Day 1 & 2

3:45 wake up call. Kim and I walk like zombies through the airport. "Hey Kim- that girl has your back pack!" Enter Susan. We finally get to the gate and meet up with Liz who is wearing a backpack that is wider, taller & much heavier than she is, Damn, this girl can pack light! IDA to MIA, then MIA to SJO. We arrive in San Jose, Costa Rica at 11:00am (CR time). We saunter through security, grab our bags and pull out 800,000 colones - Baller! Not so much, but we felt like it. 

In the airport

We walk out with our giant bags to a crowd of screaming taxistas and chauffeurs…not sure what to do at that point. The crowd parted and Liz caught a glipmse of a sign that read "Kelly Goowin". 

goowin?

Pedro, our chauffeur, helps load our bags into a giant (rapist looking) van that could transport the Kate Gosslin's family. We have 2 hours to kill before MaryKate and Kaiti's flight land. Pedro suggest that we grab some lunch while we wait…PS-Pedro no speak-a the English. AT ALL. Gracias a Dios that Liz and I are profesoras de espanol. Any who, we tell Pedro that we want "comida tipica de Costa Rica". Pedro takes us to a "Mall Internacional" very close to the airport. We walk in to a food court with: KFC, Subway, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell & Quiznos. uh..awkward. 

Quiznos at the food court - epic fail

After a delicious typical "tico" meal, aka Quiznos from a food court, we head back to the aeropuerto and pick up Kaiti and MaryKate. We pile in our van and head South to Quepos on a road that has more curves than Anna Nicole Smith. Before leaving San Jose, we stopped and picked up a couple of 6 packs of Imperial Light to enjoy on the car ride. 

Imperial Light

On our way Pedro stopped many times to show us some of the beauty of Costa Rica -- on the first stop (by stop I mean he turned on his flashers at the side of a hair pin turn), took out his compact Machete that upon one flick of the wrist turned out to be at least 3 feet in length. Pedro starts chucking his machete in the air above his head, and subsequently our van to cut down mangos fresh off the branch. We also stopped to try various fruit and vegetables that he cut off the vine for us. iDelicioso! 

trying some weird fruit - Liz was the Guinea pig

Por fin, we arrive at our luxurious cabina in the rainforest. Ever seen the movie Physco? Picture that, plugs bugs, frogs and lizards lurking about. We knew that we couldn't knowingly sleep there sober and luckily, there is a tree-house bar across the street from our cabins. With the help of Imperial Light Cervezas & the exhaustion from 18 hours of traveling, we were able to fall asleep. It's safe to say that all of us slept with our beach towels as blankets because we didn't want to touch the baby pink satin, ruffled comforter from the 70's. 

caminado a la clase

6:45 wake up to shower (without hot water) before our first day of classes! We found our school which is also in a tree  house (swiss family robinson style) and were immediately pulled aside for our entrance interview exams. Kaiti, MK, Susan & Kim were placed in the medium level class with Vladamir (a 21 year Russian, Spanish-speaking phe-nom who'd been studying for only 3 weeks). Liz and I were placed in the "avanzada" class with one other lady. 4 hours of class (and with 6 hurting brains later) it was time to explore the town of Quepos & grab some almuerzo. We trekked down the mountain and found ourselves sitting in an adorable soda (Soda Bohemia) where we had the most delicious lunch ever - fresh mahi mahi with a pineapple & coconut salsa served with rice and grilled veggies. MMMM…heaven! 

 We walked around Quepos and decided it was a place that we didn't want to return necessarily, especially after dark if you know what I mean. We're excited to explore the more touristy Manuel Antonio beaches tomorrow. Tomorrow - we have our second day of Spanish classes and our first surfing lessons. As for tonight, we're at the tree-house bar "Jefe's" drinking some margaritas. iPura Vida!

Quepos