Unplanned Weekend

So this past weekend was supposed to be spent on an excursion to the beautiful beach at Tamarindo here on the Atlantic coast of Costa Rica. However, due to a certain event (see massive 7.6 earthquake on the coast), this trip has been postponed for just a lil' while. So what does that leave little ole' me to do...I don't know! It was just one of those plan-it-as-you-go weekends that comes with traveling. It was a weekend filled with sports and plenty of being outside. Thursday is when my weekend starts, and that makes things pretty darn interesting because, well...it's a Thursday. The day was speant being as relaxed as possible. It included frisbee at ULatina and watching the DNC here on my computer.

Anna, Chelsea, and I

And so, I come to Friday. Oh, glorious Friday. Friday was a big day here in Costa Rica because the Ticos were playing Mexico as part of the qualifiers for the World Cup in 2016. The intensity and national pride was definitely all over the place. I went down to San Jose with my friends Anna and Chelsea so that they could see the city a bit and get a feel. Just so you know, San Jose is very hectic, loud, and just all around crazy. With the added need to dodge people attempting to sell you anything with red/white/blue (the national colors) it was an adventure. We found ourselves in the beautiful park that is situated between the city and the stadium where we could relax for a while before heading back towards Heredia. That night we went out to a local bar to cheer on the Ticos to a disappointing loss, but at least it was all exciting.

San Jose

A beautiful church near Heredia

Saturday was directed with one purpose: walk towards that tall mountain. So I, along with three others, began walking up and out of our city towards the mountains. I'm gonna keep this story short for you since it is full of inside jokes and healthy portion of complaining. All in all, it was a 4.5 hour trip that tested our wits as we were able to see the beauty that is the transportation infrastructure of the country as well as the beautiful plants. And I would remiss to not mention all that is gained by simply spending half of your day in the company of good friends. We celebrated by going to our favorite coffee spot and feeling absolutely spent, and afterwards, I went to eat a .5 meter pizza with my housemate Will (since he is from Chicago, we were both pretty stoked to be getting some).

For my Sunday, I woke up to a message explaining what I would be doing that day from Chelsea (that has become how I operate with my free time). Her host brother took a group of us out to a field to play soccer for a couple of hours as we decompressed and enjoyed the national sport. It was fun because there was plenty of mixing between English and Spanish because while we had some locals as well as our group, we all knew both. Quite a fun time here.

So that is what happened. All killer and no filler; if that is still a thing. It wasn't what was planned but I wouldn't have it any other way. Pura vida. No complaints.