Transportation

In Costa Rica, the way I get from place to place is different than that in the US. For example, por ejemplo: I have my driver's license in the US, and I am able to drive anywhere. Here in Costa Rica, I am not allowed to drive because of AFS rules, and I don't know if I would really want to drive here. But that is just one example. I usually get to the places I need either by walking, taking the bus, or by taxi.
I live in San Juan, Puriscal, which is pretty much in a "valley" I guess you could say. So I can't exactly walk to school because that would take about an hour and an half walk up some really big hills, but I can walk to the local places in San Juan. I also walk everywhere in Santiago, the central town in Puriscal where I go to school. Once I am here I walk to local tiendas, pulperias, panaderias, and many more.
To get to school I ride the bus. I walk down my hill down to the pulperia and wait for my 6:30 bus to take me to school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. On Tuesdays and Fridays I take the bus at 11:00 because I don't have school in the mornings. The bus is usually a 20 minute ride, and it really fills up in the mornings. I'm talking about people hanging out of the bus packed-it gets intense sometimes!! I also take the bus to San Jose, but this is a much nicer bus that holds more people. And on these buses they only allow people to sit, so it isn't that crowded and everyone has their own comfortable seat-imagine a tour bus that takes people around Washington D.C. It takes about 40 minutes to an hour to get to San Jose depending on where you want to go.
And finally there are taxis!! I only take taxis when I need to get to Santiago and there is no bus, or to get home when the buses have stopped running. They cost about 2 mil to get to Santiago from my house, which is about $4. Now you may think this is good, so did I when I first got here, but after living here for this long, I have found out it is actually pretty expensive! So I try and take the bus as much as possible so I don't have to spend my money. But, when taking a taxi, know what is a real taxi and what is a "fake taxi". Here, people stand next to their cars and yell, "Taxi, taxi, car, car, necesito un carro?" To tell if it is a real taxi, you make sure the car is red and it has a taxi sign above it. Now you may say, "uhhh duhh that's pretty obvious how could you get that mixed up with a different car?" But when I first came here my family took "fake taxis" because they knew the drivers, and I thought they were just taking taxis, so when I came home in one of these cars, my family flipped out and told me what to look out for. It is can be very dangerous, so now I make sure I am careful!
One thing here that is very different are the roads. Some are paved, but some have a lot of pot-holes and are rocky. While on these roads, it can be very dangerous to drive fast, and all the drivers know exactly where to drive to avoid these obstacles. Also, no one wears seat belts-no one. Which is really dangerous because in the US its "click it or ticket" and here it's "PURA VIDA!!" One day I was driving in a car with my brother to Santiago, and he told me to sit in front because I was getting out first. My first instinct was to reach back and grab my seat belt, but there was none, there was nothing there! And of course Rafa saw me do this and started laughing and making fun of me! But how was I suppose to know!!
So this is how I get around. Some families own cars, and they are able to drive to the beach, or into town, or wherever they want to go. My father is thinking about renting a car soon for this year, so we will see how that works out! Getting from place to place here is quite simple, and so far pretty easy. Let's just hope it stays that way!!

One month!

I can't believe I have been living in Costa Rica for over a month now! (5 weeks)-how crazy is that! It seems like yesterday I was just meeting my family for the first time! But in a way I do feel at home here! I am really starting to feel a part of the family, which makes me feel a lot more confident about the 10 remaining months I have here! (also I have noticed I have making my posts really long so I will try and contain this to a decent length!)

So to catch everyone up this has been a VERY fun week! On Wednesday I left for Hotel Tambor with AFS, this super fancy all-inclusive resort on playa tambor! It.was.gorgeous. I was in heaven! But the really nice thing about it was I was able to just sit and relax, something I haven't been able to do that much. I could just sit and soak up some sun and it was soo nice!! On Wednesday, we left at 2:30 in the morning (Yes, 2:30 in the morning-crazzyyy!!!) to catch a 5:00 ferry ride! It was about a 70 minute ride so we were able to sleep some more and watch the sun rise! Then we took a bus to the hotel and WOW WAS IT AMAZING! The pool was gigantic, the beach was gorgeous, there was so much food, and the rooms were super cute! It was a great little vacation!

 

The sun rising while on the ferry

 

(from left to right): Maura, Hanna, Hannah, Sophia, Me, and Emma at the pool!

 

La playa!!

 

After Tambor, we went to a beach called Puntarenas! This is me with my friend Hanna from Sweden!

 

Okay so back to being here for one month-it is so weird to think of all the things I have already done here! Sometimes I don't even believe it was I having these amazing adventures! Did I really go zip lining? Did I really go galloping in the wind on a horse on the beach?(; These amazing things that I would never have done anywhere else, and it makes me so much more excited for what is to come!

I am really feeling a part of the family now. I have met a lot of family members, and there are a lot more to come (my parents both come from families of 12+ children) but the people I have met are friendly and caring. Of course, I help around the house by cleaning the dishes, sweeping the floor, cleaning the bathroom, and making sure my bedroom is nice and neat! My sister and I are really close now, it is as if we have known each other our entire lives! We joke around all the time!! Being here is one of the best things that have ever happened, and I am so ecstatic to continue my adventures, so until next time, pura vida!

 



Mucha comida!!

So I am just going to be honest: I eat so much food here. I swear I am going to come back 20 lbs bigger! But it is just so hard to stop eating here because the food is so good! I think people like feeding exchange students because so many people shove food in my face and it is so hard to say no when it smells good, looks good, and I mean-you don't want to be rude!! But I am not complaining at all, because the food here IS SO GOOD!

Anyway a lot of people have been asking me about what I eat here, so I'll make it easy on everyone! First off, let me just say, I eat rice with about every single meal. Rice and beans are very typical here in Costa Rica.
A typical tico breakfast is gallo pinto which is rice and beans mixed together!(HEY!) This is usually eaten with scrambled eggs and fruit.  I eat this on the days I don't have school, when I do have school I just eat cereal. Also, everyone drinks coffee in the morning. Back in the US, I didn't really like coffee that much, but now I love it!

Lunch in Costa Rica is the most important meal of the day. It is usually the biggest, and at school we are given an hour for lunch. Stores usually close from 12-2 for a lunch break! But for lunch I usually eat at school. There I am given (more) rice, beans or potatoes, and some type of meat-regularly chicken or pork. At least once a week I will go out with my AFS friends and go eat at a pizzeria or some other restaurant and just catch up. Another typical meal that I have eaten for lunch is Olla de carne. This is a stew-type-thing with meat, usually beef, rice, beans, potatoes, yucca, and vegetables. I thought it was very good!

And finally Dinner! Dinner is pretty simple, arroz con pollo (rice with chicken), fish, chicharones (fried beef), stew, anything really. It is a relaxed time, and the food is comforting. My personal favorite meal is tamales. These are the best things on earth! It is ground-up corn, stuffed with pork or chicken, rice, vegetables, and wrapped in a banana leaf! It is like heaven in your mouth!!









There are so many desserts in Costa Rica, and one that many people eat is arroz con leche (rice with milk). It is rice mixed with milk, sugar, cinnamon, and other things. At first I didn't really like it, but once I ate it more I thought it was pretty decent!! Another dessert here is dulce de leche it is a syrup made of milk and sugar. There are a lot of cakes here, with caramel in the middle. One specific cake is called torta chilena which is cake filled with dulce de leche. And of course, I can't forget the ice cream! There is a lot of sweet bread here as well. One I really like is pan de maiz a thick, sweet bread made out of corn. I usually pass about 5 bakeries on my way to the bus after school, and it is so hard to just walk past them-so I have made a lot of friends at the bakeries and tried a lot of pastries!!
One thing I really love here is the fruit! It is juicy and sweet and just heavenly! Of course people know there is pineapple (the best I have ever had!!), bananas, mangos, oranges, cantaloupe, papaya, coconuts, and kiwis, but there are a lot that people don't know about that are soooooo gooooddd!!!!





 First off: pejibaye!!! It is kinda hard to describe how these taste because they aren't exactly sweet, but not bitter at the same time. They grow in clusters and can be eaten if they are red, yellow, or green-but I recommend red or yellow!!

So this is called granadilla. Inside this fruit is little seeds covered in a "jelly-ish" substance. It is actually really good, I had it my first day I got here. It is sweet and the seeds are edible.

Guayaba!! This is my sister's favorite fruit. The outside of the fruit is a bit bitter, but the inside is juicy and sweet. In the middle of the fruit are small edible seeds.

And my personal favorite: MAMONES! These are honestly the best things in the world! At first glance it looks really weird, I mean lets be honest. It is a reddish-pink spiky looking thing! But once you open it, you see a small white fruit. In the middle of this is a seed. It takes some skill to get the fruit off the seed, but I am now a pro!

 

Okay so I hope I covered everything I needed to! To make a long story short-the food here is great! So, until next time, adios!!

I can't believe I have already been here for 3 weeks! That is so crazy-it is going by so quickly! I feel like just yesterday I was meeting my family for the first time, but anyway sorry I haven't posted in a while! I told myself I would start posting once a week, but I kinda broke that promise.......

Anywayy let me catch you up on all the exciting things that have happened to me! First off, an accomplishment I am allowed to brag about-I walked 23 km from San Jose to Cartago! WHY WOULD I DO THAT? There is this big tradition in Costa Rica, where people walk to a church in Cartago in honor of the Virgin Mary. I didn't really know what to do, so I decided to go for the expierence! And let me tell you.....it.was.so.exausting. Honestly I never want to walk that far again-ever! But to look on the bright side I burned a lot of calories! Which is good because I have been eating soooooo much here!! But the walking was long and very tireing-but my dad, my sister, and my friends Hannah and Sophia and I made the best out of it! However we were yelled at a lot-that is the one thing that really annoys me. Here in Costa Rica, men aren't afraid to show you they like you. They will whistle, yell, and make "cat calls" at girls on the street! While we were walking an old man yelled at us, "Hey babies! I love you.......TOMORROW!" Not today? Not yesterday? Tomorrow?!! Alright....have fun with that..! But just being whistled at or called "gringa" or "macha" can get really annoying after a while! But finally, after walking 8 hours, being whistled at, and eating a lot of ice cream, we made it! And it was gorgeous! I felt really accomplished and I was really glad I did that, because how many people from the US can say that they walked 23 km to a church in Cartago?-not many!

Also this week I went to the multiplaza in San Jose!-it.is.america. Every single American store imaginable was there, and, of course, McDonalds....BARF! haha jk!no seriously I hate McDonald. But my friends and I went and saw a movie-"Con Amor en Rome"! It was pretty good, half of it was in English, the other half was in Italian, and then the entire thing was in Spanish subtitles-which was actually really good because I went with 3 people who could speak English, 2 that could speak Spanish, and 1 that spoke Italian! Very diverse-just like us! All in all...the movie made no sense....but it was fun to go to the theater!

On Friday AFS Puriscal went to the Volcano Irazu! I'm not going to lie, I was expecting a little more, but it was still gorgeous! We drove 2 hours, got out into the "cold weather" (everyone told me it was going to be cold-it was about 50 degrees f....) and stayed there for an hour. Then after that.....WE WENT TO A THEME PARK!! It was in San Jose, and it was soo fun! I went on everything I could-rollercoasters, upside down rides, water rides, everything! I also ate a lot....I swear I am about to be so fat when I come home:/!

All in all I am doing really good! I skyped my family for the first time last Sunday and it felt so good-I thought after I would feel homesick, but it made me feel a lot better! So, to anyone who wants to know, skyping does help! Of course I am going to feel homesick, I think there would be something wrong with me if I didn't, but I realized I only have 10 more months with these amazing people here, and I don't want to waste anytime thinking about those people at home when I could be out meeting new people and doing amazing things! I am starting to understand the language a lot more which is good, and I am really excited to go out and explore! So, for now, chao!

                                       From Left to right: Lupe, Me, Sophia, Hannah; the chuch
                                          is in the background

                                                          All the people waiting to go in

Volcano Irazu!

Theme park! From left to right: Hannah, me, Emma, Maura, Erica

This was super fun! Left to right: Sam, Emma, me, Sophia