La Fortuna y Los Profesores!!

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It has been almost a month since I last blogged. Time has been flying by, so sorry I slacked. This post is going to be a combination of two weekends in La Fortuna; one consisting of a few of us staying in Maria's (our program director's) house, and one trip with the whole group and 9 professors from the States who came to tour Sol's Study Abroad program.

Maria's house:

Nneka, Gina, Anna, Helen, and I took a trip up to Maria's house the first weekend of November. The five of us stayed in a little granny unit next to Maria and her boyfriend's house on a dairy farm!! Maria's boyfriend Jorge Pablo runs the dairy farm with his brother and let's just say I got to experience the best cereal and milk of my life. Also cool, the house is located with a specatuclar view of Volcan Arenal, tuanis :) (Costa Rican slang for too nice)!! Friday was a mellow day consisting of shopping around the little town of La Fortuna and eating. We had planned a fun night of dancing but everyone was too tired so we hit the sack early. Saturday morning, a friend of Maria's took us on a tour of Rio Celeste. It was a some-what treacherous hour and half hike through mud to Rio Celeste, but well worth the view of a stellar waterfall, crystal blue water, and natural hot springs we got to dip in. The only down side to the hike was we got busted with an ice chest of cerveza by the rangers and had to pour out all of our beer, que lastima! Saturday night was full of drinks and laughter but we didn't make it into the bar to dance because we didn't want to pay the $6.00 enrance fee, so we opted for a mid night soda stop and chowed on some casados instead. The trip went top quick as we had to bus back to Heredia on Sunday afternoon, but all in all it was a relaxing weekend with great company!



The following week one of the founders of our program Esteban, brought 9 professors from all over the US to observe our program and hopefully promote it on their campuses when they return to the US. Our week with the professors was one of my favorite experiences yet. First we got to show the professors around our city of Heredia. We took them to the market and tried all of the different fruits (just like us students did on our first day in CR) and then later that night did a cooking class together once again in Flor's house. Then we got to spend the entire weekend with the professors in La Fortuna. On our way to La Fortuna we stopped and tried some local mountain cheese and bread, and then right when we arrived, we hiked to a gorgeous waterfall. After lunch we went to Baldi hot springs where we enjoyed the rest of our evening relaxing in the healing waters and literally flying down waterslides at speeds unimaginable! Our final event with the professors was a Sunday morning zip-lining and tarzan-swinging adventure which all of the professors minus one partook in. Overall, I felt so fortunate to have had the opportunity to talk to such a diverse, intellectual group of people. I got to sit down and really talk with almost every professor and it was so nice to hear their life adventures, wisdom, and travels, and to be able to share with them my learning experiences here and what I am striving for in my future. I felt particularly connected to some of the profeesors more than others, and truly hope to maintain the wonderful connections I made with them.

All in all La Fortuna was a really cool little mountain town, but what really made my experiences there special, were the people I was there with. Fond memories.

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