Paradise

So i distinctly remember saying that i was going to blog about my experiences in Costa Rica, while actually in Costa Rica, but the thing about tropical locations is that you often forget that you have any responsibility at all.

So here is the long over-due summary of my semester in the southern hemisphere, and my life since my triumphant return....

Costa Rica:

If you ever feel the need or desire to get away from the cold, or just life in general i urge you to opt out of the typical Caribbean or Bahamas vacation, and go to central America. Not only is it like a million times cheaper, cooler, closer, and prettier, but the place is not made for tourists, so you actually feel like you have gotten away from everything you are used to.

Now don't get me wrong, not everything is sunflowers and daisies when you are living in a foreign country for 4 months, where you know no one, and you don't speak the language. Living and studying in Costa Rica was hard, but it is an experience that i wouldn't trade for the world. You learn to see that there are levels in life both in content, and luxury and that not everyone, in most everyone does not live the way that we are so privileged to live here.

I don't want to get too philosophical on you, so i guess i will stop there, and just continue on with some of the finer points.... like pictures.

So this is one of the first places we went in Costa Rica, it is a small town and 6 massive beaches called Manuel Antonio... It is a national park and there are monkeys and sloths, and lizards everywhere you look....


Also the fact that the beach is that empty is not an optical illusion or a trick we pulled on some tourists, that is just how empty and beautiful that this place is...




This one comes from my favorite place in all of Costa Rica, it is a small surfing town called Tamarindo. On second thought, i am not sure i would call it small, this place unfortunately has been plagued by tourists, but the beaches, the people, and as you tell the sunsets tend to make up for the other short-comings.

Thats one of the best things about being in a place where getting from one coast to another only takes a day, you can actually see the sunrise and the sunset on that day


And here we go, fun fact of the day everybody:

This is in fact how Pineapples grow, they do not grow from trees as is so often thought ( by me even until i saw this odd thing at an organic farm up in the mountains of the country)

I feel like people think that Pineapples and Coconuts must grow the same way because we associate both of them with tropical climates, but alas we were all fooled.

See, these are all the wonderful things that one can learn in a single day

There are about 200 more pictures of Costa Rica on facebook if you feel so inclined, though i am in no way pressuring you to check it out....

I know i said i would continue on about the rest of my life since leaving paradise, but i feel as though this post has gone on long enough... so perhaps we shall save that for another day....

As a fleeting thought, i will leave you with just one more picture of the Costa Rican way of life