Last excursion...come and gone

This past weekend I had the lovely experience of getting to visit Costa Rica!! It was amazing!! (or as Leah likes to say A-Maaazing! hahaha). I could have stayed there for the rest of my semester...I wouldn't have minded. The days got nice and warm and sunny and then the nights got cold enough to snuggle under blankets. I loved it! We got to be tourists for one morning and go around to see some cathedrals (pics up on facebook) and visit this beautiful lookout point! Pictures don't do it justice. I could have stayed at that park all day and continually had my breath taken away by the view......anyways...
I got several people off my gift list...that was nice :D The girls (Leah and Sonya) and I..along with Matt....had fun going out at night after dinner....shopped...walked the streets...enjoyed the night life (that doesn't exist in Leon).....We had freedom once again...though we had to be back by 8 30...*sigh* oh well...better safe than sorry...
While in Costa Rica we got to visit this neighborhood where all the Nicaraguan immigrants live...they come to Costa Rica looking for a better life..a way to make money to send back to their families...it is VERY similar to Mexicans in the States...what poor conditions though....they actually have boundaries to their neighborhood...and there is hardly any mixing....there is like 5 families to one house...each gets a room....yes just a room.....to go to school the kids have to buy not only books and uniforms...but they are asked to bring chalk..toilet paper...copier paper...floor wax...everything....and if they don't bring these things they get looked down on and discriminated......so kids would rather just not go to school at all instead of showing up without these objects......most of them can't afford health care either.......the Costa Rican government has even stopped supporting non residence who have serious illness or disease...several years ago any seriously sick Nicaraguan could get support...but that was taken away from them.......we got to talk to some of the families....they had all been there for 10...15....20 years...all of them still scraping by...and most of them still holding on to hope that they would be able to go back....it left me quite pensive and quiet for the rest of the afternoon.....
I haven't been able to decide which country I would prefer to live in if I ever came back...Nicaragua or Costa Rica....I love the climate in Costa Rica and it unlike Nicaragua has a slight taste of the development of the States......you can feel both cultures while you are there...the evident Latin American culture and the newly emerging more developed North American culture.....it felt weird being able to feel both cultures pushing at each other and showing themselves in one place...and then on the other hand...Nicaraguan people are more friendly...more warm and welcoming.......Costa Rica is a very touristy place though...it is the most touristic of all the Central American countries.....Nicaragua is still underdeveloped and suppressed under their government......anyways....I loved the experience...loved the opportunity to get to compare yet another Central American country....see yet another perspective.....it was only four days but it was a fun filled and busy four days.....oooh I didn't even talk about getting INTO Costa Rica....the border is so weird here....first we have to EXIT Nicaragua...then we had to drive to the other side of the building and ENTER Costa Rica.....and then we leaving we had to do the same thing...exit Costa Rica and enter Nicaragua....weird.....the first time it took us TWO hours....the second time it was just over an hour.....the border was an experience in and of itself :-) But we realized as a group that we have such a privilege being who we are....all we need is one document to get across borders....they barely check our papers and barely check our luggage...here we were jumping between Costa Rica and Nicaragua in four days...and we had just talked to people waiting 10...15...20 years to return home.....the freedom we have because of where we were born and the life we were born into......it's a little humbling....no?

All in all it was a great experience! I put pics up on facebook! You should check them out :-D
I hope that life is finding you all well....enjoy the snow :-p......I know I'll be suffering once I get home.......enjoy the holiday spirits as they come upon us!!! Catch you all later!!

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