Costa Rica - la pura vida!

We have officially been in Costa Rica for a week and a day.

In some ways it has flown by. We've been bombarded (in a very good way) by the sights, sounds, smells and sensations of a totally new culture. We've stood and stared with our mouths wide open. In some ways though I feel as if I've been here forever and could stay forever. The tico lifestyle is more than a little appealing!

There is too much to tell so I will just tell you some of the highlights so far!

Our family are called the Richmond-Oconitrillos. Ivannia and Johnny are the parents and then there's Valerie and Jocelyn, they're daughters, and Wendy and Kendall, two cousins. They have so much energy and there's always something to smile at or laugh about in the house. Kendall especially has been a bit of a savior - chatting away to us about cartoons and movies and monster truck racing. He's 11 so when we don't conjugate our verbs correctly he's not particularly bothered. We are fed breakfast and dinner. Ivannia is a firm believer in variation so we eat anything from Mexican style tacos to spag-bol. I think this is actually quite unusual - the typical tico diet consists mainly of rice. And beans. And more rice.

We get up at half 6 in the morning to catch the bus at half 7 into San Jose. The buses cost 200 colones as a generic charge, regardless of how far you're going. 200 colones is about 30 pence. Cheap as chips. We get off at the last stop at San Jose and then walk, or catch another bus, to our placement. To be honest, by the time the buses have negotiated their way around the millions of taxi drivers with their hands glued to their horns and the crazy little men on scooters, it's quicker to walk! The roads are treacherous. There aren't really any signs and the lanes are often ignored. You cross the road on a whim and a prayer!

We are volunteering at La Guarderia del Nino. It's a daycare centre for children from poor families. It's subsidised by the government so that the parents can try to make some money for themselves without having to worry about the safety of their children. We have been placed with the youngest age group. There about about 10 children there per day. Santiago and Valentina are the youngest - both about 18 months old. And the oldest are about 2 and a half. They are all adorable. The language barrier is non existent seeing as they're only just learning to talk themselves! 'Ah, que linda mi nina pequenita!' basically translates as 'you are the cutest!'. We pretty much repeat that over and over!

So far we haven't ventured too far outside of San Jose. The city is buzzing and we fancied getting to know the city first before venturing further afield. There is constant noise - horns blaring and music playing through boarded up windows and street vendors selling things and, in Rachels case particularly, constant cries of 'eh! guapa! beautiful, blondie! I love you!'

We went to Poas on Sunday - one of the volcanoes in Costa Rica. The drive up there was breath-taking. When we arrived the crater itself was just swamped in cloud. But, undeterred, Rachel and I, accompanied by a girl from Holland, decided to leg it up to the second crater. The air was thin and it was a steep ol' climb and suddenly the level of my unfitness was alarmingly obvious. But we made it and, as if rewarding us for the effort, the clouds suddenly parted to reveal the sparkling bright blue lake of acidic water that was the second crater. It was spectacular! On the way back to San Jose we were treated to a tour of a coffee plantation and were told time and again that 'Costa Rica taught the world to drink coffee'. They are extremely proud of their country - of what it has achieved in terms of peace, human rights but perhaps most of all their coffee!

We have been taking daily classes in latin dance too so watch out - I'll be cha-cha-cha-ing with the best of them before the month is over!

Tonight we're going out with some friends we've made along the way so far. We're going to a bar and then a dancing place which doesn't quite qualify as a club.

There is just too much to tell and my brain is now feeling a little bit explode-y with wanting to describe everything so I think I'll stop there! Explode-y brain is not a good look!

Hasta luego!!

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