Hola!

We are now safely in Quepos in Costa Rica, which is right on the Pacific coast. We arrived into San Jose 3 days ago but only stayed one night as we had to get here to do our Spanish course. It was no great loss as it didn´t seem like a particularly nice city and only worth going to to pass through. Our hostel (Costa Rica Backpackers) was really nice. It had a small pool, hammocks and even a cat that slept on top of the computers! But it had a 24 hr guard on the front door which was good, but the fact that they need one was a little worrying.

We were picked up the next day by the private bus we had booked. We had to share with a rather loud and rich American guy but I really didn´t fancy heading to the San Jose bus station, which is apparently not safe for tourists. At least his constant chitter chatter kept my mind of the fact that we were on VERY twisty roads. It was a beautiful drive through mountains, past rivers, lakes, lush jungle like areas. We even crossed over a river that had several large crocodiles in it! Unfortunately our driver couldn´t stop so we didn´t get any photos, but I can assure you they were enormous and we have heard that there are the "Crocodile Men" who sometimes go to feed them chickens!

We arrived at the house of the family we will be staying with for the next two weeks. They are really lovely, make us yummy dinners (although I feel slightly bad that I am not eating as much as she is putting out...it´s too hot to eat hot food!!). They are making a real effort in using basic Spanish for us and we seem to be communicating ok. They have two sons (15 and 18) and a labrador Zeus. We have a sort of private area of the house with our bedroom bathroom. The shower is cold but it is so hot that it is a really nice thing to have a cold shower at the end of the day!

They live about 45 minute walk from the Spanish school (up hill, so going home is easy!). The spanish school itself is set in the forest and we are outside all day, in the shade which is perfect! Our teacher is lovely and we pretty much just sit and talk all day, with the occasional grammatical lessons and exercises at the end of the day. I can understand quite a lot but I am still not very confident with the speaking part. And after a whole day speaking Spanish and then speaking with the family, our minds are ready to explode!!

Pura Vida mis amigos!!