On Friday, Mom, Alli, and I hung out at home all morning helping my host sister Dani get ready to leave on her trip to the States! Then we checked out my school again and I took them to the open food market! I think they were pretty impressed by how big it it and that it is open every day! After that we went to San Jose one last time so they could check out the National Museum! It was actually really cool! It was a whole history about Costa Rica and some of it's culture! It down poured the whole day, but besides that it was fun! When we returned home, I asked my host mom if Dani had made it to Miami yet and she hadn't heard anything. Like 5 minutes later she got a call from her sister that said Dani and her cousin Kim never made it! My host mom slightly freaked out! So mom, alli, and I did our best to do everything possible to try to figure out what was going on! Finally after a few hours of trying to figure everything out my host mom's sister called and said they had finally made it through customs and immigration! It was a huge relief for all of us! So then Mom and Alli got packed and we all went to bed! They had to leave at 3:45 AM, which was very early and not very fun to wake up at, but it was okay! I had such an amazing time with them and I'm glad they got to come! :) It was a great week vacation for all of us!!! :)

On Tuesday Mom, Alli, and I made it all the way to the bus terminal and we took the bus to Puerto Viejo! It was a nice long 4.5 hour bus ride, but we were up front so no one got sick and we got to see all of the beautiful scenery! When we arrived in the Caribbean all of us got super hot and sweaty because it was so humid there! Once off the bus this guy took us to a hostel which was actually pretty nice! It had air conditioning and cable which was cool! So we put our stuff in the room and alli and I headed straight for the beach since it was like 100 feet from our room! Awesome!! :) We pretty much just hung out Tuesday and walked around the town a little bit. We went to bed about 10pm because we were all so tired from the long bus ride and the heat! On Wednesday we went on a tour! We first went to this Jaguar Rescue Center where we got to see all of the nasty disgusting snakes (YUCK!), lots of adorable animals like Monkeys (which I go to hold!), sloths, this raccoon type thing, a green tree frog, a wild cat of some sort but I'm not sure what it was, and lots of other things! It was so cool!! After that we went to this indigenous woman's house to watch and see how they make cocoa into chocolate! It was a small demonstration but it was fun! Then we got to try it and it was very natural and disgusting, but still fun! After that we went to this waterfall! It was so beautiful! We drove up the mountain a little ways then we had to hike through the jungle for like 5 minutes until we got there! Alli and I got to go swimming in it and it was so cool! The scenery was beautiful too! Mom didn't want to go swimming so she just took pictures and talked to the guide so it was all good! When we were walking back I didn't have my shoes on because I didn't want them to get wet, and I was being so careful not to fall, but unfortunately I am the one that fell in the water and got my shoes and all of my clothes wet! It was very graceful on my part but it was whatever! When we got back our driver had found pineapple and coconuts for us to eat! It was fresh from the tree and it was sure delicious! Then we went back to Puerto Viejo and went back to the ocean! We just hung out Wednesday afternoon and shopped and ate dinner and had a great time! Thursday we went to the ocean in the morning, then got ready and shopped and hung out until 4pm when the bus came to take us back! We rode the bus for another 4.5 hours last night and made it home by about 9pm! When we got home my host dad was here so we hung out with the family and then Ruben came over to say goodbye to mom and alli! My host sister Dani is leaving for the States today at noon so everyone is making preparations for her to leave! Mom, Alli, and, I are going to San Jose to the National Museum today and to the food market and to my school so they can see some last minute things before they leave back to the States tomorrow too! It has been a very exciting break and I have very much enjoyed my family being here! I will be sad to have them leave tomorrow, but it will only be 5 more weeks after they leave until I go home too! :)

Family Time!

Well these past few days have been a blast! My momma and sister arrived on Sunday at some awful hour (6am)! They made it safely to Barva where I live! Once here they took a short nap then ate some breakfast with me and my family! I took them on a tour of the city of Barva in the morning then we all ate lunch together! After lunch my host sister Dani and I took them on a tour around Heredia! We went to the University but it was closed so we just looked at the buildings! Then we went and saw central park and the stores/shops close to the park! Alli wanted some awesome shoes from BestBrands so we went there and she bought some shoes! Then they were sort of tired so we all came back and hung out at my house with my family! I did a lot of translating for my host mom and my family, but my host sister Dani did really well with her English! Mom and I also did a lot of explaining in English and Spanish about how to go through customs and whatnot! Then my cousins came over to meet my family so it was quite the day for them!!! Then Monday I took mom and alli to San Jose. We were going to go to the National Museum of Costa Rica, but it was closed so we went to the Artesian Market where they loved it so much and almost bought it all! It was really fun! They got to experience the big city which was pretty crazy but fun! :) After our adventure we made it back to Heredia and decided to get smoothies and go home! The family friend Ruben came over to meet them which was fun because mom and alli could speak English to him! It was really nice! I think they had a good time with my family! My host mom is so sweet and makes them food all the time! It may not be a lot but it sure is delicious!!! :)

This week is finals week, which means it's the end of the first session and almost the end of 5 weeks!!! :) We have all been studying and doing homework and finishing projects at the last minute because honestly there is no other way to do it! ;) hahaha Yesterday we got to take our last whole group trip to a place called Sarchi! It was just a little town with the biggest ox cart in the whole wide world! Unfortunately we didn't get to stop and take pictures of it because some of the group just wanted to go shopping in this really cool place! It was really decorated and pretty in this town! Everyone was very friendly too! :) Tonight we are going to some kind of dance performance with our dance teacher! I have no idea what it is, but it should be fun! Tomorrow almost all of the group leaves for the Southern Costa Rica tour, which I'm not going on. I am totally okay with that because Mommy and Alli will be here in a few days! I can hardly wait!!!! Also tomorrow is the last day for the people who are only staying 5 weeks. So it is goodbye to Julia, Amy, Stephanie, and Sarah. Sonja and Ana are moving to Puntarenas so that is sad too, but there will be four of us left here and we are getting more people for the second session so that will be good! Since everyone is leaving I will just have to entertain myself for a couple of days before my family gets here! Maybe I will go to the gym and drink more smoothies!!! ;)

Well a lot has happened since last Thursday! This past weekend some of the girls and I went to a place called Tortuguero. It was quite an adventure. There were 7 of us that went, but only 3 of us made it on the first night (Friday). That was pretty intense, but a fun experience! We took a few different buses to get to a place called Pavona, then we had to take a small passenger boat through these different rivers for about an hour to get to Tortuguero. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It was so green and there were tons of different kinds of trees and animals and different villages that were so cute! When we got there we checked into this really sketchy hostel place. It was extremely hot and had cockroaches and other kinds of creepy crawly bugs. The three of us (Lizzy, Sonja, and I) just hung out and ate dinner and walked around the little town. The people we so nice and helpful! We also signed up for a morning tour! Saturday morning at 6 AM we went on a canoe tour through the national park there! It was absolutely amazing! :) We saw so many different types of animals, like birds, little crocodiles (I don't remember their name), butterflies, monkeys, poisonous frogs, iguanas, and so many trees and vegetation! I don't even know how to explain how magical it was! Then we went to the beach for part of the day and finally met up with the other girls! We all just hung out on the beach and what not. The best part of the whole trip besides the canoe tour was on Saturday night! We all got to go on a turtle tour! It's not turtle season so we didn't know if we would see any. We walked in the complete darkness on the beach for about 30 minutes and finally saw some tracks which meant there were some turtles around! about 15 minutes later we were all stopped because there was a momma turtle trying to find the right place to lay her eggs! Unfortunately she didn't like the place she picked so she didn't lay her eggs, but we all got to see a giant sea turtle! It was seriously bigger than the turtle at the Boise Zoo! It was huge and she was so sweet and I just wanted to pet her but unfortunately we couldn't. I was just excited that we got to see a turtle! That was the only thing I really wanted to see on the whole trip and I got to! :) Sunday morning we all went to the beach again for a bit before we had to travel home! It was seriously the best weekend ever before our finals! I'm glad we got to go! :)

Our homemade tortillas which were very delicious! The Cathedral of Los Angeles in Cartago!

Well nothing really exciting has happened the last few days! I've just been going to school and doing homework a lot because mi amigas y Yo want to to a place called Tortuguero this weekend! It is supposed to be a beautiful place up in the northeastern corner! I really would like to go so I am really hoping we can get it together to go! :) Other than that we have just been doing a lot of school work because as of today we only have a weeks worth of classes left so we have a lot to do in that short amount of time. Oh something really awesome...One of my assignments for my conversation class was to create a presentation about Idaho because my teacher had never been there so I did. I made this really awesome powerpoint for her with pictures and info about the coolest places in Southern Idaho and she loved it! She said that she would have to come visit Idaho in the future because it looks like such a cool place! haha How awesome is that!!? Anyway only 10 more days until I can see my momma and my sista!!! :) I am sooo excited! It will be a great and much needed break!