Jacó, Tirolesa, y Fútbol

     ¡Pura Vida! This past weekend, we went to Jacó for two and a half days and then we went zip-lining on the San Luis Canopy Tour on Sunday. We left for Jacó on Thursday after classes. We were supposed to leave by 3, but our bus did not show up until 4. So by the time we got there, it was already dark since it is winter here and gets dark by 6 or 6:30 or so. Thankfully though, we could still eat supper when we got there. We stayed at Best Western and it was an all-inclusive resort which means all of the food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner was included. After dinner that night, a few of us tried going to the beach, but all we could see were terrifying waves and the mountains on either side of us. We hung out at the bar at the hotel for a while because they have a discoteca, a dance party, every night but there were not very many people there and no one was actually dancing so we left.

Our group in front of the school before leaving

The buffet at our hotel.

     The next day, we ate breakfast fairly early and then some people went surfing and the rest of us went to the beach. We were not supposed to swim near our hotel because the currents are very strong there, so we mostly just laid out and talked. At about noon, we ate lunch and it also started raining about that time. We eventually went into town at around 3:30 to walk around and check out the shops. There was one shop that was owned by someone from Germany who was married to one of the surf instructors that part of our group had met that morning. She designs her own swimsuits and everything in her store was made in Costa Rica, so it was super interesting to look around there. There was a surfing competition that some people went to that afternoon even though it was still raining, but the rest of us walked around town more and then returned to the hotel. Allison and I walked around the beach a little bit before it got dark, but then it was time for supper. After supper, a bunch of us took naps and then met at the discoteca at 9ish to do some dancing. Most of the music they played we did not know, but a few people tried to salsa and they did play the Cupid Shuffle, the Cha Cha Slide, and a few other American songs that we all knew. We went to bed by around midnight so we could get up a do a few things our last day.

A park in Jacó

A beautiful sunset on the beach

     On Saturday, we got up early again and ate breakfast and then Allison and I went exploring again on the beach. We were looking for seashells and we had not seen the whole beach near our hotel yet. So we walked for a while in one direction, and then we went back the direction we had going the other day. In that direction, there was water that separated the two sides of the beach, and we had been too scared to cross it the other day. But we saw our friends on the other side and they said it was only about knee-deep. However, when we went to cross it, it was about to our mid-thigh. We explored that side of the beach for a while, and then we had to cross again to go back to the hotel. At this point though, the water had risen again, and it was up to our hips. But we made it across and just had to change clothes when we got back to our room because there was no way our clothes would dry in time to go home. We left Jacó at around 1:30 and by the time we got back to San José, most people just went home and ate dinner and went to bed.

The "river" we had to cross to get to the other side of the beach

Can you spot the crab?

Allison and I at the beach

     On Sunday, we had to meet at the school by 7 AM to go on our zip-lining tour. It took about 1 and a half hours to get there, and when we were getting close, it was so foggy I was scared for us to be driving. But overall it was a very nice day and it did not rain so that was good. We did 12 zip-lines and a giant swing called a Tarzan Swing. It was a lot of fun, and the guides were constantly making jokes about how it was their first time being a guide. We ate lunch there also, and then we made it back to San José by 2:30ish. A few of us went to a souvenir market and bought soccer jerseys for Costa Rica because we went to a soccer game tonight. And then we just went home and hung out for the rest of the night. It was a super fun weekend and I cannot wait to go on other weekend trips.

This zip-line was the last one and it was called the Superman

     Since I just got back from the soccer game, I figured I could write about that also. We took a bus from our school, CRLA, to near the stadium at around 5:30, and even though the game did not start until 8, the traffic was still pretty bad. We wandered around for a while and then just stood outside a bar called Goool!, We did not leave to go inside the game until 7:40, and it only took 5 minutes to walk to the stadium, but it took about 15 minutes to get inside, and Costa Rica scored right away and so we missed the first point. But they scored again at the end of the first half, so we at least got to see that goal. I did not really know exactly what was happening during the game, but it was still really fun to watch. I am also not a fan of large crowds of people, but it was not that bad inside the stadium. The stadium was full, but it did not seem nearly as crowded inside as it was on the streets. We left the game about five minutes early to beat traffic, and then we barely made it in time to catch a bus home instead of taking an Uber or a taxi. But the most exciting part about the game was that Costa Rica beat Trinidad 2 to 1!! We got to hear quite a few cheers and just being able to experience something like that was amazing. I cannot say I will ever go to another soccer game, so I am glad I was able to try it once. And that is the end of my adventures over these past few days, but do not worry, I know I will be going on many more.

This was right after Costa Rica scored their second goal