First Impressions

I´m trying to quickly type up journal entries, so please don´t look for eloquence or flair here


July 28th,

Been up since two thirty AM, couldnt´t sleep last night for excitement and nervousness

Jared and I left at three thiry to pick up debs. Got to airport about 4, went through security at 5.

7.30 and we´re still in Houston waiting for our plane to Costa Rica!


Rolling into Costa Rica the pilot veers unexpectedly to the left, comes on the intercom and says, ´Some of you are probably confused, and that´s understandable. One of the disadvantages of travelling in this part of te would is the air traffic controllers don´t know what they´re doing' we noticed another plane in our runway taking off so we decided to get out of the way

upon landing, we sit still, and the pilot comes on again and says...yeah, the aiport´s really a mess today...thgere´s a few planes in between here and our gate so we´re just going to sit tight for a bit.



Heridia is a charming town, with green everywhere and mountains, there was a gorgeous sunset and you could see twinkling lights dotted through the trees.

We met a blind traveler named Caleb who was traveling alone. He lost his sight when he was accidentally shot in the head by his younger brother when he was 19. I told him he must be very braved to travel so far alone without being able to see and he simply told me that life is too short not to do something you want to do.

There are several medical students here

In costa rica, they do not use the tu form and are offended if you use that form. I messed up pretty quickly but it is actually easier to only have to remember the usted form.

I led caleb through the town of very bumpy and uneven gravel...there were lots of holes and I was amazed at how adept he was.

500 colenes equals one dolor.
It is very difficult so far to find internet cafes or banks or phone cards.

I saw leaf cutting ants!!! Breakfast was fresh mango and pineapple, gallo pinto, and fresh coffee. Gallo pinto is delicous. I told the lady at our B/B that I thought so, and she brought me into her kitchen and showed me the recipe. It is, and I highly recommend that you try it,

Black Beans
White Rice
Mixture of chopped garlic, onion, tomato, parsley, cilantro, maybe celery

put a little oil in the pan, cook onion mixture, pour in beans and rice and mix together.

This lady also tried to talk to Deborah even though we told her that Debs didn´t know much yes, she still tried to talk to her for at least a half hour while we were waiting for the bus. Very cute and fleshy woman....

Right now I´m sitting under a mango tree and there is also a papay tree and banana tree within view. There is also a very odd species of cow. Big long ears and a camel like hump. We can also see horses from our B and B



there was a large festival going on in the town in which children were dressed in elaborate costumes with huge, cartoonish masks.

There are absolutely no street signs here. The streets literally have no names. physical address are given in references to well known landmarks, which is completely useless to me. Even on maps, streets are labelled numerically and very haphazardly.

I met the most amazing girl, my age, named michelle. She´s from Manchester and has been travelling for four months. She volunteered in an orphanage in Bolivia for children with cleft palletes and also in a jungle in Peru. She is staying for at least another 3 months, more if she can find work. Right now it is winter in Bolivia and is frequently 40 below.

She was traveling with a friend, and they went ice climbing, river rafting, body rafting, parasailing, multi week trekking, and then her friend slipped while walking in a village in a crevice and fell 30 feet. She broke her spine in six places, her hip in two, both of her arms, and her foot. Michelle looked down and thought her friend was dead, and she was unconcious and unresponsive. She waited for an ambulance for an hour and a half and they did not have proper neck braces, and travelled for two hours on an unpaved road to the nearest hospital with Michelle holding her friend´s leg and the paramedic holding down her shoulders so she wouldn´t be paralyzed. They had to operate in Bolivia and she was tied to a board for a week and had to stay in the hospital for three weeks before she could be flown back to London. Amazingly, she is not paralyzed. It just shows you how anything can happen anywhere, when you least expect it. They had done so many dangerous things and then got hurt while just walking.