Costa Rica Blog

By Frankie Holmes

Costa Rica was beautiful. There were so many things to do and places to see that I want to go back! When we arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica, I could tell there were a lot of differences in “here” and “there”. In Costa Rica, the traffic is crazy or maybe it was just the drivers. Costa Ricans are very good drivers, but their methods of driving consist of swerving, texting while driving motorcycles, and letting ten year-olds drive a motorcycle with younger kids on the back! When we got to our first hotel and we were assigned to our rooms, I noticed how big this hotel really is. It has little apartments spread out over a lot of land, and it took a good bit of time to walk from the lobby to our room.

            The first night, we had our first Costa Rica meal while watching a horseshow and some of us got to participate in it. Although I did not participate, I had a bunch of fun watching and eating. The next morning, we headed to the Arenal volcano where our next hotel was located. The volcano was awesome and you had a great view from almost every room in the hotel. The trips we went on in Arenal were very fun and amazing. We went on two hikes, zip lining, and to a hot springs resort that is heated by a volcano. My favorite thing in Arenal was the hot springs because it was the most relaxing and fun! There were slides into the hot spring pool, and they were rough. On one slide you would hit your head on the inside of the slide and it hurt, but it was still fun though.

            Our next hotel was far away from Arenal, and we had to take a small passenger plane to a place called Drake Bay, Costa Rica. It was beautiful. There was a great view of the Pacific Ocean and every afternoon there were tons of blue butterflies flying around the hotel. In Drake Bay, we went on a hike, snorkeling and whale watching. My favorite thing in Drake Bay was snorkeling and waiting to see if we were going to see some of the tsunami that hit Japan. We waited on the shoreline, waiting to see the reported 6 foot wave coming from Japan that was supposed to come around 4:00, but it never came. The next day, we found out that it did come around ten that night. It had sunk the tour boats we were supposed to use that day, but luckily, they had replacements. Our next stop was also on the coast called Manuel Antonio. We got to hang out on the beach, go jet skiing, and walk around the town, and that meant a lot of sunburns! My favorite activity was jet skiing of course! It was so fun, and we saw some beautiful beaches and a great view of the sun (which even our sunscreen couldn’t protect us from). Sadly, like every trip you have to come home eventually, but I will never forget the things I did and saw in Costa Rica. I hope to go back some time in the future!