Guanacaste not Guadalajara

When I was trying to think of the place we were going it came out Guadalajara in conversation with my mom and she laughed at me and said that we were not going to Mexico! 

Last weekend my family and I went to the beach in Guanacaste Costa Rica. We went to stay with my aunt Yadi at her apartment. After the process of getting out of my Spanish class on Friday, we were ready to go early Friday morning. We left around 5:30 and took the 6 am bus to Guanacaste. The taxi Adri called got here a little early so we were rushing out the door! On the bus there, everyone fell asleep except for Fabi who said that he wanted to see everything! Everything I saw out the window, I wanted a picture of; however, I didn’t feel safe getting my camera out on the bus! 

This country is so beautiful and changes so quickly! Guanacaste is a very hot and dry place, it reminded me a little of being in Nebraska or Colorado in the summer time. The bus ride took about 4 and a half hours, with a 15 minute break at a rest stop with a couple snack shops. My aunt met us outside of this mall in what seemed like the middle of nowhere! We took a taxi to her apartment which was like a five minute walk away. However, because it was so hot, it was nice to get to take a taxi with great air conditioning! She gave me my own room with a single bed, and my mom and sister slept on a blow up mattress in the living room, I felt bad about it, but they are very hospitable people. After lunch of meat and rice and beans and salad, we left for the beach! But on arriving at the bus station, we realized that the bus had just left! So my mom and aunt had me wait with the kids while they found a taxi to take us to the beach, they didn’t want me with them because then the price for the taxi is so much more expensive! Since I am a gringa and apparently gringas have money! LOL! So we took a taxi to the beach and spent the afternoon there. We went to Playa Panama. It was beautiful and had black sand. The waves were fun to play in and I enjoyed taking pictures of my family playing!

I was also blessed with the opportunity to take pictures of some amazing birds!

 

We took the bus home, which took about an hour, but it was fun to see the country side more. On the walk home in the dark, favi was a little freaked out! He is so fun! Also, I checked my email and got my pin for my credit card just before I needed to use it! I got cash from a carjeta automatica or an ATM! It was literally just in time! That night I didn’t eat much for dinner because I was still full from lunch and when it is really hot it is hard to find an appetite. They were really worried that I didn’t like the food, I did, I just wasn’t hungry! I went to bed pretty early that night after watching several Disney channel shows in Spanish with my brother and sister in my aunt’s bed! She made me feel more at home there, then I do in my house in San Jose! 

 

The next day, I got up around 8 to get ready for the beach and then we didn’t go until after lunch. That was hard for me to understand since in my actual family, when we go to the beach, we go to the beach for the whole day…but we didn’t leave until after lunch. We missed the bus again because it left 10 minutes early and we had gotten there right when it left. So we took another taxi to the beach and decided not to go Sunday because it was so expensive to take a taxi! We spent the afternoon at Playa Hermosa, which was a touristy beach! There were a few older gringos there! I had a lot of fun trying to body surf, but the waves were really intense there and I was afraid to go too far out in fear of rip tides. At times I would get pulled under against my will and tossed and turned in a dirty sandy wave! My mom said that it was much dirtier than normal but she didn’t know why! It was natural debris, not like trash, but it was pretty dirty! However, it was a fun day at the beach and we took the bus home again that night! On the walk home, I stepped on a packet of mayonnaise that squirted all over my other leg! It was so gross! LOL! I had sand everywhere that night when I took a shower! I pulled it out of my ears for a week afterwards! We decided that we were going to walk around town on Sunday and just chill. 

Once again in my head I thought that we were going to walk around in the city and spend the day in town, but during breakfast my grandma and this random girl show up and then my aunt gave my mom a pedicure and I just read my book for class and watched TV with the kids. The girl my grandma brought with her was a neighbor who is from Nicaragua and lives in a pretty shanty house. But she was nice and it was fun to hang out with her. We didn’t leave until around 12 and walked to the mall with everyone, saw grandma and the girl off and just meandered around the mall and the house and then went home and ate lunch! I thought it was really strange that grandma came 4 and a half hours out to visit for a few hours, but whatever works!

We headed home Monday morning around 6:30, we took the 7 bus back to San Jose, and right as we were getting on the bus home I realized that I was missing a meeting for class! But after worrying all day to no end, when I did talk to Trevor on Tuesday, he said that it wasn’t a big deal at all! I hate worrying, there is no point and it drains me! I got home, ate lunch and ran out the door to meet my friend Sarah to walk to Spanish class. It was a great weekend at a beautiful beach!