Costa Rica So Far - Monday, January 5th

Well... Costa Rica so far has been quite an adventure. Even doing everyday things is an adventure. Our first day we arrived at the airport an hour late, but did not have any trouble with immigrations or customs. We took a 4-hour taxi ride instead of renting a car b/c it was cheaper. The taxi driver's name was Edgar and he was super nice (muy sympatico!) He stopped wherever we wanted and pointed out sights to us. He said we could stop and get beers if we wanted but we didn't. We should have. Got some beautiful pictures on the way though. He finally dropped us off at the Villa, but there was a wedding party staying there so they put us up in a hotel. The landlord/owner took us there with some of our things. That night we went across the street and got salad and pizza (nice choice for our first night eh?) and had some wine & beers. It was nice but we were exhausted and needed to sleep.

The next day we walked into Quepos which was about half a mile down a steep hill from our hotel. We got breakfast (desayuno) from a little place with no menu and only a small, older Costa Rican lady. She did not speak English and we couldn't point to anything, so we had to order in Spanish. There were a few hesitations with that, but in the end we got what we wanted. Eggs, toast, and rice/beans. Yum! When we tried to pay with a $20 she wouldn't take it (most places will not take an American bill that high) so Eric went across the street and got change in colones. We walked around some more and checked out the marina. Quepos is somewhat of a "party-town" which many bars and 1 casino. There are dance clubs and restaurants as well. It is not big at all. The city center is probably a grid of 5 streets by 6 streets. You could walk around the whole center in probably 20 minutes. The city of Manuel Antonio which is very close is more touristy with hotels and more upscale stores. 

The next day Steve, our landlord, picked me, Eric, and Nicole (our roommate) up. We put our stuff away a little bit and then Steve took us to the beach in Manuel Antonio which was really nice with a beautiful sunset. We had some beers on the beach and then came back home for a bit. Steve's Austrian friend met us at the villa and we all went out to dinner to a nice Italian place. It was fun and Steve got me to sing for everyone at our table. 

Today was Eric's first day of school so he and Nicole were gone for 7 hours. Steve gave them a ride and I rode with them so that I could run back to the villa. It is about 1.5 miles from the school to the villa. I ran through some tico neighborhoods which is very interesting. Not like neighborhoods here. The houses are all very small and there is a sidewalk separate from the street that connects them. The communities seem very tight-knit. After showering, Steve gave me a ride into town so I could grocery shop. That was interesting b/c I had to try and read the labels and figure out what everything said. I couldn't think of the word for sugar (forgot my Spanish/English dictionary) so I didn't want to try and ask where it was. That was about $70 for the 3 of us to share. After getting home I wasn't sure when Eric & Nicole would get back so I just took a nap and tried to organize our room. There is no furniture besides a bed and a weird bench in our room so it was sort of hard to figure out where to put stuff. Now Eric & Nicole are home and we are trying to figure out if we want to do anything. They had to walk from the school to here and seemed tired after a long day of school. Eric has to practice teach tomorrow, so he's going to practice on me tonight. We'll probably make food at home and maybe play some games. Yay! Hopefully my blogs will get better the longer we stay here.