Hola!

I don`t remember the last time I updated, so I`ll just recap this past weekend.
On Thursday, Sarah and I left for Playa Tamarindo, a surf town on the northern pacific coast. The bus ride was about 5 hours, and after getting lost a little bit when we got off the bus in Tamarindo, we finally found the hostel. We stayed at Tamarindo Backpackers. It was a cute place, but there was barely anyone staying there. We went out in search of food and wound up at a little fast food joint. After a long day of working in the hospital and traveling, we hit the sack.

On Friday, we slept in a bit and then went to the beach. The beach was beautiful! Supposedly, it is famous for its waves, but the waves were just mediocre. That was fine by me, though, because it meant I could swim without getting crushed in the surf! We saw a man and his dog surfing together! This dog can surf better than I can!After a long, relaxing day on the beach, we walked around town, grabbed some dinner, and went to a couple bars where we met a big group of Americans studying abroad in San Jose.

Saturday was another day of relaxing on the beach :) In the afternoon, we went ziplining! It was sooo much fun! We saw a bunch of wildlife, including a family of holwer monkeys! And I took plenty of pictures :) After, we went back to the beach to catch the sunset! It was beautiful! Suddenly, a huge storm rolled in so we had to leave the beach. We walked back into town to get dinner, but ALL of the power was out! It was dark, rainy, and extremely muddy, and all we wanted was dinner! We finally found a grocery store that was open, but we had to search for food in the dark! We decided on mac n cheese. That ended up being a really dumb decision, since we had no way to cook it back at the hostel, because the power was out!

After we were finally able to eat dinner, we got cleaned up and headed out to a club. On our way there, we had to slosh through roads of wet clay and mud. By the time we got there, we were covered in mosquito bites and mud. But, it ended up being a fun night anyway.


Sunday was out last day in Tamarindo. We woke up early and went for a walk on the beach. It was low tide, so we were able to collect lots of pretty shells :) Then, we checked out of the hostel at 10:30am to catch the bus, which didn´t come until 11:30am. The bus we took took us about 75km to Liberia, where we would connect to another bus. It should have been a short ride, but the bus stopped in every single town along that 75km stretch, so it took about 3 hours. Once wew got to Liberia, we had to wait about 2 more hours to catch the bus to San Jose. Then, we had to ride that bus for 4 more hours! When we got to San Jose, we took a cab (that cheated us) to the house, and FINALLY got home around 8:30pm. Needless to say, it was a long, annoying day.

Then, we started another week (my last week) in the hospital.

Of course, now that I´m almost leaving, I´m starting to feel at home in San Jose. We´ve been able to go out more- we´ve seen a few movies, and last night we went to a bar downtown. I´m not afraid to walk through the town alone, catch a cab or bus, or speak to Ticos anymore! I´ve been getting more comfortable with my host family, so it´s sad that I´ll be leaving in just a few days. This time has gone by so fast, and I´ve considered extending my program, but I don´t think I have the money!

Today was my last day in the hospital, and it was a good last day. We played with a bunch of little girls, and they were so sweet! Afterwards, we went downtown to an artisans market to do a little shopping. I got a Costa Rica hammock that I´ve been wanting the whole time I´ve been here :)

As for now, I´m planning my trip for this weekend... to Panama!

Hasta luego!!