor had different people pretend to be a patient and we had to be the doctor. We had to take personal information in the form of a sheet of paper that would be found on a patients chart. We had to take their blood pressure, their pulse, height and weight. We then asked them what their reason was for their visit and in the end give them a recommendation for what they should do. I made an A so I was pretty excited about it! Our teacher is so awesome! He makes the class so much fun and exciting! One thing down one more thing to go! A few of us went to grab a bite to eat before we set out on our adventure! I was a little sad though that I couldn’t be with Bishop for his 1st birthday! Caitlyn or Mom please get him a big doggie treat for his birthday!! At 1 this afternoon, 16 of us set out on a bus about an hour away from the city. I started to feel a little bit anxious knowing what we were about to do! When we finally got outside of the city we stopped at this little house place where we pretty much signed our lives away! Around the corner off a dirt path there we saw it! The bridge that awaited us where we would Bungee Jump!! All of our reactions were the exact same! “Whoahhh!! That is insane!” Yes! I am so proud to say that I bungee jumped this afternoon!!!! This jump was off a 265 feet bridge over the Colorado river! This is one of the highest bungee jumps in the Americas!! We were the last group to go so after seeing about 10 people go I was super stoked and ready to go and do it! They put the harness around you and then put huge weights on your ankles. They help you stand up on the platform then have you walk out on a tiny little yellow platform that’s kinda of like a plank! My heart was pounding and I was shaking. I have no idea what got me off of the platform into the air but they counted from 5 to 1 and before they got to 1 I screamed and swan dived into the air. It was the most unreal amazing indescribable feeling ive ever felt in my life. It was over before you could say even one word, probably 10 seconds or less. The rope catches you and pulls you back up. I spun like one of those trapeze artists spin in the air on the rope. You were just swinging upside down back and forth for a few minutes. I kept my feet flexed the whole time while I was swinging because I was scared my feet were going to slip out of the weights. The hardest scariest part was trying to find the long white crane type rope that they send down for you to grab. You have to grab it and attach it to your harness so they can pull you back up. I felt like it took me forever to grab it and get pulled up. You end up being pulled upright just like youre sitting on a swing. I finally understood why everyone couldn’t speak after they came back up from jumping. You just sit there back safely on the platform while they take it off with this big happy look on your face speechless. You really cannot describe how it feels; bigger than any adrenaline rush or high you could feel from any type of drug. It was such a great feeling and I still feel like that. Im so proud of myself that I didn’t even turn around or second guess it before I jumped! Not one person in our group backed out! It was scary but so amazing at the same time! Mom, im sorry I didn’t tell you before hand, but I knew you would’ve freaked out and would have found some way to keep me from doing it! I know you would have been a nervous wreck if I told you beforehand. Emma and I said a prayer before I left to keep me safe and I’m back safe and sound. But guess what! The company that we bungeed from gives us a video! So I’m going to get to show you and everyone else at home! I can’t wait to show it to everyone! It really was one of the best experiences in my life so far!! Hopefully, I will try to post pictures of my trip here so far. We leave for Arenal tomorrow at 6 am and will be back Sunday night. I am looking forward to relaxing in the hot springs all day tomorrow! Hasta pronto…