COSTA RICA!! Day 1 and 2

Made it to LAX with little hassle, aside from a little traffic. I got a ride with an older man named Steve who is going to be taking Spanish 101 in Costa Rica. We were originally supposed to be driving with another girl as well, but somehow her flight information was messed up and she was supposed to leave yesterday instead of today. Anyway, the ride was really nice because Steve, a business lawyer, had a lot of interesting experiences to share. He also took me out to Denny’s on the way up because he found out it was my birthday. Really polite man.

As soon as we got out of the car, it felt like we were dropped in a different country – people were speaking Spanish, French, Chinese, and a Jamaican dialect… very multicultural. Luckily, we arrived about 3.5 hours early, which helped ease my stress that had been building all day and last night, as I anticipated our departure.

The flight was long and boring, and I felt sick throughout most of it. I wasn’t able to sleep and threw up a good four times on the plane. It just made arriving all that more exciting! (Also, the view from the plane coming into Guadalajara City was beautiful – we had an hour layover there.)

We arrived in San Jose, the country’s capital, at around 10am in the morning (local time, which is one hour ahead of PST.) It took us a while to get through Customs since our group has about 35 students in it, but we kept ourselves entertained by chatting in Spanish. About an hour later our tour guide picked us up and we took a bus to Heredia. We had some time to walk around and explore the city, which is absolutely gorgeous! Everything is so green and vibrant from all the rain. Apparently most “pueblos” in Costa Rica all have a huge Catholic church, right next to a soccer field, next to an elementary/middle/high school, next to a bar. Religion, exercise, education, and recreation – sounds like a good mix to me.

After our mini walk around the city, we went to our school: Centro Panamericano de Idiomas. It only has a few buildings with small classrooms, a library, a patio for lunch, and an area for sports. We walked around and met some of the locals, who take English classes there on the weekends. Then we ate a DELICIOUS lunch of arroz con pollo, homemade by one of the sweet ladies who works at the school.

Tonight we’re staying in a gorgeous 5-star hotel about 45 minutes away from our school. It’s probably one of the nicest hotels I’ve ever stayed in. It has a beautiful fountain in the front where the dining area is (we get to eat dinner there tonight!), an indoor spa, and a bar. Tonight’s agenda: relax and catch up on sleep! Also, my roommate for tonight is a really cool girl who lived in France for 14 years, speaks fluent English without an accent, and is in one of the higher level Spanish classes. Good practice buddy!

Some interesting things I’ve learned about Costa Rica so far:

-Pedestrians do not have the right-of-way in the street. If you walk in front of a car, you’ll most likely end up under it.
-There is a Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, Subway, Burger King, and Pizza Hut on the main street of town…
-There are no addresses or street signs in Costa Rica. For instance, our school “address” is something like ‘150 meters south of the cemetery.’
-The sewer system is not meant to handle toilet paper, so it goes in the trash instead of down the toilet.
-Most locals speak at least a little English.
-The currency used here (colones) is really pretty!

It is pouring outside! It’s been thundering all afternoon, and it’s so loud and close that the entire building shakes when it does. Anyway, I’m having a GREAT time so far. Hope things are going well with you!

More coming soon.