Casa El Dorado Escazu

... Refuge! This is a reserve to home of hundreds of species of wildlife, and is an important stopping point for many of migrating species of birds. We had with us some local children who helped us plant trees. The children are learning about ecology!<br>Later we visited a women's butterfly farm, then on to the Turtle Conservation Center.<br>Our days were filled with fun, interesting, information and lot's of amazing photo's.

... we have an awesome group of volunteers. Everyone is really friendly and have lots of things in common. Several of the volunteers are teachers.<br> A group of us walked into Cartago for a little bit this afternoon. Tomorrow we will take a guided city tour and have orientation. We will not start our placements until Tuesday. I am the only one who is going to the PANI orphanage.<br> That's all for now. Will try to write again tomorrow.<br>

... I&#8217;m currently writing this update in a word document and I&#8217;ll try and upload it to my blog the first chance I get when I get back to school&#8230; So I&#8217;m going to stop here and then write about the trip when I get back, Monday night. We&#8217;re leaving at 5a tomorrow, and I&#8217;m just about done with all my homework and it is 11:15p here&#8230;so I still need to pack. I live on the same street as 2 friends and another lives on the next ...

... together so even if I end up not liking the homestay aspect...I won't have to be at the home a lot - I can at least be with people I like. I like the girl that is living here and she told me she'd tell me her favorite places so that way my friends and I will have fun stuff to do. The girl told me she'd walk with me to class tomorrow because she told me to not trust Gloria to do it and I guess she was upset because there are many ...

... other and traded crazy traveling stories we actually meet outside of the Chi-city area. Well even though we were both camera-less, we ended up having some nice Kodak moments hiking in the cloud forest in search of the elusive Quetzal (largest tail feather in the world). Which was apparently spotted in the parking lot of the park 10 minutes prior to us returning to the entrance. Went on a sky rocketing flight through the canopy of not Tertiary ...

... is going down a lot, so i'm assuming thats a sign that its working. My antibiotics will be finished on Monday and when they do I will be going back to the father and his son for a check to make sure that everything is ok and see if anything more needs to happen. Well this week has been a stressful, but it is starting to get better. Nathan has been absolutely amazing during this whole ordeal, words can't even begin to describe. He has been there for me ...

... neighborhoods guarded by gates and guards and every home has a fence around the entire house and yard, bars on the doors, bars on the windows, alarms and, in some cases, covers over the yard. Crime is rampant in Costa Rica, even in areas that are considered nicer. My Tico family is very nice. The mother is in her late 30s and is a psychology student, preparing for law school, and a housewife. The father is the same age and is an engineer, however his ...

... driver overtaking on blind corners etc... I knew he couldn't see jack $hit and we were very high up. We passed more than one landslide which made your imagination run wild with various scenarios. I was witness to a girl from Latvia having her necklace ripped off her in Limon (we had stopped to change buses and were walking from one drop off point to the main bus terminal). Limon - I knew it was nasty. I yelled out ...

... Costa Rican coffee! At the time I am writing this, I am the only guest here! So it's not crowded, and I doubt Mike would allow any seedy characters access to it either. At the very end of the street it's the most unassuming oasis you can imagine. Mike is actually from California and is an Executive Chef and runs a business here called http://culinaryadventurescostarica.com .This sprawling compound ...

... in these countries and i am also trying to minimize my internet usage. Arguing, driving, waiting, sweating, cracking jokes, speaking broken spanish that i am learning along the way, sleeping for minutes, then getting woken up by teenagers or turbulance from the plain at 4 am in the morning. Travelling. Its hard but great. Lonely and exhilerating. I flew from LAX to Guatemala, then to Costa ...