Costa Rican Geography

This map shows the seven provinces of Costa Rica. By the end of my trip, I will have visited all seven. 

This map shows a lot of the places I have been so far including San José, Cartago, Monteverde, Heredia, Alajuela and Tamarindo. Next weekend I am going to Nicaragua to the north. I am also trying to plan a trip to climb Chirripó, the highest peak in Costa Rica with some kids in my Tropical Ecology class. 

Third Excursion: Tamarindo!

This weekend, I finally got to see why Costa Rica translates rich coast. On Friday, I went on a field trip to el Parque Diversiones in Spanish class. We went on a scavenger hunt through a life-size recreation of a colonial Costa Rican town. My group actually finished first, so we all won free t-shirts. After returning from the field trip, I left for a five hour bus ride to Tamarindo in the Guanacaste province in Northwest Costa Rica. The drive was absolutely incredible, because we pretty much drove up the Pacific coast and through many towns and ranches. The Guanacaste province is known for its cowboys. It is the driest province, and there are many dry forests and some savannas.

About an hour and a half away from Tamarindo, our bus driver stopped along the road so that we could get out and see a group of Howler monkeys in the trees along the road. It was really cool to actually see them in the wild. We reached Tamarindo by the evening, but it was too dark to get a good look at the beach.

These are some of the monkeys we saw. There were about ten total
in this particular group including a couple of babies.

On Saturday morning, my friend and I woke up early to take a walk on the beach before it got crowded. It was absolutely gorgeous! We spent the rest of the day on the beach walking around, swimming in the ocean, playing soccer, shopping in town, attempting to surf, and swimming in the hotel pool. I even caught a crab on the beach. It was a beautiful blue and purple color, but it got its revenge when it pinched my finger and drew blood.

This is the crab I caught right after it relinquished my finger.
The picture does not do the colors justice.

The beach in the morning. It looks rather calm here, but
the waves were incredibly strong and the tides came in very fast.
Tamarindo is known for its extremely dangerous rip tides.

 My resident director's cousin owns a restaurant in Tamarindo, so we went there for lunch. I had a fruit sandwich with banana bread, kiwis, bananas, strawberries, mango, watermelon, oranges, and of course pineapple. I also had pineapple juice that was probably the most delicious drink I have ever had.

Later, in the hotel pool we heard howler monkeys. It turns out they were hanging out in the trees around the hotel. There were also a number of iguanas running around in the gardens. Before dinner we went back to the beach to wait for the sunset. It was absolutely gorgeous (and I will post the pictures as soon as my friend posts them- it was too humid for my camera )

This is the hotel we stayed at, and where I saw some of the monkeys.
The pool was very nice, and somewhat shaded for a nice break from the sun.

This is one of about six iguanas that I saw around the hotel.

For dinner, we all went to a fancy restaurant together. This meal was paid for by the program, so a lot of us were able to get seafood. I also had a different kind of juice called jugo de cas. It was green and had a kind of tart/sweet taste similar to a pineapple. It was amazing! After dinner, we took a walk on the beach and saw the stars.

On Sunday morning we woke up early to walk on the beach again. After breakfast, we drove out of town to a ranch for horseback riding. I got an awesome horse that was meant for riders with more experience. The horse was really good about trotting, cantering, and I even got to gallop a couple of times. Of course, I am really feeling it in my legs two days later. The trails were beautiful, and we got to see more monkeys in the forest. The trail lead us back to Tamarindo and let out on the beach. My horse seemed to really enjoy galloping in the sand. Overall it was an amazing trip!

Salsa Orchestra

On Monday, classes resumed as normal, and next Friday is the final. This is a good thing, because four hours of Spanish everyday on top of other classes, homework, trying to communicate, and walking miles everyday can be very draining. Monday night, our resident director Rebecca took us all to see the Costa Rican Salsa Orchestra, Madera Nueva. The orchestra travels around to different places in the city, but on Mondays they come to the Bar el Observatorio in San Pedro (a five minute bus ride from my University). 

The cover fee to get into the bar was paid by our program. We had the opportunity to see a number of professional Salsa dancers and their partners dance to the live orchestra. They were also very willing to dance with us Americans and to teach a lot of the important steps. I also got the chance to try my first Costa Rica style Piña Colada. Overall, it was a very fun but late night. Waking up at six on Tuesday morning was bit of an adventure. 

Today is Wednesday, that means 1000 colones movies at the cinema (about $2). My friend Melissa and I decided to go see Enradados (Tangled). It is quite the adventure to get to the San Pedro mall in the first place, because the bus system here in Costa Rica is interesting even without the language barrier. Crossing the streets here in San José is another story entirely. Luckily, we made it to the mall in very good time, and we had a chance to get popcorn and good seats. They sell Caramel corn in addition to popcorn here, and it is much cheaper than the crazy prices in PA. 



Enradados was completely in Spanish without any subtitles, but it was quite easy to understand because it was aimed for a younger crowd. I was glad that we got to the theatre early, because we got to experience the interactions between mothers and young, restless children waiting for the theatre to open. Although the theatre is very nice with seats that recline and whatnot, the movie stopped about half way through. It took the operators about ten minutes to get it up and running. During that time, a couple of the mothers in the theatre decided to entertain their kids by putting on a slideshow for everyone. It was hilarious.  I also thought the movie was absolutely adorable, and I definitely recommend the English version to everyone!

Sophia's Birthday

On Sunday, a whole bunch of people in my group decided to go to the beach, but I stayed in San José for my hermanita tica Sophia's birthday party. She turned four earlier this week. The party was held at Brinko's, a bounceplex party place for adults and children. I also got the opportunity to meet my abuela and abuelo tico (host-grandparents), a few tios and tias (aunts and uncles) and a whole bunch of primos (cousins). There were about twenty kids and their parents at the party. Brinko's included a huge slide and blow up obstacle course along with a bounce-house, air hockey table, and a lot of kid friendly toys.

This is all of the guest singing Feliz Cumpleaños to Sophia.
She is the one in the orange dress, and my host parents are to her right. 

Of course, what would a Costa Rican birthday party be without a piñata and queque (cake). Sophia loves Disney princesses, so the cake featured Princess Aurora from sleeping beauty. In this culture, parents generally attend birthday parties along with the kid, instead of dropping them off. I appreciated getting to meet all of the kids, and I especially enjoyed a lot of their names (although they were sometimes difficult to pronounce).

This is what Brinko's looked like on the inside. 

After the party, we went back to the house so that Sophia could open all of her regalos (presents). She got four different sets of playdough, which I spent almost two hours playing with later at the kitchen table. She also got a babydoll and a poodle that you can write on and then put in the washingmachine.

My host parents then invited me out to dinner at this beautiful Mexican restaurant in town with some of my host mom's family and friends. The food was absolutely delicious, and it was a wonderful opportunity to practice my Spanish. Overall, it was a really fun day!

2nd Excursion- el Volcan Poas, La Paz Waterfall and gardens, and Coffee Plantation

This past Saturday, I went on a day-trip to the volcano Poas, just outside of San José. However, "just outside San José" does not signify an easy journey. I have found in the places that I have travelled thus far, that if you are not in the city or on a highway along the coast, the roads are rather bumpy, windy, and hilly here in Costa Rica. The outter limits of the volcano actually reach to the edge of the San José's city limits, due to the fact that the volcano is so old. However, the cone itself is kilometers and kilometers away, due to millions of years of erosion.

We reached a coffee plantation at the base of the cone about one hour into our journey. I was able to drink authentic Costa Rican coffee (the most flavorful coffee in the world!) while looking out over fields and fields of coffee plants. The plantation also had a store that sold coffee beans that smelled delicious!

Here is a view of the coffee plantation from the headquarters.
If you look in the back of the field towards the middle, you can see a rainbow!
Since I got here, I have seen four rainbows. 

This is me, drinking authentic Costa Rican coffee.
In the background you can see the coffee plants.
The taller plants in between are meant to shade the coffee plants. 

Afterwards, we continued to drive up the side of the volcano, but we drove right into the clouds. The umbrellas that we had brought along were nowhere near sufficient enough to keep us dry. We all ended up purchasing rain jackets that kind of looked like space suits at a shop along the way. By the time we reached the national park, the air was absolutely saturated. You could not necessarily see the rain drops, but the moment we walked outside, we were drenched. But who cares really, I am in Costa Rica!

We hiked to the edge of the caldera. We were not able to see much due to the fact that we were in a cloud. However, we could kind of smell the sulfur from the .1 acid lake below. Many people decided to go back to the visitor's center after that. However, a small group of us decided to climb further up the volcano to see anything else. The forest was very thick and dark. The canopy completely obscured the sky. I really appreciated seeing all of the different trees, plants, and flowers along the way. When we reached the next lookout, we really could not see much more, but the journey was definitely worth it.

This is a picture I took from the top of the volcano looking down
 at the cloud forest we had just walked through.

Afterwards, we drove  twenty minutes further to La Paz waterfall and gardens. We ate a delicious buffet lunch that included the best arroz con leche (rice pudding) I have ever had in my entire life! The gardens included a lot of flora and fauna. There is a preserve that holds monkeys, many different types of birds, frogs, snakes, big cats, and many more animals. I got the chance to have a toucan land on my shoulder and to shake hands with a monkey!

The same tree frog that you see on all of the brochures. 

The most amazing arroz con leche in the world!

This is me with a real toucan on my shoulder.
My eyes are closed because it had just nibbled at my neck!

This is a monkey that I saw.
In this picture, he is actually shaking my hand.

This is a baby jaguar, one of the big cats that Costa Rica is famous for. 

There was another long hike to La Paz (Peace) waterfall. There were several waterfalls, and due to the fact that it had been raining rather hard all day, the waterfalls were massive!

This is me, next to one of the waterfalls.
Notice the silver (spacesuit)  rainjacket. 

Midterms already!

Today is only my second Friday here in Costa Rica, and I already had a midterm! I am officially half way through my intensive Spanish course. Luckily, the test was not too bad. Last night, my friends and I went to a Tropical Dance Class that is held in the evening at Universidad Veritas. This morning, after taking the Spanish midterm, my friend and I went to my new favorite soda (nice, cheap restaurant) around the school. It was this cute little pizza place right next door to the school. They serve fresh pizza like jamon y piña  (ham and pineapple) and té frio (iced tea) for only 1300 colones. (A little less than three dollars).

This is part of the group that went to the amusement park.

This weekend, most of the other groups have a three day excursion, but our group only has a day trip. So, our resident director took us all for an unplanned trip to Parque Diversiones for free. It was a theme park just outside of downtown San José that was surprisingly like Hershey Park. There were themed sections, a lake, water rides, roller coasters, food, and a lot of other crazy rides. These were actually a few of the coolest rides I have ever been on! There was a free fall drop that was kind of like the Tower of Terror in Disney World, but the nice part was that we got a 360 view of San José for a solid twenty seconds before dropping. Tomorrow, we will wake up early to go on a day trip to Poas Volcano.

La Fiesta y el cine

At the mall in San Pedro, a district within San Jose, there is a movie theatre that offers new releases on Wednesdays for only 1,000 colones (equivalent of two dollars). So, today my friend and I decided to walk to the bus stop and take a city bus to the mall to see our first "Disney Latino" movie. We ended up missing the stop at the mall, and we had to get off at the next stop and circle back. Therefore, we did not make it in time to see Entangled. However, we did make it in time to see Megamente (Megamind). This one was a little bit more difficult to understand because it was rated PG instead of G. However, we were able to follow along fairly well. I was impressed that I was able to understand so well after just a week and a half of intensive Spanish.

Today was also La Fiesta Crash or Crash Party at Universidad Veritas. The party was held in the main courtyard at the university. It was an attempt to have International students and Costa Rican students intermix. There was a lot of dancing, decent food, cheap beer, and my new favorite soda... Red Fanta (a Costa Rican specialty). We also got to see some really good Tango and Meringue dancers as well as a Costa Rican band with its own professional dancers. For not being a very good dancer (although I am starting to take Tropical Dance classes) it was still a good time. Unfortunately, I had to return to my house to start studying for my Spanish midterm. I cannot believe I am already almost half way through my intensive Spanish classes!