Hasta Luego Costa Rica

Mi semana final en Costa Rica tenía muchos eventos interesantes. Primero, creo mi mamá tica está embarazado, así que voy a tener unx hermanx ticx. Más allá de esta noticia, había más. Fui a Manuel Antonio. Ahí veía muchos animales incluyendo una perezosa, unos monos, una iguana, unos cangrejos, y más. La playa estaba limpia. Por eso, cuando yo tenía mucho calor, nadaba. Antes de irme, compré un regalo para mi padre. Tenía miedo porque el hombre y yo nos negociamos. Cuando yo estaba esperar para el autobús, un hombre habló conmigo. Él sabe inglés y quería practicar. Mi amiga y yo queríamos practicar español, entonces él hablaba en inglés y hablábamos en español hasta el autobús llegó.

Pasé domingo con mi familia tica. Tuvimos nuestra clases de inglés. Ellos practicaron su palabra favorita, cucaracha o en inglés cockroach. Estoy emocionada para ver mi perra y dormir en mi cama, pero voy a extrañar mi familia tica.

-MG

The Beach Misfortune

This weekend, we went to Manuel Antonio and had a beach vacation.

The first day, the entire group was split into two. There were the ones in the ocean: body-surfing, jumping and getting demolished by waves, and getting extremely wet. I, on the other hand, was relaxing on the sand with a few friends watching everyone’s stuff. As we watched the ocean waves, we noticed that the tide was getting higher so we moved all of our stuff slightly backward. However, the next tide got the tip of my towel wet so we proceeded to move back again. About five minutes later, I sat there watching the ocean waves come back and forth when I noticed that one wave seemed to be coming particularly close to us. I figured it would just touch the towel so I started to lift the tip of my towel when the wave completely washed over my friends and I, covering everything in water. We just stood there for a second in awe at what had happened as the shirts, backpacks, towels, and particularly shoes of many floated around in the water. Eventually, we gathered ourselves enough to pick up everyone’s belongings before they washed away into the ocean. In retrospect, as I watched that wave I should have known and warned everyone but alas, the past is the past.

While my beach vacation was relaxing as a whole, I feel as if that one moment created enough panic to cover the entire weekend.

-AL

¡Adiós Amigos!

It’s our last week in Costa Rica! So I guess it’s time for some reflection?

These past couple of weeks in Costa Rica have been incredible. It’s crazy that it’s almost over but I can’t say that it went by in a blink of an eye. It definitely feels like I’ve been here for a while but it also took me quite a long time for me to adjust. I feel like I’m just starting to get to know this country so it’s a shame that I have to leave so soon. It’s going to be really weird not eating rice and beans everyday and not having to worry about cockroaches and geckos.

I’ve really enjoyed sharing this experience with everyone in the program. I hadn’t met most of the people before coming here so it’s been great getting to know everyone and I’m really happy that we got closer as a group of the course of the program.

Right now I’m honestly just looking forward to getting the math final out of the way so that I can relax for a bit before going back to Duke. Hopefully Yuhao will be kind and give us a nice final 🙂

Last, but not least…

Last weekend was our last free weekend, and a group of us traveled to Manuel Antonio, one of the most touristy places in Costa Rica. Most of us got there around 11 and after putting our stuff in our 10 person villa, we ventured to the town. I had a great quesadilla before heading to the beach. After what seemed like 20 people came up to us to ask us to buy something, I finally caved and bought one of the most delicious treats I’ve ever had (shaved ice w/ powdered milk, condensed milk and flavoring). After the other members of the group arrived, a smaller group of us headed to the Manuel Antonio National Park to hopefully see some animals and plants. We saw sloths, monkeys, a deer, crabs and a toucan!! Also the park had a really beautiful beach that was refreshing after the long walk to get there. After the park we went back to the beach and after all of our stuff got soaked by a very large and unpredictable wave, we headed back to the Villa. After a dinner of alfredo pasta with a side of 20 Questions, we finished the night with lots and lots of games. A group of us stayed up until like 3 AM just talking and it was one of the best nights ever.

The next day we went rafting!! I wish the rapids were of a higher class but we didn’t want to die and we didn’t know what it was going to be like so I think we made the right choice. We then went to the open air shops and then the beach where we played some frisbee and saw a beautiful sunset. We ate dinner at a restaurant called ‘El Avion’ that had a plane inside of it and I was, of course, in the group that taxied there instead of walking. I didn’t think it was possible to match Friday night but Saturday night was just as fun, with even more games, and again a night that ended no earlier than 3AM.

We left on Sunday at 9:30AM and upon arrival, immediately went to Starbucks to start our long week of studying. It’s amazing how many Spanish/BME assignments one can have due in a 4 day period. I’m going to miss the people here incredibly, but I hope we will still keep in touch once we are all back at the greatest place on Earth. Grateful this is the last blog I have to right, but sad that that means this trip is very close to being over. Thanks for reading 🙂

-Venezia Leone

¡Verduras, verduras! ¿Están listas?

Esta semana fue muy divertida con el patinaje, el boliche, y el viaje a Manuel Antonio por el fin de semana. El miércoles, tuvimos un tour durante la clase de español de algo que todavía creo que nadie puede explicar. Creo que fue sobre el chauvinismo o la arquitectura, pero realmente, mi casa tica tiene mejor diseño arquitectónico que este edificio. No sé… ¡pero las galletas eran buenas!

Entonces, por el fin de semana, fuimos a Manuel Antonio para nuestro último viaje. Fue muy bonito, pero había muchos más turistas que en los otros lugares. El sábado fuimos a rafting y por supuesto, me caí de la balsa. Fue un día muy largo, pero divertido. Por la noche jugamos muchos juegos, de los que mi favorito se llama “verduras.” En este juego no pudimos mostrar nuestros dientes y entonces fue muy cómico ver a todos tratando de reír sin dientes.

Creo que este fin de semana fue mi favorito porque finalmente estoy conociendo a todos. Por eso, estoy muy triste de irme de Costa Rica tan pronto, especialmente porque, por supuesto, somos amigos estrictamente en el extranjero. Espero volver pronto para visitar a mi familia tica, especialmente Bobby. Voy a extrañar a Bobby más que todo. 🙁

-Aliza

Final Weekend In Costa Rica

This past weekend was, as my title suggests, my last weekend in Costa Rica. I decided to stay near San Jose so I could save travel time and study for the upcoming math final instead. Needless to say, I didn’t. But anyway, to my surprise, I went to a theme park on Friday even though I hate roller coasters. The only ride I went on was some swinging zipper like thing with less spinning. Despite not going on many rides, I enjoyed hanging out with friends.

Saturday I went to a Costa Rican fruit market and tried many new fruits such as sapote, jocotes, and pejibayes. I definitely prefer Taiwan’s fruits still, but Costa Rican fruits are quite good as well. However, I killed two birds with one stone since the fruit market helped me discover my topic for my final presentation for my spanish class: Taiwanese vs. Costa Rican fruits.

Sunday I went to a seafood restaurant and tried some octopus, which was also great. Afterwards, I met up with some friends to study for math and prepare for the spanish presentation. Despite doing very little math studying, I was very pleased with my weekend full of great food.

Muchas cosas en mi mente

Este semana fue muy difícil para mi familia tica y yo en la casa. Mi papa tico, Jimmy, tuvo un operación en su corazón, y él tiene que quedar en el hospital por un mes, y lo extraño a él mucho. Los extraño sus chistes y bromas tontos, y sus arepas también. Gracias a dios que él está bien, pero todavia hay estrés en la casa sobre su salud y tristeza porque él no está en la casa.

Pero todo no fue mal esta semana. Este fin de semana mis amigos y yo fuimos a Manuel Antonio. Apenas entré el bUs en viernes. Tuve mucha suerte, porque mi uber lleguó en el momento exacto cuando el bUs estuvo saliendo, y paró
para mi! Cuando llegamos, fuimos a la playa. Fue muy bonito, y nosotros nadamos, surfeamos en cuerpo, y relajamos. Tomé un poco demasiado sol y todavia estoy roja, pero está bien. Los dos noches jugmaos muchos juegos divertidos y tantos (a tres en la mañana!). El siguiente dia, fuimos a rafting, que fue muy divertido. Entonces, fuimos a El Avion, donde comí pulpo por el primer vez (fue como un mezcla de pollo y pescado).

Voy a los extrañar mucho a Costa Rica, mi familia tica, y mis amigos aqui. Siempre estarán en mi corazón. Entonces, adios!

– Evan

The Last Weekend

This weekend a bunch of us journeyed to Manuel Antonio National Park on the Pacific Coast.  Most people left on an early bus, but I didn’t want to wake up early so I took a bus at 10:30 by myself. It was pretty cool to travel by myself. I arrived in Quepos and went to a local Soda for a cheap and yummy lunch. Then I walked around the town a little and explored the marina/hotel area. It was a cute little city with a lot of fishing expeditions offered.

Then I took a bus to Manuel Antonio and walked around the beach/village for a little while I looked for the rest of the group. I found them on the beach. Most of the people were in the water when a large wave crashed onto shore and started dragging our stuff out to sea. Luckily some of us who were still on land were able to grab everything before it floated away, though much of it got soaked. Friday night we split up for dinner and then met back up afterwards. Jack and I met a cool man who was originally from Sierra Leone as we walked to the restaurant where the rest of the group was.

On Sunday myself and a few others spent the day in Manuel Antonio. We first walked to Manuel Antonio beach to swim and lay out for a while. Then we walked around to the Cathedral Point Overlook before going to another beach in the park. After imitating some people posing for Instagram photos we left the park as it started to rain and grabbed a late lunch. We headed back to the room to shower and get ready for the night. We went to a delicious falafel, a food I had never had before,  place for dinner. Then the whole group met up again for some card and other types of fun games. When we went outside to get a cab we saw a sloth climbing a rope that crossed the street. That was something I had really wanted to see and this was the first I’d seen the whole trip. Sunday was the bus ride back to San Jose. All in all a fun and relaxing weekend.

Our Sloth Friend

– Austin

Signing Off!

As the program comes to a close I am experiencing a mix of emotions. While I am ready to be home and spend time with my niece and nephew, it is also a bit overwhelming as I visit places and realize that I will not be back in Costa Rica for however long. The experiences I have had here are invaluable. This weekend alone I was able to visit amazing beaches.

In addition, I got to see several monkeys up close and personal, sloths, toucans, and lizards just out in the city. All of this happened in the National Park of San Antonio, which was one of the best weekend trips I have been on this year. There was, however, a mishap with a rogue wave that threatened to wash everyone’s things from the shore, but thanks to a very helpful man on the beach, we were able to get all of our things before they were lost to the sea. All in all, I will miss Costa Rica Greatly when I have to leave and I hope to be able to return with friends and family to show them all the interesting things that I have been allowed to experience.

Pura Vida

-DMJ

Zona Peligrosa, no Entrar

Este fin de semana fuimos a Manuel Antonio. Fue muy divertido y me disfrutó mucho. Pero, primero, antes de nuestro viaje, Aliza y yo estuvimos muy cerca a perder nuestro autobús, como estuvo la mayoridad de nuestro grupo. Cinco minutos antes de el autobús llegó, solamente un medio del grupo estaba allí. Pero, por suerte, al final casi cada uno del grupo llegó y sólo dos personas perdieron el autobús. 

Cuando llegamos en Manuel Antonio, primero fuimos a la playa y al parque nacional. La primera cosa que mis amigos hicieron en el parque nacional estaba escalar una roca con un cartel que dice “Zona peligrosa, no entrar”. Pero, por supuesto, mis amigos entraron de todos modos. Los dos son los interruptores de regla, y después de uno minuto el guardaparques los encontró, y los dos tuvieron que salir la roca. Me gusta el parque nacional mucho con todos los animales y una playa muy bella y limpia. En Sábado, fui a rafting con mis amigos en el Río Savegre. Me encanta rafting, y quiero hacerlo más. 

Pero, mi favorito parte de este viaje era pasando tiempo con mis amigos. Les echaré de menos cuando yo llegaré, y quiero disfrutar todo mi tiempo con los. No puedo creer que este sea el final semana de esta aventura! No estoy lista para esto terminar. Pero, estoy lista para el fin de gallo pinto.

Pura Vida y Ciao! Megan Libke