Coming Home

Every moment I spent in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama was an adventure good or bad, and coming home to the States was certainly no exception. I spent a few hours from 4:00 am to 6:50 am when my plane finally boarded (although it was supposed to take off at this time) in the Juan Santamaria airport. The day before, I had been informed of a 27 dollar departure tax to leave the country which made the process a bit more difficult. Although I should have been exhausted. I spent my hours in the airport walking around the shops and looking out the windows at the beautiful mountains surrounding San José. The weather was perfect to see the mountains which was a rare occurrence. They are usually covered by clouds even in the dry season.

AIFS was able to get a deal with Continental Airlines so that we could fly business class home even though we flew economy to Costa Rica. This made it much easier to take back more luggage without paying all the extra fees. I sat in the very front row next to a Costa Rican man from San José who was flying to Germany for business. I figured this was my final test to really see how much Spanish I had learned during my three months in Costa Rica. I guess I passed :) I was able to have a long conversation about San José, my excursions, and my experience with the man without much hesitation. I was also able to understand everything he had to say about his country and his travel plans. I still would not consider myself fluent, but I definitely obtained an ability to survive in a Spanish speaking culture and hold longer, more complicated conversations with adults and children. Success!!! The man offered to switch seats with me so I could take one last look at Central America from the window seat. What an opportunity! Like I said, the weather was perfect, and we followed the Central American ithmus the whole way to the Gulf of Mexico. I was able to follow the Costa Rican landscape I had come to love the whole way to Lake  Nicaragua! It was easy to see the different mountain ranges as well as some of the volcanoes.  I was even able to see some of the big ships in the Gulf of Mexico and the beautiful beaches of Central America. After a little more than three hours, we landed in Houston Texas. 

My first pleasant surprise was the automatic doors in the airport. Automatic doors was one luxury that I had forgotten about. While going through customs, it was nice to go through the resident line. I was able to get through customs without any hassle, the same could not be said for some of the other students on my flight. Plus... EVERYTHING was in English! However, I found that the people in line were a lot more impatient, and the customs officer was flat out rude. Some of my friends that came home before me had similar complaints about rude Americans. I guess it was not all a stereotype. The transportation experience might have been quicker in the United States, but it was definitely not as pleasant.

I had been looking forward to a real cookie when I returned to the States. There were no real cookies in Costa Rica, they resembled crackers more than cookies. Due to the fact that I had been speaking in Spanish throughout the duration of the flight, when I finally saw a Starbucks, I had to remember that it was coffee, not café and a cookie, not una galleta. While sitting down with Starbucks to wait 5 and a half hours for my connecting flight to Dulles in Washington D.C. I finally got to call my family on my cell phone which had been switched off for three months. One of the other pleasant surprises in Houston was the bathrooms. I was finally able to flush the toilet paper. I did not know how much I had missed that simple luxury.

I finally got a little shut-eye in Texas during my layover. I had not slept in thirty something hours. I boarded my flight only twenty minutes late. I sat in the exact same seat in business class. I thought I would finally have a chance to talk to someone in English. However, the person sitting next to me was a businessman who was catching a connecting flight to fly home to Brazil. Luckily, he knew both Portuguese, Spanish, and a little English. We chatted in Spanish for a while until we realized that we had not moved for a while. Eventually, the captain announced that they had found a small hole in the plane during a routine safety check. We heard them actually fixing the hole while we were all sitting there. We took off about an hour late. I was really ready to sleep on this flight, and I tried not to worry about the fact that there had been a hole in the plane. However, we hit a lot of turbulence on the way back as the whole East Coast was covered in lines of storms. In fact, they were only able to serve part of the meal, because the flight attendants had to remain seated. It was a relief when we finally landed in Dulles!

 Other than the criminal we had been carrying on the plane, I was the first one off. Although I was exhausted, I speed walked the whole way to baggage claim where I found my Mother, Father, Amy and my boyfriend Tyler looking the other way. I kept walking towards them when Amy and Tyler finally looked my way. I was greeted with lots of hugs! It was wonderful to see all of them. After retrieving my bags, my Mother handed me my big winter coat. What an unpleasant surprise, it was flurrying outside! I was absolutely frozen! We drove back to a nearby hotel, because it was too late to drive back to Pennsylvania. When I walked into the hotel room, I was greeted by a big poster that said "Welcome Home Holly!!!" Amy had made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and my Mother had made Taco Salad. I was finally able to sit and eat one of my favorite meals with my family and Tyler. I do not remember exactly when I fell asleep... I guess I was pretty tired.

My welcome home poster hanging in our hotel room.

The next morning we woke up and ate a nice continental breakfast at the hotel before departing for Pennsylvania. Below is a picture Father took of all of us. Notice how cold I look...

Me with my real mother, real sister Amy, and Tyler in
front of the hotel ready to drive back to Pennsylvania

When we got home, I was so excited to hand out some of the presents I had collected while in Costa Rica. I gave Mother two crosses and two dolls for her collections from both Costa Rica and Nicaragua. For Amy,  I got some currency, jewelry, postcards for her collection, and a Veritas T-shirt. For Father, handmade morrocas from Nicaragua, Salsa Lizano, and a new plate for our kitchen. I was finally able to give Tyler his birthday present from January, a handmade hammock. One of my favorite part of traveling is finding the perfect, meaningful gifts to bring home. It was amazing to see everyone's reactions.

Amy and I looking through the many bracelets I had
brought home for cousins, roommates, and friends.

The next morning, I was ready for my next big adventure... A PUPPY!!!!! Unfortunately, Amy had to go to school that day, but Mother, Father, and I went to Lancaster to pick up the newest member of our family, GRACIE GARLAND PLANK.

The next day we picked up our family's new puppy, GRACIE GARLAND!
 We had to visit Nana on the way home from picking her up.

After visiting Nana, we went to visit Grandma too!

Gracie Garland! 

It has been a little less than a month since I returned from Costa Rica. Throughout this blog, I have documented my experiences, my thoughts, and what I have learned along the way. Looking back, one of the most important things I have learned is to treat everything in life as an adventure. Not every adventure in life is one-hundred percent positive, not every adventure is as exciting or exotic as studying abroad, but something positive can be taken out of every adventure. Spending two months at home, training Gracie Garland and catching up with family and friends is an adventure in itself. I am looking forward to my next adventures as a second year counselor at Camp Kirchenwald this summer, and going back to Shippensburg University in the Fall as a JUNIOR!!!! Life is an adventure, treat every moment as an opportunity to learn whether it is in a foreign country or right here at home. 

My Last Day in Costa Rica

My last day in Costa Rica was bittersweet. I was anxious to get home and see everybody, but I was also rather anxious about leaving. Emily and Melissa would still be in Costa Rica for one more month (Emily to study more Spanish and Melissa to finish her international internship), so they both decided to distract me all day so that I would not get worried about having to say goodbye. 

Early in the morning, I walked to Emily's house where we packed lunches to take to Parque la Sabana. Emily's host mother Ana is really cool, and she had been so nice to make dinner for me in the past. We took a couple of different buses to get to San José's biggest park. I really liked this park because it really said something about the culture of Costa Rica in its creation. 

When the old airport in San José was no longer needed after the grand opening of the Juan Santamaria Airport in Alajuela, the Costa Rican government actually did something constructive with the land on which the airport use to stand. They turned the old airport into a big, beautiful park full of culture. The park features my favorite trees in the world, the eucalyptis trees which are known as the "naked indian" trees in Costa Rica. They are known for this because the bark of the trees is pealed back during the dry season so that the photosynthetic second layer of bark can allow the tree to continue to thrive without the presence of its leaves. The trees are beautiful because of their rainbow bark. The park also includes the National Museum of Art, the National Stadium built by the Chinese for Costa Rica, a high school, a number of playgrounds, trails for bike riding and walking, a big lake with fish and ducks, soccer fields (of course), tennis course, pools, picnic tables, etc. There are also many gardens with gorgeous flowers, bamboo plants, Japanese cherry trees, and other tropical plants. There are also a limited amount of venders allowed to sell ice cream and churros. 

This park and the museum is one of my other favorite places in San José. I read a lot of reviews about San José before traveling there. Yes, the problem with petty theft was a bit nerve-wracking, but for those who said that San José was a flat-out "ugly city", perhaps they did not get a chance to explore the places were the local Ticos hang out on the weekends. There is a lot of poverty in San José just as there is in all large cities. However, Costa Rica's government definitely seems to be moving in the right direction to help the poor and to improve their country for the better. 

The park was full of "Naked Indian" trees.

Emily and I at the park. 

After spending much of the morning and afternoon at the park, Emily and I took a taxis back to our homestays. I stopped over at my host grandparents' house for one last goodbye, then spent a couple of hours playing games and bouncing on the trampoline with Sophia. After saying goodbye to Sophia, I walked back up to Veritas to catch a bus to a wonderful Italian restaurant downtown for a farewell dinner with AIFS. Below is a picture of all of the students in AIFS at our last dinner.

My last dinner with AIFS people. 

After dinner and many tearful goodbyes, Emily and I walked back to my house to meet up with Melissa. We decided to pull an all nighter since a van would be picking me up at 3:00 am to take me to the airport for my 6:50 am flight. After carefully weighing my suitcases and carrying them down the stairs, we spent some time with my host parents before they went to bed. After that, we used to craft supplies to make a "Flat Oye-yay" for Emily and Melissa to take on their weekend excursions. We named it Oye-yay, because most Spanish speakers in Costa Rica really did not know how to pronounce my name. Emily and I especially got a kick out of the different attempts. The H is not pronounced in spanish words. The double LL is usually pronounced as a Y. And the Y would never be found after a LL or at the end of a word. A lot of the time it sounded like Oye-yay, especially when Sophia was first learning how to say it. Since I have been home, Emily has been tagging me on Facebook as Flat Oye-yay on some of her weekend excursions. It has made the transition a little easier.

Emily and I in my backyard with "Flat Oye-yay"

At 3:00am, the van arrived. My host mother woke up and walked me outside. We gave each other one last tearful goodbye and hug. I said goodbye to Emily and Melissa, and I was on my way back home. 

My host family

One of the absolute highlights of my study abroad experience was staying with a host family, and my host family was better than I could have ever asked for! Of all of the international students in my program and in the University, I was one of the only students who did not have any housemates. Yes, there were times that as a girl this was especially awkward. I was one of the furthest homestays away from Universidad Veritas, and petty theft was definitely an issue in San José. However, I viewed it as a unique opportunity to really get to know my host family without any distractions or drama that many of my friends experienced with their housemates. Not only was I blessed with a host mother and father, I also got to experience living with a four-year-old host sister who was on her way to becoming completely bilingual. There is no better way to learn a foreign language than interacting with a small child.

 Coming back to the United States, there are three things that I really miss from my study abroad experience. 

1. The WEATHER!!! Yes, people complain about Costa Rica during the rainy season. It is true that it rains every day during the rainy season (one of the reasons why I chose to study there during the dry season), however, it is usually beautiful in the morning and it rains at the exact same time everyday. Apparently, it is rather easy to plan around it. In Pennsylvania during the month of April, it is cold, and it rains everyday all day it seems. Plus, it snowed in Washington D.C. the day I returned!!! 

2. I really miss my two BEST FRIENDS Melissa and Emily. There is a special bond that is created when studying abroad that is hard for others to understand. When I arrived in Costa Rica, I had a clean slate. In fact, it was frustrating at times because I was labeled as just some foreigner. Among my fellow International Students, however, I got to be the person I wanted to be. That was a unique opportunity. Melissa and I shared a unique bond because we were practically family in Costa Rica. To be exact, she was my aunt and I was her niece, because my host mother was the daughter of Melissa's host mother. Melissa and I, living pretty far away from other International students, always found different things to do around San José during the week. We also got to spend some time together during our weekend trip to Montezuma and the Pineapple Farm. Emily and I spent almost every weekend together because she was in AIFS also. We were on the same level Spanish-wise, which made it interesting. Neither of us particularly fit in with the rest of AIFS because we were the younger sophomores who were studying abroad because we wanted international experience and to improve our resumes...not just one last hurrah before graduation. Instead of going out every night on the weekends...we tried to find unique cultural things to do at night, and we would wake up early every morning to capture pictures each weekend. I already miss both of them!

3. I already miss my HOST FAMILY a lot. It was really cool to live with my very international host family while also living right behind my host grandmother Cecilia and my host grandfather Herbert. Marisol and Greg, my mother and father, have both lived in many places around the world. I really got to understand what that life is like and how it changes your opinions of the world. Cecilia and Herbert, however, were more typical Ticos. I would go over to Cecilia and Herbert's house with Melissa a lot for lunch or just to hang out. They did not speak any English, so my interactions were a little different. In truth, I got the best of both worlds. I could not have asked for anything better. 

Below are a few pictures I took around my house during my last week in Costa Rica. Tiki, my host dog, and I became much better friends by the end of my three months in Costa Rica. I bet she misses me....  There were many different lizards living in my house, one of them even lived behind the painting in my room! The lizards were actually less of a pest in my house because of my host family's Speaking Rose's business. Due to the fact that the Mosquito spread Dengue virus is still a problem in San José, having a rose business in your house may not be the safest thing in the world. (All the roses laying around in buckets of water attract mosquitos). However, because we always had a breeze in the house from all the windows being open all the time and the presence of the mosquito-eating lizards, there was never a problem with mosquitos. 

Tiki looking at a picture of my soon to be puppy Gracie Garland. 

This is the park that was across the street from my house.
There were so many parks in Costa Rica!

This is the tire rim shop across the street from my house.
Most of the houses in my neighborhood had garages or a fenced
 in place with razor-wire to protect their cars.
My family pays the tire people to keep the car in their garage at night.
 That way, they can use their garage to keep everything for the rose business. 

My house!!!

Me with Sophia Paz after our last dinner together. 

My host mother Marisol and I on my last night in Costa Rica. 

One of the friendly lizards that lived in my house. 

One final exploration of San José

My last week in Costa Rica was rather bittersweet. My trip to Panama had been exciting, and all of my classes were completed. So, I decided to spend my last week with my two best friends in Costa Rica, Emily and Melissa as well as spending as much time as possible with my host family. Melissa and I created several videos on my camera to document the culture of our neighborhood. We recorded on complete walk to school as well as a tour of our houses. I finished up my souvenir shopping in the city with two final trips to the Artisan Market downtown as well as the famous souvenir street in San Pedro. I finally bought my hammock which I had been working to bring down the price since February. It is gorgeous by the way! 

One day, Melissa and I decided to take one final look at the area surrounding our neighborhood, Barrio Cordoba. There is a park that is about a ten minute walk from my house known as Parque de la Paz which means the Park of Peace. I often walked there because the park offers quiet and tranquility in a noisy city as well as entertainment on Fridays and the weekend. On the weekends, I have gone to the park to go "sledding" and to buy churros. Of course, it never snows in Costa Rica, so sledding consisted of sledding down the dirt and grass of the park's biggest hill on large pieces of cardboard. Let me tell you, sledding in snow is a lot more fun and a lot safer. The churros are good at the park too. They are not as fancy as the ones that can be found downtown...but they somehow seem more authentic when you buy them from an old man who does not speak any English at a stand at the park. 

We took one final walk up this hill that has a sidewalk that winds the whole way to the top. At the top of the hill, there is one tree that is littered with the graffiti of all of the young kids who had made this place their hangout in the past. This is one of my favorite places in San José. From the tree, you have the best view of the city without having to climb one of the cloud covered mountains that surround the city. Below are some of the pictures I took from the top of the hill. If you look close enough, you can see the mountains covered by clouds in the background. Most of the mountains surrounding San José are actual mountains in a chain that stretches from Argentina to the Canadian Rocky Mountains. There are a few dormant volcanos near San José. From certain places within the city, you can see Volcan Irazú. This is the volcano that has in the past covered the cities of San José and Cartago in ash. It is said to be dormant, but no one really knows. In the second picture, you can see the downtown area which has a few high-rise buildings, most of which are relatively new. The technology used to build these high-rise buildings allows them to sway in case of an earthquake. This technology came from Japan. 

In the background you can see some of the newer
high-rise buildings in San José. The technology that allows
the buildings to sway in the event of
an earthquake came from Japan. 

Melissa and I took a couple final pictures at the top of the hill before heading back down to explore the rest of the park. The park includes a running/walking trail, basketball courts, tennis courts, a number of buildings that are occupied by the police and the weekend activities coordinators, a smaller duck pond, two larger lakes with walking trails around their perimeters, two playgrounds, a number of soccer fields, amusement park rides on certain weekends, a dirt bike park, a small skate park, and a monument that commemorates the laying down of arms. We also found a rock that had graffiti that said, "Only in Jesus is my soul at rest." This seemed appropriate considering we were in a Catholic country and Semana Santa was coming up fast. In Costa Rica, Easter is not as much the celebration as is Holy Week or Semana Santa. During Semana Santa, most people have off work and many families travel for vacation or to visit relatives. My host family was planning to visit family in the States and to go to Disney World during Semana Santa. During Holy Week, places like the beaches at Jaco or Tamarindo or Puerto Viejo are PACKED!

Melissa and I hanging out at Parque de la Paz

Only in Jesus is my soul at rest. 

The best view of the city!

Parque de la Paz is divided by one of San José's busiest highways. This highway eventually leads to Alajuela where the country's main airport is located. (About 45 minutes from my house) Luckily, there is a bridge over the highway. Unfortunately, there were many times were I had to cross this highway to catch busses downtown.

One of many scary Central American highways I had to cross.

On the other side of the park, there are a number of gorgeous trees, and many of them looked perfect for climbing. However, there were huge signs everywhere warning us not to stand to close to the trees and not to touch the trees. After my first visit to the park, I asked one of my professors about the trees. He said that the sap from the trees is poisonous. It could potentially kill you if you were to ingest it. Even if it were to drip on your skin, it would cause a very painful rash. That is just one more reason why I will always pay attention to signs, especially if they are in Spanish. It does lead me to wonder why the people in charge of the park did not feel it was necessary to remove these trees, especially so close to one of the children's playgrounds? I guess Costa Rica can sometimes be environmentally friendly to a fault... 

Below is a picture of the back of the laying down of arms monument in Parque de la Paz. This is how the park got its Peace name. In the museums I had visited in San José, I had learned that on December 1, 1948, Former President José Figurers Ferrer abolished the military of Costa Rica after a victory in the civil war that year. Of course, we learned in our classes that this was a very political thing as some of the presidents before Ferrer had been overthrown. He wanted to make sure that he was not overthrown. However, the Costa Rican people embraced the idea, and there has not been a need for a military ever since. In fact, one of the reasons why Costa Rica is peaceful and relatively economically stable is because the budget previously dedicated to the military now is dedicated to security, education, and culture. In 1986, President Oscar Arias Sánchez declared December 1 as the Military abolition day or Día de la Abolición del Ejército. The monumento or monument is entitled "La Destruccion de las Armas" or "The Destruction of Weapons." It is surrounded by broken weapons cemented right into the monument. I am very thankful for this monument, because Costa Rica's peacefulness is one of the reasons why it is able to focus a lot of its energy on preserving its unique environment. It also made my parents a lot more relaxed about sending me to Latin America knowing that I was traveling to one of the most peaceful countries in the world. 

The laying down of arms memorial at Parque de la Paz.

The Destruction of Arms

One of the lakes at Parque de la Paz

Panama

While studying abroad in Costa Rica, I had the amazing opportunity to visit Costa Rica's two neighbors; Nicaragua and Panama. Although my experience in Nicaragua was definitely one of the highlights of my entire trip, Panama was definitely a great way to spend my last full weekend in Latin America. I started the trip at approximately 2:30 in the morning on Friday when I left my house to walk to school. We were to catch the bus at 3:00 am. Petty theft is definitely the biggest worry about living in San José, and many of my friends and acquaintances in the international program had been mugged. Luckily, despite having to walk more than a mile to school everyday, several times a day, at odd times of the day and night, I managed to avoid getting mugged. At 3:15 am, our bus pulled up to the school, a full forty-five minutes later than it was supposed to be there. I figured this was just one of my last opportunities to truly experience tiempo tico or Tico Time. Tico Time means that Costa Ricans can be extremely late without any consequence. The culture is so laid back that no one really cares if a bus is forty five minutes late without a valid excuse. You may plan to meet someone for coffee at 2:00 in the afternoon, and they may not walk in until 2:30. As a Costa Rican, your response would be the same as if an American had arrived at a Starbucks five minutes later than expected. The time blocks are just different here. 

Due to the time, my group and I spent the next five hours sleeping on the bus as we drove west to the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica to the capital city of the province Limón, Limón. We ate a typical breakfast at a restaurant in Limón that consisted of huevitos con queso, jugo horchata, gallo pinto, platanos fritos, y muchas frutas. (scrambled eggs with cheese, a popular Latin American drink called Horchata that consists of milk, cinnamon, and rice; rice and beans, fried platains, and a variety of fruits. 

We drove on through the province of Limón, past the BriBri indigenous lands and Puerto Viejo to the Panamanian border. Just as it was with Nicaragua, it was actually much more difficult to get out of Costa Rica than it was to get into Panama. The lines were not nearly as long to get into Panama, and the security was not as thorough. Instead of getting out passports stamped and then just driving across, we were forced to walk across a rather rickety bridge over the river that is at the border. It was an unforgettable, and a bit unnerving experience. I can clearly remember the smell of mothballs that were used to clean the vehicles crossing the border to avoid an invasive animal and plant species being spread between the two countries. I also remember wondering how the tractor trailers and our bus were going to make it across the bridge when I had doubts about its ability to hold my own weight. 

This is the bridge from the Panamanian side.
There were many times when I was able to look
down and clearly see the river 60 or so feet below.

We drove for a couple of hours through Panama. I had hoped to see the Panama Canal, but we were informed that it would have taken 25 hours of driving each way to get to the Panama Canal from San José in comparison to the eight or nine hours it took to get to our destination. Our destination was Bocas  del Toro, a group of islands off the eastern, Caribbean coast of Panama. Bocas del Toro translates "mouth of the bull." There were a number of different islands that make up the chain, and the only way to reach them from the main land is by speed boat. Of course, Panama's idea of a speed boat is very different than my idea of a speed boat. Basically, they put a very strong motor on a very ordinary boat built to transport about fifteen people at a time. The waves were pretty rough which made the ride extraordinarily bouncy and uncomfortable. Before the bouncing really got frightening, I was able to snap this photo of a Chiquita banana barge in the bay. I had seen a number of tractor trailers hauling Chiquita bananas while driving through parts of Panama.

Chiquita banana barge. 

This was my first view of Bocas del Toro from the speed boat. There were a lot of houses and businesses that were built literally on the water. As you get closer to the islands, the waves do not overly crash on shore due to the barrier islands and coral reefs. Therefore erosion is not a problem except for the occasional hurricane.

. 

Once we were on the island, I noticed a very different culture than in the different parts of Costa Rica and Nicaragua and even the parts of Panama that I had observed from the window of my bus. There was a very diverse mix of ethnicities with a strong Jamaican, indigenous, and asian influence. I did not see a plethora of Nicaraguan immigrants like I did in Costa Rica, but I did notice a culture that matched the Caribbean culture in Costa Rica as well. Everyone was very laid back. The picture below was taken from the porch of my hotel in Bocas del Toro. The tree in the middle was absolutely incredible because its roots reached at least ten feet above my head! It was a perfect center piece for the town. On this road, there were a number of wonderful places to get good seafood and to experience the Panamanian night life. I found that at all of the restaurants and shops, I had to use American currency, but I did not always get American currency back. The official currency of Panama is the American dollar. However, the coins you receive in change are often a mixture between quarters, nickels, dimes, and pennies, as well as the Panamanian Balboa. The Balboa is the same size, color, and is worth as much as its American equivalent. However, the two sides show a famous explorer, the Panamanian crest, or an environmental scene instead of a United States president and landmark. 

The center of town in Bocas del Toro.

This is the hotel we stayed at that was also a
supermarket in the center of town.

After checking into our hotel, we headed to the famous gruta or sea-cave on the other side of the island. The drive to the other side was interesting to say the least. Our guide told us that most people would rather take a boat to the other side than brave the unpaved roads. For the rest of our trip, we took the boats... La Gruta is not only a natural phenomenon that would interest a science-oriented person like me, it was also a religious site for the strict Panamanian Catholics. There was an outdoor worship area there as well as a few statues of the Virgin Mary and other saints. A miracle was said to have occurred there. We were able to see the stalactites and stalagmites as well as some cave wildlife.

This picture shows one particular nest of bats that was in the cave.
 There are at least a dozen bats in that tiny place.
There were also bats flying around while we were walking in the cave. 

This was the sign at the enterance to La Gruta
which is the word for sea-cave or just cave in Spanish. 

This is a picture of me at the entrance to La Gruta.
 The nice tan has already significantly faded...

After our tour of the cave, we were met by another speed boat to take us to a beach on a different side of the island. We planned to have a Latin American barbeque on the Star Fish beach and watch the sunset. Of course, the sunset on the Carribean side is not as good as the sunset on the Pacific side, but this place was without a doubt, one of the most gorgeous places I have ever been. We rode up to the shore and were able to see dozens of large, fat, orange starfish just hanging out on the beach. We were able to pick them up and take pictures with them too. It was so unreal to see all of those starfish and just ocean and sky for as far as the eye could see.

This is a picture of some of my AIFS friends at the starfish beach.

This is one of our covered speed boats and people enjoying the beach barbecue. 

One of my more artsy pictures of the starfish on the beach. 

They told us the starfish were friendly... 

Emily and I

That night we had an opportunity to explore the town. This was around the time that the conflict in Libya was occurring. Emily and I finally had access to a television, and found the Spanish CNN. We spent part of the night trying to figure out exactly what was going on which was made all the more difficult because we were trying to translate everything into Spanish. We woke up early the next day to go for a boat ride in the bay to look for the dolphins. We got a close-up of the wetlands and the mangrove forests while searching for the dolphins. After an hour or so, we gave up and moved on to our next destination. We stopped at a remote "village" where we ate some world class seafood before having the opportunity to snorkel for a few hours. The seafood was incredible and included crab, shrimp, different types of fish, and octopus. The snorkeling was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. I was really able to take my time to explore and go out on my own which I had not done when I snorkeled in Egypt. This is where I finally got to see the dolphins. We first saw them while we were eating lunch, but later I actually saw two from the water! I saw all kinds of tropical fish including clown fish, flying fish, puffer fish, sting rays, etc. The coral was stunning too!  

These are some of the tamer fish that hung out right near the dock.
People will often feed them their shrimp shells. 

Some AIFS friends and I getting ready to jump back in.

One of my friends had an underwater camera!

The picture does not do the clarity of the water and the
 Brilliant colors justice. This was one of the more sparse
 regions, but she was afraid to take the camera
 out too far into the currents.

We left the next day and spent some time on the mainland before crossing back over the border. Panama had been an amazing trip, but I was definitely exhausted by the time I got back to San José late Sunday night.

Panama just after sunrise.

White Water Rafting

On Sunday, I woke up to meet up with my fellow AIFS students to go white water rafting. This trip was originally not included in our program fees, but our resident director used some extra money from the account to pay for each and every one of us to go rafting. The bus ride was a little over two hours. We stopped at a typical Costa Rican restaurant for gallo pinto, fresh fruit, and eggs for breakfast overlooking the Irazu volcano. We continued to drive to the river put in where we met with our guides. We were divided into several rafts with five students a piece and one guide. The guide chose the two strongest people in the group to sit in the front, because they would have to paddle through the waves and be able to withstand getting hit with "walls of water." So, of course, my friend Tom and I were chosen to sit in the front of our raft.

We went to Rio Pacuare which is rated one of the top ten best rivers in the world for white water rafting. It was rather scenic, and it was surrounded by environmentally protected lands that were used as both national parks and as land for indigenous peoples. We were able to see many of the indigenous dwellings, as well as people washing in the river. There were even a few places where the indigenous had built lines with baskets to cross the river when it is higher. On both sides we were surrounded by untouched tropical rain forest and rock formations. The sky was a clear blue, and we were able to hear the sounds of tropical birds and monkeys even over the roar of the river.


We hit a couple of calm part where are guide let us out to swim around in the river. Apparently the crocodiles are more afraid of us than we are of them... We were also given lunch on the river. The guides gave us fresh watermelon and pineapple, and we were able to make our own burritos out of chicken, lettuce, tomotoes, avocado, pepper jack cheese, etc. It was really good. Of course, the day was not all fun and games... We had to paddle our way through dozens and dozens of rapids class two through five. The rapid classification system only goes to five. A class six rapid would pretty much be a waterfall. We had to follow a number of commands to keep us safe, and we kept our feet in special places in the boat to help us from falling out. We were one of the only boats that did not have any people fall out, and we were quite proud of it. In fact, our instructor gave us the option of going through the class five rapids. During one of the class three rapids, he let us all try to jump or stand up and dance. It was a really great time!

Llorena- Teatro Nacional

Last night, Melissa Emily and I bought tickets to see a play at the Teatro Nacional. We were going to go to a nearby beach for the day, but we got e-mails from the U.S. embassy asking us to stay in San José for the day due to tsunami warnings on the Pacific coast. In the morning, I was skyping my family and got to see and hear a clip of U.S. news on the events in Japan. However, it was extremely intersting to watch it all from a Costa Rican perspective. It makes a lot of the Costa Ricans nervous because this country is subject to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and possible tsunamis. This was the second tsunami warning we have had since I arrived. The other one was not as well publicized, and this was the first time I received a message from the embassy.

The national theatre was gorgeous, located right in the center of downtown San José. There were street concerts going on all around, and it was cool to see all of the Ticos dressed up to go to the theatre. We bought cheaper tickets in the gallery, but the show was still incredible. It was called Llorena, which means the crying woman. It was centered around a Costa Rican folktale that is frequently told here. However, there are many different versions of the story, and the play/ballet did not clear up any questions in my mind.  In Spanish class I learned that the woman was too busy having an affair with another man, and her children drowned in a river. Now she stays by the river and cries all night long. The Costa Rican folk music was spectacular and all of the dances were beautiful.

University of Costa Rica and the movies...

On Wednesday, I went on a field trip to the University of Costa Rica in San Pedro to check out what a public university in Costa Rica looks like as well as to the see the Insect Museum on campus. It was there first week of classes for the trimester, and there was a race, concerts, vendors, etc. all around the campus. The campus is gorgeous, and there were a lot of banana trees, bamboo, a river running through campus, and there are actually wild sloths that live in the trees on campus. We think they may not have been around because of the excess noise. The campus was rather large, and the atmosphere reminded me more of Penn State.

Some of the beautiful scenery at UCR

The insect museum was really cool. Costa Rica, of course, has a large percentage of the world's biodiversity of insects. There was one showcase that just featured metallic insects that live in Costa Rica. They were gorgeous. There were also pictures of some of the effects of diseases caused by insects...I only have about 14 days left and I have not gotten Dengue or Malaria yet...fingers crossed. Actually Malaria is more of a problem in Panama and Nicaragua. It has almost been completely irradicated from Costa Rica, although there are a few cases now and again. The real threat is Dengue or Breakbone Fever. Certain strains can be fatal, but all strains are extremely painful. Where is Dengue most prominent? Right here in downtown San José... of course.

After touring the museum, we walked around the campus some more. About a kilometer off campus, there are athletic facilities including a pool and a large park just for university students (as if the campus itself was not enough of a park). Students at UCR have less general education requirements than most liberal arts schools in the United States. In fact, most universities in Costa Rica are more like technical schools in the States. You learn only what you need to learn to succeed at the job. UCR does have reading, writing, history, and physical education requirements. (Veritas really does not for Tica students)

We were all going to go to a bar that served amazing nachos for lunch, but a couple of people in my group forgot their copies of their passports and could not get in. Even during the day, you need proper ID just to get into a bar (even if you only order food). I cannot even explain how bad it would have been to forget your passport copy in Egypt, but that is another story. So, a few of us went to a different restaurant that did not require IDs and order casadas. Casada means marriage. These dishes are referred to as cansadas because they are the perfect combinations of different types of foods. I order casada arroz con pollo, it included chicken, rice, beans, salad, and plantains. If you are a bit of a picky eater, casadas are perfect because the food is all separated and everything is pretty plain.

Afterwards, some people were going to go out for a while. Emily and I decided to ditch and walk home, even though it was almost an hour walk for me. On the way home, we passed Mall San Pedro and randomly decided to check what movies were playing. We saw that Black Swan was playing, and it was only with Spanish subtitles so we decided to go on a whim. Black Swan was amazing, but really creepy and weird. If it were not so controversial, I am sure it could have won best picture. After the movie, I walked Emily back to her house and walked home to grab my books for my next class.

Of course, I had to walk the whole way back to class...we watched the documentary Armadillo for Documentary appreciation and production. Afterwards, I walked back...this day kind of reminded me of my hike at Santa Rosa. I will be kind of glad to have my car back when I get home, even though I may not have enough money to actually put gas in it...

On Thursday night, after my Tropical Ecology class, Rebecca (the resident director) took us all to see the King's Speech at the VIP lounge theatre for free. I also really liked the King's Speech and I would recommend it.

My Room

I realized that I have been living here for almost three months and haven't shown any picture of where I stay every night. This is my room, I will try to post some pictures of my house and neighborhood too. I want to try to record one walk to school, because the neighborhood is so vibrant. So, I will have to see how that goes.

My closet, dresser, and mirror
(decorated with some of my Boston Terrier cards from Mom and Dad).
My room is painted white and is very bright and cheery all the time.

This is my view of the backyard.
I like to sit in the chair and do homework, and Sophia loves to bounce on her trampoline.
 It currently has some buckets for the roses on it.

This house behind us is my grandparent's house where Melissa lives.

My tica dog Tiki and I :)