Bienvenidos!

Hola from Costa Rica! I’ve only been here for 5 days but all the experiences I’m having make it seem like so much longer. I arrived on Saturday to San Jose, stayed overnight with a family in a neighboring town called Heredia, and then got a ride with a Tico to Samara on Sunday. Here in my little beach town on the Nicoya Peninsula, I am living with a sweet Tico woman named Marisol, who cuts hair and does nails in the salon in the front of her house (nice…I can get pedicures!!!) Also living there is her son Bryan (19), 3 other students from Europe, plus a Swiss girl and her Tico boyfriend, which makes for a nice community. I can easily walk to my school from here, which is located in the center of town directly in front of the beach (que lindo!)…

The first night in Heredia I encountered 3 roaches in the bathroom and the bedroom…yikes!..but no more since then. The second day in Samara I took a shower with a frog, and last night with a green and brown gecko – so cute! One of the most beautiful things I’ve seen so far is wild horses running on the beach! There are a bunch of horses and dogs and cats that seem to be running free, but I’m not sure, they very well could have homes, but be allowed to roam…all of my MamaTica’s animals (dogs, puppies, kittens, chickens) roam around the outside the house, and they aren’t really allowed inside.

My Spanish is improving quickly and I took my first surf lesson today! It was super fun! My super cool friends Junx and Cayce are here visiting from Atlanta (they just happened to plan a trip here during the first week of my stay) so we took the lesson together and we all got up! All the people here are so nice, the locals are very welcoming, and there are tons of international students at my school to hang with…and the food has been muy delicioso!!!

Having trouble uploading pictures so I'll do that next time...hasta luego…voy a cenar!