A new day

...Yep, closed.
You can only imagine the thoughts running through my head at this time. Honestly, I was a little afraid. Intimidated from the get-go, because upon getting off the plane, nobody spoke English. I don't know why I didn't expect that anyway, but reality hit that it was going to be a challenge to communicate and get around. Thankfully our taxi driver spoke broken English (and Frank popped up with Spanish out of no where) and was able to take us to a hotel that he knew. Not gonna lie, it was pretty ghetto, but at 2am, I was just so thankful to have a place to rest mine and my family's head for the night.

We woke up to a new day! A new country, with new things to explore and learn.

Now let me just state that for our family, this trip is not about living the luxurious life in Costa Rica. We are on a budget, but most importantly we came here to immerse ourselves in the Tico (Costa Rican people) culture. To live the way they do, eat the food they eat, and live life out of the "gringo" (costa rican term for white people) norm. So yes, the life for the 2.5 months that we are here is luxurious in experience through our eyes, but may not be to some.

So the next morning, we walked on over to the Mango Verde Hostel. The owner, Rodolfo, was very apologetic and that became our stay for the next night. We roamed the city of Alajuela that day, fed birds and squirrels, laid around in the hammocks and played ping pong. If I had to choose one thing I learned that day in the park about the language, it's that one thing is universal...

a smile. =)

Mango Verde Hostel

I was very interested in the fact that I saw so many Ticos getting McDonalds. Ha! I was like, 'why would they do that', but after thinking about it, I realized that they're just people too. Americans do it all the time. I was only thinking from my perspective that I definitely did not come to Costa Rica to get McDonalds.

After a restful night, we decided to pack up and head to 

paradise. 

AKA

The Jungle.