Prostitutes and Sushi!

As you will probably recall my last passport visa renewal session was not that enjoyable. In fact, it was probably the worst experience I have had during my time here. To refresh your memory I’ll just say- El Salvador, border guards, falsifying documents, bribing, yelling, sweat and tears.

Fortunately, the second time around provided us with a much better adventure. The school paid for us to fly to Costa Rica and stay in the capital, San Jose, for three days at a fine establishment with a very Central American name and aire…The Best Western. (Sarcasm) It was the first time in a long time that I had been in such an American hotel. When I look back at the range of places Abby and I have stayed on our travels it is quite humorous. The last time we were in Costa Rica we stayed in this “motel” whose mattresses felt like a wooden board and had cockroaches in the bathroom. We're just movin on up!! (Think Jeffersons theme song…to the east side!) But my favorite was the highly typical bed quilts at The Best Western. You know what I’m talking about…and even though they aren’t normally thought of as anything special, they gave me such a feeling of home and comfort and convenience…the latter two being much harder to come by down here than in the good ol U.S.

Funny part about our hotel though was its central location in what would be known as the Red Light District anywhere else. Druggies, prostitutes, and brothels were on every street and corner. An entertaining and cringe worthy walk during the day, a purely terrifying walk at night. (I never walked at night, don’t worry.)

Though we did some cool stuff while in Costa Rica, the best part was definitely the “all expenses paid” detail. And we missed 3 days of school. Yeah, I’ll take that. Our first full day there we opted for a tour of Volcano Arenal which, unbeknownst to me was really really far away.

Arenal around sunset.

I won’t go into detail because I was sort of annoyed with our guide and our tour but all you have to know is I saw a Volcano and it was pretty sweet looking. Though, I have to say, there was no lava to be seen…of which, and Abby can vouch, I was quite upset about. Volcano. Lava. You’d think the two would go hand in hand. No such luck. Funny enough, the best part of our little Volcano tour had nothing to do with the Volcano but rather this little town in which we stopped for a little bit. It had the most random Parque Central in the history of Central America. The entire park was full of those shrub/bush/tree things that people cut into different shapes, you know? See pictures, they will explain…

Me and Mr. Dino

WTF is thaaat?

Our driver dropped us off here for as long as we wanted, and Abby and I sure made the most of it. We were LOVING this place. We took a picture with pretty much every tree-plant shrub in the park. Prompts galore my friends. If you know what that means, you win a cookie. Not to mention had our attempt at about 20 “jumping” shots each. You know the kind, where you try to get a picture with you jumping in the air...High School Musical style. And if you have ever done this you know it never happens the first, second, third, or fourth time. My all time favorite was when Abby did a running start to her jumping and she definitely definitely fell flat on her face. I was cracking up. HI-LAR-IOUS. Two 20-something year olds acting like 5 year olds. Definite highlight of the trip.

Abby jumping!

Sarah jumping!

Abby FALLING. Hahaaaaa.

The other highlight however came our last night in San Jose. One of the missionary families in Santa Rosa used to live in SJ and told us some of the stuff we should check out, one attraction being the VIP Movie Theatre. Imagine this: big screen, normal theatre, BUT with leather recliners at every seat, a table, and a waiter to take your order at your beck and call, oh and wait for it- SUSHI! Sushi!? Susshhiiii!?!?! If I had to guess, I would say Organizational Studies is more present in Honduras than sushi is, and we all know that’s not saying much. See what sacrifices I have been making these past 8 months!? The sushi-movie-leather recliner experience was amazing. Abby and I were actually, 100% in heaven. Oh, not to mention, our ticket cost us the equivalent of 8 bucks. Riiiight? Ridic. My only wish was that we had gone earlier during the trip so we could have gone back another time.

Gotta say though, it was nice to be back in our little Santa Rosa town. Every time I go somewhere I feel happy to be back “home.” I can’t even imagine what it’ll be like in 7 weeks when I am really really reallllllyyy back home. Eeeeee!