Mitt Costa Rica

So!

Saturday feb 27, we moved into our own home in Quepos. The land lady is a sweet woman with a sweet familiy, and they all do whatever they can to help and make sure everything is ok with us. Only a few days later we discovered what would turn out to be our topic for our thesis; Kids Saving the Rainforest! It just happened to be located in the hotel right next to us, AND the president of the organization just happened to be our neighbour. So Im thinking there were many reasons for us to move up into this little appartment on the hill.

Dominical was a really nice experience. We went for the horseback riding, going into the forest to a waterfall...which turned out to be one of the most beautiful spots I have ever seen! We got breakfast and lunch at this cozy little place, the food was great and the ride was so much fun - as we came closer to home base for the horses, they could not hold back...as soon as one started running, they all broke into a gallop and there was nothing you could do about it, they wanted to get home!!! And as I hadn't been on a horse since I was about 10, I was a little hesitant at first, but by the end of it, I wished that I had let my horse gallop ALL THE WAY!!

The days drifted away, with interviews and research for the thesis and a lot of tanning!!!!! Since getting in this apartment, we havn't been to the beach too often - we have a garden, right??!! And of course - we've been going out every weekend, with the rest of the norwegian guys and other people coming to visit us

Very long story short - I was robbed last week...some was my own stupidity, the rest was the loco guy who did it...at least there was no contact between him and me, no physical damage! And - for some remarkable reason I got my camera back...apparently Ive gotten to know some very ok people here. All the other stuff was only of value that money cannot buy, like my picture of my kittie(the ONE pic I have of her as a kitten)and a cute little book that one of the girls from school gave me... Of course my bank card was stolen as well as freshly taken out money, but I feel so lucky, it could have gone so horribly wrong! Tico friends are good to have!!

Tomorrow we'll be going to meet up with a friend of ours in Uvita to see whales and dolphines, so that should be a fun trip! Hopefully we'll be going canopying next weekend...coz we're starting to feel our departure date closing in on us...3 weeks and 3 days, and we'll be heading out of paradise! 3 months here is not enough!

I just have to say - Costa Rica has so much to offer, from the nature to the culture, to the food and the people, and the beautiful, always sunny weather (well, almost...) If I EVER get the chance to come back, I will swim if that's what it takes! I have travelled some before, and have now found my #1 spot!!!!!!!! BTW - you have to try the mahi mahi...it's the best fish I have ever had!!!!!!!

Go the PURA VIDA way, go to Costa Rica!!!!!! just don't ever let your gard down I did, and of course at the exact moment someone was waiting for it...

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im lovin it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...please don't make me go home...

Ok!

So, finally we got a week without any bumps in the road or any clouds in sight...except for a lot of rain, even though this is the dry season(!).

Last saturday we left Guadalupe, San Josè for Manuel Antonio. After a 4 hr bus ride we arrived, sweaty and dehydrated, and joined the other guys who had left one day earlier. A little walk on the beach in the moonlight (by the way - the moon is up side down!!) we went back to our AC-hostel room.

Sunday we went over to our new hostfamily, a house FULL of people and dogs. Counting the three 1-month-old puppies there were 10 dogs there, all chiuahuas A really sweet, loving familiy.
Monday we went over to the school twice, where the last time we were told to start tuesday. So tuesday at 07.00 we went in to a 3. grade. Sweet, adorable kids! THEN - we went in to a 2.grade...OMG!!! I had to leave the room, it was so caotic!!! Wednesday we spent with a 5. grade, and by thursday we made a choice to stay with the 2. and the 5.grade; they were the two classes in most need of assistance.

Last night, I woke up from this horrendous sound...it was raining and I thought the world was falling apart!!! With the thin tin roofs, the smallest, little monkey will sound like a lion on top of your house. But when I woke up this morning, the house, the trees and the ground were still there! Oh, that's right - we had a monkey on our roof yesterday!

Today we had the day off So with our laptop's we went downtown to our fav cafè that has wireless and THA best ice cofeè EVER!!! Tmr we move into our very own apartment WITH AC!!!!!! heaven, sweet heaven! And sunday we're gonna go to a place called Dominical for snorkelling, horseback riding, waterfall-swimming and perhaps a little ATV-ride or a canopy-tour we'll see whats most tempting :p

So, untill next time - IM LOVING EVERY, LITTLE SECOND HERE AND I WISH I COULD MOVE HERE FOR GOOD! (but Id wanna take everyone I love, which would double the number of inhabitants in this town!)

All the sun beams I can manage to collect - CATCH!!!

Well, the first week startet with the whole airport-mess...This week startet with us coming to school at 08.00 yesterday, when the teachers told us that if OTEC, the organization responsible for transferring our money to our host families and the school etc, didnt make the payment before 09.00 the school would not teach us until the money was where they should be! The weird part is; we paid this fee on january 5th...how long does it take to transfer money in this country???

So, 7 of us, all volunteers, got together and headed down to OTEC`s headquarters in San Josè this morning to really let them know what we thought about this situation. And the worst part was: 5 families here in Guadalupe hosting volunteers havn`t received their money for over 4 months!!! Our host mom has 5 volunteers alone.

First, we only talked to a guy who really didnt have too much of a say in things. But soon after we were brought up to the 2nd floor, where the co-manager met us and explained a little more. Then; we finally got to talk to the actual administrator - who by the way didn´t know a word of english, ha, go figure, he´s only managing one of the major org`s in CR responsible for thousands and thousands of foreigners!!! - and he apologized and said that we would be able to go back to school tomorrow, and that within 15 DAYS the families would have received all their money! well, we´ll see............

I believe I am entitled to say: I have used all my bad luck for more than 5 years now, so from now on things better go smoothly!!! Other than that - things are great here! BUT, this is a warning: a volunteer don´t need OTEC for anything, really!!! Many things can be handled better by doing it yourself! We have told X-plore about this, and hopefully they can find another org to cooperate with, or, many things can be done after arriving here.

Ok, ppls! For now, ¡pura vida!

After a hard start - with our flight being 25 hours delayed just to mention some of it - we arrived in San Josè thursday february 4th, local time 22:15=05.00 in Norway. A guy from Otec picked us up, and took us to Costa Rica backpackers. I have been traveling before and didn`t expect much from a hostel. Boy, was I in for a major shock!!! The hostel itself, the beds and the rooms were of an ok standard, but the beergarden was really something!! Not only were there a huge green area in the back, but there was a pool, a bar, a restaurant and hammocks all over!! We had reached paradise, hidden behind a rather shabby fasade. And there were many computers with free access to the internet for 20 minutes at a time. We had 2 great days there

Saturday morning, a sweet lady by the name of Jeanette came to pick us up. After living with her for only a week now, we go by the names like "mi amor" and she calls us her princesses She is such a wonderful lady! And her cooking is fabulous!! I`ll bet we have gained many kilos by the time we get on a plain to go home! That was NOT part of the plan At the moment we are 5 volunteers living with Jeanette - 2 girls and a guy from Norway and 2 girls from Germany, one of which has been living there for 6 months now and serves as a interpreter. Even though we have been attending a spanish course for a week now, there are still alot of wholes needing to be filled with more spanish words

The days mostly base itselves around school, homework and relaxing "at home". Which is something we enjoy for now. The hard work and writing the thesis will come soon enough!

This saturday coming we`ll be going to Quepos, a small fishing village on the pacific coast, to start our volunteer work at a school. Writing our bachelors thesis based on drop out will be very interesting! And, we read that all of february is carneval time in Quepos so that should be fun

So far, Costa Rica has been as good if not better than I ever could imagine Its highly recomended to take the time to go here

Take care, all my dear ones!!