Monday, January 3, 2011

Costa Rica

That's where I was. Costa Rica. That's (mostly) why I haven't been posting, but it's also mostly because before I went to Costa Rica it was the end of my college career and I was feeling weird and taking my final finals. I had a great, warm week where I just sat around with my family and did awesome activities like ziplining, hiking, tubing, horseback riding, and eating. Now I'm back and nothing's changed: it's cold here and I don't have a job and I can't seem to lose weight and I think I'm missing all the application deadlines for grad schools. I had a great trip, but it seemed to serve only to ignite in me a lust for a more exotic lifestyle. What if I could spend the next ten years living in Central America, riding horses and talking to tourists for a living? If only I remembered some Spanish....

My trip was wonderful. I spent 8 days riding a bus around a country the size of West Virginia (51,000 square kilometers, or about 32,000 square miles). I waded in both the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic (Caribbean Sea). I did things I had never done: rode a horse, tubed down what is the Colorado River in the US, talked to a 98-year-old man, got poured on for 3 days straight in the rainforest, went to a coffee plantation, a pineapple farm, and a banana plant, and stayed in everything from bungalows to five-star hotels. I met awesome people and learned awesome history about the country. I learned that it has no army and focuses on education and the temperature is pretty much always in the 80s because it's on the equator. I (might have) lost five pounds. All in all it was a successful vacation.

So today begins my job search. If anyone needs an under-the-table tutor or anything, hit me up.