Every single day has been work and adventure here in Costa Rica. My Spanish improves day by day from my classes and everyday use of the language. I am very grateful to have a host mom who sits down at every meal and talks with me (she only speaks Spanish). Even my conversations in English with other international students are mixed with lots of Spanish.
Every weekend I have had an excursion outside the city of San Jose. There are so many beautiful places to see in Costa Rica and I have been very lucky to see so many already. The excursions have all been really enjoyable. We’ve been to Tamarindo beach, 2 volcanoes, a waterfall, and hot springs. For a class I went to a self-sustaining community that grows organic products such as coffee and banana. That was one of my favorite trips even though it was farthest away, about 8 hours by bus. I was very interested in learning about the community and how organic farming worked. It is a lot harder than the conventional farming but it has its advantages to the environment and the community. Environmentally there is less poisoning of the land and degradation of wildlife, and for the community it less expensive because they do not need to buy pesticides and their product prices do not fluctuate as much as those that are grown conventionally.
Aside from learning Spanish and learning about the environment/social development, I have also been learning to dance! Mostly merengue and salsa, which are the most popular types of dancing here in Costa Rica. It is one of my favorite activities and melts away stress. Plus, it’s a great way to connect with Ticos (Costa Ricans) who are almost all professionals at dancing! Haha!
Well this is a summary of what I’ve been doing here in Costa Rica. I will try to elaborate more soon. This has been amazing journey so far and can’t wait to find out what the next four weeks have in store for me. 🙂
Hasta pronto. Kelsey.
PS Photos below go in no particular order of events.
Megan and I with our new friend Jasmine at La Fortuna waterfall.
Volcano Arenal. This town sits below it but on the side that does not spew lava. Good choice.
A recycled bridge at the AsoProLa organic coffee and banana plantation. It was slightly treacherous.
Megan and Kevin (another new friend! 😀 ) having some delicious organic coffee.
La Fortuna waterfall.
BBQ at Veritas University
Megan, Matt, and I chilling after the BBQ with the musicians that played that night.
I’m delighted that your host mom doesn’t speak English. Your goal was to improve your Spanish fluency, and this is the best way to do it. I can hardly wait to see you, and to listen to you speak.
You are learning so much, and I can tell that you’re absorbing a great deal from your excursions and weekend trips.
Your photos are gorgeous. I took the liberty of moving your descriptions about the photos to the caption function, so readers will have caption and photo together.
Enjoy your second four weeks, keep using your Spanish, and Tina and I look forward to you being back in the office with us in the fall.
Michele