First Full Day in Costa Rica 2012

I woke up around 7am and took a shower. Rachel and I went to breakfast at the hotel. All of the food is very good! I had papaya, pineapple and watermelon, some rice and beans, some papaya juice and pancakes with guava jelly. Guava is a tropical fruit that is found down here in Costa Rica--it's very good! We met the last 3 girls to join our group, Emily, Christina, and Tessa. Their plane got in really late the night before. Our orientation meeting was 2 hours long--it was more like a lecture on different physical therapy techniques. The guides helped us to determine our recreation days. We get 2 days off and there's so much to do! So we decided one day we will do a zip line through the rainforest and a beach. The other day we will go to the Baldi hot springs (Google it! Serioulsy!) and then some souvenir shopping. So excited!!!! Then we had lunch at the hotel. We had a break and we were feeling cooped up in the hotel area, so we decided to go on a walk and explore a bit. We noticed that the McDonald's ads say "McPollo" instead of a "McChicken" and "Quesoburger" instead of cheeseburger--we thought that was kind of funny. Our afternoon lesson was learning massage techniques for tight muscles and back pains. We partnered up to practice on each other--it was very relaxing. There were some goofy moments and we all had some good laughs. After the lesson, our guide walked us down to a grocery store where I tried to buy some authentic Costa Rican snacks instead of American snacks. I was even able to find the guava jelly squares that I snacked on the last time I was in Costa Rica. Then we had dinner at the hotel and I continued to read my book relaxing by the pool. I used the hotel phone to finally call my mom and Chris. It was really good to talk to them :) Then Rachel and I chatted and joked for a long time before going to bed.  Buenos noches!

P.S. The hotel we are at (El Sesteo) does in fact have a safe. So, we were able to put our passport and money in there. It isn't big enough to hold Rachel's laptop or an iPad, but it would fit my mom's Kindle. I wish I brought it!

 

Our team leaders, Luis and Jenny!

 

Hotel front.