Fiesta de Mariela!

Monday after our weekend at Puerto Viejo, my host mom, Mariela, had here graduation BBQ party! She finished classes are her university, and threw a party to celebrate with family and friends. Both family from Mariela's side and Kenneth's side were invited, along with some of Mariela's classmates and friends.  We had a blast, with our very own Kenneth as DJ!

Soon after, we had our very own Mariachi band join us in the backyard to serenade Mariela!  It was a fun night full of dancing and great food. Congrats, Mariela! <3

Mariachi band walking in

My crazy roommates! <3

Kenneth and Laura dancing!

Kenneth and Mariela dancing!

Mariela and her classmates/friends

~"Be the most wonderful expression that you're capable of."~

Puerto Viejo, Round 2!

Two weekends ago now (please excuse my tardiness on blogging), my roommates and I went to Puerto Viejo! The six of us packed up and went on our own! The previous weekends we had all been going with our programs, so this was going on a limb traveling by ourselves. It was quite the adventure, if you want to put it that way! It wasn't too bad on the way there, but the way back was a mayhem, but more on that later... Four of us arrived early - Elizabeth, Anabel, Tyana, and I - around 4 or 5pm. We made our way to the hostel we were to stay at for the weekend, which was about a 10 minute walk from town. The walk was absolutely beautiful through the rain forest along the coast. We stayed at Rocking J's, a crazy unique hostel - full of mosaic floors and walls and indie music playing in the background. The bed options included regular things like rooms and tents, but the attraction of this hostel was the option to stay in hammocks! What an experience, it was so awesome!! Surprisingly, it was very comfortable sleeping two nights in them... Guess what I'm bringing home :D 

Hammocks at Rocking J's

Cameron and Laura came a couple hours later with the majority of the other people from our school, Veritas.  I liked to call it gringo weekend. We had dinner at a restaurant called the Flip Flop while waiting for the other two girls. When they got there we went to another restaurant called Chile Rojo that was playing awesome live reggae music. That night we went out the Mango, where most of the gringos went for the night. It was tons of fun! I had met a tico named Marlon last time I went to Puerto Viejo, and this time, we met up again and all hung out. I was able to practice my Spanish a lot, since Marlon only knew some broken English. It was quite a fun night!  

Me, Marlon, and Laura

Saturday, all of us roommates spent almost the entire day at the beach! Laura has an underwater camera, which meant we had to take millions of underwater and in-water photos... :)  

About halfway through our day, Marlon found us relaxing on the beach and joined us. We met a couple new friends of the canine type, including a very friendly black dog! I've never seen a place have so many seemingly homeless dogs, it must be the capitol. haha  Saturday night we went out to Mango and Tex Mex again. I played a game of darts for the first time with Marlon and another girl, it was so fun! I rocked it, for being the first time I've played. Sunday was departure day, and after leisurely getting up, we went to lunch and to buy our bus tickets back. Calling mayhem! I don't need to get into detail, but all I have to say is Puerto Viejo's bus system is quite unorganized! In the end, three of us took the bus we wanted, and the other three of us took a taxi to the next town, and a bus from there back to San Jose. Luckily, we all made it home by Sunday evening. Puerto Viejo was a relaxing and fun time, it never lets me down!! <3

~"The summer night is like a perfection of thought." -Wallace Stevens~

La Selva Biological Station

This weekend was a field trip with my Tropical Ecology class to a rain forest on the Caribbean coast.  La Selva is a private organization dedicated to studying wildlife in the rain forest near Braulio Carrillo National Park. 

 We spent Saturday and Sunday hiking around in the forest. Saturday we got there around 11 and had lunch at the indoor/outdoor at the dining hall, which we feasted at every meal. Those scientists don't lack having great food! Afterwards, we went on a hike as a class along with the Ecological Photography class for a few hours.  It was a great time and I learned so much!  We talked about the green vine snake, the walking palm, the tree Sura, and many others.  After dinner at 6pm, we went on a night walk in smaller groups. The nightlife is incredible, there are probably like 10 times more animals out at night, most being insects - YUCK! We saw things such as praying manti, bullet ants, frogs, and a couple common pauraque, which is a bird that comes out at night and nests around the grasses near bushes.  

Green Vine Snake

Bromeliad - a plant that grow on anther tree, but isn't  parasitic. 

Sunday, a few people got up at the crack of dawn to go bird watching, and I made the mistake of not going.. BUT there is a next time for me, in two weeks in fact. I am so glad my Land Vertebrates of Costa Rica class is going back. Anyways, after breakfast, we split into groups of two or three for our project with the photography students. We each had a partner, and in my case, there were three of us. We had the assignment to photograph bromeliads.  Bromeliads are plants that grow on trees, but aren't necessarily parasitic. At the end, we pick a photo to present and describe to the rest of the class.  So we spent the morning on a trail that went deeper into the forest, where the path became narrow and the wildlife a little more diverse. It was a beautiful time, and I couldn't help but stop and photograph constantly. During this time, we spotted howler monkeys, lizards, a beautifully radiant green spider, and two nesting crested owls! This sighting made my day!! I love owls, and now have decided to do my research project for my Land Verts class on the crested owl :D One of the last cool things we saw was a hummingbird's nest. It was one of the most intricate and tiny nests I have every seen. My love for hummingbirds was also satisfied. In all my years feeding hummingbirds in my backyard, I had only seen one other nest. I am so glad I got a great photo!

There was no way to capture the full beauty and teeming life, but I will share with you as best I can. :) 

Can you spot the crested owls?

Hummingbird Nest

"The two most important days in your life are the day you are born, and the day you find out why." -Mark Twain

In My Free Time: Mission Photo!

Well the first month of morning Spanish classes are over. And since this month I'm not taking a morning class, I have TONS of free time on my hands.  Yesterday I was pondering all the possibilities with which I can spent my time. A new photo project then occurred to me! 

I have decided to look deeper into the culture of Costa Rica by exploring the vast amounts of life that grows here.  While on a run the other day, I noticed several times the occurrence of plants reaching out from between fence posts or growing between the concrete. Amongst places where nature doesn't necessarily have a place, life persists. It is a pretty generic project, but every photography student should have some of those, right? It helps on your specific journey in photography and in life.  As I thought more about this project, I couldn't help but relate. Even in the most ugly of places, beauty is present. I have decided this project symbolizes the beauty in the little things, in every single person, and in places where beauty is unexpected. 

So far, I have started my project with the tiny fern plant growing along side my house. It is the anchor photo in this series, since it inspired the first thought.

~"If we could see the miracle of one flower clearly, your whole life would change."~ 

An Attempt at a Trip to Irazu Volcano

This weekend I stayed here in San Jose and yesterday some of took a trip to hike around Volcan Irazu. Luck was not out for us yesterday. We spent two hours trying to flag down a bus to take us to Cartago, the town close to the volcano.  Our Tico friend told us that is what we were supposed to do, but we came to find out we were not standing on a certain cement block meant to be a bus station! Eventually we were too frustrated to continue, and our Tico friend Carlos, had to drive back and pick us up. Finally we were on our way to the volcano, but by the time we got up there, they had closed for the day!! Talk about luckless! haha So we reluctantly turned around and headed back down the hill. We stopped at this soda (aka diner) and had an afternoon snack. On the way down the hill, we stopped several times to take photos of the absolutely stunning sunset. By far one of the most beautiful sunsets of my life!!!!

Tamarindo Beach

Last weekend was our last excursion together as an Independent group. (There are several different groups of study abroad programs, all of which go to different places for excursions on the weekends.) We went to the beautiful town of Tamarindo! It was such a great little place, I loved it! But then again, what place don't I like here in Costa Rica... haha Tamarindo was definitely more touristy than the other places I have been, and in turn,there was more expensive food and merchandise.  The beach was absolutely stunning!  

Just a part of Tamarindo Beach

Roommates!

Here at Tamarindo, we didn't have much on the agenda besides chill on the beach, all day long! <3 It was so so great to be able to just relax and be worry-free.  People were swimming, tanning, and tons of us from the group learned how to surf! I decided that my horrible balance lost me the chance to try it out, but maybe some day! I thoroughly enjoyed just walking along the beach, tanning (or trying to...), and swimming. Two of my roommates from another study abroad program also went to Tamarindo, so I was able to see them. It was unfortunate though that we didn't get to see each other the rest of the time. That's how large this beach was! Saturday evening we walked to a rocky area to watch the sunset, it was a beautiful thing. Saturday night, the group spent almost the entire night out at the beach. Under a full moon, we had the time of our lives. I cannot say enough how blessed my life is!

Sunset at a part of Tamarindo Beach

Sunday, Nikki, Lexi, and I went walking down the very far part of the beach, in search of hermit crabs we heard rumors about! Unfortunately, we didn't find any, but in its place, there were thousands and thousands of shells washed up on the beach!! This gave me the idea (along with Pinterest) to fill a glass container full of shells I collected from all the beaches I've been to. Sure, you can buy these at the store, but not only was this free, I will also have several great stories for all the shells and a memory forever. 

Shells at Tamarindo Beach 

All in all, it was yet another great trip! Love life.

Mas Comida and The Church of Cartago

Mercado de Cartago

The food here in Costa Rica just keeps getting better and better! Our Spanish class took a field trip last Friday to Cartago, a town about half and hour away from San Jose. We went to a local farmer's market called Mercado de Cartago and browsed among the tons and tons of stands full of all kinds of fruit! It was quite the colorful event. 

Carambola (Starfruit)

Pejibaye (una verdura)

Maracuya - A fruit I did a presentation about in my Spanish class.

The typical bakery

I tried a pastry called pastel de Guayaba- amazingly good!!

While wondering around the market, my friend Sam and I stumbled upon some hedgehogs for sale!! Thus, I took the opportunity to hold one for the first time! Those little spikes aren't for nothing.  Every time they're spooked, they prick their spines out. It was a very interesting but painful thing to experience. They were such darling creatures, nonetheless. 

On our field trip, we also saw a church in Cartago names Basilica de Cartago. It was absolutely beautiful architecturally and spiritually.  My professor, Silvia, shared with us the importance of the Virgin Mary to the Central American culture.  This belief is called Marianismo.  This is the symbol for acceptance of one's identity and one's culture. It was a beautiful thing to see people in their holy place.

Basilica de Cartago

Inside Basilica de Cartago

Where is your holy place?

Beautiful Architecture outside the church

Exploring all the beautiful tropical fruit and vegetables, experiencing the Basilica de Cartago, and holding a hedge by far made my day.

~"I have found that if you love life, life will love you right back."-Arthur Rubinstein~