I made it to Costa Rica! The past few days have been so crazy that I haven't really had any time at all to post anything. I was in San Jose briefly before heading to Las Cruces Biological Station. A lot has happened, so here's a brief recap of my first day:
I flew from Miami to Chicago at 8:00 on Monday, had a three hour layover in Miami, and then flew to San Jose. Thankfully neither of the flights was super long (and in fact the flight to Miami was slightly longer than the flight to San Jose). I didn't sleep well the night before because I was so anxious, so I was hoping to sleep one the plane. However, I only slept for about 20 minutes on the flight to Miami, which is surprising because I am really good at sleeping anywhere. When I got to Miami, I walked up and down the terminal countless times because I was bored and didn't want to spend even more time sitting down. I sincerely hope that I never have to spend too much time listening to the horrible muzak they play nonstop. On the flight to San Jose there was an annoying little boy sitting next to me who kicked me a couple times but thankfully he fell asleep eventually.
When I arrived in the airport at San Jose, I went through customs, picked up my bags, and set off into Costa Rica. My first real experience in the country was being mobbed my taxi drivers trying to get me to go with them. The next thing I noticed was how warm and humid it was! I was still wearing my sweatshirt from the airplane and I was really uncomfortable. Nonetheless being in San Jose was so surreal! I still can't believe that I am actually here in Costa Rica. It's mind-boggling!
I met 2 other guys doing the program and a TA outside the airport so we could all head to the hotel together. Our hotel was not far away, but it took almost 2 hours to get there by van because of minor, one block long construction happening on a main street. A general impression that I get is that there are not a ton of main roads/highways in the city. Thankfully we eventually arrived and I could finally stretch my legs after sitting in cramped seats all day long. Most people had gotten to the hotel z lot earlier and were all out exploring. I went with the 2 guys who took the van with me in search of food because I hadn't eaten since lunch. It was after 8:00 and we didn't really have an idea of where we were going. We walked around for a bit, but the only place we found was a little snack shop attached to a small indoor soccer field. We all ordered fries to go, which came with mayo and ketchup on them. Although I don't like mayo, I was so hungry that it tasted delicious anyway. I went to bed soon after eating because we had to go to the OTS office the next morning.
We had a orientation inside the beautiful OTS building in the morning and got to know each other. We ate lunch outside and I managed to get burned on my first full day there after about 20 minutes. In the afternoon, a couple of us walked down Paseo Colon, which is a pedestrian area with tons of little stores. We went out to a restaurant for dinner and I had some delicious sea bass. As much fun as San Jose was, I didn't get a chance to explore much because I was only there for one day.
The next morning, we left at 8:00 for a six hour bus ride heading south through the mountains to Las Cruces, where the adventures really began...
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