End of the Road

Tomorrow I will be returning to Kentucky after spending a wonderful time in Costa Rica. We have seen some amazing things and I will post some of my favorite pictures once I return. There have been no scrapbook stores that I have found but I did get to a fabric store to get some purse fabric for Plaid Leaf Purses, my small business. I look forward to getting back to my crafting after not for a whole month. This has been a month without television (okay, there is a TV at our current hotel in San Jose), scrapbooking, and all of the other daily conviniences that we have but take advantage of. The next time I post, I will be back home with my husband, our two cats, and my Cricut :). I hope it hasn't gone into hibernation!

The Death Walk

Okay, I thought that when we had the choice between going to a mass at a church in Ciudad Quesada and a hike through the rain forest that the choice was easy. Before we left, we were told that it would be a pretty intense trip but I figured that it was somewhat exaggerated. Oh my wow, I have never been so exhausted from anything in my life. We walked up the side of a mountain and then down the other side on the way to see a waterfall called La Catarata Vieja (this means the Old Waterfall). We began by walking on what seemed to be an old creek bed full of stones and it was somewhat of an incline. However, when we started up the real incline, I thought that my legs would just give out. I kept telling myself, one more step, one more hill, but it seemed so far. We ended up in a cow field where we walked down for a while but then found that we had to walk down a muddy trail that only had enough room for our feet and to the right was a huge drop off. We got to the waterfall and it was beautiful. It was definitely worth the trip and being able to say that I did it but I never will again. It took about four hours to walk up and then about two hours to walk down. I did not want to complain but it was incredibly difficult!

We came back and had dinner at a place called Happy Land that is ¨the spot¨ for travelers, especially the KIIS group that I am traveling with.

Well, I need to close and walk my tired feet and legs back to the dorm. I think I will read for a while and go straight to sleep.

One last note, today is my one year anniversary with my wonderful husband. I love him so much and wish that he could experience all of this with me. Kisses to him!

Costa Rica Rocks

Well, it´s Saturday and all is well in Costa Rica. We are able to do so many more thing s than listed in our schedule that we received at orientation. Our leaders are very cool and will find events and excursions that we didn´t even know about. One of our leaders is a tico (means Costa Rican) so he knows everyone. He used to be a teacher and principal here so there are a lot of his students that recognize him. We are supposed to be going on a day long hike tomorrow to a waterfall. We could see Volcano Arenal yesterday from our bus windows. It is incredible; we were told that it is the picture perfect volcano. We are supposed to stay at it´s base for two nights on our last week here. It is amazing that we have already been here for almost a week. We have had so much to keep us busy that time flies. We are going to class today but it is only the second time that we have gotten together during the whole trip. Our leaders said that they would rather we ¨do¨ Costa Rica than be stuck in a classroom all day...I agree completely! I can´t believe how hard the ticos work. I think that I probably spend as much money on scrapbooking and cardmaking than some of the ticos make in a year. If they did not have tourism to depend on, I think it would be a very poor country. Some of the homes are just pieces of metal tin nailed together. I don´t feel sorry for them because I know that that is their culture and their way of life but it really makes me wonder why Americans think that they need so much. Well, we have class in a little while so I will close here.

Pura vida

I am in Costa Rica and it is wonderful. There is so much beauty in this country. We arrived around midnight Monday night at the Technology Institute where we are staying. There is a trail on campus that is great for seeing wildlife. So far, we have seen a sloth, crocodiles, caiman, poison dart frogs, butterflies, and lots of cool plants. It is very hot and you basically sweat all day without stopping. There is a crazy deer that is totally attracted to a guy in our group. It keeps mounting him and came inside the dorm. It was crazy. It is raining right now so hard that we cannot even hear each other talk in the building. We are also traveling to some schools on our trip which is so neat to see the major differences. Well, almost time to go talk to a climatologist about the volcano and other stuff.