To get to Ostional, a small town on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, me and two other girls had to take two buses from San José. The total journey was around seven hours and began very early in the morning. It was long, bumpy and hot but we finally reached our destination – and my new home town for the next six weeks! We were greeted by the fresh smell of the sea as we jumped off of the bus. Struggling with our heavy bags, we reached the research station where we were greeted by volunteers and the head of the centre, Jairo. He showed us around and briefed us on the plan for the next few days which consisted of lots of training for us.
It was then time to be shown to our host families. The other two volunteers who I’d travelled with (and become very close with by this point) were in a house together whilst I was on my own. At first, I was nervous about this, but then I met my host mum and she was so welcoming that all my fears disappeared. At my new home, I had a room all to myself. I was greeted by my little host brother who was eight years old, and immediately got me to play football with him – which I happily did despite being exhausted! Then, I decided to catch my first Ostional sunset on the beach. I managed to find the other volunteers who told me that they do this every day. I sat and watched the sky go from blue to orange to the warmest pink and fell in love – I was in utter disbelief that I’d be seeing 41 more of these over my time here! I walked home just before it got completely dark.
I got home in time for dinner and I met the rest of my host family. At this point, my Spanish was at a decent conversational level but it was really great getting to practise with them. I also got to meet their cute dog who was very friendly – I’d always wanted a dog of my own and now I kind of had one!
At about 10 pm, after doing some reading and catching up with friends and family from home, it was time for me to fall asleep. Lying in my new bed, I fell asleep to the sound of the nearby ocean.
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