About My Weekend (finally!)

What I'm doing: This past weekend we had a field trip, I went to an intersting family function, celebrated one of my host sister's birthday's, went to San Jose, and hardly slept at all. :)

Friday, October 19th

We left bright and early at 6:30am for our field trip to Miravalles. It is a volcano in the Guanacaste area. We were supposed to go to Arenal, which is way prettier I think, but they wanted to take us some place less touristy...go figure. The first place we went to was a geothermal energy place. They take the vapor of water and put it through a turbine that creates energy. We got a tour of the place, which was interesting. We had to wear closed toed shoes, hats, and glasses.

They have to separate the water and the water vapor, so that is the all the water behind us in these next few photos. It is the water draining out.

We also got to see the big turbine thing and all the pipes everywhere!

After visiting the geothermal place, we went to our hotel to drop our stuff off and eat lunch. We stayed at Thermo Mania, a very touristy place. There were lots of pools and the staff were all so kind. After lunch we went to a wind plant with large windmills. We had a talk there, which I thought was very boring. I learned about wind energy in high school, so it was not as interesting for me. It was also pouring down rain and we did not walk around and see anything.

When we got back to the hotel, Mariah T. and I went and got hot chocolate and had a heart to heart. :) I am so lucky that I get to be on this trip with such amazing people! Then we went in the pool with our Spanish teachers and all the girls. We played 10 fingers and practiced our Spanish. The water is warm because it's thermal water. Here is what the place looked like, so pretty!

That night we ate dinner, and did some kareoke (I did not sing, only listened). I went to bed at 9pm, though. I am so tired all of the time here! I kind of wish I would have stayed up longer to spend time with people, but that's okay. I am stuck with all them enough. :)

Saturday, October 20th
We got to sleep in until 8am, which was really nice. After breakfast we took some pictures of the sun and how beautiful the place was!

Then, we split up into two groups to go to las Hornillas. What are those you might ask? We put mud on our faces. It felt a lot like Yellowstone, but I loved it. It smelled just like Yellowstone, too, just like sulfur.

Then, we went to a "waterfall" to wash off the mud. It was more of a man-made dam, but it worked.

When we got back, we had to wait for the other group to go, so we hung out in the pool. Lunch was really yummy fish. Then, we left to head back to San Ramon. It was not my favorite field trip, but I felt like it was very educational. We learned a lot about alternative forms of energy.

I was so tired when I got back, but that was just the beginning of my adventurous evening. Kristin, Chandler, Sydney and I had a movie night. We watched P.S. I Love You, and ate popcorn and smores. Kristin's host brother also hung out with us, which was really funny. I got back to my house at 11pm, when my host sister texted me. She said they were having a party with all their cousins across the street from my house. I had my sweatpants on, but I changed and headed over. Little did I know what I was getting myself into...

There were probably over 20 people there, all around my age. Everyone was drinking and smoking and hanging out. I met another girl from a different program that I talked to for awhile. One of the cousins, Jose, came over and talked to us. I was so happy he did, because I felt like I belonged a little more. I hung out with my host sis a lot too, Fabi.

It was fun to listen to the conversations, but it was a little hard to follow what was happening sometimes. After being there for 2 hours, my host brother and his girlfriend showed up. I have never been so happy to see them; I felt like they were angels! I talked to Juan Manuel's girlfriend, Kristal.

Around 1am, we left to go sing. This is the second time they have done this. Everyone piles into a car and goes to sing to all of the aunt's and uncles. ALL of them except probably 4 got into ONE truck! I thought it was going to scrape the ground when it was driving. I went with Juan Manuel and Kristal. We went to 3 houses before leaving the large group. It was quite the adventure haha. I thought my family get together's in the U.S. got a little crazy sometimes, but definitley can't compare to Costa Rica family reunions. :)

Sunday, October 21st
Started off by going to church with my family. Mariah G. came along too, and the service was amazing. Walter, the husband of my oldest host sister, spoke first. He talked about being a light in a dark world, which seems to be a theme of mine here. :)

Then, we went to lunch for Fabi's birthday. We went to the same Colombian restaurant we went to on independence day. The other time we went, it was just 5 of us, and I had trouble following the conversations. They talk so quickly and I have a hard time hearing. I thought I would understand so much more this time, but that was not true... There were over 10 of us, and I had noo idea what was going on. My meal was very yummy, but I felt so discouraged.

When we got back, I just went into my room for awhile and worked on some homework. We had chocolate cake for Fabi's birthday and it was VERY delicious. My oldest sister, Andrea, made it. Juan Manuel asked me if I wanted to go with him to San Jose. We decided to go and have a movie night at his girlfriend's house. Mariah came with me. We watched Inglourious Basterds with Juan Manuel, his girlfriend's brother and another friend from church, Brayan. It felt so nice to just relax and watch a movie. After the movie, Juan Manuel had to drop his girlfriend off at her job at the hospital.

We went with the other boys to McDonalds to get some dinner. We discovered that McDonalds delivers...I could not believe it! Mariah and I thought it was SO funny, that we made Brayan put down his food to take a picture of us with the carry out bags.

Then, we went over to my oldest host sister's house. Andrea and Walter live in San Jose with their little baby. We chatted and played Creationary. It is a lego game where you have a certain amount of time to create leggo shapes. It was really fun. We did not get back home until past midnight. But it was so much fun to spend time with everyone. It made me feel a lot better after the disaster during lunch time.

I am constantly blessed and amazed at the wonderful people God has put in my life here in Costa Rica. I really feel like the luckiest girl around. Except there is a really good quote that says, "I am not lucky, I am blessed." I really believe that is true. :)

Con mucho amor.