Devin's Costa Rica Travel Blog

More of San Jose

San Jose is a city that I like a lot for opportunities to take some good photos that other people may not shoot.   I especially like this one because to me it screams Costa Rica (obviously - the flag), but shows that Costa Rica is a tropical country, and at the same time, developed.  the building in the lower right hand of the picture is a law office building, I believe.  And I like the trees.

This is a church that we visited on our tour, and from the outside, I'm not sure I would have noticed it there, but on the inside, the place was beautiful.

I especially like these pictures - of the painting in the front of the church, the organ in the back, and the chronological depiction of Christ's crucifixion on the walls (only one pic shown).

San Jose

Further on our walk around some of our neighborhood in San Jose we found some beautiful pictures, like this one.  The mountains can be seen from almost any direction you look while in San Jose, which is hard to believe, given the size of the city.  The metro area of San Jose has a population of about three million people, which is more than half the total population of Costa Rica.  Anyway, I love the trees down here.  Like I said once before, I love the fact that there are no pine trees.  I makes me remember that I'm not in Nebraska.

Here's another picture of the razor wire atop the fences.  Some neighborhoods are safe in San Jose, but the people there protect their belongings nonetheless.

This is probably the pretties park we found in San Jose, and it was very near to where we were staying (I didn't explore all of San Jose, so I'm sure there were other pretty ones, but I think this one is worth a picture).

Back at COSI, all the students were treated to healthy snacks between classes.  We enjoyed all the pineapple for sure, and other fruits than were frequently enjoyed included papaya, mango, watermelon, and the daily fruit drink called fresca.  We also had some fresh bread and a jam (or marmalade) to accompany it.  It was a refreshing snack between sessions in the hot classrooms.

We arrived in San Jose on a Saturday night, and began school the following Monday.  In the middle of that first week there, we went on a tour of San Jose, and one of the most interesting things I found on that tour (there were a lot) was a story of Don Quixote embedded in a brick wall on a building.  I love the details in the pictures, and there is a caption under each one telling a little about that part of the story.  This is just one of several story plaques on this wall depicting the story.

A New Land

When our plane landed in San Jose, Costa Rica, we maneuvered our way through the airport out into the humid darkness of a very unfamiliar city.  Two of the people from the school we intended to go to were waiting for us with "Wayne State College" signs - it was just like in the movies....almost.  It would have been better if the sign said "Devin (party of 20)."  Oh well, I'll get over it. 

We hopped on a bus and made our way to our host families, and this is what it looked like inside our home in Zapote, San Jose.  (Zapote is the name of the neighborhood).

The house was very small, and this picture was pretty much the whole thing.  There were three bedrooms upstairs - one for me, Jerry, and our host mom.

And here we are exploring San Jose the following morning.  All the homes here are all barred up, and some even have razor wire atop the bars!  But we thought this picture was really fun with the way the bars wrap around the front end of this family's car.  Very interesting.

Reliving the Tropics

Okay everyone, I have returned to the states, but before I say I'm done with this trip, I'm going to go back and relive it!  I took so many pictures that I just cannot end this blogging experience without sharing some of them.  So, I'm starting back stateside with a few more pictures from the plane.

I just love the way the ground looks from six miles above the ground.  It almost looks like one of those small computer circuit boards.

After we caught our connecting flight to San Jose out of Dallas, we were passing over the Gulf of Mexico just before the sun fell below the horizon.  This is the first time I had ever seen a gulf, ocean, sea - anything that big.  If you click on the thumbnail to enlarge it, you can even see the Texas shoreline in this picture! 

And yes, I did get some great  pictures of the sunset.  I think this one is a really great shot over the wing of our plane with the sun setting in the lower right hand corner of the frame.  What a beautiful way to start our journey out of the country...

Manuel Antonio

We made it to Manuel Antonio this last weekend, and wow, what a difference!  San Jose was great and all, but here, hay una playa!!!!!!!!!!! (there is a beach!)  I have wonderful pictures to share of the beaches here and the people and everything, but the internet connection is dial up - realllllllllly slow.  So, sorry, no photos this time.  I´m actually finding it very inconvenient to access the internet here, which was not what I expected before I left, but I´m coping. 

I hope everyone has liked my blogs so far.  We´ve all had a wonderful time down here, and I think we all would come again given the chance, to learn Spanish, visit the country, meet the people, learn about the culture, experiencing it first-hand, and to just enjoy the fact that we are in the tropics!  I haven´t seen a pine tree in weeks!

Anyway, since it does take so much away from the experiences that I desire to gleam from this trip to spend hours upon hours posting pictures on the web, I will probably save most of my blogging for when I get back.  But be assured that when I do get back, I will have some amazing pictures to share with everyone!

Our intercultural communication exam today went pretty well, and this second session Spanish class here in Manuel Antonio is going gloriously - I´m learning so much!  I miss my friends and family back home, but I´m definitely going to take advantage of Costa Rica while I´m here.  I have much more Spanish to learn.

Until next time.....the pineapple is so much cheaper down here, and believe it or not, the OJ is many times better!

Adios

La Fortuna Waterfall

Okay, I wasn´t going to put this picture up last night because it was taking so long to upload the photos, but I just had to make a special effort to get it up so everyone could see it.  Something like this is definitely an amazing experience for anyone, and I absolutely adore this picture! 

We went to see the Fortuna Waterfall on our way back from our volcano tour, and we hiked down some 4 or 500 steps to get to it, and back up when we were done, but it was well worth the humid hike.

Many of the people in our group went swimming in the waters below the fall, but they were a little more downstream.

And of course we couldn´t leave before having a little fun with the camera!

Josh Rasmussen´s personality fits this picture very well, as it should...because that´s Josh!

We all had a great time at the waterfall, and it was one of the most beautiful natural scenes that many of us have ever seen!

We really can´t wait to see what else is in store for us here in the tropics of Costa Rica!

Pictures!!!!!!

Okay, I think I found a computer that will allow me to post pix.  Enjoy!!!!

First, I think it´s time for a picture or two of San Jose. 

This is a picture of some common securities that people take to protect their homes.  We also have awesome trees here (and few pine trees), and of course mountains in the background!

In Costa Rica, if you love fruit, you´re in heaven, and I LOVE pineapple!!!!

This is a picture of the ceiling in the National Theater of Costa Rica.  It was part of our city tour of San Jose.

The Cafe Britt tour was great, but the pictures take too long to upload, so I´m going to skip to the zip line tour of the rainforest canopy!

This is Eric on an amazing Tarzan swing!!!! What fun!

Click on this thumbnail to see how far Shelly is going!!!  This last leg of the zip line tour was over a mile long!!!!  We had sooo much fun doing the zip line, but that does not compare to the adrenaline rush we all got BUNGEE JUMPING!!!!!

If you seek adventure and adrenaline, you have to do this sometime in your life!

Yes, Britni - that´s right - I took the plunge!!  They don´t lie when they say it´s 100% adrenaline!  What a rush!

But, I wasn´t the only one who jumped.  Here is a nice group shot of all of us.

And to top it all off, we all have proof of our courage.  We all have our own personal dvds of our jumps, and they´re amazing. 

So far on the trip, we are about 9 days into our stay here in the tropics of Costa Rica, and I´m thinking I´m going to have to start saving memory space because of the 13 GB of camera memory I brought with me, I have already filled more than half of that.  I can´t wait to look at them on some fast computers in the states!  It takes forever on these! 

Until next time, click on the thumbnails to enlarge the photos, and come back for more!

4 Days of Tours!!

Okay, as I think I may have mentioned before, gaining access to the internet where I can upload photos has not been the most convenient thing in the world down here, but I found another computer.  We have been touring the country these last couple days, first with a tour of San Jose on Thursday, followed by a canopy tour on Friday, which consisted entirely of zip lines in and throughout the rainforest - how awesome!!!!!!!

And then we left early Saturday morning for a tour of volcan arenal - a volcano tour that would allow us to actually see lava running down the mountain if it didn't happen to be cloudy when we planned to go up there at night.  Volcano Arenal is the 4th most active volcano in the world.  Unfortunately, it was cloudy last night, so we didnt get to go see the lava, but here in the paradise of the tropics, for those of us who got up early enough, the view was breathtaking.

In addition to the volcano, on this trip we basked in the beauty of Costa Rica.  We went last night to the hot springs of Baldi, and if you can just imagine yourself in a tropical hot spring environment, we are showering ourselves with the most beautiful hot spring waterfalls.  We are sitting in saunas, and most everyone even got a little excitement with some of the slides.  They have 15 cubic meters of natural hot springs here, and it is absolutely breath-taking!  Tomorrow we continue our tour with a hike to a waterfall where I´m sure some of us will take a dip - but I think it will be cold.  Oh well!!!

We are taking classes in the afternoon during the week - one intercultural communication, and one Spanish - and I feel like I´ve learned more Spanish here in the last week than I learned all last semester.  This is definitely worth the trip!!!!

Un dia muy largo en el avion

A very long day in the plane.

Oh my goodness, what a long day!!!  And now I´m in a strange home (my host mom´s home) in a strange country that at one time was only an idea to me only a month ago.  Wow, I can´t believe it - we´re all here (and safely)! 

I have never even seen the ocean, and so for me to travel all the way to Cost Rica is a big step for me, and I don´t speak very much Spanish, but I´m definitely up to the challenge.  My host mom is about 5 ft tall, and she is very funny.  Already in the initial days of our visit, she has threatened to take me over her knee and paddle me with her sandle, jocularly of course.  But I can tell that I´m going to miss her when we all leave.

No one wants to hear about a boring plane ride, or any day of transportation, for that matter - that stuff is boring.  Instead, I´ll provide pictures of Costa Rica.  After all, that is what everyone wants to see!  Here are a couple.  Just click on the thumbnail to enlarge the photo in a popup window.

This is the house where Jerry and I are staying.  I am really still not used to the fact that all the homes here in Costa Rica are all barred up for protection.  My host mom (Ema) doesn´t have a car, but the families that do park it right inside the bars next to the house.

I will try to get more pictures online, but right now they are taking a long time to load.  The computers here are not very fast, and I have other students waiting on me.  Besides, we are going on tours these next couple of mornings before we have class in the afternoon, so I can get more pictures there.  I hope you enjoy the couple I have so far!

This is a park here in San Jose.

Saturday's the big day!!

This Saturday, May 31, more than a dozen WSC students will be fleeing the country for a getaway weekend (extended weekend, actually - 33days) to beautiful Costa Rica.  We intend to study Spanish and culture, tour the country, enjoy the nightlife, and hang out on the beaches.  It still isn't very warm here in Nebraska, so BRING ON THE TROPICS!!!!!!