Almost beach time!

Internet was bad again, and we traveled earlier today so I didn't have time to post this until now, but this is what I wrote on June 21st!

Today was our last full day in Liberia. It feels like we just got here… partially because we did. As much as I have loved this last half of the study abroad trip, it has gone by WAY too fast. Spending only 3-4 days in each city hasn’t been anywhere near enough. By the time we get to our destination city it is usually almost dark so we can’t really explore, then we have the whole next day to figure out the city, and the day after that we have everything mapped/figured out so it is fun, and then we leave the day after that. It’s been fine because there isn’t too much to do in Liberia besides walk around, but the whole concept of it sucks especially when we still have school work to do. I almost wish that the entire 4 weeks of this abroad trip would have been city hopping. Experiencing different cities and having everything being new and exciting has been awesome so far, and I still have two more cities to go to!



Church in the plaza



I just walked around A LOT today again. A few of us went in search of an “elite” neighborhood that had very rich and nice houses, but after walking forever we never found it so we turned around. I don’t think that I have ever sweated as much as I did today. I feel like I’ve said that a few other times this trip, but today it was just flowing off of me like a river. For lunch I ate in one of the local sodas (I think I’ve already said it, but a soda is basically a small restaurant that is a Costa Rican cultural thing and they usually serve typical dishes for fairly cheap) and this one was super nice! They are usually cafeteria-style where you walk up and point to what you want, but this one had menus, was two stories tall, and had TVs in it! We felt like we were royalty eating there compared to other sodas we had been to. We have also found a local smoothie joint that just about everyone in our study abroad group has grown to love. It is just a little shack on one of the street corners, and 2-3 ladies are in there making these amazing smoothies with fresh fruit. Yesterday I got one with pineapple, coconut juice, lime, and maybe mango? (I don’t exactly remember). But today I got a strawberry-pineapple one… both of them were awesome. I’m sure the ladies love having us here because all of us go and buy smoothies from them.

It actually rained a lot today, and was storming pretty bad at night while we were having our debriefing meeting with Dr. Brannstrom. While he was talking, I looked up through the opening in our hotel (it forms a rectangle around an open plaza area) and I saw what looked like a camera flash. As soon as the bright light exploded it was followed by the loudest BOOM ever. If you haven’t caught on, the “camera flash” was a huge bolt of lightning that looked like it hit only a couple of hundreds away and the “boom” was thunder. It was the closest/loudest thunder that I think that I’ve ever heard, and when it was combined with the power in the hotel going out, it made me think that my life had in fact ended from the lightning bolt. Everything went black for a split instant and I had no clue what was going on. Of course everyone was completely freaked out, but it gave us a good laugh.

Cool, random artwork that I found on a bridge

I feel like I am forgetting a lot of things about today… if I remember them, I will add them soon. I’m really tired though and ready to get to bed. I can’t to leave tomorrow around 10:30 to head to the beach Playa del Coco! I’ve been waiting for this all trip long!

I can't believe that I forgot this... our pillows at Hotel Wilson were TERRIBLE. It literally felt like someone put packing peanuts or styrofoam in them. Worst pillows ever.