We're finally in San Luis!

Another great day in Costa Rica! I still can't believe I've only been here for three days. This morning I woke up around 6 am and managed to crawl out of bed around 640. We got all packed up and brought all of our bags downstairs. I was a little sad to leave Hotel Aranjuez, but we will be going back there at least two more times. We had breakfast in the outdoor patio again and managed to leave the hotel around 740 beginning our 4 hour journey to to campus. Like I said earlier, I truly could just ride on the bus and stare out the window for hours. I guess it's a good thing I don't get car sick. 

The ride to campus was really beautiful. We got to drive all through the mountains. Again I was getting flashbacks to Denali and the winding roads. The ride actually didn't seem too long. I put my ipod on and just looked out the window and occasionally drifted off to sleep. We stopped about half way at a a small restaurant/pit stop. Even the pit stop was beautiful, from where we were we could see the Nicoya coastline. The last hour and a half was a dirt road winding through the high mountain cliffs. I have never been so close to clouds in my entire life. 

Finally we arrived on campus! We immediately got our room keys and and got moved in. I am in Bungalow B1 and I am roommates with Kate and Ashley. 

Okay side note, Amy just walked into the Comedor (dining hall) where we are all hanging out and brought a container with a scorpion in it! It was on her pillow! and It's really big! This is not what I needed before I go to sleep. Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging...

After we got moved in we went straight to lunch in the Comedor. I totally feel like I'm at girl scout camp by the way. Lunch consisted of white rice, chick peas with chicken, and mixed vegetables containing broccoli and chiote ( I have no idea how that is spelled and I think it's like Yuca). 

After lunch we had a little free time so our group took a quick hike up one of the trails. After that we met in the student union with Lyndsey to have a brief orientation which also consisted of a tour of campus. It was really interesting to learn that about 30% of the food that we eat is grown directly on campus. Another 30% is directly purchased from local farmers in San Luis and the rest is from supermarkets. Directly after that we went to one of the classrooms and met with Frabicio who is the General Manager. He told us about The Carbon Offset Programs that we will participating in on campus. He explained that he and Quint were discussing different ecological programs that could be started up on campus when someone mentioned that all of the work that is done on campus is basically insignificant because of all the carbon that is released from the students air plan trips back and forth. They decided to create the carbon offset program of counteract out air travel. After a short lesson on global warming he explained that the program consists of planting trees all throughout the region in order to absorb the carbon in the air. We will be helping with the maintenance of the trees that were planted this past summer, and we start 9 am tomorrow morning.

After our discussion we had some free time before dinner. I grabbed my book and headed up to the student union to do some reading. Dinner was promptly at 6 and consisted off white rice, a delicious egg salad, red beans and also a beef or pork dish that kind of tasted like it had red wine in it. 

We all have just been hanging out in the Comedor since dinner. Kate, Allison, Ashley, Wyatt and I had some very interesting conversations about arrests and vomiting. Of course I made sure to tell my story about throwing up on my dad on fathers day. I really like all of the people that are in my group and I think that that we will all remain in contact after the program is over.

Tomorrow we have breakfast at 8 am and then are going to help with the carbon offset program. Hopefully we can squeeze in a hike to the waterfall!