Hello! We are back from Costa Rica! Kyle and I are...red as lobsters, ...splotchy lobsters, too. But before I digress, let's do a little update.
We left for Costa Rica last Friday. Now before you go off asking when I actually go to school, I'll have you know that it's my spring break. And Kyle did do work on the trip. We flew from IAD last Friday and landed in San Jose, where we promptly rented a car (with a GPS), and headed to San Isidro Del General for Alyssa and Jose's wedding! The entire reason we were in Costa Rica was for the wedding, and we planned a mini vacay beyond that :) Anyway, I digress. The drive to San Isidro from San JOse is about 2.5 hours. Well, when there's traffic, and it's pitch black on the side of the mountains with dense fog, it took us more like 4 hours. It was...nauseating, and I'm not one to get carsick at ALL. We arrived in San Isidro, and checked into our...hotel. It was an interesting little spot, I'll say. We were too tired to really care, so we just passed out and woke up the next day at noon. Lo and behold, it was 80 degrees outside :) Coming from a 17 degree Paris-Europe-weather...the 80 degrees was welcome. We had a really lazy Saturday before the wedding. Went to a local diner and had these AMAZING frozen cappuccinos and local Costa Rican fare, then shopped in the grocery store for some necessities. After that, we got ready for the wedding :)
Alyssa is one of my sorority sisters from college, and she was also my roommate and suitemate my sophomore and junior years. She is one of my best friends :) We actually met Jose in 2009 when we visited Alyssa while she was doing Peace COrps in Costa Rica, and that's when they first met. So...this is kinda neat that the entire circle ends with the wedding! The wedding was in a local church...up high on some hill, and there were SO MANY PEOPLE. It was a full mass....ALL in Spanish. The bridesmaids looked lovely (Ana, Hayley, Rachel (all Alpha CHi's), and Alyssa's 2 MOHs. It was a beautiful ceremony, very full of love!
Me + the BMs (Hayley and Ana) outside the church right before the ceremony.
Next up was the reception! The reception was literally LITERALLY on the side of the mountain. I thought the charter bus wasn't going to make it all the way up the mountain. However, being on the side of some mountain in Costa Rica, it was absolutely beautiful :) THe food was delicious, the beer was amazing, and HOLY CRAP can the Ticos (Costa Rican dudes) DANCE. They all tore up the dance floor with their salsa-ing and put us Americans to shame (the 20 of us who were there out of the 300). It was SUCH a fun night. We had a great time :) It was great to be able to see Alyssa and Jose and everyone else. Love!
Venue on the side of the mountain. Beautiful!
Our pledge class!!! Warner, Cowlishaw, Kenyon, Sudderth, Ng :)
Kyle and I with the married couple!
Kyle and I decked out to the nines ;)
The next day, we set off bright and early to pick up Sean and EMily from Liberia airport. It was about a 5 hour drive, and we made it at noon at the dot. Imagine that, hung over and sleep deprived on a road trip...we then went up to Tamarindo, where my boss has a condo that she rented to us for cheap, and...we spent the next five days there! We were in Tamarindo from Sunday-Friday morning. This is legitimately the FIRST real vacation Kyle and I have taken, I think, besides a Carnival cruise we took when I was 21. We had absolutely no agenda and nothing to do (which drove me crazy), but it was oddly relaxing at times. We explored Tamarindo beach, and went down to Playa Avenellas twice. The latter beach was BEAUTIFUL. Of course, Kyle, Sean, and I promptly got burnt the first day we were there, so the rest of the days were pretty painful. Emily and her superior sunscreen-application skills really put us to shame. We did a lot of beach time...some volleyball time, and a lot of reading/games. Specifically, bananagrams and taboo. Emily and I KILLED at Taboo. Example: Clue: "Oh, you can't count this" Answer: ALPHABET!" Yup. That's how high our ESP levels were.
Playa Avenellas and some amazing Guanabana smoothies
Relaxing
Relaxing
Beautiful Costa Rican sunset outside our condo :)
We all left on Friday (yesterday). Bought a ton of coffee and a lot of cool dish soap (I know, weird, but it really is the best...this is how I know I'm getting old). We connected through Panana City, and ended back in DC at around 12:30, and by the time we got out of customs, baggage, and got home, it was 2:30am. I woke up this morning at 7am to take the MPRE, and...I have to say, that was not the smartest idea.
Now it's for real that we're settling back into a normal life. I'm prepping for a lot of people to visit me in DC in the next couple months, after which is graduation...so much to do!
