My 2½ months here in Costa Rica is almost at an end. I leave tomorrow for my next stop - Buenos Aires. I've had some time this week to think about all I've done while I've been here… and I've done a lot! I've walked, hiked, biked, ridden in a bus, taken a boat, flown, and/or ziplined through a good portion of this country. I've come close to eating my own weight in rice, beans, plantains, mangos, pineapples, and bananas. I've learned that my first name m...

Happy Easter everyone! Just a quick note to let you know I've posted some photos of what I've been up to this week here in San Jose and outside the city. This was holy week down here and everything (including school) was closed on Thursday and Friday. Lots of folks had the whole week off. So I took advantage of a few free days this week to do a couple side trips out of San Jose to the Poas volcano, to a couple other little towns en route (Grecia and Sarchi), ...

I realize it is a bit ironic that I am posting this blog on April 15. Perhaps the title should be amended to "Don't Worry, Be Happy… unless you're late filing your taxes and then maybe you can be a little bit worried." At any rate, my inspiration for this post comes from the past two weekends that I spent in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. Since San Jose is a big, loud, dirty, not particularly scenic city, I decided to get out of the city on my days off from scho...

Last week, I began my month-long stay in Costa Rica's capital, San Jose. I'm taking four weeks of Spanish classes here and living with a host family. Rita, my "mama tica," welcomed me with a hug and introduced me to the other generations of her family who live in the house - her daughter Grettel (close to my age), granddaughter Amanda, and 1-year old great-granddaughter Ariana. Already, I feel a sense of accomplishment. I know who lives in the house and how t...

I've spent the better part of the last two weeks at Caño Palma, a biological research station run by the Canadian Organisation for Tropical Education and Rainforest Conservation (www.coterc.org) on Costa Rica's east coast. They call this the Caribbean coast, but other than sand and some coconut palm trees, this place bears no resemblance to the tranquil beaches and turquoise waters that folks typically envision when they think of the Caribbean. This place is C...