Yesterday, (February 26th!) I went with my new roommate Lisa to the city of Cartago to see the sights there. (Lisa is from Concordia St. Paul)

We took a bus that cost less than a dollar and were dropped off near the ruins.

This church has been destroyed by earthquakes for hundreds of years. Finally, in 1910, it was in the middle of construction when it was hit by another earthquake and has been this way since, unfinished. 

And then we walked a bit in the mist to the Basilica de los Angeles where we arrived early for the noon Mass. And it’s a good thing that we did because by the time church started, the pews were full and people were standing all at the back and near the side entrances and in the aisles. 

I didn’t take any pictures of the inside, but it was all wood and absolutely beautiful.

When we got there, it was between services and people would go to the back of the center aisle, cross themselves, then kneel down and shuffle forward on their knees all the way up to the front of the church where they would pray and receive a blessing. 

The tradicional Mass was very interesting especially since we didn’t pay for a bulletin. But it all worked out in the end. However, after the service was over, we declined staying for the service that would pray to Santa Maria.

Afterwards, we went downstairs to the little shrine of the patron Virgen de Costa Rica. Her name is La Negrita. People traditionally come to her to ask for healing, and the tradition is to bring a little metal figure or symbol of the thing that needs healing.

There is a little exhibit around La Negrita where all the little trinkets are tacked up. There were hundreds of little legs and arms and eyes and stomachs. Lungs, kidneys, noses, ears, torsos, hearts, faces, intestines, among little figurines of people and other statuettes. Also apparently some people leave trophies or medals there to give thanks to La Negrita for offering them success so there was a couple of displays with soccer trophies and plaques and medals and lots of things. 

Soon after, we ate at a little pastry shop out of the rain, and then caught the bus back to San Jose!

Definitely a cultural experience in Cartago. 

This past weekend was A LOT of fun.

It was a combo tour through Tico Tours and it was rather expensive but worth EVERY PENNY.

First, we woke up super early and went to the “Holly de In” to catch a bus and then they took us to the Doka coffee plantation for breakfast. 

Had some wonderful coffee and then took a quick tour of the facilities and then of course bought some coffee! Apparently Starbucks buys some of their coffee from Doka.

Here are some bags of coffee in the “Bodega” or storage area.

Next we went to the Volcano Poas which isn’t really a tradicional volcano. It’s more of a crater. We were pretty lucky and while we were there there weren’t any clouds covering it so we could see it and the lagoon that is an extinct crater of the volcano.

It’s not advisable to swim in EITHER of these ‘lakes.’

After that, we journeyed to La Paz, which is a series of waterfalls and a mini zoo. Also lunch. 

We got to walk through a lot of the animal enclosures (at least the birds/butterflies/humming birds. Not the big cats.)

Why yes there is a toucan on my shoulder. :D

I’m not sure what this little guy was but he was so ADORABLE. :)

TWO SLOTHS SNUGGLING. :D

Sulky monkey.

Do you know how HARD it is to get pictures of humming birds? Let’s just say I have a lot of pictures of empty feeders.

Like my new wheels?

And then onto the waterfalls!

By this time it was misting and very humid so it was a very WET walk to the waterfalls.

At one point we even walked behind one of the waterfalls.

Even fogged up my camera!

It isn’t called a cloud forest for nothing!

And then we had a two hour bus ride back to San Jose.

A VERY fun day. :)

The NEXT week I had some problems with my debit card.

For some reason, the PIN went bad, and after a couple of tries, the ATM ate my card. After countless phone calls, emails, and staking out the ATM several times, I found out that my card had stayed inside the ATM for a week until it was finally taken to the Banco Central where I spent about an hour and a half sitting and waiting to get it back. 

Without a card, I didn’t really do anything the weekend of the 17th-19th. 

But luckily enough, I found my card in time to go on the adventure that was this past weekend!

Delayed blogging, sorry! On the weekend of February 10th-12th me and a group of friends went to Manuel Antonio.

We stayed at a hostel there and went to the Parque Nacional and the public beach there. 

We were also very resourceful and bought food to cook as opposed to eating out. (It’s more expensive there.)

Inside the park (where we went on Saturday) we got our first glimpses of the wildlife, like monkeys and sloths and raccoons. However, the mapaches (racoons) were trying to steal food so I chased them off rather than taking a picture.

Here’s a picture of the cove where we spent most of the day on Saturday inside the National Park. 

It was the prettiest and best beach I’ve been to here in Costa Rica. Very peaceful too. It was inside a little cove so we didn’t have to worry about big waves or riptides.

Oops I guess I did get a pic of the mapaches. You can barely see them though.

We also saw a bunch of monkeys on our way out but the pics aren’t that great. :P The only glimpses of sloths that we got were sloths that were too busy hugging trees and looked more like a distant ball of fluff.

Then we went to the public beach Sunday  morning, basically because it was free.

On the public beach I met a little dog named Chester and his owner Tai. Chester decided to make my towel his home. He was a VERY cute dog.

After that, we traveled back to San Jose for another week of classes!

This weekend I did even more adventuring!

On Friday, me and my friends went exploring a bit around Barrio Cordoba. We went to Pequeno Mundo, which is a giant bulk EVERYTHING store, and then McDonald’s for lunch, and then to the Centro Commercial del Sur (the South Mall). After dinner we went out for a friend’s birthday. 

On Saturday, after finally having the chance to sleep in, we traveled into downtown San Jose where we visited the Centro Mercado (Central Market), walked around, and went to some malls. We also went to the Coca-Cola bus terminal and bought bus tickets for Sunday to Jaco.

On Sunday, we went to the beach that’s closest to San Jose, Jaco. It’s a two hour, four dollar bus ride away. It was hot there yesterday. Very hot. Despite multiple coats of spf 50, I managed to miss some spots and now have some very interesting burns. 

After a couple hours at the beach, we were pretty much done, so we paid $1 for a shower, ate lunch, and took the bus back. Not bad for the first free weekend!

This morning I didn’t have classes because I’m starting a new Spanish class tomorrow. Still have a class in the afternoon, but it’s a nice break. 

Next weekend we’re planning to go to Manuel Antonio to see the National Park and the beach there. Hopefully we’ll see some monkeys?

I’ve held off on this post for over a week waiting for pictures to be sent to me. They haven’t been sent yet, but I’m going to update you anyway! :)

Two Fridays ago (January 27th), my Spanish class took a field trip to the Children’s Museum. It’s a hands-on museum full of tons of information on Costa Rica, the world, science, history, art, light, recycling, etc. etc. 

Despite not being a child, it was a lot of fun. 

A pic from the outside. It used to be a jail.

From the light exhibit. We captured our shadows!

Well after that, ISA took us to Monteverde just in time to catch a beautiful sunset over the mountains.

That Saturday I went both horseback riding and ziplining or Canopying.

Unfortunately I don’t have pictures of the Canopying. I was more worried about not letting myself crash into a tree than taking pictures. The pictures that I’m waiting on are the ones of me Canopying. 

My horse’s name was Rosillo!

Sunday we went to the Cloud Forest Reserve. Everything was green. It was rather cold and wet and misty, but it was still pretty. Didn’t see hardly any animals though.

This is a giant hollowed out log. Looks kind of like a cave, doesn’t it?

This past week of classes has been really busy because it was the final week of my Spanish class. I had a major assignment due every morning, keeping me pretty busy. I did some more adventuring this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, which I shall tell you about in my next post! :)

Sorry it’s been a little while.

The days are starting to slip by faster, which is kind of a good thing I guess. :P

This weekend we went with ISA to the Volcano Arenal region. 

I didn’t go on any excursions again this week but I plan to go on practically everything next week in Monteverde, or the cloud rainforest. 

Anyway, we stayed at a really nice hotel called Los Lagos (the lakes) that had tons of swimming pools and hot springs and several animal farms and plenty of forest and flowers and vegetation. Also, it was built into the foothills of the volcano so it was a long walk everywhere up really steep hills. 

Most of the time, the top of the volcano was covered in clouds. (It hasn’t erupted with lava in over a year, instead it only spews steam.) But sometimes the clouds move enough for a picture:

The hotel also had a lot of pools and hot springs:

It also had plenty of beautiful flowers

And also a crocodile farm

A butterfly farm

and an ant farm

On Sunday we went to the La Fortuna waterfall and had to climb about 600 VERY steep steps to get down to the waterfall and swim in the absolutely FRIGID waters. And then we climbed all the way back up. My legs still hurt from that. 

Soon after that we journeyed back to Veritas. 

I have some blogging to catch up on.. :P

So, this weekend we went to Tamarindo with ISA!

We went to a four star hotel on the beach that was very very nice, but everything was pretty expensive because it was a tourist town.

I didn’t sign up for any excursions this week, and a good thing too because I accidentally left my suitcase at the ISA office due to a misunderstanding. 

What really sucked was that it didn’t arrive on Saturday like it was supposed to, so I didn’t have a change of clothes, or my swimsuit, or anything until Sunday morning… 

Oh well. 

So I spent a lot of time reading and enjoying the scenery as much as I could while staying out of the sun due to lack of sunscreen.

But I got my swimsuit on Sunday and then went in the ocean for awhile where I was promptly scraped against some rocks because it was low tide.

And then it was a seven hour bus ride back because of traffic due to a local festival. Despite mishaps, it was still a pretty good weekend and I got some great pictures!

Me and my friend Chastity on the bus.

Una Cuba Libre. (muy expensive)

View from our balcony at high tide. Nice, eh?

I had Gazpacho de Oro for lunch on Saturday. Very yummy!

And while waiting for my bag (which didn’t end up coming that day..) I found an alcoholic drink that I actually like!

Beautiful sunset on the beach on Saturday.

OH And I got a really nice sunset out the window of the bus while stuck in a traffic jam on the way home.. I think this is a lake. Or a peninsula. See the mountains?

Various pictures I’ve taken with my Galaxy. I haven’t wanted to flash it around much so it usually lives in my backpack:

Yesterday I started my literature class and today I started my culture class!

Both are in Spanish, but my culture class is also with Costa Ricans! 

It went pretty well actually. 

Tomorrow we leave for Tamarindo at 1 in the afternoon so you may not hear from me a lot over the weekend but I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures! :)

Also, today I had lunch in the cafeteria for the second time and accidentally ordered some kind of strange pink salad…

But it was just a potato salad with beets in it and it was very good! :) 

The cafeteria is actually really good and serves good casadas which is the traditional meal that’s basically a salad, rice, beans, some kind of meat, and plantains. Mmmm I love the plantains. :)