Panama!

I went to Bocas del Toro, Panama for Semana Santa (Holy Week). The week before Easter all of Latin America basically goes on Spring Break because no one has work and the kids don't have school. To get to Bocas del Toro, which is a chain of islands in the Caribbean, was a bit of a difficult process. I was supposed to leave on Friday morning but I got a stomach virus along with the rest of my host family and I ended up leaving on Sunday morning with another group of friends. We got up at four in the morning and took a taxi to San Jose. From San Jose we caught a bus to the border in a town called Sixaola. This was about a 5 1/2 hour ride. When we got to Sixaola we had to go through the process of getting out of Costa Rica. Then we walked across the border over a very scary bridge pictured to the right...Once across that bridge we had to go through a very long and very poorly organized process of getting into Panama...all while sweating because it was about 96 degrees outside. After that we got in a van that barely fit all of us and our luggage and that was blaring gospel music. This van drove us about an hour and a half until we got to the ocean. Then we got into a little boat and had a 40 minute boat ride to the main island, Colon. It was definitely worth all the trouble though because the islands were beautiful and I can safely say I had the best week of my life!

We got to Colon around 2 and checked into our hostel, the Gran Kahuna. I had a beautiful view of the ocean from my room and went to sleep every night listening to the waves. The first night in Colon we went to a bar called el Barco Hundido (Sunken Ship). The bar was all open and at the back there were tons of windy little docks that went out into the water and circled around big pieces of coral...it was absolutely beautiful.

The next day we went on a incredibly cheap tour, the whole thing cost about $12 and it went from 9 in the morning until 4:30. First we went dolphin watching and saw bunches of dolphins! After that we went to a restaurant that had a porch/dock off the front of it and there was kind of a makeshift cage with a shark in it so we got to see this big tiger shark that was about four or five feet long. After that we went snorkeling in shallow water and deep water and saw tons of starfish, sea cucumbers and beautiful fish. The coral here was some of the most colorful coral I've ever seen and was literally neon green, deep purple, red and bright blue.

Next the tour guide brought us to a beach called Red Frog Beach because it is home to lots of tiny little red frogs that are poisonous. It also happened to be one of the prettiest beaches I've seen while abroad, and I've seen quite a few beaches! After the beaches the boat took us back to the main island.

The next day we took a boat to another island called Bastimentos and went to a beach called Wizard Beach. Also very gorgeous, pictures to follow. We had met some people at the hostel that were really fun and part of our group was leaving the next day for Panama City so we decided to move to Bastimentos for the rest of our stay and stay at a hostel with the people we had met.

I liked Bastimentos much better than Colon because it was not the main island and therefore there were less people and less tourists. We stayed at a really fun hostel run by a man named Dickson who was a native of Bastimento. Most of the people on the islands are not Panamanian, they are descendants of different Caribbean islands such as Jamaica and the Caymans. They speak Spanish but with a Jamaican tempo and a few English words thrown in the mix, very hard to understand. Once again we had beautiful views from our hostel and there was a full moon while we were there and I didn't know this, but apparently the night after a full moon if you're in the right spot you can actually watch the moon rise, like you would watch the sun rise. Very eerie experience but awesome at the same time.

Every day we walked about a mile through the forest to Wizard beach. The first day we went there we were the only people on it and it literally looks like something out of the tv show Lost. There were wild pigs running around everywhere and big, beautiful horses. On the other days we went there were more people there but it was still far from being crowded. There were lots of surfers to watch and horses in the water and fun dogs to play with.

I think Panama was the best week of my life because of the beautiful beaches and people of Panama, the fun and interesting people I met while traveling and the abundance of wild life all around. I hope I can go back sometime soon!

Playa Jaco

Jaco Beach is the closest beach to where I'm living, about a 2 hour bus ride so a few of us went there just for the day one Sunday. Costa Ricans call Jaco the "dirty beach" but it didn't seem too dirty to me!

Jaco was probably the hottest place I've been out of all of Costa Rica, Panama and Nicaragua. Almost unbearably hot. Also I got about 50 bug bites all down the right side of my body from something in the sand...but still had a good time in the ocean!

Nicaragua

So, you can only be in Costa Rica for 3 months without a visa and none of the students at the institute have visas...so to solve that little problem our school took us to Nicaragua for a long weekend, and I fell in love with Nicaragua. But, I don't think I saw any of what the real Nicaragua is like because it is one of the poorest Latin American countries and the I think the children I saw begging in the street was only scratching the surface.

We left at 3 a.m. from San Joaquin for Nicaragua and had a 9 hour bus ride to get to Granada, Nicaragua. On the way we stopped at the biggest fresh water lake in Latin America and had a great view of two volcanos. When we got to Granada we went straight to our hotel, which was absolutely beautiful (no staying in gross hostels when you travel with school!). From there we went to some markets where you could literally buy anything you could want. I bought two hammocks, a painting of an indigenous god, a carved flute and sunglasses for about $40.

After that huge market we went to a smaller one that also had a restaraunt and a show with some traditional Nicaraguan dancing. Our professors that came on the trip with us said that we weren't leaving any later than 9 because we had to get up at 7 the next day, but after students started buying them rounds of beer, that time got pushed back until about 10:30. We watched the whole show which had a bunch of different kinds of dancing and had a great time.

The next day was pretty interesting. We drove about 2 and a half hours to San Juan del Sur which is a beach town in Nicaragua. While we were trying to get down to the best beach, our bus got stuck on the electrical wires hanging over the road. Obviously this road doesn't often have large vehicles driving down it. We ended up having to reverse down the road and go to a different beach that our bus could get to. Although I love Nicaragua, I much prefer the beaches in Costa Rica. The beach in Nicaragua was very, very windy so you were constantly getting slapped in the face with sand. Also, the water was freezing. However, the beach was beautiful to look at so I hid out at a beachside bar drinking tropical drinks and just staring at the beach.

On Saturday we went in the morning to a place called Las Isletas. It is basically the Lake Geneva of Nicaragua. All the millionaires in Central America have vacation homes here and each home is on a seperate island and there are tons of these little islands. There was a little one big enough for a small house that was going for about $40,000...if only I had that money. We saw tons of spider monkeys while we were in our boat touring Las Isletas and lots of beautiful flora.

After that we went to a town called Catarina (named after me of course!) and it had a gorgeous view of a laguna that was inside a sunken volcano. Beyond the laguna you could see the lake stretching for miles and miles. This was one of my favorite parts of the trip and the picture to the left does not do the beauty of this place justice. After the laguna we went to an old convent that had a bunch of old stone carvings from indigenous tribes and different artifacts.


On Sunday we went back to Costa Rica on a long, long bus ride.

Volcan Arenal and La Fortuna

So it has been a long, long time since I have written on my blog...I've become surprisingly busy in Costa Rica. Since I went bungee jumping I have visited many places in Costa Rica, the first being Arenal. Volcan Arenal is about 3 hours outside of San Jose but it took us six hours to get there by public bus because our bus broke down on the side of the road for about 3 hours...oh Costa Rican transportation...

Volcan Arenal is located just outside the town of Fortuna and is still active. The last time that there was a major eruption was in the 60s and it wiped out an entire town. Since the Volcano is still active you can see the lava shooting out of the top of the Volcano at night. There are also lots of natural hotsprings around the Volcano.

Our group stayed at a place called Gringo Pete's for $6. It was a wonderful place but Gringo Pete was very grumpy and old. The first day we got there we just walked around La Fortuna which is a very cute town with lots of souvenir shops in it and a beautiful central park.

On Saturday we went to hike an inactive volcano called Cerro Chato which is supposed to have a laguna at the very top. It rains quite a bit in Arenal but it was raining an unusual amount on this Saturday which made our attempted hike very interesting. The rain actually felt pretty good because I imagine that if it had been hot out the hike would have been really uncomfortable, but the rain made it more bearable. The downside of the rain was that we didn't get to see a whole lot of wildlife other than lots of beautiful flowers. The rain made the walk very eerie and foggy as you can see from the pictures.

We hiked for about two hours up and then decided to turn around come down which only took about 45 minutes. From there we just returned to the hostel and laid low for the afternoon, listening to the rain.

That night we went on a tour called the "See Red Lava" tour. We left from our hostel and drove closer to the Volcano. From there we got flashlights and took a night hike and had to cross a very looong swinging bridge. But we figured if we survived bunjee jumping we could survive the bridge. Once across the bridge, we hiked a little further to a viewing point for the Volcano. It had been cloudy all day so we weren't very hopeful that we would get to see any lava. All of the sudden you could hear a distant rumbling kind of like thunder and then see some red spurts of lava shooting into the air...definitely something everyone should see sometime. From the viewing point we drove a little further to where the nice hot spring hotels are that you have to pay $35 dollars to get into. We walked across the street from these and climbed down this little hill in the dark and then waded across a river with a very strong current. After that, with flashlights between our teeth or tucked under arms we attempted to climb over some rocks that had very strong water gushing down them. Thankfully, we made it over without any injuries. Once over the rocks we were in water the temperature of a hot tub with different little pools that you could sit in. When you looked up there were thousands of stars. I'm really not sure if I've ever been anywhere so naturally pretty in my entire life. Unfortunately I didn't want to risk dropping my camera in the water so I have no pictures of this beautiful place, you'll just have to go experience it for yourself.

The next day we left for San Jose, very satisfied with our trip to Arenal.

Bungee!

Hola todos!

This past week one of my friends on the trip turned 21 and to celebrate she wanted us all to go bungee jumping! We went with a company called Tropical Bungee, they were the first company to bungee jump in Costa Rica and the bridge that they bungee jump off of is one of the highest bungees in the world! The bridge we bungeed off of is 265 feet above the Colorado River, a beautiful river surrounded by lots of trees.

We has straps around our ankles and around our waists that were connected to the elastic cord. This made me feel much better that we had to wear both because what are the chances of both backfiring, right? After they strapped you into your harness and ankle straps you sat on the railing of the bridge and swiveled around to a little platform that looked like a very short diving board. From there you walked to the edge until your toes were over. This was the most frightening part because at this point you could look down and see all 265 feet stretching before you...

Then everyone counted down from 5 and I took a big jump, spread my arms and FLEW! It literally felt like I was flying through the air and I really have no words to describe the sensation..you just have to try it!

That is me way down there hanging from that cord! After I stopped swinging around a lot the men lowered a cable down to me that had a carbine on the end. This part was rather difficult because you had to try to reach and grab the cable and then hook the carbine onto your harness while upside down. Once you had this done you spread your arms out like a bird and they knew you were ready to get pulled up. I was being pulled upside down for awhile until I eventually flipped upwards and then it was smooth sailing back up to the bridge!

Next on my list is whitewater rafting! Talk to you all soon!

Pura Vida,

Caitlin

Puerto Viejo: The gringos on the bus go round and round, round and round

Hola!

This past weekend I traveled to Puerto Viejo in Limon. Limon is in the South of Costa Rica on the Caribbean coast and is completely different than central Costa Rica where I am staying. Puerto Viejo is made up of mostly black Costa Ricans many of whom are Rastafarian. It is also a big surfing spot and is known for the Salsa Brava, the biggest wave ever surfed in Costa Rica!

To get to Puerto Viejo we had to take a bus from San Joaquin to San Jose and then take a cab to the bus station. From there it was about a 5 hour bus ride to Puerto Viejo and once we got into Puerto Viejo it was dark out so we took another cab to our hostel. The bus ride there was quite interesting. In Costa Rica they always sell more tickets than seats on the bus and these extra tickets are called tickets "de pie", or standing. Interestingly enough, these standing tickets costs the same as a regular seat! So every seat on our bus was filled, as well as the aisles but there was only about 5 Spanish speakers on the entire bus, everyone else was a gringo. So someone on the bus started singing the wheels on the bus go round and round but substituted gringos for wheels!

The bus ride was really fun because it was all people under the age of about 25 from everywhere in the U.S., Canada, Australia, there was even a guy from Israel.The majority of the bus was staying at the same hostel as my group. We stayed in hammocks for $5 a night at a place called Rocking J's. I put in a picture of my bed for the night:

The hammock was actually surprisingly comfy and I got a great night's sleep on it. When we got there on Friday night the hostel was having live music so we stayed there and watched that which was fun and then we went out on the beach and looked at the millions of stars.

The next morning on Saturday we woke up very early because it was basically like you were camping so you woke up when the sun came out. A few of us rented bikes from the store across the street for $5 and rode about 30 minutes to a place called Punta Uva. The ride was a little interesting because it was full of potholes but it was also beautiful because you were basically riding down the rode with the jungle on one side of you and a view of the ocean on the other. When we got to Punta Uva the beach was breathtakingly beautiful even though it was a bit cloudy and rainy out. The waves were somewhat rough but considered calm for the Caribbean Coast. After a few hours we rode our bikes back to the hostel in the pouring rain and got cleaned up. That night we hung around a bonfire on the beach for awhile and then went to a bar called Johnny's in town. This place was really crowded inside with a strange mix of locals and then people from our hostel but if you went outside they had chairs and tables set up right on the water and it was gorgeous.

Sunday morning we got up early once again and some of our group caught a bus back to San Jose at 11. I didn't need to catch a bus until 4 so I got to spend more time at the beach! On Sunday we walked about twenty minutes on a little jungle path to a beach where there were big waves and lots of surfers. The walk there was beautiful and we stopped at lots of little tide pools along the way. It was fun to watch the people surfing but that must be a workout! I tried swimming a little far out and it was hard work just to get 20 feet offshore because the waves were so strong. The beach had a bunch of red flags on it to warn you about the strong riptides but also so that you didn't swim in the area that the surfers would be riding waves in.

On the way to the bus to go back home that afternoon I got to see a sloth just hanging out in a tree above a roadside stand which was great. The bus ride home was pretty uneventful except that we got stopped by the police and we all had to file off the bus and show either our passports or copies of them. I showed mine to the first police man and was fine and then as I walked to get back on the bus the other one stopped me and looked at my papers again and then asked me what my name was. Apparently, if you have a fake passport you only need to memorize the name on it and you're good to go! We got back to San Jose around 8 and took a cab back to San Joaquin where I fell, exhausted but happy into my bed...

Pura Vida

I've started my blog a bit late so the first one will just be a brief recap of what I've experienced so far in Costa Rica.

The trip to Costa Rica was a breeze and what made it even better was that it was only about 5 degrees in Chicago when I flew out! There were about seven other students on my flight who are in the same program as I am so we got to know one another on the plane. However, as soon as we landed and got our luggage we were split up because we got picked up by our host parents. This is what made the first night a little hard for me because I was in a strange city with a family I didn't know, I had no way of communicating with anyone else (until I luckily discovered wireless in my little apartment!) and I had no idea where my house was in relation to the other students. The first night I got a little homesick and I was scared that I'd be homesick for most of the trip but then the next morning I got up and felt fine and I haven't been homesick since!

My tica family couldn't be better. I live on the main street of our town in a little house next to my host family's house. I have a papa tica, William, a mama tica, Ivette and tons of family! I live in the apartment with the twenty year old daughter Susana and if you go into my backyard you can get to my tico brother's house. Ricardo is 35 and has two kids but he is divorced. If you go further through my backyard my other host sister, Joli, 42 lives in a house with her husband and 5 kids. Also, another student is staying at this house. In my parents house lives my other host sister, Ivette (after the mom). Ivette is 25 and has a job in San Jose. The grandmother also lives in our house. I have one more host sister but she lives in San Jose. So basically I live on a little family compound with my tico parents, grandma, 1 brother, 4 sisters, and 7 nieces and nephews. Phew! I really enjoy having such a big family around all the time. Lunch gets especially rowdy as most of the family comes to eat at my mama tica's house. I've put in some pictures of my house that I took in my backyard. The first one is the patio to my mom's house and the second one is a beautiful painted oxcart in the backyard.

After spending the night getting to know my host family I went to bed exhausted and woke up the next morning to go to school. My host mom walked me there (its about a 15 minute walk) and tried to hold my hand when we crossed the street! For the next week we would have several meetings at the institute about safety and earthquakes and things of that nature. We also went on a overnight trip to see some of the surround area and we stated at a pretty resort in Cartago. We also visited a coffee farm and got to see how coffee was made as well as pick our own.

About a week after I arrived in Costa Rica we started our classes. I'm taking five classes: Intro to Latin American Literature, Litarary Analysis, L.A. Cinema, L.A. Music and conversation. All of my classes are very interesting and my professors our very laid back and like to be called by their first names. Some of my classes only have 6 students in them and my largest class is about 20 students; a far cry from the 700 person lectures at U of I.

The biggest difference between being at home and being in Costa Rica is the lack of cell phones. Our group has gotten into a groove though and if anyone is going anywhere at night they meet at a bar called Bar Alex down the street from me at 8:30 and we go from there. We tend to make plans at school during the day so if you don't have class one day you tend to be totally out of the loop. However, the good thing about not having a cell phone is that life is much more relaxed. It isn't uncommon for people in Costa Rica to be a minimum of 15 minutes late for everything, operating on "tico time". Overall, I love my life in Costa Rica and am enjoying my study abroad very much!

Pura Vida!