Settling in
After my drive from the west to the east side of San José, I was dropped off at my host family’s house. I was so nervous to meet them as I walked up to the door. My host dad greeted me warmly and I walked inside to see the kind faces of my host mum and their grandson. They spoke lots of Spanish to me until they realised I hadn’t been understanding any of it! Luckily, my host dad spoke really good English as he’d lived in America for a few years so I could communicate through him. I ended the night by giving them a few gifts of English snacks I’d bought from Heathrow and they were much appreciated. Not long after, I was asleep – after having been awake for 48 hours I was more than ready for a rest in my lovely new room. The next couple of days I spent getting to know my host family through limited Spanish and lots of Google Translate. On Saturday, my host dad showed me around the city and taught me how to use the buses. On Sunday, they took me to their church service which was so relaxed and musical. Here, I got to meet more of their family and some other members of the local community. Then, we went to a massive outside market and bought loads of fresh fruit and vegetables. That evening, I spent time with my host family, along with their son, his wife and their little boy. We played games, watched TV and they gave me a delicious ‘cerveza con limón y sal’ (beer with lemon and salt – yum!)
La escuela de español
Monday through to Friday I took Spanish lessons at the Costa Rican Language Academy (CRLA). I travelled every day by bus on my own which, at first, I was nervous to do. In no time, I’d got the hang of it and I really enjoyed the sunny bus ride with my favourite summery songs playing. At CRLA, I had an amazing teacher all to myself, meaning my lessons were completely personalised. I met loads of students from all over the world – America, Germany, China, and of course, England! Some had been at the language school for a while already so they showed Sophie and me (the two British newbies) all the best spots for lunch and clothes shopping! San José had a massive range of cafés and restaurants with really nutritious Costa Rican food and lovely, healthy ‘refrescos’ (kind of like fresh smoothies). It was here I got to practise my Spanish daily – ‘mucho’ mistakes were made but I could feel myself getting better. Each day I came home and my host family were impressed by how much more I could say – maybe they were just being polite but it made me feel better!!
The beautiful, sunny CRLA garden and some San José thrift shopping!
Getting to know my new country
At CRLA, I even got to take a dance class and learnt some salsa and bachata. My new friend, Sophie, and I then put our dancing skills to practice in a real Costa Rican dance bar that her host mum took us to. It was a great laugh and I’m sure we served as entertainment to the locals there. On the Saturday, Sophie and I took an organised trip to the Poaás Volcano. After using my newly learned Spanish to direct my driver to the language school (thank god I’d paid attention in school!) we got picked up by coach at 5 a.m. and were driven to our first stop – a coffee plantation. Here, we had a tasty breakfast of Costa Rican coffee, ‘gallo pinto’ (rice and beans) patacones, pineapple, mango and watermelon. We then took a tour around the plantation and taste-tested coffee which both Sophie and I agree was not as good as Sainsbury’s local (but I think that’s just our poor taste!). After that, we headed up to the crater of ‘Volcan Poás’. I’ve never been anywhere near an active volcano before so was equally intrigued and apprehensive. Our tour guide told us that the only piece of advice he had if the volcano started to erupt was “to get the f*ck out of his way!” He got a coach full of nervous laughter with that one. As fate would have it, a massive cloud had drifted over the crater as we reached it so it was almost impossible to see anything. However, the feeling and sound of being there was unlike anything I’d ever felt. It was such an empty silence. After 10 minutes of this, our group’s time was up and we made our way back down to our coach. Then, it was off to an animal sanctuary where I finally saw my first Costa Rican sloth, along with lots of mischievous monkeys and beautiful parrots. Then, we made our way through a series of waterfalls, slowly making our way to lower ground. The power of the water was immense. Here, we were allowed to venture on our own but we ended up making loads of friends with the other tourists as we helped one another get our much needed photographs. By the end of our descent down the waterfall track, we were all exhausted as we took our coach back to the centre of San José.
Sophie and me in front of a waterfall
A tearful goodbye
The next day, I was up early to be driven to my next stop – an animal rescue centre in Alajuela. I was so sad to be saying goodbye to my host family. After giving them lots of presents and a letter of thank you, we said our emotional goodbyes. Before I could even blink, my first week in Costa Rica was over and I was on to my second adventure!
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