E-mail from Aug. 5th 2010
So tomorrow I fly back to the states and I haven´t seen even half of what I would have liked to see in this gorgeous country but the theme of this trip has seemed to be meeting incredible people. The past week has just been a string of amazing experiences revolving around beautiful and inspiring people that I will never forget.
Last Friday Rachel and I and three other people from the farm headed to San Jose for the evening to meet up with Anthony (one of the translators on my Nicaragua trip) and Kat his girlfriend who is a valpo grad. It was so nice to see them and they showed us so much hospitality. Anthony picked out a restuarant in the hills surrounding San Jose (drove us through horrible traffic to get there) where we could look out the window and watch the lights of the city. Soooo beautiful, and so nice since we never would have made it there on our own. It was good to reconnect with Anthony and meet Kat and talk about our Valpo experiences. Its funny how simply graduating from the same college can connect you. I also decided that I think I´m going to come back here and volunteer at their church after I´m done teaching English.
Saturday we caught an early bus to Manuel Antonio for the beach. We couldn´t get seats so we had to stand for the entire trip through winding roads through the mountains. Manuel Antonio wasn´t quite what I expected--very touristy and we didn´t pay to get into the national park so the beaches weren´t the most beautiful I´ve seen, but it was still refreshing to get away from the farm and spend some time on the beach. The owner of our hostel was this little, motherly Costa Rican woman who made us homemade breakfast everyday and made sure we were safe and sound in whatever we were doing. It was so nice to feel cared for by a stranger.
Monday was the last day on the farm. While we were gone five more wwoofers had arrived so it was so crazy! There were two girls from England which was a welcome relief from all the Americans and Canadians we´ve met on the trip. Tuesday we spent a couple last hours in Cuidad Colon at this organic juice bar with yet another amazing woman. The rest of the afternoon/evening we spent in San Jose. We went to the market where Rachel and I met a beautiful, kind Italian woman, who married a Costa Rican, and who has lived in Germany. We had a brief conversation in German and she gave us these beads for good luck as well as goodbye hugs. So funny how you can connect with someone in such a short period of time.
Today, four of us took a day trip to Volcan Poaz--a semi active volcano about 3 hours from San Jose. Once the rain and fog cleared up it was cool to see the crater and it was a fun trip overall but not quite what I was expecting after climbing the volcano in Nicaragua. Back in San Jose we went to dinner at an organic restuarant and met a sweet lady who poured our her life story to Rachel in Spanish.
Tomorrow we´re taking a 4:40 am shuttle to the airport and ending this chapter of travels. It astounds me the random connections we´ve made on this trip and the people I´ve met. While its sad to say goodbye and go back to the insanity that´s awaiting me in the states, I feel like I will randomly meet these people again at some point.
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