In Retrospect..

This trip really has had a huge effect on me, that is a total understatement....it has altered me completely.In the best ways imaginable, it has changed my perspective on the world most definately. I am so glad and totally indebted to my parents, especially my mother for pushing me along into participating in this trip. I´m returning as a different person. Throughout these short six weeks I have grown so much and really pushed myself outside of my comfort zone. I feel like I´m starting to understand where my place in the world is- or what it potentially could be...and the future looks bright by all means I am incredibly excited for what the future holds. Mom that note you gave me in my backpack has helped me a numerous amount of times. When I have become completely overwhelmed, frustrated, and even sad (homesickness). You were right in every way..I was thrown into a country where I barely spoke the language and I survived...if not flourished in it. Having this experience has really solidified what I want to do in life...and honestly my small spark for wanderlust has turned into a burning flame. If I could I would travel the rest of my life...I´m going to make it my goal to..and obviously do something productive within the time that I travel. Maybe the Peace Corps maybe ven build my own volunteer prokect...start a club at SJSU for volunteering abroad..the options are endless and I hold the key to unlocking each venture.. I really would love to come back to South America and teach, volunteer with the sea turtles..anything I can get my hands on really. I feel as if words can not express how I am feeling right at this moment..looking back and seeing all the things I have accomplished here in Costa Rica which before I was afraid..nervous and uncomfortable even thinking about making the effort to try them. (ex...meeting new people who speak a completely foreign language, taking transportation in an area I know nothing about..even ordering food) but now...Idk I feel like I can do it all..Throughout this experience I have gained confidence within myself as well as trust within myself. That I can do things on my own and not be a wallflower..but the center of it all. I could go on for days about my experiences..and perhaps I will when I get back to the states..but for now I have to go to bio class...Mom thanks again so much for this gift...it´s pretty much the best thing that´s ever happened to me besides life itself...oh and the Spanish dictionary...I CARRIED IT EVERYWHERE..that has to be the second best. Love you.

Tortugero

Was.....interesting. It was very pretty very rainny and very muggy. I had a hard time breathing. We did not see too much wildlife...saw a water buffallo which was cool. I went on the turtle tour to see green sea turtles lay eggs and cover them but we didnt have any luck I got back today..it was a nine hour trip home. You can only get to and from tortugero by boat so 5 hour bus trip and then 2 hour boat trip... both ways..im exhausted so i think ill go to bed. Four more days.

MonteVerde...y Manuel Antonio

Soo I havent had much time to update this blog.. but I ahve some now so here goes: July 3rd till the 5th we were in the Monte Verde Cloud Forest. It is a natural preserve as are all the other parks. It was gorgeous...our hotel though...was pretty complicated to get to haha. All teh way on the side of a mountain so it sucked walking down to breakfast in the mornings...usually they had a transport bus but there were a few times when we missed it. In the Monteverde Cloudforest we were supposed to see teh Quetzal...or hada chance of seeing it. A quetzal is a beauitful multi colored bird that is endemic to Costa Rica...and is endangered...almost extinct. My group did not have the opportunity to see it but some others did. We had a great tour guide named Eduardo and he actually led us through a 3 hour hike...which was originially only supposed to be 1.5...It was ammazzzinggggg. He took us to the Continental divide..which divides North South East West and depending on were u stand the wind blows differently and at different intensities. We ahd a lot of free time during this trip so I had the opportunity to go to this really pretty Orchid garden...a Frog exhibit..called a ¨ranaria¨en espanol...and a cheese factory since Monteverde is famous for their cheese and icecream. The icecream is pretty bomb. Now this past weekend we went to Manuel Antonio...which relly is the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life. It is a beach and it was gorgeous..white sndy beaches and CLEAR blue water...that was WARM when you swam in it...all i did last weekend was lounge in the sun and get a really great tan...One of the nights we went to a discoteca but only four about 2 hours..since everyone was pretty tired....The drive to and from Manuel Antonio was a bummer though...5 hour bus ride...in a small cramped ¨turismo¨bus with 23 students is NOT fun. That pretty much wraps up what I did the past two weeks...Had a bio test still maintaing my B average..I am getting a lot better at communicating with my homestay family. I spoke to them last night for three hours straight. Thye kept teasing me..but they are very supportive of me trying to learn and comprehend the language and understand what they are trying to tell me. if I don´t understand something they allow me the time to look it up in my dictonary or they do an impromptu charades for me lol. This weekend we are going to Tortugero..and from what I read in order to get there you must first drive a good 4 hours and then take a boat canal trip...this is the Malaria infested area..so don´t worry mom Ive already started taking my Malaria pills. During this trip we are supposed to go 1. Boating through the canal..and 2. On a hike....I am hoping that we get to do the nightime tour of the sea turtles...were we watch them hatch and make their way into the ocean. BTW Tortuga means ´turtle´ so Tortugero means place of the turtles. My homestay dad said that they have really good food. But its different than what I am used to. He said it has African influences..and everyone there is black or ¨negra¨as he said. And the dialect that they speak is also a bit different but he said I should be able to understand. Other than that nothing new has really happened...I ahve to study for my quiz so that wraps everything up. =)

La Choza y Cafe Britt

So last night we went to a club/bar kind of place in Heredia. It was really fun..3 floors with really great music varying from salsa, regaeton and techno. Practiced daning salsa and iguess Meringuein my heels..that was interesting. Then today we went to Xafe Britt which is the only coffee plantantion in Costa Rica...there are other manufacturing branches but the one we were at was the biggest. It was pretty much an interpretation program..how cofee is grown...how it is picked etc. a little theatrical. Kind of like what I do at work at Ardenwood..they dressed up and what not. We watched a movie on coffee production as well. I bought you coffee Mom..the whole bean one. Hopefully you like it lol. We are leaving for Monteverde tommorrow morning at 7AM. Hoepfully we see the Quetzal which is an extremely rare bird that is endemic (meaning only lives) in costa rica. We have a TON of free time during this trip Im rather excited theres a lot of stuff I want to do. Tonight we are going out to celebrate my friends stefanie and Kyles last day here. Stef is from Canada (shell be back later but she has to go to Trinidad and Miami..her grandfather is really sick and we probably wont see her when we come back from our excursion) Kyle is from Arizona and he leaves Friday so we wont be here for that either....but I gotta go play some KICKBALL! hehe hope everything is well love you all.

Poas and Arenal Volcanoe + Baldi Hot Springs Resort

Hellooo everyone...well this past weekend we went to two volcanoes and a hot spring resort. Which was awesome. It kinda sucked that it was only two days because it was really stop and stop and go...First we went to Pas and we got really lucky that it was super clear so we saw everything its just a HUGE crater with sulfuric/acidic water. So we stayed there for about 45 minutes and from their we trkked to this huge crater that now is filled with water so it is pretty much a lake. We then boarded the bust and drove FIVE HOURS to Arenal....got there around 6pm checked into the hotels which were amazinnggg and then went to Baldis hot spring resort. It was really cool liek total luxurious swimming pools ranging from warm to piping hot..all naturally heated by the volcanoe. we stayed there till about 8pm and then had dinner there as well...After that we were supposed to do a night tour of Arenal but it started raining cats and dogs...so we just went back to our hotel rooms and hung out with everyone. The hotel was beautiful...I had a hugeeee backyard with my roomate...some of the boys rooms had windows overlooking the volcanoe itself. The next morning we got up around 6 to have breakfast at 7 30 and then do our day tour of Arenal where we got lucky again and had a perfectly clear day...it was about an hour long hike to get up to the volcanoe..and it was a serious hike...really rocky and unsteady surface area...I could some pretty sweet photos though. We saw rocks tumbling off the side of the volcanoe and you could actually hear them as they fell down the side.What´s pretty interesting is that on one side of the volcanue it is completely forested because when the volcanoe erupts it only flows down a certain side...so of course teh side were the lava travels down to is completely barren. After that tour we went and had lunch followed by a quick swim. We then drove the four hours home in pouring rain down a windy little road. So that was THAT trip
Last night a few friends and I went to San Pedro (45 min walk 5 min bus ride) . The town was having a fiesta for their Saint (San Pedro) so there were tons of fireworks and people wore these funky masks...kinda like a masquerade and there was dancing EVERYWHERE. I actually arrived when the entire area of Santa Barbara had a power outage so it was realllyyy dark. Oh they also had a live band playing music...that ending around midnight and I ended up getting home aroundddd 1AM. Tonight is karaeoke night so our entire class is going out at 8 30...but first I have to go home and study for my bio quiz and read ahead...already did my spanish hw and studying so Im good on that front. I miss everyone hope you all are doing well!

Volcanoe and Waterfall and InBio Parque

Okay Guys I had to set up a new blog since i lost my password information and coudln´t figure out how to recover it in spanish lol ive been sitting here for an hour trying to figure it out. Yesterday was my first test, it was friggin hard...but I´ve been studying everyday so i think I did well...Some of the students think that theres way more course work than necessary since its a two unit class...I don´t rreally mind.. I mean I´m learning new stuff so thats cool. We went out to a bar last night called Unfried Licor which is where most of the locals hang out anyway..tis like the ¨bar¨to be at...so went tehre to celebrate..a ton of the German students were there because it was their last night here in Costa Rica...Everyday I meet someone interesting. Last night this guy named Carlos from the States came here with a bunch of other guys who are in their first year of medschool. So they are here interning and teaching paramedics and I guess nurses how to speak Spanish..Which is pretty sweet. Tonight we are going out dancing in Heredia. Should be fun. This morning I went on a hike with some of my class mates to see this awesome waterfall...45 minutes of trudging up hill after hill...it was worth it though when we reached the waterfall..was gorgeoussss. Tomorrow we depart for Poas Volcanoe and the Arenal Volcanoe where we will be going on two tours of the volconoes and I believe at night we are doing a tour of the Arenal to see it spout red hot lava...I think a ¨bat tour¨is in there which is kind of uneccesary since we have seen the bats before, expect to see the same ones, and have learned in depth about the bats. OH I almost forgot we went to InBio Parque on Wed. Which really caters to younger school children.. it reminded me of the Monterey Bay Aquarium in the way the teaching style is set up. But it was totally cool...its a protected forest area that has 4 or 5 different ecosystems that represent Costa Rica..so theres a dry forest, wet forest, rain forest, etc. In each section there are animals that are native to that area. We saw deer, sloh, iguanas, poison dart frogs. And there was this great Butterfly Garden..that for me really was the highlight. There are so many various species. So many vibrant colors..it was really cool. So basically what Inbio does is educate the community on the importance of conservation...but it is also a research center for students and scientists alike..Just like La Selva you can not be in the park for more han 2 hours...What the scientists that research there hope to do is find better ways to work with nature instead of destroying it. Like finding cures for diseases or learning about a new species of fish and how that can contribute to our community without harming the wildlife. Thats all for now!

First Entry in Costa Rica

Okay guys I finally set up a blog. So I will try and update this reguarly. Thus far I have already had one field trip. We went to Sarapiqui which is about a two hour drive north from the province Heredia) I live in a town called Barrio Jesus. I live with a contract construction worker and his stay at home wife (Luis y Rosibel). They have three boys Luis who´s 12, Juan who is 10 and Daniel whos 6. They are a great family to live with. Anyway back to my fieldtrip. On the first night we went on a guided tour on the Sarapiqui river. Due to the earthquake that had occured earlier in the year the water was a muddied brown rather than clear. We saw Howler and Spider monkeys, bats, an anhinga (which is a type of bird) iguanas (hugeeee iguanas) and much more....at night we took a night time bat walk, and studied some bats thata bat catcher had caught...we learned about consveration efforts on bats and how they help out or ecosystem. The next day we went on a hike to La Selva Biological Research Center. Basically its this huge tropical forest where scientists and students go and do their research. You are only allowed to visit for two hours at a time to help preserve the area in its natural state. It was beautiful. We saw poison dart frogs, bats roosting, Howler Monkeys (which was my favorite part), wild boars, an array of butterflies. Pretty much anything you could think of that would be in the tropics. Then we went zip lining..which was really scary to me lol I was pretty freaked out...somewhere after the ziplining I went white water rafting which was AWESOME the river at this point is a level 2 or 3...that sounds like nothing... but people do drown. So we did that and our instructor during this rafting trip is actually an anthropology graduate who came to Costa Rica..loved it and stayed...Now he works as a raft instructor and just recently bought a house. (Hes originally from Colorado) I thought that was pretty neat. The third day we went horseback riding and it wasnt just a lesiurely two hour ride. My horse was a feisty one and had a tendency to GALLOP...kinda scary but I got used to it after a while. I have been going to Santa Barbara a lot..which is pretty much like downtown...Ive been to Heredia twice to go to the mall and look at everything there as well. The cars are fast..they dont have pedestrian right of way here..so that can be sort of tricky..but Im dealing..I know how to take the busses and which directions to go in. Here everyone takes the bus (It´s alot like germany) Speaking of which I have met some very interesting people..especially Germans. They go to the Amistad Institute as well..so I talk to them every once in a while. Most of them are staying for 6 months at a time. A girl from Oreagon who leaves tomorrow has been here for 6 months and through the Institute got a job as an English teacher (shes 19) so I´m thinking of eventually doing that. Thats about it for now...Ill keep you all posted.