Week 4 catch-up: Puerto Viejo, World Cup, White Water Rafting

   Wow, I have a lot to catch up on.  Last weekend was my class trip to Puerto Viejo.  We left Saturday morning, and after our 4 hour bus ride we hopped off the bus and started hiking up into the rain forest to visit a service station that is part of the indigenous Bribri village.  It was a very intense hike and very muddy.  Along the way our guide stopped and talked about different plants and their medicinal uses.  At the top we had lunch at the service station and then walked even farther up to a tower to look out over the forest.  It was a breath-taking view.  Then we hiked back down, and just our luck it started raining so it was a very slippery walk.
   After the hike we went to our hostel, Walaba in Punta Uva, just outside of Puerto Viejo.  It was surround by beautiful nature, so our beds came with bug nets.  We changed there and went to the beach until it got dark and then had dinner.
  The next day we woke up and went to the beach to do clay masks and practice Chin-Kun.  It was a very quick and busy weekend.
   School wasn't too exciting this week, but on Friday was got to leave class early to watch the Costa Rican World Cup game.  We walked downtown to watch it at the town square.  The energy of all the ticos was amazing!  They won their game which means that they get to go into the second round, which also means that the celebration was huge! All the excitement lasted from noon until really late at night.  We could hear blow horns and car horns anywhere and everywhere for 12 hours straight.  It was insane!
  Today we woke up and went white water rafting.  It was awesome!  It was on the Pacuare river, which is about 1.5 hours outside of San José.  Our guides name was Roy, he was a pro and hilarious!

My teacher for Alternative Health Approaches

The beginning of our hike to Bribri service station

Up at the service station

The look out tower

View of the ocean over the trees

The Talamanca mountain range that continues down into Panama

Beach across from the hostel

Courtney and me with our clay masks

Sitting area at the hostel

Our lovely beds and bug nets

More of the hostel

World Cup soccer game in San José

4 hours after the game, the celebration at San Pedro mall (building on the left). They shut the highway down!

Olivia showing her Costa Rican pride