Bye CR

Alright, so I did end up having plans for Friday night and Saturday. I went to a bar with Sagie, James, and two brothers we call the JPs. It was pretty busy there. They seemed to have a Captain Morgan promotion going on because there was a guy dressed as a pirate going around. We got our picture taken with him and then I was lucky enough to be picked up and tossed into the air. Thankfully I got a hat for my embarrassment.

We were out pretty late, so we just ended up crashing at James' because we could walk there. Saturday we were going to go to the market, but we didn't have time. There was a soccer game on at noon, so we met up with some girls from TEFL (teach English as a foreign language) and went to a bar.

My ride was scheduled to pick me up at 3:30, so we were out until about 2:50. It was a little close. Especially because when we walked out of the bar there suddenly were no taxis. Luckily there was a bus and I got back to my house around 3. I was already all packed, but just wanted to charge my phone and facetime Chuck. at 3:10 my ride showed up. It was a nice taxi owned by someone at Maximo. The ride took quite a bit of time, but I finally made it to the airport.

I had to pay a departure tax of $28, which I thought was totally insane. After that, I ended up waiting in line about an hour to check in. Dear Taca: get yourself together and shorten your friggen lines. However, it was my lucky day. My flight was full, so I was upgraded to first class! I breezed through security and made it into the terminal.

At this point I was starving. I'd had some bread for breakfast and a couple bites of nachos at the bar. I wandered around looking at the food, but the airport is surprisingly small. Everywhere had sandwiches for about $9. Even a burger at Burger King was $8. So I ended up getting a premade, gross sandwich for $9. I paid with colones and got my change back in US and it was a bad exchange rate. 10,000c is about 20USD but my change came out to $9.

I had to wait in line to sit down at the gate because they wanted to manually look through the luggage. I went through and sat down and waited. I felt like there were a lot security personnel around, but I didn't think much of it. We still hadn't boarded by the time the plane was supposed to leave. Then there was an announcement that we were switching gates.

On the walk down, I passed another little food stand. Of course, this one had sandwiches for $6 and they looked better than what I had had. I sat and waited at the new gait with the many security guards. Finally, we could board. With my first class status I was one of the first few people on board. On the jetway, everyone had to go through a pat down. Quite intense. I found my seat in row 1 and enjoyed the extra space and the pillow and blanket.

So Taca always gives food, but I got a snack and a meal in 1st class. I started with my beverage (in a nice glass) and a little ceramic bowl of mixed nuts and raisins.

The flight attendant then took my order for dinner; chicken and pasta or a beef dish. I figured pasta would be safer. I received a beautiful tray of food. Real silverware, cloth napkin, warm bread, my entree, and a chocolate strawberry dessert with a freshly sliced strawberry. I think everyone should fly first class.

Even though we had taken off late, the flight was shorter than expected. About 2.5 hours after take off we were in Miami and I was finally able to see Chuck after 6 weeks. I fell asleep on the drive home and woke up as we pulled into the apartment complex. I went inside, hugged the cats, and went to bed.

It's bittersweet to be home. I've been gone a long time and missed it here, but there is so much more out there for me to see.

Mom and Dad, thank you for funding my trip and putting up with my lack of phone calls. I hope my blog kept you entertained.

Mr Peaches looks oh so happy to see me.

24 Hours

I will be on my way to the airport in about 24 hours.  I can't believe it is time for my trip to end.

Last couple days at my placement have been bandaging people, mostly feet. Luckily we didn't do blood pressures for the past 3 days or so. That was getting old. Today there was a celebration for a saint, so there was an alter set up in the courtyard and a mass with a priest, singers, and all sorts of stuff. They even had fireworks, but they were more about the noise than the lights. Some were so loud that I jumped every time. I don't really understand why they would do that when celebrating a saint.

The entrance. Hogar Carlos Maria.

One of the dorm rooms. Most residents sleep in dorms, but some have private rooms. My understanding was those that don't get along well with others get a private.

Me and Augusto, one of my lunch buddies. The others declined pictures unfortunately.

View from Carlos Maria.

This is a squirrel who gets bread everyday from one of the residents. The guy sticks the bread in the fence right next to him and the squirrel comes up, grabs it, and runs off. I was pretty shocked how close he got.

Katie, nurse Karin, and I. Karin was awesome. She let us do stuff on our own, chatted with us, and joked around.

The little clinic room. This is where we would do bandaging.

Same dorm as pictured earlier, but the other side.

One of the dining rooms.

Me and one of the residents. I never really knew him, but  he really wanted a picture, so of course I obliged.

The church on the grounds. It is nice on the outside, but even more beautiful on the inside.

The grounds near the front of the complex. Just a little sitting area.

Tuesday night I went out with a group to a bar on the strip near the university. I ordered some ginormous drink, I don't know what it was called, but it was pretty good. Sweet but sour at the same time. About 2/3 through it started to get too sweet, so I switched with someone. We stayed there for awhile and then walked over to Jazz Cafe. We hung out for a bit and then around 12 the place was pretty much empty. We went back to the first bar, but that was pretty empty as well. We decided to call it a night so I got home a little early around 12:30.

Wednesday I decided I needed to buy a shirt, so I went to the mall in the afternoon. I wandered around for quite a while looking at the little boutique shops with overpriced clothing and poor selection. Can't I just get a plain T? I finally found a Pague Menos (pay less) and was super excited. The prices were excellent, but it was such a strange assortment of clothing. Nothing was simple, or even close to, and it was really shoddily made.

I had gone through (all?) 3 floors at this time and started working my way back down. There were several T shirt stands which I hadn't really wanted to look at, but since I was having no luck I took a peek. Prices weren't bad, under $10 for a tshirt. I saw some I liked and asked to see one in a small. She only had XL. I asked to see another. That one also was only really big. So I asked what she had in small. Apparently, she had none. I don't understand.

At this point I was really frustrated but continued around the mall. I finally found an awesome tshirt store! Simply tshirts, and a few tank tops. It was called Happy Hill and unfortunately they don't have a website. Anyways, I browsed their tshirts and finally chose a green one with "peace" and other relaxing words/images. I decided to celebrate with some ice cream and had TCBY. It was disappointing. Cheapie vanilla fro yo with previously frozen raspberries and mediocre chocolate chips. And it was expensive.

That night was ladies night, once again. So I went in a large group and we stayed there for several hours. It's free vodka for ladies, and somehow they managed to run out that night. It was sorta funny. Afterwards we went out for pizza. It was a small little place but they had GIANT slices. I swear, each slice was 1/4 of a pizza. It was pretty dang good too. I got home late and zonked out.

Not too much happened on Thursday. I walked back to Maximo from my placement. It only took about 40 minutes and it was nice out. I then ended up listening to everyone talk about their weekend plans and how much fun they're going to have. Lame. However, on my way home I stopped at Pops, an ice cream chain. I got a scoop of brownie and one of mint. It was yummy.

Today was the mass at my placement and after I got back to Maximo I walked to the mall for a shirt for Chuck. I chose one (can't say what) and then ended up getting Pops again. Chocolate mint and chocolate chip. I am on a roll!

So Maximo is pretty quiet; I think a lot of people are already gone for the weekend. I have class in about 40 minutes so I'll just chill until then. I have no plans for tonight, and none for tomorrow either. Once again, I'm going out with a bang.

And just because I have it, here is a picture of a random flower.