Last week we had our spring break, otherwise known as Semana Santa! And boy, was it a busy one. Not only did I go to the beach with my family, but I went on a four day backpacking trip with my new friend from AFS! All together I went to San Jose, Jaco, Alajuela, Los Chorros Waterfalls, Cartago, and Uvita. It was a lot of bus rides, and a lot of fun!
I learned SO MUCH on my solo trip. So rather than give you a day by day review (of which you can find a lovely one on Jolan's blog!) I'm going to give you a list of what I've learned:
- Traveling with a good friend is the way to go!
I wasn't really expecting to make such awesome friends with the kids from AFS. In fact, I've experienced the opposite of what I've expected; I thought I'd have awesome friends at school and be acquaintances with the AFS kids. I've found that while I have a ton in common with the AFS kids and love being around and talking to them late into the night, my younger school friends and I just aren't as close. And being able to chat with Jolan on long bus rides, soak up sun together in the pool, and explore incredible places together was just great. There was a moment when we first got to the beach--we were so exhilarated and proud of our first solo trip, and happy to be where we were. Then BAM! A beautiful sunset just hit us smack dab in the face. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. Jolan and I shared a moment. We probably spent five minutes knee deep in the ocean just staring at the sun sinking into the earth in complete silence. It was a really surreal moment for me, one when I could reflect on everything that had gotten me to that point, and everywhere I would go from there.
Striking a pose with my buddy.
2. Depending on where/what you are buying--Costa Rica is expensive!
In fact, in some cases even more expensive than the U.S. Though I can buy an empanada at school for 300 colones (60 cents) in Jaco I couldn't find flip flops for less than $30, which is just insane. Jaco was super fun-- a great tourist town with loads of souvenir shops, fun activities, great food, and interesting people. But it really drained our budget fast. Meals were about $12 in places like the Taco Bar, a bar with amazingly delicious smoothies and awesome swing bars! I wish we had discovered Sodas a bit sooner on our trip. "Sodas" are kind of like the fast food restaurants of the US. They're like cafeteria style restaurants with typical Costa Rican food. You can get rice, meat, a salad, and a drink all for 2mil colones ($4)! Plus it's delicious.
4. Always have a plan.
Not going to lie, there were a couple times when we were in not desirable positions because of our first time traveling faux-paus. The first wasn't so bad, we were in Cartago and we didn't exactly know what we were doing there. The plan? Look at the ruins. Ha. The Cartago ruins were closed, and they probably wouldn't have kept us occupied for the three hours we were to stay in Cartago anyways. So I googled stuff to do in Cartago while we were eating empanadas in a soda and found some gardens which were supposed to be pretty good! Ha, they weren't. But in the end, we were able to make fun out of it!
The second time was a bit worse, it was when we were going to Los Chorros waterfalls. We got a taxi up to the place and had the most amazing time. It was my first time swimming in a waterfall. I even went underneath it! The water was coming down so hard, and it was so cold and intense! It was one of the coolest moments of the trip. Unfortunately, we failed to secure a ride back to the bus stop. Whoops. To make matters worse, there was a drunk, creepy old man outside the trail and the sun was setting. Thank God for helpful Costa Ricans. I mean it! Costa Ricans are so friendly and helpful! We were asking a group if they knew numbers for taxis, and when we found out we couldn't call the taxis, they went out of there way to help us get one. We even got to talking while waiting for the taxi and we found out one of them was a pastor who used to live in New York to pursue a rapping career! He even gave us his CD for free! It was so lucky that we met them, and it was definitely a highlight of the trip.
Favorite picture from the gardens
They were pretty, just boring.
I LOVED THE WATTERFALLS!
So Intense!
5. That being said, sometimes the things you didn't plan are the most amazing.
When in Cartago we had thought we'd seen the Basilica de Los Angelos when getting off our bus. It was a large, tan church, but rather modern looking for a basilica. But boy were we wrong! While riding a taxi to the gardens, we passed the actual basilica, which was so much more awesome than the other church we saw! When we came back we were able to look at it and go inside and dang was it cool! They even had these little fountains with holy water spouting from the walls a level below! I tried going to a religious artifacts shop to look for a nativity scene for my grandma, but it was closed.
My favorite part of the trip (tied with the waterfalls) was Mount Mirador. I read about it online, it's a short hike up to a very cool view point overlooking all of Jaco beach. It was great! The hike up was only about five minutes long so Jolan and I wondered, what would happen if we kept going up? I'm so glad we kept going up. When we made it to the top we found a shaded pathway with the same white pillars that were on the lookout point so we decided to follow it, felling very jungle explorery. Then, again, BAM! The rainforest path opened up to a beautiful view point situated on what looked to be like an abandoned mansion. I've always loved the asthetics of anbandoned homes as well as street art, and this place had it all! Empty fountains, creepy rooms that we didn't go into, and amazing street art galore. I thought it was so so cool. Unfortunately, my camera died the exact moment we got there, but I still grabbed some photos on my cell phone of course!
La Basilica Nuestra Senora Las Angeles
Inside the Basilica.
The View Point.
6. Traveling Independently makes you, well, independent!
Not going to lie, I was scared to ask a waiter for a take home box before I left for Costa Rica. Now, I can confidently go into any store or find any person and ask them for help or directions. Not to mention in another language!
7. I'm really becoming a part of my family.
During my family vacation to Uvita (when we packed me and nine other family members into a tiny, two bedroom beach house!) I really got the sense that I'm a part of the family. My family's not afraid to ask me to clean things, or help move stuff around, and I'm not afraid to offer my help! On the beach my host mom lathered sunscreen onto my shoulders and fixed my twisted straps, and when I inevitably got sunburned, she lathered aloe vera on my calves, feet, and lower back. I got the weirdest sunburn. Even my tia was reminding me to put my shoulders back and teasing me for looking like a tourist! (To which I replied, "Well, I kind of am...") Being part of the family comes with all the perks. I get to have fun conversations with my sister, steal food from my mom, and my tia even gave me a pedicure!
All in all, it was a great week, and I learned and did so much. Unfortunately, I can't upload half the pictures I took because I need a micro SD card adapter, which is hopefully on it's way here in the mail right now! I can, however, steal some of Jolan's pictures ha! Life is going good here, I'm now looking forward to the AFS trip in about a week, and then climbing Mount Chirripo! Ahh! Until then I've started dance classes, which I don't really like because they super awkward and I have to dance with a bunch of old, sweaty men. But I really want to learn the dances here, so what are you gonna do? I've also realized that I've accidentally learned a lot of conjugations, including the vos form,which I wasn't going to try and learn! I feel like I'm really starting to hit a big learning curve in terms of my Spanish. Love and miss everyone back home!
