Half way through my Costa Rican experience

This week marks the half way point in my trip, I'll be coming home in 51 days!

This last weekend I got to spend the weekend in Panama (I'm allotted a 90 day travel visa in Costa Rica and I had to leave the country for 72 hours to renew it). We stayed on an island called Bocas del Toro, which means bull's mouth. 

Panama was so beautiful, we went dolphin watching and went to a place called Starfish beach (which did indeed have many starfish) the water was crystal clear and warm and it was so incredible. It was also SUPER HOT, this is the farthest south I've ever been so my midwest skin burned to a crisp...literally. Also, everything in Panama is super cheap and they accept dollars (thank you Panama Canal!)

We took a coach bus to Panama and had to cross the border. The border crossing consisted of a long bridge over a dirty river with plywood loosely nailed to the mossy rails. Needless to say I thought I wasn't going to make it...

Right now my host mother is sick (my poor mamacita) and my roommates and I are covered in bug bites. We are a mess, ha ha.

There won't be much happening with me for this week, next weekend I get to see my parents! Been a long time since I've seen anyone from home.

On November 15-16 I am going to have the rare opportunity to go to Guanacaste on a volunteer excursion and see sea turtles lay their eggs, this only happens one a year! A very rare opportunity! We will also do some community work and beach cleaning. Very excited!

Well that's all for now, I will post some photos below of my time in Panama :)

Taylor and I relaxing on the beach

Trying to take a picture

Starfish Beach!

So beautiful.

One Month down, Three to go.

Firstly, I apologize for not being proactive in my blog postings, as you may know, I'll be incredibly busy this month. However, I know you all love hearing about what I am doing so I'll make an effort to post a blog every couple of weeks.

I've finished my Spanish course (THANK THE LORD) and have started my series of elective classes. I'm taking some interesting courses such as: Creative Leadership Skills, Contemporary Latin American History, and International Marketing and Management. 

This month I am going on a series of excursions every weekend with my program. This weekend we went on some day trips.

On Saturday we went to Poas Volcano and La Paz waterfall tour. We were unable to see Poas because of the cloud cover (bummer). However, La Paz was spectacular and the weather was beautiful! Before we did the waterfall tour we got to see various amounts of tropical animals and butterflies! There are pictures of this day on my Facebook.

On Sunday we went zip lining! We got the opportunity to zip line across 12 different lines throughout the cloudy tropical forest. One of the lines was called the "Tarzan swing" and we were attached to a line and flung out into the open forest, most terrifying and amazing experience ever! The last line we did was called the "Superman." We lay on our stomachs attached to a harness and zip lined 200 feet above the forest floor. It was the closest I've ever been to flying!

This coming weekend we have an excursion to Puerto Viejo, a beach on the caribbean. I'm especially excited for that because I've been getting paler since I've been here....

Below is a picture of me zip lining!

Until next time :)