Hasta Luego Costa Rica!

Well we have just wrapped up our time in Costa Rica and it went SO FAST! I think it was because we were so busy. But busy with really exciting things! There was parents´weekend, my parents didn´t come but I enjoyed meeting the parents of about half of us CASPians. We spend the weekend doing more touristy things like spending time in the capital, San Jose, visiting Volcan Poaz, going to the waterfall gardens and eating lunch at a coffee cooperative. We wrapped up the weekend by having a nice dinner at Lars´house outside of San Jose. Lars is a student in our group and he grew up in Costa Rica so we were able to see where his parents are living and I am so glad cuz his mom is a FANTASTIC cook! I had cheesecake, oh my goodness it was good.

The next week we spent in the cloud forests of Monteverde in homestays. I had an awesome homestay experience. I was living with an elderly couple who would not stop feeding me. Oh my, they just wanted me to eat every single thing they had in the house! They also had an 8 year old grandson staying in the house who I really enjoyed hanging out with! While at Monteverde we studied at a ecolodge/satellite campus for the University of Georgia. We learned about biodiversity, preservation, FairTrade and conservation. I soaked it up it was really interesting. Also, the best part of the week ZIPLINING! We had the opportunity zipline through the jungle and it was unreal. Flying through the air, above all the beautiful vegetation I just laughed and thought I´M IN CLASS RIGHT NOW WOOHOO!!!

We got back last Friday to the Center and for our final night (and my 20th birthday) we all got dressed up and went out for a night on the town! We ate really good Italian food (normally NEVER trust pasta in Latin America but we had it on good authority that this place was delicious and it was). I had an incredible birthday due largely in part because it happened that our third professor arrived and brought mail from our loved ones! We all go crazy when the mail comes out, it is like Christmas on steroids. I never imagined how amazing it could be to recieve simple notes from my friends and family but it really made my birthday the best so THANK YOU if you are reading this and sent me your love! Sadly, the next day we had to say goodbye to Costa Rica but were on our way to adventures in Nicaragua. We are in Nicaragua now, it has been a rough start but since I don´t have time to detail it now I will wait until my next post.

I learned so much in Costa Rica, it seemed like every adventure and every excursion was right up my alley. Once again, I would love to return to this beautiful country. It seems as though each country I visit can´t get better than the last and then it does! I am so pumped for what adventures we will encounter in Nicaragua!

Exploring the bridges of the Monteverde rain forest. This is where we got to zipline through a series of 13 cables above the forest. It was defintely one of the most awing things I have done.

Dressed up to go out for my 20th birthday! We really embraced the occasion to take a shower and wear something other than tanks, shorts and sandals. It was a fantastic night and a really happy birthday!

The double take that all the boys did was great when they saw all of us girls :)

At the waterfall gardens. I got to shake a monkey´s hand, hold a red eyed tree frog, watch a jaguar fight and enjoy some incredibly beautiful waterfalls. AWESOME!

Me and Al in the butterfly garden. Shortly thereafter was the hummingbird garden, frog house and snake house. This place was really amazing but probably 100 times more touristy than any other place we have been thus far. I think it was a little bit of culture shock for most of us haha

This is the coffee field, processing plant and restaurant that we visited during parents weekend. We were just so happy about learning more about coffee that we had to jump for joy!