First thing is first, if there is anything I have learned more in my short time in Costa Rica, it is the passion and dedication to fútbol. I am not just talking about the team, or die-hard fans, I am talking every single person in this country, Also, not to mention, I don't think I could have chosen a better year to be in Costa Rica for the entire duration of the World Cup. Friday, June 20th, was the day Costa Rica played Italy in the World Cup at 10am. As many people know the first month of being in this wonderful country, I was taking classes in Universidad Vertias from 8am-12pm everyday. Juan Jose, my cute little old professor saw something wrong with us having to go to class two hours before a huge game. It isn't like any of us would be able to focus anyways, so he decided to cancel class for the day. We did have an assignment to turn in though, so our entire class met at the plaza in the middle of our school to hand in our projects then to watch the game in the auditorium. Shea, Madelene and I arrived at the school, turned in our assignment and watched the entire first half in the auditorium with the entire student body of Universidad Veritas. Car horns were honking, every taxi and bus and car had a Costa Rica flag hanging from the window. At the intermission of the game, the three of us decided to walk to Mall San Pedro. We made the twenty minute hike just in enough time to watch the majority of the second half in the food court of the Mall. We tried getting into a local bar, but everywhere was completely swamped, so we decided to chill and watch it with all the high school kids. You would've thought these kids had never seen a gringa (American girl) before! After Costa Rica won, people began flooding the streets in front of the Mall. There is a huge roundabout in front of the Mall and Ticos were running from all different directions to the center to unite and cheer/celebrate their victory over Italy! One of the coolest experiences I have ever had. We watched from the balcony up above to ensure we did not get trampled before having to rush to get to Puerto Viejo.
We stayed in San Pedro for a little while to watch the festivities ignite, then thankfully caught a taxi going away from the mall towards Veritas before the streets were too busy for cars to move. We rushed home, grabbed our bags and swiftly walked up to the school to catch a taxi to the bus station. The five of us, Madelene, Amanda, Shea, Josie and I were at it again. The tank top gang was on the road again for another crazy weekend. Our destination this weekend was Puerto Viejo in Limon, on the Carribean side of the country. So far south, we were only about a 45 minute drive away from Panama. The first two weeks we were spoiled enough by having our own private bus transpiration through ISA, but this was our first solo traveling weekend. Although, we traveled to Puerto Viejo with numerous other friends in the program, we were definitely in for a shocker on our bus ride. We took a public bus to get to Puerto Viejo. The pubic buses that travel throughout the country are not even close to what most people think a public bus to be. We had to climb through the mountains to the get to the other side. While climbing altitudes, it began raining so every passenger on the bus decided to close their window to avoid being rained on. Huge mistake on everyone's end. Not only was the temperature rising the closer we got to the coast, well over 90 degrees, By far the hottest bus ride I have ever been in, not to mention the most humid bus. But how could I complain, we were on our way to the beach for the entire weekend! After arriving in Puerto Viejo around 7-7:30pm, we walked to our hostel called Rockin' J's. This was a hostel pretty much right on the beach with hundreds of hammocks to sleep in. We all decided to pay $7 per night to sleep in a hammock. Two of the best nights of sleep I have gotten. The hostel also had a bar, so we stayed up most of the first night dancing and hanging out. After a while, some of us got to go on a tour of the owner's house right next door. From the outside this house looked like a random beach shack made out of old semi-trucks, but the inside was all hard-wood. The floors, the stairs, parts of the wall. Everything. We even got to see his special man-cave which is where he keeps all of his armor, which included three bottles of bubbles!
Rocking to sleep at night, I slept just like a baby. That next morning, we all woke up at the crack of dawn since the sun rises on the Caribean side around 4:30/5am. We all decided to rent bikes from the hostel for the day for only $5. We bike rode into down, with making a quick stop for some delicious banana pancakes and french toast for breastfast. After exploring down a little while, and it being close to upper 80's before 11am in the morning, we decided to head the opposite way of town to visit the Jaguar Rescue Center. This place was incredible! We challenged ourselves and went on the Spanish speaking tour to practice understanding the language. Towards the end of the tour, we got to go into a room and play with monkey's for about 15 minutes. Such a cool experience being able to have baby monkey's playing all over me. We saw monkeys, sloths, toucans y muchas otras animales. After our monkey playing adventure we headed back to the hostel for a few minute break before heading out towards the chocolate factory. Here, we got to go into an air conditioned room and taste at least 25 different types of chocolate. A chocoholic's dream! Later that night, Madelene, Amanda, Shea and I decided to go to the Lazy Mon for dinner. It was right on the beach, had live reggae music and delicious food, and drinks. Once getting back to the hostel, we all crashed pretty early because we had to wake up bright and early for White water rafting.
The white water rafting guides, picked us up from our hostel around 6:10am on that Sunday morning. We then had a two hour bus drive before stopping for some breakfast at a restaurant. We had a typical Costa Rican breakfast of gallo pinto, eggs, toast, juice and coffee. After breakfast our shuttle made its way up to the top of the mountain where our trip would begin. It took about 45 minutes to get to the top where we needed to be. At this point my nerves were out of control. I have no idea why I was so nervous for white water rafting of all things. We had the only all-female boat out of our group. Madelene, Amanda, Shea, Carly, Patricia and I. The first rapids we went over, which were class #1, tested our nerves a little bit. But as the trip got on we got more and more comfortable to the feel of the boat through the rapids. The Pacaure river has been voted one of the most beautiful rivers in the entire world and National Geographic was not lying about that! The views we saw were amazing. From the rivers, to the waterfalls, to the canyons, trees, everything! I highly recommend this river to white water raft if you have the opportunity. For the first hour and a half we mostly only paddled through class #2 and #3 rapids. But towards the end of the two hours before our lunch break, we hit the class #4 rapids. And boy let me tell you, those were wicked. On one of the class #4 rapids, which they call the washing machine or "bowl", our guide told us to get down in the boat to prepare for the strong rapids. I looked to my left and saw my guide lying face first next to me. My first reaction was that he was trying to make sure Carly stayed in the boat, then I realized Carly fell out already. It literally looked like she was being tossed around in a washing machine. We kept seeing her head bob up and down. Thankfully the boat behind us with our friends saved the day and rescued her into their boat. The rest of the trip after lunch was pretty easy and relaxing. Even got to jump out and float down part of the river in between a gorgeous canyon. Puerto Viejo was by far one of my favorite places so far on this study abroad trip. The town has so much tourism but at the same time maintains almost all of its original culture which makes it amazing!
Well I am all out of words for this post, stay tuned for another post soon :)
Hasta Luego
xoxo
We stayed in San Pedro for a little while to watch the festivities ignite, then thankfully caught a taxi going away from the mall towards Veritas before the streets were too busy for cars to move. We rushed home, grabbed our bags and swiftly walked up to the school to catch a taxi to the bus station. The five of us, Madelene, Amanda, Shea, Josie and I were at it again. The tank top gang was on the road again for another crazy weekend. Our destination this weekend was Puerto Viejo in Limon, on the Carribean side of the country. So far south, we were only about a 45 minute drive away from Panama. The first two weeks we were spoiled enough by having our own private bus transpiration through ISA, but this was our first solo traveling weekend. Although, we traveled to Puerto Viejo with numerous other friends in the program, we were definitely in for a shocker on our bus ride. We took a public bus to get to Puerto Viejo. The pubic buses that travel throughout the country are not even close to what most people think a public bus to be. We had to climb through the mountains to the get to the other side. While climbing altitudes, it began raining so every passenger on the bus decided to close their window to avoid being rained on. Huge mistake on everyone's end. Not only was the temperature rising the closer we got to the coast, well over 90 degrees, By far the hottest bus ride I have ever been in, not to mention the most humid bus. But how could I complain, we were on our way to the beach for the entire weekend! After arriving in Puerto Viejo around 7-7:30pm, we walked to our hostel called Rockin' J's. This was a hostel pretty much right on the beach with hundreds of hammocks to sleep in. We all decided to pay $7 per night to sleep in a hammock. Two of the best nights of sleep I have gotten. The hostel also had a bar, so we stayed up most of the first night dancing and hanging out. After a while, some of us got to go on a tour of the owner's house right next door. From the outside this house looked like a random beach shack made out of old semi-trucks, but the inside was all hard-wood. The floors, the stairs, parts of the wall. Everything. We even got to see his special man-cave which is where he keeps all of his armor, which included three bottles of bubbles!
Rocking to sleep at night, I slept just like a baby. That next morning, we all woke up at the crack of dawn since the sun rises on the Caribean side around 4:30/5am. We all decided to rent bikes from the hostel for the day for only $5. We bike rode into down, with making a quick stop for some delicious banana pancakes and french toast for breastfast. After exploring down a little while, and it being close to upper 80's before 11am in the morning, we decided to head the opposite way of town to visit the Jaguar Rescue Center. This place was incredible! We challenged ourselves and went on the Spanish speaking tour to practice understanding the language. Towards the end of the tour, we got to go into a room and play with monkey's for about 15 minutes. Such a cool experience being able to have baby monkey's playing all over me. We saw monkeys, sloths, toucans y muchas otras animales. After our monkey playing adventure we headed back to the hostel for a few minute break before heading out towards the chocolate factory. Here, we got to go into an air conditioned room and taste at least 25 different types of chocolate. A chocoholic's dream! Later that night, Madelene, Amanda, Shea and I decided to go to the Lazy Mon for dinner. It was right on the beach, had live reggae music and delicious food, and drinks. Once getting back to the hostel, we all crashed pretty early because we had to wake up bright and early for White water rafting.
The white water rafting guides, picked us up from our hostel around 6:10am on that Sunday morning. We then had a two hour bus drive before stopping for some breakfast at a restaurant. We had a typical Costa Rican breakfast of gallo pinto, eggs, toast, juice and coffee. After breakfast our shuttle made its way up to the top of the mountain where our trip would begin. It took about 45 minutes to get to the top where we needed to be. At this point my nerves were out of control. I have no idea why I was so nervous for white water rafting of all things. We had the only all-female boat out of our group. Madelene, Amanda, Shea, Carly, Patricia and I. The first rapids we went over, which were class #1, tested our nerves a little bit. But as the trip got on we got more and more comfortable to the feel of the boat through the rapids. The Pacaure river has been voted one of the most beautiful rivers in the entire world and National Geographic was not lying about that! The views we saw were amazing. From the rivers, to the waterfalls, to the canyons, trees, everything! I highly recommend this river to white water raft if you have the opportunity. For the first hour and a half we mostly only paddled through class #2 and #3 rapids. But towards the end of the two hours before our lunch break, we hit the class #4 rapids. And boy let me tell you, those were wicked. On one of the class #4 rapids, which they call the washing machine or "bowl", our guide told us to get down in the boat to prepare for the strong rapids. I looked to my left and saw my guide lying face first next to me. My first reaction was that he was trying to make sure Carly stayed in the boat, then I realized Carly fell out already. It literally looked like she was being tossed around in a washing machine. We kept seeing her head bob up and down. Thankfully the boat behind us with our friends saved the day and rescued her into their boat. The rest of the trip after lunch was pretty easy and relaxing. Even got to jump out and float down part of the river in between a gorgeous canyon. Puerto Viejo was by far one of my favorite places so far on this study abroad trip. The town has so much tourism but at the same time maintains almost all of its original culture which makes it amazing!
Well I am all out of words for this post, stay tuned for another post soon :)
Hasta Luego
xoxo