And Here I Go... and Go... and Go!

The morning after I left Tito's house, I was taken to the Adventist College in San Jose to meet Priscilla. She walked with me around the campus while we waited for her husband to be ready.  Once he was ready, they took my luggage in their car, and drove me to the Tracopa bus station, where I met Jassica and Rachel, and a group of 3 from WWU who were vacationing in Costa Rica.  I had literally no idea what the plan was, but had my carry on packed for the beach because they had told me to come prepared.

From San Jose, we took the bus 3.5 hours to a place on the Pacific side of the country called Manuel Antonio, where Vanessa had already reserved a hostel for us 6 to spend the night. It was actually super nice, but really hot. The manager himself shrugged and said, "For $10 a night, it's not the Hilton!" We still enjoyed ourselves.

We walked from the hostel at least 5 kilometers to this tiny, secluded beach, where we tried swimming first.  The guy that was with us, Ben, said, "I really hope we don't run into any stingrays!" And that made me super paranoid, because I remembered that one of the previous SMs, Karalee, had gotten stung by one on the Pacific side. Still, I swam, because it was beautiful and warm. We grew tired of the little beach, though, and wanted to look at the bigger one that the Hostel Manager had told us about.  We walked, sweaty, sticky and sandy at least 3 more kilometers to find the beach.  Once we got there, we knew it was one of the beaches they put on postcards. The water was BEAUTIFUL, there were picturesque rocks, and all around was the forest to border it.

We stayed until sunset, but knew we had to leave soon because it was already growing dark, and we had quite a ways to walk. We started the long climb back up to the main road, and made it back to the hostel safely.

Considering I hadn't eaten anything since Breakfast at Tito's, we were all hungry.  We walked to the corner market and bought some bread, and I got my first bag of plantain chips, which were AMAZING. They have all different kinds of flavors.

The next day was LONG with traveling. We were up at five, and got a bus back to San Jose at 7:30am in Quepos.  However, once we got to San Jose, a kind taxi driver helped us find the bus that was leaving to Monteverde - from Arajuela.  The only problem was, it didn't leave until 3pm, and it was barely 11am. So, he dropped us off at a Centro Commercial (mall) down the street. We got Subway and water, and walked into most of the stores because the stores were individually air conditioned.

The bus ride to Monteverde was one of the worst of my life.

I get violently carsick, and had no idea what to prepare for.  It took about 4 hours from Arajuela to Monteverde, and the entire time I thought I was going to throw up on the creepy man sitting next to me. He kept wanting me to lay my head on his shoulder.

We FINALLY got to Monteverde, and it was already incredibly dark.  I followed the girls up a SUPER steep hill to the school, where I waited to shower and get my luggage from Priscilla.

Today, I got to meet the adorable children that I'll be teaching for the next 9 months. The youngest is 2 years old, named Sebastion, but everyone calls him 'Sepas'. He's the cutest thing I've ever seen.

The kids are super loud, rowdy,  but loving. Tomorrow is Jassica and Rachel's last day here - they leave for Alajuela right after school gets out at 3. Then, I am on my own until Kenton and Krystal arrive on the 17th. I hope the week goes by quickly.

It's been amazing, but I feel like I haven't stopped GOING since I've gotten off the bus. Hopefully I'll find time to rest soon. <3

Now, the rain is pouring outside, the thunder is rolling, and I am about to walk down the hill to Priscilla's house for a going away dinner for the girls.

Pura Vida.(: