Monday, September 12, 2011

Pura Vida y'all

COSTA RICA!
Day 3 and it seems like I've been here forever. Not in a bad way, there's just a lot of stuff packed into every day.
Starting from the beginning - all 11 students and 3 program leaders met up at the airport in Houston and flew out together on Saturday. It was weird because we'd all stalked each other on Facebook and also because we knew we'd be hanging out for 8 months... but all good. We got to our hostel in Costa Rica and the girls spent a while exploring because this hostel was sweet! We discovered a random guy semi-passed out in front of our room (which had A/C!! YES), a TV room where we made a bean bag mountain, and a cool little balcony thing that looked out on the sketchy park outside. We had our first Costa Rican meal for dinner: PIZZA! Which was delicious but we were all exhausted and crashed pretty much immediately after.
On Sunday we woke up pretty early, had breakfast and set out on a little tourist bus to make it to our next hostel which was a 5 hour ride away. I was trying to stay awake for the whole thing because of the beautiful costa rican mountains and jungley scenery but I did fall asleep - until one of our back tires blew out! We made it to a little cafe thing where we got plantain chips and drinks while the guys and the bus driver fixed the wheel. Then back on the road with one more stop for lunch and groceries. And then we got to THIS hostel, which is EVEN BETTER!

It's called Mauna Loa, so beautiful! It has an awesome pool with little fountains and tons of hammocks and cool lights and animals all over the place. We got put in our rooms which are little like mini houses with bathrooms and all. Julia and I got a room to ourselves and everyone else is in a room of 3 which works out well for us - no lines for showers and we get big beds! We took a dip in the pool and had our first seminar on Sunday night.

The seminar was over: What is development? Which was really interesting - lots of people contributing different ideas and the conversation went on for like over an hour.

Today we learned to surf on the beach that’s a short walk from the hostel! The walk is through this section of protected mangroves which are SO cool and it’s just a bunch of boards holding up the path. The surf instructors were awesome and I got up on the board a ton! Twice without their helping me, too. I was really impressed with myself. Will definitely be doing that again! We also had discussions about responsibilities and stuff but that’s not fun. We played charades after dinner… yeah

More posts to come! We are playing ultimate Frisbee on the beach tomorrow and if you know me you know that this will be a challenge for me!

Having a ton of fun, miss everyone!!

4 comments:

  1. AHHH that sounds amazing! I'm glad you are having fun!!

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  2. Ultimate Frisbee? I predict Ultimate Fail! So glad you rocked the surfing thing, though! I miss you!
    Mom

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  3. Mai Mai!

    Your trip sounds amazing so far!! We are so glad you are having so much fun! Between surfing, the busted bus tire adventure, and walking through mangroves, it sounds pretty awesome. So... keep blogging so we can stalk you and live vicariously through you to have adventures! Deal? Good.

    Well, we love you! Keep having a blast!!!

    Love,
    Katie and Abby

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  4. Wishing you had movie pics hanging ten. Love the pics and stories. As for me - I conquered doing your laundry, which you know was quite a feat. By the way, your chicken parmasian dish absolutely rocks. Don't forget to hydrate.

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