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Friday, January 17, 2014

Costa Rica, Week One

We've been in Costa Rica for just over one week. What a whirlwind its already been! We have already taken tons of pictures, met many wonderful Costa Ricans and Americans, completed a few days of Spanish lessons, retrieved both of our bags from Delta (finally! It took four days for Justin's to arrive and seven for mine to get here), spent about $450.00 USD of Delta's money buying things we needed while we waited for our bags (ok--I didn't NEED the curling iron, but Delta deserved it! I hardly bought anything before I decided to get it!), and generally had a wonderful time. So far, we've traveled to Liberia, Curabande, San Jose, San Pedro (we live here--its a suburb on San Jose) and Cartago, a beautiful little mountain town.

Costa Rica is surprisingly not as different from the US as I'd expected. Don't get me wrong, the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at for the first two nights was completely Costa Rican, all snuggled into the forest, with a cacophony of bird songs to lull us to sleep every night, but San Jose? Its a city. And with that comes fast food, consumerism, high prices (similar to the US, much to my dismay), bad traffic, lots of restaurants, and generally people everywhere. I feel like there are less tress here than back home in Seattle. We did travel to a small town called Cartago on Sunday, but other than the journey there, even that felt a lot like a regular town.

Some things I love about Costa Rica:

  • Everyone is VERY patient with you when you **try** to speak Spanish
  • People are so polite
  • People have cell phones, but aren't constantly on them (except maybe on the bus)
  • Coffee flows like water
  • Speaking of water, you can drink it out of the tap here--wonderful!

Some things I didn't expect

  • People are really stylish here, even in the small towns. I never expected to feel like I needed to dress UP on a backpacking trip. I hope people are more laid back at the beach, where we'll be next week.
  • Its much colder here than I expected (I had to wear a sweatshirt and long pants today).
  • Cell phone plans are SUPER cheap (we're getting ripped off in the states)
  • For the most part, the showers are warm
  • It is very clean, no one piles up on motorbikes with their whole family and their dog, people are very educated
  • This is, in short, a developed country (if you ask me)

Later this week I'll write about our wonderful host mamma, Maria del Rosio, and how I wish I could pack her up and keep her in my pocket because she's just so sweet! Until then, here are some pictures:


Our "room" at the Bed and Breakfast, where we spent our first two nights.

This is Lola. She was more like a cat then any dog I've ever met. 

Justin by the pool

Cool street art in downtown San Jose

Beautiful old church in Cartago that was never finished due to earthquakes. 

The front of the church, including an odd obelisk. 

The view from my (Crystal's) classroom at Maximo Nivel in San Pedro.


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