This entry marks the beginning of the second week of Quincedias (fifteen days), a two-week break from school here in Costa Rica. The break has been a much-needed one for me so far...I mean, I love my job and students and all, but I was definitely feeling a bit burned out in the days leading up to this vacation. Not only that, I was also counting down the days until I got to see my parents again... and time does NOT fly when you are anxiously anticipating something! :)
My parents arrived on the first of July and stayed for the past week. We got to travel together and catch up, and it was absolutely wonderful to see them.
The Sunday that they arrived, we spent most of the afternoon driving from the airport to their hotel, eating dinner, and stuff like that. Nothing exotic to report for those first few hours together, but here's a picture of me and Mom shortly after seeing each other again for the first time in 6 months:
On Monday, Alex joined us for a trip to the volcano Poas, which is located an hour or two outside of San Jose. It was a rainy and cloudy day, but the weather gods decided to calm down for a bit and let us see the awesome crater up close:
aaaaaaaaaand here's a picture of me, Dad, Mom, and Alex at Poas (you'll have to take my word for it...the cloud cover was pretty dense):
Monday night, the three of us left the capitol and drove through the mountains to Buenos Aires, the closest 'big town' to Boruca,where I live. We stopped along the way to take pictures of the gorgeous sunset:
Tuesday Morning, we wandered around Buenos Aires and then drove into Boruca (a feat only made possible by the 4WD SUV my parents had rented!)... in Boruca we visited the waterfalls and my classroom and had lunch with my favorite family:
Wednesday, we drove first to one of my favorite beaches, Uvita:
...and then to Manuel Antonio, where we would stay for the next two nights.
Thursday morning we took a tour of the national park at Manuel Antonio,which is home to a vast array of plants, animals, and insects. If you want to see all the photos, click on this link and scroll to the bottom. But here are some highlights...
1) tree crab!
2) monkey!
4) wild iguana!
aaand we found these three strange animals on the beach:
...It was a whirlwind week, and it was fantastic to get to see them and hug them and talk to them face to face. I really lucked out in the parent department, and I miss my mom and dad tons when I can't see them.
When I asked them what they thought of Costa Rica, they kept commenting on how GREEN it is here... plants and plants and plants everywhere! They also loved the food and enjoyed listening to me babble in Spanish with the various people we met along the way. In short, they had a great time.
ANYway... that's all for now; I'm relaxing and trying to force myself to plan lessons for when school gears up again next week. Life goes on...!
Love,
Raquelita
No comments:
Post a Comment