AdvSpanishGSLCostaRica

Before embarking on our journey, we enjoyed a traditional Costa Rican breakfast that included scrambled eggs, rice with beans, bananas, fried cheese and bread. We then departed by bus through dense fog and forested national parks. We stopped several times, visiting farmland and a Caribbean beach (Cahuita National Park). The last leg of our trip included a motor canoe ride through a river which directly split Costa Rica and panama. The shallow water and relatively strong currents made the boat ride feel adjacent to reverse white water rafting. Departing our canoe was the moment that the realness of the trip began setting in—both flora and fauna were abundant. We finally introduced ourselves to members of the village and met our families.        Below is a bilingual haiku describing our river ride:   Between Panama Rio Libro, madera And Costa Rica

After a long night of traveling, we arrived in San Jose and met up with Matt, who will be with us on travel days. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and had a lovely lunch at a Vietnamese Fusion place. After lunch we went to the Central Market, exploring downtown's history and culture while we adjusted to Costa Rica.  On our walk we ran into a spontaneous rap battle across from the legislative building and joined in with the crowd watching.  Even though we understood little of the rapid Spanish we could still tell from the rhythm when someone was great at rapping!   As our sleep deficit caught up to us we bonded as a group playing cards over a light dinner.  Tomorrow we are off to our host community!