Today we awoke to a lovely view of the Arenal Volcano. It is really spectacular. Our guide informed us we are now one of the 3/10,000,000 people who have seen an active volcano. We boarded the bus at 8:00 and headed to our rafting adventure on the Sarapiqui River. After a brief orientation and lots of sunblock, we were off on a 4-hour cruise down the river. There wasn´t much whitewater, but the forest and wildlife were spectacular. We saw a monkey, a toucan and many other birds. Our river lunch included fresh pineapple, mangos and watermelon - delicious! Our trip [View Full Entry]

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COSTA RICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW Soo doing my pre travel packing and shopping. I've figured Its pretty darn HOT there soo I better take clothes that will dry Fast. Soo I bought a nice lil 27 dollar dakine day backpack! its pretty nice. That I think was my fav. purchase. Anyways listening to some Damien Rice. [View Full Entry]

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Refreshed and ready for the day, we boarded our bus for a tour of San Jose. Stops included the National Theater and Museum. Both were marvelous. We dined, outdoors:), at Soda Tapia at Ronald's suggestion. He thought we might see a local celebrity. We may have been a larger spectacle, as we all, 20 of us, dined together at one table! The afternoon was spent traveling north to Sarchi and Zarcero. In Sarchi, we were able to purchase items from the local artisans and see a coffee plantation. Zarcero is famous for its topiary garden which you see in this picture [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in San Jose at 10:00 p.m., after a long day of travel, from MN, MI, IA, ON, MT, ND and IL. Ronald, our guide and Alex, our driver, welcomed us at the airport and delivered us safely to our hotel. A bit weary, but thrilled to be here, we share this picture of the view from our hotel in San Jose. [View Full Entry]

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With classes starting tomorrow i though it would be a good idea to write about the last few days which have been very enlightening for me. I can honestly say that i received my first 'American resistance' the other day at a Costa Rican party. The party had about 10 people with our group consisting of two Americans, one Mexican, and one Canadian. As the night progressed it was easy to see their animosity towards America, mostly political. Many students as well as the general pubic have been protesting the TLC (a central American version of NAFTA), they don't want American [View Full Entry]

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Well, its Thursday and i´m finally done with regstering for classes (i hope). The regstering process has not been hard but rather time consuming. Im afraid i haven't seen any porcupines lately nor have i been able to surf here in san jose (its in the middle of the country) but i´m sure it'll pick up once school starts. I have definatley noticed more and more students around especially on the calle amargura (a street similar to 4th ave in tucson or mill avenue in tempe). Just out of considence (well, maybe i planned it) i live just a stones throw [View Full Entry]

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So I met my friend Mike at the airport in San Jose, and we took a rickety old bus (which simply means it has character) to San Isidro for the night. Then we woke up the next morning with the sun at 6 am, showered, and took a bus all the way down to Puerto Jiminez, to meet up with some other people. While on the bus awaiting departure, a man selling peanuts continually tried to get us to buy from him. We told him we didn't want any, and then as I was watching him interact with other people, I [View Full Entry]

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HOLA TODO! Well, well, well.... I've been at my turtle project for almost two weeks exactly, completly cut off from civilization. I bused into a small town called Batann which is on the Caribe cost right north of Limon. In Batann, Paul who runs La Tortuga Feliz, picked me up. We took a cab about 30 mins, and then a boat for another 45 until we ended up at a little island that really only an island because its surrounded by rivers. Only 35 people or so live on this island, no electricity, no stores, nothing to really do but dig [View Full Entry]

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Well we're leaving the beach tomorrow after a little over a week soaking up the rays. I'm currently in tamarindo with will, karin, and lucelena. For a group of strangers (all students except lucelena who teaches English) we get along great and have become very close. I loved the surfing here. The waves are great for the beginner but at the same time satisfying for the novice surfer. We also went on a nature trip and saw monkeys, porcupines, crocodiles and a plethora of birds. I hope all is well and i´ll talk to you all later. nick --for all the [View Full Entry]

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Well, we missed the bus. In an attempt to go to puntarenas we kinda arrived a little later than planed and it just happened to be the last bus out of Jaco... And as four Americans (somewhat lost in CR) we did what any normal person would do in this situation. ----went skinny dipping---- nah, I'm just kidding but it would have been a cool thing to do. Instead we decided to stay another night in a lovely cabina right on the beach with a bar (for some malt beverages and darts). From there, the following day, we would start our [View Full Entry]

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