For breakfast this morning, I had awesome rice and beans, or gallo pinto. I like rice and beans. We also had AMAZING French bread from the bakery down the road. I think I will need to hit up the panaderia and hope they have some rolls.
I took the bus to Maximo with my host brother Josue and it was so slow! There was horrible traffic and people would walk past us, then we'd pass them, and repeat. We finally made it and I was about 10 minutes late. Oh well. The ride cost 215 Colones, which is about 40 cents.
At orientation I learned that they STRONGLY frown upon medical volunteers taking days off. After 2 days off, they will drop you from the program. This doesn't apply to other volunteer positions. So, I'm not sure what I'm going to do this weekend. I was anticipating taking a 3 day weekend, but now I don't know.
To add to that, I had some trouble communicating with the tour guy at Maximo. Plus, everything was so expensive! It was over $300 for a 2d/1n trip. I think I might have to do it cheap. Take a bus, stay in a hostel, and maybe go without a guide. Some people are talking about going to Manuel Antonio which is a beautiful beach on the Pacific side. I had heard wonderful things about a different location, the Osa peninsula and I really wanted to go there, but it's about an 8 hour bus ride and I don't think I have time for that. Too cheap to pay for the domestic flights. So I might do Manuel Antonio. We'll have to see.
I go to my placement tomorrow morning. I'm sad I couldn't have gone today. Some people are at a huge children's hospital, which sounds amazing. I believe I will be working with the elderly, so I'm not sure how applicable that will be to hands on skills, but I like old people. As long as they're not driving. I go to Maximo tomorrow at 8:30 and will be taken to the placement with a pre-med student Katie.
I've met quite a few people already. I'm taking down their names in my phone to help me remember. I'm doing pretty well so far. I met Lana who I'd talked to some on Facebook. I've also met another nursing student Kelsey and an EMT Nathan. They're all pretty cool. It's crazy to think I would have never met these people if I wasn't doing this trip.
I had Spanish class at 4, so I sat around Maximo to pass the time. It's a beautiful building. Apparently it's only a few months old (or was recently renovated) and it is very modern and quite spacious. In fact, there was an extremely large orientation group, about 25 people. I thought Peru was the largest, but this is quite the competition. So I sat around and chatted. Then out of the blue, it started downpouring. There were rivers in the street. At this time, Nathan and I decided we would try to go to the pizza place just across the road, so we ran for it. Luckily I had my rain jacket. Of course, the pizza place is closed on Mondays. So we stood under the awning for a little bit and I had a wonderful photo taken of me decked out in my rain gear standing in the rain. I'll post that up when I can.
So it stopped raining and several of us went out to another pizza place we had seen on our tour. Of course, we couldn't find it so we settled for a hamburger place. It was pretty good. I got a cheeseburger for like, 700Q which is just a little over a dollar.
Spanish class was fun. There were only 3 of us, 2 new, so it was amusing. I've asked if there is a medical vocab list, but I'm actually not sure if I would need that in my placement. It's good to know anyways.
Kelsey, Nathan, and I were thinking about going to a bar tonight, but we're still unsure about the bus system. My bus ride looks pretty straight forward. I travel along 1 (or 2) roads for a bit and then make a right turn at a giant supermarket and go a little further. To get home I keep an eye out for the Taco Bell little shopping center and get off just after that. I'm on my own tomorrow so I hope it goes well.
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