Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Tamarindo and Wal-Mart

¡Hola! I went to Tamarindo last weekend which is on the Pacific ocean. It was so beautiful! And really nice; kind of expensive because it was a bit of a tourist town. But the night life was alive and thriving! I met a lot of really cool people from all over the world. I learned how to surf so I can officially cross that off of my bucket list. "Check, check!" I'm not going to go into details on this for the entire world to see, because the circumstances of the situation were honestly pretty dumb, but I did witness and somewhat participate in saving someone's life in the Pacific ocean which was crazy. Below are some silly pictures of me and my new buddies Jen and Alex having a gay 'ol time surfing all on one board at the same time! :P
The ride back to San Jose was hilarious: We left Tamarindo in a completely different bus with a completely different driver because our usual bus broke down. An hour deep, the driver decided to randomly pull over and pick up some strange woman who accompanied us for the rest of the trip and no one knows why? We were stopped because of a road being fix for 30 minutes in the middle of nowhere and we were able to get dinner 4 hours into the drive. About 45 minutes after dinner, Gustavo, who is our tour guide, Luis' friend (whom wasn't even there), decided to get off the bus in the middle of nowhere without saying anything but waving goodbye to the bus. THEN, a semi trailer rolled over, so we were stuck in traffic for an hour, literally not moving at all. We were pulled over for so long that all of the people in their cars started getting out and going to a random bar on the side of the freeway until traffic was allowed to go through? Just a weird experience. Our trip back to San Jose ended up lasting about 10 hours. So I went to Wal-Mart today. I would just like to note a few weird things that I noticed: 1) instead of a parking lot, Wal-Mart was located above a parking garage...different 2) there were sales associates everywhere! Colegate and shampoo vendors everywhere telling you which products to buy as if they were kiosk workers at the mall heckling you...sweird. 3) there was a McDonalds in the Wal-Mart but it only served ice-cream? 4) every cashier aisle had a tv on it so while you were waiting in line you could watch cops: awesome! That's all I got for now. Ciao for now

Monday, January 20, 2014

Paradise

I have officially found paradise. It's called Puerto Viejo. The absolute best town I have ever visited! It is a small town on the caribbean side of Costa Rica. I loved that basically everything except for the bank was locally owned and it was a total hippy town! Dreads and reggae everywhere and everyone was very chill and relaxed, just living la pura vida. Just my kind of environment and what I believe in for a beautiful and simple life! It was an oasis. I felt like I belonged there and I was sad to have to leave for San Jose to go back to school. We went to Cahuita National Park and enjoyed a day at the beach and checking out some cool animals in their natural habitat. I saw a sloth, a snake, a pelican, and some monkeys but we had to watch out for their "chocolate" droppings on the path! Hahaha! We sadly couldn't go snorkeling because the waves were too crazy but I was okay with that anyway, I loved relaxing on the beach or finding a comfy hammock for awhile and just admiring the vibes and presences of the place. The beach was beautiful no matter which part of it you were at. I could have stayed there forever. I plan to keep this little piece of paradise in my mind for the future. I met a lot of people who had visited there before, fell in love with the town and people and later decided to move their lives there. If I could, I would move there too! But seriously, it's in my mind. And for some of those reading this and looking for the same thing (you know who you are fellow flower children), seriously, let's return. I have already started cooking a minor plan to keep in mind throughout my adventures. A wise girl once told me that dreams never expire. And ever since I have always taken that to heart. I think that I may belong in Puerto Viejo, and I could list about fifteen of my favorite people that would love the life there too. It is just the place for a tribe like ours. Very different from the city. I felt safe and as if I totally "fit in". There is no other life like the beach life in absolute paradise. P.S. to everyone in Michigan: I have a sunburn! In January!!!! :P

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Pura Vida

It's the end of my first week in Costa Rica! First of all, living with a host family is great! My tico family is more than nice and watches out for us Michiganders, making sure we make good decisions and eat only the best of food! One week in and I've already met many great people, ticos (or Costa Ricans) are very nice and friendly. I love being able to see mountains every way I turn. I took a shopping excursion with my roommate to downtown San Jose which was fun and adventurous for us! I'm still not used to the city smell, but the planned excursions through CMU included the cleanest of air! I had great adventures this weekend: Rio Celeste and Poás Volcano; both of which were located in the beautiful mountains which really tested my leg muscles. I met the Pacific ocean on the way to the national park which was pretty awesome.
Rio Celeste (or sky blue river) is home to the only naturally sky blue water in the world because of the chemical mixture of sulfur and carbonate that come from the Tenorio Volcano. By the end of the day I had walked more than 6 miles through mud, climbing up and down a mountain. It was more than worth the muscle strain! Unfortunately we couldn't swim in the beautiful blue water because the chemical levels were too high, but I did get to put my hand in the water near a hot spring for a minute. The waterfall was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life.
Today was another long and vigorous trip to another national park. We stopped at a coffee plantation and to check out a sloth we spotted in a tree on the way to Poás Volcano, an active volcano with crazy acidic crater lakes in the Central mountain range. It was so cold and wet! We unfortunately couldn't see the volcano because it was covered in clouds, all we could see was white, but that was still pretty far out. I had a great time walking through the rain forest, doing some tree huggin', feeling the energy of the healthiest trees I've ever seen and the softest moss as well as meditating with the help of the rain along the way. It was so green and pretty; it's amazing how nature can make you feel.
Our next stop was La Paz Waterfalls. I liked the fact that all of the animals there were rescued and couldn't be returned to nature because they wouldn't be able to survive, except for the butterflies and hummingbirds. The hummingbirds were able to leave into the wild if they wanted, but why would they with all of the nectar hanging around?! I spent at least an hour in the butterfly house. I became friends with one that wouldn't get off my hand for 30 minutes! I saw another waterfall in this park too, but my pictures turned out bad :(
It was cool that on the way home we were able to stop at a factory to get some souvenirs for real cheap before I fell asleep the rest of the way home! I can't count the things that I can cross off of my bucket list after this first week of my trip. Namaste

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Day 1

Hello beautiful people! I am experiencing some mixed emotions on this first day of my semester in Costa Rica. A bomb of the broken-heart dumps fell on my life just two days ago and it's been hard for me to bounce back and maintain the excitement that I had for this trip before I got slapped in the face (figuratively speaking). I've been feeling ups and downs: part of me wishes I could go through the usual break-up therapy with my buddies in the USA, but another part of me is happy to get away and find peace of mind on my own in this new and beautiful place. My adventure started this morning by driving into the blizzard at 3:30 a.m. to catch my flight, and for a moment I thought that I was never going to get here through the Michigan snow. After a quick stop in Atlanta, I arrived in hot and sunny San José, Costa Rica. The view from the plane was really inspiring for me, the blue waters and green mountains lifted my spirits and gave me the excitement again to explore! But I had to wait to start adventuring so that I could meet my host family for the next three months: a mom, dad, and two adorable young boys. I moved all of my stuff into my new room and I suppose that the best word to use right now is surreal. It feels strange that I am actually here after months of planning! I was happy to meet my roommate and go for a walk after dinner before our long week of orientation and classes that starts up tomorrow. I am so thankful for all of the greenery in the streets, pretty trees with beautiful flowers everywhere really lift my energy levels. I thought that this tree was really cool: a eucalyptus, a large rainbow colored tree that looks as if somebody painted it. They apparently only grow in so many places around the world! The energy that these beautiful trees had can't be explained in words. Namaste.