Last day in Costa Rica... que pena

Hoy es mi último día en Costa Rica. Yo vivía en Costa Rica por seis meses! Mucho tiempo. Ahora solo tengo seis horas hasta yo estoy en un avion.

Last night, my host mom prepared my favorite dish, arroz con pollo! I am so lucky and blessed to be given such an amazing host family. They have really taken me in and I feel as though I am part of the family. I participated in family events as well as made tico friends through my family. I'm so fortunate that I was placed with them!

I really can't believe I am leaving today and I do not know when I will return in the future. I'm so excited to start a new chapter of my life in the U.S. with my new coop at Ronald McDonald house. Time flies and that is not a lie... (haha)!

Anyways, I am not sure what else to say besides gracias por todas cosas que ustedes hicieron para mi!

Ultima semana en Costa Rica

This was my last week in Costa Rica! That is so strange to say out loud considering I have lived here for the past six months. Costa Rica has truly been a second home to me and I am going to miss it so much! Anyways...
So after the last day of classes/finals... I packed and got ready for Panama! We left at 9am to Panama which happened to be an 6 hour bus ride (in total), not too far! We headed to Bocas Del Toro. The "party life" there is wild and there are a lot of young college students that head there to relax for spring break. The hostel we stayed at for two nights was called Aqua Lounge. It was placed on top of the ocean and was held up by pillars. I could see the sea floor in between the cracks of   my bedroom.... pretty neat!

The day we arrived in Panama we decided to walk around the Island we were staying on. There wasn't much around. There was a local grocery store that was overpriced and other random hostels. There were also many huts that belonged to the locals. It was sad to see people living in poverty as we were on vacation. It made me grateful for my life. It also helped me realize why I want to go into the field of Public Health... in order to help those in need.
We ate dinner at aqua lounge and then headed to the Island across the water. We took a 30 minute boat ride to a local club called La Iguana Lounge! We danced the night away.. literally!

The next day we woke up around 8:30 to head to the beach to snorkel and hang out.  The first beach we went to was called caya coral. It is known for their snorkeling. We saw bone fish, jelly fish, and many other different types. I love snorkeling, but so far my favorite place to snorkel is definitely in Hawaii.

Next stop was Playa Estrella. We laid out in the sun and saw multiple starfish in the water!

The rest of the group ended up coming to Aqua Lounge that night and staying at the hostel. There was a giant party at Aqua Lounge that night, so we stayed and danced the night away... again!
Sunday morning we headed to our next stop, Puerto Viejo.

When we got to Puerto Viejo it was the evening so we ate dinner at our hostel, Rocking J's. It was the prettiest most well decorated hostel I have ever seen!
We stayed for two nights and slept in tents. Dani and I rented bikes and rode around town to check out the other beaches nearby. We decided to swim a little and relax in the sun. There weren't many activities in Puerto Viejo, but it was definitely a great place to relax and chill.

Next stop was back to my homestay! I got back around 4pm today. I just rested, hung out with the host family and packed!

It's starting to hit me.... I'm really going home, and this time for a while!

Last day of classes

Last time I blogged was nearly three weeks ago, lets just say a lot happened...

We headed to Nicaragua from February 27th-March 2nd.
Most people get around on horse and buggy, there were few cars and most people seemed to be living in poverty. We stayed in the city of Granada at Hotel Colonial.

 We had walking tours. All the buildings are painted in bright vibrant colors. The buildings are also designed with Spanish influenced architecture.

 We headed to a local clinic in Masaya.

 There we were taught what was happening in Masaya. The most prevalent disease is dengue.

 Volcán Masaya

 Next stop was Tamarindo! One of the best weekends yet :) The beach was beautiful and the night life was wild, crazy and fun!

 The next weekend I stayed in San Jose. There were festivals and venders throughout the town.

 My host parents decorated my room for my birthday! They are truly the best.

 Last day of classes at Clinica Biblica.

This is me now... I'm heading to bed soon to wake up early for my trip to Panama!

I can't believe I only have one week left here in Costa Rica. To think that I have been here for nearly six months is unbelievable! I have grown so much here and found out new traits about myself that I would have never realized other wise. I'm so glad I came to Costa Rica, and I'm excited to come back here in the future. Costa Rica is really a home away from home for me.
Well I have to go to bed, time to "disfrutar" (enjoy) my last week here :D

Public Healthcare Center (Ebais)

For our Healthcare In Latin American class, we took a field trip to the town of Carpio. Carpio is located in San José and was the main dumping point (landfill) for all trash in San José until five years ago. Costa Rica picks certain areas to be the next landfill for twenty years and then after they pick a new spot. With the old spot they tend to replant over the garbage. The neighborhoods unfortunately continue to have the negative affect of the "Wasteland" even when it's considered gone. We visited the only Ebais in Carpio. It was a crowded and pretty big Ebais. It served the whole area which consisted of up to 23,000 people.

 The maps displayed where the prevalent diseases were within the community.

After Carpio we went to another Ebais in a town nearby. It was an impoverish community but it's facilities seemed nicer. This community itself had less inhabitants and the Ebais was less crowded (nearly empty) The facilities at the Ebais were very nice and it seemed like people were taken care of well.

This room was where people did research on the local diseases that are affecting the community.

Vaccines are promoted here!

Medicine compartment. All the local Ebais's get their medications from this Ebais.