¡Bienvenidos a Costa Rica!

This is the first post of the series of posts on my journey to Costa Rica. In the following posts I will tell you more about my experiences here but also provide you with some useful tips I've gathered along the way. Enjoy reading!

On December 31st I took off on a plane to a new place I've always longed to visit for its richness in biodiversity balanced with beautiful beaches: Costa Rica. Past summer I took the decision to finally do it and booked myself a plane ticket along with a  7 weeks Spanish course taking place on the pacific coast of Costa Rica, namely in the cute little beach town of Samara. After a long journey from Zurich over Madrid over Miami to my final destination San José I had to admit I was a bit exhausted, especially as I spent most of my layover times running through the airports. Once I arrived in Miami I had to ran faster than ever in order to catch my plane the last second before taking off, as I had a "generous" 40min time to go through US border control and through security plus running past 23 gates. I arrived grasping for air and almost collapsing and got some weird looks from my fellow passengers but there I was, sitting on my plane to my final destination in Costa Rica, so I didn't care at all. Most of the flight I spent talking to a young costa rican dad who was traveling with his two little kids, who provided me with a good load of useful tipps. Already there in that minute I somehow knew that I would be fine and I really enjoyed the openness of people talking to strangers as, without generalizing, this is what I often miss back home in Switzerland. Finally when we landed I had to learn that my suitcase was stuck in Miami and wouldn't arrive until the next day but I kind of knew, given the very short layover time, that they probably wouldn't manage to load my baggage in time anyway, so it wasn't as big of a deal to me and as there are worse things that could have happened. At the airport in San José I was waiting for my "host family" organized by my agency where I would stay for the night in order to take the bus to Samara first thing the next day. Due to a miscommunication on my part they weren't expecting me to come at all, but after a short waiting time they came and picked me up and brought me to my family for the night. I was really amazed by the spontaneousness and generosity of the people, as the "host sister" was already at a New Years Eve party but came back just for me and insisted we would spend some time together even when I told her I wouldn't mind spending some time alone. Even though it was only one night, they were so nice and welcoming and I had some good conversations with my "host sister" and her friend.

The next morning, I had my first authentic Costa Rican breakfast, Gallo Pinto-which is basically beans and rice. Its a simple dish but tasty at the same time and soon I learned they didn't only eat it for breakfast here but for lunch and dinner as well, hehe. After a filling breakfast I took on the 5 hour long bus ride westwards to my ultimate destination Samara. I didn't mind the long bus ride that much as I was trying to recover from my jet lag anyway. Plus, when I finally arrived in Samara first thing I did was having a look at the beautiful beach and the ocean and felt rejoiced and compensated for the long journey it took to get there.

The only thing that was a little disturbing was the fact that I've been wearing the same pair of long black jeans for the past 24 hours and whereas in San José the temperature was quite moderate, in Samara it was crazily hot. But my student greediness made me want to wait for the arrival of my backpack instead of picking up a new pair of shorts at the store. But luckily it wasn't long until that same evening I had my backpack back. After an other day of intense travel and new impressions, before I knew it I was already curled up in bed and snoozing away and wouldn't wake up until the next morning.

The following day it was my first day of school, so I had to get there really early in order to take a language test so they could put me in a group appropriate to my Spanish level. In case you are wondering why I decided to go to school voluntarily here the answer: I like having a purpose even while traveling and language schools aren't at all only about the fact that you learn another language its more the fact that its one of the best ways to get to know new people and you have access to some nice activities. But of course its also related to the fact that I love languages and Spanish always seemed very useful to me and I had the feeling that my knowledge from my 5 month long Spanish course I took a while back in Valencia was already fading away, so I felt I had some freshening up to do. On top of that, I'm longing for a tour through South America sooner or later so Spanish comes in handy anyway.

The days go by very quickly here and quickly I adapted myself to the Costa Rican lifestyle and developed a routine. The days mostly look like this here: you either have 4 hours of Spanish in the morning or in the afternoon and depending on the alternating schedule plan your activities around it. There is not a whole lot to do here, as Samara is a small beach town, but compared to its relative small size it has quite a nice offer on restaurants and also some bars and even what you might call a "club". So as some people might find this lifestyle boring for me its just what I needed: spending some time studying Spanish, then relax on the beach and then balance it with some physical activities such as surfing, volleyball or the like. Then, during the evenings we mostly meet up again to grab a drink somewhere. Doesn't sound too bad, does it?

Then one day after school in the evening the turtle rescue center called our school and told us that they had caught sight of some hundred turtles along the coast which apparently meant that the turtles would go on the beach that night to lay their eggs. So some people of our group, including me, didn't want to miss the chance and booked a tour to that beach in order to observe that spectacle. Unfortunately though, we were only able to see 3 turtles laying their eggs but for me it was still an incredible sight so I was happy I didn't miss out. Also we had to see how some crabs where taking its toll on a turtle nest and how around 20 little baby turtles fell victim to their predators. It was a very sad sight and the guide told us that only 1 in 1000 baby turtles survive. But worse even, they have spotted people on the beach that would dig out the eggs in order to eat or sell them, which is unbelievable to me. But unfortunately we all know that humans are nature's worst predator...

So, the first week went by incredibly quickly and we draw together a group that would rent a car for the upcoming weekend to head to Monteverde which is a rainforest located in the north-west of Costa Rica famous for its hanging bridges and cloud forest ostensibly home to a rich variety of flora and fauna. But this is subject to the next blog post, so stay tuned! Until then: Hasta luego!