Pura vida

Although not much time has pasted since my last post, I have a lot to tell you about. After spending a few nights at Tania's I decided to move back to where I was living before. Well, not exactly where I was before, but into an apartment that is literally right in front of where I was living (by right in front I mean maybe ten feet). When I first realized that I had made a poor decision to move I was really upset because I didn't think I would be able to go back, but then I realized that the apartment in front of where I was previously staying would be avaliable this week. So, I went and talked to Diana (landlord) immediately about that apartment and that night (last Wednesday) I saw the apartment and decided right away that I wanted to live there. For the first time since I arrived in Costa Rica I finally felt like I was making a good decision. In other words, instead of trying to rationalize everything, I just went with my intuition. It was such a relief to feel so sure about living there, because before I was really confused.

So, this Friday I will move in to the new apartment and until then I'm staying in the house where I was living before. Have I confused you yet? Hopefully not. Anyway, this new apartment has a bedroom with two beds, kitchen, and bathroom. It's furnished with the basics. I will probably try to find a roommate to keep my expenses low, which shouldn't be too hard because there are a few new interns coming in September. I will be able to walk to work and the gym, which is a huge plus. Also, I'll be right next door to the friends I made in the other house. As far as improving my Spanish, one of the girls living next door only speaks French and Spanish so obviously I will communicate with her in Spanish. That basically sums up my housing situation. I had to laugh at myself for moving all my stuff to Tania's just to move it back again.

This past weekend I went to Liberia with Tania to visit her family. We left early Friday morning and got into Liberia around noon. Friday, we spent time with her family and watched tv and slept for a large portion of the afternoon. Then, Tania and her sister, Stephanie, showed me around Liberia. It's really small compared to San Jose; it's more how I imagined life in Costa Rica. It's a place where everyone knows each other and its common to see kids playing outside or people sitting on their patios just enjoying the day. I really enjoyed the small town feel of things and staying at Tania's house. Tania's mom has somewhere around ten siblings, so it was hard for me to keep up with names but it was really fun seeing people come and go from the house all day. The door was always open, which reminded me of home.

Saturday I went with Tania's boyfriend, Marco, and a few other people to Playa Tamarindo and Playa Avellanas. We were supposed to leave around 10 am, but considering "tico time" we didn't leave until 1 pm. We had a great time and got to watch a really beautiful sunset at Playa Avellanas, which you can only get to by taking a dirt road with dangerously large potholes. I was really lucky to be with someone who had a car and knew about this particular beach. Saturday night we returned to Liberia and went out with some of Tania and Marco's friends. Since it was a holiday weekend here they saw a lot of people from high school (think Coach's over Christmas break).

Sunday Tania and I drove to Playa Hermosa and spent a few hours there before it started raining. Then, we went back to Liberia to catch our 4 pm bus to San Jose. It was a really relaxing weekend and if I get the chance to go back to Liberia I definitely will. For now...back to work!