MADE IT!

I made it to Costa Rica! After a 3 hour flight from Boston to Miami, a lonely stay at the Holiday Inn in Miami last night, and a 3 hour flight from Miami to San José (the capital city) I am finally here! The time here is 2 hours behind the east coast, so I left Miami at 10:05 AM and after flying for three hours I arrived in San José at 10:55AM. I barely lost any time at all :)

On the plane I sat next to a couple from San José who gave me their contact info and offered for me to stay with them during my travels at the end of my program. I havn't yet decided what I will be doing during that week, but it was certainly nice to have a contact before I even entered the country :) If anyone knows a contact who I might be able to meet up with or stay with in Costa Rica during my final week of travel, I would love that information! Any and all suggestions of places where I might wish to visit are also more than welcome. You can email me at Lysaboo222@yahoo.com or at alhansen@uvm.edu.

As I flew over Costa Rica I looked out the window and glimpsed my first sight of Costa Rica from the air. The country is very green and quite mountainous, and it appeared that there were several farms and villages down below. A huge grin crept across my face as I took in the sight of the country that I will be calling home for the next four months.

When I arrived in the airport I was approached by a girl my age who is in the other CIEE Program, which is Tropical Ecology. Together we made our way through customs and retrieved our luggage from baggage claim. After exchanging most of my American cash into colones, the local currency, I approached the exit and was delighted to see a CIEE Sustainability and the Environment sign pressed against the window. I had made it! I was greeted by a CIEE staff member and was put in a taxi with two other girls in my program. We were taken to our hotel in Alejuela, which is about 10-15 minutes from the airport. Not too shabby!

After settling into our hotel room (where we will be staying for the next 2 nights), we went out to lunch along with our TA and one of the program staff members. I had a sandwich and a delicious pineapple drink! The fruit drinks here are incredible! I can't wait to try more! After lunch we headed back to our hotel to beat an approaching storm. It's somewhat comforting being in our hotel while thunder crashed outside. It is now about 3PM, so we have about 6 hours to hang out and relax before our meeting at 9. More people from my program should be arriving within the next few hours. I can't wait to meet everyone else, both students and staff. ¡Pura vida!