Heard a scream the other day...went down to look and this guy was slithering from the kitchen to the bathroom downstairs at my office!! Pretty much just glad it wasn't me who found it in the first place
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Unwanted Visitor
Heard a scream the other day...went down to look and this guy was slithering from the kitchen to the bathroom downstairs at my office!! Pretty much just glad it wasn't me who found it in the first place
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
My (Much Needed) Trip Home
Originally, my mom and I were making plans for her to come visit in April. I needed to leave the country for at least 72 hours to renew my visa, so we were thinking of traveling in Panama for a bit. BUTTT I kind of changed my mind :).
One day, most likely over another plate of rice and beans, it hit me that I needed a little break.
I've made good friends with the girls studying abroad here and we have a lot of fun on the weekends, but the truth is that work is stressful, trying to communicate in Spanish is frustrating...and I think I was coming dangerously close to reaching my limit.
I had three months of built up cravings for my good friends, good food and just being HOME.
It was exactly what I needed when I got off the plane for my layover and could use my cell phone!!! I immediately bought my favorite magazines and overpriced airport candy. I was greeted at O'Hare by my mom, dad, and excited puppy Avery. So good to see them!
As the week went on, I realized that the tiniest things pleased me. My bed, free of beetles. Obviously the cell phone and my car, but just to be able to walk up to someone in a store and ask about where something is. Without wondering how to say it. Or to be in a store that actually carries what it is I'm looking for, for that matter. The ease with which I could do everything and get anything I needed was AMAZING to me.
I can't hop in my car and run to the store here. Or go rent a movie. Or really go anywhere during the week. I can't call anyone I want to. For about 2 months, I couldnt get on the internet where I live. And half the time I can't communicate what I want to say face to face...so it's no wonder that my life in the US now seems like such a breeze!
It was so great to see all of my friends. And so nice of them to all come out to dinner with me when I got to Columbia :) I think I probably have the best friends ever, but that's something I knew before I left anyways. Maybe it's that I missed and can better appreciate being around people who know me so well.
I think the transition back here was even harder after having had a taste of home. On one hand I do love how simple my life is here. I love biking to work. I love having a set little schedule and sometimes I do even like not having a phone, feeling less attached. So I'm not sure if I should feel guilty that I often miss all those little luxuries I left behind. Or maybe it's enough that I know I will appreciate them so much more when I return.
I almost even feel guilty now that I can get on the internet without at least first getting up and biking to the computer lab....almost.
One day, most likely over another plate of rice and beans, it hit me that I needed a little break.
I've made good friends with the girls studying abroad here and we have a lot of fun on the weekends, but the truth is that work is stressful, trying to communicate in Spanish is frustrating...and I think I was coming dangerously close to reaching my limit.
I had three months of built up cravings for my good friends, good food and just being HOME.
It was exactly what I needed when I got off the plane for my layover and could use my cell phone!!! I immediately bought my favorite magazines and overpriced airport candy. I was greeted at O'Hare by my mom, dad, and excited puppy Avery. So good to see them!
As the week went on, I realized that the tiniest things pleased me. My bed, free of beetles. Obviously the cell phone and my car, but just to be able to walk up to someone in a store and ask about where something is. Without wondering how to say it. Or to be in a store that actually carries what it is I'm looking for, for that matter. The ease with which I could do everything and get anything I needed was AMAZING to me.
I can't hop in my car and run to the store here. Or go rent a movie. Or really go anywhere during the week. I can't call anyone I want to. For about 2 months, I couldnt get on the internet where I live. And half the time I can't communicate what I want to say face to face...so it's no wonder that my life in the US now seems like such a breeze!
It was so great to see all of my friends. And so nice of them to all come out to dinner with me when I got to Columbia :) I think I probably have the best friends ever, but that's something I knew before I left anyways. Maybe it's that I missed and can better appreciate being around people who know me so well.
I think the transition back here was even harder after having had a taste of home. On one hand I do love how simple my life is here. I love biking to work. I love having a set little schedule and sometimes I do even like not having a phone, feeling less attached. So I'm not sure if I should feel guilty that I often miss all those little luxuries I left behind. Or maybe it's enough that I know I will appreciate them so much more when I return.
I almost even feel guilty now that I can get on the internet without at least first getting up and biking to the computer lab....almost.
Catching Up
It's been a month since I've updated...but I have my new computer now after my trip home!! So I'm going to start back with Semana Santa...
Kaia's friend Francesca came to visit from Norway at the perfect time because we all got a Thursday and Friday off. So we headed out of EARTH on a packed bus on Wednesday afternoon to San Jose. We checked in to "Costa Rica Backpackers" and then just walked around the city for a while. I havent really spent that much time exploring San Jose, and it doesn't have the best reputation as being a nice place to visit, but there are some prettier parts I think.
We met up with Luis, Luis Miguel and Javier later that night at a cool little bar downtown, then went back to Luis´ house where I refused shots of Cacique because I know where that gets me now haha! It was just a relaxed, fun night and good to see the guys before they headed off on their own for the rest of the week.
The next day, Kaia, Francesca and I got up early and caught the shuttle to Monteverde. Hopped out when we stopped at a hotel to pick up some other people and scored ourselves some breakfast from Dennys...who knew they had Dennys here ha! We switched buses a couple hours later at Limonal, then began the steep, bumpy, dusty, completely uphill journey to Monteverde. We stayed at a cute little cabin on a dusty road in Santa Elena with great views of the surrounding hills. And there was actually a breeze up there! Definitely a change from the heavy, humid weather I've gotten used to down here in Guácimo.
View from the kitchen of our little hostel
We barely had time to eat before it was time for our canopy tour! Our tour guides came and picked us up and took us further up the mountain to get us all fitted with out ziplining gear. We walked through the cloud forest for a while and came to the "Tarzan Swing," where you climb a platform, get hooked up to a rope and step to the edge of the platform...and then youre flying!! Really cool to be swinging in between all the trees. This is supposed to get you used to the feeling of ziplining, but I think it was the scariest part haha. Ziplining was so fun! Its so easy and pretty impossible to mess up (unlike repelling in Australia hah). The views got better and better as we zipped from platform to platform until you could look out in the middle of the line and see for miles.
At one point we got to climb up inside a massive tree and up a shaky rope ladder to the next platform! The tour was about 2 hours and sooo worth it!
We spent the night in Monteverde and then caught the shuttle the next morning to Tamarindo Beach in Guanacaste. We got there early afternoon to "The Chocolate Hostel," which of course was further from the beach than advertised. But it was really nice and clean and we had our own balcony and little hammock...so I can't complain! We just dropped our bags and headed straight to the beach. Costa Ricans were warning us that the beaches would be packed since it was Semana Santa, but I didn't really think so...or maybe I'm just used to beaches being pretty packed in the US. The weather could not have been any more perfect and we just layed out for the rest of the afternoon, then watched the sunset from the beach.
We ate dinner at a small restaurant right on the beach that night. They werent serving alcohol because of the holiday, but our waiter seemed to take a liking to us and brought us a few free drinks anyways haha. We went to a club afterwards just to check it out, but it was so packed and we ended up just squeezing onto the balcony and parking ourselves there.
And that's where we met son. see above haha. This 18-year-old on spring break from Michigan decided to try and hit on us, and then got really awkward when he found out we were 22..and really nervous when he found out Kaia and Francesca were from Norway. So we decided to just make it worse and ask him "Isnt it a bit late for you to be out?" "What would your parents think?" and I think Francesca called him son hahah. Poor kid.
The next day was my dream day, just laying out, drinking smoothies on the beach and relaxing, but we all got a little burnt and Francesca wasnt feeling too well so we didnt go out that night. Kaia and Francesca were heading to La Fortuna the next day, but I had to get back to work, so I rolled out of bed at 5:30am the next morning to catch a bus to Santa Cruz. I wandered around the dusty little town until I found the bus station to Nicoya and was pretty proud of myself when I made it there to meet Matt. He was driving back to EARTH from Guanacaste as well...and any time I can avoid taking buses, I'll do it!
It was SUCH a perfect week until I got home on Sunday and started feeling a little weird. I took a nap...still felt bad...then it began. I threw up for 12 hours straight, was pretty much incoherent and remember having thoughts of just trying to get to the phone to call the medical center. It was truly awful and I think probably the sickest I've ever been. Turns out the same thing was happening to Kaia in Tamarindo! So we think it was food poisoning. ick. But I recovered pretty quick and had my trip home to look forward to...!
Kaia's friend Francesca came to visit from Norway at the perfect time because we all got a Thursday and Friday off. So we headed out of EARTH on a packed bus on Wednesday afternoon to San Jose. We checked in to "Costa Rica Backpackers" and then just walked around the city for a while. I havent really spent that much time exploring San Jose, and it doesn't have the best reputation as being a nice place to visit, but there are some prettier parts I think.
We met up with Luis, Luis Miguel and Javier later that night at a cool little bar downtown, then went back to Luis´ house where I refused shots of Cacique because I know where that gets me now haha! It was just a relaxed, fun night and good to see the guys before they headed off on their own for the rest of the week.
The next day, Kaia, Francesca and I got up early and caught the shuttle to Monteverde. Hopped out when we stopped at a hotel to pick up some other people and scored ourselves some breakfast from Dennys...who knew they had Dennys here ha! We switched buses a couple hours later at Limonal, then began the steep, bumpy, dusty, completely uphill journey to Monteverde. We stayed at a cute little cabin on a dusty road in Santa Elena with great views of the surrounding hills. And there was actually a breeze up there! Definitely a change from the heavy, humid weather I've gotten used to down here in Guácimo.
View from the kitchen of our little hostel
We barely had time to eat before it was time for our canopy tour! Our tour guides came and picked us up and took us further up the mountain to get us all fitted with out ziplining gear. We walked through the cloud forest for a while and came to the "Tarzan Swing," where you climb a platform, get hooked up to a rope and step to the edge of the platform...and then youre flying!! Really cool to be swinging in between all the trees. This is supposed to get you used to the feeling of ziplining, but I think it was the scariest part haha. Ziplining was so fun! Its so easy and pretty impossible to mess up (unlike repelling in Australia hah). The views got better and better as we zipped from platform to platform until you could look out in the middle of the line and see for miles.
At one point we got to climb up inside a massive tree and up a shaky rope ladder to the next platform! The tour was about 2 hours and sooo worth it!
We spent the night in Monteverde and then caught the shuttle the next morning to Tamarindo Beach in Guanacaste. We got there early afternoon to "The Chocolate Hostel," which of course was further from the beach than advertised. But it was really nice and clean and we had our own balcony and little hammock...so I can't complain! We just dropped our bags and headed straight to the beach. Costa Ricans were warning us that the beaches would be packed since it was Semana Santa, but I didn't really think so...or maybe I'm just used to beaches being pretty packed in the US. The weather could not have been any more perfect and we just layed out for the rest of the afternoon, then watched the sunset from the beach.
We ate dinner at a small restaurant right on the beach that night. They werent serving alcohol because of the holiday, but our waiter seemed to take a liking to us and brought us a few free drinks anyways haha. We went to a club afterwards just to check it out, but it was so packed and we ended up just squeezing onto the balcony and parking ourselves there.
And that's where we met son. see above haha. This 18-year-old on spring break from Michigan decided to try and hit on us, and then got really awkward when he found out we were 22..and really nervous when he found out Kaia and Francesca were from Norway. So we decided to just make it worse and ask him "Isnt it a bit late for you to be out?" "What would your parents think?" and I think Francesca called him son hahah. Poor kid.
The next day was my dream day, just laying out, drinking smoothies on the beach and relaxing, but we all got a little burnt and Francesca wasnt feeling too well so we didnt go out that night. Kaia and Francesca were heading to La Fortuna the next day, but I had to get back to work, so I rolled out of bed at 5:30am the next morning to catch a bus to Santa Cruz. I wandered around the dusty little town until I found the bus station to Nicoya and was pretty proud of myself when I made it there to meet Matt. He was driving back to EARTH from Guanacaste as well...and any time I can avoid taking buses, I'll do it!
It was SUCH a perfect week until I got home on Sunday and started feeling a little weird. I took a nap...still felt bad...then it began. I threw up for 12 hours straight, was pretty much incoherent and remember having thoughts of just trying to get to the phone to call the medical center. It was truly awful and I think probably the sickest I've ever been. Turns out the same thing was happening to Kaia in Tamarindo! So we think it was food poisoning. ick. But I recovered pretty quick and had my trip home to look forward to...!
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