It's funny how places can become familiar just by spending a few short weeks there. Coming back to San Pedro, Costa Rica is almost like coming back to a second home after spending so much time in unknown lands in Guatemala. Even though it's not particularly a beautiful place (...too many people, too many buses, too many cars, too much noise, too much pollution...) I find myself absolutely in love with everything that I had gotten to know so well last year.
For example, the bus system. In Costa Rica, you can get pretty much anywhere from anywhere by jumping on a bus that costs anywhere from .50 cents to $20. Almost everyone takes the bus to and from work (It would seem like almost everyone. There is still pleeenntttyyy of cars on the road though.) You walk to a bus stop at any of the billion locations located about every quarter mile, and wait for one or two out of a billion different buses to get where you want to go. Each bus has the price posted on the window, along with it's name and route or destination city. The bus stops and lets the masses of people off, and waits as the masses of new people climb on and pay their colones. Sometimes you are lucky enough to get a seat, but at other times the buses are so crowded that there is hardly room to stand in the aisle. To people who live here and ride the buses twice a day, every day, I'm sure that it is a pain and an annoyance, but simply the norm. To me, though....ha, well, I probably enjoy the squished bus rides a little too much. If you've read my posts in the past you know how I love the people, listening to them talk and laugh, and trying to understand more of their culture.
Okay, so that was a long example. Due to time/lack thereof/lazy blogger, I'm pretty much writing what comes and leaving it unedited. My apologizes for extremely long and boring posts as I try to process everything in my brain. :)
So, back to life...
Saturday, Kayla and I pretty much just took the day to relax and unwind after our crazy travels back from Panama. We walked around Alejuela enjoying the live music and talking to random people in the park and at shops, practicing Spanish as well as randomly going up and talking to strangers! It is really a great way to make friends...
Sunday, I couldn't believe that we'd already been in Costa Rica for two weeks! We caught a bus to the airport where I said goodbye to Kayla, praying that she'd survive the airport despite knowing any Spanish. (I worry about these things.) Thankfully, she got back to the states with no problems, and I continued on to my beloved San Pedro. (This consisted of continuing on the bus from the airport to downtown San Jose, walking about a mile with my enormous life-for-two-months backpack, and catching another bus to San Pedro.) Once in San Pedro, I checked into the wonderful Hostel Urbana. Definitely one of my favorite hostels that I have ever stayed in. It is extremely clean, cozy, comfortable, has amazing and helpful staff, warm showers, a sitting room, breakfast, and its a perfect place to meet fellow backpackers! Love it. :)
I had originally been planning to stay there for this whole week, but on Monday morning I was walking to Maximo Nivel (Best volunteer organization ever...but thanks to amazing experiences last year, I am now biased) to sign up for Spanish classes (And see my wonderful friends who work there!) when I ran into my host mom!! It's always amazing to see people that you know and love out of the blue. She was showing a new volunteer how to get from her house to Maximo without getting lost and dying (Yes, exaggeration.) So, she welcomed me into her home for the week and we made a deal for bed and all meals covered. Wooo! God is good!
At Maximo, I signed up for Spanish classes and started right away Monday afternoon. It is so incredible to be back at Maximo. It is such a great place to meet other like-minded people who love to travel and experience and meet people. I had signed up for a group Spanish class, but my "group" consists of me and one other girl. Perfect way to get a lot of one-on-one attention and learn from a teacher who was born and raised a Spanish speaker. So far, I absolutely love it (and him as a teacher and my classmate!) and wish that I had more time (and money...) to just stay in Costa Rica and learn Spanish.
Hmmmm, so long boring details cut short, I have been staying at my host mom's house, walking from there to Maximo instead of taking the super packed buses, (its about a two mile hike, but thanks to the amazing food my mom cooks, I need the excersize! Besides, who doesn't love saving 50 cents??) taking Spanish classes, and meeting wonderful volunteers.
My classes go until Friday, and then I will meet up with my Guatemala travel buddy Bethany (SO EXCITED!!) and we will head north for awhile, where we will eventually split and I will head to Nicaragua (pray that I meet travel buddies...I love traveling alone, but border crossings can be such a pain if you're by yourself) and she'll head south. I am really excited to move on, do some more traveling, meet more people, and learn more about this crazy culture, but I am definitely enjoying being in my comfort zone for a few days. Of course, those are only the current plans, and we all know how well I stick to the plan...
Much love from polluted-yet-wonderful San Pedro. :)
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