My advanced class was cancelled last minute this evening. In other words, only one person was going to be able to come and she decided to work late. So far, it's been a slow week for teaching; everyone seems to be preoccupied with work or out of the office. I'm using the extra time to read through my Costa Rica travel guide and hopefully finish reading Three Cups of Tea before this weekend. Also, a new intern arrived yesterday from Germany and she is staying with me until she can move into her place. We work in the same area of San Jose, so I showed her around today after my morning classes. It's strange to think that I was in her shoes only a few months ago, overwhelmed by loud car alarms, non-existent crosswalks, cracked sidewalks, lack of street signs, and the abudance of fast food chains from the North. Welcome to San Jose! At least I can laugh about it now, right? Time goes by fast...or does it?
Well, besides the obvious (teaching, working out, reading, and becoming increasingly frustrated with US politics) this past weekend I went to Cahuita. It's a small town on the Carribean coast in the province of Limon. I left Saturday morning with two AIESEC interns and two non AIESEC interns. We got into Cahuita around 11 am and didn't have any trouble finding a hostel. On our way to Cahuita it looked like it was going to rain all day, but it cleared up and we were able to spend all day on the beach. We spent the majority of the afternoon at Playa Negra, which really wasn't that negra. The sand was dark, but not black at all. There isn't much surf in Cahuita, so it was a nice beach to go for a relaxing swim and observe the numerous sand dollars. I probably spent a good hour looking for one that was already dead, but it was a failure.
By 3 pm we were ready for a change of scenery, so we headed to the national park on the other side of town. Then, Saturday night we went out to dinner and enjoyed live music at the only bar in town. Sunday, we went back to the park to check out some of the trails. We walked along a trail that follows the shore; well, more or less because sometimes you can see the ocean and sometimes you can't. It was about an hour and a half walk until we reached a long stretch of beach that we had all to ourselves. The walk was really enjoyable, minus the fact that the hostel owner told us there were lockers at the entrance to the park and when that turned out to be false we had to carry all of our belongings. We had another great day of weather (despite the rainy season), so there's really no reason to complain!
The ride back to San Jose was pleasant...no traffic jams, no accidents, we even had AC, which really is something to be excited about (Limon is hot and really humid). As for my future travel plans, next Monday is Independence Day so I will probably leave early Saturday morning for somewhere in Guanacaste (Northwest province). Then again, I just found out that a lot of people will be out of the office Friday, so leaving Friday is a possibility as well.
Until next time...
Peace
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