It is hard to believe that I have only been in San Jose for a little over two weeks. It is incredible how much  can be packed into such a short period of time. I am two weeks in and halfway done with my first Spanish course. The language classes here are, so far, much more effective than those in The States. I have already learned more Spanish in the time that I have been here than I had in three years of taking high school Spanish and one year of college Spanish. The best part about going to school in a different country is that the actual schooling, that I am attending, seems so insignificant compared to all of the cultural challenges I face day to day. Although, the adjustment has been a lot easier than I expected in almost every way. San Jose transportation has been very strait forward thus far and day to day interactions with Ticos are generally easy to complete.

I have been very fortunate to befriend students who have been here longer than a few weeks and know their way around. The last two weekends I have been able to travel to two incredible places. My first weekend here, two of my roommates, Clare and Besty, and a few of their friends and I traveled to Cahuita. Cahuita is on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. It is known for being a laid back, not very touristy, little beach town. From what I hear, I lucked out by going to Cahuita on my first weekend because it is one of the prettest drives through Costa Rica. The bus left San Jose, drove us into an incredible cloud forrest, through little towns running on the business of growing bananas, and then down the coast.

The beach down the street from our hotel.

 

Our hotel; just beyond these trees is the beach.

Cahuita National Park

Our Cahuita weekend mostly consisted of walking around town, going to the beach, and eating really good food. The street vendors have some of the best food that I have had here so far. During the day there are fruit carts where you pick out your favorite mango or pineapple (grown a few miles away) and watch as it is cut up and bagged; you can't get anymore fresh than that. At night, kabobs were a group favorite. We had our pick of chicken, pork, steak, or shrimp. It was definitely nice to get out of San Jose to experience Caribbean culture and food.

Other than school last week was not very eventful. I made a trip downtown to The Artisan Market where I will most likely get souvenirs later on in my trip. I would say half of the stuff at The Market is really neat, handmade local crafts and the other half is very touristy souvenirs covered in the words "Costa Rica" or "Pura Vida". It is an exciting place none the less.

This last weekend a group of friends and I traveled to Puerto Viejo, just a short drive to the South of Cahuita. Puerto Viejo is a bigger and more visited town than Cahuita. We decided to stay at Rocking Jay's Hostel, probably the most well known hostel in Central America. When our bus stopped in Puerto Viejo Friday night, we were greeted by Mr. Jay himself to give us a ride.

Our fancy ride with Frijolita, one of the hostel dogs.

The Hostel

One of our rooms; "The Pimp Suite"

Our other room; "The Observatory"

 

    

Hammocks were one sleeping option.

   

We found some crazy fire dancers.

  

Caribbean dinner at The Flip Flop.

Beautiful beaches with clear, blue water.

Rocking Jay's was a very unique place to stay. Weither you want to rough it in a tent, sleep in a hammock, or get your own treehouse, Rocking Jay's is definitely not a place you will forget. Between the beaches, the shopping, and the nightlife there was no dull moment in Puerto Viejo. I will definitely return at some point in the five months I have left here in Costa Rica. I would like to visit The Jaguar Rescue and The Cocoa Plantation just outside of town next time I go.

This next weekend I will most likely stay in San Jose and explore the city a bit more (I have no pictures of San Jose yet). It will probably also include me taking a day trip to go white water rafting with some friends. I will try and write posts more often in the upcoming weeks.