Our last week is here and we do nottttt want to leave:( As much as we love home, we are absolutely in love with this country and the people we have met while here. We have decided to put everything we have into our placements this week so when we say goodbye we will know we have done everything we could do. It is going to be so hard to leave these people that we have come to love and who will continue to need our help. More on our placements and goodbyes later this week….
On a lighter note this weekend was spent in Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean side. While every weekend in Costa Rica has been awesome, we have come to the conclusion that this was our favorite place. The town has a very Caribbean vibe and it felt like we were in an entirely different country. The town is full of funky restaurants and people with dreadlocks riding cruiser bikes. We stayed at a “Hammock Hotel” which was a very costly $5 a night. We slept in a hammock thirty feet from the water with people from all over the world. It was pretty cool:). We spent Saturday in Cahuita National Park on the beach where we we woken up from a nice nap by the terrifying noise Howler Monkey’s make when they become territorial. (Click on the link below for a Youtube video of it). On Sunday we relaxed in small pools created by the coral reef. We will forever refer to this spot as our “happy place”….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ihWw_4aOBY&feature=PlayList&p=2CAE102296D25A24&index=4&playnext=2&playnext_from=PL

Pictures Below- Brittney couldn't resist putting up another picture of her kids, Caitlin and Britt enjoyin life on the beach, a pic of us in our "happy place", loungin in our beds/hammocks, and a picture of us earlier this week outside a Museum in San Jose (the capital of Costa Rica).

Week 3!!!

Caitlin: Finally I was able to take pictures at Hogar de Esperanza, the HIV/AIDs clinic I have been working at Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This experience has been truly eye opening. All of the residents are really great and I have had an awesome time getting to know them, but reality struck today when I went back to work and found out one of the residents passed away on Saturday. I did not get a chance to get to know him because he had been really sick for a long time and had been in and out of the hospital since I arrived. However, it was hard to see the other residents and how they were reacting to their loss. Most of the residents are still fairly active and my job is to create activities to keep them busy. Right now we are making decorations for Mother’s Day, because they are having a party with a couple other HIV homes in the area this Saturday. Here are some pics




This is Angie! Angie always greets me with a huge smile and a kiss. She always jokes around with the other residents and brings a lot of energy to the home.











This is Antonio and I with two of our decorations for the Mother's Day party.








This is Daniel. He has been giving me Spanish lessons almost every day. He is actually really strict and won't let me move on until I can say each word correctly. He is a really good teacher :)







Brittney- My placement at Los Patitos gets better everyday. I have become much better at planning activities and improvising projects or learning activities with few supplies. The kids are so awesome and I am pretty attached to them; I cannot let myself think about leaving. Now having spent three weeks in Flory’s house I am beginning to feel like family. Flory took me on a walk, just the two of us, and ever since our relationship has been much closer. When we went on our walk I thought she asked me if she could try on my shoe, which was sort of weird but I gave it too her. She then proceeded to ask for the other one and give me hers. I was extremely confused, she speaks no English, and thought she wanted to trade shoes and was going to keep mine. After walking for a half an hour in Dona Flory’s shoes, literally, I had big blisters and realized why she wanted to switch (Flory is a smart lady). As the day went on I became increasingly worried that she was going to keep them but when my ride came she ran from the kitchen and gave me my shoes back along with a bracelet to show her appreciation. The bracelet is simple, but for people who have very little it was an incredibly kind gesture and made me feel silly for thinking she was going to take my shoes. Anyways enough about shoes…On Thursday I began working at a school with the English teacher, which I will continue doing 2 days a week. The school is in a drug infested area and the teacher told me she lives a few blocks away but cannot walk to school because it is unsafe. The kids are wilddd but so freaking cute it is not even fair. It is nice to see another side of education in Costa Rica as well as work with slightly older kids. Pictures will come soon.
When I brought my camera to Patitos two of the girls ran to their house next door and got dressed up.


Below is a video of my Dona dancing. Everyone is obsessed with Michael Jackson here and after I showed her my moon walking skills she decided to show me hers:)

Our weekend was spent in the beautiful Manuel Antonio which is a place on the Pacific side of Costa Rica where the Rainforest meets the Ocean. It was absolutely gorgeous. We spent Saturday in the National Park exploring the area and seeing all sorts of animals including, monkeys, sloths, deer, iguana, toucans, and raccoons (one of which stole the food out of our bag while we were swimming). We went hiking and ran into a family of monkeys, and relaxed for a while on the beach. We snorkeled on Sunday and spent the rest of the day trying to get back to Cartago. Our bus ride took six hours and we were standing almost the entire time. Every time we would get to a stop we would think there was no possible way another person could fit in the bus and somehow the bus driver would cram in 5 more people. The Costa Rican attitude has gotten to us though and we spent most of the bus ride laughing at how ridiculous the situation was and how incredibly swollen our feet were.

Smiling on the crowded bus, Brittney snorkeling, and the two of us climbing to a cool tree in Manuel Antonio.

Jaco

Last weekend we traveled to Jaco and Playa Hermosa on the Central Pacific Coast. We went to the ISA World Games which is one of the biggest international surf tournaments in the world! The very quaint beach town was packed with people from all over the world and there were very few English speaking people. It was really cool to see each countries pride during the tournament. When a team member was competing, the rest of the surfers gathered around their country flag at the water’s edge and cheered and chanted until the round was over. The weekend was really relaxing and we spent most of our time lounging on the beach or laying in hammocks tied between palm trees. Pura Vida!

Brit and Caitlin with some Australian surfer who was muy guapo!

After a long, wild bus ride home to Cartago that consisted of a very car sick Caitlin and Brit sitting next to a very creepy man who found it appropriate to smoke two joints out the window of the bus during the ride, we readjusted and began our third week at work. On Wednesday we had another exciting excursion. This week we explored the Arosi Valley which is home to many coffee and plantain plantations and the oldest church in Costa Rica. After Brit’s epic picture on the river rocks from last week’s excursion, Caitlin decided it was her turn. We spotted an enormous, picturesque rainforest tree that was screaming “Climb me Caitlin!” After getting to a great spot for a photo that was about 10 feet up. Caitlin found out she was covered in biting ants. Panic stricken, she tries to climb down, slips and falls out of the tree and landed straight on her butt with her legs in the lake. Have no fear. WE GOT THE PICTURE!