And the rest is still unwritten...

Costa Rica Day 12 and 13

This is a blog post from Friday and Saturday

Well to start the day, my alarm didn’t go off this morning. I happened to wake up around 7:15 [thankfully] but I was still pushing it to shower, get ready, eat breakfast, and finish packing. By the time I finished everything I had to do that morning, it was about 8:20… not near enough time to walk to class… so I had no other option but to experience my first cab ride, riding solo. I got a cab and told him where I needed to go. We managed to have a few sentences of conversation, but the majority of the time.. I was praying that I would be dropped off at the school and not somewhere else. A short 5 minutes later, I arrived right at the door of the school. I paid the driver [about $1] and made my way to my classroom. Since I had been running late all morning, I didn’t have time to review my notes before I got to class. I do that every single time I have a test, no matter what class it is. I wake up about 15-20 minutes earlier just to read over everything once and assure myself [or not to assure myself] that I understand everything. So when I walked into the classroom, my sweet teacher said that we would review for 30 minutes before the test. It didn’t take long to realize that maybe things were slowly turning around from my frantic try to get myself together this morning.

After our review, it was test time! I completed the test and waited anxiously as she graded it. Bam 94!! I was so excited. Sometimes when I think I do really well on tests, I get the grade back and realize that was not the case. So when I turned in my test today and thought I might of pulled out an A, I begin to worry. What a sigh of relief! Next up, my oral communication test. This one started out a little shaky.. but I quickly recovered and earned a 92 on that one! Two A’s in one day… things are definitely starting to turn around. With the two A’s I got this morning, I secured a B in the class. I am so happy with this B! Not only is it a B, but this B also replaces the other [not so good] grade I got before coming to Costa Rica. I’m a very happy girl going into a great weekend adventure.

We left straight after class today so our weekend adventure. Four hours until our destination for the night. We rode about an hour before we stopped for lunch. The food was pretty good. Typical Costa Rican food. However, it was a buffet style so I got to choose things that I wanted and didn’t want this time. After lunch, we loaded the bus and headed out of town for another 3 hours. Finally, we reached our stopping point for the night. Baldi Springs.

I posted the link on Day 11… but pictures will never do this place justice. Baldi Springs is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. It consists of hot and cold springs including waterfalls, slides, and swim up bars. The scene was absolutely beautiful and I can’t wait to share pictures! I’m sure my honeymoon destination won’t even top this place. One word… amazing! Baldi Springs also has a resort and spa attached. But don’t get too jealous. Of course we didn’t stay at this beautiful resort. We loaded the bus and headed about 5 minutes away to our very own “resort”. Ohhh man… we might as well camped outside. Thankfully, my room was not as bad as other peoples. One of the rooms came with 2 bats. Another room included a family of lizards. And right outside my window? Farm land complete with smelly cows. Awesome. I knew the weekend adventures wouldn’t be spent in a Hilton Hotel, but I also thought that I wouldn’t have to swat bugs away as I slept. Anyways… We made the best of our situation and sat outside on the back porch pretty much all night talking. At least staying up, I was aware of my surroundings.

The next morning, we ate a delicious 5 star breakfast complete with cereal and a banana. Our adventure for today? To hike the mountain next to Arenal Volcano. I enjoyed the volcano hike last weekend, however, this one was entirely uphill. What a workout. After being drenched in sweat and stopping for many water breaks… we reached the top of the mountain and had an amazing view of the volcano. Again, although I have some amazing pictures, the images will never compare to seeing the real deal.

Breathtaking views, cool breeze, and benches to relax on. I could of stayed in that exact location all day, minus the bugs. Shortly after, we loaded the bus and headed towards our next destination all hot and sweaty. We drove about another hour to a port where we then took a boat to another city. After the hour long boat ride, we split into 3 vans and proceeded to drive the remaining 2 hours to our next destination. Monteverde. Thankfully we arrived that night with nothing else on the to do list… I spent the night relaxing and talking with my new friends.

We have begun to kid around about being a family. But in a sense, I guess we are. We were compete strangers 15 days ago. I didn’t know a single name of anyone on the trip… and now, we spend the majority of the hours in a day together. We don’t like to be split up. We prefer to all stay together and complete activities together.

Isn’t it weird how one day we’re all strangers trying to learn everyone’s names…and then 14 days later… we have established new friendships and relationships. I couldn’t of asked for a better group of people to share this experience with. Of course, no single person is like anyone else in the group. But this is what makes us work… this is how we survive day to day. And this is what has established a “family” feeling amongst all of us.