Ramada Plaza San Jose

... In addition, busses will drop you off anywhere. The bus doors are always open, so If you see a place that you want to get off, you just stand up and get off.

The bus will stop…sort of.

3. Stop is a relative term.

You need to be prepared to hop on even if the bus doesn’t really stop and hop off at maybe 10 miles per hour. Make sure you are always in the front so the bus driver will at least slow down for ...

Got 10 hours of sleep tonight so I (surprisingly) wasn't tired in class (despite the lack of sleep this weekend).  Reviewed a few more tenses (past perfect, etc).  Only a few more days of classes left-our final is on Friday and then I leave Saturday morning.

Meredith and I took the bus (35 cents per ride-how cheap!) into the city center and went back to the artisan market to shop a little.  It started raining a bit so we headed back and I stopped at the market down the street ...

... all over too and we were able to see the volcano from the springs so it was really pretty. Afterwards, we dried off and went back to the hotel for dinner. My group and I were able to check into our hotel room. I stayed with my friend and the other two girls took the other room. I was glad all 4 of us were not stuck in the same room – it gets to be a little too much. The rooms were huge and we had a porch and a big tv and a normal working shower. It was amazing ...

... the whole process over again. There is a limit on the number of students per school, in each major. I find it very interesting because in the US, people switch their majors all the time, but in Costa Rica, students are not allowed to. They are forced to stick with their decision. Private universities work a bit differently because there are other scholarships and programs involved but the 3 public ones are very strict. The schools are also commuter schools for the ...

... families choose a beach trip, while 30% choose an outdoor adventure. That means that 80% of vacation-goers will be pleased with what Costa Rica has to offer, from its beautiful white sand beaches, to its tropical rainforests and ...

... were the sweetest ever- preparing each morning a smashing breakfast with smoothies, fruit, scrambled egg, costa rican coffee and many many more. We really fell in love with them. They drove us around the city and helped us with language problems... Well, the language... that quite is a thing :D After the father realized Anja speaks quite good Spanish, they had long discussions... and once in a while he was shooting a word into my direction, like: "Aileen: Jamon".... so I sat there like ...

... course not. After about 15 minutes she pulled into a driveway. Her daughter climbed in. And she backed into a hole (like 2 feet x 2 feet). Her back tire was totally encased in a hole! I'm thinking, " How long it is going to take to get a tow truck here?" etc., and within (honestly) one minute, six vehicles stopped, about 8 men got out, lifted her car out of the hole and went on their way. My mouth was still open in surprise as we drove off to look at the next apartment!

... which was another 15 minutes away. As usual Rios Tropicales offers an experienced crew whose number one priority was our safety. As much as we tried to bribe our guide to forget about safety and hit every rapid possible - that ended up not happening, and in reality was a real dissapointment. Now don't misunderstand, we all had a great time (including the two Cubans tourists who were with ...

... aprende," means "he who goes with wolves will learn to howl," and I'm sure there's something vaguely similar in English, but I can't call it to mind. Sleep in the barn and you'll smell like a pig? Run with the dogs and I'll treat you like one? Keep making that face and it'll stay that way? Then there's "mas sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo, which means, "the devil knows more because he's old than because he's the devil." I don't think there is an English ...

... we went collecting caterpillars. It was extremely hot and humid out in the field. But our group was quite successful, and filled 36 bags of various species. After spending hours with limited success (finding only one every half hour or so), I lucked out and found about fifty of an as-yet uncollected species on one passiflora vine.



Part III



Edgar, Jacob, Pauline, Jeanette and I ventured into Puerto Viejo via cab last night. First stop was a ...