Una Perrita, Bella!

Tuesday night, we added a new member to our Tico family! I came back home late into the night from the soccer games and there in the family room, Cami was holding a tiny little baby! What a surprise!! Her name is Bella, and she is one of the most precious puppies. I've always wanted to have a puppy and watch them grow up and what do you know, dreams always come true in Costa Rica! Que precioso.  

 Se llama Bella.

Trying to fit in with Luna and Sophia.  

                                                                                                             

"Notice the small things, and the world always seems large." 

El Futbol de Costa Rica

Tuesday I spent all day at the stadium having a great time watching the soccer games! For only $12, it was a good time.  It was my goal to watch Costa Rica play at least once live, because after all, I am in Costa Rica - where everyone loves futbol! We watched three games total. Nicaragua was beat by Belize 1-2. Second game, Panama tied to Honduras 1-1. The last and most exciting game was Costa Rica vs Guatemala! Unfortunately, they tied, but it was nonetheless a good game!

Tropical Forests and Costa Rican Coffee

This past weekend was definitely a beautiful one!! Saturday was our trip to the Volcano Poas and La Paz Waterfall. We had to leave at the crack of dawn, but it was totally worth it. We stopped at a coffee shop for some coffee and to check out one of many the coffee plantations in Costa Rica.  Then we headed up to the mountain, where it slowly got colder and colder. Little did we know it was going to be rainy and cold up at the top.. I was a bit unprepared without a rain jacket, but I made do. Fortunately, there is a certain plant called "Poor Man's Umbrella". I'm sure you can guess why? It has the biggest leaves I've ever seen!!! 

"Poor Man's Umbrella" putting it to good use!

The walk up to the crater was wet and when we finally reached it, it was too cloudy to see anything of the crater! Sad day.. :( Next, we adventured to La Paz Waterfall. By this time, it was about noon and all of us were STARVING! We were definitely looking forward to the buffet at La Paz and absolutely chowed down. My stomach was hurting so bad from the sudden large input of food and coffee. When I felt like I could finally walk again, Nikki, Lexi, Alexis, and I went exploring around the animal exhibits.  They had so many wildcats I was in love!! The only huge bummer was that my camera decided to die right as we start exploring. I mean, I suppose it was my fault for not charging it ahead of time. Que mal! We saw tons of ocelots, baby and adults, and a HUGE jaguar. He was such beauty! I cross my fingers in hopes of seeing one of these guys on our field trips, sadly there is almost no chance of seeing one because of how shy they can be.   

The descent down to the waterfall was quite the climb down! I should've counted how many stairs we had to go down, but I  know it was tons!! Completely worth it though, because we were surrounded by serene rain forest. La Paz was an incredible sight just like every waterfall is. Energetic yet calming, I had such a great time there.  Slowly being covered in a mist of water didn't bother me much compared to the beauty I watched in exchange. After spending a good amount of time at the store at the bottom- internally struggling whether or not to buy everything in the store- we headed back home.    

Sunday, we went to the coffee plantation of Cafe Britt. We took a tour of the plantation and the process of making coffee beans in their factory. It was an interesting tour, but I was anxious to check out the shop!! It was full of all kinds of different coffee they make right there at Cafe Britt.  I took quite some time deciding which two (my self limit) coffee types I wanted. Then I spent some more time checking out all the different kinds of coffee!! Guava chocolate, passion fruit chocolate, macadamia nut chocolate were just a few.  I spent some well deserved colones there, and I don't regret it. :)

 "You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover is yourself."

Pura Vida in Puerto Viejo!

This weekend I went on an excursion to the Rasta town of Puerto Viejo.  Below is my journal entry on the bus ride on Friday. 

I can't believe I'm here, driving to the Caribbean beach right now. This is THE life. haha I am so lucky to be able to do these things, it is incredible the amount of opportunities I get to take advantage of.  

Currently, we're driving through the rain forest and needless to say, it is BEAUTIFUL! Just such a laid back, relaxing atmosphere that just makes my heart happy. The display of life here seems to give me life. I may be a dreamer, but it brings me tons of joy and I am truly happy. <3 We have two hours left on this ride til we reach Puerto Viejo! 

Sunset on the bus ride to Puerto Viejo

Overall, I have to say Puerto Viejo is my favorite place EVER!!! It's true that this is the first place I've traveled to outside of San Jose, but I can say with confidence this place is the best! It is a little town on the coast of the Caribbean by Limon, Costa Rica. Its such an awesome place with its little Jamaican twist to it. Everyone was soo friendly, when our bus drove by the tiny shops, the ticos would wave and smile, I love it!!  We stayed in the Hotel Maritza and took a tour in the Cahuita National Park. I was really excited to go snorkeling, but unfortunately the water was unsuitable! It was truly incredible walking through the forest and spotting many different species of animals. I had to kick myself for not bringing my Canon 50D!! Nonetheless my little camera did some good work, as shown below. :)

Eyelashed Viper on a palm leaf
We also saw tons and tons of sloths!!! Cutest little boogers EVER!!! Our group was lucky enough to witness a sloth descending down form the trees, which meant amazing photo opportunities!! <3

Two Toed Sloth
I may have to warn you now, many more animal and nature photos are to come during my study abroad experience.. I just can't help it:) We've always been taught to share, right?

Saturday we spent most of the day on the beach. I tried to soak up as much sun as my body could handle, but, alas, I'm still a white skinned, freckly girl! haha Sunday was a day of adventure! We hiked through another forest where the trail was almost completely mud and grime, so epic!! haha It was then that it really hit me that I was in a rain forest. :D at the end of our hike we ended up at this beach that had a rock formation off in the water.  It was an amazing site!
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I am determined to go back there for another weekend while I'm here in Costa Rica!! Lets goo!

~The rewards of the journey far outweigh the risks of leaving the harbor.~

Travel, Travel, Travel

Now that I have had both my Tropical Ecology class and Land Vertebrates of Costa Rica classes, I've figured out where I'm traveling for weekend field trips! I have three trips total, I love traveling! I am so lucky to have these opportunities.  

I can't wait for La Selva to see one of these little guys! 

La Selva is a biological station I will be traveling to with both of my classes. I'm excited to go explore the jungle and see many plants and animals. Can someone say nerd? I do look forward to seeing spider monkeys again! I used to work with three spider monkeys at a zoo back home. I can tell you that they are cute, but VERY crazy and annoying. Unfortunately, I find myself missing those little guys, along with the bobcats, tigers, wolves, cougars, and other animals. 

I will also be traveling to Palo Verde, which is a National Park on the Pacific side of the country. Its a dry forest, so it looks a lot different from the rain forests. There's still a ton of diversity though, and I look forward to the photo opportunities!

This is what I will see in Pelo Verde.

~"A wise man travels to discover himself."~

Regalos y Salsa Tiempo! (Presents and Salsa Time!)

Tonight has been an eventful night! We gave Monse her presents (I borrowed one to give her from Anabel), and she loved them. She is the cutest little girl EVER. We all love her very much. :) We definitely showered her with love tonight.  

This is love in its most simple form.

After gift opening, Tyana, Anabel, Laura, Cami, and I went Salsa dancing!  Well, mostly we learned how to Salsa and I'm not the best dancer, but we can keep that on the DL... I feel like I learned very quickly. I give all the credit to my best friend Tay for having a passion for the Spanish culture and teaching me how to Salsa once or twice. <3  There is a Salsa contest coming up soon apparently, and Tyana and I are looking at entering. WOO lets do this!

~"The rewards of the journey far outweigh the risk of leaving the harbor."~

La Comida de Costa Rica es Muy Delicioso!

If you think you have tried legit delicious Mexican food, you thought wrong! Costa Rican cooking beats most all, seriously! Since Friday morning, I've have eaten everything at every meal. It's beyond excellent. They have rice and beans with every meal.  One night here at my homestay, I had rice, guacamole, and this beef melody- made of beef, beans, and pico de gayo- Fue muy delicioso! 

Last night was the first night all of us girls were present and had dinner together. Kenneth made a dish very similar to what we Americans would call taco salad.  In Costa Rica, they call it Chifrijo.  It made of a tortilla cooked into a shell, with rice, beans, pico de gallo, guacamole, and pork. Nothing can beat it!

Chifrijo

Today, Tyana, Laura, Cami and I decided to check out the snack store nearby. They have tons of Costa Rican snacks, including one I picked up because it looked a lot like the what we would normally have in the US! 

We'll see how this compares to the American version... but I have faith in them. :)

Clases y Un Perro

Ah the joys of starting classes again! It's normal for me to not look forward to classes again after winter break, and being in beautiful Costa Rica makes it EVEN HARDER!! 

So far, I've have had my four hour Spanish immersion class this morning.  I'm enrolled in the basic Spanish class because although I have taken a couple years of Spanish, I never retained it, and I can't always understand it when spoken, much less speak it. So I'm looking forward to learning very quickly thanks to this class! 

Here is the view from my class room

Looking at this during class makes me antsy to be outside, not in a classroom! 

First Steps on a Long Adventure!

Hola, Buenos Tardes!
Bear with me as a get the hang of this blogging while living life in Costa Rica. :)

Today marks the 4th day of my new adventure in CR! I'm studying abroad at Universidad Veritas for three months.

This is my first time here in Costa Rica. I've only ever been out of the US to Mexico twice, both on cruises.  I absolutely loved my experience in Mexico, even with how short the visits were.  So later, when I was looking at places to study abroad at, I loved the idea of going to Costa Rica. And, alas, here I am!

I'm staying with a host family who lives right next to Veritas. They are a married couple, Mariela and Kenneth, with a little three year old girl named Monserrat (Monse for short).  They are a sweet, fun family and I have already had tons of fun with them! They have housed 56 study abroad students since 2010.  This year, there are 6 of us girls total. Talk about a party!

Here are a couple photos of the view from my room, which I love very much! Its beautiful waking up to birds chirping every morning.