Blogs from Heredia, Heredia, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 2

We are headed to Manuel Antonio National Park and the beach for the weekend in about an hour, so there will be no more blog entries until after the weekend. Just for fun, though, check out the pictures of our Latin dance class yesterday. Everyone did great learning the salsa, merengue and cumbia, although no one could quite keep up with our energetic dance instructor, Luis. Enjoy the photos and more to come next week! (Sorry that the Travel Blog website is not uploading videos right now. You would enjoy seeing this group in action!)... read more

We arrived safely yesterday with no complications or problems. Of course, everyone was exhausted after a mostly sleepless night (since we had to be at the airport in Memphis at 4:30 am!) But the excitement of finally arriving in Costa Rica and seeing the school and San Joaquin, where we will be living for the next two weeks, kept us going until the host families arrived at the school at around 5:30. The plane landed on time just before noon, but we were quite busy during those 5+ hours. After the 15-minute drive from the airport to San Joaquin, the first order of business was lunch. We walked together from the school to town and ate together in a typical restaurant, then walked back to the school for the placement test, orientation, photo ID pictures, and ... read more

We’ve been in Costa Rica for about two weeks. I don’t think we did a lot, but we have done a few things. We left Panama City early last Tuesday morning. We wanted to drive as close to the Panama/Costa Rica border, spend the night in David, and drive on to our new home in Heredia, Costa Rica, just north of San Jose. Because McDonald’s was closed early Wednesday morning, we couldn’t get our morning coffee. We should have taken that as an omen. We thought that, since we were going through the same border, it would be easy. Not so! We got to the Panama border at 8 and it was about 10:30 before we were finally done. 2 ½ hours to go through Panama – the time we budgeted for going through both Panama ... read more

Visiting Costa Rica is like boarding a ship for the first time. The deck moves strangely beneath your feet. Sometimes you even feel a little sick to your stomach. Everything seems somewhat “off” and it takes a little while to get your bearings. There are many things I have experienced this first week that strike me as peculiar in comparison. Plugs and light switches look completely different. Door knobs are optional. Locks and faucets turn backwards. It is not common to have a set of dishes that match. Each plate can be a different color and size. Even in restaurants. There are no bathtubs, just large beautifully tilled showers. Very, very little air-conditioning. And the toilets fill up incredibly slowly! Colors seem livelier. And there is color everywhere! Detailed, deep-colored tile is not only in the ... read more

Holá!!! oder Buenos dias!!! Das sind zumindest zwei der wenigen Worte, die ich mittlerweile sogar aussprechen kann:-) Wir, das heißt Björn, Manuel (zwei Komilitonen von mir) und ich befinden uns gerade im "Hotel América" und warten auf unseren Mietwagen, der in ca. einer halben Stunde hier eintreffen sollte. Mit dem Mietwagen versuchen wir uns dann auf den Weg nach Puntarenas zu machen, um dort den restlichen Tag am Strand zu verbringen. Aber erstmal von vorne. Am 10.4. ging es um halb 11Uhr in Frankfurt am Flughafen los. Mit einem Zwischenstopp in Dallas, tausend Kontrollen auf den Flughäfen, sonst aber keine weiteren Schwierigkeiten, kamen wir mit 8 Stunden Zeitverschiebung um 19.10h am Aeropuerto "Juan Santamaria" an. Nun kam unsere erste Hürde. Wir wollten um Geld zu sparen mit dem Local-Bus nach Heredia fahren. Die Bushaltestation befand sich ... read more