Weekend Update

So we’ve had our two weekends out of community since training started and they’ve both been so much fun.  Our first weekend we went into San Jose and had lunch at a great Italian place and I had some amazing pasta right near our hostel.  Some friends went to the mall but our group decided to go check out the Central Market which is an indoor bazaar basically.  It reminded me a whole lot of the one in Fez with loads of stands that had spices and others with random little gadgets or touristy toys.  That night we went out dancing which was tons of fun and hung out at the hostel and a cool pastry shop called Spoon on Sunday.

The following weekend we rented our own bus and made our way down to Puerto Viejo, Limon with 36 of us trainees.  We made it there in about 4 hours and checked in to this awesome hostel!  We had planned on sleeping in hammocks and were excited about it but this place was just so cool.  They had 70 hammocks and two big areas for people to camp out it.  The walls and floors were laid with mosaic tiles and had great designs or quotes written in. 

We went out for lunch at this cool place right off the beach and tried going for a swim while waiting for our food but the lava rocks were too intense to go in deeper than our ankles.  So we went for a swim a little bit up the beach later but the rocks didn’t let us go further than shoulder deep.  I was going crazy not being able to swim more!  I felt like a Chilean miner not being able to get out!  We had some drinks at the hostel and went out dancing afterward. 

The next morning we had a delicious breakfast, I really love splurging on food when we all get together.  Then we walked for about 20 minutes in the rain to another gorgeous beach, but this one was where we should have been the whole time!  It was the surfer beach and tons of people were out there.  Most of our group had already taken to swimming out there and I immediately got out there and swam for hours in water that I couldn’t even find the floor in.  It poured the entire time and the ocean was the only place to stay warm.  When we weren’t body-surfing (getting torn up by the crazy waves) the girls and I were singing and dancing in the shallow water.  So much fun!  This is the first day that I have felt completely relaxed and in one piece since I got here.  I love the ocean so much.  This beach even had a gorgeous little island right off of it like the one at Hana Beach.  So worth the 6 hour bus ride we had to take on our way back home due to road closures because of more landslides.  All in all.  Amazing.

Jennay signing off.