its been a while...

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I haven't updated in a while for one amazing reason- quince dias... aka 15 days of vacation in beautiful Costa Rica. I was blessed enough to be able to see my parents and travel around Costa with them for one whole week! First, we went to see Volcan Arenal, one of Costa Rica´s active volcanoes. We had an amazing view of the volcano from our hotel room. It was perfect. Because the volcano is still active, there are a bunch of hot springs around the city, basically natural hot tubs. We went to a hot spring called Eco Termale, it was soooo beautiful and there were 5 different pools, all different temperatures. They also had a bar with the best mango daiquiris in the world, the funniest part was the bar didn't charge- they called it the "honor system." After our relaxing night at the natural spa, my dad and I finally convinced my mom to go ZIPLINING over the rain forest canopy! It was soooo high, and incredibly scary but the most amazing thing in the whole world. My parents kept searching for ¨tico restaurants¨to eat at, but I had my eyes on steak and quesadillas and things OTHER than rice and beans! Our next (and sadly, last) destination was Manuel Antonio. This is a national park and a beach! Our hotel, Si Como No (I asked a taxi driver and he said it means ¨Yea, Why Not?¨) had an AMAZING view of the Pacific Ocean. It was paradise. The first day we hung out by the pool and went to a restaurant called Agua Azul. It had the perfect combination of tico food for my parents and american food for me. I got the BIGGEST burger I have ever seen! My parents and I also couldn't help but notice that our waiter spoke English EXTREMELY well. So I asked him, in Spanish, where he learned English. And he told us he was from New Jersey! Haha, small world! The next morning we headed to the national park. The guides there found all sorts of crazy animals in the trees, snakes, spiders, birds, and my favorite the monkeys and sloths. We hung out at the beach in the park and watched monkeys and raccoons steal food out of peoples bags! It was hilarious. The next day, we woke up early and headed to the mangroves from some kayaking, my mom´s favorite vacation activity. Our guides name was Berney, haha, and he knew a lot about the wildlife. We saw more monkeys here and they came so close. They also jumped all over the boats like they were on a trampoline! After the kayak tour, our guide took us to a place for a real Costa Rican breakfast, gallo pinto (which is basically rice and beans but mixed together, so they call it something different), eggs, tortillas, and natilla (aka sour cream, kind of), needless to say my parents were thrilled. I explained to them that this is basically what I eat everyday, in some form or another. I did not want my time with my parents to end, I savored all the meals and pool time and hot showers for as long as I could! Here are a few pictures!

And now for the bad news.. over my wonderful vacation, someone broke into the school and stole the brand new computers that the town and just purchased about a month before my arrival.. they broke in by breaking down a door and cutting a hole in the wall! Computers are reallllly expensive here, so it is super unfortuante, especially considering how small of a town Picagres is, only 200 people total! I did learn a new spanish word though - "ladron" aka robber.  

I am excited to get back to teaching once the police fingerprint the crime scene and everything settles down. I plan on teaching them memebers of the family and rooms in the house! Wish me luck! Ill update you when I can, with more pictures of the amazing wildlife I got to see! Thank you all for your continued support, I can definitely feel your thoughts and prayers. I only have 20 more days in this beautiful, green country, it is a bittersweet feeling. Ciao!