When it Rains...

I wanted to share these pictures of Heredia. Its rainy season again and so we get thunderstorms most afternoons. All the streets are outfitted with deep ditches for the rain, but sometimes that just isn't enough. Here are some pictures of the street by our house after some rain.



Speaking of rain, the other weekend Jordan and I decided to take an overnight to a few near-by towns and it rained almost the whole time. First we went to Sarchi and had lunch. Sarchi is the best place in the country to find all the "artesenia" that you could ever want to see. There are warehouses of stuff from all over the country (and probably China). We spent a little time looking around one store with a group on a shore excursion from their cruise. We contemplated getting on the bus and coveted the incredible spread of fruit they were provided, but decided to go to Grecia insted.

Grecia is a small Tico town that is pretty typical. It does have one really cool sight- an all metal church. It was built in Europe then dismantled into pieces and shipped to Costa Rica. It was beautiful but it was also raining and we soon lost interest in the town and headed home early. So much for our overnight, but we did get to meet up with friends when we got back, which was much better!

Church in Grecia



Me and the church

Then I yawned and Jordan thought i would be good to take my picture.


And then I caught him!

Pirate Party

I know some of you saw these pictures on Facebook, but here are my favorites:

Last month a big group of teachers and Spanish students from our school go together at a friend's (and fellow Intercultura-ite) house for a pirate party. I made a hook for the occasion and everything! It was a really fun party and we ended up dancing for hours. And yes, that is a small bottle of wine I'm drinking. It was yummy Argentinian wine. Mmm....



Of course there was a fire! I think they burned the chair.


Forrest gave me a cool tattoo. Now I'm really a pirate!


Justin and Nico had the best costumes at the party.

Gotta love the bird!

Panama

For our final border run in March we went to Bocas del Toro, Panama.

Bocas is an archipelago of islands on the Caribbean side of Panama. We took the bus to the border then walked across a crazy-rickety bridge before boarding a taxi then a water taxi. The main island is home to many ex-pats and a lot of people who visit end up staying. The main town, Bocas Town, is small with a lot of cool local crafts and restaurants.

The first night we continued on to the island of Bastimentos. This is a smaller island with a small village and no cars. The first night we stayed at Hotel Bastimentos- a really sweet yellow hostel with a beautiful view of the ocean. We cooked and read and relaxed the next day. There isn't really much to do on the island but it was relaxing! The next day we hiked with a group of other people from the hostel to Wizard Beach. The beach was on the other side of the island. Because it rained all night the night before the train was incredibly muddy. We ended up taking off our shoes so we didn’t lose them and walking barefoot through the muc. There was virtually no one at the beach when we got there so we swam, read and enjoyed the sun. It was great!




The next day we went back to Bocas Town and stayed at a nice hotel as a treat for our two year anniversary (aw… I know!) The hotel was really fancy and we even had air-conditioning and a fridge in our room. We ate on nice dinner on the bay but the rest of the time we sat on our balcony, reading and watching all the people on the bay. Those two days we ate one brick of Gouda cheese, 2 loaves of bread and fruit. It was so nice to be in a fancy hotel and be able to enjoy it for 2 days. How refreshing!



We headed back early in the morning in order to catch the bus back to San Jose. I think that Bocas del Toro was one of my favorite places we visited. It had a wonderful Caribbean vibe and it was really relaxed. I like the island lifestyle, but I don't think I could do it permanently.