La Fortuna-Tamarindo-San Jose

What an exhausting week it has been! Ill start with this past Friday. A bunch of us all went out on Friday night because Catherine and I were going stir crazy from being sick the whole week. We took it easy but it was nice to get out of the house. 

Saturday morning is when our real adventure begin. Catherine, Lindsey, Jamie and myself all ventured to La Fortuna which we thought was only going to take us 4 hours but it ended up taking a little over 5 hours to get there due to all the stops we had to make along the way. The buses here don't always just go direct and they pick up/drop off people as we go. It was a pain. We got to La Fortuna around 5pm and checked in to our hostel which I will say was one of the nicest places I've stayed on this trip. It was only $10 a night too. Did I mention we got a complimentary drink upon arrival!? It was amazing. We had one of our other friends Aslak in our dorm and our new Aussie friend, Xavier. It was a good group and we all went out to some "disco" bar... It was quite entertaining to say the least. 

On Sunday morning we decided to hit a local spot... A water fall that was about a 20 minute walk away from our hostel... It was a beautiful place but due to my most recent incident at a water fall I was a little apprehensive about jumping off the ledge. I ended up doing it once just to get past my fear but Lindsey and I left before Catherine and Jamie because I just didn't feel as comfortable as I would of liked too there. We spent most of the afternoon by the pool at our neighboring hostel and all took a nap in the hammocks... Yeah, I know.. I live a rough life. Saturday night the girls, myself, and the Aussie just all relaxed at the hostel... We had a new guy staying in our room that we nick named "twitchy". You honestly can meet the strangest people at hostels... 

Monday morning we got all of our stuff together and headed back to San Jose, it was another 5 hour bus ride that seemed never ending. Once we all were in San Jose we were anxious to get home to meet our new roommates. I got 3 new roommates. One is a professor and the other two are honors students at FSU and all three were traveling together. I think in total they have a group of 18 people volunteering together at Maximo but they are only here for the week. They all seemed nice but didn't get a chance to talk to them too much. A group of us went out on Monday night to celebrate the start of my "Birthday Week". Yes, I get a week of celebrating because ... Why not!? :) interestingly enough while we were all meeting at Maximo I happened to see just how small this world is and meet a guy who knows my mom. He went to Way Elementary and had my Mom's friend Karen as a teacher. It was crazy. It blows my mind how small the world seems some times. 

Tuesday morning Catherine and I boarded our 6+ hour bus to Tamarindo... This was our first solo trip and I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about us making it to our hostel. For whatever reason Cat and I seem to go brain dead when we travel. Luckily, we made it to our hostel before it got to dark out.. It only took a little bickering and walking the wrong direction for a bit to get there! (Love you Cat!) The hostel we stayed at had a pool so the first thing we did was jump in once we got here. We also didn't get complimentary drinks at this hostel but I did get a million complimentary bug bites (haha..but seriously it was brutal) We stayed in an 8 person mixed dorm that we shared with 3 Swedish girls, a Canadian girl, a Venezuelan, and a Costa Rican. The two Venezuelans live in the hostel and work at the partnering one up the road. The other girls were all leaving the next morning. Catherine and I took it upon ourselves to learn some Spanish phrases with Marcel on Tuesday night. It was entertaining. We also all put our mattresses on the floor and laid in front of the fan because we have no AC and we were all dying of heat...Gotta love hostels and living on a budget! 

Wednesday Catherine and I hit the beach for most of the morning, where I got completely burnt. I swear I put 60 SPF on and it does nothing here...but hey, at least ill be coming home with a tan! We spent the second half of our day at the pool. Catherine and I went out later to a few nearby bars but we had started day drinking and were exhausted from the sun so we didn't make it that late haha. We did however find a sports bar that was playing the NHL play off games and ill tell you.. Hearing something in English makes you feel at home. I haven't heard a tv playing in English for 6 weeks. So it's the little things :) 

Thursday we woke up early and went down to the beach and also figured out where to get our bus tickets. We ended up just relaxing at our hostel most of the morning and caught the bus back to San Jose at 2pm. Once on the bus I remembered that both Cat and I forgot our bathing suits and towels by the pool... So good thing this is my last two days. Unfortunately my very touristy Costa Rican towel will be staying in Costa Rica :( 

Thursday night we went out with a group of people to celebrate my birthday at midnight. We went to MundoLoco which is one of our favorite spots here. One of my friends happens to be dating the owner so it is always a good time when we go. They had an open band night that was really chill. Friday will be the real celebration though! 

It's really hitting me that it's my last 24 hours here... Costa Rica has become my home and the people I've met here have become my family. It's going to be nearly impossible to say goodbye. I think I got as much as I could get out of this experience and I am so happy that I made the decision to come here... I'm leaving this place with some of the best memories of my life. I've completely been out of my comfort zone and at times it's been scary but I've proven a lot of things to myself. This also confirms this will be the first of many adventures I plan to have in my life. 

I will update a final time after I make it back to the states. Thank you all for the support and love. I cannot wait to see you all soon! 

Week 5

Monday night marked the start of week 5 and my last night with my wonderful host-mom Vicki :( Luckily I am able to talk to her more then just a few sentences now and we talked for quite a while on Monday and Tuesday morning we had breakfast together before she left and she made me my very last lunch. It is unbelievable how much I am going to miss her but I am so happy that she is allowing me to stay in her home for my last two weeks in Costa Rica. I'm very happy that her daughter has agreed to help take over as well. Vicki's house really has become my home and I'm glad I didn't have to move out my last two weeks...She told me if I ever come back to Costa Rica to visit her...Something I fully intend on doing in the future. Ana, Vicki's daughter is very nice too. She speaks a little English which makes certain things easier to get across to her but I'll keep practicing my Spanish with her while I'm here. I want to make Ana's life as easy as possible so I told her I would come to her house for dinners and breakfasts and that I am not a picky eater. She has her own family to take care of and I know she didn't sign up for this so I am grateful for her extending her help. I also am making it some what easier on her too because I am traveling all next week so she won't have to worry about making extra food for me :). 
Tuesday night became my nightmare in Costa Rica. I officially got some sort of food poisoning/flu. I was sick the whole night and all day on Wednesday. Ana and her family check on me throughout the day but I really didn't get out of bed until Wednesday night for dinner where they gave me soup, tea, and some medicine. They were very kind about it. It's hard being away from home when I feel sick like this...It's times like these you just want to be in the comfort of your own home. Thursday morning came as a relief as I started to feel better...The people at Maximo called me in the morning while I was having breakfast to check on me as well. Unfortunately because of how I've been feeling this week I don't think it would be in my best interest to go to the orphanage today..I'm the only one still at the project and the kids are wild...I fully plan to see the kids before I leave Costa Rica though. Just want to make sure I have the energy for it. I went in to Maximo on Thursday so I could go to the bank and run a few errands. 
As far as weekend plans go, things are up in the air until I start to feel better. Catherine was sick Monday and Tuesday with the same flu so I'm hoping that my recovery time will only be about two days as well. We are thinking about getting a group of people to go Saturday and head to La Fortuna and then after that go to Tamarindo. But, as I said...Things will be up in the air until I am fully better...It's frustrating because I only have a little over a week left in Costa Rica and I've spent this week dealing with an injury and now a flu. I am happy that I wasn't traveling when I got sick though. 
Friday Obama is in Costa Rica just for the day, so the whole town is shutting down. The airport is even closed! He is only in town for the day though. I know that there were protests about his arrival on Thursday but it amazes me how in the United States, I feel like we never know when Obama is out of town but when I have talked to other volunteers and have seen the excitement first hand in Costa Rica over his arrival it is such a huge ordeal. All week the city of San Jose has been prepping for his arrival...I guess that is how it was when Kate and William came to the U.S though. I met someone on the bus ride home on Thursday that was so enthusiastic that I was from the states and wanted to practice his English with me. He was telling me how crazy it was to see helicopters around the city while he had been in class that day and how the entire lecture had stopped so that every one could look out the window. It was really cool though. It's fun to meet locals who can kind of talk to me in English and are eager to learn. He told me that he had learned most of his English from Music and TV shows which I thought was impressive because his English wasn't that bad. I love the random encounters in Costa Rica some times.
Friday we decided that we are going to head to La Fortuna on Saturday and stay until Monday. On Monday we are going to be coming back to San Jose and go out with some of our friends and meet our new roommates. Then Tuesday, the second leg of the trip we are going to go to Tamarindo to enjoy some R&R before I head back to the states! Catherine and I will be in Tamarindo from Tuesday until Thursday...We are planning on going out Thursday night and going out Friday night for my birthday before I leave on Saturday :(. I cannot believe my time here is coming to an end...I know I keep saying it but this adventure has been unreal. I have met so many great people along the way and am so grateful for this experience! 
I'll try and update more this week when I can. But if I cannot then I will update at least once before I come home. Cannot wait to see you all in about a week!

Puerto Viejo Weekend

Another great weekend for the books! This weekend as mentioned previously we went to Puerto Viejo, which is on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. From San Jose it is about a 4.5 hour bus ride, so it is not too bad of a drive! We left on Friday morning around 10am after a long night out...We all slept most of the drive. Catherine and myself were joined by three of our other friends Aslak, Killian, and Austin this weekend. We soon found out that two of our other friends were also in Puerto Viejo when we walked down the road and saw Liz and Roberto walking down the road, so we had a decent size group. Of course, the perks of staying in hostels is we always meet so many other people so it was a great weekend away! 
Friday (late) afternoon when we got to our hostel. Our hostel was really cool too, we were basically located in the jungle and there were monkeys and sloths that were surrounding us...Unfortunately I know none of you will believe me because my pictures don't do justice and you can hardly make out what they are. They are hard to capture on camera when they are so high in the trees and then when they would come down closer I never had a camera or any thing on hand...I'm hoping I get some good pictures of the wild life here that I've been enjoying so every one can see what I mean. I did however, see the biggest, nastiest spider of my life thus far in Costa Rica. I took a picture of that...So enjoy on FaceBook. Catherine and I decided to hit the beach that was right across the street from us while the boys checked in to their hostel (they stayed a little ways down the road). There are a lot of stray dogs in Costa Rica and they are all pretty harmless but they love attention so we had about three follow us to the beach...The dogs started digging in the sand immediately and to Catherine and I's surprise crabs were being tossed out of the holes and then flung on to the sand where the dogs chased them around the beach. It was hilarious! That kept us entertained for quite a while. 
We met up with the guys at the restaurant attached to our hostel. We stayed at El Tesora and this bar we went to is called Tasty Waves. It is run by a bunch of young guys who moved to Costa Rica after a few months of traveling and they feel in love with Puerto Viejo. These people don't make it easy to want to leave Costa Rica. After that we all got ready to go out for the night. Catherine and I headed down to La Roca, the other hostel down the road where the boys were staying. They had a good group of people at that hostel too so we had a lot of fun there before we decided to go out. We ended up going in to town and hitting some of the bars that are located directly on the beach, we met up with some people we had made at Tasty Waves earlier too. The end of the night concluded with us finding a small cove where the reef is and where it is super shallow to go swimming. That was a good time. We also all rode bikes while we were in Puerto Viejo...You know how people say "Oh, it's just like riding a bike"? Well here's the thing, you do forget to ride a bike at first...Well at least I did and after, I don't know roughly 10 years of not riding a bike I drove myself right in to a ditch...Don't worry, I got better after that...But it was like I didn't know what to do and it was way too funny at the time. 
Saturday we actually slept in some because we were hurting from the night before..Catherine and I decided to go get breakfast at a nearby restaurant because we didn't want to try to make it in to town. After that we kind of went on a little hike through the jungle to get back to our beach where we told every one to meet us. The beach in front of our hostel is where all the surfers go, so it was really cool to get to hang out on the beach and watch them all day. The waves were massive so it was pointless to even try to swim in them unless you were surfing. Catherine, Liz, and I all went in to town later on in the day to check out the stores and every thing...Per usual we saw the same kind of stores one after the other but it is a cool little down town area. We ended up just staying at La Roca to drink on Saturday night with every one because we were so tired. This past week in general had worn all of us out pretty much so we wanted to take it a little easy. We just had pizza and drinks and relaxed the whole night which was absolutely perfect in my book. 
Sunday we decided to go out a waterfall tour with this really cool chick we had met on Friday, Manta. It was just $10 to go to this amazing part of the jungle and see these awesome waterfalls that we got to be in. There were jumps, waterfalls you could sit under, and we even had home-made mud masks..How fancy are we?! Unfortunately, I had a bit of bad luck when climbing one of my lasts rocks of the day to jump off....I slipped after many of us had been climbing up the last waterfall so the rocks were very wet and fell into the water below me only to land on the rock that we are suppose to miss hitting when we are jumping. *Don't worry friends/fam I am ok* Just badly bruised in places. My knee is the only thing that is really bad so I got really lucky. I'm not writing about this to worry any one I just want to document the things that happened on this trip and since I know I am going to have a little bit of issue getting around this week until my knee feels better I figured I would mention it now. But as I said, no need to worry. I plan to wrap my knee and take it slow. :) Our bus ride home went rather quickly back to San Jose which was good, I made it home around 8:30pm. 
I had a good conversation with Vicki when I got home as well and she gave me some ice for my legs. I really am going to be sad when she leaves on Tuesday. She told me that she is leaving at like 9am so I'll make sure I am up to say bye and help her with anything before she goes. She is such a sweet lady and I hope that every thing works out for the best with her sister. 
This also marks my official last week of volunteering before I travel! I cannot believe how fast the time is going....I know I say this almost in every post now but it's true. So much of me wants to stay in Costa Rica longer while the other half knows I need to go back and be responsible. I have met so many wonderful people here and have learned so much in such a short time about not only myself but about this culture and about other people. One of the guys at Maximo has been going out with us a lot and helping me with my Spanish, only letting me speak in Spanish while he practices his English....So look at that I got myself a private tutor. But it's been very beneficial for me! :)
I'll update more this week when I know what I am doing for sure on my travel week since I won't be updated that whole week while I am away. Again, family and friends please don't worry about my waterfall incident, I am fine :). It was a good weekend despite the injuries and I am fortunate it wasn't worse! Looking forward to seeing all of you when I return! 

Week 4!*

Can't believe I am about to have my one month anniversary in Costa Rica! It has been a crazy week here! 

Quick update about my home-stay. Currently I don't have a roommate and I also didn't have anyone with me at my project on Monday. Surprisingly, it went well though. The kids and I made masks out of construction paper and ribbons and colored outside most of the afternoon. I was very happy that they all worked on a project with me and made my life a little easier. Tuesday and Wednesday I had another volunteer join me from another project which helped me out a lot! I also talked to my volunteer coordinators about the dates that I am going to be taking off and they were really supportive of it. They know how beautiful Costa Rica is and that every one should get to experience as much as possible while they are here. I talked to the head volunteer coordinator Kim a lot today about places to go and what to do. Tentatively, Catherine and I are planning on going to Puerto Viejo this weekend which is on the Caribbean side and closer to us...The week that we are going to travel, starting May 3 we are going to head way over to the Pacific side and go to Tamarindo which is close to a lot of other cities such as Playa de Coco and Hermosa. So we are thinking about spending 4-5 days in Tamarindo. We have to plan out everything but I'll keep every one up to date. 

I also talked to Kim today about Vicki and the situation with her sister in Rhode Island. At the moment Vicki doesn't know if she is going to change her flight for the 30th of April or not because it is so expensive to change the flights and she already has a ticket for May 13th. If Vicki did decide to go early her daughter, who I've met many times before and who lives next door would come to Vicki's and stay here with me while I am here instead of traveling. Vicki's daughter also speaks a little English so it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Although, I'd love for Vicki to stay here with me the whole time I am here...Family is the most important thing and I want her to be able to see her sister. I hope that everything works out for her.

Monday was Catherine and Blake's birthday. Blake was still in Cuba on Monday but we decided to all take Catherine out to celebrate her birthday. We all met up for drinks/dinner at one of our favorite spots in San Pedro Mundoloco. Krista happens to know the owner of the bar as well and he gave us some free shots for Catherine's birthday which was really nice of him! After we ate dinner a group of us all met up and went down to San Jose to this place called Cortel. On Monday nights they have a live band and the place got pretty packed. It was a lot of fun! We ended up staying until close so I think Catherine had a successful birthday. :)

Tuesday we went to this Italian restaurant close to Maximo after our projects to meet up with Ruby before she heads back to D.C on Wednesday morning. I've been dying to try the place so it worked out perfectly that she wanted to go there! We had a quick dinner after work and caught up on Ruby's travels. I am glad that she got to experience so much in the little time she was here! I'll miss her as my roommate but I'm glad I got to know her this past week! Safe travels home Ruby :)

Wednesday Blake came back in town for the night. A group of us decided to hit bar street here. I actually invited out one of the Tico's that work at Maximo. He isn't a volunteer coordinator but he works for Maximo and always hangs out with our group of friends. We made a deal that he would help perfect my Spanish if I helped him with his English. Needless to say I bit off more then I could chew and he would only let me speak in Spanish the entire night. It was actually really helpful and I felt pretty good about myself when he said I did pretty well with my Spanish. It helps to practice with someone who can speak it fluently and it was a free Spanish lesson. Thank you Yensi! :) This is why I love to meet new people in this country, especially ones that are helpful like that and honestly want to help me learn as much as I want to help them learn, it's fun. Needless to say last night was a good night for all of us and I'm glad we got to see Blake again!
Catherine and I took Thursday off from work so that we could spend Blake's last day with him. We decided to go down to San Jose to the markets again and do a little shopping. We also had to go get our bus tickets from Ricardo at Trans Leo for our trip to Puerto Viejo on Friday afternoon. We both really want to find the sloth sanctuary that is near Puerto Viejo this weekend because it is suppose to be really cool. They even let you hold baby sloths...How cool would that be!?
I'll update every one about this weekend once I get home but wanted to do an update this week before I left. Speaking of which...I found out the final plans for my last weeks of my home stay in Costa Rica.
Vicky told me that she is in fact leaving for the United States on April 30th. Her sister just isn't doing well at all...I feel horrible but I am so happy that she got her flight changed so that she can go be with her. Vicky's granddaughter actually came over the other night and helped translate some. Vicky asked me if I wanted to change my home-stay to somewhere else and I said no, that if it made no difference to her I would like to stay in her house while she was away because it feels like my home now...I think that made her kind of happy, I hope. Her daughter, Ana as I mentioned previously lives next door and will be coming over to Vicky's to make breakfast and have dinner with me and so on. Luckily, Ana only has to do that for a few days for me since I will be traveling starting May 3rd. But, there are going to be, I believe three other people that are coming here on May 5th so Vicky told me that I have to move out of my room because it is the only one with three beds and she wants those three to be together but that I can pick any other room in the house. I think I am just going to move across the hall before I start traveling to the single bedroom, I'll only need it for a night or two any way. I wish Vicki was going to be here with me before I left Costa Rica but family is the most important thing and I hope that her sister gets better...I'm just happy Vicki gets to see her. I'm going to make sure to spend some quality time with Vicki before she leaves on Sunday and Monday and to make sure I thank her for every thing she has done for me the past month. I'll miss her very much. 
I'm excited for this weekend though and getting a chance to go see the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. I heard it is absolutely beautiful. Fingers crossed for good weather since we are walking right in to the rainy season! I still cannot wrap my head around that I only have a little more then 2 weeks left here! I'll update every one again once I get back from Puerto Viejo this weekend!

Half Way Point-End of Week 3!*

Just wanted to do a quick update for week 3! This week has gone by so fast again..Granted I take Friday's off from work so they do move quick but it has been a busy week. Monday and Tuesday were my typical days. Go to Maximo, run some errands, plan for the afternoon with the kids, and head off to my project. This week I've been lucky to have 3 others with me on the project. Usually it's just me and one other person so it helps lighten the load of all the kids wanting me at the exact same time! My new roommate Ruby is actually with me on the project this week so it's been a lot of fun! She is super out going so it's fun to plan things with her and the kids really love her. This week we are working on arts and crafts. Ruby and I are having the kids make pinatas  this week! One of my favorite little girls at the project got adopted last week, Sofia! It makes me sad that she isn't there any more but I am so happy that she has found a loving home. I hope all of the kids at Pani get to have that some day. I'm really starting to grow attached to them...I know it will be hard to say goodbye to them in a few short weeks. They are such a resilient group of kids because despite all of their backgrounds they always manage to have a smile on their face. They are truly some of the strongest people I know. 

Photo Credit: Ruby Melton

(Far left to right: Daniella age 3, Suygen age 9)

Photo Credit: Ruby Melton

(Daniella, age 3)

 Just wanted to share a few photos that my roommate Ruby had taken at the orphanage we work at this week. Just to give every one an insight as to where it is I am Monday-Friday. As I said before these kids are truly amazing and it is such a wonderful experience getting to see them every day (even though they drive me crazy some times haha). 

On Wednesday night we all decided to get a group to go out to "Bar Street" in San Pedro. It is one our girlfriend's last nights in town and since we are going to Jaco Thursday night this will be the last time we get to all go out together. We also wanted to take Ruby out to show her all the bars since she is only here for this week. We ended up meeting quite a few characters at the bar on Wednesday...I had a drink called a "Gringa Killer" maybe I shouldn't be so enthusiastic about downing a drink labeled something white person killer. Whoops. Oh well, it was all in good fun. We all had a good time together even though it was sad to say good bye to one of my girlfriends.

Thursday night after our project we *BARELY* caught our bus to Jaco. Literally, we need to start planning better for San Jose traffic...This incident we ended up getting out of the cab half way through a traffic jam down town and running to our bus...It is amazing that we even made it!! We decided to just stay at the same hostel we had last week because it is super close to the beach and near most of the bars down town. Also, it is Catherine and I's first trip with out Blake so we decided to make it easy on ourselves and go to a place that we know for sure how to get too....Especially in the dark! Once we got to Jaco we were given a warm welcome by the people at the hostel who were still there from last weekend and from the hostel owner herself. It was fun. One of our friends from last weekend who is quite possibly the best chef and drink maker greeted us with fruity drinks and home-made chocolate and cake. YUM! We decided to head out to the bars for awhile but were slightly disappointed when we realized that Jaco is not all that crazy on Thursday nights and more tourist come in on the weekends...Oh well, the four of us girls had fun and dodged some crazy ticos. We also managed to get free drinks at some ladies night at a bar we stopped in. Success in my book. After the bar, we decided to head back to our hostel where we were greeted with more food/drinks from our French Canadian friend. Probably one of the most interesting people I've met so far in Costa Rica and by interesting I mean he is bordering on a little insane. He's a good person though and always is looking out for other people. So thank you again Frenchy for all the yummy drinks and food! I know we all miss your cooking already!

Friday morning we woke up and had breakfast at Cat and I's favorite American place...It's called Sunset Breakfast and it is right near the beach. It really is just good comfort food and makes me miss home. After we ate the four of us went to the ocean. Krista and I were in the surf most of the morning before it started to down pour on our walk home....We were soaking wet the entire afternoon and had to sit on a bus in all of our wet clothes. Needless to say we weren't the happiest of campers on the bus ride home...It didn't get any better either when we had to catch a cab back to Cedros and the traffic was insane! Took us almost a 45 minutes to get home when it should only take roughly 15 minutes tops. Yikes. Vicky was already in bed by the time we got back to the house and I felt bad that she woke up so she could feed us...Sorry Vicky, love you for waking up for us and for always taking care of me!

Saturday morning we had to be up super early to get to Maximo by 6:30am to catch our ride to the 3 in 1 tour. It was just a small group of us...Ruby, myself, and a new volunteer Michelle who is only here for the week. It was quite the day. We started out at Canopy San Luis where we zip lined the rainforest! It was possibly the coolest experience I've had in Costa Rica thus far. We then waited for our bus to come pick us up from the Canopy tour and we went to lunch in Fortuna where we had a traditional Costa Rican meal (rice, beans, chicken, ext). We met a few people from Turkey who were pretty interesting to talk to as well. They could speak some English so we could communicate a little bit with them. After lunch we took another hour bus ride to Baldi Hot Springs/Volcano Arenal. The hot springs were not exactly what I was expecting because these are the man-made ones. I want to go up north further to see the ones that are natural...I am not complaining one bit though! It was nice to be in a hot spring after a long morning. It was also really cool because we were so close to Arenal which is the active volcano in Costa Rica. It hasn't erupted in many, many years but is still considered active. The clouds were covering it most of the afternoon when we were there but when we all got ready to go up to dinner on the roof of the hot springs place the clouds had cleared away, giving us the most perfect view of the volcano! I have to say it was one of those times where you just sit there and question how anything like this could be real...And how unbelievable it is that I am here seeing this. None of us were too excited about the long bus ride home. The roads here are less then great and have a lot of twists and turns. We were also not in a traditional bus that I'm use to...It was a smaller tour bus and we happened to be sitting in the back so we felt every bump, it was a brutal 3+ hours. We didn't get home until about 10pm which made for a very long day but it was so worth it. I posted some pictures of the weekend to Facebook, so take a look! I personally feel as though the pictures can't do it justice but you get the idea. :)

After a long weekend I think I am going to be taking today (Sunday) to unwind. I need to sort through all my clothes and get a bag for laundry ready. It is also Ruby's last morning here before she continues her travels to Playa de Coco. I'm so jealous! I want to go up north further and go to the beach for a few more days. This morning at breakfast, Vicky started telling me some rather sad news...Her sister is sick with cancer. She was planning on going to the United States on May 13 (two days after I leave Costa Rica) to visit but told me that she is now going the 30th (I have yet to figure out if it is the 30th of this month or if it is the 30th of May that she is going...Something I have to try to talk to her about later today or ask my volunteer coordinators tomorrow). I feel so terrible! Also, she told me that I am not getting any new roommates until May 5th. Which, it doesn't matter too much to me at this point if I don't have a roommate the next two weeks because I know I am always so busy and in and out of the house but it is nice to have a friend with me. She said there is a group of 6 people that are coming on May 5th...The only thing is I am planning on traveling starting May 3rd until I come home on the 11th. I have so much I have to talk to my volunteer coordinators about and also talk to Vicky about. So I'll keep every one updated when I sort every thing out. 

Tomorrow is Catherine and Blake's birthday! So we are planning on going out tomorrow night...Well to celebrate Cat's birthday that is. Then on Tuesday Ruby is coming back to town for the night before she flies back to D.C on Wednesday so a group of us are going out to dinner on Tuesday night. Then Wednesday this week Blake comes back to town for a night before he leaves to go to New York and we are going to celebrate his birthday then too! It is already going to be a crazy busy week, not to mention Cat and I are planning on doing some tours this weekend....Maybe going to Puerto Viejo and checking out the scene up there away from the beaches. Then the following week will be my last week at the orphanage and Catherine and I will be planning our week trip of venturing to the Caribbean side. So much is happening before I leave and I hope that I can keep every one updated as much as possible. I'll update more once I know what is going on with my home-stay as well. Hope to know more this week about what is going on or if I am going to be changing houses if Vicky leaves on the 30th of this month for the United States. Please keep Vicky's sister in your thoughts...

Just to wrap up this post...I cannot believe that this marks the end of week 3 and the start of week 4. Where has the time gone? This means that I only have two more weeks with my kids and then a week to travel before coming home. It seriously blows my mind how quick time has been passing for me here. I'm glad that I have been able to meet so many people and cannot wait for the second half of this trip! I know that Catherine and I have already tentatively starting planning for the remaining weekends and the last week that we are using to travel together before I go home...So I can only imagine that these next 3 weeks are going to go just as quick. As much as I miss my family and friends at home...Costa Rica has given me a second family and a second home. I really feel like I have found my footing here and I plan to take full advantage of my new found comfort in this country for the remaining weeks that I am here! :)

Jaco/San Jose!*

Where to begin from this weekend? Thursday was complete madness...A lot of the volunteers had the day off because it was a holiday but I had to go in because obviously orphanages never close. I was planning one leaving my project by 4pm so that I could make sure Cat, Blake and I could catch our bus that was scheduled to leave at 5pm for Jaco. However one of our volunteer coordinators, Manny decided to drop in on my project and had us there until 435...I literally ran back to Maximo, grabbed Blake and Cat, jumped in a cab and just barely made our bus! Needless to say I was flustered. The bus ride was only 2 1/2 hours though so it went by relatively quick. 

Once we made it to Jaco we realized the hostel we were staying at is literally the definition of "pura Vida" in Costa Rica. Ill just say that the owners of the hostel are free spirits...So continuing, we got the keys to our room which luckily had A/C and we all changed and went over to the other part of the house where every one was. We ended up drinking there all night... It was a bit of a shock to realize that I was the only person from the United States in the hostel. I was surrounded by Canadians, Australians, Swedish, Dutch, and English. I can't decide if that was more of a culture shock than just being in Costa Rica. But it was such a fun night! We all stayed up so late and all got a long really well. 

Friday morning Cat and I got up early and headed to a breakfast place near our hostel. We then headed to the beach... It was no where near as nice as Manuel Antonio but it was still amazing and I'm not going to complain about being at a beach! We met up with Blake later on and watched him surf for awhile and grabbed a few drinks by the beach. It was a perfect afternoon. Since it was going to be our last night with Blake the three of us went to an Argentinian restaurant downtown Jaco. It was delicious. We ordered a bunch of appetizers and shared our meals... Unfortunately due to the day drinking we were all beat. We decided when we got back to the hostel we would take a "half hour nap" well, that turned in to a 3 hour nap and Cat and I woke up at midnight... We tried to get Blake up but he wasn't having it. So Catherine and I stayed up and drank for awhile which was fun. We always find random things to do together. 

Saturday we went out for breakfast and hit the beach early to watch Blake surf again.. But since we had fell asleep for half the night on Friday we decided to day drink with Blake before we left him in Jaco. It was a good weekend and I'm glad we all got to spend it together out of the city! It sucked having to say goodbye to another person especially my roommate. But I know we will all keep in touch.. 

The bus ride home from Jaco seemed to take forever. But I was so anxious to get home to meet my new roommate! When I arrived at Vicky's I was greeted by Ruby. Shes 27 years old from Washington D.C and I'm pleased to say she knows a bit more Spanish then I do. (yay!) unfortunately, she is only here for the week...we stayed up for awhile Saturday getting to know each other and I really do like her. I wish she was staying longer. 

I invited Ruby to join Catherine and I Sunday to San Jose to explore the markets and down town. So Sunday that is what we did...I showed Ruby the way to Maximo and we went down town, did some shopping, took pictures (Ruby is a photographer so I will be showing everyone her pictures when I get home! She is amazing)! Us three also got lunch and enjoyed a little Sunday Funday drinking. Once we got back to our place Sunday night, Ruby and I practiced some Spanish on an application she has on her phone and got to know each more. I'm looking forward to hanging out with her this week though, it is nice to have a girl roommate. 

We've actually already made plans for this week. Wednesday night we are going to take Ruby out to show her the bars around here.. Thursday after volunteering we are going to go back to Jaco and hopefully stay in the same "Pura Vida" hostel for the night and go out there and Friday beach day. We wanted to go to the beach with her and Jaco is the closest.. We will be coming back Friday night because Saturday morning a group of us want to do the 3 in 1 tour which is we take a bus from Maximo and do ziplining, hot springs, volcano and hiking tours. From what we've been told by other volunteers it's a must. So, it's Monday morning and my next weekend is already tentatively planned... No wonder the days are going by so fast.. 

Speaking of which, this marks the beginning of week 3 in Costa Rica! I can't even wrap my head around it. I miss the people I got to know who left this past weekend but am looking forward to meeting more people this week. I'm also already looking forward to the weekend with a new group of people! It's cliche but...I know this trip is already changing me in so many ways. I am as always so thankful for everyone's support and I miss and love you all like crazy! 

Lets see what week 3 has to offer :)

Weekend Plans

Well, today marks the start of my weekend! I decided to take Friday off this week from volunteering so that myself, Catherine, and Blake could all go to Jaco, a beach a few hours away to spend Blakes last days in Costa Rica with us! Cat and Blake didn't have to work today because it is a holiday here...But since I work in an orphanage it is never closed. That's fine with me though, one day off this week is plenty! We are taking a bus from San Jose at 5pm to head to the beach so we will still get to Jaco relatively early Thursday night and be able to explore a little bit and get unpacked at our hostel. We decided to do a 3 person private room which is costing us $30 for two nights just about the same price as the last hostel we stayed in which is nice! Not bad at all. Friday morning I know we will plan to wake up pretty early, get some breakfast and spend most of the day at the beach...Catherine and I are going to come home on Saturday late afternoon and possibly go out in San Pedro before headed back to our host families. 
It is going to be so weird coming back to San Pedro/Cedros without Blake though. I've got use to him being with Catherine and I...I'm hoping that I get another roommate on Sunday or Monday though. It would just be nice to have someone else at Vicky's with me. 
The kids have officially exhausted me this week! Now that they have got to know me they want me to do every thing with all of them at the same time. So hard! But it is fun. I am happy to have two other volunteers with me this week to help me out and come up with things for them to do. I know my Mom has asked me to talk about some of the things we do with the kids...So far we have made paper chains, done a lot of coloring, we made puppets, we have made some bracelets, and played a lot outside. The kids really enjoy coloring...and jumping on top of me all the time. They are a good group though it is just hard to get every one on the same page when their age varies quite a bit. The youngest is a month old and the oldest is 12. So you can imagine how hard it is for every one to get along the whole time together. I've just kind of learned to roll with the punches with them though...Even if we do plan to do things it usually works out a lot differently then we would of thought. I learned quickly that markers were not a good idea, seeing as last week I came home covered in marker and half the little girls had marker all over their faces....Whoops! Some people have suggested paint but I must say I am hesitant after the markers fiasco! 
It's kind of hard to communicate with the kids so I find myself sticking around the real young ones who don't speak much Spanish or English and we play outside on the swings or color a lot. I am getting to know the older kids better though and they work on English with me and help me with my Spanish. There is one boy there that corrects my Spanish all the time, Which I am thankful for. Haha
If any one has suggestions on games or activities to do with my kids while I am here I am open! I'd love any ideas!
Catherine and I found out yesterday that we won't be able to do the Turtle Program because the first week of May is completely booked and we have to give them time in advance for us to even get in....The minimum amount of time at the turtle program is two weeks...It's a bummer but I think what I am going to do is take off my last week from volunteering and go and travel around Costa Rica...Hopefully Catherine will join me since I am assuming she will need a break from volunteering just as bad as me. She's here for 10 weeks so it would be a good break in the middle of her stay. Don't get me wrong I absolutely adore the kids that I work with...It is just a lot and some days are obviously harder then others...I think the last week off will be well deserved! 
Since I am going to be out of town this weekend, I just wanted to update every one with what my plans are and will update again once I get home from the weekend. Missing every one so much!! But I am happy that things continue to get easier...Maybe not with the language barrier but Costa Rica feels more like home to me and I am very thankful for it! 

Second Week!

Ok, I'm finally ready to admit it. The first week was really tough and I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to do it. There were so many highs and then there were lows. The language barrier has been a real test and just the overwhelming amount of things that are thrown at you the first week can really throw you off. Not to mention, it is a huge culture shock.

Luckily, every one that I have met/become friends with at Maximo have all been in the same boat their first week of the trip. Some have had it worse then others while some of us are lucky enough to never feel like they are isolated because they can speak Spanish. 

So now I am happy to report that every one that I talked to was right and after your first weekend in Costa Rica and you start your second week, every thing becomes so much easier. The kids I work with at the orphanage are excited to see me because they got to know me all last week...They look to me when the new volunteers arrive and count of me to help them do things which makes me feel like I can make progress with them as the weeks continue. It makes me feel like I am doing a good thing by being here. Also, as I mentioned in previous posts once you accept that you can't understand the language or speak it and express things you want too...It does get easier...

It helps that most of the other volunteers all feel the same way. So we all carry a certain bond with one another...An understanding that we are the outsiders in this country and that we aren't going to fit in the way we would like too all the time. It also helps when we can plan our weekend trips during this part of the week, gives us something to look forward to!

This weekend, well Thursday evening I think Catherine, Blake, and Catherine's house-mate Christa are going to go to another beach about 2 hours away, Jaco (pronounced ha-co). It isn't as nice of a beach as Manuel Antonio but every one seems to really love it that we talked to. It's more of a surfing atmosphere...So who knows maybe I'll learn to surf while I'm there! (Yeah, right). We are planning on staying in another hostel which we will have to book most likely today and latest tomorrow. We are taking Friday off of our volunteer work as well. We will be staying Thursday and Friday night in Jaco and then come back Saturday morning because Blake will be checking out and leaving us :(. Catherine and I also want to go check out the Artisan Market downtown San Jose on Saturday when we get back....Sunday there is a tour through Trans-Leo (our tour group that is affiliated with Maximo) to go the Hot Springs in Arenal. It is suppose to be beautiful! I'm very excited and am planning on getting some more information on that tour today or tomorrow as well!

Something that I cannot forget to do today is pick up my laundry from the laundry mat near Maximo. Blake and I both desperately had to get our laundry done...I am currently sitting in a highlighter yellow shirt because that is one of the only clean shirts I have here. We were too late to pick up the laundry yesterday so we have to go this morning. Whoops!

I also cannot believe I only have 30 days left in this beautiful country. I have so much I want to do in such little time! Eeek!

So with that said....

Off to another busy day in Costa Rica!!

Manuel Antonio!*

Buenos Noches! 

Where do I begin with this weekend? I have to say that this weekend away solidified that I made the right decision in coming to Costa Rica. It is amazing to me that no matter where we are all from and no matter what age we have so much in common with each other. As most of you are aware, I went to Manuel Antonio this weekend which is a beach 3-4 hours north of San Jose with three other volunteers. I went with Blake, Rachel, and Catherine and I must say that although I feel we are all intelligent on our own when we are together we become the most dysfunctional foursome in the world. As Rachel says "dididiots" for those of you who are unaware of this wonderful catch phrase it stands for "dumb idiots" and is pronounced 'did-idiots' (you're welcome in advance because I know this might of become your new favorite catch phrase). 

Before originally leaving this weekend for Manuel Antonio, Blake booked our hostel online for the wrong date...We should of known that we we were setting ourselves up for some bumps along the way haha. Any way, instead of writing down all the countless ways us four made idiots out of ourselves I decided to keep those things personal. Sorry friends and family, I'm not going to let it be that easy to make fun of me! 

I will say that all of us did a HORRIBLE job of planning our budget for the weekend. For instance, I didn't have my debit card this weekend and I forgot that we had to pay for the hostel in cash once we arrived to it Friday night so half of my money was gone before the weekend even truly started. Luckily, we all looked out for each other. :) 

But back to the beginning of the weekend...Friday, after work I met up with Catherine, Blake, and Rachel at our volunteer center. We had to take a cab to the bus station in San Jose. It was all our first times at the bus station here and we walked in where we were greeted with stares from every direction possible...Should be used to it by now but I think it is going to take more than a week to get over the constant staring from the Tico's. It was funny though because we just stood aimlessly in the center of the bus station. Oh well, once we got on to the bus the ride went by pretty quick and we made it to our hostel. I will say that I was impressed by how chill and how pretty well kept it was. Us four had a private room ($33 for 2 nights--can't beat that!) and it had air conditioning...So amazing. It is so hot up the coast and doesn't ever cool down so it was so nice to have AC. It was also nice just to have us four in a room because the guy that runs the place said that there were 55 people staying there! There were only two bathrooms where we were too so our showers could take no longer then 30 seconds before someone was knocking on the door to get in. Oh well!

Saturday morning we got up fairly early and decided to head down to the beach...We asked a few people in the hostel how bad the walk was down or if we would should just take the bus. Since we were all on a pretty strict budget we decided to walk and because one of the girls there said it "wasn't that bad" HA! Yeah, it was the longest, sweatiest, walk I think any of us have ever been on...Why we decided to not get on a bus or take a cab half way through is beyond me but it was a very "scenic" route so to say and we saw a lot of monkeys on our walk. It was pretty cool. Once we got down to the beach we immediately jumped in to the water to cool down....The ocean felt amazing even though it did kind of feel like bath water. We all put on 60 SPF and were in the shade a lot of the time. The sun is so strong down here! Needless to say, despite re applying SPF all day we came back with some pretty bad burns. OUCH! It was worth it though. We had a few drinks on the beach and mostly just enjoyed relaxing and talking. It was exactly what I've been needing after a long, overwhelming week. If there is anything I wish this program would change it's the fact that they throw us right in the our volunteer work. I feel like they at least need to give us a couple days to get acclimated but that's just me. 

Saturday night we decided that we wanted to go somewhere for dinner that had a view and a happy hour. Seems like a simple task but of course for us four we always made things more difficult then need me. We all decided to kind of put ourselves together for once and get a little dressy...We all regretted it when we started walking to find a restaurant and were sweating through our clothes...Once we found a restaurant that did in fact say it had a happy hour and a great view we were pleased. They did have a great view but instead of ordering off the "Happy Hour" menu that naturally just consisted of mostly local beers, we splurged on Pina Coladas! They were worth it, so none of us minded just funny because the whole weekend we kept saying that, "We need to keep our priorities in check" AKA we needed a happy hour to save us some money which ended up back firing. After dinner we got back to the hostel where we all finished up some wine and beer we had bought and talked more. It is amazing how close you get with people especially in this kind of setting because we all came here alone. Our dynamics together actually worked out really well too. It's fun being with people who are as easily sarcastic as I am and who just are all going through some of the same things despite any age differences. What brings me too bed time at the hostel. Our room had two bunk beds in it. Rachel was on the top, I was on the bottom of one and the other Blake was on top and Catherine was on the bottom. For whatever reason a few lizards had made their way in to our hostel room...One wasn't very big but it ran across my bed right before I was about to sit down on it. Naturally I freaked out. So did Rachel. Then of course we saw another one near her top bunk...We decided to just laugh it off and not panic and try to sleep but that didn't happen. Blake and Catherine both fell asleep no problem but Rachel and I heard some noise and literally we both jumped up and she came flying down from the top bunk and in to my bed...Yes, Rachel and I shared a twin bed. Haha we are so ridiculous, as if we thought that was going to save us from a lizard running across our face. Haha, these of course are the things that make some of this trip so memorable and why our dysfunctional group had such a good weekend!

Sunday we left pretty early to go back to Quepos (where our bus would pick us up). We didn't have to get our bus until 2:30 but we were down there nearly 3 hours early! We got breakfast and lunch down there which was nice and we all just sat and talked about our weekend. It actually made the time fly which was nice. We all spent half the bus ride sleeping too. Once we made it back to San Jose we realized that half the cab drivers are still on strike here and one guy had us in his cab without the meter running going off in Spanish about something that we ended up just making him pull over and we literally ran out of the car to another one. It was insane really. I feel like it took Blake and I so long to get home...Vicky had dinner ready for us when we walked in which was nice and we had another guy here, Theo? I believe is his name...However, he just left this morning to go to the turtle conservation project. So it is again, just Blake and I this week. I hope we get someone in here next weekend though because Blake is leaving on Saturday morning most likely to go finish traveling Costa Rica (alone) then off to a few more places before he heads back to Australia. 

It hit me last night that this weekend was the last time I was going to see Rachel for 2 weeks until she comes back for one night before going home...And that is if Catherine and I are even in town. This is also the last week I have with Blake. It's really sad because we all got so close this past week and now people are picking up and leaving...I now understand what everyone says when it starts getting sad when your friends start leaving. Once again, I am so thankful that I have Catherine here with me for the remaining 5 weeks! :) 

Today I also get new people to my project, I believe...At least I hope I do because I don't know how to manage all those kids on my own. I don't even know how to manage all those kids with some one else with me half the time! Haha. I'm sure it will be fine though. 

I think Catherine and I are going to talk to Maximo today about going to the Turtle Conservation project the last two weeks of my time here. Hopefully we can get in and get in to the same program together! I also am going to take laundry in this morning with Blake before we head out to the volunteer group. All my clothes are getting destroyed here from playing with the kids and traveling to the beach...Might have to make a trip to the store this week. 

Also, Catherine and I decided we are going to try and do some trips during the week, at Trans Leo (our travel place) next door they have stuff going on all week so we might do a night tour or something like that this week...Also, we think we are going to take Friday's completely off from our projects so that we can travel for a full 2 days before heading back to San Pedro. It's our time and we want to use it wisely, especially if we do go to the Turtle Conservation project because you can't travel while you are there! I just want to see as much as I can and Catherine is in the same boat so at least I will always have a travel buddy. At least now we know how to budget better for trips too, after this weekend. I hope! :)

Second week starts now!* Miss you and love you all!

Here are some pictures from this weekend!

Viernes!*

I just want to start by saying that I am so happy that it is finally Friday! It has been a long week....Adjusting to a new country and lifestyle. I must say that I am getting used to the way things work around here though. I am also happy to report that the kids I work with are finally feeling better! Yesterday was a pretty good day with them...We made paper chains which took up quite a bit of time, played with blocks some...Then one of the younger girls, I believe she is about 2-3 years old finally warmed up to me and wanted me to do EVERYTHING with her...She's so cute...It rained some yesterday so outside was kind of muddy but that didn't stop us from going outside and playing on the jungle gym they have in the backyard. She wanted me to pick her up put her on the ramp to get up to the slide and then grab on to her arms so she could run down the slide over and over again! Needless to say my arms are kind of sore today. 

Last night Blake and I decided to check out the bar right up the street from us where our bus stop is before meeting up with other volunteers from Maximo. It was a small little bar but a nice stop before we headed back downtown. I was blown away at home cheap the cab was to get downtown from our house in Cedros--$4! Back in Chicago, it would at least be double that! I must add in here that once we got to Maximo a few of us decided to go buy a few beers from the store up the street and sit on the street corner drinking while we waited for everyone else...The only thing that separated us from looking like complete hobos was the fact that we didn't have our beer cans in paper bags. Whoops! 

The bars were fun though, it was nice to get out with everyone that I've met at the volunteer center so far...It was some of the girls' last nights in Costa Rica so we drank quite a bit. Blake, Rachel, and I were all laughing because we seem to be the oldest ones in this group of people we were with so Costa Rica bars are some of their first experiences in a bar setting (if they are from the states that is). Yes, me at the ripe age of 22 going on 23 is considered old here...Well, at least until another wave of volunteers shows up! 

Speaking of more volunteers, Vicky told me that we are getting another guy this Sunday or Monday...He is in the medical program here which should mean that he can speak better Spanish than Blake or I (YAY!) We both have our fingers crossed for that one. Another thing...When I woke up this morning I discovered that Vicky has so many secret rooms in this house that I had NO clue even existed...There is a bedroom right across from mine with just one bed (my bedroom has three twin beds and Blakes room has two twin beds) then there is another bedroom right off the living room with I believe two more twin beds. I asked Vicky this morning how many more volunteers we were getting this week and she just said the one guy...Must be a cleaning day or something haha. 

I will say that Vicky has once again saved the day. I woke up with a slight hangover this morning...But Vicky must know that bananas are fantastic hangover cures as well as french toast! Muchas gracias, Vicky! 

Words cannot explain how excited I am to head to Manuel Antonio tonight. I fully intend on sleeping some on the bus though since I am running on minimal sleep...No matter what I do, I cannot sleep in to save my life. I'm hoping that changes this weekend. Maybe I just wake up early because I am paranoid about missing breakfast...Something that Blake did this morning, in fact he is still sleeping..If he doesn't wake up soon I am going to have to wake him up so we can head down to Maximo to get our bus tickets for tonight! 

As I mentioned before, I won't be able to update the blog this weekend while I am away but I hope to before Monday! :)

Midweek Stretch*

Well today did not go as planned...I'll have to start from the middle...The kids at my project happened to be a little sick yesterday while I was there and I was questioning today if I was actually going to be at my project today or not. One of the volunteer coordinators came up to me today around noon and told me that one of the Tia's came in and said that a lot of the kids were still very sick and in their room...She said that if I didn't feel comfortable I didn't have to go and to be quite honest I just don't feel like getting sick on my 3rd day in the country...Especially when I had just booked a hostel for the weekend to be at the beach a few hours away. One of the other volunteers decided to go for like an hour because she is only here for a week but the volunteer coordinator told me just not to worry about it too much. There was a group of other volunteers I was eating lunch with saying that they wouldn't have gone either and that it is normal for volunteers to take some days away from their project...Especially when there is a chance I could get sick. I'll be there tomorrow though because after a few days they should not be contagious anymore. It is making for a long day though because I told my house mate that I would wait for him to go back to our host family because I still want to make sure I have some one with me the first few times I take the bus. Just to be comfortable. I went out walking with some of the other girls that had worked the morning shift or were working later this afternoon to the bar street here...We are technically in a college town and they showed me around which was nice! For those of you who don't know I currently work in San Pedro and that is where we all go out and then I live in Cedros. I really want to go explore downtown San Jose and see some markets hopefully tomorrow morning before work!

But now back to the beginning of the day...Woke up to mangos, tortillas, and of course rice and beans for breakfast this morning! Finally decided to drink the coffee and fell in love with it...Just as I had predicted. Vicky showed me the coffee she uses so I will have to buy some before I leave so I can have it back in the states. Blake and I decided that we were going to walk to Maximo today so that we could get some much needed exercise....We thought we were going the right way but we ended up being a street or two over and in a way took the "scenic route". It ended up working out just fine...We got to the see the University of Costa Rica which was really nice. Once we got to Maximo we decided to look up hostels for the weekend. The name of the place that we are staying is Hostel Vista Serena and it was rated high by lonely planet and other volunteers here have recommended it. I also met another girl the other day who said that she was going to join us for the weekend...So we got a 4 person mixed bedroom at the hostel. But we got a good price it is only $33 each for two nights at this hostel. We are suppose to get hot showers, WiFi, a towel, have great views of the beach and close to the National Park...We will see if this all comes true when I am there haha! 

After we got all our weekend plans taken care of, for the most part we decided to head over to the mall to see what it had to offer...First of all let me say you will die if you don't run across the street as fast as humanly possible here...I'm serious. And if you did get hit by a car it would be your fault...It is just the way it works. Needless to say we are extra careful and I've learned to run fairly fast haha. Once we made it *safely* to the mall we walked around and ventured in and out of some shops...My one and only purchase was an obnoxious beach towel that has a map of Costa Rica on it and a bunch of happy people at the beach...I am very proud of it! 

But that really brings me back to the beginning of this...Now I am just hanging out for awhile, going to wait for my house mate to get done with his project and then head back to our host family. She really wanted us to be home for dinner tonight, I think she missed us last night...Especially because we told her we might not be home for dinner tomorrow because a lot of us are planning on going out and then Friday night we leave for the weekend. 

Tonight I am sure will be fairly quiet...Come home, relax, eat dinner, shower and read some before going to bed...I think I might consider asking to switch to the Turtle Conservation project while I am here for my last 3 weeks..I heard it is awesome and people said if you are staying more than 3 weeks here to change up the projects to get the most out of everything. If I did the turtle conservation project I would move out of my host families house and go stay about 8 hours up the coast in a dorm with other people and basically be living on the beach. I might look in to it though...Then of course if I did that for my last 3 weeks I would come back to San Pedro a night or two before I left the country and be back at my host families house to get things ready to go and say bye before I left here..Much to think about though. 

Hope to be able to update more tomorrow and some Friday before I take off for the weekend! Love and miss you all! 

P.S I have been craving ice cream like crazy tonight and it is like my host Mom knew...She gave us a home-made ice cream that her hermosa made and I took the biggest bite and nearly lost all my teeth due to the sweetness...Needless to say I am still craving ice cream...But it was worth a try right!? :p

*Pura Vida*

Another full day done and let me tell you...Things do get easier day by day...Well, not everything but some things. I think once you just accept that you cannot speak or understand the native language things get much less frustrating. 

I woke up this morning to the smell of eggs in the kitchen. Vicky has stepped it up! This morning we had fried eggs, pineapple, beans/rice (of course), biscuits that she made herself (amazing), and some orange juice. I must say that I over indulged in the pineapple and told Vicky that it is one of my favorites...I think that made her happy. While I was waiting for Blake (my housemate) to get ready before we left for Maximo, I decided to try and speak with Vicky and show her pictures of Mi Familia, I think she enjoyed seeing pictures of my grandparents and mom in Michigan and also seeing pictures of my nephew, sister, brother in law, dad, grandmother, cousins, ext in the south! Vicky then showed me some of her family pictures and talked to me about her Mom and Dad a lot...I understood quite a bit that she was saying and I found that if I respond back something short that relates to what she was saying she knows that I entiendo (understand) :). She is very patient with me and when I really can't understand something she just laughs and grabs on to my arm...Even small gestures likes that makes me feel more at home here. She truly does act like my mom. When I said that Vicky stepped up I wasn't kidding...She gave Blake and I a piece of home with some oreos in our lunches today. It's the little things that make the biggest difference here. 

Today was Blake and I's first time taking the bus alone today...I was proud to say that my direction challenged self took the lead this morning and got us safely to Maximo (a small but great victory to start the morning!) We met a few more volunteers there this morning who were as always helpful....Everyone is so outgoing and friendly and it is fun getting to know people from around the world. While I am at it...Everyone at Maximo is very outgoing and friendly as well which is nice to have that kind of support. Blake, Catherine (another volunteer here), and I went out this morning to go exchange some money and then decided to plan a trip the beach for the weekend. We are going to go to Manuel Antonio this weekend which is suppose to be really relaxing and fun. We are planning on leaving on Friday right after our projects end...It will take us a 50 minute cab ride to downtown San Jose where we will then get on our bus that will take approx 4 hours to get to the beach...We are planning on staying in a hostel for two nights that will cost around 10-12 dollars each night. We are all excited to get a weekend out and do some exploring. Other volunteers have said that if we go out early to the beach we can see sloth's which I know would make some old co-workers happy if I got some pics of that but I guess at all times of the day monkeys run up to you on the beach and try to steal your things...Sneaky little things. The hostels, I'm told are also relatively safe and that there are lockers for our personal belongings. 

As far as my project that I am working on here...I was so nervous about it the night before I told Vicky about it and she tried to reassure me that I would be just fine there. Even though I didn't understand her completely she just has a way of speaking that calms me down...Haha, I just can't really explain it. Another volunteer and myself started planning our lesson plans about an hour before we had to go to our project which is called PANI. We decided that today we were going to go over how to say "My name is" and "How are you?" in English today....Also, we planned to go over some colors and the days of the week all in English. The idea we had was great until we got there when the kids decided they did not care about what we had to say and only wanted the stickers that we had brought with us....Can't say I blame them...The stickers were awesome. The kids ended up with them stuck in their hair and all over them before we left. However, my one big success of the day was teaching four year old Sophie how to start writing her name in English. We practiced over and over again and she traced her name that I wrote out big on the paper. It was a good feeling. Once we were there for about 2 hours the kids started to run wild and there was a huge rainstorm that we all played in....So exhausting though. I have no idea what to plan for tomorrow's lesson but plan to work on it an hour or so before I leave for the project. 

Tonight after volunteering a few of us decided to go out to dinner and get a drink which was fun. Blake was subjected to girl talk but that is what he gets for joining three other girls for a few beers. Haha. Oh well, he handled it ok. While we were all waiting for our busses, Catherine and I got in to a huge laughing fit about how long it took us with our busses and feeling like we were going to get on the wrong ones. I mean after a while you do just have to either laugh or cry at how frustrating things can get here at first....We decided to laugh. We can't understand anything, it's dark, we are with a bunch of Costa Ricans who know what to do and then there is us....I don't know it was just funny...The good news is I once again got Blake and I home safely. Successful day in my book. OH! and two other volunteers we found out live right next door to us...Only, I am pretty sure that they are only here for about a week....Oh well, its fun to have them here. 

Like I've said before, I hope to update as much as possible especially this week since I will be gone all this weekend. 

Still missing all my family and friends back home! I promise after this weekend I will start taking pictures. I just don't want to be rude and take pictures at my project or my home the first week...I want to get to know my family and kids better before hand...But the beach pictures will come as soon as I get home from this weekend trip I hope :)

Oh, and for those who are wondering about the title...Pura Vida means 'Pure Life' and that is the motto of Costa Rica...It is so true, everyone here is so laid back it's crazy really...But thought it was important to start living by that slogan instead of making myself freak out continually over things that I cannot change such as the language barrier...It can only get beter!

CULTURE SHOCK

Welp, I've made it to Costa Rica and let me tell you culture shock is an understatement... 

I'll start from the beginning so I can get my thoughts organized. My first flight I must admit that I slept the entire way because I got no sleep the night before...Too many nerves. Once I landed in Houston, the second wave of nerves hit me hard...It was more of an anxiousness and fear of the unknown more than anything...

The second flight started with me getting handed customs papers which literally freaked me out because that is when I realized the first thing that I forgot on my trip....A pen. Seriously, out of all the things to forget, I forget the one thing I need to fill out my customs papers. Luckily there was a nice gentleman sitting next to me who let me borrow his. Another little bonus we got on the flight is what they called a "hot meal" aka I got handed something the airline microwaved 30 seconds before handing it to me and it was something ridiculous like a "grande burrito." All I kept thinking was...You have got to be kidding me. A burrito, a small plane, packed to the brim....Recipe for disaster and let me tell you, I was the last seat on that flight.....That burrito caused a lot of peoples stomachs' issues....Ew

I will say that the flight getting in to Costa Rica was a scene out of a movie..I have never seen anything so beautiful in my entire life. There are mountains every where and I saw my first volcanos from the airplane. Such a cool experience. I was going to take pictures but they did not do it justice. I will try again on the way home. 

Once I arrived in Costa Rica I was more than nervous. I had no idea what to expect. Going through customs was not as bad as I thought it was going to be and it was relatively easy. The only question that they asked me is how long I was staying in Costa Rica. After making it through there and getting my bags I walked outside looking around like a lost puppy only to see a sign with my name on it in bold letters. I have never been happier! The Maximo volunteer driver did not speak a word of English either but she was very nice and helpful. I was escorted to wait for the car when two other volunteers showed up, so I lied...At that point I had never been happier, especially when they were speaking English. 

We were then taken to Maximo which is the volunteer center in Costa Rica for IVHQ. We were introduced to some of the other volunteers there but it all blew right over my head. I was more than overwhelmed....Thats when I found out that I would be going straight to my host families home that day...I had no idea what to expect. Luckily, one of the other volunteers that arrived with me was going to be staying at the same house as me. That gave me some comfort. Actually, a lot of comfort...Just knowing I wasn't in it alone for once that whole day made me feel better. Once we arrived at our host family I met Vicky who is my house Mom. She is great and such a warm and welcome person. Even though we cannot understand each other...I can just tell that she loves having volunteers stay with her. It also happened to be her birthday so it was perfect that both Blake and I brought presents to thank our host Mom for letting us stay with her! She was very excited about it, which made me so happy that we could help share her day! She is the only one that is in this house and as of now it is just Blake and I. Blake is the other volunteer who is from Australia and he is only here for two weeks...So that means I have to learn the busses on my own with in that time haha. 

Vicky has two granddaughters that live right next door to her (their names escape me right now but I will remember to write them down). They came over to help greet us to our new home and surprisingly they both speak English very well which was such a relief! The one granddaughter who is 8 years old has been such a help this past day and a half. She helps me translate everything that I need, granted only at night when she comes around but I am happy to have her and all of her energy.

So far my diet has consisted of beans and rice for every meal and I must say that the tap water is fine to drink…I was nervous about trying it despite being told that is ok but it really is fine! I can see the beans and rice getting old fast but I am not going to complain about a home cooked meal. Besides, Vicky is letting us eat some of her cake from her birthday the other day J

I know I am jumping around but I just want to make sure that I include every thing that is general so that I can fill in the details later. Vicky took Blake and I to our orientation this morning and made sure that we had money for the bus which was great. Here is the thing about Costa Rica….They do not believe in street addresses AT ALL. All the address’s here are by landmarks. For instance, Maximo’s address says something along the lines of the blue and white building near the pharmacy…How people find their way around here is beyond me! Orientation went well, it was a lot of information rapid fire but that was to be expected….We then took a small walking tour and got our placements assigned to us. I am luckily working close to Maximo and only have to take one bus to get to my project. Others have a much further route. We got to go to our project site today which was also overwhelming after getting so much information thrown at us earlier that day. The kids are wonderful though! I am nervous about working with them since they do not speak a word of English but I feel like if other volunteers can do it that so can I! (Wishful thinking!) I’m not going to lie…The language barrier is one of the most isolating feelings you can have. I so badly want to engage and talk to those around me who are speaking Spanish because I know that they are trying to talk to me but I just can’t. It’s frustrating to say the least.

After we went to the project site for about an hour we went back to Maximo where I waited for Blake to get back from his project so that Vicky could come get us. While I waited I ended up joining an ESL crash course with another volunteer that was actually very helpful and I am glad that I did it!

(While I am typing this the power just went out at my host families because it is storming pretty bad here—Crazy Costa Rican weather!)

I will try to update more as I go but tomorrow is my first day with my project. I cannot wait to see what it is like. I have an afternoon shift so I am going to head to Maximo in the morning to explore downtown some.

Missing all of my friends and family like crazy and promise to be more detailed in my updates later!