Semana Santa/Spring Break #2!

We are officially off on break! Since there won't be any updating while we're gone, here is my itinerary (Kristin's is much different!):

Sunday- Puntarenas
Monday- Monteverde
Tuesday- San Jose to pick up Chris! Then Puerto Viejo, Caribbean Coast
Wed- PANAMA! Bocas del Toro
Thurs- Panama
Fri- Panama
Sat- Panama to the Punt
Sunday- Punt to Montezuma
Monday- Montezuma to home, and Chris leaves :(

We're both super excited to see our friends and family members that were able to make it out! And the rest, we miss you dearly <3

A quick update post-Monteverde

Monteverde was really cool!! It was kind of sad because as a result of sleep deprivation and this trip being our last USAC trip, you could tell everyone was starting to think about how the semester is ending far too quickly, and honestly, it's the worst feeling in the world.

Leaving here is probably going to be the hardest thing I will ever have to do, and I honestly mean that. We've really made our own lives here, and they are incredible- I can't think of another time where things have been so perfect. We have homes and amazing new friends and we live in a tropical paradise laced with constant adventure, and the culture/language is amazing. Not being able to go salsa on a Thursday night is probably going to be the death of me. Not seeing the faces of everyone I've gotten to know and love here is going to be terrible, and not having this amazing country to explore and become a part of will probably make me cry until I return again in the future.

However, there is still a good amount of time here, and I'm determined not to think about the end anymore until it's actually here!

So about Monteverde. The drive up gives you even more of an adrenaline rush than the incredible zip line tour we did. Here's the view from the bus (I may or may not have stolen these photos from a fellow USACer... don't hate!)

It's really easy to fall in love with this place. :) Below is our awesome group of USACers ready to zip line, and below that is me zip lining! Unfortunately, I don't have one of Kristin, but someone else probably does!

The zip line here was hands down the best I've ever done! It wasn't even scary though, it was just amazing. The last cable is 1km long and you have to go with another person so that you don't get stuck in the middle, where you would probably be left to die because you can't even see the other end from the beginning. Michelle and I went together and it was amazing! You just fly into a cloud and look down and there are the most amazing trees ever below you that stretch for miles. It never stops being amazing.

We stayed in a really nice little cabin-style resort on Saturday night and everyone spent the night listening to music and just hanging out, but before that we went to an amazing restaurant called The Treehouse, and it was literally just a restaurant built around a giant tree. I'm not going to just go out and say it, but it MIGHT be possible that we spent all of our dinner money on the most delicious chocolate fondue I have ever even heard of. SO good! I guess that's about it- another awesome trip, as usual!

Spring break is fast approaching! Kristin's birthday is Thursday, and we have an epic night planned! Ummm I think that's it!

Our Weekends in Review!: the empty half of the glass

Here is a photo review of our first 4 weekends!

Weekend 1 was covered by Kristin's Curu post, so we'll start at Weekend 2: Jaco! Unspeakable Things.

Our friends know how to surf. Playa Hermosa, cerca de Jaco
We met some interesting characters at this house!Beautiful colorsOur travel group for the weekend! We stayed at Kat's (right) host dad's cousin's house- Piko!

Weekend 3: Santa Teresa or maybe Malpais (we don't really know) and Montezuma!!

We went to Montezuma 2nd, but here is a water body of sorts.Sunset at Malpaid or Santa Teresa... wherevz we were!Flower in Montezuma above. Beach at Montezuma right in front of our hostel is below:Our group at Malpaid/ST at sunset:

Weekend 4: Volcan Poas!

Our group at Volcan Poas's lago.

Poas and the cloudsHotel Alajuela- AKA Acurrucar Hotel!

That's all for now! Soon: the other 4 weekends, life in the Punt, and the people we frequently hang out with.

Culturally Chaotic: A Super-Epic Weekend

Just on Sunday, I jumped in both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean on the same day.

But that's just the end of the weekend! Disclaimer: some of this post was written after a weekend of getting probably about 9 hours of sleep total, and 13 hours of travel. It might not make any sense.

Friday afternoon, Peligro and I headed to San Jose. We got there around dinner time and got lost around the city thanks to my amazing navigational skillz, but eventually found our way to the bus terminal, and then to my old friend, the Kabata Hostel. It didn't seem like it was going to be too epic of a night, but we ended up walking around and heard some awesome music. We decided to follow the sound, and stumbled upon a free ska concert featuring "Garbanzos" in this really neat little cultural center. It was like a city within a city, in this really cool old building with an open roof and tall concrete walls. We pretty much just spent the night rocking out with a bunch of Hispanic scenesters, went back to the hostel, and as we were crawling into our beds- Terremoto!!! We got shaken by a 4.6 magnitude earthquake. It was pretty sweet. We just kind of looked nervously at each other and then I quietly exclaimed "terremoto!!" because others in the room were asleep, and then we high-fived. I had never felt an eathquake before, and since nothing was destroyed but we got a really good shake, I have to say it was a pretty cool experience!

Saturday at literally the crack of dawn we took a bus to Cariari, a small town an hour and a half away from San Jose, to catch another bus to a water taxi that would bring us to our destination of choice: Torguero, located in the northeast region of Costa Rica, sitting right on the Atlantic Ocean, technically part of the Carribean Sea. We got to Cariari at about 7:30am and waited until 11:30 at the bus station. Luckily, we had the Fun Book of Awesome Games to keep us entertained!

So we eventually caught the bus, and after another hour long bus ride, some crazy adventuring began. The river that runs up to Tortuguero is considered by my travel guide book to be a "Mini-Amazon", and it totally looked like it! It was really, really cool, and I have pictures, sooo:

This was the bus that brought us from Cariari to La Pavona, where we caught the water taxis

This was the Rio! It was wicked cool.

Boating down the wild rioooo


An hour or so later, Tortuguero! It was rainy and shockingly cold, but also very beautiful.

Super psyched that we made it to the East Coast! So psyched you can barely see the tiredness!

The Atlantic Ocean/Mar Caribe :) Cold and lovely as usual.

Our ocean-front hostel... so cultural.

We stayed here!

We may or may not have found a secret entrance to the National Park...This is a very colorful part of the town of Tortuguero!We jumped in the ocean at 5am on Sunday through the rain and the cold, then jumped on a boat at 6am and got some sweet ponchos. It was worth it just for the ponchos.

This was the last of our zillion bus rides home- one of which was 1 hour, 3 hours of waiting time because of a mudslide, the second of which was a 5 hour route because of the mudslide, and the last of which was from San Jose to the Punt, 2 hours. We got back at 7pm, and then jumped in the Pacific! 13 hours of traveling for a pretty awesome end goal, I think.

So anyway, pretty good times. As for Kristin's previous post, I could not agree more with everything she said. I just don't really ever want to leave!

Halfway...

     I honestly can hardly believe that we’ve been in Costa Rica for two months. In some ways, it feels like we’ve been here for much less time, probably because I have just recently truly settled in and now finally have a grasp on the way of life here, and really understand most of the Spanish I hear in daily conversation. In other ways, I feel like I’ve been here my entire life. I absolutely love Puntarenas and everyone in it, even the creepy old men who cat call me. Don’t get me wrong, New Hampshire is my home and I love it dearly, like an old friend. But I’m IN love with Costa Rica. It’s so beautiful and tranquilo, and I feel so at home here. We’re exactly halfway through our stay here, and I already absolutely dread leaving because I know I’ll cry for the entire duration of our flight home. A friend of mine here put it well when he said that when he leaves, he’ll just be counting the days until he can come back. I’m going to miss my family and new friends and the city and the food and the beach and the weather and USAC and everything so much. I can’t imagine how the students who have been here since August will feel when they have to leave. Honestly, I wish I’d been here since August, too. Considering the fact that I chose this program last April, I very well could have (and should have) applied to be a year-long student. Last semester didn’t seem so bad at the time, I guess…but now, looking back on it, I know I would have been worlds happier here. Oh, well. I can’t dwell on that any more. For the time being, for the next two months (exactly), I plan to continue to try and live each moment I have in Costa Rica to its fullest. I’ve seen so many amazing places and met so many awesome people and improved my Spanish a lot and done so many fun things already, but there is so, so much more to see and do and learn. My goal is to not look back and feel that I missed out on something Costa Rican while I was here. So, I’ve got lots to cover in the next two months. :) Hasta luego!