Arenal Volcano & La Fortuna

This last weekend we visited the town of La Fortuna and stayed in the Los Lagos Resort and Spa at the base of Arenal Volcano. The resort has absolutely HUGE, the hotel rooms were sort of little bungalow type things and they were spread out in separate buildings all throughout the jungle. They had a free shuttle service so whenever we wanted to go anywhere (the pool or front desk) we could just ride that instead of having to walk super far. The hotel was situated literally on the bottom of the Volcano and we had a perfect view of it right from our front balcony (check my facebook pictures). We also got to visit a beautiful waterfall where we could walk to the bottom and swim, you could even see people ziplining over the waterfall, is was so awesome. For the majority of the weekend we just hung out at the resort, went swimming in the pools (all of which were natural fresh water from the mountain, no chlorine or anything) and they also had hot pools which were from natural hotsprings, they were so warm it was almost like a hottub. Both days we went into the town of La Fortuna to eat lunch, it was a cute little tourist town that had amazing views of volcano right behind a beautiful church (check my pics). It was full of little souvenior shops and excursion companies, the area is known for its white river rafting, ziplining, and other fun stuff to do in the jungle. We became friends with one of the shuttle bus drivers named Dennis and he even played the guitar and serenading us with a Spanish song one night in the hotel. Besides these things, the weekend was really fun, a few of us went into town both nights to check out the nightlife but it was a pretty small town with not much going on, besides a really cool discoteca we found on Saturday night. However the highlight of the trip was Friday when a few of us brought home a cute little dog trixie ahahahhaah. Costa Rica is notorious for having stray/homeless dogs everywhere, and I MEAN EVERYWHERE, it breaks my heart every single day having to see a bunch of starving scraggaly looking dogs running around. So Friday night without really thinking things through, we saw a cute hungry little dog running downtown and thought it would be a good idea to bring him back to the resort with us (dont ask me why we actually did it). The taxi driver nor Dennis had a problem with it and we managed to get her back to our room and feed her some platainos (similar to potato chips, fried vegetable banana thing that's really popular here). Not everyone liked the dog as much as we did, so long story short we were forced to put trixie back outside and let her find somehwhere comfy to sleep for the night. Trixie ended up staying on the resort and all weekend we saw her running around getting pet my random people and she looked like she was having a blast, until saturday evening when we saw one of the security guards shoo her off of the property, it was all really sad and we hope that trixie found her way back to town and some where to sleep. At least for one night she got some attention, food, water, and some air conditioning! LOL that was our adventure for the weekend, tomorrow we're headed to Monteverde Cloud Forest and I'm spending the weekend ziplining and horseback riding in the tropical rainforest, super excited! I'll update when i return, Ciao!

My weekend at La Playa Tamarindo

After an almost 7 hours bus ride (that was only supposed to take 4 or 5) we arrived at Tamarindo Beach in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. It is near the top left corner of Costa Rica on the Pacific Ocean. We made a couple stops on the way to get gas, and grab lunch. The drive took so long because there was a lot of traffic and construction on the highway. It was a very scenic drive, I got to see the outskirts of San Jose, lots of rivers and canyons, and miles of really pretty rainforest. The town of Tamarindo is a beautiful little beach town that is full of mainly tourists and expensive resorts. It is the first place I've been to in Costa Rica where a lot of people spoke English and almost everywhere accepted American money. It is full of little souvenir shops and beach bars with palm trees everywhere, it was hands down the most beautiful place I have ever been to in my entire life (even better than the Caribbean islands and Maui where I have been before). Everything was so laid back and relaxed, I could have laid on the beach for the rest of my life. The hotel we got to stay at was AMAZING, I don't think I will ever stay somewhere so ritzy again in my life (unless I can go back for my honeymoon, which would be great, lol). Our room was right on the beach, not even 50 feet from the sand, I could lay on my bed and watch the waves go in and out. There were ladies who gave massages right on the beach, or you could rent a surfboard and surf all day. There were a ton of dragonflies and we even saw two iguanas chillin in the grass. The resort has like 3 pools complete with a swim up bar (which was really cool, I've always wanted to see one of those hahaha), and we got breakfast provided for us each morning (fresh fruit, gallo pinto, tortillas, omelets and a bunch more). On Saturday we went out on a Catamaran Sail boat all day which was so much fun. They took us on an hour ride out to a secluded beach area where we got to swim or snorkel or just stay on the boat and tan. They had great music, open bar, and a really yummy lunch of barbequed chicken with chips and guacamole and pico de gallo (my favorite). They brought us back right as the sun was setting so we could all get a bunch of amazing pictures of the sunset (which was one of the most gorgeous sunsets I have even seen). At night we would walk around the town and visit little restaurants and clubs, club Aqua was a lot of fun, there was a ton of people and we danced all night. All in all it was a wonderful weekend, it made coming back to San Jose very very hard, none of us wanted to leave, or go back to school the next day (it was rough). We all got the chance to get to know each other really well and are becoming really good friends. The weekend wouldnt have been the same without our fun group and of course Terrance almost capsizing our mini boat because he is convinced that every single insect is going to give him Dengue Fever (a disease that the Dengue mosquitoes have, we were warned not to go down to a certain part of the country because they were having an issue with the sickness, but it's nothing we have to worry about, especially in Tamarindo, but the joke gave us good laughs all weekend ahahahah)
This week we are headed to Arenal Volcano and La Fortuna Waterfalls. I am so excited to explore the rainforest and go hiking to see the pretty views of the volcano. We also get to go swimming at the bottom of the waterfalls. Our resort has natural hotsprings and a bunch of wildlife we can view, a butterfly garden, an alligator swamp, and a frog farm. I hope I see a monkey! Here is a link to the amazing hotel, I CANT WAIT!

http://www.hotelloslagos.com/

I'll update this when I return and will post a million pictures on facebook! Until then Ciao!!

Pura Vida!

Hola! Estoy en Costa Rica! My sisters thought starting a blog would be a good way to show and tell everyone back at home what I'm up to during my four month adventure to Costa Rica so here is what I have been doing so far. I left Seatac airport last Friday and after a heated conversation about visa requirements and a mild panic attack, I was allowed on the plane and on my way to Denver for a 6 hour layover. Luckily my Donelle lives in Denver and was able to come pick me for dinner. We visited for a few hours and ate at TGIF's (which is really cool because I've seen a million commercials for that restaurant and have always wanted to go, but Washington unfortunately doesn't have them). Anyways after taking the red eye flight from Denver (and getting absolutely no sleep at all), I was finally in San Jose, Costa Rica at 6:15 am Friday. The view from the plane was absolutely gorgeous, I could see the pacific ocean beaches, the mountains that were covered in rain forests, and many rivers. Since I had been in Seattle and Denver I was dressed in a North Face, jeans and boots, and before I could even get to baggage claim I was so hot and sweaty I thought I was going to die, the humidity in Costa Rica is no joke! Our program drove us to our new university to introduce us to the family that we would be living with for the next four months and when we arrived I was greeted by 66 year old Nuria and her husband Jorge! To my surprise, I was informed that Nuria did not speak a word of english and her husband could only say a few words...How the hell am I supposed to live and talk with these people if they don't speak any english? Not gonna lie I was freaking out for while, but within hours I realized that it was much easier to communicate with them than I thought it would be, and I realized I know a lot more spanish that I thought I did, having simple conversations haven't been a problem at all! The rest of the day was spent unpacking and meeting my new housemate Chelsea. She's from University of Minnesota Deluth studying economics and spanish, and thank god I have someone in the house with me that speaks some english!!

Over the next few days we had orientations, and tours to help us learn more about the city and program. The city tour was amazing. Although San Jose is not the prettiest city in the world (in fact it is very run down looking and is extremely sketchy) there is an odd beauty to it. In any direction you look you can see the rain forests and mountains in the distance. They are much more Americanized than I thought they would be, they have taco bell mcdonalds and kfc on almost every street, and many of them same stores and brands as in the United States, except everything is in Spanish! My neighborhood is in the San Pedro area and it is about a 20 minute walk to my school everyday. The house I am living in is adorable, I have my own room with a giant chair and desk and tv, and Chelsea and I share a bathroom. My house mom Nuria is absolutely amazing, she is the sweetest, kindest lady I have ever met. She cooks all day and our meals are DELICIOUS and huge, I'm really nervous I'll be coming back to the U.S about 20 pounds heavier (god please help me NO). We get fresh fruit every morning, papaya, pinneapple, mangos, and bananas, and it is the best fruit I have ever had!! Our meals consist of rice, beans, tortillas, pico de gallo, salsa, chicken, fajitas, eggs, we even had french toast for breakfast this morning! My new favorite thing in fried plaintains which are giant banana looking vegetables that you fry and put guacamole on top of..YUMMMMMMM. There are a million dogs running around all over the place all the time, it's actually really sad and they all look homeless and starving and I want to bring them all home with me, but Nuria does not like animals! Lol There are lots of bugs, mini mini little ant type things, and they are everywhere, showers, kitchen, tables, but it truthfully hasn't bothered me, I just pretend they aren't there. There are just some things that are going to take some getting used to... like not being able to flush toilet paper in the toilet, or not being able to walk alone or carry nice things, not being able to speak english..ever, or eating dinner at 7 or 730 every night! The men here yell and hiss at you all day.. you would think they had never seen a white girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, its quite uncomfortable, the entire bus stares at you, but you just get used to it. I love this place and I love these people! My ISA group of people are great, I love all the girls and we are starting to become good friends! We all went out to the clubs and bars last night near the Universidad de Costa Rica and it was a lot of fun!! The drinks are really cheap and the latin music is great! Who knew going out on a Tuesday would be so much fun!

My class schedule ended up being great, no school on Friday! On Mondays and Wednesdays I have 3 classes at 9, 10:30 and 3, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays I only have one class at 3 oclock, sounds good to me!! Everyone is super laid back, and laid back here, its a wonderful environment. It is clear blue skies and in the 80's everyday, which makes everything that much better! All in all the first 5 days have been perfect! Were headed to the beach for the weekend, Playa Tamarindo in Guanacaste. Time for some tanning on the beach and snorkeling with the fishies! I'll upload pictures when I return!