Day Trippin'

     This past weekend I didn't travel too far. Friday, Saturday and Sunday were all day trips to see attractions near San José. On Friday, my room mates and I decided to sign up to go to the Palmares Festival, located in the r o l l i n g hills of Costa Rica. It was about 2 hours away, and we left right after classes at 1 pm. The list of students who wanted to attend the festival grew quicker than anticipated, and we ended up having to get a separate bus to fit everyone! Palmares is one of the most anticipated traditional festivals on the Costa Rican calendar, continuing the celebration of Christmas, right into the new year. Beginning in the second week of January visitors can experience local food and drink, music, dance, parades, fireworks and of course Costa Rican bullfighting and horse parades. 

     The festival is known for it's high attraction rate, and mainly for it's parties. We were told not to bring anything valuable, very little money (only what you planned on spending), and to be extremely cautious and aware. After all the build up to the event, when we arrived, and for mainly the entire day, there were almost no people and an extremely c a l m environment. Although, as the night grew on, we understood what people were talking about. It seemed as though all of a sudden there was thousands of people! Thankfully, we left before it got to be too crazy! 

     The next day, Saturday, I packed up and left around 7 am to spend the day zip lining through the cloud forest and exploring a small town called, Sarchi, which is famous for it's Oxcarts. Sarchi is home to the largest oxcart in the world. This was a cool experience to see the large and decorated oxcart, and to learn all about how the people of Sarchi build everything with their own hands. We also visited a famous church, which was made entirely of metal sheets! There are many legends about this church, such that it was supposed to be sent to several other countries, but instead was shipped to the small town of Sarchi. None of these legends are true, and it was in fact, meant to be built in this beautiful town.

 El Volcan Irazú

     On Sunday, we visited the tallest, active volcano in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, it was so cloudy at the top of the volcano, we were unable to see the inside of it. Volcano Irazu has 4 craters, and the main crater contains a greenish/blue pool in the middle. It's said, touching the pool would result in an imminent death. Even though we couldn't see the inside of the volcano, or even 5 feet in front of us, we all definitely made the most out of the trip! 

     After the volcano we went to another famous church in a small town called Cartago. This may have been the most beautiful church I have ever seen. There were so many people here, both for tourism and for Sunday mass. There is a story about why this church was placed in the spot it is in, and  an interesting one at that! The Basilica of Our Lady of the Angels is consecrated to the Virgin of Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles, a small

representation of the Virgin Mary carrying the infant Jesus. It is said to have been discovered by a p e a s a n t girl in Cartago who was collecting wood for her family. The story goes that the little girl found the small statue on a rock and took it home. The next morning she found that the statue was not there but back at the rock. She again took the statue home, and the same thing happened. And again, once more. So she took it to the priest and he didn't believe the girl. He then locked it in a small box to find the next morning that the statue was back at the rock. During the construction, the church was destroyed by earthquakes so many times, it was finally decided to move it to the location where the statue was found and then they were able to finish the construction. Many people think that the earthquakes were signs that the Lady of Los Ángeles wanted the basilica built there. This church in its current state, dates back to 1939. 

     This is officially my last week of my first intensive Spanish class. I'm feeling extremely proud of how far my Spanish has come the past 3 weeks. I have my patient simulation this Wednesday, and my written final this Friday! Wish me luck! After my final exam of Friday, I will be leaving the country to Bocas del Toro, Panama to reset my visa! That way I won't get deported back home ;) I'm very excited for the adventures to come! 

P u r a V i d a  mis amigos!

Providencia -- Life in the Mountains

     This past weekend, I traveled to high heights, through dense forests, on narrow and windy roads, to an extremely small community perched on the side of a mountain, called: Providencia. This minuscule community consists of around 200 people, and the houses miles upon miles apart. To get to Providencia, we took 3 types of transportation: Van, truck & by foot. From Veritas, the 8 of us piled into a small van and traveled about two and a half hours outside of the city. The journey started in crowded highways, but quickly became one-way, wooded, dirt roads. Everyone in the bus was sure that we weren't going to make it up the tight and windy road, but some how, some way, probably by miracle, we made it to a small town. Here is where the van dropped us off, and said that we would need a 4x4 truck to take us the rest of the way. So that is exactly what we did. A dad and his daughter walked up, helped us load all of our luggage into the back of their truck, and said climb in! We all thought they were kidding, but they certainly were not. We all jumped into the back of the truck with our luggage and took another drive, on what they call, "The Road of Death." This was no joke. It is truly remarkable how vehicles can be pushed to such limits,

and make it up and down hills, on the side of a mountain, on roads made completely from loose gravel, and the gravel was more sized like large rocks. 

     When we arrived at the home, of the family with which we were staying, the mother welcomed each of us with a warm hug, and a kiss on the cheek. She thanked us so much for coming to visit with them, and that she and her family were so incredibly happy to have us there for the weekend. That evening, we got settled in and relaxed around the kitchen table for some fresh coffee. We walked around the house itself, and got acquainted with the area. 
The next morning, we woke up for breakfast around 7 am, and ate the most delicious organic food! Everything for food in the community, is grown right there on the farm. So, all of the food was as fresh as you could ever imagine. Shortly after finishing breakfast, we packed up some water bottles and hit the road for what would be the most intensive hike I could have ever imagined. We walked up the side of the mountain, on what was a road for several hours, stopping along the way to look around and sight see. This had been one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. This adventure quickly turned green, where we began to hike into the forest to look for a berry field; and this was one of the most scary adventures I have ever been on. One slip up, one step to your left or right, and you were falling down the side of the mountain. It was crazy intense. Later that day, after our excursion through the forest, we took another hike to a beautiful waterfall about 40 minutes walk from the house! The first waterfall we went to, had a beautiful pond at the bottom, that also flowed into the river. Some of the people in my group went swimming here, but the reactions they gave after jumping in led me to believe that it was much colder than I wanted it to be. So, I stayed clothed, warm and dry on the side and took pictures of the more venturous people who took a dip! Our Tico Papa, took us on a hike to another beautiful waterfall called, Catarata Velo De Novia. We were not able to swim in this one because of it's dangerous pressures and short depths. 

We also walked through the coffee plantation, which was pretty neat! Orlando, our Tico Papa, taught us all about the process of picking coffee beans all the way to it's roasting point. I really enjoyed learning so much about the process, and let me tell you, I had some of the best coffee I've ever tasted this weekend. The best part is, everything was completely organic! All in all, this weekend was highly enjoyable. It was nice to get away from the city and breathe in the cleanest of airs. For those you who may be reading this, because you plan on taking this trip, or studying abroad in Costa Rica... Prepare for a weekend of nothing but the land. There is no wifi. It's truly a weekend of walking, exploring, hiking, learning and adventuring. It's an amazing opportunity you shouldn't miss.

PURA VIDA!

Mackenzie and I on orientation day! 

     Hola from San Jose! I feel like I have so much to talk about! I am absolutely in love with life here in Costa Rica. Everyone in the country lives by the saying "Pura Vida!" meaning, "Pure Life." And something could never be so true about such a large population! Time doesn't exist here, and by that I mean that life is never experienced by a time frame. There are no clocks in any of the classrooms, and rarely any where on campus. The local's live on "Tico Time," which is just extremely laid back, and no one is ever in a rush. 

Drinking a pipa!

     Classes here a not as 'strict' as classes back in Michigan. On my first day of class this week, which I was extremely nervous for, we spent the first TWO HOURS getting to know each other in the class. Let me remind you, my class only have five people in it, including myself. There was no complaining here. Each day we start off class with casual conversation, about what we did the previous day, how we are enjoying our host families, the city, etc! For the first month of this semester I am taking Advanced Spanish for Health Professions. Luckily, my room mate {Mackenzie} is in my class, so we are reluctant to study together and struggle through the course, which is taught entirely in Spanish! Now, when I say struggle, I mean that our Spanish is not as good as we want it to be, but being surrounded by the language has surely brought more confidence to us in speaking! It's only been a week and I already feel my spoken Spanish becoming better and better each day. 
     This first week of classes has been no where close to as stressful as classes back home, and I couldn't even come close to expressing my happiness about that! Although, it's only been 1 week, and we have our midterm this Friday! It's crazy to think about, time is already flying by so incredibly fast. 

Sunset on the beach!

     Over the weekend, I went on my first excursion here in Costa Rica. I traveled six hours by bus to get to Tamarindo Beach! The locals here call it "Tamagringo," because of it's high rate of tourist attraction. When we finally arrived in Tamarindo, around 7 o'clock pm, we were assigned our rooms at the hotel and had some time to change our clothes and freshen up. We then walked around the town as a group and then ventured off on our own for dinner. The next morning we woke up early for breakfast and headed down to the beach! It is really an amazing town, only quite a bit more expensive because of it's tourist attraction. 
     When people say that the sun is different in Costa Rica, they are NOT lying. I am proud to say that I left the beach with only a few small burn spots! I applied SPF 50 all day long! What is cool about the Pacific coast, especially Tamarindo, is that it has perfect surfing conditions! I spent all of my Saturday learning how to surf, and I am extremely happy that I caught on so quickly. It was a successful day of surfing for sure! The nightlife in Tamarindo is exciting and extremely lively! 
     The bus ride back from Tamarindo took less that it did to get there, thankfully, but not by much. It was an extremely unusual bus ride though. There was several people, whom were not a part of my program catching a ride back to San Jose. We stopped abruptly on the side of a busy street in SJ, and a man stood up, said adios chicos! and jumped off the bus. No one knows who he was, or where he came from! Strange! 

PURA VIDA AMIGOS!

Bienvenidos a Costa Rica!

     As my departure date quickly arrives, I'm feeling like an emotional roller coaster. I actually departed Michigan on December 18th, traveling to Texas to spend the holidays with my boyfriend. Leaving home was surprisingly easy, probably because of my exciting holiday plans. I know that leaving my boyfriend will be much more difficult, but I am so excited for the next 16 weeks. My boyfriend -- Rafael's first language is Spanish. He's been helping me practice my Spanish occasionally. It's been such a blessing to be spending this time with him, and being able to feel a little more confident each and every day, even while the anxiety also builds. 

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     I've arrived in Costa Rica, and so far it's been simply a blessing. At first I felt sort of lost and confused, but I quickly made friends at the airport who helped my find my way. The ride from the airport to my host families house, was about a half hour. There were 5 other students in the van that took us to our host families homes. We all became acquainted and discussed the excitement that none of us could contain. 

     When I arrived at my host families house, they welcomed me with open arms and open hearts. They showed me around, and took me to my room. They set me up in a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment like extension of their house. I got to pick my room, and of course I had to choose the brightly colored orange one with the double sized bed! My host family told me that I would be getting 2 more room mates.

     My family was quick to include me in their evening plans, and took me to a family birthday party. I was relieved when I found a couple family members that spoke English! Everyone is so incredibly welcoming and nice here!

     It's easy to say that my first night in San Jose was much more than successful. My first roommate arrived later in the evening and we quickly got along and became great friends! But, this is all for now mis amigos!

PURA VIDA!