I'm Here!

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So I'm here and I already love it however it is a lot different than I thought it would be because I forgot that this is a 3rd world country. When I arrived at the airport I was happy to see that everything was in English and Spanish but that pretty much stopped there. Our hotel is right in the middle of a semi-busy street in Heredia and I will put up pictures soon to show you. The rooms are pretty small but good enough. It's really nice because all of us are on the same floor right next to eachother. There are 5 floors. The first is the lobby and bar and restaurant. The second and third are rooms. And the 4th and 5th are ballrooms/conference rooms. When we had dinner it was on the 5th floor and we could see the whole city. We had fried chicken for dinner and 'mantequilla papas' which is English for mashed potatos with A LOT of butter. They were literally bright yellow.

After dinner all us decided it would be fun to walk around and find a cool bar or lounge to hang out in. We asked the man at the reception desk where to go and he said there was a "nice" bar up about 5 blocks so we went there. Since we are so close to the equator the times in which its bright out are a lot different than home right now. On our walk a lot of people were out in the main plaza and walking around in general. We also learned quickly that cars have the right away at all times and they do NOT stop when you want to cross the street. Its light out from 6am to 6pm so it feels much later than it really is. This "nice" bar was the equivalent to a dive bar in the US but nevertheless was fun. All us took one welcome shot of tequila together which only was about 80 American cents. The money thing is really confusing. Apparently 500 colones equals 1 American dollar. However when you are using American money and they see that you are not from Costa Rica they tend to change how much change you get back which was demonstrated when we all bought beers. They were roughly 800 colones so just a little over a dollar. Either way the exchange rate here is definitely working to our advantage.

We all just hung out at the bar and talked and then went to a disco across the street which was the English equivalent to a club. However it being a Wed. night, it wasn't very lively. We stayed there for awhile and then walked home. Outside our rooms we have couches so we just push all of them together and sit in a circle and talk. Everyone seems really nice and easy to get along with. Everyones still getting to know eachother and a little shy still but I'm sure this will stop after a couple of days. But yeah so far so good and I'm excited for tomorrow but not waking up at 6:45!

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Photos

Flying In
Sooooooo green!