Not cheap!

Many things in Costa Rica are cheap, like a pinneaple for 50 cents or a t-shirt for 2 bucks but in my opinion the overall cost of living in Costa Rica is high. I heard on the news the other night that Guatemala City is the most expensive central american city and San Jose, Costa Rica is second. Gas here is more than $4 dollars a liter and many of the other products are imported so they cost more than they would cost in the States. For example, peanut butter costs $4 bucks.

Highlights!

After an almost 2 week trek across Costa Rica, I finally feel like I can say that I have seen Costa Rica!I still have many places to visit yet on my list, but I have now been outside my University town, and seen both the Carribean and Pacific coasts. My favorite beach so far would probably be at the National Park Manuel Antonio (Pacific coast) where squirrel monkeys played in the nearby palm trees. One of the highlights was watching a sloth creep slowly along the telephone wires trying to get to the next tree. I saw the glowing red lava spew from the Arenal volcano at night, but was a little disappointed by some hotsprings that turned out to be just your local swimming pool with hot water. My favorite meal would probably be the Carribean rice and beans (made with coconut juice), patacones (fried plantains) and fresh fish. Here they serve the whole fish to you, so it looks like it's staring at you. I have a friend who loves to eat the fish head and all, sucking out the brains. She says its the best part.

Did I mention that I love dogs?

Big dogs!! None of those small yippy, sit in your lap dogs. Sorry Sam (my dad's dog). I have run into the most beautiful dogs here. My absolute favorite is Akira, who is a Samoyed/Huskie cross. She has beautiful blue eyes and and a milky white coat. And then there is Rover(that's what I dubbed him anyways) who I met on the beach. He even swam with me in the ocean for awhile. I almost had to switch host families when I got to Costa Rica because I had put on my questionnaire that I liked big dogs and my host family had a scary looking Rotweiler that I was sure was going to kill me, but he ended up being one of the most docile dogs I have ever met. As soon as I buy my own place, I am getting myself a big dog.