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....