Hola amigos!!!  Week 4 is done and I have officially been here in Costa Rica 1 month!  Crazy.  This past week has been really great.

I started off the week Monday with a fun afternoon due to not having my normal afternoon class.  I spent the time hanging out with friends at the soccer field while we sort of played soccer and attempted multiple times to time a jumping photo where we were all in the air.  Yes, everyone was staring at us, but it was worth it!  #diditforthegram  Later that night, I saw the most gorgeous sunset ever (pictured below).  The picture doesn’t even get close to doing it justice.  It looked like a watercolor painting.

On Tuesday, my class visited the Palliative Care Clinic in San Jose.  Before visiting I had absolutely no idea what this was as I am guessing this might be the same for most of you.  Well, Palliative Care is similar to hospice.  It is a place for people who have chronic illnesses to be able to live their last days according to what they want.  This specific clinic is for children with chronic illnesses.  I was intrigued by the concept as we listened to the doctor who founded this clinic (the first children’s palliative care clinic in all of central america) tell us about how she got to where she is and why it is so important to her.  She told us that most of these children come from families with domestic violence or drugs and their families are unfit to adequately take care of them.  As a result, the children come to the palliative care clinic to have around the clock care and also still have the chance to be treated like a kid.  If you check out the website I linked above you can read more about it if you are interested.  Just click the button on the website for “Pediatric Palliative Care”.

After our visit, my friends and I went and ate pizza which was so amazing.  Then I went with some other friends to the nearby mall where we walked around and ended up going to Chili’s.  Everyone was excited to have some american food.  We all shared the chocolate molten cake dessert and it was heavenly.

Wednesday was a normal day of class, but Thursday was a holiday!  I attempted to go to Volcano Irazu nearby, but found out the hard way (by going all the way to San Jose) that the bus wasn’t running to the Volcano because of the holiday.  Oh well.  I ended up going to the mall again and shopped around more this time.  It was an interesting experience and it was nice to do something normal like shopping that I would do at home.  I also saw a movie (Jurassic World) at the theater inside the mall.  When I went into the movie I wasn’t sure if it would be in english with spanish subtitles or all in spanish.  It turned out to all be in spanish so that was fun.  I really had to pay attention hard to understand, but for the most part I did understand what happened in the movie!  It helped that there was a lot of action (and not too much dialogue) and that from just watching the characters on screen I could guess what was going on even if I didn’t understand the words.

On Friday, I actually went to Volcano Irazu.  Of course, naturally being me, I missed the only bus that went there that day, but I was determined to make it to this volcano!  I decided to take an uber which the app told me would only take 1 hour and 10 minutes, but due to traffic and the curvy road up the mountain it took 2 hours (yes, I’m still cringing thinking about that).  Finally though, I made it to the volcano!!  I had a fun time exploring and walking around.  Sadly, I didn’t get to spend too much time there because the only bus back to San Jose was at 12:15PM and I definitely would not be missing this bus!  So I took the bus back and finally after 4 hours (ugh) I made it back home.  It took so long because I was on a bus and 1) it doesn’t go very fast & 2) it can’t go through traffic and the crazy costa rican roads very well.  But I did make it home safe and sound so we’re all good!!

For the rest of the weekend, I spent time with my friend who lives here and went to some events at her church with her on Saturday and then church on Sunday.  It was a little overwhelming because it was all obviously in spanish and I barely understood a thing.  I thought I would understand more, but they talk fast and the vocabulary is quite different from everyday vocabulary.  Nevertheless, it was still a fun time and a cool experience.

And now it’s that time where I am counting down the days until I leave (not because I want to leave but because that’s just how it goes).  I have only 10 more days which is so sad.  I’m really looking forward to being home, seeing my family and friends, and to eat american food.  But I’ll be sad to leave San Joaquin and the beautiful Costa Rica.  I bet I’ll be even sadder about leaving as I write my next post.  Stay Tuned.

Pura Vida,

Texan On The Go