Costa Rica baby!

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Well here I am in Escazu, after a pretty hellish start. First of all there were the two below average flights (God, American Airlines have some miserable crew!) Then, i nearly missed my connection from
Miami to CR. Then, I got interrogated at customs for 20 mins. Then my luggage never appeared. And contrary to the welcome commitee I expected, there was noone at the airport to pick me up! And, icing on the cake, I thought (in desperation) that some man was waiting for me so went and asked two airport officials what name was on his sign as I thought he may be waiting for me, and it turned out "he" was a cardboard cut out. Cringe! Despite the bad start its all worked out well. Escazu is beautiful. Really green and pretty, surrounded by mountains and the family Im staying with is lovely. Cecilia, the mum cant do enough for me, and I have fallen in love with the dogs Coco and Gordo (who has a serious underbite!). The food here is tasty but such large portions. I am seriously panicking about fitting into my bridesmaid dress in October! People are so friendly, am speaking loads of Spanish and learning lots of new words. My only complaint would be the ants and cucarachas - they give me the heebies!

The work is going well, too. I am doing three projects:
1) working with disabled people here in Escazu. Theyre great, the mums run it all and they took me on a trip to Puntarenas last week. We went to someones ranch right in the middle of nowhere and went horseriding, swimming in the river and dining al fresco. I am joining in on their classes too so can now draw some animal charicatures, dance (well, thats debatable I spose) and make bracelets.
2) Helping out at a rehab centre for women with addictions. Its a halfway house where they spend 6 months. They receive therapy and learn new skills ot take away with them and finally use to earn money. I spend a lot of time chatting to them and generally taking their mind off their situation. Some of them have had such awful lives, they are an inspiration.
3) My fave - working with rug rats! I spend most of my time going to a soup kitchen especially run for kids. I help serve, wash up, clean then play with the kids. Its great and they are so much fun, full of energy!

Also, I have already made a great friend, Nikki, another English girl who was living at the house. Shes great and has been travelling for 8 months. We went and spent last wekend in Arujuella to see a volcano (though never actually saw the volcano, long story, but sank a few cocktails and ate loads!).

Naomi and Emma arrived Thursday and we headed to the Caribbean side for the weekend to meet Nikki. So lovely there. The first day rained non stop so we parked up in a bar and drank local beer but the second day was a schorcher. We sat on the beach all day, so pretty there and the water is like a bath. So nice in fact that I have left the three of them there as I had to come back to work.
Next POA is Tortuguero, the Arenal Volcano, Pacific side and then off to Panama to buy me a hat!
Thats all for now then, lots of love xxx

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