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
Thanks for keeping us updated with your blog. I told you it takes a lot of time, but is SO worth it as you'll have a record of all your experiences.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't help but laugh at your part about running very quickly across the street or getting hit by a car -- you know how I react to those kinds of things. I can picture you running as if your life depended on it! haha
Life in Costa Rica sounds like a blast! Enjoy The turtle project would be very cool!
Your U.S. mommy misses you lots and loves you! xo