Well, it’s been a while since I’ve written a post. Blogging and sharing experiences through the internet is such a wonderful aspect of our advancing technology; unfortunately, the times in which one would want to write and blog the most is when the person is most busy and has the least amount of time to do so. This has certainly been the case for me the past two weeks. I have been EXTREMELY lucky to have my amazing family come visit me here in Costa Rica for an entire week, and had several great adventures over the past couple of weeks. Because I had so many great experiences, I know, unfortunately will have to summarize all these experiences in a much more abbreviated fashion than I would normally like. Nonetheless, here’s an attempt at a big recap:
Starting two weeks ago with Monday March 14, Gabe and I successfully split up the group of police officers as I worked with two of them with reading comprehension as they have an exam in English in April that consists mostly of this. Gabe worked with the more advanced officers. He tried to have them read some Rolling Stones magazines, which ended up being too difficult; however, I was excited to get to read the latest issue with a cover story on my favorite Paul McCartney. I also recently finished reading the play The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde a free-be on my Kindle, which was a very fun, short read.
Tuesday the 15th was a very fun-filled day. One of the officers Carlos has been telling me he was going to take me to this amazing river nearby called Rio Celeste of Baby-Blue River since I arrived, as he is one of only 3 officers that actually has his own car, and on this day, he, Gabe, and I finally made it there. I am so glad that we were finally able to go! It was by far one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. The river is near the Volcan Tenorio, and due to the calcium and sulfur that meets at a certain point of the river in this area, the water changes to a brilliant bright blue color. The trip to get to this great place was a bit of an adventure in of itself. The first part of the trip was great simply getting to ride in the front seat of a car and drive around, seeing new scenery, the crazy Tico driving, and do so while listening to a great American-Mix radio station. I was super excited to see rows and rows of pineapple plants. I must admit, I was a bit naïve as to how pineapples are actually grown- it is literally the flower of a large plant, and so when starting to grow, the pineapples are miniature cute baby pineapples! It was nice to drive through other small towns like Monterrey and Guatuso where we stopped to get some snacks for the hike. The road to take us to the trailhead was only around 17km; however, this section took us close to 45min because the road was so rough. Bumping along this road was completely worth it though. Along the road was a huge 100+ old Cieba tree called the Tree of Peace that was HUGE. It ranks up there with the giants sequoias of California- absolutely incredible. When we got to the trail, we were ready to get out and walk. We found that the trails were very muddy from the recent rain, making the hike a wet, slippery balancing game- of which I fell on my butt close to 20 times I’m sure. Walking along this beautiful river and seeing a large waterfall also in the park, we almost didn’t notice all the mud and additional rain that fell on us, almost that is. When we got back to Carlos’s small, Geo which he calls “Herby” we were all cold, wet, and muddy. The ride home was just as pleasant, especially when Carlos stopped by a friend who makes homemade delicious cheese.
Wednesday and Thursday were nice days with friends in Fortuna. Both started with great yoga lessons from my yoga guru friend Dee and then great conversations with her after yoga. Thursday we tried moving yoga to the central park as we had some bug issues at the hostel on Wednesday and there was some rain which was an interesting experience, despite the many looks from the local Ticos. I am getting hooked to yoga- Dee has even suggested I try to become an instructor myself. Wednesday for lunch I joined my friend Sanne at a Jehovah witness missionary family staying in Fortuna who are actually from Indianapolis, IN. Charia and her adorable 8-year-old daughter Danielle are two sweet people and gave us a wonderful salad, some pasta, and cake! It was a wonderful switch from my normal rice and beans. And Danielle drew Sanne and I some great pictures to take home for some decoration on our scarce decorated walls. Thursday I had some bad luck as I fell pretty hard during my run, banging up my elbow good- was probably thinking too much about hearing from the University of Arkansas as to whether or not I was receiving a Graduate Assistant position (which I found out Sunday that I did receive!) Thursday afternoon I met with Esperanza, a local girlfriend of one of the guys in the American Club for a private English lesson. Her English is already strong so we had a really nice conversation about the area while giving her some practice.
Throughout the week, I usually get some nice text messages from various officers as most of them have the number of my local phone. At this point, I would like to share some really nice messages I received during these past 2 weeks. I get some entertainment from them and they are good practice for the officers.
1) “Good morning fantastic woman, I want for you a nice day!”
2) “Helllloooooooo Kisa!”
3) “Preity girl the coffee is ready.”
4) “Congratulation for you is great that your parent they are here in Costa Rica. Tell they hi greeting me. Enjoy for you with your parent.”
5) “Oh my God. Where are you teacher I miss you. I have been waiting for you all week. I will go to die.”
6) “I wish that you have a good dream my Queen.”
7) “Hi Ms America!”
Back now to my past few weeks- Friday, March 16 was another great day as I had a nice morning run in which I ran into 3 different friends and chatted to them along the way. I then had an amazing sushi lunch with William, the American here who has lived all over the world. After lunch, another lesson I was going to have with Esperanza was canceled, so he and I walked around town as he showed me some different stores and restaurants, we also bought some great fruit and cheese that we took back to his awesome new apartment and had some more good food and conversation. Friday night we did not have much of a class as many of the officers had exams in other subjects the following day, so I enjoyed a nice conversation with the supervisor of the group Daniel.
Saturday March 17 was a day I had been waiting for since I left on January 25- the arrival of my family! I woke up around 4:45 am in excitement. At 7:30 I left to catch a shuttle bus I had reserved to take me to the Liberia airport to meet my family for their week Spring Break vacation stay. The ride to Liberia was very interesting as I got to see a completely different side of Costa Rica. First, we drove around Lake Arenal, which I did not realize just how big of a lake it is. It was such a beautiful ride, and we saw some monkeys! I had been in Costa Rica for 2 months and that was the first time to see monkeys and it was awesome! As we got away from the lake, the topography of the land completely changed. It felt like we were driving into Kansas- dry, hot, brown prairie grass. There were even some windmills like Kansas! Despite the less green surroundings, it was still very beautiful. As we got into Liberia, I was surprised to see Burger King, McDonalds, and Pizza Hut. I was also surprised at how far out of the city the airport is. It is literally 10 miles away out in the middle of a field with the only thing nearby is the large Hilton Garden Inn where my family and I would stay. When I got dropped off at the Liberia airport, I found a brand new, nice terminal. If you ever travel to Costa Rica, I would recommend that you fly into Liberia; it is much nicer than San Jose. While waiting for my family to arrive anxiously, I visited with a super nice couple from Arizona, of which the husband is the former mascot for the NFL Cardinals who were also waiting on someone to arrive. Finally, I saw my tall brother come out of the arrival gate. It was so so nice to see some familiar faces and get some nice big hugs! We then made it to the nice Hilton hotel, checked into our room, then sat by the pool to enjoy some drinks and do some catching up. Later in the afternoon, we hitched a ride from a nice local man named Carlos into the actual town on Liberia. It was obvious that most gringos don’t venture that far into the town as we walked around the different shops near the downtown and then ate at a really good typical restaurant. After dinner, we stopped by the large Catholic Church nearby to listen to the Mass in progress, watched some kids break dance and skateboard in the park just in front of the church, and then stopped by some local grocery stores. Evan and I tried a local ice cream treat called “Trit” that a friend of his had recommended- so yummy! After walking around a bit more, Carlos returned us to the hotel where we all slept soundly especially me after I took a long, amazing hot shower. And trust me, a hot shower after two months of nothing but cold water is amazing!
The next big recap post will be filled with the many adventures my family and I had during the rest of our week together!
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