I’m writing to you from Quepos, Costa Rica and although it’s only been a short while, it’s felt like a lifetime!
Everyday that has passed has been filled with something, someone, and some place new. It’s hard to describe in words the extraordinary experiences that I have been blessed to be a part of, but I’ll try my best.
I began my journey a few days before the rest of the group. I had stayed at a small, quiet hostel in San Jose growing more and more fond of the Costa Rican air every moment. I enjoyed my time alone but was ready to be in a group and take on a new adventure with new people.
The first day was jam packed with excitement and everyone’s eyes were as wide as can be. A two hour bus ride from the airport, to then seeing the crocodiles in Rio GrandeTárcoles, meeting our host family and roommates, and finally hitting the beach at Manuel Antonio.
The sun was hot and the water warm and blue as we all began to get to know each other dunking under giant waves and doing our best to not get sucked into the riptide. The fun and confusion within navigating the streets with no names and still having to learn each other's names was a jigsaw puzzle at first. Then there’s figuring out colones or dollars? Or; there goes the bus! All of the adversities so far have lead to memories, and these memories are worth more than all the colones in Costa Rica!
Karaoke nights and beach walks. Surfing, yoga, and Geordie’s economic geography class that gets interrupted by mother nature's fierce precipitation upon the tin roofs… that then floods the classroom. Or the 5-year-old's music class above us and Jurassic Park theme song on the piano next door for an hour straight. Every class is an adventure.
The immersion within the Tico culture is such a privilege, observing the dynamic of this small town that is Quepos where everyone knows each other, honking the horn on their moped or a “Pura Vida” as they walk past each other. Dogs and cats sauntering around the town and monkeys running across power lines are the norm. Although power and light are never guaranteed for the whole day as a storm may roll in around 4, so always be prepared (this I still have to remind myself).
Our most recent endeavor was brought to us by Alvaro, the neighborhood ceviche guy, who hooked us up with a zip lining adventure. My host mom, Marisol, introduced us to this sweet bald man with a big smile who said he could help us out since we mentioned the desire to be dangling 50 ft above the ground. We took an hour-long bus ride into the jungle to the site where we were greeted with exotic blue butterflies floating in a garden, a pond with Paco and Lola the crocodiles, and a maze of ziplines cloaked by the dense jungle. The whole experience was incredible and something most of us had never done before. After swinging from one platform to another, suspension lines, and dangling upside down we had our delicious almuerzo típica… rice and beans!
This has been an adventure of a lifetime and although I could write a thousand more words I’ll show some pictures worth just that, Pura vida!
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