Thursday night, May 17th, my family took the entire group to the Country Club (El Castillo, which means castle in Spanish). This was a very big deal because this country club is extremely expensive to be a part of and the members are only allowed so many guests per month so it was very nice my family did this for us. At the country club we got to swim in the indoor pool, then we had dinner, and watched a karaoke competition. It was a great experience and something different for the group to do. On Friday we went to La Carpio. This place is a shanty town outside of the city for the Nicaraguan immigrants that come to Costa Rica. The area was extremely impoverished and it was so sad to see the conditions those people had to live in; however, the people were so nice and you could tell they were grateful for what they had. There we worked at a school/day care that was one room and had children age 2-10 in this one class. We sang songs with the children, drew pictures with them, and just played with them during the time we were there. The children were all very sweet and took care of one another and their siblings. After La Carpio we went back to the school for Spanish class. That night, I went with my family (along with several other girls and their families) to a dancing event at the church. It was amazing to see how many people know how to dance and how great all of them are. My Papa Tico and Mama Tica were so cute as they danced together. They also tried to teach me how to dance, but it was a little difficult learning all the different steps they know.
On Saturday we said good-bye to our families and traveled to Manuel Antonio (a beach on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica). It was hard to say good-bye because my family had been so nice and wonderful to me. I also could not believe we had already been here a week!! After several hours of driving, we finally reached Manuel Antonio, where we got to enjoy the rest of the day at the beach. The sand there was a grayish color and felt more like mud than sand. The waves were also a little rough so we ended up just walking along the beach to pass our time. We also went to several shops where I bought a hand made hammock! After the beach we went to our hotel, then dinner, then myself and a couple of the girls went with our guide Javier to a bar to watch the final Heredia game, where Heredia won! We then got Javier and some of the locals to teach us to dance, and we all had an amazing time! On Sunday, we went back to Manuel Antonio, but went to the National Park there. Along the trail, we got to see sloths, birds, and monkeys all living in their natural habitat. Our guide Javier was so nice and knew so much about all of the animals we saw. I was so glad we had him because we probably would have missed many animals without him. At the end of the trail, we got to the beach. This beach was very different because it had white sand and calm waters, even though it was only a 1/2 mile below the one we were at the day before. While we were on the beach, several white-faced monkeys came and everyone was taking pictures as they jumped around above us in the trees. After the monkey commotion calmed down we went back through the trail, to the hotel, then got on the bus to travel to Monteverde.
The trip to Monteverde was so long! It took us 5 hours to get there and we literally were going up the side of the mountain. Right when we arrived in Monteverde, we got to meet our new families. My family is younger this time (in their 30s) and they have two children, who are 12 years old and 2 years old. When I got to the house, the family was so nice and I can tell I am going to have a lot of fun with them. They joked around the whole night, and their oldest daughter danced and sang for me. I am already comfortable in my home stay and I am thankful for this new wonderful family! Pura Vida!
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