So as you know, I’m writing all the way from Puntarenas, Costa Rica!! Its been an interesting couple of days…we got to San Jose like at about noon and waited for the group flight that got there at around 1:00pm by the time I got the san Jose I had already met (thank God) a few people that were catching the same flight as I was and they were young so we figured we were all from USAC, there was about 5 of us.
We took the bus to Puntarenas, it was about a 11/2 to 2 hour drive…there were so many mountains and trees, everything sooo green! So Puntarenas (like I expected) it’s a super small town, very dirty (trash everywhere) and life here is super simple. It reminds me a lot of Mexico, there’s always people in the streets. As soon as I got out of the bus, everyone’s “families” were waiting outside…before getting in the bus, I met one guy who’s name is Chriss, he’s from Reno and the only one that didn’t have a family either…so when I figured that out, we agreed that we would look for places together, and so we did.
When we got to Puntarenas we checked out a few apartments, they showed us a one room apartment cause I guess they thought we were together, and then we looked at a two room which was tiny, everything in that place seemed minimized in size, and we ended up with a little house (not so little compared to everything else). It has three rooms, a VERY narrow/long bathroom, living room, a kitchen/dining room, its not bad at all. Rent is $600.00/month so that’s only $300.00 per person, but we’re hoping that someone else gets tired of their host family so they can move in and that would drop the rent to $200.00 each, which would be perfect! If not then maybe we can talk to the land lord about renting the place to $500.00 total instead of 600. The house was already furnished with everything that you would need: 2 beds in each room (in two of them) sheets and everything (of course I did bring my own), a little tv(which we found out it doesn’t work), chairs in the living room, a dining table with chairs, fridge, microwave, toaster, pots, pans, plates…etc. So of course that was super nice! So basically by 7:30pm we already had a place to stay that same day. Oh! The one bad thing is that we don’t have a phone so getting a hold of anybody is ridiculous…we just walk down the street and hope we find someone out (which they usually are at least 5-10 people out.) The house is 4 blocks away from the school (to the left) and 2 blocks away from where all the restaurants and bars are right across the street (which is where the beach is so I live a whole 2 minute walk from the beach!! The school is also right across the street from the beach so on breaks or whatever we can just walk down.
So…Friday night we went out to check out the town and had a couple of beers an walked hoping to see other people from USAC, after a while we did. There are about 5 other people that got here about a week before everyone else and they all rented a house that is literally right next door to the school…so we went there and they were all having little party, they’re house is kinda cool cause they even have a pool…after that we went to town (again) and went to some bar with one of the locals (someone’s host brother). I keep saying “we” cause Chriss and I got only one set of keys until Monday so we were basically attached to the hip all weekend.
On Saturday I woke up and I read Scotts birthday card. It was really nice to have something to read! I got one from my mom too so that made me a little teary eyed too…I had told people that is was my B-day the day before so we were supposed to go to those people’s house after and have a party but I never made is cause we were at some fiesta (someone’s host grandma’s B-day) we were there from like 4:30pm cause they told Andy (Chriss’s friend) to be there at that time but we didn’t take a taxi till like 5:30 and the actual party didn’t start till 7:30 or 8pm. ((that is called Tico time)) people from Puntarenas are called Ticos, and they have the same mentality on time as Mexican’s do, they say one time but in reality its like ½ hour to 1 hour later…Anyway, by the time we left the party (around10:30pm) people at the house had already left and were out at the bars…they said they bought me a little cake and I felt horrible because I wasn’t even there…We were all at this bar with life “reggae music” it was tons of fun! I didn’t have to pay for one drink cause it was my birthday and everyone was super nice about it.
Oh! We went grocery shopping earlier that day, we walked for like 10 blocks an didn’t think about carrying the bags on the way back, so we were walking (Criss and I) with like 10 bags, 2 huge water jugs and a 12 pack…some lady saw us struggling and offered to help us, so her son took the water jugs in his bike while she helped us carry like 3 bags, so that was super nice of them!
Today is Sunday…we had orientation from 10 something till like 4 something, and before that we took a tour around the tiny town. Oh! In the orientation they were telling us that going to Cuba from here is super cheap, apparently $400.00 for a whole week including transportation, lodge and food…we’ll see, it would be kinda cool but we’ll see.
So here is my schedule: Mon class 1-4pm, Tuesday class 8-11, and 4-6 (a dancing class!) , wed class 8-11, no class thurs unless I decide to add this one class which I’m debating, and Friday class 8-11… How perfect is that?? I don’t think I’m gonna know what to do with all that free time, I’m used to going to school, working, sorority stuff, boyfriend, ect…busy busy busy. And now its like okay, I guess I’ll read a book, or sit here and write my life story in the past few days, and just travel on the weekends…I think I can definitely get used to that!
mmm…what else?? We had a few people over a little wile ago and then we went to some bar just to hang out with like 10 people or so. “Downtown” is 2 blocks away from our house and so is the beach!
Its sooo humid here. I take a shower in out super narrow bathroom and getting ready is pointless cause I’m sweting by the time I’m done! I have 2 fans in mu room on at all times!
Haha! They weren’t kidding when they said they didn’t have street singns, not one house has numbers and not one stret has a sing so its really weird, I wonder how people get mail and nills and stuff?! I
I have some pics up in my room so its nice seeing familiar faces every day!
Today Monday was the first day of class. I didn’t start class till 1:00pm so I cant complain. I had a class in Latin American Culture that lasted till 4:00pm. The teacher talked about all these awesome fieldtrips that can be added for $200.00 and it gives you 1 unit…so I’m kinda thinking about it but I first have to put the money for rent aside and then figure out how much money I would have left and go from there. Two of them would be overnight fieldtrips and one would be a one day flied trip. I think he said one was to a coffee plantation, one was overnight in San Jose, and one was to some islands that are kinda hidden (also overnight). Today it started raining sooo much, lightning, thunder, wind, and tons of rain, and tons of wind…crazy! I took some pictures but they don’t make justice… After class I went to the house next door and went swimming for a little bit, four of us decided to go get some food (I got café con leche) and we sat there waiting for the rain to stop…it never did! So we decided to just start running from the restaurant to our own houses! I was just running with my backpack, wearing a skirt, a spaghetti strap and sandals…haha I was laughing at myself! I was only like 5 blocks away but by the time I got home I was completely socked! Considering the fact that I ran the wrong way for like a block before I figured it out…haha. Later on today we went to the house with the pool again and some of us were thinking about going to this place called Jaco on thurs (cause we don’t have class, cuase we’re in the advanced spanish)
Oh one more thing…I have a gate before getting into the fron porch, a gate before the door and then the actual door…imagine forgetting something! It’s 3 locks to go through!! I’ll update everyone in the weeks to come…
So far its been great though! Everyone is super nice and life is super slow which I love!
We took the bus to Puntarenas, it was about a 11/2 to 2 hour drive…there were so many mountains and trees, everything sooo green! So Puntarenas (like I expected) it’s a super small town, very dirty (trash everywhere) and life here is super simple. It reminds me a lot of Mexico, there’s always people in the streets. As soon as I got out of the bus, everyone’s “families” were waiting outside…before getting in the bus, I met one guy who’s name is Chriss, he’s from Reno and the only one that didn’t have a family either…so when I figured that out, we agreed that we would look for places together, and so we did.
When we got to Puntarenas we checked out a few apartments, they showed us a one room apartment cause I guess they thought we were together, and then we looked at a two room which was tiny, everything in that place seemed minimized in size, and we ended up with a little house (not so little compared to everything else). It has three rooms, a VERY narrow/long bathroom, living room, a kitchen/dining room, its not bad at all. Rent is $600.00/month so that’s only $300.00 per person, but we’re hoping that someone else gets tired of their host family so they can move in and that would drop the rent to $200.00 each, which would be perfect! If not then maybe we can talk to the land lord about renting the place to $500.00 total instead of 600. The house was already furnished with everything that you would need: 2 beds in each room (in two of them) sheets and everything (of course I did bring my own), a little tv(which we found out it doesn’t work), chairs in the living room, a dining table with chairs, fridge, microwave, toaster, pots, pans, plates…etc. So of course that was super nice! So basically by 7:30pm we already had a place to stay that same day. Oh! The one bad thing is that we don’t have a phone so getting a hold of anybody is ridiculous…we just walk down the street and hope we find someone out (which they usually are at least 5-10 people out.) The house is 4 blocks away from the school (to the left) and 2 blocks away from where all the restaurants and bars are right across the street (which is where the beach is so I live a whole 2 minute walk from the beach!! The school is also right across the street from the beach so on breaks or whatever we can just walk down.
So…Friday night we went out to check out the town and had a couple of beers an walked hoping to see other people from USAC, after a while we did. There are about 5 other people that got here about a week before everyone else and they all rented a house that is literally right next door to the school…so we went there and they were all having little party, they’re house is kinda cool cause they even have a pool…after that we went to town (again) and went to some bar with one of the locals (someone’s host brother). I keep saying “we” cause Chriss and I got only one set of keys until Monday so we were basically attached to the hip all weekend.
On Saturday I woke up and I read Scotts birthday card. It was really nice to have something to read! I got one from my mom too so that made me a little teary eyed too…I had told people that is was my B-day the day before so we were supposed to go to those people’s house after and have a party but I never made is cause we were at some fiesta (someone’s host grandma’s B-day) we were there from like 4:30pm cause they told Andy (Chriss’s friend) to be there at that time but we didn’t take a taxi till like 5:30 and the actual party didn’t start till 7:30 or 8pm. ((that is called Tico time)) people from Puntarenas are called Ticos, and they have the same mentality on time as Mexican’s do, they say one time but in reality its like ½ hour to 1 hour later…Anyway, by the time we left the party (around10:30pm) people at the house had already left and were out at the bars…they said they bought me a little cake and I felt horrible because I wasn’t even there…We were all at this bar with life “reggae music” it was tons of fun! I didn’t have to pay for one drink cause it was my birthday and everyone was super nice about it.
Oh! We went grocery shopping earlier that day, we walked for like 10 blocks an didn’t think about carrying the bags on the way back, so we were walking (Criss and I) with like 10 bags, 2 huge water jugs and a 12 pack…some lady saw us struggling and offered to help us, so her son took the water jugs in his bike while she helped us carry like 3 bags, so that was super nice of them!
Today is Sunday…we had orientation from 10 something till like 4 something, and before that we took a tour around the tiny town. Oh! In the orientation they were telling us that going to Cuba from here is super cheap, apparently $400.00 for a whole week including transportation, lodge and food…we’ll see, it would be kinda cool but we’ll see.
So here is my schedule: Mon class 1-4pm, Tuesday class 8-11, and 4-6 (a dancing class!) , wed class 8-11, no class thurs unless I decide to add this one class which I’m debating, and Friday class 8-11… How perfect is that?? I don’t think I’m gonna know what to do with all that free time, I’m used to going to school, working, sorority stuff, boyfriend, ect…busy busy busy. And now its like okay, I guess I’ll read a book, or sit here and write my life story in the past few days, and just travel on the weekends…I think I can definitely get used to that!
mmm…what else?? We had a few people over a little wile ago and then we went to some bar just to hang out with like 10 people or so. “Downtown” is 2 blocks away from our house and so is the beach!
Its sooo humid here. I take a shower in out super narrow bathroom and getting ready is pointless cause I’m sweting by the time I’m done! I have 2 fans in mu room on at all times!
Haha! They weren’t kidding when they said they didn’t have street singns, not one house has numbers and not one stret has a sing so its really weird, I wonder how people get mail and nills and stuff?! I
I have some pics up in my room so its nice seeing familiar faces every day!
Today Monday was the first day of class. I didn’t start class till 1:00pm so I cant complain. I had a class in Latin American Culture that lasted till 4:00pm. The teacher talked about all these awesome fieldtrips that can be added for $200.00 and it gives you 1 unit…so I’m kinda thinking about it but I first have to put the money for rent aside and then figure out how much money I would have left and go from there. Two of them would be overnight fieldtrips and one would be a one day flied trip. I think he said one was to a coffee plantation, one was overnight in San Jose, and one was to some islands that are kinda hidden (also overnight). Today it started raining sooo much, lightning, thunder, wind, and tons of rain, and tons of wind…crazy! I took some pictures but they don’t make justice… After class I went to the house next door and went swimming for a little bit, four of us decided to go get some food (I got café con leche) and we sat there waiting for the rain to stop…it never did! So we decided to just start running from the restaurant to our own houses! I was just running with my backpack, wearing a skirt, a spaghetti strap and sandals…haha I was laughing at myself! I was only like 5 blocks away but by the time I got home I was completely socked! Considering the fact that I ran the wrong way for like a block before I figured it out…haha. Later on today we went to the house with the pool again and some of us were thinking about going to this place called Jaco on thurs (cause we don’t have class, cuase we’re in the advanced spanish)
Oh one more thing…I have a gate before getting into the fron porch, a gate before the door and then the actual door…imagine forgetting something! It’s 3 locks to go through!! I’ll update everyone in the weeks to come…
So far its been great though! Everyone is super nice and life is super slow which I love!
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