Blogs from Tamarindo, Guanacaste, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 2

ANTS! COCKROACHES AND SCORPIANS.....OH MY! Welcome to Costa Rica! I'm going to get my bug rant over first....Being the peaceful non killing vegetarian type we are, we have been very busy shoo-ing the big black and white ants out of our room. Sweep sweep little guys, out the door you go! But alas, just as we were getting ready for bed last night, I was pulling the large curtain closed to cover the sliding glass door, when on the back of the curtain I thought I saw little legs ..... Of something.... Now as some of you may know I have been working VERY hard to get over my Arachnephobia considering we were heading to Central America for 6 months...right? So instead of shrieking like a banshee, I did a little yelp and ran my behind ... read more

A lot has happened this past week. It has been difficult to connect to the internet on my computer, so I’ll try not to leave anything out now…however, it may take a few entries to get up to speed with everything. Tuesday my dad and I rented a car and drove out to Jacó from our hotel in San Jose. On our way out there, my handy dandy travel book gave us a tip to stop at a bridge that passes over the Río Tárcoles. We pulled over the car and walked out onto the bridge to see a huge population of crocodiles. We counted as many as 30 crocodiles laying out on the river banks and floating in the water. It was amazing and I’m glad my dad noticed that section in the book; otherwise ... read more

After investigating the places we wanted to see, and examining the layout of the country, we decided to deviate from our normal traveling methods and rent a car. Our Ticabus ticket would give us a ride from Granada all the way to San Jose, Cost Rica's capital but that was 3 hours past the turn off towards the Costa Rican Gold Coast. We didn't really want to have to backtrack that far if we could avoid it because our rental car was at Liberia, in northern Costa Rica and near the Gold Coast we planned on visiting. We talked to the bus driver when we got near the Costa Rican border to find out if we could get off the bus before San Jose. This was a common occurrence we were told. We were dropped off ... read more

Thursday September 16th: After a lousy night’s sleep (the rest of the group decided to go swim last night and I said no way José, I need my sleep yet I was awoken during their 4 am return) I had class at 8 and spent my break running into town to get my shuttle to Monteverde straightened out. Thanks to Michelle at CR Paradise for having it all ready for me when I got there! After break was language practice which consisted of conversing with my professor Marietta about how she spent her day off, and the gossip of her and her friends. Apparently one of her friends is in the middle of a love triangle of sorts and has two boyfriends, one for the day and one at night, whom she lives with and who ... read more

Monday night and Tuesday: Monday night was very interesting to say the least. After the US Open was delayed for rain again, we went to the pescador, a little restaurant on the beach, for our welcome drink. Since there are only a few students here now, we all went (but only us news ones got a free drink!). There are currently 8 students and 2 interns, and one of the intern’s friends. 11 people, 8 of whom take class regularly. A month (or two) ago, the school had 80 students a week! Wow, it really is low season. Back to the evening, we had our welcome drink, got a pitch from the lady who runs the local travel agency, and ate some chips and guac. Then my friend Dustin and I headed to Sharky’s (the sports ... read more