Sorry I didn't post anything yesterday. It was a fairly boring day and I didn't feel like typing anything... but here is a little recap of yesterday, Tuesday June 28th, from what I can remember:
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| Jessica, Eric, and I with our matching hats/glasses |
We didn't have anything planned for the day because we didn't feel like driving to the beach. Even though we can see the ocean from our hotel, Limon is just a port city where some cruise ships and other boats come into, so there isn't really a "beach" near us. I feel like we walked around the city a lot figuring out things for our assignments and trying to find last minute gifts for family/friends back home. All of us were waiting until we got to the last city to buy gifts for people so that we didn't have to carry them around with us everywhere, but that ended up being a bad idea. Limon isn't the most tourist-friendly place and I have only seen two souvenir shops in the entire city. Everyone was pretty upset, but we managed with what we were offered and wandered around and got gifts for people and ourselves. It was actually fun... when I was paying for one of the t-shirts that I got for myself, there were 3 ladies at the check out counter: the cashier, and two other older ladies who were just keeping her company and talking to her. The cashier didn't really speak English (which I am now used to), but one of the ladies standing there did, so she helped me to communicate with the cashier. The lady that could speak English ended up talking to me more, and she asked things like where I was from and what all I was doing. When I told her I was from Texas, she asked me if it was a "small town". She had heard of Texas before and acknowledged that, but it made me laugh when she thought it was a small place. I actually laughed out loud and told her that it wasn't small at all. Then I told her that I had been in Costa for a month and listed all of the cities that I had traveled to. She proceeded to tell me that Limon was WAY different than all of those (which I had realized from being here for a few days), and that people that live here almost don't consider themselves Costa Ricans. I wish that I remember exactly what she had said, but it was something along the lines that everyone here is so different from typical Costa Ricans that they don't really consider themselves a part of the country. It makes sense considering that Brannstrom has been teaching us about how this city used to be a huge banana plantation, and is home to many Jamaican heritage citizens. It was really exciting that this stranger would open up to me and tell me briefly about how things are so different here. Just from that short conversation I felt like I knew so much more about the culture here. The only other highlight that I can think of from the day was during dinner. Eric, Sarah, Jessica, and I tried to find a restaurant to eat at, but we didn't really know where any good ones were and the girls weren't too comfortable walking around aimlessly at night, so we turned back and just ate dinner at the restaurant in our hotel. To our surprise, right when we sat down, three men walked in with instruments! They were just random guys from the city who I guess had permission to play in the hotel, so we were entertained with music while we ate. They were HILARIOUS. I couldn't understand a lot of the songs because they were in Spanish, but they were all very animated and kept giving the four of us a lot of attention because we were all laughing and would clap loudly at the end of every song that played. They sung a song about a mosquito that went something like "mosquito mosquito don't bite me no more" and another one about a banana where the singer went around the restaurant and gave banana nicknames to all of the males in the restaurant (maybe you can see the correlation??). Eric's was "smiling banana" and mine was "extra large banana"... we died laughing. Eric and I are actually laughing about it right now as I'm writing this haha. I'm going to miss Costa Rican music SO MUCH. It always puts me in a good mood and I always catch myself dancing all the time. I'm going to have to find some salsa places or something so I can keep listening to it when I get back to the states. That's basically all for yesterday.
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| Me and Shelly with birthday drinks on the beach |
Today was Shelly's 22nd birthday! We all decided to wake up this morning and head to Playa Bonita, which is a beach just a few kilometers away from our hotel. Instead of taking a taxi to get there, I got to use the public transportation system for the first time since I've been here! We hopped on a bus, along with a bunch of other people, and rode about 15 minutes to the beach. It was a pretty small inlet where we swam, but it was a gorgeous day! I think it was the first day that we have gone to the beach where it has actually been sunny the whole time that we've been there... and I didn't get sunburnt! Bonita wasn't my favorite beach. It was very pretty (bonita = pretty in spanish) but the waves were ridiculous. Usually big waves are fun, but these waves crashed so hard and so quickly that it was almost too dangerous for us to go out deep in the water. They were so strong that you had to brace yourself for when they crashed or else you would get swept onto shore. It might sound like fun, but just take my word for it... it was pretty scary at some points. We played a lot of frisbee, got some tropical drinks at the restaurant that overlooked the beach, and basically just hung out! It was a nice relaxing day, especially since Dr. Brannstrom, Kelly, and just about everyone else came with us. I still haven't really decided how I feel about trying to do everything as a large group like we have. It is so much fun when we are all together doing something, but it is the most frustrating thing ever trying to get people to agree on one thing or trying to get people to say what they want to do. That's why I have ended up either eating by myself some nights (which I am completely ok with... it's nice to have a break) or just eating with Brandon somewhere. We were basically at the beach all day long, got back and did a little more shopping, went to eat pizza for Shelly's birthday, then had a study part and worked on our assignments. My grades on them have drastically decreased, but whatever I'm on vacation and only have one more to do.
I can't believe that tomorrow is my last full day here :( Looking back on it, it feels like we were at the Soltis Center so long ago, but it doesn't feel like the trip should be over. I am not ready to leave AT ALL. I absolutely love everything about Costa Rica. A lot of people don't like how sketchy and trashy some of it is (especially this city Limon), but I have loved it. It has really opened my eyes to how lucky I am. Going to restaurants with no A/C or fans, seeing numerous homeless people sleeping on the streets, seeing the shacks that people live in... these are all just a few examples of things that I have seen that have showed me how blessed I am. I'm really excited for tomorrow though. A few of us are going back to Cahuita (the beach we went to a few days ago where I surfed) for a little bit, then there is a soccer game in town tomorrow night that I want to go to!
Man I am so lucky to have been able to come on this trip. I'll save the rest of my sad/sappy/emotional/reflectional post for tomorrow when everything really hits me. This post has been long enough. Scattered through this post are random pictures from the last few days. I think most of them are from Playa del Coco, the city that we were in a few days ago. Enjoy!
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| Swimming at the pool in Coco |
Put me in more pictures!!
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