*Fun fact: there are over 300 volcanoes in Costa Rica, with over 100 being under water and the other 200 being on land.
This past weekend, I spent my free time in La Fortuna, Costa Rica. First impressions; Arenal Volcano is BEAUTIFUL. It overtook the beauty of the whole town looked heavenly outlined by the clouds. Unlike my trip to Monteverde last weekend, I went to La Fortuna with another volunteer. We arrived midday with a list full of activities and places we wanted to visit but ended up settling with getting food and going to sleep – the one thing I will definite not miss about Costa Rica is its public transportation system. Fully rested, we began our second day with a full day hike up the Arenal Volcano. And my, what a work out that was! It made my previous hike from zip lining last weekend seem like a breeze! During our long tour, lasting from 10am to 8pm, we caught some amazing views of Arenal, took a midday swim under a waterfall, and, after nightfall, soaked in a mid forest hot spring. During our trip, we ate at the local restaurants and got a full swing tasting of a wide range of Costa Rican food and fathomed over how the locals could dress in jeans and a jacket under such hot conditions. Two out of three of my orders of orange juice were spiked – I mean, at 6am?? – and I made even more international friends, these coming from Canada, Switzerland, Germany, and France. Overall, this trip to La Fortuna was definitely the highlight of my trip. The beauty of Costa Rica was beautifully caught within this little town and I definitely hope to return here someday soon to try out the famous white water rafting, zip lining over Arenal Volcano, and horseback riding along the waterside! Today was also my last day at the hospital and I am planning on spending the rest of my week relaxing locally until my flight to Singapore this Friday! Until next time! It is so unreal how quickly these last two and a half weeks have flow by. It was like it was only yesterday that I landed here in Costa Rica and here I am today closing in my last two days at the hospital. I have learned a lot during my time at the Hospital Nacional de Niños but if I could reflect on one single thing, it would be on the universal power of love.
For half of my stay at the hospital, I was stationed in the pediatric oncology department. Just from this information, I am sure that you can just imagine the pain and sorrow felt by the family members of the patients here. But with me being here, you would never be able to tell; where there was once fear, there was love. Where there was once pain, there was laughter. Despite the language barrier, I had no trouble translating the love that filled these halls. And during this time, I was no longer in another country discovering another’s culture, but I was simply a human being witnessing the power of love between a child and a parent. It is quite easy to think of yourself, your loved ones, and even your community as a fragment separate from the world. We often fixate on differences, overlooking similarities. Not to say that these differences are not important, as they are the key ingredients to what makes me, me, and what makes you, you. But looking beyond a person’s heritage and beyond a person’s nationality, I believe that it is essential to uncover the humanity that brings us all together. There is a reason why a smile is universal across all different languages! With my short stay working here at the hospital, I have realized that with travel, we can slowly silence the fear that feeds off of differences and change and can replace this sound with the sounds of love. My final day working with the precious children of San José will be this upcoming Monday and I will be spending my last weekend in La Fortuna, Costa Rica, home of the famous Arenal Volcano! Look out for my next blog update this Sunday! Today, May 22nd, marks the 13th day that I’ve been in Costa Rica. This is day 13 out of 25 that I have been honored to reside with my wonderful host family and day 8 out of 14 days total that I have been working at the children’s hospital. I am officially half way over my stay at the hospital and my stay in Costa Rica in general. It honestly feels as though, as clique as it sounds, that I have just arrived to this beautiful country!
This weekend, I took a three-day trip to Monteverde, Costa Rica. It really was I stayed in Sloth Backpackers Hostel, seriously the cutest hostel I’ve ever seen! I stayed in a dorm styled room with three other girls from Switzerland and I really enjoyed my time there. There was a full kitchen for our use and it was really clean. Yorle, the owner, was also such a sweetheart and helped me plan and book my weekend. And she cooked a pretty delicious breakfast every morning! Even though I was traveled there alone, I rarely had a moment to myself. I met a group of American girls who were traveling together and tagged along with them on a tour and for dinner for one of my nights. I am glad I chose a hostel over a hotel room – there is always someone new to meet from around the world in these dorm set up living arrangements and for $12 a night, it was quite the deal! I took a night tour in the Montverde Cloud Forest Reserve – unfortunately, none of my photos picked up much but trust me, it was beautiful – and went zip lining. With the zip lining, I learned two things about myself; 1) is that I discovered a new muscle in my upper thigh from all of the hiking that we had to do and 2) that yup, I am still afraid of heights! Of the 14 zip lines, I only cried on three of them. The first time was after the three practice runs when I zip lined over open forest for the first time. The second was when the tour guide pushed me off a cliff when I changed my mind about the Tarzan Swing. The last time was when I took on the Superman position and went flying across 1 kilometer of cable 180 meters above the ground. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Would I do it again? Probably not! I am preparing for my last full week at the hospital and my last weekend here where I will be traveling to La Fortuna, Costa Rica. I did not post last Thursday because I am saving my final reflection on the hospital for this upcoming Thursday. Thank you all for reading this! *Disclaimer I cannot take pictures in the hospital, hence the absence of them on this blog. Three things I have learned in my first week in Costa Rica:
1. Bikers rule the world – or at least the streets 2. Costa Rican people are among the warmest and the kindest I’ve ever met 3. You need a passport to exchange US dollars to Colón de Costaricense (whoops) This week has been filled with a list of firsts; my first time riding in a plane by myself, my first time leaving the United States, my first time exploring public transportation in a foreign country. In this first week I have taken the wrong bus and have been stranded in the middle of nowhere, have explored every square inch of San José, and have tried a multitude of new Costa Rican dishes (all of which I absolutely adore!). Not a day has gone by that something extraordinary and unexpected hasn’t happened and I absolutely love this! So far, Costa Rica has definitely lived up to its motto, Pura Vida. There is something magical about looking into the horizons on my commute to work every morning and seeing the outlines of ravishing mountain ranges and tropical forests. It is so lovely that I sometimes find it unbelievable. Costa Rica, needless to say, is a very different experience than what I am used to in the US. There is no structure, no order. The unexpected is always to be expected to happen and everyone just flows with it! Despite this beautiful chaos that unfolds before my eyes every single day, everything flows together beautifully. If I could compare my time in Costa Rica as a concrete object, I would compare it to an abstract painting. A multitude of stripes across a blank canvas, with no particular pattern decorated around pecks of seasoned colors. Splashes of warm colors absorbing the blanks of the portrait, contrasted with delicate brushes of neutral hues. Each section enchants its viewer with an alluring page of its own while blending into the next section, closing the chapter. It is something to be appreciated in parts and loved as a whole. It is full of optimism and blooming with love. It is its own unique version of paradise on this large planet. My work at the children’s hospital has been nothing short of amazing. My Spanish speaking skills have improved exponentially just from simply interacting with the locals in the area. My heart has both melted and broken from my time spent with all of the children that have been admitted. Despite my mild case of homesickness over the weekend, I have no regrets about coming here. I am certain that, at the end of the day, I will have grown greatly from my experiences as a global citizen. I go into this second week here with high hopes that I will have just as many stories to tell as I did my first! Today marks the end of my first day abroad in San José, Costa Rica. I have spent the final hours of sunlight in orientation, eating delicious local cuisines, and resting from my flights, deciding to officially start my explorations of this beautiful country at the break of dawn tomorrow with my first day at Hospital Nacional de Niños. While writing this blog, I can not help but be distracted by my unbalance. To say that I am nervous would be an understatement; being abroad, alone, for the first time, 2,000 miles away from home is, if any, a completely acceptable reason for a strike of anxiety to come over me. On the other hand, to say that I am completely ecstatic for this journey would be downplaying both my anxious feelings and my ever-longing homesickness. Despite this uneasy feeling that threatens to take over my sleep and my thoughts (at least for the first night or two), there is no doubt in my mind that I am ready. I have successfully entered into this voyage, leaving my expectations at the door, free of regrets and ready to make the most of my limited time here. This is the moment that I have been waiting my whole life for, the moment where I am free to travel and to engulf myself in a multitude of differing cultures. This moment is bittersweet, as most moments that we no longer have to honor of counting down for tend to be, and yet still very magical. I am not sure what this first full day will bring me, but I am determined to make the best of it!
|