All of my flights went smoothly and before I knew it I was in Costa Rica. Within the airport it was hard to differentiate between Ticos (Costa Ricans) and tourists because they are very similar in appearance. Customs was a breeze and my friend Megan and I walked out of the airport where we were bombarded by more Taxi drivers than you could shake a stick at. We walked confidently by them however as they hounded us for rides, we knew that someone in the crowded walkway would be holding a sign for us.

Shortly we found our group and we were whisked away in a van towards the center of the city. On the way in, there were plenty of signs advertising foreign products and restaurants ( for example, Coca Cola and Taco Bell). The highways and roads are mostly skinny with small cars. What was striking was all of the people walking everywhere. I and the other international students in the van noted how full all of the public parks and squares were as we went by.

We were all dropped off at the front of our host families’ houses. We noticed many houses had more than one secure gate to the front door, every window was encased in iron bars, and fences surround the perimeters of the houses. On top of that, some of them had barbwire. This made all of us a little curious about the safety of our neighborhoods. Later it would be explained to us  in orientation that it was not because that the neighborhoods were unsafe but that Ticos are very precautious and not big risk-takers.

Es todo para ahora.

Hasta pronto, Kelsey