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!