A must do in Costa Rica is to visit the Manuel Antonio National Park. You walk through the jungle looking around for different animals and insects and then a relax at the beach at the end of the path. We saw sloths, white faced monkeys, hollar monkeys, squirrel monkeys (Apparently very rare in esta area), iguanas, lizards, mouthless crabs, bats, hummingbirds, spiders, racoons, coati, and grasshoppers. That afternoon, we relaxed at the hotel pool and Took another trip to see the hotel's beach. We drove through the town of Quepos and ventured into the farmer's market place to see and taste the exotic fruits.
Bats
Hummingbird
Iguana
Holler monkeys
White faced monkey
Sloth
Farmer's Market
Love this sign!
Day 7:
Unfortantely During a strenous hike around the hotel property, we did not see any more animals but we did hear birds. Our next stop was travel into San Jose, the captial. We Took a long (Because of traffic and rain) bus tour around the city to look at historical houses. The rain Poured down and left the streets flooded. I Would Have Thought That With all the rain That gets Costa Rica, They Would Have a better drainage system. That night, we had dinner at Italian awesome place.
Pasta Sampler
National Theater
Cafe Mocha
Saint Joseph
We got up early in order to walk around San Jose, since my parents had a flight in the afernoon. Unfortantely, nothing opened Until later. We did a little bit of souvenir shopping in a local market. I Purchased the usual things that you 'are suppose to get When You Come to Costa Rica: an ox cart, coffee, and two wooden cravings. Before my parents left for the airport, They dropped me off at my hotel in Alajelua Where I would be staying for the next few days till my students arrive. Unsure of what to do With the rest of my afternoon, I Asked the hotel front desk for suggestions and I Mentioned to wildlife rescue center, Which Also Happened to be in TripAdvisor. Of course i had to to go! Luckily, as I was getting ready to leave, another Broadreach instructor came to the hotel. We went off to navigate the center and bus transportation. Later, we Treated ourselves to fro-yo and dinner at Tex-Mex place with a few margaritas.
Day 9 (Monday):
Unable to watch Game of Thrones the night before, the other instructor and finally I Were Able to stream it from the internet! One of His other co-leads came, so the three of us ending up watching The Fantastic episode together. Bringing our nerdiness, we Discussed our fan theories for the future episodes. My co-lead came in the afternoon, so after grabbing lunch, we started to get ourselves organized for the program to start. The other group of Broadreach instructors and us went out to dinner and drinks to celebrate the last few nights before our students came (Their students were coming the following day.)
Day 10 (Tuesday):
Tuesday was spent doing some more organization for our upcoming program. My colead's brother lives in town, so we were able to have dinner with his family were incredibly sweet.
Day 11 (Wednesday):
Our students arrived! It was an extremely long day at the airport since They flew in all throughout the day, but it was exciting to finally meet them. We played get to know you games and had an orientation where we talked about what is to be expected of them and their itinerary.
Day 12 (Thursday):
My colead and I lead our students to Sarapiqui for a morning of ziplining! The hotel we are staying at here, is phenomenal! We are glamping! We are in tents With running water, electricity, and wifi (barely). Sounds of frogs, crickets, birds, small mammals, and a little rain remind me of an orchestra!
Early morning bird watching with coffee
Day 13 (Friday):
White water rafting day! I have never had as much fun white water rafting as I did here in Costa Rica. At one point while we were on the water, it started pouring. Everything around us was silent and all you could hear was the rain and the rapids at points. It was such a awe-inspiring moment that words would never do the moment justice. Unfortunately, I did lose an earring but it was beyond worth it.
Day 14 (Saturday):
We traveled to Santa Clara where we will be staying for the next 5 days. We visited the wildlife rescue center, Proyecto Asis, where we saw a wide variety of wild animals that were previous owned, injured, or orphaned. Our guide was incredibly generous and allowed us, no other group, to see a baby sloth whose mother had been killed.
I promise to post more pictures soon, but I 've been beyond busy and exhausted every night. Pure Life!
