I can’t believe I’ve been here for a week and a half already! At the same time, I feel like I’ve been here for much longer.
This past weekend, I went to Isla Tortuga and Volcán Poás. I also explored a little bit of San Jose.
There is this really neat park in San Jose called something like “The National Metropolitan Park.” It has these really cool trees- the bark turns colors and peels as it ages. I would upload a pic of one of the trees if I could, but this internet connection is really bad.
Isla Tortuga was AMAZING! Sarah, Rachel and I took a bus from San Jose to Puntarenas at 6:00AM. It was a 2 hour bus ride, but the scenery was beautiful. I got to see an oxcart bulled by real oxen on the side of the road in a rural town. Once we made it to Puntarenas, a fishing town that smells completely of fish, we boarded the Catamaran and set off on an hour and a half ride to the island. The weather was perfect, so we just layed on the deck and tanned. We passed a ton of little, mountainous islands. This place must have come right out of a Pirates of the Caribbean movie! The beach at Tortuga Island was small but cute. It had palm trees, hammocks, and a little bar. We were served lunch and listened to a live “band” playing Caribbean-esque music. Of course, there was a cat on the island… there’s always a cat.
We relaxed on the beach for a while and then went on a banana boat. I’ve never done that before, and it was a lot of fun! We went on a little tour around the surrounding islands and got dunked in the water a few times. Towards sunset, we loaded up the boat again and started our way back to San Jose.
Sunday, the three of us went to Volcán Poás, and active volcano. The ride wasn’t terribly long, but the uphill walk to see the volcano and Laguna Botos (an extinct water-filled crater) would never end! At first, we could not see the Poás crater at all because of all the clouds. It was a little disappointing, but we decided to walk up to the lake instead. The walk was totally worth it- the lake was beautiful! But, right about this time my camera died L
Afterwards, we decided to go back to Poás to see if the clouds cleared up. They didn’t. We still could not see a single thing. We were disappointed and decided to go get lunch. After lunch, we thought we’d give the volcano one more try. We got really lucky, because right as we got up there the clouds cleared. We were able to see the crater for about 2 minutes before the clouds rolled in again. It was really cool, and not what I expected to see from an active volcano.
The weekend was too short, and Monday came too soon. I might have written this in a previous entry, but at the hospital, the volunteers pretty much just try to entertain the children whose parents aren’t there. Sometimes it’s boring, or you get a screaming kid, but sometimes it’s really fun. Today, I got to spend some time with a few kids that could actually hold a conversation. They were adorable. I was hanging out with a couple kids who had been there a while, and they were such comedians. They joked that they were 24 and studied cooking in college!
Yesterday at the hospital, I met a doctor who specializes in bone tumors and studied at UF for a while. He worked/studied at Shands Hospital, and was telling me that Shands is one of the best hospitals for bone tumors in the world! Go Gators!
This morning I was woken up by my bed shaking. At first, I was a little nervous because I thought it was an earthquake. Then I figured it was just a big bus driving by, since the shaking wasn’t that bad. Later I found out that it was an earthquake! So in the past few days, I’ve seen an active volcano and experienced an earthquake. Very cool.
Adios!
Comments: (1)
I haven´t been able to post in the last few days because it is a bit difficult to get on the internet here. There are a ton of internet cafes (which, by the way, don´t serve coffee), but it is hard to find time to get to one. I´´, always busy during the day, working at the hospital, but I usually have nothing to do in the evenings. Because it gets dark here so early, it isn´t safe for me to walk to an internet cafe by myself at night. But, I´m here now, so here´s the update!
My host family is very nice, but they don´t speak a word of English. In the house there is the mother and the father, but they have friends come over a lot. The mother, Jarina, has her whole family living nearby. On Tuesday, I mer her brother and his family, who live down the street, her mom, sister, and step-people, who live next door, and her daughter, granddaughter, and son-in-law, who come over almost every night. Camila, her granddaughter, is so cute! She was helping me with my spanish the other day!
The house can get boring, but occasionally I get to watch Friends or Two and a Half Men (in english!). I´ve been able to read a lot. During the day, I get to explore San Jose and Guadelupe (the subdivision of San Jose I´m living in). Yesterday, Sarah, Rachel and I walked around the area around the hospital. We went into the National Theater (we´re hoping to see a show there sometime) and the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art. That was very interesting. Walking around, you will see a lot of people selling stuff (lotto tickets, colored bra straps...) on the streets.
The food here is somewhat disappointing. It is rice and beans at every meal. But, last night I got pasta, thank God! The weather is a lot like Florida here- hot, humid, and rainy! Last night there was a 6.2 magnitude earthquake at Quepos, a city on the Pacific coast. There were tremors in Guadelupe, but I didn´t even realize it.
Like I´ve said before, traffic is crazy here. The cars WILL NOT stop for pedestrians! So, you have to be very careful when crossing the road.
The hospital I´m working in is interesting. It isn´t like the hostpials at home at all. There are no private rooms, and everything seems a bit dirty. You have to go outside to get to another wing of the hospital. It is very sad to see all of the sick children. On Wednesday, my first day in the hospital, I had to take care of 2 crying babies for 4 hours- not a good day! Yesterday, I took care of a cute little baby that wanted nothing more than to play with an empty soda bottle, and a crazy little girl with down syndrome. The little girl, Tatiana would not sit still and would grab anything she could reach (my hair, shirt, her oxygen tube...). Still, she was so cute! The doctors made us leave her room after they found out that a patient in the room had epidemic influenza, or something like that! So, hopefully I don´t come down with the flu!
I´ve taken a lot of pictures, but I´m not able to upload them at the internet cafes or on my laptop. I´ll be staying in a hostel next weekend, probably, so I can hopefully post some pics once I get there.
Today we are going to walk around the National Park and maybe go out to dinner so I can get my first legal drink! Tomorrow we are going on a cruise to Isla Tortuga,
and on Sunday we are going to Vocàn Poàs- a volcano not too far from San Jose.
That´s all for now! Hasta luego!
My host family is very nice, but they don´t speak a word of English. In the house there is the mother and the father, but they have friends come over a lot. The mother, Jarina, has her whole family living nearby. On Tuesday, I mer her brother and his family, who live down the street, her mom, sister, and step-people, who live next door, and her daughter, granddaughter, and son-in-law, who come over almost every night. Camila, her granddaughter, is so cute! She was helping me with my spanish the other day!
The house can get boring, but occasionally I get to watch Friends or Two and a Half Men (in english!). I´ve been able to read a lot. During the day, I get to explore San Jose and Guadelupe (the subdivision of San Jose I´m living in). Yesterday, Sarah, Rachel and I walked around the area around the hospital. We went into the National Theater (we´re hoping to see a show there sometime) and the Museum of Pre-Columbian Art. That was very interesting. Walking around, you will see a lot of people selling stuff (lotto tickets, colored bra straps...) on the streets.
The food here is somewhat disappointing. It is rice and beans at every meal. But, last night I got pasta, thank God! The weather is a lot like Florida here- hot, humid, and rainy! Last night there was a 6.2 magnitude earthquake at Quepos, a city on the Pacific coast. There were tremors in Guadelupe, but I didn´t even realize it.
Like I´ve said before, traffic is crazy here. The cars WILL NOT stop for pedestrians! So, you have to be very careful when crossing the road.
The hospital I´m working in is interesting. It isn´t like the hostpials at home at all. There are no private rooms, and everything seems a bit dirty. You have to go outside to get to another wing of the hospital. It is very sad to see all of the sick children. On Wednesday, my first day in the hospital, I had to take care of 2 crying babies for 4 hours- not a good day! Yesterday, I took care of a cute little baby that wanted nothing more than to play with an empty soda bottle, and a crazy little girl with down syndrome. The little girl, Tatiana would not sit still and would grab anything she could reach (my hair, shirt, her oxygen tube...). Still, she was so cute! The doctors made us leave her room after they found out that a patient in the room had epidemic influenza, or something like that! So, hopefully I don´t come down with the flu!
I´ve taken a lot of pictures, but I´m not able to upload them at the internet cafes or on my laptop. I´ll be staying in a hostel next weekend, probably, so I can hopefully post some pics once I get there.
Today we are going to walk around the National Park and maybe go out to dinner so I can get my first legal drink! Tomorrow we are going on a cruise to Isla Tortuga,
and on Sunday we are going to Vocàn Poàs- a volcano not too far from San Jose.
That´s all for now! Hasta luego!
The first days
Comments: (2)
Sorry for the long post, but these past two days have been quite an adventure! After landing in the Juan Santamaria airport in San Jose, the driver that was supposed to bring me to the hospital wasn’t there. I finally found another person that claimed he was from the hostel, but I was really skeptical. After much arguing in spanglish, I decided to believe him and eventually wound up where I was supposed to be.
The hostel is pretty nice. I share a room with 7 other people! There’s a nice pool, a great outside area with hammocks, chairs, and a covered kitchen and bar. There’s also a little restaurant I ate at tonight. Everyone is really friendly. Right away, I met some people from South Dakota and decided to take a swim in the freezing pool. I’ve met people from all over the U.S., some from Denmark, Holland, Canada, London, and Greece. Everyone has really cool stories.
This is the pool in the hostel. It was freezing cold and raining.
Sitting out by the pool, I realized how similar Costa Rica is to Florida, until I noticed the amazing mountain views!
This is the view from the kitchen!
At the hostel, there’s a group of Indonesian men who were working on a boat in Punta Arenas, Costa Rica in really bad conditions. The government found out and is keeping them at the hostel until they can get them home, since they don’t have papers. They are really nice, but there are cops staying here to make sure everything is okay.
Last night I decided to take a trip to the mall with one of my friends. The mall is pretty close to the hostel. It’s 3 stories and has a ton of stores: American Eagle, Payless, TCBY, and just about any other American fast-food restaurant (Go America!). So, my first night in Costa Rica I ate Wendy’s, and went to see Clash of the Titans (in 3D) for about $5. This place is cheap!
Since Costa Rica is so close to the equator, it gets light out around 5:30am. So, everyone gets up at around 6 am. On top of the light, the hostel is really noisy (the buses start running at 4:30am and like to honk!). There is no AC here, so the windows are always open. All of these things make for poor sleeping conditions.
Anywho, after relaxing a bit by the pool, I met two other people that will be working in the children’s hospital with me- Sara and Rachel. Both are really nice and we already started planning out our weekend trips! This weekend: a catamaran cruise to Isla Tortuga! We had an orientation meeting for the hospital today. It should be fun and a good experience. After that, we went out and explored some of San Jose. It was all really interesting and VERY different than any place I’ve ever seen. It was mostly run down, but there were some nice places, like the Supreme Court and embassies. We passed a stray dog wandering the streets (don’t worry, it looked happy, and cars stopped for it). There also seem to be cats that hang around the buildings.
We stopped and had lunch at a “soda”: a little café/restaurant type thing. The food was good, and we got all of this for only 1,800 colones ($3.50):
r
This is Sara and me eating our first Costa Rican meal!
Here is a cute part of town:
When we finally made it back to the hostel, we jumped in the freezing pool again and laid out to relax. I got to take a HOT shower tonight, unlike my cold shower this morning. On a side note, I realized I should have brought a towel with me since I’ve been using my robe to dry off each time I get wet. For dinner I went to the hostel’s restaurant, Mochila. I’m hoping to get to bed early tonight, since I will probably be getting up at 6am again. Tomorrow I leave the hostel and begin my stay with my host family!
The hostel is pretty nice. I share a room with 7 other people! There’s a nice pool, a great outside area with hammocks, chairs, and a covered kitchen and bar. There’s also a little restaurant I ate at tonight. Everyone is really friendly. Right away, I met some people from South Dakota and decided to take a swim in the freezing pool. I’ve met people from all over the U.S., some from Denmark, Holland, Canada, London, and Greece. Everyone has really cool stories.
This is the pool in the hostel. It was freezing cold and raining.
Sitting out by the pool, I realized how similar Costa Rica is to Florida, until I noticed the amazing mountain views!
This is the view from the kitchen!
At the hostel, there’s a group of Indonesian men who were working on a boat in Punta Arenas, Costa Rica in really bad conditions. The government found out and is keeping them at the hostel until they can get them home, since they don’t have papers. They are really nice, but there are cops staying here to make sure everything is okay.
Last night I decided to take a trip to the mall with one of my friends. The mall is pretty close to the hostel. It’s 3 stories and has a ton of stores: American Eagle, Payless, TCBY, and just about any other American fast-food restaurant (Go America!). So, my first night in Costa Rica I ate Wendy’s, and went to see Clash of the Titans (in 3D) for about $5. This place is cheap!
Since Costa Rica is so close to the equator, it gets light out around 5:30am. So, everyone gets up at around 6 am. On top of the light, the hostel is really noisy (the buses start running at 4:30am and like to honk!). There is no AC here, so the windows are always open. All of these things make for poor sleeping conditions.
Anywho, after relaxing a bit by the pool, I met two other people that will be working in the children’s hospital with me- Sara and Rachel. Both are really nice and we already started planning out our weekend trips! This weekend: a catamaran cruise to Isla Tortuga! We had an orientation meeting for the hospital today. It should be fun and a good experience. After that, we went out and explored some of San Jose. It was all really interesting and VERY different than any place I’ve ever seen. It was mostly run down, but there were some nice places, like the Supreme Court and embassies. We passed a stray dog wandering the streets (don’t worry, it looked happy, and cars stopped for it). There also seem to be cats that hang around the buildings.
We stopped and had lunch at a “soda”: a little café/restaurant type thing. The food was good, and we got all of this for only 1,800 colones ($3.50):
rThis is Sara and me eating our first Costa Rican meal!
Here is a cute part of town:
When we finally made it back to the hostel, we jumped in the freezing pool again and laid out to relax. I got to take a HOT shower tonight, unlike my cold shower this morning. On a side note, I realized I should have brought a towel with me since I’ve been using my robe to dry off each time I get wet. For dinner I went to the hostel’s restaurant, Mochila. I’m hoping to get to bed early tonight, since I will probably be getting up at 6am again. Tomorrow I leave the hostel and begin my stay with my host family!
Get set... GO!!
Comments: (0)
As I am writing this, I am incredibly tired from a late night of packing. Because of my mad procrastination skills, I waited until yesterday evening to start packing for my trip. Now, I think I have everything together and am hoping I get on the plane without any extra charges.
I still don't think that it has sunk in yet, that I'm finally going to Costa Rica. It will probably hit me when I board the plane and then remember how much I fear flying. But, in a few hours I will be in the beautiful paradise that is Costa Rica, whether I'm ready for it or not.
That's it for now! Hasta luego!
I still don't think that it has sunk in yet, that I'm finally going to Costa Rica. It will probably hit me when I board the plane and then remember how much I fear flying. But, in a few hours I will be in the beautiful paradise that is Costa Rica, whether I'm ready for it or not.
That's it for now! Hasta luego!
Get ready...
Comments: (1)
I thought I’d give this blogging thing a try, since I will soon be embarking on one of the biggest leaps of faith I’ve ever taken in my life. In T-minus 4 days, I’ll be heading off to San Jose, Costa Rica to spend 5 weeks volunteering in a Children’s Hospital, improving my Spanish, traveling the rain forests, beaches, and volcanoes of the country, and having the time of my life!
I’ve wanted to go to the "Switzerland of the Americas" for a while since I hear Costa Rica is a really beautiful country, and what better way to improve my Spanish than to be completely immersed in the culture? I chose to volunteer through GeoVisions(http://www.geovisions.org/) because it seemed to be exactly what I was looking for, and they offer a variety of voluntour adventures for cheap!! Being as indecisive as I am, it took me quite a long time (more than a year) to figure out which program to use. But, in the end (less than 2 months ago), I finally figured it out, and since then, everything has fallen into place.
Still, I do have my worries. Because this is an independent volunteer program, meaning that the volunteers are pretty much on their own, I am kind of nervous. I know I will meet some other people like me there, though. I’ll live with a host family, who will cook all my meals, and even do my laundry if I want them to! Of course, I’m pretty nervous about the flight. I haven’t flown anywhere in years, and I’ve never flown overseas. I feel that, not only is this something I want to do, but it’s something I have to do- I have to get over my fears (flying, just to name one), and I have to travel and have fun while I’m young and able!
I don’t know too much about what will happen, which is why I feel it’s such a huge leap of faith. I guess I’ll just see when I get there, and go with the flow!
Always do what you are afraid to do.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
I’ve wanted to go to the "Switzerland of the Americas" for a while since I hear Costa Rica is a really beautiful country, and what better way to improve my Spanish than to be completely immersed in the culture? I chose to volunteer through GeoVisions(http://www.geovisions.org/) because it seemed to be exactly what I was looking for, and they offer a variety of voluntour adventures for cheap!! Being as indecisive as I am, it took me quite a long time (more than a year) to figure out which program to use. But, in the end (less than 2 months ago), I finally figured it out, and since then, everything has fallen into place.
Still, I do have my worries. Because this is an independent volunteer program, meaning that the volunteers are pretty much on their own, I am kind of nervous. I know I will meet some other people like me there, though. I’ll live with a host family, who will cook all my meals, and even do my laundry if I want them to! Of course, I’m pretty nervous about the flight. I haven’t flown anywhere in years, and I’ve never flown overseas. I feel that, not only is this something I want to do, but it’s something I have to do- I have to get over my fears (flying, just to name one), and I have to travel and have fun while I’m young and able!
I don’t know too much about what will happen, which is why I feel it’s such a huge leap of faith. I guess I’ll just see when I get there, and go with the flow!
Always do what you are afraid to do.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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