Hola!
This weekend we went on our last included CEA Excursion to Montezuma!
To get there we rode in the bus for almost 2 hours, had to wait on the ferry for almost 2 more, rode the ferry for about and hour and a half and then drove for about that much more! All in all, we were traveling for 8 hours! We left after class at 1 so we didn't get there until 8! We got to our hotel, checked in, and I got to be in a bungalow room with Emily! Our bungalow was pretty sweet, except for the animal droppings on the bed and in the shower....and the fact that there was no air conditioner and it was the hottest place I've ever been in my life! Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep between the heat, the howler monkeys the first night and the horrible storm the second night!
We went to dinner at a cool little pizza place and then since no one but me wanted to go back to the hotel, I went to the bar with the others. I ended up sitting outside on the beach with one of the other girls and it was a good time! The next morning we got up ate breakfast and walked to the Montezuma waterfall! It was quite a hike to get there but it was awesome! At this waterfall you could swim right under it and the pool it made was perfect for swimming and was so deep you could jump off the rocks from just about anywhere! We spent a lot of time there and I loved it! After the waterfall we headed into town, got lunch at the grocery store and then caught a bus and headed to RainSong, an animal sanctuary! There they had three baby howler monkeys we got to play with that had been orphaned...they were sooo cute! They also had a baby parrot that was adorable! Deanna, Kathleen, Claire, and I were the only ones that went but we were really glad we did! The bus ride there was pretty cool too because it was all locals and they all knew each other and were treating everyone like family! Since we weren't exactly sure where to get off several people helped us and one girl even told the driver to stop there for us! Once we were done and waiting on the bus stop we got to see several guys chop down a tree that was right beside a house by climbing up it (this is a straight palm like tree) and wrapping a rope around and then whacking it with a machete. It was an interesting experience as well! After that we went back and got in the hotel's pool, which was amazing!
The CEA advisor who went with us (Lisa) and our driver (Randall) and his friend (Leo) were there so we got to practice our Spanish and learn sayings!
We learned the equivalent for dude "mae" which guys use like every four words so it's really hard to understand, and that they call guys microwaves when they flirt with a girl all night and then ditch her (we learned this because Leo is a microwave.) Emily also learned how to say "check it" in spanish (asi es la vara.) It was a lot of fun! The next day we went to breakfast and then hung out in the pool again until lunch. It's hard to swim at the beach near our hotel because there are a lot of rocks, some of the people walked 20 minutes to a better beach but the waves were insane and there was a lot of seaweed and yucky stuff because of the crazy storm the night before. Then we got back on the ferry, and I thought the first ferry was big but this one was huge! We sat on the top deck and it started raining and the floor was flooded and we were getting soaked, so close to the end we finally decided to go inside and low and behold there were a ton of seats and there had been the whole time! These seats were cushioned and really nice and it was air conditioned in there. The whole time everyone on the top deck just assumed it was full down there and we were all wrong! We all got soaked anyway getting off the ferry and getting onto the bus so we all had to change on the bus so we wouldn't get all the seats wet! Pretty much everything we had with us was wet. I hung so much stuff up in my room to dry when we got back that I didn't have anywhere to put anything else! The rainy season has definitely begun...right now it's raining and it has been for hours!
Today, Deanna, Yolanda and I went to Mall San Pedro in order to use an ATM that would give us dollars. For some reason, we have to pay for our Nicaragua trip with dollars. I guess the colon-Nicaraguan money exchange rate is so messed up that they don't except colones to exchange there or something. So we got to the mall and found the ATM and had a crap ton of US money on us, I had $500 in my money belt because I was holding Deanna's for her too! We haven't seen US money for so long that it felt like play money, which was really weird! We also found a Taco Bell next to the mall and decided to go there for lunch! It was amazing and tasted just like back at home! Apparently Taco Bell has fries now so I ordered a "fiesta fry" for Yolanda cause we thought that was the fries with the meat and cheese and stuff on them but turns out that's just plain old fries! It was an interesting experience because at that Taco Bell instead of calling your number they call your name and when they asked for mine I told him and he was so confused. Chelsey is a really rare name here! I was expecting them to call my number because they have such problems with my name when I heard the guy say Chelsey? is a voice that was like what the heck is this name? It was pretty funny!
Anyway, all in all we had a good weekend and a good Monday!
Thursday I have my final for Intermediate1 Spanish and then Friday morning at 3:45 AM we're leaving for Nicaragua! We won't be back until late Monday afternoon so you probably won't hear from me until then or Tuesday!
Ciao chicos! (I know ciao is Italian but don't tell the ticos that, they think it's Spanish!)
~Chelsey
Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Volcan Arenal
Hola amigos!
This weekend I went on my third CEA excursion to La Fortuna, Costa Rica to see the La Fortuna waterfall and Arenal Volcano! We stayed at Baldi Hot Springs Resort and it was amazing! We left San Jose a 7 am Saturday morning and made a quick stop in Zarcero, where there is a pretty church with a beautiful garden in front of it. Then, we went onto La Fortuna Waterfall! There were 500 some steps down to the waterfall but it was well worth it! We swam in a little part a little way away from the actual falls because it's dangerous to swim too close to the waterfall! I didn't want to it looked like it would hurt if it hit you! The water was absolutely freezing but once we were in for awhile it wasn't bad! The climb back up was killer but we made it, though my calves are killing me now! After the waterfall we ate lunch in the town of Fortuna and went and checked into our hotel! It was a resort so it was really nice! It was at a hot springs and they had 22 different pools with different temperatures! I couldn't stay in the hot springs very long because I felt way too hot but they had cool pools too! The hotel had a pretty nice view of the volcano, but we were disappointed that we were on the wrong side of it to see the red rocks coming down at night. Sunday morning we drove to the other side and could see the rocks coming down though! We could see the smoke from everywhere! It was so cool and I just kept looking, I couldn't believe I was looking at a huge volcano! Pictures are posted on facebook!
All in all, it was a great time! This coming weekend we're going to Montezuma which is a beach and a waterfall so expect another update next week!
Hasta luego,
Chelsey
This weekend I went on my third CEA excursion to La Fortuna, Costa Rica to see the La Fortuna waterfall and Arenal Volcano! We stayed at Baldi Hot Springs Resort and it was amazing! We left San Jose a 7 am Saturday morning and made a quick stop in Zarcero, where there is a pretty church with a beautiful garden in front of it. Then, we went onto La Fortuna Waterfall! There were 500 some steps down to the waterfall but it was well worth it! We swam in a little part a little way away from the actual falls because it's dangerous to swim too close to the waterfall! I didn't want to it looked like it would hurt if it hit you! The water was absolutely freezing but once we were in for awhile it wasn't bad! The climb back up was killer but we made it, though my calves are killing me now! After the waterfall we ate lunch in the town of Fortuna and went and checked into our hotel! It was a resort so it was really nice! It was at a hot springs and they had 22 different pools with different temperatures! I couldn't stay in the hot springs very long because I felt way too hot but they had cool pools too! The hotel had a pretty nice view of the volcano, but we were disappointed that we were on the wrong side of it to see the red rocks coming down at night. Sunday morning we drove to the other side and could see the rocks coming down though! We could see the smoke from everywhere! It was so cool and I just kept looking, I couldn't believe I was looking at a huge volcano! Pictures are posted on facebook!
All in all, it was a great time! This coming weekend we're going to Montezuma which is a beach and a waterfall so expect another update next week!
Hasta luego,
Chelsey
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Isla Tortuga and Volcan Poas
Hola!
This weekend we had our first two official (planned for us) CEA excursions! On Saturday we went to Isla Tortuga (Turtle Island). We had to be at the CEA office to leave at 5:50 AM! When we got there we were pleasantly surprised to find a charter bus waiting on us! It had air conditioning and comfortable seats and even a movie on the way home! We were super excited because we were expecting the Tico Viajero Expresso (the travel agency on campus) van that we took throughout Holy Week that has no air conditioning and I have to sit in the backwards facing seat every time with Deanna because we're the only two that don't get carsick facing backwards. Anyway, then the bus picked up a lot of other people and we went to a place and ate a yummy breakfast, then rode the bus for about 2 hours and then got on a boat! The boat ride to the island was about 2 hours as well but it was a big boat and had chairs out on deck we sat in and we got to see dolphins! We got to the island and swam and laid on the beach, had a wonderful lunch, and then took the boat and the bus back to San Jose and got to see the sunset on the boat.
This morning, we had to be there at seven and rode for an hour and a half to Volcan Poas (Poas Volcano) stopping at a coffee plantation for 20 minutes along the way. I was super excited to see my first volcano, but my excitement came to an end when it started raining. By the time we got to the volcano it was so cloudy all you could see was a wall of white. It literally looked like you could just walk into nothingness. They said there was also a lagoon at the park, which we hiked uphill forever to and turns out, we couldn't see it either! The park was pretty though, I just really wanted to see the volcano! The little coffee shop did have an amazing donut that I got though! And the gift shop had Harley Davidson t-shirts, I thought that was weird but they were all huge and cost $51, needless to say Dad didn't get one! After the volcano, we went to Colinas de Poas Canopy Tour (Hills of Poas Zipline!) We got to do another zip lining tour and it was amazing! Although it was misting rain the whole time, it was a lot of fun! The other zip line we went to in Monteverde was more adventure like because it had the tarzan swing and the rappel and a swinging bride and the superman style but this one was a lot more calm and there was a 79-year-old lady in our group who did the entire thing! When you zipline you wear gloves and there's a leather piece on your dominant hand that allows you to stop yourself, at Monteverde we had to stop ourselves on every line but here they had automatic stoppers that you hit and stopped you but you still sometimes had to slow yourself down a bit. Since the lines were wet, my glove was not working at all to slow me down so thank goodness they had the stoppers! After zip lining we had an amazing lunch, and then returned home!
All in all, it was a pretty good weekend and I really don't want to go back to classes tomorrow!
Hasta luego,
Chelsey
This weekend we had our first two official (planned for us) CEA excursions! On Saturday we went to Isla Tortuga (Turtle Island). We had to be at the CEA office to leave at 5:50 AM! When we got there we were pleasantly surprised to find a charter bus waiting on us! It had air conditioning and comfortable seats and even a movie on the way home! We were super excited because we were expecting the Tico Viajero Expresso (the travel agency on campus) van that we took throughout Holy Week that has no air conditioning and I have to sit in the backwards facing seat every time with Deanna because we're the only two that don't get carsick facing backwards. Anyway, then the bus picked up a lot of other people and we went to a place and ate a yummy breakfast, then rode the bus for about 2 hours and then got on a boat! The boat ride to the island was about 2 hours as well but it was a big boat and had chairs out on deck we sat in and we got to see dolphins! We got to the island and swam and laid on the beach, had a wonderful lunch, and then took the boat and the bus back to San Jose and got to see the sunset on the boat.
This morning, we had to be there at seven and rode for an hour and a half to Volcan Poas (Poas Volcano) stopping at a coffee plantation for 20 minutes along the way. I was super excited to see my first volcano, but my excitement came to an end when it started raining. By the time we got to the volcano it was so cloudy all you could see was a wall of white. It literally looked like you could just walk into nothingness. They said there was also a lagoon at the park, which we hiked uphill forever to and turns out, we couldn't see it either! The park was pretty though, I just really wanted to see the volcano! The little coffee shop did have an amazing donut that I got though! And the gift shop had Harley Davidson t-shirts, I thought that was weird but they were all huge and cost $51, needless to say Dad didn't get one! After the volcano, we went to Colinas de Poas Canopy Tour (Hills of Poas Zipline!) We got to do another zip lining tour and it was amazing! Although it was misting rain the whole time, it was a lot of fun! The other zip line we went to in Monteverde was more adventure like because it had the tarzan swing and the rappel and a swinging bride and the superman style but this one was a lot more calm and there was a 79-year-old lady in our group who did the entire thing! When you zipline you wear gloves and there's a leather piece on your dominant hand that allows you to stop yourself, at Monteverde we had to stop ourselves on every line but here they had automatic stoppers that you hit and stopped you but you still sometimes had to slow yourself down a bit. Since the lines were wet, my glove was not working at all to slow me down so thank goodness they had the stoppers! After zip lining we had an amazing lunch, and then returned home!
All in all, it was a pretty good weekend and I really don't want to go back to classes tomorrow!
Hasta luego,
Chelsey
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Semana Santa
Hola!
I've just got back from a 10 day long adventure during Semana Santa! Semana Santa here is the Holy Week before Easter. Pretty much everyone uses it for vacation, so we did too! As soon as class got over last Friday we left for Puerto Viejo! It's a really cool little beach town on the Caribbean side. We went to this really beautiful beach and there weren't even that many people there! The town also had lots of cool (and cheap!) souvenir shops and a really amazing ice cream shop where they had pumpkin ice cream! We also went to Cahuita National Park where we got to snorkel! I thought it was fun but after Deanna saw a shark I was done! I didn't see it but I saw lots of cool fish! Unfortunatley, Holly's mom is the only one who took her camera on the boat and it later was either stolen or lost so I have no pictures of the adventure. We were in Puerto Viejo from Friday to Monday and Monday morning early we left for Tortuguero! We were told all the places we were going were beach towns so we were pleasantly surprised to find Tortuguero was more of a jungle adventure! I probably would have never decided to go there on my own (I'm sure it was expensive) but it was included in our holy week package! Tortuguero is an island and there are no roads, so we had to take a boat to get there and to get around while we were there. We stayed at a really nice resort called Evergreen and all our meals were included, and they were delicious! They also had a really cool turtle shaped pool with a waterfall but I didn't get to swim because the pool closed early and we didn't have time. Monday night we went to the turtle museum because Tortuguero is one of the main turtle nesting spots here, too bad nesting season is in July :( But we saw where they normally lay their eggs and a video on them. Tuesday morning we got up early and had a boat tour down the canals and saw lots of cool animals and plants. Then we had lunch and had a short (way too short!) walking tour of the jungle. It was really cool though because our guide took some amazing pictures for us, Yolanda and I went with the English guide because we wanted to learn and didn't think we'd catch it all in Spanish, and lucked out with a good photographer for our guide! After that we had a packed car ride back to San Jose where we spent the night in our home stays and left Wednesday morning for Manuel Antonio! The hotel there was also nice and had a pool that I actually swam in! There, Kathleen and I went to Manuel Antonio National Park and saw a bunch of monkeys and a snake that had just eaten a frog. We went to the beach too, but there were so many people we didn't stay long. They also had lots of souvenir shops there and Kathleen and I found these really cool indian wrap dresses that you can wear a billion different ways! Then, we left Manuel Antonio for Tamarindo, quite possibly our least favorite spot of the trip. We really didn't like our hotel there, it wasn't very clean and was infested with ants and lizards. The shower was so nasty we didn't use it. The pool was very nice though and we spent most of the day at it, then went to the beach to watch a beautiful sunset! We came back this morning and unfortunately both Holly and Kathleen woke up sick. They think it must have been the cookies they ate at Subway last night because that's the only thing they both ate, I felt really bad for them because they had to suffer though an almost six hour long car ride in the crazy heat with no air conditioning. Hopefully they'll feel better soon!
New pics are up, check them out!
Chelsey
I've just got back from a 10 day long adventure during Semana Santa! Semana Santa here is the Holy Week before Easter. Pretty much everyone uses it for vacation, so we did too! As soon as class got over last Friday we left for Puerto Viejo! It's a really cool little beach town on the Caribbean side. We went to this really beautiful beach and there weren't even that many people there! The town also had lots of cool (and cheap!) souvenir shops and a really amazing ice cream shop where they had pumpkin ice cream! We also went to Cahuita National Park where we got to snorkel! I thought it was fun but after Deanna saw a shark I was done! I didn't see it but I saw lots of cool fish! Unfortunatley, Holly's mom is the only one who took her camera on the boat and it later was either stolen or lost so I have no pictures of the adventure. We were in Puerto Viejo from Friday to Monday and Monday morning early we left for Tortuguero! We were told all the places we were going were beach towns so we were pleasantly surprised to find Tortuguero was more of a jungle adventure! I probably would have never decided to go there on my own (I'm sure it was expensive) but it was included in our holy week package! Tortuguero is an island and there are no roads, so we had to take a boat to get there and to get around while we were there. We stayed at a really nice resort called Evergreen and all our meals were included, and they were delicious! They also had a really cool turtle shaped pool with a waterfall but I didn't get to swim because the pool closed early and we didn't have time. Monday night we went to the turtle museum because Tortuguero is one of the main turtle nesting spots here, too bad nesting season is in July :( But we saw where they normally lay their eggs and a video on them. Tuesday morning we got up early and had a boat tour down the canals and saw lots of cool animals and plants. Then we had lunch and had a short (way too short!) walking tour of the jungle. It was really cool though because our guide took some amazing pictures for us, Yolanda and I went with the English guide because we wanted to learn and didn't think we'd catch it all in Spanish, and lucked out with a good photographer for our guide! After that we had a packed car ride back to San Jose where we spent the night in our home stays and left Wednesday morning for Manuel Antonio! The hotel there was also nice and had a pool that I actually swam in! There, Kathleen and I went to Manuel Antonio National Park and saw a bunch of monkeys and a snake that had just eaten a frog. We went to the beach too, but there were so many people we didn't stay long. They also had lots of souvenir shops there and Kathleen and I found these really cool indian wrap dresses that you can wear a billion different ways! Then, we left Manuel Antonio for Tamarindo, quite possibly our least favorite spot of the trip. We really didn't like our hotel there, it wasn't very clean and was infested with ants and lizards. The shower was so nasty we didn't use it. The pool was very nice though and we spent most of the day at it, then went to the beach to watch a beautiful sunset! We came back this morning and unfortunately both Holly and Kathleen woke up sick. They think it must have been the cookies they ate at Subway last night because that's the only thing they both ate, I felt really bad for them because they had to suffer though an almost six hour long car ride in the crazy heat with no air conditioning. Hopefully they'll feel better soon!
New pics are up, check them out!
Chelsey
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